Yesterday the TFW2005 staff took a look at the top Transformers of 2016, and today our focus turned squarely to the third party market. Digging into the results one fact was very clear: the third party market may now be as fragmented as it’s ever been, serving every niche from “Masterpiece” down to “Legends”. Fifteen companies were represented in our nearly sixty figures selected.
The market fragmentation lead to very diverse selections, with the top figures receiving a couple of votes more than the bulk of their competition. Notably, MakeToys Striker Manus nailed down three top votes and one honorable mention. FansToys Stomp thundered his way to two top and one honorable mention vote, and Mastermind Creations scored big with Carnifex by finally giving IDW’s Overlord a proper plastic form.
What do you think of our picks? What did we miss? See our entire list in the thread below. Also, make sure you check out CZ Hazard’s 2016 third party recap here.
dec0y13
I am totally stunned that neither Master Made SDT-02 Rex or SDT-03 Apollo made this list. They are both amazingly wonderful figs
GizmoTron
Striker Manus is everything 3rd Party done right. I would dare more companies in 2017 to try to follow up figures like Manus and Riotor Despotron with more unique designs and original takes on classic characters as opposed to another bland year of too many same looking uninspired MP-scaled stand-ins.
AspiringCreator
Apparently some people didn't get that short comment I made so I might as well go onto explain this a bit more.
Discussions are very normal and healthy for fandoms. Whether it be discussions about engineering, plastic quality or really any aspect, that's totally fine. However that's not what I'm referring to when I say that I agree with Vangelus in regards to his views on the squabbling over third party. What I am talking about (and what I'm sure he's referring to as well) are all the ridiculous fights that sprouted over the most minor things and I'm not talking just standard discussion but full-on arguments and battles that have occurred over things such as nitpicks, the scale of one figure being literally a hair off and more.
AspiringCreator
Oh for goodness sake, I don't mean every discussion is terrible. Discussion is good but I agree with Vangelus that the ridiculous battles that can sprout all because of disagreements is ridiculous.
chuckcjc
"The paint job on this figure is outstanding, and you'll find yourself wanting to put it in your mouth."
WTH… So odd.
primalxconvoy
I see. Thanks for the clarification.
bman29
I picked up Striker Manus a couple of months ago and I really dig it. That and Riotor Despotron are awesome. I having only recently started getting into 3rd party can see the appeal and the overwhelming amount of stuff that\'s out there. I still think it is IP piracy to a point, but the decline and change in ecomomics with Hasbro/Takara will contimue to drive people to these boutique offerings.
I think that BBTS is selling the Scrouge/Nemsis Prime Striker Manus version for $10-15 more of the same figure except in black is a little bit of a sting though. But that could be Maketoys doing. Pricing on a lot of 3rd party will always be a thing with me though. I can\'t justify the price of a figure going as much as a new game console or higher for some though.
Liege Prime
If Wei Jiang counts, than yeah, MPP10 takes the cake, with the runner up being their MP style evasion mode Prime.
Otherwise, for totally original molds, I would go with Stomp. I skipped a lot of the other MP style 3rd party figures since, as it was said, Takara seems like they want to fill these gaps themselves.
robh
i agree with you Ian. I'm getting a bit burned out on all the offerings, too. So much so that unless the toy is pretty much perfect, I'm out. I've only been collecting again for a few years, but in those short years, it has become apparent that things are changing. You no longer have to get a "placeholder" because 5 other companies will soon be making their version of a character you really like.
edgs2099
Civilized discussion and someone shouting "Spinout SUCKS1, his fat chest is shit!" are one and the same. You'll never get everyone holding hands agreeing to disagree. Arguing/discussing differing options is a skill, and with that it's a skill that not a lot of people possess. This is a world of people moslty without that skill. You can't curtail the loud ugliness without inadvertently chasing away the civilized discussion. Engage in one, ignore the other.
Fretburn
No one was complaining about discussing things. It's the vitriolic and hostile way some people here need to discuss things. See anything by 18InchCombiner.
edgs2099
Yes, discussing things we like and don't like about toys/collectables is a pretty fucking stupid thing to do on a website dedicated to said toys/collectables.
Sovietbot
My list:
1. MPP10 by WJ. Size like MP-01. The colors from original MP-10
Colors of optics like the MP from Hasbro. He is the best!)
2. Perfection Series RMX-01 Jaguar Premium Edition Ocular Max by MMC.
On a lot cooler than the official Ravage! It remains only to make MPP13 Soudwave from WJ!)
AspiringCreator
Oh it's not that stuff, the engineering debates and such are healthy but for a lot of this year, it was fighting over nitpicks and such.
Lord Dcast
Is it weird that I heard Vangelus' voice as I was reading his pick?
primalxconvoy
I believe the context is in fighting over THIRD PARTIES' design choices, and not official figures, right? Obviously, this is in a third party discussion, so I'll leave it at that.
However, I believe debate on design choices is a healthy thing. Personally, I would rather functional, followed by fun transformations for any TF you and I'm easily put off a purchase by what I might feel as an overly complex transformation, especially if there is a risk of stress marks/breaking the toy.
kaotika
meanwhile no dante or hellfire.
Lord Dcast
So the staff is saying its good, but other's aren't. Can I get a quick lowdown on the general consensus of the combiner? Can the legs be fixed?