The Good: Maketoys Battle Tanker, reasoning being it is so simple but elevates the figure so much, not to mention a better sword to give to Drift lol. Also Green Giant, after seeing pictures I mean he definitely is the better looking of the 2 3rd party Devestators, but actually getting him in hand blew my freakin mind. So well engineered, great feel/quality and great character. Honestly my favorite 3rd party figure I own.

The Bad: I-gear Rager and Spray. I don't know how else to say it but I f****** hate them. Pictures online fooled me into actually wanting to get them because I'm really wanted a Huffer and Seaspray but man when I got them I seriously almost just wanted to throw them in the Garbage.

 

I've bought many 3rd party items I'm very happy with. FP Mensaor, MT Devastator, Mech ideas Demo Crüe, PX Swoop, and numerous accessories from Dr. Wu and others.
The only 3rd party Figure I was really disappointed with was KFC Mugen scope. The bot mode is great and the alt modes are ok. But the QC on this just plain sucks loose wrists, knee joints ridiculously tight, but the worst part the cheap plastic. When I got him I transformed him couple times and thought cool not bad. When I went to go back to bot mode, the panel on his back that flips out snap clean off I was pissed.

 

I've gotten a lot of 3p stuff but it's expensive so I try to avoid all surprises. That said, the unexpected does happen.

Bad - Huff. What a let down. The design is there, the manufacturing prowess is not. Name a QC problem associated with this guy and I have it.

Good - Toyworld in general and their Throttlebots specifically. TW hits a great "modern G1" vibe for me. Picked up Aurora on a whim and loved it. Their throttlebots have all the things I like in a car transformer: realistic alt modes, clever transformations, and great aesthetics.

 

If i work two days that is enough to get a third party toy hahahaha

 

Unexpectedly awesome:
Protector set. Pics didn't do much for me but when I saw it in person at BotCon '11, I loved it. Lots of fun to mess around with.

Quakewave. Always looked great in pics, but in hand I was completely blown away by the feeling of quality.

FP Headmasters. Had zero connection to them as a kid. Never even knew about the existence of G1 season 4 when I was a kid, nor the Headmasters show. But these figures are pure unadulterated fun.

Unexpectedly not awesome:
Xovergen Trailerforce. Looks fantastic in pictures or standing on your shelf. That illusion quickly disappears once you start fiddling with him. Criminally clunky and unfun to transform. The cover which comprises half the trailer mode doesn't fit right. And whoever decided to put ball jointed ankles and shoulders on a figure of this size and weight deserves a Powermaster sized wedgie. Boo.

Maketoys Battle Tanker. Please put the pitchforks and torches down and hear me out. By no means bad but I just couldn't love it no matter how hard I tried. First, there are a couple design choices I found extremely clunky. The use of c-clips to attach the arms. Makes me afraid they'll break at any time. The way the wire leading to the battery pack gets pinched in combined bot mode. Don't like the fact that the head and, to a lesser extent, the waist on the base bot have to be permanently replaced. Also putting all the extra weight on all those ball jointed limbs of the base figure leads to instability. Finally, annoyed me to no end that all later versions of the set came with upgrades for the chest (and the shoulders, too, I think), while the version for Prime did not.

 

Burns more when you see Generations Springer, doesn't it?  

 

The best experience I ever had was a toss up between Fanstoys Quakewave and Perfect Effect Warden.

Maaaaannn, when the renders were released for Perfect Effect Warden. then seeing those impressive photos of the Resin Protoype. I was blown away and knew right away that I was going to own that sucker and that nothing would get in my way not even eating that month.

Sure enough I was one of the first few to get this guy in my hands, and I was absolutely blown away. This is the one single instance I've had in collecting 3P products were all of my expectations were not only met, but completely blown out of the water.

I was impressed and am still impressed by the sheer amount of engineering that went into this toy. He's a true work of art. and the perfect color applications almost make it look like it's got more pieces on it that it does. flawless paint apps and mold detailing.

Such an amazing looking display piece. This toy alone is what got me going full force into 3p products, sure I owned some but none of them hit all the right buttons for me except for this guy. And then... MMC's Feralcons started to come out. and that is another story for another day. lol

 

I only have ToyWorld Orion and FansToys Scoria and both are in my opinion awesome, now I'm waiting for the rest of FansToys DiBots and keeping a eye on FP's Dinos.

 

Green Giant was my first 3rd party figure. When I finally opened him up, I combined him, took him apart, transformed the individual figures and toyed around with them a bit, I didn't notice I had spent almost 3 hours on this figure out of the box! That's definitely a big thumbs up.

Only other 3rd party figures I have are the Sharkies set, but I haven't gotten around to opening that one yet. But I am definitely looking into investing in more 3rd party figures down the line.

 

Warbot Defender. It was my first 3rd party figure and I bought it overpriced because it hadn't been reissued yet. It turned out to be a floppy piece of shit after just a few days.

 

I jumped in on the early chaotic bandwagon of Action Robo listing Trash Talk & Cogswheel. And put in an order.

When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Action Robo had accidently sent me my order twice. Contacted them & they gave me a reduced price deal.

All told, with what I sold my extras for & my unwanted Cogswheel, my Trash Talk ended up being free, with a bit of minor profit.

Already am ordering my Masterpiece Wheeljack from them, as while shipping takes a bite, they still end up being cheaper than anyone else. Of course, returns will be problematic.

 

I got Iron Factory's Evil Lord on a whim and expected to leave it in robot mode, being a partsforming hater. Turns out it made me overlook it.

Then it fell on the floor and now there are stress marks on the head spikes. I've bought some paint to make it look better.

As for another nice experience, it was receiving my box from a Chinese seller three weeks early. They said four weeks and it only took one.

 

Quakeblast was a good surprise. I was expecting a lower quality quakewave for the price. Turns out to be my favorite MP Shockwave.

Warden, Scoria and Soar would also be positive surprises for me. Was not expecting any of them to be as good as they are.

Negatives would be FP stunticons, Sonicron, and an Arce that I think was from impossible toys. Hated the all for different reasons.

 

Positive:
KO OS Grimlock: Amazing quality for a KO.
Fanstoys Quakewave: My first FT product and I've been addicted since.
Toyworld Concrete: Love the packaging and the QC is also very good on my copy.

Negative:
Ollie: Clever design spoilt by horrible QC and cheap plastics.

 

I would say how much I end up loving BadCube stuff, and how lackluster I find FansToys stuff. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both companies offerings. With BadCube I usually see all the preproduction images and get kind of a ho-hum feeling. Then when I have the figures in-hand I'm blown away. I get the opposite from FansToys. I get really hyped with all the preproduction stuff, but usually feel a little let down when I finally get them.

 

Only good ones for me.

But I follow every review so there's nothing really unexpected... And 3p are generally very good these days. So, while they are really amazing (Guttur, Quakeblast), the real surprise are Weijang KO's: MPP10 is better than the best 3p companies' products... At least in terms of qc and tolerances.

 

I got the M01 Commander. The tolerances on that thing are TIGHT, particularly the shoulders.

Had to get a trailer too. That alt mode just seems too Tonka for me.

 

When it comes to 3P Figures I have bought over the years (mostly Dinobots of various sizes) I would say this about them:

The WST Dinobot Set (Forgot who made them,think FP) I got 5 or 6 years ago were just Mindblowingly Adorable,getting all 5 was very lucky and I still have them to this day,plus unlike my full size G1 versions these take up a lot less space while still being big enough to have a presence.They are just too damn cute.

Next we have the FansToys DiBots,my first purchase was Soar (Swoop) with the blue chest,then later I got Scoria T(Slag) at BBTS and he was nice but his problem is his arm claws keep him from holding his sword or gun properly.Sever (Snarl) was my 3rd Dibot and have had him about 4 months now and he is decent in dino mode,but I really think his robot mode is lacking,he is my least favorite.Now we come to Stomp (Sludge) and even tho I don't have him yet I hope to have him next week sometimes,and he appears to likely become my favorite.So after I he gets here my MP Dinobot Collection will be complete along with my MP08 Grimlock,I am so stoked.

MMC PS01 Sphinx (Mirage) is the spitting image of Mirage on the show,he just looks like he stepped out of the TV,granted he is a floppy mess between transformations but when you get him into either robot mode or car mode he is pretty solid (except his front wheels,I had to fix those with a little clear nail polish.Now he is perfect.

FT15 Willis (Hound) I will keep this short since I don't actually have him yet,but he looks to be another great FansToys Product,and can't wait to get him in a month or two.

So in closing these 3P figures are so worth getting,but damn do they drain my wallet dry but that's fine since they bring me so much joy.Later all.

 

Good: Warbotron Bruticus: I had buyers regret the moment I clicked "purchase". I don't know really WHY I bought it. Maybe I just needed a new toy. Got the box and opened it and went "why did I get this? It's so damn expensive and....I don't know". Once I opened them and got them out, I loved them. They're right up there with my favorite figures and they look so damn good in all modes. They didn't look half as good online as they did in hand and they had a rep for being really crap quality but all of mine were good.

Good also: Fancy Cell Transportation Captain: He is SO Astrotrain. Once you fold up his chest fin and do a little fiddling, he's amazing. I passed on him and was so impressed with what I read here I had to get one. When I finally got him later, I couldn't believe I let it slip by. He's big too..bigger than people let on so he's going in my MP set. He's very G1.

Bad: Badcube (Cubex?) Huff. Looked nice but right out of the box was floppy as hell, pin flew out of his head. Joints wouldn't move right without grease. Just a big (and my first) disapointment.

Bad: MMC Sphinx is a great figure but I got a really shitty one. Misfired pins, floppy joints, broken pieces. Parts coming apart at the seams. That one sucked bad too but I ended up fixing it all myself because they didn't have any more if I returned it.