Saturday 27 June 2015

Toyworld - TW-H04G Grant pictorial review

I thought for a change i'd do my first ever review. Presenting Toyworlds Grant! This figure is a Third Party (none hasbro) homage to Grand Maximus, the younger (and smaller) brother of fortress maximus. I've never owned a Fortress Maximus and so cant make any comparisons between the two.

Packaging

Not really much to say about his packaging. he comes in a brown card box with a snug polystyrene insert


Not really sure why there is space for his headmaster in both modes....

As soon as i opened the box and removed Grant from his squeaky polystyrene prison the first thing I noticed was the plastic quality, the figure has a surprising amount of weight to him and in a good way. All the joints feel solid, but more on that later :) For this figure, Toyworld took the original Hasbro fortress mold,shrunk it down and added a ton of articulation. I think i'll start this review with the base mode.

Base Mode 1

This mode looks extremely cool and is covered in molded detail. Although small, the few Micromasters i own seem right at home here. The base is covered in guns and has 3 ramps, 2 compartments and 2 flip up compartments. The 2 ramps on either side have sliding platforms (which i think would make them launch ramps?) but unfortunately the end piece of the ramps are quite short, making the ramps quite steep.Something you may have noticed is that there are NO paint apps. this is because the detailing is done with stickers, which i am yet to apply.
 


As you can see, the Micromasters and Minicons scale fairly well with this and there are even tiny bumps on the end of the grey ramps which hold a vehicle on the steep incline.
The compartments are a bit useless and tiny but are still a nice detail, adding play/display value.
overall i quite like this mode as it seems quite faithful to the original.

The flip out chest panels can become blast shields
I think thats going to be a tight fit...

Base Mode 2

Toyworld came up with an alternate fan mode possibly intended as a combat mode for the base. You basically twist the joints in the waist and hips to allow the legs to lie flat. this makes most of the guns point forward. I've found there's a fair bit of play with both base modes which can allow some variation.


Ship Mode

After a few twists and turns we have the ship mode. although its kind of obvious its just the robot mode lying on his back, i love this mode. It just looks so 80s it hurts! :b
 In this mode you can still access the same guns and hatches from base mode. The ramps are folded up on the back and the ship holds together really well. There's also tiny wheels molded underneath if you want to roll it around for what ever reason.
 




Toyworld thought to add a couple of clips to the robot hips which tab into the ship hull for added stability. in this mode, you can open the cockpit, revealing the pilot.
                
Headmaster

The headmaster pilot (a homage to Grand, the headmaster for Maxmus, the body) is very nicely detailed but unfortunately like the rest of the figure, lacks any paint apps meaning the detail is a bit lost amongst the sea of white plastic.


 he is fairly poseable, having ball joints at shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.
"Draw me like one of your french fembots..."


 To transform him, just spin his lower legs 180 and fold them up to his chest.
once the base is transformed we are  finally ready to connect the head!
"This is more painful than it looks...."
 Robot Mode

The robot mode stands at about 23cm, and is just as well detailed as his other modes. there is no kibble except for his ramps, which now rest on his shoulders. This is quite a strong connection and once hes attached the old school stats appear under the blue window on his chest. He also has chest compartments (the blast shields from the base mode) that can be used as seats for other headmasters (Micromasters don't fit)






Once transformed, Grant looks very impressive, despite being smaller than his G1 self and manages to be super articulated even though he looks like an 80s brick (he even has ankle tilts, making him awesome!) his hands have poseable fingers (all one unit) and to avoid floppy weapon syndrome, there is 3/4 of a  5mm hole molded in for him to hold his gun securely. in this mode, you gain access to his full arsenal, which can make for an impressive display.
So much dakka!

All of his main joints are ratcheted and feel very tight allowing him to hold poses very nicely. although some of them can feel scarily tight at first.

So, the main reason your reading this, do I think this figure is worth it? I've owned quite a few third party figures (Maketoys Giant, Fansproject Revolver, Toyworld Hardhead just to name a few) and while he costs around £90 , personally, I think this figure is of amazing quality and definitely worth the price. If you like the look of Grant (or his fort max repaint, Infinitor) and don't mind the lack of sword or that he isn't 2 foot tall i'd recommend him. i wasn't expecting much when i got this, and yet i haven't had this much fun with a figure in quite a while. Thanks for reading this far! unless you just skipped to the end, in which case....well, fair enough really....
 This guy can be found at kapowtoys.co.uk (where i bought mine from)
AAAGH! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!

"I'm waving my arm! also....TRANSFORM!"

(Godzilla)- Raaagh?

(Godzilla)- "Raaaaghagh" [this isn't going to go well]



(Micromasters)- Yay! We're saved!
(Godzilla) ....rerghh.... [ouch....]



These are his stickers which make him look more detailed but i'm debating whether to paint him
 No Godzillas or Micromasters were harmed during the making of this review. Except the Decepticon, but who cares about him?

Friday 27 March 2015

i dont normally post personal stuff, but it has been an odd past few weeks, with lots of ups and downs. On the plus side, i finally got a third party devastator! and steelcore (both very awesome figures) but on the down side, Sir terry Pratchett has died age 66. he was a massive part of my life, with his books showing me and others how a world that can't be, can. He is truly one of, if not the greatest writers of all time, having written more books that hes had years on this earth and every single one of them has been incredible. hes helped many people and will be missed by all. Noli Timere Messorem.

Sunday 15 February 2015

well here is the update. ive been trying to expand my skills, so taught myself to solder. also been trying to get better at painting flat colours, so painted an optimus figure. for once, ive actually been really busy (hence the delay with the update) also got all the combiner wars superion parts.



ive also listed my movie starscream, started work on another movie leader optimus as well as modifying some furniture. finally, ive started designing my steampunk outfit.