The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1235 · by **LOST Cybertronian** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:03 pm

Fans of iGear's MP coneheads have a little something else to look forward to. Dragonclaw from Dublin, CA based Comic Ink has dropped us a line to let us know about their exclusive G2 version of iGear's Mp Ramjet. They do need a certain number of pre-orders to give this project a greenlight however. They hope to have a prototype on or around January 10. This is what Dragonclaw had to say.

We have been working with iGear to get an exclusive of their (not)Ramjet in G2 colors. We will be opening up pre-orders online and in store in the next couple weeks. (we need to have enough pre-orders to make it viable) and will have exclusive G2 style launchers designed by Automaster and produced by Shapeways that are only for the pre-orders. They will also be individually numbered with the "early bird" bonus also being identified on the packages. I will be seeing the prototype on around the 10th and we'll be able to do the full reveal then If all goes as planned it should be in stock right before Botcon. We are also planning on a giveaway for our facebook fan at http://www.facebook.com/comicink.

by **dinogeist** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 2:52 pm

wow this seems cool. i'm sure a lot of botcon attendees/club members,G-2 fans & TF fans will be excited over this one.

I can't tell by the tiny pic,but it looks like igear opted not to use the coneheader seeker head. but instead chose to use the regular non-cone seeker head. how odd,I guess igear must really want to go for the 1993 G-2 Ramjet look.

I have no interest in buying this. but i'm happy for those who want to buy this item.

by **TheDragonclaw** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 3:03 pm

It'll have the conehead. The pic is just the original G2 toy. We'll get to see the prototype of the actual toy in a couple weeks.

News Credits: 1235 · by **LOST Cybertronian** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:21 pm

TheDragonclaw wrote:It'll have the conehead. The pic is just the original G2 toy. We'll get to see the prototype of the actual toy in a couple weeks.

Tidalwavex wrote:wow this seems cool. i'm sure a lot of botcon attendees/club members,G-2 fans & TF fans will be excited over this one.

I can't tell by the tiny pic,but it looks like igear opted not to use the coneheader seeker head. but instead chose to use the regular non-cone seeker head. how odd,I guess igear must really want to go for the 1993 G-2 Ramjet look.

I have no interest in buying this. but i'm happy for those who want to buy this item.

The picture is of the Original G2 toy. Couldn't find any good artwork and since there are no pictures of the prototype yet, it was the best I could do. Plus my internet slowed to a crawl when I was trying to write this up so I was lucky to even get that.

News Credits: 4 · by **craggy** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 5:14 pm

LOST Cybertronian wrote:
TheDragonclaw wrote:It'll have the conehead. The pic is just the original G2 toy. We'll get to see the prototype of the actual toy in a couple weeks.
Tidalwavex wrote:wow this seems cool. i'm sure a lot of botcon attendees/club members,G-2 fans & TF fans will be excited over this one.

I can't tell by the tiny pic,but it looks like igear opted not to use the coneheader seeker head. but instead chose to use the regular non-cone seeker head. how odd,I guess igear must really want to go for the 1993 G-2 Ramjet look.

I have no interest in buying this. but i'm happy for those who want to buy this item.

The picture is of the Original G2 toy. Couldn't find any good artwork and since there are no pictures of the prototype yet, it was the best I could do. Plus my internet slowed to a crawl when I was trying to write this up so I was lucky to even get that.

don't worry about it, it was quite bloody obvious that was the G2 toy, not any version of the MP Starscream toy. Sounds like a cool thing. Surely someone has to sort out an Action Master Thundercracker paintjob for the mould as well at some point?

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:09 pm

Tidalwavex wrote:wow this seems cool. i'm sure a lot of botcon attendees/club members,G-2 fans & TF fans will be excited over this one.

I can't tell by the tiny pic,but it looks like igear opted not to use the coneheader seeker head. but instead chose to use the regular non-cone seeker head. how odd,I guess igear must really want to go for the 1993 G-2 Ramjet look.

I have no interest in buying this. but i'm happy for those who want to buy this item.

That's the original toy. Something often overlooked though is that G2 Ramjet was NEVER depicted with a conehead until last year's club exclusive. He was ALWAYS depicted with a normal head in the G2 CG commercials and opening credits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MAjbv1pDNc

News Credits: 1 · by **Bumblevivisector** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:17 pm

And it was a close call at that, since Ramjet DID have a conehead in the G2 comics...but retained his G1 white color scheme, even dying from the Swarm sans purple rain.

The bigger question here is since these are technically knock-offs, and KO toys just suffered the ultimate crackdown we'd been dreading, is it really a good idea to make such a big deal about what Has/Tak surely see as convention-exclusive copyright infringement?

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:34 pm

I don't recall Hasbro/Takara ever shutting down another toy company. They have sent letters to online stores that scare them into changing their inventory, but never, that I know of, to a toy maker.

News Credits: 16 · by **It Is Him** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 9:48 pm

Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

by **TheDragonclaw** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:14 pm

It Is Him wrote:Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

In the interest of full disclosure I will grant that I have a vested interest in this topic, but I'd say the biggest difference in the example you site is that CHMS's Breakdown and their Punch / Counterpunch are out and out copies of a convention exclusives, and just some of MANY that they have done that could be sold as the real deal by less than scrupulous sellers. This piece, while unofficial, cannot be mistaken for anything Hasbro or Takara has offered officially, and in all honesty I doubt we'd EVER see this from them. We have the club version for Classics that I'd say probably would never have existed without being an exclusive...heck, we never even got the Animated version and she was in the show. G2 has a small niche following, as do the higher end figures and 3rd party offerings. Personally I'd LOVE to have an official Hasbro exclusive, however when approached about doing something when we first purchased the store we were told, in no uncertain terms, that we were "too small and insignificant to be considered for exclusives" as they are "only for special customers". With both a Target and a TRU a block away from my shop we NEED to be able to offer things that help us stand out since we obviously can't go toe to toe with pricing...so we turned to the 3rd party companies for our inventory and for special things like this. I'm more sorry than anyone that Hasbro would rather not deal with us little guys, but that's just the reality of the situation.

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:41 pm

It Is Him wrote:Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

I think it's fair to say they only put "Buyer Beware" on replica items that have a chance of be mistaken for the "real deal", but since A G2 Masterpiece Ramjet has never been made by Hasbro or Takara, it's just a news story about a new igear toy, not a warning to people not to mistake it for a Hasbro toy.

News Credits: 16 · by **It Is Him** » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:54 pm

I'm not passing judgment on KO products, at least not on this thread. Carry on

by **dinogeist** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:20 am

Scaleface wrote:
It Is Him wrote:Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

I think it's fair to say they only put "Buyer Beware" on replica items that have a chance of be mistaken for the "real deal", but since A G2 Masterpiece Ramjet has never been made by Hasbro or Takara, it's just a news story about a new igear toy, not a warning to people not to mistake it for a Hasbro toy.

Personally all of Igears seekers feature remolded parts & different packaging. so igear is not trying to flood the market with high quality KO's disguised as liscensed product like Kotoys.com was.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 1:24 am

It Is Him wrote:Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

When it comes down to the nitty gritty, we are not representatives of Hasbro, Takara, FunPub or any third party, we are simply like you - we are Transformers fans. Buyer Beware articles are out there to bring attention to our fellow collectors who are interested in collecting genuine articles. The BB news pieces make sure that our members are aware that they might have to endure a bit of research and hard work when buying a figure or figures from the second hand market.

As to this particular piece in particular, the owner of ComicInk brought their upcoming exclusive to our attention. While it is unfortunate that iGear has likely made this product through reverse engineering of a mold owned by Hasbro, it is still a product that is in essence an 'iGear original', and it is likely that our members and fellow fans would be interested in such a thing.

Until Hasbro or Takara contacts us regarding a negative stance towards third party products, Seibertron.com will continue to act in such a way that third party toys and knock off Transformers are different beings.

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Sun Dec 25, 2011 2:23 am

It Is Him wrote:Dear Seibertron.com News Mods, Admins, Board Mods, etc.,

What distinguishes iGear MP product stories from ones like this one about CHMS Breakdown labeled Buyer Beware? Both news post deal with replicas of Hasbro products, but are framed in different ways.

Is this a double standard? Or an editorial oversight? Please consider this question.
Thanks,
- It Is Him

In part because each News Crew member does things a little differently. I only throw the "Buyer Beware" warning on products I feel could easily be passed off as the real deal on the secondary market. I don't really think the iGear Seekers are going to be marketed by sellers on eBay as an official figure, but I can easily see this happening with a figure like CHMS's KO Shattered Glass Rodimus or Wildrider.