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FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10

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FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10 Empty FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10

Post by Detective Barricade Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:37 am

Of all the third party toys I've reviewed so far, I've never reviewed anything from FansProject, one of the longest running, beloved, and successful of these companies to date. Let's fix that, shall we?

FansProject's first tinkering with combiners was with the Aerial Team Appendage Add-on kit for Energon/Universe/ROTF Superion. The second was a set of two figures with some extra parts that combined with Energon/Universe/ROTF Bruticus. (and a re-release of sorts of the entire set colored to go with United Bruticus) Just recently, they've completed two combiner teams. One is the Glacialbots who form Glacialord. I'm reviewing the other team, the Motor Squad. They're Stunt-y, they're con-y, and they're all a little loony. I'd recommend staying well away from these guys on the road. But in toy form? We shall see.

I'm breaking this up into five parts. We're currently on part 1: Causality CA-09 Car Crash and CA-10 T-Bone. Part 2 will be Causality CA-11 Down Force. Part 3 shall involve CA-12 Last Chance. Part 4 features CA-13 Diesel and Military Multiplexer kit by himself. Finally, part 5 brings it all together - literally - with the team as a whole and their combined form, Multiplexer. With me so far? Then let's dive in!

FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10 FPCausalityCC-TB_Alt_zpse1e16ea0

Car Crash and T-Bone in alternate mode are a pair of different sports cars, a Lamborghini Reventón and a Lamborghini Ankonian concept car respectively. As Car Crash is based on the Stunticon Breakdown, he's white with a dark blue underside, black windows, and a bit of red on the front. And as T-Bone is based on the Stunitcon Wildrider, he's charcoal grey with red windows, a grey underside, and a dark silver stripe running down the center of the hood. T-Bone has that same color adorning his wheel hubs whereas Car Crash has silver instead, and has picked out headlights and a blank license plate. Both have red painted taillights. For features in this mode...um...they can roll. Care needs to be taken when doing so because they won't roll if the front wheels get pushed out farther than they should be, which happens easily because there's nothing preventing them from doing so a little. The halves of their guns store in the back as exhaust pipes, a clever touch. This sadly doesn't do much to hide the robot mode heads, and you can't turn them as then there's no room left for the gun pieces to peg on, but you can also just simply not look underneath the car. I found my Car Crash needed one of the pegs sanded slightly for the gun part to fit more easily.

A slight downside I've found is that Car Crash's parts don't fit quite as snugly together as I'd like. Especially in the right rear panel, as that one just doesn't sit flush at all with the central rear piece and barely pegs in there. T-Bone seems to typically have a better fit with his parts, though the pegs that secure the hood/windshield panels to what will become his heels in robot mode are a bit tighter than I'd like.

Now, a size comparison. I'm sure these guys must be pathetically small like everyone else says they are. Surely no bigger than a Scout, right? ...Right?

FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10 FPCausalityCC-TB_Altcompare_zpsbe1ec782

About the same length as Deluxe Hot Shot, a repaint of Prime Bumblebee. Perhaps a little unfair to label them as Scout sized. Please note that this is the only vehicle mode size comparison I'll be providing for all of the cars themselves, as they're all roughly the same length. With that out of the way, how about we get to robot mode?

Well, I will, but I'd like to cover a very serious, but fixable, problem with these two first. Now, they share a similar base skeleton, and thus transformation scheme with a few variations in the order. Despite that, they actually don't share very many of the same molded pieces. However, they both have a problem with their knees, specifically how they're secured in place for robot mode. There's the knee joint on an armature that lets the shell of the front half of the car come down to form the lower leg, and a pair of tabs that peg in to both sides of the knee. These allow the knee to bend as much as you'd want it to while also preventing the whole thing from collapsing when in robot mode. The problem is, those tabs are a tad too long. This means you have to really bend the plastic shell pieces out near the base of the pegs to get them to let go of the knee, and it feels like something is going to break. It is fixable, however. Follow Matt Booker's guide to learn how, though you may want to attempt taking the leg apart beforehand as all the cars are packaged in robot mode. (these two are even packed in a little baggie inside the plastic tray for some reason) T-Bone's doors only peg in, so don't worry if they pop off. (in fact you'll kind of need to pop them off to get at one of the screws) NOW let's get to robot mode.

FansProject Causality Multiplexer Part 1: CA-09 & CA-10 FPCausalityCC-TB_Bot_zps46166869

In robot mode, Car Crash and T-Bone look more similar to one another. They use the same transformation after all, just with some variations on the order in which things get done. But in the details these two differentiate themselves far more than is obvious at first glance. I like how they have the wheel proper on the outside to let them roll in car mode yet have the rest of the rear wheel as molded in detail on the upper arm so as to not sacrifice structural integrity at the shoulders. Car Crash introduces more grey in this mode while T-Bone brings out the bright red. The heads are lovably blocky, an homage to G1 Breakdown and Wildrider, but unlike them these guys' heads have nothing to do with the combination.

Articulation for these guys is almost exactly the same, being so similar in design and all, and it is amazing. Roughly 20 points, with many of these ball joints. The shoulders have an additional hinge for outward movement, and the ball socket is shaped to help cover the gap that would be left behind by using the outward joint...from the front, anyway. The knees can do much better than the standard 90 degrees. The feet are ball jointed as well, but T-bone's wheels and toe shape get in each others' way, thus they have to be tilted out as far as possible or as far back as possible sadly. T-Bone's arms though are much easier to get plugged into and out of his sides than his brother. Both can wield their guns in either hand, or you can leave them attached to the panel that's now on their back.

I'd normally do a robot mode size comparison right around now, but they're all the same size. I've shown off Car Crash next to United Laser Optimus and Reveal the Shield Jazz if you don't want to wait until Last Chance to see the robot mode size comparison. Suffice to say, these guys...are kinda small. Not Scout size, they're bigger than that, but a little smaller than the typical Deluxe.

I'd also do a final thoughts and recommendation at this point, so I suppose I should do that. These guys, once modded, are delightful little toys. They really are. Sleek, sexy car modes, bad ass robot modes packed with articulation, and are very nicely painted. What's not to love?

$60. Each. That's what. If it were $40 or $50 I'd recommend these guys wholeheartedly. But $60? That's honestly a bit more than they're really worth. Though that may change once we get to BUILD GIANT ROBOT! later. We'll see.


Last edited by Detective Barricade on Fri Feb 07, 2014 2:01 am; edited 2 times in total
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Post by Ravage Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:47 am

nice review. yeah $60 for a deluxe size figure is pretty steap.
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Post by Sixshot Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:28 am

I love the overall, look and aesthetic FansProject achieved with these guys. Just wish there was room for a proper Decepticon logo. All the ones I've seen applied are tiny and look out of place.
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Post by Ravage Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:31 am

hmmm yeah never thought about that.  gotta have the logo  :sweet:
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