Saturday 30 September 2017

REVIEW: MAAS Toys CT-001 Skiff & CT-002 Gold



Time for something a little different with this review. New third party company Maas have already done a good job at creating an engaging presence in the online Transformers community, and they certainly seem to be picking some unique designs for their first couple of releases. No doubt most collectors would recognise that CT-001 Skiff is a rendition of Bumblebee, but perhaps not one that they're familiar with. Well, for this release Maas have drawn inspiration from the short-lived but much-loved 2002 comic series The War Within, which featured the early days of the Transformers' war back on Cybertron. A lot of popular characters were given a Cybertronian-style makeover for the series to depict how they looked before travelling to Earth, and it's that depiction of Bumblebee that you see made real before you here.

Wednesday 6 September 2017

REVIEW: DX9 D11 Richthofen



I've mentioned it a couple of times before, but growing up in the UK I wasn't familiar with the entirety of the G1 cartoon. I had a handful of episodes on VHS tapes, which were of course played on repeat and so became well worn, but much loved. Consequently, the episodes featured have an enduring place in my memory and remain some of my very favourites to this day, and the characters contained within have all made a rather lasting impression too. So, if I told you that some of my favourite adventures were Dinobot Island and the absolute classic The Girl Who Loved Powerglide, it will probably give you some insight into how much I adore the arrogant sky jock that this figure represents. Yep, it's POWERGERRRLIIYYDE!

Sunday 3 September 2017

REVIEW: Fans Hobby Master Builder MB-05 Flypro



INTRODUCTION
If I haven't yet made it abundantly clear during my reviews of Fans Hobby's previous figures, I'm immensely impressed with their work-to-date. Four figures in and we don't have a duff one among them. Instead, the company is quickly carving out a well-earned reputation for solid, interesting and above all FUN figures. Not to mention that they're picking some interesting characters, which helps to make their output feel a world away from the factory line of Springers that is currently domineering the third party scene elsewhere. So it is with great anticipation that we come to the final release in their not-Monsterbot trilogy, Flypro. Will he measure up to the bar that they have set for themselves, or is this their first misstep? The answer may not surprise you, but it's still a fun journey to get there!