So during the past weekend, TFCon 2019 took place at its usual place at the Hilton in Mississsauga, ON. Having nothing else to really do, I of course did the responsible thing and dragged my four year old along with me to this perennial event. I only bought two things before tapping out fiscally, though I will say that I definitely spent more that I usually would. When I get around to posting item number two, I'm confident most of you will probably agree it was worth it
Item #1 however, is a bit more mundane as it were. As with most shows, TFCon had exclusive figures (usually recolours) for sale by way of one of the sponsors. Being a lover of anything with female boobs (or close to it), I opted to pick up Zinnia.
Now.. who the hell is Zinnia? I.. don't have a clue.
Zinnia is a recolour of a third party Arcee product produced by Ocular Max. I don't know how popular their stuff is. I don't know what the expectations were quality wise. I just knew it was a "she", and off I went. I don't have a clue where the name came from, but her colour I believe is based on the Paradon Medic characters from Transformers mythos.
Third party figures, for the uninitiated, are not bootlegs, but are rather unofficial figures, made usually because Hasbro drops the ball somewhere. Zinnia is one of several MP scaled Arcee products out there.This being an exclusive ended up being $120 CAD.
Every company uses the general character idea, and tweaks things here and there. The vehicle mode is very reminiscent of the Arcee we G1ers know (and sometimes love.. at least before it got creepy with Daniel), though the windshield is a bit on the small side.
A few things to note are that I didn't know this at the time, but the seats already came prefolded for transformation, so I didn't quite get a photo of that. There is also an interchangeable antenna so you can use its more typical fin-like appearance (thus being more in line with G1 Blurr), and there are spots to put her twin pistols.
Transformation into robot mode is generally quite satisfying. Tolerances of parts were surprisingly, very good, with the only real gripe I have is that the backpack doesn't quite lock into place perfectly. I also wish the actual upper chest/should combination locked into place, or at least held itself a bit more securely.
Oh, speaking of transformations, props out to Occular Max. Pictures are one thing, but the written blurbs help a lot as well... mind you much of this might be an issue for me simply because MP figures have Japanese instructions,but it's worth giving credit for.
The finished robot mode is pretty much bang on what is advertised on the illustrations. Zinna has an impressive array of articulation including double jointed knees and elbows, thigh, hip, ankle, toe, upper arm, shoulder, mid torso, neck, and head. Ankles are a bit different than what you could expect, with two separate swivel joints rather than one single ball joint. While a bit more secure, it does look a bit on the odd side. The knees have a certain range of movement within which its actually gripping and holding the leg in place - once beyond this it goes limp noodle as that is what is needed for the transformation.
Eagle eyed readers will note that the box indicates there is Die Cast metal in this figure. There isn't a lot, but for what it's worth the entire lower leg and feet are metal.
The only thing that gives it away that this is a third party figure is the finish on the product. Don't get me wrong. The QC on this figure is definitely tighter than most, if not all, of Hasbro/Takara mainline product. But you'll notice here and there some crude plastic finish, and the paint apps can be a bit on the weaker side.
Further enhancing your display options are the various optional parts Zinnia comes with. She has three expressions (neutral, crazy stalker girlfriend, Lara Croft) and four sets of hands total, one pair of which is dedicated to holding her twin pistols. She has, for reasons, two pairs of open palm hands with slightly different finger placements. I guess one of them is to supplement a single pistol pose?
Also, why does a medic pack so much heat? Beats me.
My personal favourite is the combo of crazy stalker girlfriend and the twin pistols. She looks so deranged that clearly this is the safest, most family friendly combination you can have on the figure, and will naturally create the fewest questions about your sanity and tastes.
I'd say overall, I'm quite impressed with this product. Being an exclusive, I imagine the MSRP on a mainline item might be what, $20 less or so? So for $100 CAD, it's a pretty solid MP style product. Will I go all out and get them all? Not likely - not all characters are worth MPing, and if I can resist them on the Takara side, these more expensive items can be easily resisted by me. But, it does give me a sense of what the even more expensive figures might be like.
In conclusion,I suppose now that I've got a taste of 3P flesh, it's only a matter of time before i strike again.