I have google cheap figures from dollar tree for kitbashing, so I usually paint them up and modify them to my own liking, but that’s more as a craft than collecting.
Traditional knock off figures I won’t buy, but there are really good third party companies that make figures better than Hasbro like Newage. I wouldn’t mind having any of their figures.
Actually, Firebird was the one who made Nicee. Newage makes a lot of the original G1 characters at the same size as the core class figures, but they are super detailed for such a small scale.
It was originally called arcee, but because of her “robot” mode being almost too unique to be an arcee remake, they end up having to rename it for copy right reasons.
The figure looks pretty solid and I was actually surprised when I found out it could transform. The vehicle almost looked like a die cast model and it’s amazing.
I don’t like the idea of the heavy backpack the figure has for the car, since it’s a pretty lazy way of adding the vehicle accessories onto the figure, but for the sculpt and petite body, it was probably their only option. Unlike an Optimus prime figure who’s basically a brick with legs.
It really gives off the feeling of an anime mech with the attachments on the back along with the anime girl design. It’s definitely for adult collectors and even though I’m not particularly into that sort of thing, I wouldn’t mind owning one just because of the transformation and quality.
Also the company was Big Fire Bird. I mispronounced.