Friday 12 May 2023

FANS TOYS FT-51 CHOMP: ANOTHER HALF-ARSED REVIEW



So as I mentioned previously while Half-Arsing a review of Maketoys Endgame, Cosmic Toys had reached out and asked us to do a few quick reviews of items that they have had traded in recently. The next figure in line is Fans Toys FT-51 Chomp, otherwise known as Masterpiece Skullcruncher to those of us in the know, or a vague passing awareness as in my case.

Chomp is present with box, instructions, Headmaster, a gun and his tail/sword/tail? The only thing that appears to be missing is the collectors card, ah well.

Now that I’ve established what’s there and isn’t, I’ll move on.

I’ll not beat around the bush, it’s Fans Toys so that should tell you what to expect with regards paint and its application. It’s not all painted though, looks to be some coloured plastic in there too but it matches up a treat. The colour scheme is lovely, it’s really caught my eye. The colours are reminiscent of his G1 counterpart but with a metallic sheen thrown in there for a laugh. Plenty of die-cast, it’s Fans Toys!

(just to point out, there is a small chip to the green paint on his abdomen, nothing major but can be seen in the correct light)

Crockersnapper mode looks awesome, not real dynamic on the articulation in this mode but who cares. When you are this garish and full of teeth, who’s going to complain? I noted that I mis-transformed him in his semi-aquatic state, but fortunately on the photos you cannot see. The proportions are good so doesn’t look like a mish-mash of scales…. Scales? Get it? Oh, please yourselves then…. moving on.


Play features in this mode are the waggly tail, opening sharp teethy end and a made to measure cockpit for Grax. I’m calling him Grax as I didn’t read the instruction booklet to see if Fans Toys had assigned him a name. If you’re curious, go look it up, I’ll wait. 
Oh, you’re back… that means I’ll have to finish then. Okay, transformation is good, nothing taxing and there are good clearances for the moving & shifting parts.

Chomp is a really nice looking figure in robot mode, good proportions and a good range of articulation. Just to note, his arms are attached at the shoulder by a rather stiff ball joint, no ratchets or such. This can be a limiter to the arm articulation but for someone like me who is quite boring when it comes to posing, it’s of no consequence. Nice hands, good grip and hold his gun and sword well. And then there is the Headmaster thing going on. Because of how Grax attaches, this has a limiting effect on the head articulation, but again it’s not bad. Believe me, there are other figures out there that give bad head articulation and no excuses for it. Grax himself is a neat little figure, bugger all articulation, what there is, is really down to the transformation engineering. Fans Toys have also retained the ‘Tech Spec’ gimmick from the original toys. Now this doesn’t activate like it did on the G1 stuff, it’s a painted or tampo’d.



Fans Toys do make some good stuff, there are one or two duffers (Hoodlum we are looking at you) but for the most part you know what you are getting for your money. They are also edging more towards that god awful cartoon aesthetic, with some minor tweaks here and there I might add. Hoepfully they will back off from it a little more and produce a more hybrid looking thing, piece, figure etc…

Have I any negative points about Chomp? No, amazingly I do not. And truth be told I’ve become quite smitten with the colourful bugger, to the point that I ended up buying him for myself. Totally out of my collecting remit, no place I can wedge him in or group him, but you know what…. I don’t care.

He’s got a place on my shelf just for himself, where he can dazzle the other Drab-icons with his luminescence. 

So to close up, as this half-arsed approach is in danger of becoming a quarter, maybe even an eighth. Chomp is a real tasty figure, with extra bite. If you are the least bit tempted for an MP Headmaster, you couldn’t go far wrong in picking one up.

Right, had enough now, I’m off for a cuppa and a bag of crisps. More half-arsery to come I suppose, as a few more figures have arrived for me…. Oh the joy!

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