We've seen this set first from this thread: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-3rd-party-discussion/760245-new-third-party-construction-combiner-transtruck-engineering.html and Paul Grant of Sir Toys have shown us pics of it in the KO thread. I looked for it in Taobao, and this was the cheapest I was able to find: ÎåºÏÒ»³¬¼¶ºÏÌåºÏ½ð±äÐÎÍõ ºÏ½ð±äÐι¤³Ì³µ Æû³µÈË ±äÐνð¸ÕÍæ¾ß-ÌÔ±¦Íø At first I thought it was 30 RMB (around 5 USD) for the set, but then it turned out to be per figure. Still, I thought 30 USD for the set is good enough to give it a try. Let's start with the leader of the group, who forms the torso of the combiner. INVINCIBILITY ARM OF KING (can we just call him I.A.O.K.?) The bots are packaged separately in blister packaging, like this one. They all come with a simple one page instruction sheet. Curiously, none of these show how to combine everyone. Thankfully, figuring that out isn't much of a problem as you'll see later. All these figures have significant die cast content, usually either in the torsos or vehicle cab sections, so they feel very solid. Also, all wheels are made of rubber, so boo-yah! Alt mode is hands down the best mode for all these guys. IAOK's alt mode is a backhoe (?). The arm and scoop are poseable. His treads even have small wheels. A fun-looking unofficial mode, midway transformed. Transformation for these guys are simple, but not G1 simple. I'd say their engineering, design, and articulation are about par with Unicron trilogy figures. One of the things that I hate about these figures is the bad face paint jobs. Those red eyes are just sloppily dabbed on paint. Fortunately, these are easy enough to remedy. Imagine how better that face would look if the entire eye band is painted red. Arm articulation is pretty good; unfortunately, legs only go back and forth. DISSOLUTION MASTER (DM) Next up is DM, whose alt mode is a cement mixer and forms Titan's left arm. Cab section is die cast, and barrel rotates freely. DM is one of my favorites in this set. He has a very cool bot mode, tons better than IAOK. Those guns are molded into his hands, which for me is a good thing. He has strong, ratcheting hip joints too. One thing I don't like about him is lack of heel spurs. This make him lean back more than he should. He has no problem remaining standing, though. Tres cool is how his barrel hides some sort of weapon, looks like a missile launcher or gatling gun, which he can deploy for attack mode. This guy has very good poseability. That fucking eye job again... Nice face though, kinda looks like prime. SHARP CLAW Next up is Sharp Claw, the group's resident bulldozer. He forms titan's right arm. The driver cab and even the back section are all die cast. Yeah, I don't like this guy very much. It sucks how the right shoulder panel on mine does not stay flat on the torso. Articulation is pretty good also. CRUSHING HUNTER Crushing Hunter is a dump truck that forms the left leg of Titan. Front section of the vehicle is die cast I think Crushing Hunter has a very solid bot mode. Only thing I don't like about him is his spindly arms. Shoulder gun gimmick! Again, pretty poseable. BABEL ARM (WTF?) Babel Arm is the last member and forms the right leg of Titan. His entire cab is die cast. He is also my favorite member of the group. How bad ass is this? Kinda reminds me of Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop. Group shot! TITAN Ironically, I think Titan is the weakest mode of the group. Combination is pretty much just taking all members in vehicle mode and plugging them all together. Articulation is limited. Basically just at par with G1 combiners. His legs do move forward and back, though. And he only has a shovel and a gun for hands. You can rotate IAOK's head and shift the face plate to reveal another head--sorta. This one's unpainted, though. I think I'm gonna paint this face up and make it Titan's face to give him a cyclops look. Here he is with my other yellow construction combiner and other figures. I really should have bought Green Giant... Well that's it. Titan's actually a pretty cool, original figure. He is generally very well made, well engineered, and has all that die cast and rubber tires. Using some paint to fix the faces would make him much more awesome. I'll also try to find a way to give Titan hands. At the price that I got him for, he's definitely a steal. I mean he's almost just as expensive as FOC Grimlock. And I'll choose him any day of the week over FOC Bruticus. If you're looking to get him, I think he's available at Sir Toys or you can order from Taobao through a 3rd party agent.
Awesome! I'm imagining "Babel Arm" is an obscure cultural reference to the Tower of Babel. Like, his arm is like a huge tower, or whatever. zmog
If I could find a decently priced set on ebay I'd be all over these. Taobao is something I'd rather avoid.
Sirtoys is the way to go. But they'll be suspending operations over the Chinese New Year, so you'll have to wait a bit. zmog
I can see a Radicon having fun with this... with a few parts replaced... and added articulation here and there... these guys would be quite awesome overall.
Yeah man, pretty heavy. Just as or probably even heavier than Giant. Connectors are very secure; you can shake Titan hard and it won't fall apart.
If you wanted to you could look on them as a classics version of the Build Team or if you subscribe to the view that there's more than 6 Constructicons then they can be additional members of the Decepticon building & Demolition corps.
There is a video review of the torso bot here: 1982 Plus there are links to the limbs in related videos.
Dammit... these things are so simultaneously nicely made, while also being kind of primitive as far as transforming robots go... as if they just stepped out of an early 1980s gokin collection. On the one hand, they look superb in terms of engineering and materials, but on the other, so clunky and out-of-step with the rest of my collection. zmog
A heads up, chimungmung has these in stock for $70 shipped and Sirtoys has them back instock for $76 + shipping.
I just got these guys, and they ROCK. They are a super addition to my Devastor collection. They're more articulate and complex than G1 toys, but they still have a G1-feel to them (ie, in alt mode, if you didn't know, you'd think they were diecast toy cars). For deluxe and voyager 3rd party toys at this price, you definitely get MORE than your money's worth. I'd love alot more 3rd party offerings like this.
Some notes: 1) The waist panels (under his chest) in the pictures are mis-assembled. Mine came the same way. You need to pop them out and flip them around, so that they face outward (rather than being concave). 2) The dump truck leg is slightly mis-transformed in gestalt mode. You can actually flip up one of the flat panels to lock into place on the shin (there are two pegs on the shin) - this greatly stabilizes the leg he's attached to. 3) The figure is incredibly off-balance in combined mode. His feet are weighted at the TOES, rather than the heel or middle, so he can fall over pretty easily if you don't use the crane arm and some other pop-outs to stabilize a little. 4) Figures are REALLY fragile. The arm with the big wheels is already losing a wheel, cause the plastic peg is breaking. The diecast is nice, but the plastic quality is not: so the extra weight is a concern on this guy. If you drop him, you will see shards of plastic pop off all over the place, and he's definitely NOT safe around young kids (choking hazard from possible shard of broken plastic). 5) Overall, he feels more KO than 3rd Party (albeit one of the more impressive KO's. not dollar store junk). But BUYER BEWARE. He's fun... if you plan to just display and not touch much. Combined mode is probably the best mode. But he DOES have engineering probs: he's made of cheap plastic (though not as bad as Impossible Toys), and he's incredibly fragile. Hasbro's Bruticus is AMAZING in comparison, as it's not nearly as fragile or dangerous as this guy. I'm not sure I'd recommend a buy, but if you have loose change and wanna gamble, it's your call. I love that he's original and economically priced; I hate that they didn't do better QC, nor address certain engineering issues. His crane leg is incredibly unstable in Gestalt mode, as there's this crucial panel that doesn't lock in very well (in the OP's pictures, he actually has that panel resting under the lock point, rather than in place where it's supposed to be). So the crane truck is the most unstable leg, because it flops from time to time, due to not locking in place - an easily fixable problem that the company didn't address. In addition, the arm connectors (plastic, grey rectangle from the torso to the arms) feel very cheap and flimsy, like they will not last. And to connect the arms, you have to push really hard on this cheap, loose plastic... so...
