Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter (3rd Party Reflector)

Intro

Camera mode:

Reflector transforms into a camera. The proportions are right and it's comfortable to hold in your hands. But I can't say that it's a particularly realistic camera. The mismatched colors don't help the look much, especially from the back. There's also the fairly obvious robot head on the right hand side.

It's not impossible that a camera could look like this. The size is right for this sort of camera. Batteries, film, etc would all fit inside. But the robot modes clearly took priority when this toy was designed.

The lens and flash are separate pieces that just clip on. The lens looks nice with the clear green plastic in the front and the silver and red painted details around it. The flash however is very blocky and molded in flat grey plastic. It's not bad but it's not 100% convincing either.

Transformation:

I'm not going to describe the steps of the transformation here. With the other Fans Toys figures I own the transformations were on par with official MPs. Go through the instructions the first time and you're good from then on.

I found Reflector's transformation to be painful the first time though. Literally painful. Many parts do not seem to have enough room to move past others. Even following the instructions to the letter it was not an easy process. Having done it a few times now it is not as bad as the first time but it's still not a fun experience.

The general idea here is good. All three robots have pretty much the same transformation. The side robots differ in one place only and even then the step is only mirrored. But the process probably should have gone through another draft. A few minor adjustments to fix the clearance issues and this set would have been brilliant.

You can see in the alt mode pictures the gaps in the grey part at the top of the camera. These sections would just not tab together properly. Part of this I think is due to each of the side sections require a piece to be rolled into place. It's on a clip that's also attached to a track that is L-shaped. Most of the time it just unclips and then is really fiddly to get back into place.

Robot modes:

The robot modes of Reflector are really nice. Drawing inspiration from the cartoon depiction of the character all three robots are practically identically. The central bot obviously has the shutter at the center of his torso. His backpack also differs from the other two robots. As for the side bots the way that their backpacks fold up is mirrored. Otherwise they look exactly the same.

All three are quite poseable. They go beyond the usual articulation seen on your typical Masterpiece figure. The biggest stand out is that they all have double jointed elbows and knees. Unlike the transformation joints the ones used for articulation are all smooth and hold well straight out of the box.

The robot mode does have two very minor flaws. The side hip pieces are hinged to so that they don't impede leg movement. Sadly when flipped up they do get int the way of the waist articulation. And while the ankle tilt is really nice side to side it's designed to cup the bottom of the leg. This means that pointing the foot leaves it looking broken.

Reflector comes with three face options. You get a set of faces for each member (nine faces total). The smirking and grinning faces have a lot of character. The smirk in particular works well if you want to have these three bullying some Autobots. 

I don't think these will get a lot of use with my figures though. Unlike MP Bumblebee or Ironhide - or Fans Toys own Sever and Stomp - you can't easily swap the faces over. You've got to disassemble the head to put the new face piece in. I much prefer when the faces are designed to just plug in. This set up is just too much hassle to swap the faces around

Accessories:

The camera flash and lens break down into smaller chunks. Most of these can be reused by the robots as weapons. All accept the central grey piece pictured above. It contains a knife but seems to have no function or place to store on any of the robots.

The outer pieces of the flash and lens can combine to make a large gun. There are two of these, one for each of the side robots. While the robot mode hands don't grip the gun handle very tightly there is a place for it to tab into the forearm. These guns aren't terrible but there are better options included with these figures.

The inner pieces of the flash become sheaths for knives. These can clip onto any of the robots left legs. The way the pegs are placed they only fit on the left. Personally I'm not fond of these. I think they're too large and chunky tacked on to the side of the robot.

The knives themselves do look nice. The blades are painted silver to make them stand out. The grip tabs nice and securely into the robot mode hands. 

The main part of the lens becomes a large cannon. The transformation on this is painful. It has similar issues to the alt mode. There just doesn't seem to be enough room to move parts past one and other. 

This gun assembles around the robots forearm. There's a grip inside as well as places for the sides to tab both into the robot forearm and the body of the gun itself. Getting everything lined up is a chore.

While I don't think the gun looks half bad I don't feel it's worth the effort to assemble. I've been keeping the lens and flash in their alt mode configurations and just setting them aside.

The best weapon option in my opinion are the three identical pistols. Like the knives these tab securely into the robot mode hand. The design is nice and compact. It's just a shame these are unpainted. Painted silver like the knife blades would have been much nicer. Even cast in black plastic would have been nicer than the plain grey they come in.

Reflector also comes with a scaled down version of their alt mode. This is nicely detailed and, if I'm being completely honest, looks nicer as a camera than the actual figures combined. The flash is removable and just clips over the molded robot mode head on that side.

Finally there are three energon cubes included with Reflector. These are molded in translucent pink/purple plastic. As they're hollow they are easily held by Reflector or any other Transformer you might want to give them to. I think these are a great accessory and hope Fans Toys choose to include a few with future releases.

Final thoughts:

I can't help but be a little disappointed with Reflector. It's such a shame that the transformation here is not up to scratch. I knew the alt-mode was unrealistic going in. And that wasn't a problem. But a Transformer that isn't fun to transform has clearly failed on some level.

I'm still happy to have these three in my collection. The robot modes are great. And the official Masterpiece line has been neglecting the 'Cons so any help bulking up their forces is welcome.

I think it's important to know what you're getting if you're looking at buying these guys. I can't say I'd recommend them. But if you're aware of the issues with the transformation but still like what you're seeing I don't think they're a bad purchase.