If, like me, you collect third party Transformers, then the TFCon panel on the subject is always something to look forward to.

I’ve never been able to attend myself, geographically-speaking, but that doesn’t stop the sheer thrill scouring the slides for what delights will soon be released into the world. There’s always a wide range of stuff for different collectors, but inevitably there will be at least a handful of announcements that never fail to whet my appetite.

Of course this year’s event was held digitally, but none of that quelled the feeling of anticipation. And just like any other year, I was certainly not disappointed with the results, as there looks to be some excellent new products heading our way soon!

Before we get to it, I should clarify that I’m not looking to go over every single product that was featured. There were a fair few toys unveiled, and a lot of them just aren’t in my line of focus when it comes to collecting, but that’s not to say they don’t look worthwhile in their own right. However today, I’m keeping my view solely on the toys that excited me most, as there was definitely enough to get amped up about in that regard!

First up, the big news – Maketoys is back, baby! OK, so they were kind of back before, with their Endgame release. And then again, with their Premium Version of Downbeat. But now they’re really, really back, and have dropped a few bits of news that I know will make some people happy.

For starters they’re about to reissue their popular Meteor figure, which is something that a lot of people have been clamouring for given how tricky it can be to find at a decent price on the aftermarket. Perhaps what’s even better is that it will apparently be what they term an “EX” release, which they describe as being “enhanced” from the original release, with an improved colour scheme, remoulded parts and accessories and some exclusive features too. Exciting stuff! From the photos provided it already looks like they’ve lightened up the face quite a bit (which is great, considering how dark and hard-to-discern it can be on the original version), and that there will be some new weapons effect pieces and extra faces.

The biggest question now is going to be whether they’re also looking to reissue their Skycrow and Lightning figures. Their takes on Skywarp and Thundercracker currently go for absolutely insane prices on the aftermarket (seriously, look it up!), so a re-release with enhanced details would surely be a prayer answered for a lot of collectors, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, they’re doing a new version of the mould too! Yep, Acid Swarm here is a highly attractive take on the Acid Storm character, who of course is typically one of the “Rainmakers”, a set of weirdly-coloured Seekers from the Generation 1 cartoon. This troupe having only recently had a multipack release in the Siege toyline has maybe spurred this one along, although let’s not forget that TakaraTomy did once give us a highly-stylised take on him using the MP-11 mould too. Regardless, the Maketoys release is very striking indeed, and one I’m certainly looking forward to seeing in all its finished glory. Fingers crossed they see fit to bring us Ion Storm and Nova Storm too. And Hotlink. And Bitstream. And whatever the other ones are called.

But wait, there’s more! It was only a few weeks or so ago that I was pining after the release of Maketoys’ final two Conehead designs in my Endgame review, and now they’ve only gone and confirmed it’s happening, haven’t they? I never knew my keyboard had such potent power, but there you go. Anyway, joking aside, I’m thrilled that they’re rounding out the ludicrously-topped trio at long last, and that they seem to be getting back on track with a more regular release schedule. This little lot will be taking them through to March next year, and then who knows? Maybe we’ll even see them finishing off stuff like their Headmaster line-up (PLEASE!), or perhaps it’ll be something else entirely. Either way, it’s something to look forward to!

Next up is a further look at a little-known new product that has certainly caught some collectors’ attention – it’s Monocrat Megatank!

This is apparently an original design imagining the Decepticon leader as he might have appeared in the Cybertron sequence from the Bumblebee movie, and boy, does it look intriguing indeed. At about 13 inches tall in robot mode, it seems like a decent size to scale nicely with some of the Optimus Prime options on the market, and looks to have captured the right kind of aesthetic to mix well too.

Megatank without a pixelated face.

It looks good. Now let's see some articulation. pic.twitter.com/0JMcnLnRis

— TFcon seems so long ago… (@not_on_twitta) November 8, 2020

Ultimately this is one to watch to see how it turns out, but based on what we’ve seen so far it’s shaping up very nicely indeed.

Next we move to the ever-reliable Fans Hobby, who had a mix of entirely new and previously-seen stuff to update us on.

Without a doubt one of their most exciting projects (and the one that seems to be next on their slate) is Naval Commander, their take on an Armada Optimus Prime. There wasn’t necessarily any new information on the toy outside of a tantalising further look at the test shot in its current state, but that was certainly enough to remind us how great it’s turning out!

This is a project I have a keen eye on, especially if it means that it might start a bit of a trend of 3PMP takes on Unicron Trilogy characters, so I can’t wait to see the thing in hand once it’s finished. It looks incredible, and I love that it sizes up to be the same height as their Power Baser design in the full combined robot mode.

Perhaps even more riveting was the reveal that they’re working on an Energon Optimus Prime toy, too! All we saw for now was a very rough early prototype design (which caused a lot of questions when shared on social media!), but this will also end up being a Masterpiece-styled attempt.

The Energon OP design is a certainly unique take on the Autobot leader, and if anyone can bring it to life in modern form with that extra dollop of fun factor, it’s Fans Hobby. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how this one shakes out.

That wasn’t it though, as amongst the various other pictures they shared there was also a first-look at their take on Cab, the Masterforce equivalent of the Headmaster, Hosehead. This is of course a follow up to Athena, their take on Minerva, and indeed the already-revealed Ace Hitter, a representation of Go Shooter.

Personally I’m really looking forward to these new designs. Athena was one that seems to have divided opinion somewhat, but I really liked it myself so I’m well up for seeing what Fans Hobby do with the other two characters. It’ll also be interesting to see if this leads to new versions of Siren and Hosehead, given that they’ve teased a Nightbeat repaint of Athena. Time will tell!

Another company that has caught my eye, despite not knowing much about them, is Lemon Tree. They appear to be narrowing in on a very niche but appreciated set of designs by fairly-faithfully recreating the cast of that early Cybertron sequence from Bumblebee. Their Optimus Prime is on the way very soon, so perhaps that will be the ultimate first test, but they’re certainly not wasting any time with pumping out the prototypes before that happens! And whilst it’s not the thing I always focus in on, the logic they’re employing with naming their releases has certainly made me chuckle.

So there’s a new 3P company named Lemon Tree and these designs are named respectively as Blueberry, Carrot, Eggplant and Purple Potato.

Could be my favourite 3P naming theme yet.

Until someone makes a Kup named Shitpiece, but that’s for another day. pic.twitter.com/6XSOBpiqNq

— Sixo (@SixoTF) October 3, 2020

Moving on, some of my personal favourite new reveals came from X-Transbots, without a doubt. It’s still funny to me to see this company go from strength to strength, having hopefully shaken off their once-rocky reputation by now. Certainly in my book, they’ve become a solid producer of unofficial Transformers toys, and their output is only made better by their character choices. So, when I say “X-Transbots Deathsaurus”, I only hope you’ll join me in appreciating just how magnificent that sounds.

Yep, it’s the robot chicken of death himself. I’ve longed for a decent stab at a 3PMP take on this character for ages – pretty much ever since MP-24 Star Saber was released over 5 years ago! Planet X had a good attempt with their version, but sadly it never measured up in terms of height, so I’m beyond thrilled to see what XTB have brought to the table.

It’s early days yet, as all we’ve seen is a couple of computer renders, but my word does it look to be a faithful recreation of the Victory character (complete with his two beast partners). This is one I’m aching to see brought to fruition.

X-Transbots didn’t stop there, mind, as they also unveiled a first look at a new set of ‘bots that I know a lot of collectors will be excited to finally see done in Masterpiece-style. It’s the Omnibots!

Again, they’re only renders for now and we’ve only seen a first look at their takes on Camshaft and Overdrive, but they look spectacular! Some may question the need for such designs to be recreated in 3PMP-form, given that they never appeared in the cartoon or indeed any other fiction back in the day, but for the rest of us, there’s a lot to love here.

After all, these are some of the more unusual original toys from the pre-Transformers Diaclone days, and have rarely been giving a second thought for updated attempts since they were first brought into the franchise back in 1985.

For my money, I’m beyond thrilled to see X-Transbots tackling this team, and here’s hoping that the third member isn’t too far off, either.

It didn’t stop there, though, as XTB also brought us a first glance at the combiner crew they’ll be creating next, once they’re finally done with their Stunticon line-up – the Protectobots. We only saw a glimpse of Streetwise, but wow, this is one I’m personally quite hyped about.

I will say that I was lucky to get a sneak peak at this crew a while back, and the rest of it is looking exceptional too, from the little I’ve seen. There are still a lot of questions to be answered of course, such as how big these guys will be (not to mention the size of the combined mode), how they’ll achieve the combination gimmick, when they’ll be released… but really, all of that can wait. For now, I’m just so happy that someone is finally tackling the Protectobots in 3PMP form.

What’s that? Someone else is as well? Why, yes, just like buses, you wait forever for one stab at a Masterpiece-styled Defensor and then two land in the same third party panel. OK, we already knew that Ocular Max were also taking on the big guy, but it’s brilliant to finally have a proper look at what they have up their sleeve. And no, it didn’t disappoint.

With the reaction to their now-finished Combaticon roster having been so positive, now feels like an excellent time for them to have dropped this gander at the next big project in the works, especially as it follows the same philosophy of an all-in-one transformation. It appears as if Defensor’s feet are contained within Hot Spot somehow, although I’m sure that’s not the last of the surprises to be found in this set moving forward.

He protec, he attac, but most importantly he transform all intac pic.twitter.com/KGEj0zF4Ae

— Sixo (@SixoTF) October 26, 2020

Clearly it’s still early days here, as it appears both their Streetwise and Groove don’t even have finalised transformation schemes quite yet, but still this is one project I will be following very closely indeed. And whilst I’m quite sure it won’t be all that long before we see another set of 3PMP Protectobots popping up given how these things are, it’ll still be fascinating to see how the two current takes pan out.

Speaking of third party combiners, how about that Moon Studio Raiden, eh? We’ve seen a few glimpses at this thing before (including when the design was going to be released under Zeta Toys), but it’s still great to see it edging closer to realisation! With a TakaraTomy Masterpiece attempt seemingly also in the works, some are definitely questioning the need for an official take on the train-combiner right now, but I for one cannot wait to see this happen. It appears as though it’ll scale nicely with stuff like Zeta Bruticus and Superion, making it amongst the taller combiner attempts on the market.

Woof, that Moon Studio Raiden is shaping up *very* nicely indeed. pic.twitter.com/BuX6bh6uqK

— Sixo (@SixoTF) October 30, 2020

The individual robots also look to be coming along nicely, and it’ll be really something to see a set of trains done well in this style. This is one I’m all in for right now.

Which brings us nicely back to the final mention of the day, and it’s another Ocular Max figure! Stellarus Prominon is a bizarrely-titled but electrifying new take on Star Convoy, who was the updated version of Optimus Prime from the Japanese Return of Convoy toyline from 1991.

Of course this particular version of the character was the subject of a Generations Selects retool just last year, but there’s something about Ocular Max’s attempt that just looks incredibly enticing. The robot mode appears highly dynamic, and the vehicle mode certainly captures the bafflingly-bizarre majesty of the original version!

It looks like this one is landing soon, as it should hopefully be up for release in January. Needless to say, I absolutely cannot wait! I only hope they’ll have a go at the Super Megatron design too!

Anyway, as ever there was no shortage of stuff to be elated about in this TFCon panel, and the above is really just a short snippet of the things that most caught my eye. Have a look at the full set of slides to see the rest! One way or another, it’s looking like 2021 is going to be an action-packed year for collecting yet again. Can’t wait.

TTFN