Today I reviewed one of the three "Masterpiece"-styled third-party Astrotrains, and said I picked Devilstar because it was the best of the options available. Let's take a look.
(All these photos were found on TFW2005, for the record.)
Right away, we can see Machine Boy has the best robot mode. It's thick, it's powerful-looking... it's Astrotrain. ToyWorld's looks rough, and DX9's looks over-designed. And doesn't even have the wings on his chest!
Machine Boy and ToyWorld are kind of a push when it comes to the train mode - MB gets the bonus of a coal box that turns into a weapons platform, but TW has fancier wheels. Either one could win this category, based just on your preference from one day to the next. They're both way better than DX9 (which itself is still better than either of Hasbro's modern attempts).
The DX9 shuttle is okay, if a bit "Armada-y" for my tastes. And Machine Boy's is basically just a larger version of the G1 toy, warts and all! ToyWorld definitely wins this round.
Here's the final tally:
- Robot mode:
- Machine Boy
- ToyWorld
- DX9
- Train mode:
- ToyWorld
- Machine Boy
- DX9
- Shuttle mode:
- ToyWorld
- DX9
- Machine Boy
So with two golds and a silver, ToyWorld's Evila Star/Devilstar outshines the competition...