Knight Morpher Commander KM-01 Review

Posted in custom, knight morpher commander, optimus prime, review, steampunk, toy, Toy Reviews, Transformers on April 9th, 2010 by VitaminZinc
IMG_0475
When I first saw pictures of “Knight Morpher Commander,” I couldn’t help but think how cool this looked. It’s based off “Hearts of Steel”–which is a comic about Transformers from IDW Publishing. It’s an elseworld of the Transformers universe if it happened in the industrial age instead of the modern day. I’ve never actually read it, so I don’t have a lot to compare this to. However, Optimus Prime never actually appeared in this comic (so says the internet… Gotta be true, right?), so it gave the creators of this toy a lot of room for creativity.

This figure is very steampunk in nature. So, if you’re into Transformers, and if you’re into steampunk, then this was made just for you. It’s a steam train, and it’s Optimus Prime. In his robot mode, he’s got a kind of medieval vibe–hence the “Knight” part of his name. A part from the cannon inside of the trailer pulls out and forms his lance. And one of the walls from the front of the trailer can fold out and make his shield. The transformation is fairly simple, but it works. I didn’t feel cheated by the simplicity of it at all. I didn’t even need to refer to the instructions either. By the way, included in the same baggie as the instructions is a visor piece for him. It makes Prime extra “Knighty.”

I like the fact that the trailer section is a decent homage to the G1 series and that it has a gun inside. It’s sort of like Roller–minus the car thing. I think they could have upped the ante a bit by putting a Roller-like vehicle inside that was a hand-cart. Just for lawls. It does come with a Matrix of Leadership, which is removable. I thought that was a nice touch. The part that comes out to form the lance from the cannon is oh-my-god-fragile feeling. The plastic that this whole toy is made of feels like the same grade of plastic as a Gundam model. So, it’s very thin, light, fragile plastic. The tip of the lance is cool and all, but I didn’t want to have this out longer than it needed to be. I was especially wary of putting the cannon back together with the lance inside. I’m actually afraid of breaking this toy. …and that was a sensation that stuck with me throughout my entire experience with it. I almost feel like displaying it in any way, aside from safely in the box, would expose it to the dangers of breaking.

The paint apps are decent, but nothing I couldn’t have done myself. There’s a few mishaps here and there, which makes sense since it’s a custom mass-produced piece. The thing I don’t like is there’s obvious signs of when they molded this toy and broke it away from the frame or whatever. Well, that’s what it looks like to me, anyway. It’s got the whole “I got this gundam kit and I really wanna put it together quickly” feel. Like, which small stabs on pieces, or slight indents where too much was taken off. Basically, the same thing that happens when you pull any plastic piece of a model away from the frame. It seems tacky.

There are a lot of very small things wrong with this figure that kind of ruin the overall experience for me. I still like the toy, but I don’t think it was worth what I was charged for it. This could be me being spoiled by Fansproject, though, so don’t mind me. I really am not a fan of the color of the cowcatcher. I understand that some trains in that time period were very bright. I wish this one wasn’t. I think it looks dumb this way. In fact, I kind of wish they’d have made it silver. The red just doesn’t make sense to me.

Pros:

  • Original Steampunk Design
  • Easy to Transform

Cons:

  • Price ($85)
  • Quality of plastic seems a bit fragile.
  • Paint application is a bit hit-or-miss.

Final Verdict:
There’s nothing about this that screams “GOTTA HAVE”. It comes down to “Do I like this character? Do I like this design?” For this toy, it has to be both, otherwise you’re probably not going to feel justified in the least with spending nearly $100 on this thing. As far as the quality of materials goes, it doesn’t feel like $100 toy. For a casual fan, I’d certainly say for you to pass this.

Fansproject Warbot Defender ("Springer") Review

Posted in custom, defender, Fansproject, review, springer, Toy Reviews, Transformers, warbot on April 7th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

IMG_0492Warbot Defender is a custom Transformer by Fansproject. They’re the same customizers that made the City Commander (Ultra Magnus add-on), and the Aerial Appendage Add-On (Superion Add-On). I have to say that I’m amazingly impressed by this figure. Well, that is, after I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out the damned arms. But, I will get to that later.

The price on this figure is $85 or something like that. Plus shipping. So, it’s a bit expensive for the average Joe to pick up. To those that are used to the higher prices of custom toys, and know how much these things go for in the after-market when they’re all sold out, then you know it’s worth the $90. Of course, that being said, I’m sure that BBTS will never run out of these and it will always be that price and will go on clearance and I’ll be sad and out of money I could have saved. Cause that’s just how things go with me. (Seriously, I’m supposed to be saving cash for Botcon in roughly 3 months. Holy shit!)

As far as the quality is concerned, this is a very very VERY nicely done figure. I have to give props to the QC team for Fansproject. On my particular figure, everything looks perfect. There’s no smudges, no badly applied paint, or issues whatsoever. This looks like a professionally painted figure. The box it even comes in looks amazingly professional. It’s much like the Alternity figures plastic boxes. You can open it, mess around with it and then put it back in the box and feel okay about it. (Although some people love to keep their toys in the box… I don’t know how, but they do it…)

The toy itself is an obvious likeness of the G1 character ‘Springer’. Hasbro probably isn’t ever going to go back to that figure, so Fansproject felt the need to give this classic figure a worthy representation. He was an Autobot triple-changer. Robot mode, car mode, and helicopter mode. The car mode on this is more likened unto a tank, which is an acceptable change. And, just like the G1 version, the vehicle modes are very Cybertronian.

Out of the box, you get it in robot mode. You also get 2 pistols and a collapsible sword/copter blades. The guns feel very solid and like they’ll last forever. The blades, however, are a bit on the thin and flimsy side. I feel like they could break at any moment. So, I’ve been treating them with a lot of caution.

There’s a short comic that gives the ‘story’ of this guy, and then it goes into a comic-style set of instructions on how to transform him. The instructions really didn’t make sense to me at all until I figured out how the pieces were supposed to be. Then, it was just a matter of moving things around til they fit in place. Let me mention, the only issue I had was with the arms. There’s so many swivels and such required for the transformation that it can get a bit confusing. Especially since the shoulder sits on a double-hinge sort of thing. If you pick this toy up, maybe that’ll help you to some degree and save you some time.

Size wise, it’s about 6 inches tall. About the size of a deluxe-class figure. It fits in very nicely with the size of Ultra Magnus’ City Commander Armor, as far as scale goes. It does have some issue standing up, which I think could have been fixed by adding a heel of some sort. But, if you pose him right, it’s not an issue. He just can’t be standing straight up or he topples. This figure also has die-cast on him. Which, when I heard about that, I was very worried. I had some flashbacks to Alternators and how scratched-to-hell they would get. Ugh. BUT, you really can’t tell which pieces are die-cast on Defender at first glance. I assume they added the die-cast to balance it somewhat. I’m not really sure, but it works. I can’t complain about it. Btw, the die-cast pieces are the chest and the tail-fins. In helicopter mode, the tail-fins click together to form the… tail… obviously. But, there’s luckily a piece of plastic between them to keep the metal from rubbing together.

Pros:

  • Accurate representation of Springer.
  • Solidly built and painted toy (as is always the case from Fansproject)

Cons:

  • Price is a bit high at $85 (but so worth it~)
  • Blades are kind of thin.

Final verdict:
I really like this figure. I think it’s a very good tribute to “Springer.” Despite being a custom, I don’t feel like I’m going to break it, which is a plus. If you’re a fan of the G1 toys or of the character of “Springer,” then I think this is a solid buy.

Motoko Kusanagi: Stand Alone Complex – Variable Motion Figure (VMF) Toy Review

Posted in figure, ghost in the shell, kusanagi, motoko, review, sac, stand alone complex, Toy Reviews, variable motion, vmf on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

I really like this toy. Really. It was worth every bit that I paid for it. That being said, I got it for $75 off Amazon. My normal source of toys, BBTS.com, was sold out of it and has been for the longest time. Also, I think I got it about $5 cheaper off Amazon, too. So cheers to me!

She stands at about 8.5 inches tall, and is fully articulated. She can make about any pose you can think of. I was even able to get her into some crazy Kung Fu poses and was able to balance her with it on one foot. The joints are tight as hell–which explains why she’s able to do such crazy poses. The problem with that is, the joints like to pop out. Mainly the hips and shoulders. But, I’d rather they be too tight than too loose.

She comes with an extra pair of upper arms so you can switch them out when she’s not wearing the jacket. Oh, by the way, the jacket’s removable. You also get the choice of a handgun, or the big rifle thing–which comes with a silencer piece that can be added. With the awesomeness that this figure is, I’d kind of disappointed in a lack of hand options. I understand the fact that she only has one head. She’s not a very emotional character. So, it works with just the calm face. She also comes with a small circular base to stand her on. Although, it’s not very necessary considering how solid her stances are.

Over all, I can say that this is one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. I’m glad I did it.

Pros:

  • Very articulated.
  • Good representation of the character.

Cons:

  • Price. $75 – Although it’s not an issue to me, since it’s a very quality figure, I can see where someone else would think it’s a con.
  • Lack of interchangeable hands.

Armor Plus Ronin Warriors: Ryo of Wildfire Toy Review

Posted in armor plus, figure, review, ronin warriors, ryo, toy, Toy Reviews, wildfire on February 4th, 2010 by VitaminZinc

IMG_0348To start off, I was quite stoked to hear they were remaking Ronin Warriors toys (or ‘Samurai Troopers’ to others). The figures were even available for preorder on some sites, and even solicited in Previews. However, this was not to be. All orders were canceled, and the only way to get the toy was to import it. So, that means sellers on eBay, generally. I don’t like that idea at all, so I used BBTS.com–who I use all the time. They were nice enough to honor the preorders for the toy, but at a higher cost since they had to import it as well. I’d rather pay a couple of dollars more to KNOW I’m getting my product.

I was on the fence for a long time on this, since the price was right at $90. That is a lot of money to me. I really liked Ronin Warriors, though. But, I’m not a fan of Ryo. I actually think he was the lamest of all of them. But, knowing my luck, they’d come out with all of the rest of them, and I’d be missing one and have to pay even more to get it. Of course, now that I’ve bought the toy, they’ll obviously release a cheap American version for half the price. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t!

On to the toy itself– it’s ok. For the price you pay for it, you’d expect it to be a little more sturdy. I started off very excited about it because of all of the extras it came with. It’s basically the perfect representation of Ryo of Wildfire. He comes with 2 heads (angry/open-mouthed, and calm), and and 3 sets of hands (fists, open hands, and holding swords). He even comes with a black armor dummy to put the armor on for display purposes while the main figure… does whatever he does.

It also has 2 helmets–one with the face showing, and one with the mask down. It’s interchangeable, just like the faces. So, you can have it however you like. You can also have it with the swords in the sheaths, swords in hand, OR the swords together as they are in the final attack.

IMG_0301I originally started taking lots of pictures for this, but then got very very frustrated with how the armor is put on. Specifically, the shoulder armor. The white shoulder-piece comes off its hinge, and the hinge of the red shoulder piece goes in its place. It took me about 10 minutes to get ONE shoulder on. I think it was more of just my particular figure having the defect, but there’s a lot of room for problems. I think they could have engineered the combination a little better. There also aren’t any instructions to speak of. You just kind of have to figure this out as you go. Maybe it was supposed to have instructions and mine didn’t have them…?

Now, parts of the armor are die-cast! It makes the figure very heavy for the size. Which, by the way, it’s about 6 inches tall. It makes sense that it would cost as much as it does, knowing that it’s got metal parts and all sorts of options to go with. While I do really like the figure, it’s not really one that I want to mess around with. The pose it’s in now is the pose it will be in forever.

I do look forward to future releases of the Ronin Warriors figures if they continue to make them. I’d be more happy to pay this price for them instead of Ryo, him being my least favorite.

Pros:

  • Very accurate representation of the character.
  • Die-cast armor.
  • Lots of options for poses. Heads, hands, swords, etc.

Cons:

  • Price is a bit high.
  • Difficult to switch armor. It’s a chore.
  • Kinda heavy.

Voltron: 25th Anniversary Metallic Lion Gift Set Review

Posted in 25th, anniversary, figure, gift set, lion, metallic, review, toy, Toy Reviews, volton on December 5th, 2009 by VitaminZinc
Voltron Action Pose!

Voltron Action Pose!

Just last week I received this fun addition to my collection of junk I could have lived without. It’s a Voltron toy, much like the one of way-back-when, but slightly updated to be slightly more poseable. It works pretty well on that, since the elbows and knees are now jointed. It transforms, like the old one. Same five lions are basically as show-accurate as I remember them. Take in mind, it’s been a long time since I’ve watched the cartoon, so it might not be 100% show accurate.

As far as the pose-ability goes, it’s nice to have the option to move it around and ATTEMPT to put it in some awesome poses. However, it’s really not meant for any of that. For the price range, I suppose it makes sense that it would be limited on this. And I’m glad it has as much mobility as it does considering it transforms. But the jointed knees are a tease. The action pose I have pictured on the left is very unstable. I feel as if it’s about to fall over at any moment. And, as fun as this toy is, it doesn’t feel like it would survive a fall in the least. I’m also a bit wary of any fall it might take due to the metallic paint. I feel like it could chip off at any moment. I’d never display this anywhere that it might fall. To have it out at all, I put it on the top shelf over my PC–and put it into a more boring/heroic pose.

The pose-ability of each of the lions separate is pretty good, too. There’s some slight horizontal give in the joints so the legs can take a wider stance and they look more ‘natural’ (as far as giant robot lions are concerned…) Each leg has three basic joints. One at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. You’re still pretty limited on how much they move, but the horizontal movement helps a little.

It comes with the sword and shield, which are painted metallic silver. I seem to remember the sword being more of a golden color, but upon further googling, every image I see has a silver sword. It’s nice that it came with the shield, but I don’t remember them ever using a shield. Makes sense, though, since that’s a pretty freakin’ big sword. How could this imaginary robot made of robotic lions use such a huge sword that forms from nowhere AND use a shield at the same time?!?

I was a bit disappointed by the fact this is just purely plastic,though. There is a die-cast version, but it’s much more expensive. For some reason, I read “Metallic” as “die-cast”. Metallic means… metallic paint, obviously. It still looks great, and is very well done, but… it’s plastic. It would certainly explain why it was only $50. Honestly, for what it is, I probably had my hopes a bit too high. I was expecting more of a ‘modern toy’. Which is to say, I wanted it to be super-pose-able, be super-accurate, and for some reason, made of metal (which isn’t very much like modern stuff at all… but anyway). Time for the breakdown.

Pros:

  • Affordable option for Voltron fans.
  • More pose-able than the old toy.
  • Nicely painted.
  • Very show accurate.

Cons:

  • No metal… at all.
  • Not as pose-able as I’d like.
  • Not really as impressive as I’d had hoped.

‘Aerial Team Appendage Add-On’ Kit for Superion

Posted in add-on, custom, Fansproject, figure, review, superion, toy, Toy Reviews, Transformers on November 18th, 2009 by VitaminZinc
Superion

Superion

Next on my review list is the ‘Aerial Team Appendage Add-On’ Kit. This add-on is meant for Superion, which was a Target exclusive. Let me just start off by saying, I saw this in stores and laughed at it. It looks so damn stupid as-is. There is literally no reason whatsoever to buy this without the intent of picking up this add-on kit. I have pictures of the original mode of this down at the bottom. It’s just… argh. It’s angering to see something this ‘durpy’.

Needless to say, there was no hesitation to pass on this because I wasn’t as into Transformers as heavily as I am at the moment. I basically just bought the Transformers: Animated toys, and that was it. To buy a toy like Superion would have been a waste of money–not to mention, it’s considered a Movie toy. I hate the movie toys. I’ve never bought one–aside from Superion and Bruticus–when I heard FansProject was making add-ons for these. Kind of a peer pressure buy.

Seeing the pre-order for this on BBTS.com made me think, “Oh, that looks kind of neat. I don’t remember it looking nearly that… Oh. my. gawd… That thing is hideous.” Maybe it was my reaction to how much of a difference this add-on makes that made me want it. It’s like Extreme Robot Makeover. HOWEVER, I’m not too keen on how much this set cost. Supposedly it’s a very limited run, but I find it hard to believe this should have cost $45.

It basically fits together the same way the durpy version goes. The durpy version is supposed to have the limbs alternated. One jet for a leg, one for an arm. One plane for an arm, and one for a leg. It’s able to stand up better like that since the planes are a bit too wide to stand up without the ‘knees’ rubbing, but the way it does the hands and feet looks dumb. This version keeps some semblance of symmetry and has the jets be the arms and the planes be the legs. It can take a much wider stance with the add-on feet, so the ‘knees’ aren’t rubbing together.

What would normally be part of the arms is now the shoulder–which looks great. He’s an all-aeronautical Transformer combiner, so to have jets as shoulders makes sense. What’s normally an arm for the stand-alone flips down and you’re using that ball joint to give him more mobility of the limbs. A ‘forearm’ is placed over that stand-alone, and then a fist is attached at the end into a peg. It works surprisingly well. He also comes with a visor, which helps him looks more like the G1 counterpart. It stands at about 10.5 inches tall–to the topmost point of the shoulders.

I wish I’d have thought to take some pictures of the stand-alone figures with the accessories, but to me that wasn’t the appeal of this. It’s great they made everything fit together and work as one cohesive unit, but the only reason I got this was because it was a combiner that was getting the FansProject treatment.

For those that may have picked up Superion directly from Target, I’m sorry. I feel your pain indirectly–since I basically paid the retail price for it, but on eBay. So, that was $35 spent on the durpy toy. And then $45 to make him look cool. Why does this math not make sense? Don’t get me wrong–It looks so cool. On a scale of 1 to 10, Ultra Magnus would be a 9.5. The Superion add-on would be about a 6–drunk 7–so to speak. The price tag is just too high for this considering how much Ultra Magnus is. I’d have paid $30 tops for this. If it goes on sale on tfsource, or bbts, then go for it. You won’t be disappointed FOR THAT PRICE. If you’re going out to specifically get this toy just to get the add-on (like I did), then you should save your money. Not worth the price unless you’re very into Superion. What’s sad is that when they come out with the add-on kit for Bruticus Maximus, I’ll probably buy that as well. Blargh.

Pros:

  • Figure looks awesome with the add-on. Very much so accented by the fact that it looks DUMB AS SHIT otherwise.
  • More G1 accurate… If you’re into that kind of thing.
  • Fits in amazingly well with the single-vehicle mode as accessories.

Cons:

  • Price. $45 is a lot to pay for some appendages, a gun, and a visor.
  • The figure is worthless without this add-on.