MakeToys Giant Set "B" Mobile Crane and Dump Truck Video Review and Images

Nearly 14 minutes of a bunch of uummm uhhhh buuuts. Edited out the transformation but none of the droning on. Sounds logical. How about showing the face in a clear still shot? Why not show the screw/pile driver looking pieces? Hand articulation? All that video and I barely know any more than I went in with. If we're calling these things video reviews, review the toys. Just calling it like I see it.

Nice review man, excellent, clear visuals as ususal. Great use of lighting. I need to get these guys in green so badly

Nearly 14 minutes of a bunch of uummm uhhhh buuuts. Edited out the transformation but none of the droning on. Sounds logical. How about showing the face in a clear still shot? Why not show the screw/pile driver looking pieces? Hand articulation? All that video and I barely know any more than I went in with. If we're calling these things video reviews, review the toys. Just calling it like I see it.

You know the guy took time out of his day to film that review just so everyone could see it. He clearly explained why he didn't transform on camera. Maybe a little gratitude is in order instead of unnecessary cynicism? Besides, it's not like "IN ORDER TO BE AN OFFICIAL REVIEWER THIS MUST BE IN THE VIDEO" just calling it like I see it too.

KenjaminLinus wrote:
You know the guy took time out of his day to film that review just so everyone could see it. He clearly explained why he didn't transform on camera. Maybe a little gratitude is in order instead of unnecessary cynicism? Besides, it's not like "IN ORDER TO BE AN OFFICIAL REVIEWER THIS MUST BE IN THE VIDEO" just calling it like I see it too.

Maybe he could have taken a few more minutes to figure out the figures better and transform them. Maybe he could have take even a few more minutes and edit this into something that doesn't remind me of middle school girls attempting conversation. Gratitude for what? I literally know one detail more from that video than I already did. I'm a cynic because this video is bad and could be much better. You want a decent review? Here you go. http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transform ... ost7614268 That video is a guy repeating his opinion on two figures he hardly explores in the video.

Flux Convoy is a steaming pile of slag. Just 'calling it as I see it'.

worldsgreatest wrote:Flux Convoy is a steaming pile of slag. Just 'calling it as I see it'.

Sure, you got me.

I hate review threads.

*meanwhile*

I really want the Longhaul figure.

Can anyone who finally gets set B (Still waiting on mine from tfsource) tell me whether Hook has a problem with all his wheels touching the floor and rolling freely? I feel thats a pretty big annoyance and could be fixed with some adjustment to all the overall pieces in alt. mode. Thanks.

Show of hands:
How many of you would show gratitude for me reviewing myself scratch my ass for 30 mins?

I always wanted to be the first one to be called a steaming pile of slag...
F U up the A Flux; how dare you steal my joy!

Hmmm... I learned that the vehicle shoulder pads are entirely unnecessary, given they can just flip up and show that the arm pieces are almost independent of the bots. Interesting...

KenjaminLinus wrote:

Nearly 14 minutes of a bunch of uummm uhhhh buuuts. Edited out the transformation but none of the droning on. Sounds logical. How about showing the face in a clear still shot? Why not show the screw/pile driver looking pieces? Hand articulation? All that video and I barely know any more than I went in with. If we're calling these things video reviews, review the toys. Just calling it like I see it.

You know the guy took time out of his day to film that review just so everyone could see it. He clearly explained why he didn't transform on camera. Maybe a little gratitude is in order instead of unnecessary cynicism? Besides, it's not like "IN ORDER TO BE AN OFFICIAL REVIEWER THIS MUST BE IN THE VIDEO" just calling it like I see it too.

In my opinion, the transformation should always be shown. Im sure some might take this the wrong way, but I see so called "reviews" as nothing more than online transformation tutorials. I usually dont watch them until I have the figure in my hands. Let somebody else do the hard work and risk breaking the figure trying to figure it out. Theyre the experts, right ? Take one for the team !!!

BraveMax@TFW2005 wrote:The reason why the head's been "hidden" in all of the pictures we've seen is because the neck is PURPOSELY MOLDED THAT WAY. It means that Giant is ALWAYS looking slightly down. You cannot truly straighten his head or have him look up. Not a fan of that design choice personally...

Jeez, that really kinda sucks. I'm also guessing the replacement head and flaps coming with the next set will not be a new mold either, since they did just use the word "replacement" instead of something like "fixed version". I was at least hoping not-Hook's foot/head would at be able to move around and possibly help balance the figure, but apparently this is impossible. Everything I've seen and read about Giant's not-Hook really shows that he's just a complete mess.

Edit: Actually it is possible to use the head as a balancing toe, I've just never seen anyone do it outside of the official images. Silly me for forgetting that.

After seeing that review, I'm not liking Giant all that much anymore, especially when you start comparing it to Herc and the modded G1 versions.

It almost feels as if Giant was designed with only combined mode in mind - with vehicle mode as a somewhat close second, and robot mode paying the price for the low price tag.

When you compare against Hercules - sure you might have had a small pile of parts off to the side when the team was in robot mode (specifically Structor and Exgraver's cabs and both Devy hands), or had Neckbreaker's Hand off to the side when all are in vehicle mode, but the team looked good in all modes - with the exception of Neckbreaker's vehicle mode (which I would love to see TFC do a Neckbreaker 2.0 and fix the figure). To me at least, the bigger size feels about right to scale with FansProject Bruticus, so he looks good on the Classics shelf next to the various FansProject pieces.

Giant, on the other hand, has really strong vehicle modes, but a few of them have minor kibble issues. Three of the robot modes are actually bad enough to be strong enough reasons for me not to spend money on the set, with only Dump Truck being the only robot that's selling the second set to me. Combined mode, however, is where this set is doing well - baring the head/neck issue. Until someone compares a completed Giant next to something, I'm not going to have an accurate read for that. He looks to be about FP Bruticus in height, and (to me atleast) that feels small for a Devastator.

Really, this seems like a case of "you get what you pay for". Yeah, Herc will set you back at least another $100-$200 over Giant (depending on how lucky you can get), but that extra $100-$200 brings you generally better engineering because the design team could budget for it.

I'll be waiting for the third set (and other reviews), but so far, I don't think I'll be spending money on Giant, while I was kinda hoping too =/

Oh wow guys, thanks. I appreciate the link on here, and credit. It's unfortnate that Flux Convoy seems to have been bitten by the "hater bug", but that's the internet and trolls for ya... and, of course, I'm just calling it like I see it.

He did ask for some clear pictures of the face... so here, how about some very clear shots of both the bots and the gestalt?



















Thanks again guys, and the site is looking awesome. I miss talking to my IL. boys on here.

How the hell is the current gestalt head an issue? Coz it doesn't look up any higher than it does in pics??? That looks high enough for me, can see the entire face, looks fine. Pretty retarded thing to complain about. So far, the only complaint that actually might be legit, is the chest causing Hook's vehicle mode to not roll freely. Everything else just gets better the more I read and see more pics. I hadn't checked out the HERC individual bot pics in a while, and dear lord are some of them ugly. Exgravers huge shoulders and wide set hips for starters. To say the robot modes were the last on the list of priorities is ridiculous. I will give you Hook's thin knees; those are unnatractive when seen from the side.

The head isn't molded to face downwards. I corrected that non-truth on TFW. It faces straightforward, but it just doesn't look UP. The head being recessed, and the forehead area taking up so much of the front of his face makes him look like he's looking down unless you're looking at him straight on.

MINDVVIPE wrote:How the hell is the current gestalt head an issue? Coz it doesn't look up any higher than it does in pics??? That looks high enough for me, can see the entire face, looks fine. Pretty retarded thing to complain about. So far, the only complaint that actually might be legit, is the chest causing Hook's vehicle mode to not roll freely. Everything else just gets better the more I read and see more pics. I hadn't checked out the HERC individual bot pics in a while, and dear lord are some of them ugly. Exgravers huge shoulders and wide set hips for starters. To say the robot modes were the last on the list of priorities is ridiculous. I will give you Hook's thin knees; those are unnatractive when seen from the side.

So the robot arm connectors that hang off the back of the robot modes, as seen in your sig,the don't matter?

And what about the two arm robots bing mostly hollow, one of which has a head connector that looks like something begging to be snapped from normal wear and tear? If you look at the arms (and now the crane) from the wrong point of view, they look horrible.

The Herc team has attitude, it's also got chunk and heft reminiscent of most of my collection (which is primarily G1). For me, the fragile appearance of the Giant figures I've seen in YouTube reviews is a pretty big turn off. YMMV on that point

Almagnus1 wrote:So the robot arm connectors that hang off the back of the robot modes, as seen in your sig,the don't matter?

And what about the two arm robots bing mostly hollow, one of which has a head connector that looks like something begging to be snapped from normal wear and tear? If you look at the arms (and now the crane) from the wrong point of view, they look horrible.

The Herc team has attitude, it's also got chunk and heft reminiscent of most of my collection (which is primarily G1). For me, the fragile appearance of the Giant figures I've seen in YouTube reviews is a pretty big turn off. YMMV on that point

The arm connectors don't bother me at all. There are a ton of TFs in my collection with kibble here and there (and much worse). They're robots, They are allowed to have robotic parts visible. The gaps don't bother me either (they used to). Some of my favourite TFs have gaps. Warbot Defender has a very clear albeit thin gap by his neck and chest. If it bothers you, you can always reposition the connectors so they fill the gaps. The connector hanging off the back isn't THAT bad.

Considering all this, and then considering how much better I think Giants combined mode looks, which is pretty much what matters most... Well, we can go on forever. But I wanted to be clear to other readers (who might not have bought either yet) that the issues aren't nearly as bad as people make them out to be, or appear to be from pictures. As for the neck on Scavenger being fragile, time well tell. For now, its as solid as ever even with the tightness.

TJ Duckett wrote:The head isn't molded to face downwards. I corrected that non-truth on TFW. It faces straightforward, but it just doesn't look UP. The head being recessed, and the forehead area taking up so much of the front of his face makes him look like he's looking down unless you're looking at him straight on.

Ah, that's not so bad then. Thanks for clearing that up. Though I should've just been paying more attention to the thread.

To me the individual figures are what like the most about these sets, even with their flaws. They just look far more dynamic than any of the Hercules figures. To some, what's on their backs looks like combiner kibble, these people are highly unimaginative, just pretend they're Energon powerpacks. I mean it's not like they have combiner hands blatantly hanging off of them. Mobile Crane may have a head for a foot, but if you can't see it's face then it's not a head, it's just a foot.

To me all the Herc figures look lame, plain, lanky and even too blocky for my tastes. Heck some of them are actually worse about tucking away kibble.


Wheel Loader is a freaking badass. To me, Structor just looks like a lame duck in comparison.

Wheel loader DOES look badassed. Here are a few more of Dump Truck:

TJ Duckett wrote: It's unfortnate that Flux Convoy seems to have been bitten by the "hater bug", but that's the internet and trolls for ya... and, of course, I'm just calling it like I see it.

He did ask for some clear pictures of the face... so here, how about some very clear shots of both the bots and the gestalt?

No, what's unfortunate is that everyone got so butthurt about my two cents of your "review". It isn't so much that I'm trying to be insulting but would you have sat 14 minutes of that? To your credit, you've mostly taken it in stride and shown clear pictures. I thank you for that. However, I'd ask that you keep your personal attacks or insults to yourself though. Troll? Please, you don't know me or my experience in the fandom.

TJ Duckett, can those pistons on the back of his arms be used for anything cos they look redundant to me so far.

Almagnus1 wrote:Really, this seems like a case of "you get what you pay for". Yeah, Herc will set you back at least another $100-$200 over Giant (depending on how lucky you can get), but that extra $100-$200 brings you generally better engineering because the design team could budget for it.

Does 'better engineering' include all the flaws in the molds that I read about?

I get my set b in Wednesday and I will be doing full reviews on everything alt mode bot mode and combined mode and I will compare every mode to hercs modes. I will be doing 3 separate videos one for each mode and I will try and be as thrall as possible. So if anyone wants to check them out they will be going up in the afternoon sometime because my ups driver comes anywhere from 10am to 2pm

This review was awesome, don't know what some lamer is talking about, they should probably just delete their account for all the whining.

This is the best representation of G1 Devastator to date, I have a full G1 crazy devy set and it is a complete waste of money compared to this set (In green). The robot modes are definately something to be desired but that's why I have hercules. I intend to display the green set in Devastator mode (As he is the TRUE representation of the character), and hercules in their individual but highly accurate to the G1 robot counterparts infront of devastator, and it will look amazing. Not to mention all of the dynamic poses you can get out of the hercules robot modes.

If you doubt me I'll post some pictures up some time, my hook has got his arms crossed with both guns in hand in quite the gunslinger fashion, my Scavenger looks as he did when he leans in to fire upon the autobots much like he did in the Transformers movie (1988), and scrapper (My favourite of the constructicons) in a kneeling shooting pose with his abdomen leaning away from his target to balance himself, quite freaking awesome.

Flux Convoy wrote:

TJ Duckett wrote:QQing nonsense

I'd say Cool story... but, that really wasn't.

Jehuty wrote:This review was awesome, don't know what some lamer is talking about, they should probably just delete their account for all the whining.

This is the best representation of G1 Devastator to date, I have a full G1 crazy devy set and it is a complete waste of money compared to this set (In green). The robot modes are definately something to be desired but that's why I have hercules. I intend to display the green set in Devastator mode (As he is the TRUE representation of the character), and hercules in their individual but highly accurate to the G1 robot counterparts infront of devastator, and it will look amazing. Not to mention all of the dynamic poses you can get out of the hercules robot modes.

If you doubt me I'll post some pictures up some time, my hook has got his arms crossed with both guns in hand in quite the gunslinger fashion, my scrapper looks as he did when he leans in to fire upon the autobots much like he did in the Transformers movie (1988), and scrapper (My favourite of the constructicons) in a kneeling shooting pose with his abdomen leaning away from his target to balance himself, quite freaking awesome.

LoL @ the first sentence, and the gestalt mode IS nice, but I'm liking the Hercules bots as seperates a bit more. They've got that beefy, "monster" vibe to them next to classics that just looks great.

Transformation video:

As I'm looking at these well captured poses (kudos, Kuma), I'm thinking of some minor mods I can do for Mobile Crane. First, Im just going to unscrew the crane and install a make shift peg system onto it. Then I gotta carve the ball socket in the back of the combined mode head.
Then again, perhaps this is something Dr. Wu can hook up? We'll see, but these seem like minor mods for those with a hobby dremel a leftover model sprue tree and some superglue gel.

Court Jester wrote:As I'm looking at these well captured poses (kudos, Kuma), I'm thinking of some minor mods I can do for Mobile Crane. First, Im just going to unscrew the crane and install a make shift peg system onto it. Then I gotta carve the ball socket in the back of the combined mode head.
Then again, perhaps this is something Dr. Wu can hook up? We'll see, but these seem like minor mods for those with a hobby dremel a leftover model sprue tree and some superglue gel.

Hey, thank you. Honestly, I'd love to see what you do with the crane. In hand, it feels like it was screwed on to maintain tightness in bot mode (since, in alt., the pressure of the two sides would keep it tightly in place. I "get it", but I also feel like something could've been set up to make it removable.

Thanks for doing that video =)

Are there any stress marks showing on Dump Truck's bumper? That seems like a place where part of the bumper might eventually snap off. Otherwise Dump Truck looks solid.

I'm really not liking the head/foot thing for Mobile Crane.... it just looks sloppy to me =/ I'm trying to think of another Transformers team that has combination kibble this badly, to help with the mental thing that it's not as bad because HasTak's done it before (that is, ignoring the G1 Gestalt Pile'o'Parts issue for the moment - Devastator, Raiden, and the Micromaster combiners are fairly bad offenders there).

The other quibble is more GEEWUN than anything else - and that's directed at the crane. I do find the integration intersting, but the lack of a rotating crane in vehicle mode seems odd to me =/

Other than those two issues, Mobile Crane actually looks better, now that I've seen him transform. Definitely better than either of first two.

I don't know if the original review covered this, but I don't recall seeing vehicle/robot => combined mode transformations for either of them.

Mykltron wrote:

Almagnus1 wrote:Really, this seems like a case of "you get what you pay for". Yeah, Herc will set you back at least another $100-$200 over Giant (depending on how lucky you can get), but that extra $100-$200 brings you generally better engineering because the design team could budget for it.

Does 'better engineering' include all the flaws in the molds that I read about?

With having Herc in hand, the only flaws I see in the molds are Exgraver's shovel (the original is startng to show some stress marks), and a potential with Heavy Labor's hip.

Thankfully I have replacement parts for both (thanks to TFC), and the only other quibble is that some of the trim on the underside of the red translucent scope is just a tad bit too wide to fit into the red combined mode gun straight, so it's on crooked. Seeing how both guns spend more time attached to Heavy Labor in combined mode in storage so Herc can wielding the crane boom as a club, I think that QC issue might be something I can live with.

While I can see some issues possibly arising from the arm connectors, I also see the same issues with Giant, because it looks like it's a round peg going into a round hole with only friction holding it in place (which means they will eventually get loose if fiddled with too much).

If there are other QC issues, please let me know, cause I haven't found any. Herc's rock solid.

Almagnus1 wrote:Thanks for doing that video =)

Are there any stress marks showing on Dump Truck's bumper? That seems like a place where part of the bumper might eventually snap off. Otherwise Dump Truck looks solid.

I'm really not liking the head/foot thing for Mobile Crane.... it just looks sloppy to me =/ I'm trying to think of another Transformers team that has combination kibble this badly, to help with the mental thing that it's not as bad because HasTak's done it before (that is, ignoring the G1 Gestalt Pile'o'Parts issue for the moment - Devastator, Raiden, and the Micromaster combiners are fairly bad offenders there).

The other quibble is more GEEWUN than anything else - and that's directed at the crane. I do find the integration intersting, but the lack of a rotating crane in vehicle mode seems odd to me =/

Other than those two issues, Mobile Crane actually looks better, now that I've seen him transform. Definitely better than either of first two.

I don't know if the original review covered this, but I don't recall seeing vehicle/robot => combined mode transformations for either of them.

- No stress marks on those panels, but honestly, I think that they're prone to just plain break rather than even stress, if that makes sense? There is NO lee way in them, and it's a shame. It looks like they're sending out a complete replacement for the entire front panel of dump truck though with the next set.

- Oddly enough, I like the kibble feet, because it gives him a classics look, but a more "Real" vibe to his transformation, if that makes sense. That's totally a preference thing though and I can understand people being turned off by it.

- No video of transformations into the combiner modes, because, for these two, they're literally 5 second transformations... like, Mobile crane... you pull out a latch, fold him in half, and flip the head up.. done. I did, in the first video though, show how the four combine together and the latching mechanics and stuff.

Thanks for the reviews, man. Much appreciated. I like all the crazy stuff going on in these bots coz they feel unconventional. It adds something interesting to them that some dislike compared to the herc bot modes. Those are definitely not terrible, but they don't offer anything crazy and interesting. Everything is almost too straight forward on them, if that makes any sense. Sorry to keep comparing these to HERC, I'm just an a$$h0le by nature.

No problem on the reviews, and yes, Herc is definitely more of a "what you see is what you get", but, I actually like it, because they just plain come off as big, mean bots if that makes sense?

Ok, so I was noticing that Dump Truck has problems standing straight up. I looked over him, and finally figured out why. It's because his Ankles/support on the back of his calf don't reach the floor like his foot:



Not going to lie... I've been pretty lenient on some of these miffs, because they seem like they have a reason for them... but this one, there's none. It'd literally effect NOTHING making the leg supports long enough, but they just didn't, and designed a toy made to fall forward in bot mode.

I need to rewatch the first vid again, but does Giant's shoulder ratchet? Or is it a friction joint?

Also using a transformation cheat for the arms (where the arms are effectively separate from the vehicles) is a really huge turn off. As far as I know, there hasn't been another Transformer team that cheated that badly. I'm having trouble thinking of a team where the Transformer was not an integral part of the limb structure.

- They Ratchet

- Not sure, but doesn't G1 Devy parts-form the same way?

G1 Devastator parts forms a lot more horrendously than a couple of arms, and unlike Giant's comparatively small amount of combiner kibble, G1 devy doesn't even try to pretend the extra parts are anything but what they are... kibble.

The big difference fron G1 Devy and Giant -figures yes, the arm from the elbow down is parts-formed (and the torso and leg connections as well) but the shoulder to body connctions where actually engineered into the toys themselves. Bonecrusher's connection to hook is part of the front of his torso, while scrapper's connection to hook is a port on his back - so the transformers actually form the eupper ams, and not pauldrons like what Giant does

That kind of got me at first, but I think it works better this way. Sure it means the bots are less an essential part of the combined mode and more like shoulder pads, but at least it grants a wider range of poseabiity without extensions.

It creates a weakness in the design: should that connector between the combined arm and the vehicle break, lose the pauldron.

The more I think about it, the more it feels like combined mode was designed first, and then everything designed around it.

Almagnus1 wrote:It creates a weakness in the design: should that connector between the combined arm and the vehicle break, lose the pauldron.

The more I think about it, the more it feels like combined mode was designed first, and then everything designed around it.

Uh... if the tread legs somehow end up breaking on exgraver, you don't have a wrist for HERC. If anything, anything else other than the connector breaks, atleast you still have the combined form for Giant.

Hey guys, here's a fix for Mobile Crane's crane, which gives him an actual peg to peg into:

Thats awesome news. What knife did you use? exacto? gota have a pretty narrow tip to get in there.

It's a utility rezer blade, but it comes to a really fine point like an exacto.