Transformers 3rd Party: Mech Ideas - Gauntlet DC-03

The bad thing about having so many hobbies and blogs is that sometimes things fall into a crack and go unnoticed for far too long. This is the case with this posts' topic, Mech Idea's Gauntlet. When newcomer to the 3rd party scene, Mach 5, wasn't able to pull off their first release Mech Ideas came into the picture at some point and released Gauntlet and Piston. Back in the fall of 2014 I did a post on Piston, but Gauntlet's post never happened. As I was going through my large folder of unedited photos one evening I came across the images I snapped some time ago. It appears I have lost some of the original images so this won't be a normal post. For a full review if you will of this particular mold, check out my post on Piston.

Part of Mech Ideas' Demolition Crue (along w/ Apex and Geminus), Gauntlet shares the same style packaging as Piston. The monochrome colors are a nice touch when compared to today's slick 3rd party packaging. Gauntlet comes packaged in robot mode inside a plastic form fitting clamshell insert, but since something happened to most of the pictures I had of him in robot mode, let's start with his vehicle mode.

   

Gauntlet of course is modeled after IDW's take on the G1 Autobot, Ironfist. I don't follow the TF comics any longer so I'm not sure what the character was like in the stories, but he isn't the Ironfist I know. This new form however is still modeled after a humvee type vehicle. This version though seems to be SD (super deformed) humvee. The toy is also small, not quite as big as a deluxe and not quite as small as a scout. His weapon mounts to the top of the vehicle and can be removed. The yellow cannon then pulls out to become his gun he wields in robot mode.

Ironfist was originally a Lightformer and his G1 toy was not released in the US or Japan, but in the European and Australian markets. As you can see the designer of Gauntlet took a lot of the design elements of the G1 toy, especially the weapon. However the Lightformer "viewmaster" gimmick was not retained. Here beside his G1 self, you can really see just how small this toy is.

Ironfist without his weapon still has a great looking vehicle mode, however if you take the weapon off Gauntlet he just looks like a little armored car. I've heard someone say he looks like an upgraded Roller. Gauntlet is cast is a very light gray/blue colored plastic and there are virtually no paint apps so he just looks really bland without his weapon attached.

Once you unfold Gauntlet into his robot mode he looks great. I don't mind a small, short robot when he has some girth. This is how Brawn was portrayed in the animated series. As you can see Piston has the same look, only his weapons can be attached on his shoulders...after all he is based on the Triggercon, Crankcase. Gauntlet has a great head sculpt and I'm disappointed that I don't have a close up shot. There isn't any light piping on the head sadly.

While Gauntlet still may not have a lot of paint apps in robot mode, at least the different colored plastic helps make the robot form look so good. For such a small robot, he packs a good bit of articulation. His shoulders and elbows are ball joints, as are his hips. He has a hinge joint for his knee and he has a little bit of ankle articulation as well.

I'm a little removed from the Transformers 3rd party scene these days so I don't know if any of the major online retailers still stock Gauntlet or not, but if you are interested in this toy it does appear that he can be had from sellers on the secondary market for a decent price. Once I find a little more time I'll probably be adding be adding this toy to my eBay store as I just don't have a place for him in my collection any longer. I'm grateful that Mech Ideas swooped in and helped get this toy to the market as its a fun toy with a decent transformation.

Transformers 3rd Party: Mech Ideas - Piston DC-03P

Early last year a few images surfaced online from a new 3rd party company, Mach 5, showing off their version of the Wrecker from IDW's comics, Ironfist.

I was really excited about the upcoming release and had planned on pre-ordering it as soon as they went up...then there was silence. No updates, no nothing. I still don't know what exactly happened to Mach 5, but in the end Mech Ideas ending up releasing this figure. Thanks to the good people at Captured Prey, I was finally able to own both versions of this toy, Gauntlet and Piston.

Now while I was excited about both versions of this toy, I'm starting off with Piston. He's an upgraded version of the Decepticon G1 Triggerbot, Crankcase. I figured by the time I get my post up plenty of other people and YouTuber's will have already shared Gauntlet.

Mech Idea's first releases were Apex & Geminus (Top Spin and Twin Twist) and they were part of the Demolition Crue. As you can tell from the packaging, both Piston and Gauntlet are apparently a part of the Crue as well. While the box is nice, it's a little bland for my tastes.

Sorry guys - this isn't meant for whiners children

Once you open up the box you'll find your respective figure nice and snug in a form fitting plastic tray, reinforced with a cardboard frame if you will. Also in the box you'll find an instructions sheet and a trading card size tech specs.

Going in I knew these figures would be small - and they are - but I'm OK with that. The original G1 Crankcase was a small toy so to me at least it makes sense that Piston here is like a small deluxe and not voyager size.

I think this figure looks great...in robot mode. We'll get to the vehicle mode next. For a short and rotund figure he seems to have a good bit of articulation. He has articulation points in his shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. You can also slightly move his head and toes. His legs and feet are sort of posed with a wide stance as you can see above.

Plastic quality is great. As time as gone on it seems more and more of these 3rd party companies are doing a better job in the quality department.

One of my favorite things with this figure is the head sculpt. I absolutely love it. I love the green/blue big eyes and the yellow paint on the face makes the whole head stand out. Compare it to his G1 self and you'll that Mech Ideas did a great job capturing the original likeness.

While in robot mode Piston favors his G1 self, in vehicle mode some liberties have been taken. No more does he look like an off road SUV type vehicle. Now he's more of an armored vehicle. I'm going to say this is because of Gauntlet (not-Ironfist).

For this reason alone I don't care for the vehicle - for Piston. As for Gauntlet it makes sense, thus it looks great. Piston comes packaged with two dark blue guns. These can be pegged into his roof attachment as if his guns had been deployed on the G1 toy.

It's not a bad vehicle mode, in fact I like the compactness of it. It just doesn't fit the character in this case.

Now I can't bring up his G1 toy without a few proper comparison pics, can I? If you measure the height of the original toy from the backpack, then these two are nearly the same height. However as you can tell Piston is much stockier.

Originally I didn't catch the significance of the color blue that was used for the headlights of the vehicle. Notice the two small blue stickers on the chest of the G1 toy? It's little details such as these that I simply love. It shows that some thought was put into the release.

The instructions showed that Pistons' guns could be positioned on his shoulders as if they had been deployed like the original G1 toy. However I could not figure out how to do that. I didn't see any peg holes for the guns on either side of his head. I did manage eventually to simply rest the guns on his shoulders to mimic the G1 look, but this was well after I had snapped these images for the post.

Overall I really like this toy. In robot mode Piston retains the look and feel of his G1 self along with the addition of modern action figure technology. While the figure is on the smaller size, thankfully so is his price. At the time of this posting both Piston and his mold mate, Gauntlet, can be had at Captured Prey for only $29.00. In this day and age of $100 a pop 3rd party toys, it's refreshing to see that some figures can still be a little nicer to your wallet.