REVIEW: X-Transbots MX-XIIIT Crackup (Youth version)

Third party combiners have been dominating the market for some time now, but of late we've definitely seen a rush by various companies to deliver the definitive take on these characters in so-called Masterpiece-style. Bigger, bulkier, more complex than ever and, crucially to some, intensely cartoon accurate. X-Transbots have thrown their hat in the ring with Monolith, their attempt at a 3PMP Menasor, but unlike some of the competition they've also carved a separate niche by releasing first Generation 2 redecos of their designs, and now Generation 1 toy-inspired versions as well. First out of the gate is Crackup, their attempt at a toy version of Breakdown, and given how much I continue to enjoy the original release I've been pretty excited to see how he fares!

REVIEW: X-Transbots MM-IXZ Barada

Time goes by extraordinarily quickly in the world of Transformers collecting. I was just sitting down to put together a few words on X-Transbots Barada when I decided to look up the review I did of the previous version of this mould, Klaatu, and was stunned to find it was from well over two years ago. How did that happen? In any case, we're back at it again with a fresh repaint for this design, and a slight feeling of reassurance that enough time has passed to fully indulge in another version of the same toy! Fortunately, it's a pretty good one too.

REVIEW: X-Transbots Flipout

INTRODUCTION
X-Transbots Crackup only recently arrived as the first competitor in what is already becoming a war of third party Stunticons. Hot on his heels is Flipout, their interpretation of a Masterpiece-styled Wildrider, and it bodes well for the company that they seem to be planning to release these guys in quickfire succession. DX9 have yet to reveal any of their individual designs after their version of Breakdown, let alone the combined mode, whilst new competitor FansToys have only just managed to unveil rough renders of their first two attempts (and going by their history it's going to be a good long while before we see anything concrete). Meanwhile X-Transbots are busy cleaning up. With a hugely attractive price-point, Crackup has been enough to tempt many collectors along the journey, and thus far has been met with a generally positive reception (including my own review earlier this month). But how does their sophomore effort fair? Thanks to the folks at TFs Express, we can now find out.

REVIEW: X-Transbots MX-XIII Crackup

INTRODUCTION
Third party combiners are nothing new. In fact, they've been going for years, with pretty much every big-robot-created-from-several-little-robots team you can think of realised in a non-official format of one kind or another. However, Masterpiece-styled third party combiners are a bit of a more recent revelation, and there's still plenty of real estate left to be conquered as far as realising all of the various characters in show-accurate, appropriately-scaled toy form goes. So when X-Transbots first unveiled their plans to release renditions of the Stunticons, no other company had thus far attempted it in a true MP-style. Sure, there've been some very cool attempts, most notably TransFormMission's recent more-stylised effort, but nothing that screams the look and feel that many of us would be hoping for from the Menasor team.

REVIEW: X-Transbots MM-IX Klaatu

INTRODUCTION
It wasn’t so long ago that I sat down and wrote up my thoughts on another not-MP Cosmos homage, and so it should perhaps come as relatively little surprise that a competitor follows right around the corner; it seems to be our perpetual fate to be gifted waves of the same character one after the other, to the point where you expect that another might be just around the corner. Still, despite enjoying Toyworld’s Spaceracer for the most part, I did definitely feel that he left enough on the table for someone else to have a crack and even improve on him (you can read the full review here). Step forward X-Transbots with their attempt, Klaatu, named after a character from the classic sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still (or the somewhat less classic 2008 Keanu Reeves remake, if you really must).

REVIEW: X-Transbots MX-III Eligos

INTRODUCTION
The nature of pre-ordering third party items has certainly changed in the last year or so. It used to be that many fans, myself included, would do their best to have their pre-orders locked as soon as the option to do so was available, even if it was going to be some time before the figure was actually released. Of course, even though this was a very short time ago, there were also less options for individual characters too. It's a relatively new phenomenon for multiple third party outfits to all be putting out their own interpretations of the same characters over & over. However, it's now also true that a lot of us are waiting till much later in the day to place our pre-orders, if not waiting until the actual release itself, such are the multitude of options available.

X-Transbots Eligos maintains a degree of infamy in my collection for being the longest outstanding pre-order I think I will ever know; having originally ordered back in June 2015, we're fast approaching the 18 month mark. Let's be clear, that's pretty ridiculous, even if the figure has been redesigned somewhat in that time. However, I'd be hard pressed to tell you that my excitement for this figure has dwindled in that time, especially as no other third party has yet to even fully reveal their own not-Cyclonus, let alone bring it anywhere near to release. So, now that he's finally here, how does Eligos fare after all these many months of waiting?

REVIEW: X-Transbots MM-IV Ollie v2

"Version 2"s seem to be a trend that's becoming more and more accepted in the weird world of Transformers collecting, and I can't help feeling that every time it happens the whole idea becomes a little more normal to us. I still remember when TakaraTomy unveiled Masterpiece MP-10 and some of the initial reaction. "Another Masterpiece Optimus Prime?! But we already have MP-1!" Of course, that figure went on to become one of the most beloved in recent memory (and certainly in my own personal collection), and it's hard to imagine what the current Masterpiece collecting scene would be like without it!

Fast forward to today, and just this week we have also seen released Masterpiece MP-14+ - a second attempt at Red Alert using the very same mould, just with a different paint job. Yet again, this was a figure that was initially met with a distinctly muted reaction, yet has quickly won over the hearts & minds of many collectors upon release.

REVIEW: X-Transbots MM-VIII Arkose

"Like if you need geology-type info, hey, just call on yours truly Beachcomber! I dig projects that don't require conflict, you know."

I've mentioned before that as a lad growing up in the UK, I didn't exactly have easy access to a lot of the G1 Transformers cartoon. Though it was sporadically shown on terrestrial TV, most of my exposure to the series came through owning several VHS tapes of particular episodes (as well as the 1986 movie), which were much-loved and watched on repeat.

It's perhaps no surprise then that certain scenes are more burned into my mind than others. One of those tapes was the two-part season 2 extravaganza Dinobot Island, which remains among my favourite Transformers adventures to this day, and one moment that always springs to mind is the interaction above between Chip Chase and a certain blue Autobot.

REVIEW: X-Transbots MM-VI Boost & MM-VII Hatch

There are a couple of notable classic G1 characters from seasons 1 and 2 that have yet to be tackled by either TakaraTomy as part of the official Masterpiece line, or indeed by third party companies attempting to fill the gap. Names like Trailbreaker, Cliffjumper and most crucially Jazz are often highlighted at the top of the fan wishlist, all still without any hint of being realised. So it also was with Windcharger, until X-Transbots teased their attempt ages ago with a render of a familiar looking Pontiac Firebird Trans Am on the box of their Ollie release. It's been a long road since then, but now the result is finally here in the form of Boost!

I've been pretty excited to get my hands on this guy, and the accompanying release of Hatch, a repainted homage to G1 Tailgate, especially after X-Transbots really pulled it out of the bag towards the end of last year with a great quality release in Andras. Fingers crossed they've followed suit here.

REVIEW: X-Transbots MX-II Andras

NOTE: This review was originally published on 22nd November 2015 on my Facebook page.

INTRODUCTION
X-Transbots have an interesting history as producer of so-called third party Transformers figures. Originally kicking off proceedings with their Powerglide homage, Glider, and subsequent repaints in 2012, they then spent the next few years producing a couple of upgrade kits for G1 combiners before eventually coming to everyone's attention in 2014 with releases like Krank and Ollie, representations of Huffer and Wheelie respectively. Despite a relatively slow burn in terms of schedule, a number of these releases were met with reports of variable quality control (or QC), with many even going as far as to say that they were simply not up to snuff, and like their apparent sister company KFC, they earned a decidedly mixed reputation.