Friday, April 9, 2010

Knight Morpher Commander KM-01 Review

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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.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Fansproject Warbot Defender ("Springer") Review

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.

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