#bigfirebird build

[reversemoon255]

EX-01 PLUS Mocha

So this is the second incarnation of this mold, and there’s some discourse about the original. Said original, named Nicee, is an equally curvaceous reimagining of Generation 1 Season 3 Transformers character Arcee. Now that’s not an inherently bad thing, but there were a few additional features that turned off a lot of more casual unofficial Transformers toy purchasers. Firstly was an O-face; not gonna defend that, but I won’t knock someone else’s kink. Secondly was a set of rubberized breasts, which Mocha also comes with (shown in picture 10), but they didn’t even bother changing the color on this release, so it feels more like a novelty since it was something the original release was famous for than something essential to this one.

Now, despite fans choosing to ignore Nicee’s existence, it still apparently sold out, and anyone I saw who gave it a chance had nothing but positive things to say about it. This put it on my radar, and shortly after I did they announced their original character remold. And here we are.

The Good: To give an example of how well designed this figure is, despite the large backpack, myriad of metal parts, and stiletto heels, she easily and solidly maintains her balance in a large number of poses. She also has very good range, maybe a little short in the elbows, but nothing the shoulders and transformations joints can’t accommodate for.

She has a huge accessory pool, with a number of weapons, costume options, and even a second head. She also comes with a second set of decals in case any of hers get damaged, or you want to use them elsewhere. And many parts of her backpack are removable if you prefer her without all the car parts.

It took me a while to figure out what the bagged accessories were, as they aren’t in the instructions. Turns out they’re a set of modular pieces that combine with the swords. You can create a double-bladed sword, a claw weapon, or attach them to her elbows or knees. It’s a neat bonus.

The Bad: While she does do a bit of transforming (her head and shoulders end up inches away from her torso), a large portion of her robot mode is shell. I do like that they used her legs as the sides of the car, but that’s the only visible part of the robot it has, and the windshield and bumper parts-form. The transformation is also a little tough in places, particularly when lining things up, but not nearly as bad as some other unofficial products I’ve seen.

She’s also very painted, and that doesn’t mix well with sharp and tight parts. I ended up scratching a bit of the silver off her hips the one time I attached the bunny tail accessory. A number of the parts swaps pieces are pretty tight, possibly because of how much paint they have, so be careful when pulling off the front bumper or the bunny tail tassels.

Overall, this is a very good figure. I understand if you might be put off by the design, but if you look past it you’ll find a nice toy. If BigFireBird Toy does anything like this again in the future I might check it out.

[standfactory]

大火鳥制造 BIGFIREBIRD BUILD 魔姫変形 MAGICHENSHIN SERIES THUNDER LIGHT

さて、今年は年始まって早々から無職になったり気絶したり歯が折れたりと踏んだり蹴ったりでおもちゃを買う余裕も無い状態でしたが、最近ようやく生活が元に戻りつつあるので久々にレビュー記事です。

ってことで今回は魔姫変形ことマジックヘンシンのサンダーライトをご紹介。

おなじみ中華オリジナルトイですが、去年くらいから延期に延期を重ねて今月ようやく発売となりました。長かったなあ。

パッケージはオリジナルデザインのダンボール風外箱付き。中華トイってこういう所凝ってますよね。

中身はこのような感じで。ネカ製品とかもですが最近はフィギュアにも吸湿剤のシリカゲル封入するパターン増えましたね。

プラスチック等の樹脂って水分を吸収して劣化するので、シリカゲルを製品に封入するのってコンディションを長期に渡って保つにはかなり良い方法かもですなあ。うちで保管してるおもちゃもシリカゲルをブチ込んでおくか・・・

ってことでこちらがサンダーライト本体。ロボ娘というよりはどことなくケモノっぽさがあり、全体的にムチッとした体型。

顔もデフォルメ寄りなデザインで可愛い印象。

アクションフィギュアなのでもちろん可動できます。肩まわりはボールジョイントとヒンジの組み合わせで結構自由自在に動きますし、足はタイヤ部分が膝代わりになって可動。足首可動だけはありません。

もみあげというか髪の毛っぽい部分も頭サイドの白い部分も可動できますし、他部分の可動に干渉しそうなパーツはしっかり避けて動かせます。

ただし可動域自体はそこまで広くないので、めちゃくちゃ動かせるかと言うとそこまででもなく。

ハンドパーツはデフォルトの変形用の他に握り手が付属。デフォのハンドパーツだと変形の都合で親指のみ可動できますが、ちょっと見た目がイマイチなのでこっちの拳に差し替えたほうが良さそうですなあ。

顔部分はパーツ差し替えで表情の変更が可能。無彩色顔も付属しているので、そのまま取り付けてメダロットっぽくしてもいいし、付属デカールを貼ってもよし。

フェイスパーツは周囲のパーツがギチギチに詰まっていて取り外しにくいので、パーツリムーバー等を使って取り外すのが良いかも。

あとは付属の電撃エフェクトパーツとか。

主に差し替えた拳の方に付ける用っぽいですね。しっかり固定はできないので拳に覆い被せているだけです。

エフェクトとしては悪くないんだけど、サンダーライトは腕が短いのでエフェクト付けてもちょっと地味な印象になりがちですね。

あとこれは初回特典っぽいクロスパーツ。使い方がよくわからないので手に持たせて電撃エフェクトとあわせたりとか。

そしてこちらも初回特典らしきパーツ。どう使うんだろ・・・？これについて何も解説が無いのよね。

さぁそしてこのマジックヘンシンシリーズの特徴である変形！

サンダーライトはトライクっぽい姿に変形します。

デフォルメロボ娘デザインから変形できるって点が斬新でなかなか面白いですねえ。

トライクというかトライク”っぽいもの”なのでハンドルも無ければシートも無く。どっちかというとSFビークルっぽいんですよね。

ちなみに今回はシリーズでもこの１体しか買ってないのでできませんが、一応シリーズ全種を揃えると合体も可能。

変形プロセスはわりと単純ではあるもののコンパクトにまとまってる点は良いかな。しかしトライク状態だと胸が地面に擦ってしまうので接地がイマイチ。

最後はTFとサイズ比較で。サンダーライトはだいたい４インチ程度の大きさでしょうかね？

���造はしっかりしてるし変形もしっかりできるし可もなく不可もなくという印象です。ただし、可動はできるものの可動域は狭いので動かして遊ぶには十分だけどポージングには不向きですね。肩とかはおそらく合体で使うであろう胸パーツ移動ジョイントが干渉して前側には動かしにくいですし、胸関節も左右回転しかできないですし・・・

変形はTFほどのカッチリ感は無く、あくまでその形に収まっているというだけな感じ。変形時の腕パーツの位置合わせが結構シビアなので、そういう点がちょっと扱いにくかったり。

物珍しさはあるけど普通かなあ。今後も続くようならぜひ今回のような風変わりな路線でいってほしさはありますね。

[reversemoon255]

Magic Henshin Series 05 - Scarlet Dragon

And we get to the final of the currently released MHS. They have one more revealed and upcoming that transforms into a rhino beetle, which I think I might pick up. Honestly, the biggest weakness of this set is the combined mode, so having a release that avoids that particular element and also learns from the mistakes of this line should, theoretically, be an improvement. While it has its issues, I do like this line, so I’d like to see how it improves. If it becomes a regular thing maybe pick up the occasional release like I do with BeastBox.

The Good: Once you get everyone assembled together, the combined mode is pretty solid. While the proportions are a little off, there’s quite a bit of posability, including a few usable transformation joints. I know I used a stand in a lot of shots, but she can support herself without one.

She also has a large accessory pool unique to her and not her separate releases, with a number of burst mode parts, a large scarf effect, and two sets of glasses. And she’s pretty big, which you might not expect considering how small her individual robots are.

And while I’m not the biggest fan of the concept, I will admit turning Thunder’s hands into a butt is pretty clever.

The Bad: A lot of promotional art shows a combined mode that doesn’t use Dragon, and while you can make it... It sucks. It constantly falls apart. It also lacks and instructions. It kind of feels like they realized that the original combined mode didn’t work half-way into development and Scarlet Dragon was made as a fix.

Scarlet Dragon, by itself, is also very underwhelming. The transformation is uninteresting, its joints are very stiff in a lot of places (I required a tool to move some of them at first), and it has almost no posability. It’s why I keep saying not to get it unless you want the combined mode.

As for the combined mode, it’s fine. The red set of glasses like to fall off, and its hands are pretty bad (similar issues to Scarlet Sonic), but not much else.

Overall, Scarlet Dragon is very passable, but is required if you want to combine everyone. I would honestly recommend picking your favorite girl in the lineup and trying them out individually first, rather than going all in on the combiner like I did.

Like I said before, I might pick up their rhino beetle to see how they’ve improved since this release, and I have their Mocha on preorder out of morbid curiosity, so this won’t be the last we here from this company.

[reversemoon255]

Magic Henshin Series 03+04 - Gemini Wings

These are probably my favorite designs of the MHS so far. They have a real Splatoon Calie/Marie vibe to them, with unique faces and heads. Even their emblems on their boxes are slightly different, with Pink’s showing her hair clips, as well as altered eyes. Even though they’re packaged separately, I think they can only be bought as a set.

The Good: There two have the most streamline, action figure-esque designs, and best posability of the set. Any kibble you might see can easily be moved out of the way to achieve any number of cute, pop idol poses you can think of. Their accessories are also more cutesy than anything action based, like the above microphone and heart, giving them a distinct non-combatant feel compared to the other releases.

The Bad: That streamlined design means most of the transformation is held in the hair, which causes a ton of balance issues. I usually circumvent this by folding back their ankles. This makes them a little shorter, but allows them to easily hold themselves up with no issue.

They’re probably the worst offenders of instruction-less accessories. Their little boombox is able to equip to their jet to actually make it look like something, as well as be used as a shield by the combined mode, but nothing tells you that.

Speaking of their vehicle mode, it’s the only one that requires a specific adapter to form it in the first place. Like with Scarlet, I feel like I’m always a millimeter away from getting it to look perfect. And the legs just hang there. They’re supposed to be ribbon tassels when combined, but as a jet they don’t do anything.

Overall, I like these figures, but will lament that they do have a lot of issues when you want them to be anything besides figures. I will probably say this for all of these reviews: each of the girls are decent toys on their own. If you want to go after any one of them, you’ll have a good time. However, if you get all the girls, get Scarlet Dragon, and if you don’t get all the girls, don’t get Scarlet Dragon. It is required for the combined mode.  

[reversemoon255]

Magic Henshin Series 01 - Scarlet Sonic

So this one’s a story. Quite a while ago, the company that produced this set of toys had one of their releases making the rounds over on Twitter; an unofficial Transformers toy based on G1 Arcee named Nicee. And it’s an odd one to say the least. While still a fully articulate and transformable toy, it had a number of “specific user targeted” gimmicks and accessories, such as an O-face or using squishy plastic in certain “places.” But despite that, reviews were very positive, and as I was digging down this rabbit hole, I came across this line of toys. I had seen a few of them floating around different shops for preorder, but it wasn’t until that moment where I learned they had a combined mode, and that coupled with Nicee’s glowing user reviews had me bite the bullet.

Then they were delayed for six months.

The Good: Scarlet is a very solid individual toy. Quite articulate, can stand easily despite having wheels for feet, and has a decent accessory pool and some effect parts. Her transformation is also pretty simple, with the main complexity to it being a lot of 180-ing of parts. She’s even capable of standing as a motorcycle, even with another figure riding her.

The Bad: I always feel like I’m 1-2mm off getting that vehicle mode looking perfect. Her eyes should be completely hidden.

Each of these figures comes with a set of trayed accessories, and a set in a baggie. All the ones in the tray are mentioned in the instructions, while the baggie aren’t, so it took me a while to figure out what the blue flame effect parts were for, and some online photos before I knew about the scarf (we’ll get to that).

Also, swapping her hands sucks. The peg is a tiny ball joint on the wrist, which is attached to a swivel hinge, so it will constantly move as you’re trying to peg them on. I think I’ve also seen other people having had those pegs break on them, so be careful.

Overall, a solid individual figure. I will probably say this for all of these reviews: each of the girls are decent toys on their own. If you want to go after any one of them, you’ll have a good time. However, if you get all the girls, get Scarlet Dragon, and if you don’t get all the girls, don’t get Scarlet Dragon. It is required for the combined mode.

[reversemoon255]

Magic Henshin Series 02 - Thunder Light

Thunder Light was actually the first MHS I stumbled across. I remember thinking it was cool how her legs transformed so that her knees were wheels. Of the four girls, she’s definitely my least favorite aesthetically, but she has my favorite transformation of them all, so she balances out quite well for me.

The Good: Definitely has the most solid and fun transformation of the set. While the front tire covers have a bit of wobble, every thing else locks a lot more solidly than everyone else, who also tend to have a few looser hanging bits. She’s also just as posable as Scarlet, with those big feet allowing her to balance in some more extreme poses without a stand.

She also comes with a number of effect parts, and a steering wheel in case you want another figure to drive her as a vehicle.

The Bad: While I don’t have many complaints about Thunder as a toy, she was the only one I got that had factory errors, having two left non-tab-thumb fists, and a slight deformation on her standard face. Minor things that don’t hinder the toy, but a disappointment none the less.

Overall, She’s probably the most balanced of the MHS figures. I will probably say this for all of these reviews: each of the girls are decent toys on their own. If you want to go after any one of them, you’ll have a good time. However, if you get all the girls, get Scarlet Dragon, and if you don’t get all the girls, don’t get Scarlet Dragon. It is required for the combined mode.