Fans Toys FT-30D Viper (Masterpiece Fireflight)
Fanstoys items usually come with an outer plastic baggie to protect the box.
Ye ole Fans Toys protective film sheet
As usual, the figure comes out of the box slightly mis-transformed to minimize the box dimension. In this case, you’ll just simply have to remove the paper wraps on the wings and fold out the wings for his “backpack”.
Also, depending on your unit. This lock on the side of the legs might be undone. Just wiggle the leg into the proper length and push the lock into place.
Since this is a Third Party, non-official item, it doesn’t come with a faction symbol. It’s best to get some stickers from Reprolabels/Toyhax.com to make this guy more “toon-accurate”. Alternately, you can also use “water slide decals” to make them look even more flawless (you won’t see the edges, unlike with stickers) but I’ve never really had the proper skills, or time (usually needs to be individually cut first) to work with those.
For water slide decals, most folks recommend the one from Ocean Studio. Here:
http://www.unclebillyshop.com/decals-poster/ocean-logo-decals.html
To apply stickers, I find the best way to stick the stickers on is to use the tip of a blade, or a flat, small-tipped object, this way you have more control over the application, as compared to using one’s stubby fingers. You can also use the blade to help gently peel off a corner of the sticker in case you didn’t center it right and need to re-apply.
In this instance though, I’m still deciding if I want to apply stickers on his left chest panel. The size for it is a bit small and adding a sticker doesn’t really add much to his overall appearance?
While a good, naïve Autobot at heart, Fireflight tends to be a hazard when in the skies due to his lack of attention when flying, as he’s usually too busy admiring the scenery. His teammates usually have to be more mindful when Fireflight’s around, as crashes and collisions tend to happen more often.
Viper stands roughly 10.5 inches tall (counting the tip of the nosecone) and weighs 428 Grams.
Diecast parts include:
–Sections of the torso
–Knee joints
–Sections of the legs
–Feet
Viper’s skirt plate is supposed to come with blue clear plastic, not just clear plastic. To correct this, replacement parts will come with the final member of the team, Jester (Slingshot). Thanks, Fans Toys!
I got QC 31
It’s a shame, but the robot mode only sports single elbow joints.
Do note that due to the design limitations on the figure to function as Ethereaon’s arm, there’s no waist joint swivel for Viper.
The set comes with an alternate “talking” face for the robot mode. To pluck the default face out. I followed Youtube reviewer Emgo’s advice and rotated the head out so I could get a better grip on the chin.
Admittedly, yeah, Fireflight never really did much in the old G1 cartoons. I guess the most we can expect here for accessories is indeed him just casually speaking.
For weapons, Viper only comes with his Photon Displacer Gun, which “alters vectors of photons”, distorting the target’s vision for a few minutes.
For added play value, the Photon Displacer Gun can be separated into two smaller pistols for Viper to wield. This actually comes into function for the alt mode, but works in the robot mode as well.
F-4 Phantom II fighter jet mode
Unfortunately, try as I want, I can’t seem to get the body of the plane to line up flush. The whites just stick out like sore thumbs.
Deployable landing gear.
Opening c0ckpit canopy.
Some very nice detailed sculpt work on the instrument panel.
As previously mentioned, Viper’s weapon can be split apart and attached to the undersides of the wings.
Overall, very good and par for the course for Fans Toy’s level of quality when it comes to their releases. Like his brothers, Viper is hefty, very well sculpted and painted and looks really good in both modes (provided I can transform the jet mode right next time). The lack of accessories is a bit of a downer, but expected, since Fireflight was always more of a background character in the series and never did much.
FUNFACT: Fireflight was my first ever Transformer toy back in the day, gift from my big sister. Ah…memories…
Hopefully I can get some free time soon so I can crack open the final member of the team and form up Ethereaon (it’s already sitting in a box here, waiting for me). That project’s going to take at least more than a day to get done.
I’ll try to take a photo of the entire Aerialbot team together when I can open up Jester (Slingshot) along with the Ethereaon (Superion) parts.
Gold
