The Energon Pub

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:23 am

I have received email confirmation that my set of Mech iDeas Topspin & Twin Twist have been shipped and on their merry way!

You know what, I cant seem to remember what the last full complete 3rd Party figure was that I bought? I just cant afford to splash the cash, but when I can they tend to be sold out! :-(

FP Warbot - Nope!
FP Assaulter - Darn it!
FP Chromedome - Doh!
( :-?

familiar trend going on there...?)

I think my last addition was the FP Thundershred, second hand via Ebay, but he is a little 'worn' here and there, but apart from a small amount of 3P weapons and various armours, no real proper honst to gosh 3P full figures!! :lol:

News Credits: 1 · by **Sodan-1** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:37 am

I've been unsure about these two for a few months, and BBTS processed my pre-order before I'd fully decided. Thankfully these reviews have put my uncertainty to rest and I'm quite happy I've forked out for them.

I still wish Geminus' drills were bigger and could fold down onto his back. And I still wish Apex was a little more streamlined and had bigger wings. But they're cracking homages to the characters.

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:49 am

Sodan-1 wrote:I've been unsure about these two for a few months, and BBTS processed my pre-order before I'd fully decided. Thankfully these reviews have put my uncertainty to rest and I'm quite happy I've forked out for them.

I still wish Geminus' drills were bigger and could fold down onto his back. And I still wish Apex was a little more streamlined and had bigger wings. But they're cracking homages to the characters.

They sure are!

It is really warming to know that these days it has become a relatively straight forward process to create a modern take with up to date, clever engineering and articulation.

Much love to the cutting edge designers, engineers and fan-made companies willing to give it a go!

News Credits: 10 · by **Agamemnon** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:45 pm

Got mine today. They look sweet. I can't wait to get them home and check them out.

One note of caution!! I bought mine through BBTS, and the damaged face a-la IDW Comic is in a separate plastic bag from the carded figures. I just thought I would share. I'd hate for anybody to accidentally throw it away with the box filler.

News Credits: 8 · by **gema** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:10 pm

My DC-01 Apex and DC-02 Geminus review :grin:

http://blackplasticlife.blogspot.com/2013/02/mech-ideas-demolition-crue-apex-and.html

Hope you guys enjoy, sorry for my English

News Credits: 4 · by **craggy** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:03 pm

be nice if someone did something similar for the 2 sets of clone brothers. Wingspan and Pounce might be a bit more problematic, but looking at the articulation on these I reckon it'd be doable. Fastlane and Cloud...thingy... could practically be repaints of these guys!

Hope Mech iDeas stick with more of the less popular characters for their next few releases. Some Sparkabots or a Flywheels or something?

News Credits: 1 · by **datguy86** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:56 pm

These guys are fantastic - and the weapons blew me away too. I was looking for the extra tank turret I thought was missing from the packaging. Then I looked at the hammer a little more closely and realized it could break down. Fantastic!

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:51 pm

A few shots of Mech iDeas DC01 Apex (Twin Twist)(Top Spin)

Full gallery here - http://s1327.beta.photobucket.com/user/robotmel/library/Transformers/The%20Wreckers/Mech%20iDeas%20-%20Demolition%20Crue%20-%20DC01%20-%20Apex?

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:01 pm

These guys are absolutely beautiful. My hat's off to Mech Ideas for these two. Nigh-perfect Topspin and Twin Twist, here.

News Credits: 1 · by **Brakethrough** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:42 pm

I absolutely love these two...but my Geminus has got two right hands

News Credits: 10 · by **Agamemnon** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:11 pm

Brakethrough wrote:I absolutely love these two...but my Geminus has got two right hands

Who'd you order from? BBTS is good about taking care of customers. Not sure about the others. If it was BBTS, let them know and they should get you a left hand.

by **Rated X** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:31 pm

Agamemnon wrote:
Brakethrough wrote:I absolutely love these two...but my Geminus has got two right hands

Who'd you order from? BBTS is good about taking care of customers. Not sure about the others. If it was BBTS, let them know and they should get you a left hand.

Agreed. BBTS takes good care of you. Theyll e-mail you a UPS return label and ship out your replacement as soon as they recieve the bad one. All you have to provide is a box and you can use the bubble wrap they sent youre order in.

News Credits: 1 · by **Brakethrough** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:11 pm

Thanks folks. If anyone out there gets their Geminus out of the package and finds he's got two left hands, maybe we can do an exchange :p

News Credits: 2 · by **Banjo-Tron** » Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:55 am

robotmel wrote::D

A few shots of Mech iDeas DC01 Apex (Twin Twist)

Damn! Who did you order from? Kapow?

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Thu Feb 21, 2013 3:39 am

Banjo-Tron wrote:
robotmel wrote::D

A few shots of Mech iDeas DC01 Apex (Twin Twist)(Top Spin)

Damn! Who did you order from? Kapow?

Nope, I have finally took the plunge and went with BBTS!

I am really pleased with their service, great comms, extremely well packaged in a massive box and lots of bubblewrap, very secure!

I didnt realise BBTS where based in the U.S. or is that address just a middle shipping address of some sort? :???:

Very pleased with the Mech iDeas figures so far, although the lil wing things have popped off a couple of times and there is are tiny stress marks where they connect? :-?

Gonna unbox Geminus tonight I think, also need to unbox Grind Rod too!
Ooooh 3rd Party loveliness ahoy! :grin:

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:14 am

robotmel wrote:

That's... an unfortunate pose.

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Thu Feb 21, 2013 6:29 am

The weapons which come with The Demolition Crue are lovely, a really nice sculpt, fit securely in hands and holes

and that weird shiny coating is spot on!

The card back shows the hammer broken down into its 3 pieces and attached to the forearm/wrist creating a blaster of sorts but Im not quite sure how this is done? Anyone gave it a try yet? :-?

News Credits: 14 · by **robotmel** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:03 pm

A few shots of Mech iDeas DC02 Geminus (Top Spin) (Twin Twist)

Full gallery here - http://s1327.beta.photobucket.com/user/robotmel/library/Transformers/The%20Wreckers/Mech%20iDeas%20-%20Demolition%20Crue%20-%20DC02%20-%20Geminus

News Credits: 10 · by **Agamemnon** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:15 pm

robotmel wrote:The card back shows the hammer broken down into its 3 pieces and attached to the forearm/wrist creating a blaster of sorts but Im not quite sure how this is done? Anyone gave it a try yet?

I did. It mounts to the forearm in the same way the tank turret use of the hammer in vehicle mode. The handle parts store on the hammer head like under the rear of vehicle mode. The angle of the picture makes it look really cool. In reality, it is anything but cool.

I might be able to take a pic over the weekend, unless someone else beats me to it.

One thing that would have been cool would have been storage for the rifles in bot mode when the hammer is in use. I've taken to storing the hammer on the back when holding the rifles. (I'll try to take a pic of that too.) Another cool possibility would have been using the hammer handle parts as muzzle flash suppressor or silencer.

These complaints are really nitpicking. I think I've gotten spoiled by the likes of TFC and FP. I actually like these bots a ton. I'm trying to decide if I want to display the damaged face or not. I really like both heads. These are also quite nice to fiddle with.

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:28 pm

Agamemnon wrote:
One thing that would have been cool would have been storage for the rifles in bot mode when the hammer is in use. I've taken to storing the hammer on the back when holding the rifles. (I'll try to take a pic of that too.) Another cool possibility would have been using the hammer handle parts as muzzle flash suppressor or silencer.

Well, the holes in the backside can fit the rifle handles perfectly. I've got them holding a rifle and hammer and storing a rifle there.

One thing I noticed and don't think has been commented on, each one of them has a little painted section in their upper-left chest. That corresponds to the original jumpstarter's latch that kept them folded up in vehicle mode. How cool is that?!

News Credits: 10 · by **Agamemnon** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 10:44 pm

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:
Agamemnon wrote:
One thing that would have been cool would have been storage for the rifles in bot mode when the hammer is in use. I've taken to storing the hammer on the back when holding the rifles. (I'll try to take a pic of that too.) Another cool possibility would have been using the hammer handle parts as muzzle flash suppressor or silencer.

Well, the holes in the backside can fit the rifle handles perfectly. I've got them holding a rifle and hammer and storing a rifle there.

That is true. I just don't like the aesthetics. I prefer my guns/rifles to be slung across the back, on the hip, or attached to the legs. Just a personal preference. I took some pics to illustrate this as well as show the hammer in arm blaster mode (which I really hate) and where I store the hammer when dual wielding blasters:

You can see the gun hanging between the legs. Just not my cup of tea...

This was close to the back of the package and doesn't look too bad.

But you can see how much it hangs over. Again, I don't like it, but others may.

Hammer storage time. (Can't touch this.....I am such a child of the 80s)

I didn't notice until I had uploaded the photo that the wing is tipped a little. This is not necessary. The hammer stores fine with wings in normal positions. Related to this, I guess if I had one complaint a little more significant than the storage of the weapons it would be the looseness of some of the joints. I haven't fiddled with these guys much, but some parts are rather loose in the ball joints. Their feet and backpacks are probably the worst right now. Shoulders, arms, hips, and ACL tearing motion of the knees are all still very tight.

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:03 am

Apex and Geminus using Topspin and Twin Twist reprolables and custom Wreckers symbols:

News Credits: 1 · by **Brakethrough** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 10:45 pm

Just hear back from BBTS customer service, and they're just going to ship me a new one, no return required!

Far and away the best customer service I've ever experienced anywhere.

News Credits: 33 · by **Genocide G2.0** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:38 pm

Just ordered these guys off Kapow i was only gonna stick to combiners this year but they snook in, i held off for week and just craved them too bad plus the price was spot on , should have them by the end of the week.

News Credits: 2 · by **Banjo-Tron** » Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:41 am

Autobot Genocide wrote:Just ordered these guys off Kapow i was only gonna stick to combiners this year but they snook in, i held off for week and just craved them too bad plus the price was spot on , should have them by the end of the week.

You won't regret it, I got mine deleivered by Kapow yesterday. Unfortunately they didn't supply the extra battle damaged head, but by no means was that a given. The figures themselves are really nice. Great plastic, sharp paint apps, they hold together extremely well in both modes. Poseability is exceptional in my opinion. Anatomically, these chaps are rather top heavy with overly-long arms, but this doesn't overly spoil them. These are fantastic value for money, too.

This is the perfect way for any new third party to establish themselves - start small. Pick obscurish characters and put your own stamp on them. The packaging and bios are wonderful too. I would love to see these guys handle Rack 'n' ruin, I could even see them using the same basic mould with a lot of retooling. The hammer melee weapon is already perfect for one of them. I would buy Rack 'n' Ruin off these guys in a shot, although obviously the market will be smaller than the one for the Jumpstarters.