The Energon Pub

I've been lurking here for a while and after reading through Rodimus Prime's thread about Herc vs Giant, I finally decided to plunge into collecting some of the 3rd party combiner sets.

I'm looking for opinions on where to start.

As a kid I always loved Devastator, so I was thinking TFC Herc/ Maketoys Giant to start (and right now I am leaning towards Giant)

But after that, I'm somewhat lost. I kind of want them all to scale within reason (though Warbotron is just so massively awesome, I may have to say the heck with the scale)

Fansproject Intimidator - based on the other thread about Herc vs Giant, he seems to scale well with either and I really like his look

How about some of the others?
Maketoys Quantron
TFC Uranos
mmc feral rex (are either tfc or ut worth contemplating?)
Maketoys/TFC Defensor

It seems like (based on pictures and reading) Maketoys (Devy, Computron, Defensor) look like they scale well with Menasor. Meanwhile TFC Devy/Superion scale well with each other (but not so well with the others?). Warbotron seems to just blows away all notion of scale.

I guess my questions are:
[*]Where does MMC Predaking (or others) fall between the two general sets of scales?
[*]I've got Generations FOC Bruticus, how does he scale against some of these 3rd party combiners?
[*]If, as I am leaning now, I go Giant, am I best to go with Maketoys Computron,Defensor and hope they get to the Aerialbots? (this would likely allow me to get Giant now, and possibly spring for Menasor while waiting/saving for the rest to be released)

(Obviously based on prices and release schedules this is a very long term plan. One can plan and dream though ...)

thanks all!

The 3rd party combiners I'd recommend buying are Maketoys Green Giant, Fans Project Intimidator and MMC Feral Rex.

Welcome to the boards!

Advice on collecting third party combiners, wait for everything to come out first before jumping in! Or you'll wait like two years for MMC's Prediking or over pay for TFC's Herc.

Such a loaded question. I have Herc, Giant, FP's Superion, FP's Bruticus, Uranos, FP's Menasor, much of MMC's Predaking, and UT's Predaking and the only one I regret getting is UT's Predaking due to QC issues. Gotta ask you some questions first, though:

1) how are you with complexity? Are you into really complex toys or simpler designs?
2) how are you with price?
3) what are your feelings on add on sets?
4) what is your favorite combiner after Devestator?

I think Giant's a great place to start. He's certainly got a lot going for him. My advice would really depend on what you like based on the questions, but if you like TFC's stuff I'd advise waiting to get a full set mainly because it seems to be cheaper to do so.

spinrut wrote:I guess my questions are:
[*]Where does MMC Predaking (or others) fall between the two general sets of scales?
[*]I've got Generations FOC Bruticus, how does he scale against some of these 3rd party combiners?
[*]If, as I am leaning now, I go Giant, am I best to go with Maketoys Computron,Defensor and hope they get to the Aerialbots? (this would likely allow me to get Giant now, and possibly spring for Menasor while waiting/saving for the rest to be released)

(Obviously based on prices and release schedules this is a very long term plan. One can plan and dream though ...)

thanks all!

My biggest advice is to pick a scale and stick with it.
If you like the size or look of Giant, combiners from FansProject and Maketoys are in that scale.

If you prefer the size or look of Herc, TFC and MMC (and to a lesser degree Warbotron) are more in that size class.

To your specific questions, MMC's Predaking is of the larger Herc size. Many people write this off, however, because the G1 Predaking was larger that the other combiners. So you can take that into consideration.

FOC Bruticus fits OK with the smaller Maketoys sized combiners, but is a little small. There are a couple 3P options out there for him, including a new Onslaught in a voyager size to make him more proportional!

If you like Giant, stick with products from Maketoys and FP. They will fit best size-wise against each other.

Personally, I prefer the larger combiners, so I like the TFC stuff more, but it is all a matter of personal preference.

You also asked if the TFC Predaking is worth checking out. I say yes. While I'm all in for the MMC version, I have been tempted many times by the TFC release. There are things I like about both and if I had infinite resources, I'd happily have both.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

Before you take the plunge here are some new images of Hasbros upcoming Superion and Menasor , for us all to enjoy .

Autobot Genocide wrote:Before you take the plunge here are some new images of Hasbros upcoming Superion and Menasor , for us all to enjoy .

A bit chunky, overall not too bad, but FINALLY! Menasor's knees looks weird, and it kinda suggest that it would allow for a reversed position(top of car facing backwards in limb mode)? And is that a 5th car on his chest? Seems to be able to transform into potentially a new character?

Superion, however, looks like he's gonna have problems with his hips/thighs(also Silverbolt's shoulders/arms) with all that weight.

I think I honestly prefer the 3rd party efforts so far to both of these. I'll still get 'em, but even so.

mooncake623 wrote:Welcome to the boards!

Advice on collecting third party combiners, wait for everything to come out first before jumping in! Or you'll wait like two years for MMC's Prediking or over pay for TFC's Herc.

Hah, yeah I was checking out menasor before all pieces were released and just said to myself "what a slow burn waiting for them all." That is one nice thing about computron is that he's an all in one purchase ...too bad he comes with a $500 price tag

As I said I am expecting this to be a drawn out effort due to the financial investment part as well as the release schedule part.

One other thing that comes to mind ... do prices generally go down after the initial roll out or do they tend to go up? I saw herc and giant price both seemed to fluctuate a lot but I couldn't really tell why.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Such a loaded question. I have Herc, Giant, FP's Superion, FP's Bruticus, Uranos, FP's Menasor, much of MMC's Predaking, and UT's Predaking and the only one I regret getting is UT's Predaking due to QC issues. Gotta ask you some questions first, though:

1) how are you with complexity? Are you into really complex toys or simpler designs?
2) how are you with price?
3) what are your feelings on add on sets?
4) what is your favorite combiner after Devestator?

I think Giant's a great place to start. He's certainly got a lot going for him. My advice would really depend on what you like based on the questions, but if you like TFC's stuff I'd advise waiting to get a full set mainly because it seems to be cheaper to do so.

Thanks for the insight, and yeah this was a totally loaded question as many seem to be in 1 camp or the other

To your questions:
Complexity: I am ok with it. Ill likely be leaving them in combined mode
Price: I am willing to splurge on one set if needed but am trying to limit my "big" purchases to once a year or so.
addons: I am ok with them to an extent

For me, after Devy it basically goes predaking, menasor, superion

kind of works out but it kind of doesnt in terms of what is already released.

rpetras wrote:

spinrut wrote:I guess my questions are:
[*]Where does MMC Predaking (or others) fall between the two general sets of scales?
[*]I've got Generations FOC Bruticus, how does he scale against some of these 3rd party combiners?
[*]If, as I am leaning now, I go Giant, am I best to go with Maketoys Computron,Defensor and hope they get to the Aerialbots? (this would likely allow me to get Giant now, and possibly spring for Menasor while waiting/saving for the rest to be released)

(Obviously based on prices and release schedules this is a very long term plan. One can plan and dream though ...)

thanks all!

My biggest advice is to pick a scale and stick with it.
If you like the size or look of Giant, combiners from FansProject and Maketoys are in that scale.

If you prefer the size or look of Herc, TFC and MMC (and to a lesser degree Warbotron) are more in that size class.

To your specific questions, MMC's Predaking is of the larger Herc size. Many people write this off, however, because the G1 Predaking was larger that the other combiners. So you can take that into consideration.

FOC Bruticus fits OK with the smaller Maketoys sized combiners, but is a little small. There are a couple 3P options out there for him, including a new Onslaught in a voyager size to make him more proportional!

If you like Giant, stick with products from Maketoys and FP. They will fit best size-wise against each other.

Personally, I prefer the larger combiners, so I like the TFC stuff more, but it is all a matter of personal preference.

You also asked if the TFC Predaking is worth checking out. I say yes. While I'm all in for the MMC version, I have been tempted many times by the TFC release. There are things I like about both and if I had infinite resources, I'd happily have both.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

Wow thanks for all this info. In fact thanks everyone for their helpful and insightful info. You confirmed a lot of my guesses about scales between the diff 3rd parties and reminded me of the bruticus addons.

What is the expected timeline for mmc and tfc predaking pieces to be all released?

Infinite resources ... you and me both!

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I think I honestly prefer the 3rd party efforts so far to both of these. I'll still get 'em, but even so.

My initial reaction is the same. I'd prefer the 3rd party versions better but will likely (and sadly) end up getting them anyway.

Should we expect these to be similar in size to hasbro's previous combiner sets (bruticus maximus and superion)

I am guessing we'll see some 3rd party addons to enhance them

spinrut wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I think I honestly prefer the 3rd party efforts so far to both of these. I'll still get 'em, but even so.

My initial reaction is the same. I'd prefer the 3rd party versions better but will likely (and sadly) end up getting them anyway.

Should we expect these to be similar in size to hasbro's previous combiner sets (bruticus maximus and superion)

I am guessing we'll see some 3rd party addons to enhance them

Pretty sure I'll be saying "no, thank you" to both of these.

This ain't worth taking FP Menasor down off the shelf but i am impressed that hasbro used a voyager for the body .

Those feet hands and head are screaming for a kit already .

Hasbro pulled a Uranos by adding an optional 6th member to be the chest plate.

I will give it this: it's better then FoC Bruticus.

Oh, god. I didn't see the feet on that... thing!

RIght now, I have TFC Hercules, FP Intimidator, 3/5 MMC Predaking, and am eagerly awaiting Microblaze Onslaught so I can upgrade my Platinum Edition Bruticus.

I am very happy with my selections, and enjoy the larger size. Intimidator is slightly smaller, but he definitely can fit in with the larger scale combiners. I find Hercules to be the most fun out of all of them though.

I would note that MMC's Predaking was somewhat easier on my wallet because of all the early bird specials. Given the time between all the releases, I'm not sure there will be enough stock of the original members to allow the retailers to sell discounted sets of 5. We'll see.

With microblaze onslaught, how much bigger does foc bruti get? Normally he's obviously a lil undersized but with the upgrade???

I was trying to find comparison pics of plain foc vs microblaze onslaught but was coming up empty

Thanks for the input, it's fairly obvious either devy works and that at the end of the day it's just personal preference.

spinrut wrote:With microblaze onslaught, how much bigger does foc bruti get? Normally he's obviously a lil undersized but with the upgrade???

I was trying to find comparison pics of plain foc vs microblaze onslaught but was coming up empty

Thanks for the input, it's fairly obvious either devy works and that at the end of the day it's just personal preference.

Good question. It's really hard to say. I would think he'll be a little taller, but not too much. MBC's Onslaught appears to fix the proportions, and make him slightly beefier, but we can't sure how much the kit will boost his height.

this is a hugely loaded question. youve gotten a lot of really solid input so far, but the biggest issue will end up being your personal prefference. youve really got to do your homework. i can honestly say i spent hours looking at pics, reading up, and watching videos about all the 3P combiners before i made my decisions.

you certainly have your choices fro a predaking. devastator comes down to herc or giant. the rest of the combiners havent been covered by multiple companies yet, but it will eventually happen. so maybe pick a horse to bet on. if i had to, id bet on maketoys. their computron looks amazing and makes me drool at the thought of their future combiners.

as far as microblaze's bruticus, it looks amazing. but im not getting it because they arent giving me the colors i want, i dont want to discard my official onslaught's, and i dont want to pull apart my other figures to make it all work. all that aside, MB will end up making the best looking FOC bruticus hands down.