DSC_6108 - a photo on Flickriver

DSC_6108

            One of the more painful lessons I learned this year is that TFCon does not have the same exclusive for the year - every show has its own thing, which I guess makes the people travel from city to city to attend, or at least keep their eyes glued to Chosen Prime.

So when I found out that I wouldn't be able to buy the MB24B Wingman here in Toronto, I spent a few months tracking one down. Ultimately, I paid more than expected for Wingman, but much less than MSRP for Marksman, so overall I think I did OK.

So these are are the convention exclusive recolours of the MB  -23 and MB-24, which are the homages to the Decepticon Powermasters Darkwing and Dreadwing, who are best known for their combined Jet mode which probably has an official name, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Without boring the reader to death, each figure set comes with the main robot and of course the Power Pilot (because they're Jets) which of course don't activate any gimmicks.  The weapons are also changed up from the regular versions of the toy for... reasons. Maybe this was a Machine Wars homage or something.

Speaking of, it really is the colours that drove me to actually attempt to complete the set.

The transformations are somewhat convoluted, but nowhere as bad as the MPG Raiden components. There's just a lot of reliance on sliding parts, which is something that I'm not a huge fan of due to eventual play wear. Wingman in particular has more random bits and panels that need to be rearranged. Robot modes for both figures are good looking, but articulation wise don't offer anything beyond that of a mainline figure, with the exception of some transformation related hinges.

The two Power Pilots are identically articulated - no waist or head movement, but decently articulated arms and legs to facilitate the transformation into Engine modes.

Paint Application wise, pretty solid work. There really isn't that muach more paint here than a mainline figure, but the paint that is there is cleanly applied.  Some of the smaller applications are a bit sloppy, such as on the Power Pilot heads. But overall the work is acceptable.

Build Quality is where this set falls apart, and it's something that was an issue with the original figures. As I become more experienced, I am learning that even amongst the Third Party figure makers, there's still a pecking order of who makes the better figure, which explains some of the crazy pricing. Fans Hobby is pretty solid, but they tend to drop the ball often. Wingman just has floppy parts  that affect both Robot mode and combined Jet mode. Nothing major with Marksman. QC is, fortunately high enough to result in good tolerances for sliding parts and tabs.

Taken on: September 27, 2024

Tags:

fans hobby

third party

mb-23b

mb-24b

wingman

marksman

decepticon

dreadwing

darkwing

powermaster

hydra

buster

non scale

doll

action figure

articulation

pose

toy photography

flash photography

analysis

cybertron « less

Sets appears in: • Fans Hobby MB-23B and MB-24B Marksman and Wingman

Camera: NIKON D780, f/13.0, 1/125 sec, 50mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	NIKON D780
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	RawTherapee 5.10
Show full info

Stats: 102 views