Upgrade Kits

[Brawn84]

I'm thinking about some upgrade kits for some of my chug figures and just looking for some advice on which ones are good and which ones I might want to stay away from. Also which ones still stand the test of time after they've been on the figures for a few years.
I've been thinking of getting the Guilty Hunger Seeker Nul Ray set, the Hound & Ravage weapons kit and either a Fansprojects or Bts trailer for Classics Prime to name a few. Also if anyone has some kits forsale let me know.
Thoughts and advice are appreciated!

[TRUCKvsGUN]

I personally don't go for the weapons/heads kits, I don't think they're worth multiples of the figures themselves, and I can't be bothered with weapons, especially ones that don't have storage in vehicle mode.

The Fansproject G3 trailer is badass though, its so worth the money. You should get one. It makes the BTS one look like garbage, but will cost you twice as much. I also enjoy the Fansproject armor trailers (which the G3 can link with), but the only way to be 100% certain you're not buying a KO is to get the TFcon exclusive, which is pricey.

[Chigimus]

Brawn84, all the upgrade kits you're considering so far are pretty good. I've got much of the same ones, and yeah, if you had the get only one, the Fansproject G3 trailer is truly the kit to get.

This late the in the game though, you'll be hard pressed to find good upgrades kits for CHUGs still, not just in terms of availability, but also price.

Beelzeboss used to make a pretty good G1 accurate head and weapon kit for Cliffjumper as well as another one to turn Bumblebee into Goldbug which fits perfectly if you have United BB.

I remember Perfect Effect used to have a pretty good kit for ROTF Bludgeon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yqdoSvntRU

SXS also used to make a badass battle-axe/mace and a sword and shield combo:





Corbot-V's axes are still readily available and come in a few different colors. They seem to re-appear at TFCon every year still for the last couple of years at least. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9idt5Ed4xU

If you own a Classics/Henkei Nemesis Prime, a nice companion figure/kit to get is made by TFC they called Nemesis Primars. He's a cute little SD figure, but what's cool is that the jetpack he comes with is compatible to clip onto CHUG Nemesis Prime.



If you pair that up with the black MGS God Sword kit or Perfect Effect TAW01-B (not to be confused with their current upsized version PC-13 kit they made for Combiner Wars), then Nemesis Prime looks absolutely menacing all armored up.

TFC also had some kits that were very character specific. TFC-004 Gear of War is somewhat still available. It has a ladder upgrade for Voyager Inferno, and shoulder mounted rocket launchers for Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Mirage as well as a little scout/drone that folds up into a tape. The other kit, TFC-005 Gear of War 2 is really hard to get now. It was a set of G1-styled Optimus Prime rifles with blue LED's in them, one was for CHUG Prime, one for Alternity Prime, and 2 for leader class movie Prime.

Dr. Wu used to have a number of cool swords they used to make too but they're harder to come by now. Skybreaker, Tyrant, Prime swords....they were all pretty nice. Their Prime swords were kinda heavy though since they were made purely of die cast metal so not every figure could how them if they didn't have a tight elbow joint to support the weight. The other 2 sword types are translucent plastic though and held up just fine.

Renderform (venksta on the boards here) has made some pretty good melee weapons in the past too, but they are of course limited production. Currently, he's producing guns for CW figures, but they're all 5mm peg compatible so you could give them to almost any character really.

[Bruticus82]

I have the null ray seeker sets, and I also got the Trailbreaker/Hoist upgrade set. I like them.

Try and see if anyone in and around your area has one if you want a chance to fiddle with it and "try before you buy" kind of thing.

Oftentimes seeing it in person and holding it in your hands gives you a different perspective (better or worse).

[Brawn84]

Yeah I noticed a lot of upgrade kits for the older CHUG figures are sold out at online stores. Most of the kits now seem to be for Combiner Wars figures.

[TRUCKvsGUN]

Something I didn't mention that you may want to consider, is whether the toys are for play or display. I know I said I don't go for heads/weapons above, but if you plan on keeping your chugs displayed in robot mode on your shelf, then they may not be a bad route to go. If they're for play, though, then you may want to consider a kit's play pattern (a fancy marketing-type term for how you interact with your toy). Weapons and heads don't change play pattern, but something like add-on armors can make an old toy feel like a new one when you're playing with them, which gives them a lot of bang for their buck.

[optimusb39]

I have quite a few of the iphrade kits. The g3 trailer. Primes fansproject dia commander armour. Bludgeons samurai upgrade head and weapons. Hegemons king of evil. Nemesis bts trailer and perfect effect minions that combine with him as
Swords and weapon packs. Even have the trailerbreaker hoist addons and the battle tanker kit for g2 lazer prime classic prime. All these are good kits and add alot of character to the bots and playability is still good. Obviously some kits are more fragile than others. The best kits are fansproject and maketoys battle tanker for wear and tear. The worst on for falling apart so far has been the peerfect effect kingbat as he liteteally snapped in tyhree after a year and i have since repaired him but handle with velvet gloves when transforming. I also bought the trailerforce god yinrai addon kit figure for mp10 but im terrified of touching him. He basically disassembles and t reassembles on optimus. Hes a great looking figure as a stand alone but is damn scatry to manipulate. First transformation sheared off a wrist peg atvthe balljoint and ive had bad luck reattaching solidly since. Hes a display piece only.
The smaller kits for classic cliffjumper and goldbug are simple and easy to install but way overpriced imo. I paid 50 for the hegemon king of evil addon- which only consists of a pair of boots aamd two heads neither of which i like. It adds height but evenn atvtthe reduced cost of 50 from the average 120 ive seen it for its totally not worth the it.
To sum up. P E looks great as long as you dont play to rougjh with them (even motobot arcee started falling apart this year))
Fansproject is sturdy and hollding up well.. the g3 trailer is still perfext despite having cats give it the drop test (wouldve been an ex-cat if it had broke!!)
X2 toys addon are solid sinple additions and have held up very well.
Renderform makes some solid stuff too
But definately avoid trailerforce products. Waste of money as the plastic quality on there offerings are cheap and very very prone to snap at tthe slightest torque. The figures look good but dont feel very nice and are scary as hell to transform.
Hope this helps.

[Akroyer]

I have the FP Trailer for Optimus and it's fantastic. One of the best ones I ever bought. And it comes with a selection of weapons for other figures as well. I also picked up the Beezleboss upgrade for Cliffjumper. It came with a new head as well as his Bazooka. I got the Goldbug upgrade for Bee and it came with a new head and dual pistols. And I got the Kup upgrade, came with two heads if I remember right, one with a cigar. I also have the City Commander, Rodimus Trailer/Armour and Laser Prime trailer / armour. But they are more like a whole new figure rather than just upgrades. And the Upgrades for ROTF Superion and Bruticus.

[Ironwave]

Guilty Hunger Null Rays set of 7 (Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Ramjet, Thrust, Dirge and Acid Storm) upgrade



ArtTek A0-01 Art of War Hero Rifle for Henkei's or Classics Optimus Prime Ion Blaster upgrade

[Masta_Skidz]

give up on classics they are bunk and after upgrades cost almost as much as the far superior MP