COUNTDOWN: 5 3PMP projects we hope still happen + 5 we’d love to see one day!

Collecting unofficial “third party” Transformers can be a bit of a rollercoaster at times. For every exciting project that makes it into our hands, there is another that is revealed online but never sees the light of day in 3D form. Whilst the 3P scene has overall done a wonderful job at filling out many a Masterpiece-styled collection there are still some notable absences left to be ticked off, so today we thought we’d take a look both at some announced projects that are seemingly stuck in limbo, but also at some characters who have yet to be tackled!

Oh, and to clarify, we’re purely talking Masterpiece-styled toys here. Some of the characters mentioned have had other iterations before and we’re very supportive of people mixing and matching their own collections as they see fit, but we’re being strict with ourselves for the purposes of the list.

 

#10: Hope is still happening – FansToys Devastator

ANNOUNCED: October 2016

FansToys are well-known for that rather dubious of tactics – the land grab – whereupon they drop a number of silhouettes to announce projects that realistically might take several years to come to fruition. However the prospect of an FT Devastator is certainly an enticing one, even if we’re all a little Constructicon-ed out by now. You might even say we Constructi-can’t even right now. Ahem.

For our money the official Unite Warriors set is a truly great thing and certainly delivers on the cartoon-accuracy front in all modes, and for those of you who want something a little more hulking there’s the massive Toyworld Constructor (although the individual robots are not exactly Masterpiece-styled). Yet if anyone can deliver the scale required whilst giving all three modes that animation flair then maybe FansToys Constructi-can (sorry). Chances of it happening? Well, it’s been 3 years so far but maybe they want to get their Aerialbots & Stunticons done first, so this could still be a little way off.

 

#9: Would love to see happen – Technobots

Someone is definitely going to ask “what about the Terrorcons?” after reading this list and sure, we’d love to see that happen too. But if we had to choose out of the two who should go first in a potential not-MP production line it would be a cartoon-accurate set of Technobots. Whilst Maketoys may have already put out their own attempt some years ago that was both too small and not cartoon-accurate enough to be conclusively-labelled as a proper MP attempt (although many people do love it, of course). We’re still pining for the day that we can admire a full-scale Computron though, especially one that allows for the individual members of the team to also be replicated as you see them above. Might be one for Zeta Toys to tackle at some point, or maybe even X-Transbots one day – who knows?

Artwork credit: transformers.kiev.ua

 

#8: Hope is still happening – Maketoys Terror Bird & Night Bird

ANNOUNCED: July 2015

Is Maketoys dead? That seems to be the big question many people are asking at the moment, as speculation has mounted that the company have financial difficulties or what not. Fortunately it seems as though there may be some hope as their take on Dirge, named Endgame, is currently about to drop, so fingers crossed we’ll see more from them very soon. However it seems like it might be too late for these once-teased takes on Dreadwind and Darkwing, which were only ever shown in coloured silhouette form all the way back during TFCon 2015. Still, if they never make it into production then perhaps KFC will beat them to the punch with their own versions (of the Masterforce equivalent characters, anyway), named Skyshock and Blackcloud, although again these were first announced in July 2017 so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

 

#7: Would love to see happen – Elita One’s Squadron

Artwork credit: deviantart.com/jp-v

This one might seem a little leftfield to some, especially as none of these characters ever had toys in the original G1 line. However there are plenty of people, myself included, who would love to see proper MP-style versions of these four characters, including Elita One, Chromia, Firestar and Moonracer, particularly in cartoon-accurate form. It’s hard to know which third party company might step up and produce such a thing but we reckon if anyone does it might be KFC Toys, given that they’ve previously teased at other lesser-known G1 cartoon projects such as Autobot Spike and the Quintessons. Fingers crossed!

 

#6: Hope is still happening – Maketoys Reticle

ANNOUNCED: July 2015

Yes, as well as the Decepticon Powermasters, Maketoys did tease production of more Autobot Targetmasters beyond just Contact Shot (which was itself released back in 2017). Our head is saying this one is probably dead and buried but our heart just hopes that isn’t true! Contact Shot is an absolute marvel and ranks up there as one of the best 3PMP releases in our book, so the idea of him being a standalone is a difficult one to accept. Let’s hope that Maketoys get back on track and finally produce both Reticle and a similarly-styled version of Sureshot one day.

I will go the rest of my days hoping that we somehow see the other two Maketoys Autobot Targetmasters happen. pic.twitter.com/wvh1w1TPM0

— Sixo (@SixoTF) October 21, 2019

 

#5: Would love to see happen – Throttlebots

Artwork credit: transformers.kiev.ua

I’m actually amazed that no-one has taken a stab at a proper MP-styled set of Throttlebots yet! Not only are they fairly recognisable characters that featured in the well-known 3-part cartoon episode, The Rebirth (even if that never aired in the Japanese continuity), but they’re also toys that lots of people remember owning as kids. Plus they share a lot of common design elements in robot mode, so in theory at least this could be a relatively easy project to take on! In practice it’s probably not so simple when you start to consider how you get those robot modes to convert into some very different car models, but hey, we hope someone can give it a go. Who could do it? Hard to say but we’d take just a Goldbug if it’d help.

 

HONOURABLE MENTION: FansToys Chomp

ANNOUNCED: April 2018

It wasn’t a great surprise when Chomp was announced, given that FansToys have already given us takes on both Weirdwolf (Lupus) and Mindwipe (Dracula), but what’s maybe surprising is that we haven’t yet seen him beyond prototype stage. We’ve no doubt this is still moving on behind the scenes, but given it’s been three years since Lupus was released we’re just keen to see this one happen soon. Still, it looks like he’ll be worth the wait!

 

#4: Hope is still happening – FansToys Berserk

ANNOUNCED: June 2016

OK this one was definitely dead for the longest time there, but it looks like it may finally be happening after a redesigned version was unveiled at this year’s TFCon. Still, a lot of people have been patiently waiting for this one to come to fruition since 2016 when it was first announced (including me, after I had it on pre-order for 18 months before giving up on it!), so it’ll be great when it finally happens. Oh, and yes, there have been other attempts at Blitzwing before (most notably DX9 Gerwalt and KFC Ditka), but we think there’s still room for a more definitive attempt to happen, and we’re hoping that as and when Berserk finally drops, it’ll be it.

 

#3: Would love to see happen – Decepticon Targetmasters

As much as we’d love to see Maketoys finish off their Autobot Targetmasters, we’d equally love to see them or indeed someone else tackle their Decepticon counterparts too! The idea of a screen-accurate Misfire, Triggerhappy and Slugslinger is exciting indeed, so it feels like surely only a matter of time until it finally happens. Assuming Maketoys never make it this far, perhaps this could be a good project for FansToys further down the line to complement their Headmasters (as well as the Targetmaster versions of other characters they’ve produced). Otherwise we reckon that X-Transbots could give this a good go too.

 

HONOURABLE MENTION: X-Transbots Gravestone

ANNOUNCED: July 2017

Again, we know this one is happening and things are clearly moving behind the scenes, but we’re just super excited to complete the X-Transbots Stunticon line-up before too long. Test shot pics of Gravestone (and the combined Monolith figure) were shown only earlier this year, so it’s clearly still evolving, but given that the other four members of the team are already released (with repainted versions dropping too), it’d be great to know when we can expect their leader. It’ll be an exciting day indeed when we can finally combine them!

 

#2: Hope is still happening – Maketoys Headmasters

ANNOUNCED: September 2017

Hoo boy. Honestly if this one never comes to pass them I can only assume there will be mass hysteria. OK, well, maybe not but I’ll certainly be a bit gutted about it! Maketoys released the first toy in this line-up, Cupola, way back in 2015, with Iron Will following shortly after. From there it seemed like there was little to no interest in completing the team until it was finally unveiled that yes, we would be getting a Maketoys Highbrow and Brainstorm after all! That was a little over two years ago, and whilst we have seen prototypes on display at conventions since then, it’s not looking too promising for this project at the moment… hopefully that’s wrong and things are still bubbling away, but honestly the first two toys are just so good that we hate the idea of not being able to assemble them all. Let’s watch this space and keep our fingers and toes crossed!

There is currently no 3P item I want to happen more than Maketoys Brainstorm & Highbrow. pic.twitter.com/QCQVMv76EQ

— Sixo (@SixoTF) October 23, 2019

 

#1: Would love to see happen – Protectobots

And here we are, the characters who somewhat inexplicably just can’t seem to get any love! We’ve had more Bruticus attempts than you can shake a stick at and it’s since become tradition that every third party out there is giving us their own attempt at Stunticons and Aerialbots but no-one seems to want to take a stab at our wonderful lad, Defensor. Yes, we know that one of them turns into a motorbike that’s the same size as a helicopter – that’s part of the charm! Either way we’re just gagging for a screen-accurate take on this team, with an epicly-scaled combined mode to boot. To be fair, Ocular Max have teased their own version, and it could also be fun to see someone like FansToys or Zeta Toys take this one on. For our money though? We reckon X-Transbots would nail this one.

Artwork credit: transformers.kiev.ua

 

So, that’s our list! Do you agree with our choices? Let us know if not and of course feel free to suggest your own!

TTFN