The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1014 · by **First Gen** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:55 am

Venksta wrote:Hey guys. I've been following this situation for the past two days. I did some research and found there are some big facts being overlooked, and FP is getting some undeserved hate because people are over looking stuff. I will be using Kapow Toys for most of my facts, as they brought this up, and show the facts.

First off, wide release? Who said that? Not FP. Kapow Toys. They posted the news first on TFW2005, and they didn't get the news from FP themselves. So how reliable is the wide release part? Also, for those that bought their TFCon Powered Convoy at the convention, you should realize, you at least got it cheaper then this "wide release". Kapow's preorder is for £87.99. Convert that to Canadian, and its $139.45 compared to the TFCon price of $150 or so. But Kapow Toys is in Europe, so ship it over here to North America and maybe add customs, and the price is easily higher then TFCon's price.

As for preorders, I've seen several Japanese retailers put them up, but they only ship within japan. The price converted to US is around $155. Find a way to buy it and ship it to North America, and its easily over $200 at the least. Kapow is the only store I found outside of Japan to have a preorder. And since they put the preorder up soon after reporting the news, I'm wondering if they actual secured any from FansProject? Otherwise, if not, this Henkei verison could be a limited version as well, only released in Japan? This makes the TFCon version the one that was cheaper to buy originally. Anyways, just some quick facts about this that I feel are being over looked.

One major fact you're overlooking: FP said the mold was destroyed after the TFCon sets were made, meaning no more of these would be made. Wide release or Japanese exclusive, it was still meant to be a TFCon exclusive, meaning ONLY TFCon attendees had a shot at this, hence it being a TFCon exclusive. If people wanna bring up the argument, "Oh well, its to give other people in the world a chance to own this", then A) Fans Project should have never agreed to an exclusive release in the first place and B) Those other people in the world need to find themselves a way to that particular convention just like all our overseas brethren have been doing for Botcon for the last umpteen years.

And shipping is irrelevant, there are cheap options for shipping, you just gotta wait longer to get it. Why people are defending FP is beyond me, but then again, I'm one of those people who thought who got an "exclusive".

News Credits: 10 · by **HighPrime** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:02 am

First Gen wrote:
Venksta wrote:Hey guys. I've been following this situation for the past two days. I did some research and found there are some big facts being overlooked, and FP is getting some undeserved hate because people are over looking stuff. I will be using Kapow Toys for most of my facts, as they brought this up, and show the facts.

First off, wide release? Who said that? Not FP. Kapow Toys. They posted the news first on TFW2005, and they didn't get the news from FP themselves. So how reliable is the wide release part? Also, for those that bought their TFCon Powered Convoy at the convention, you should realize, you at least got it cheaper then this "wide release". Kapow's preorder is for £87.99. Convert that to Canadian, and its $139.45 compared to the TFCon price of $150 or so. But Kapow Toys is in Europe, so ship it over here to North America and maybe add customs, and the price is easily higher then TFCon's price.

As for preorders, I've seen several Japanese retailers put them up, but they only ship within japan. The price converted to US is around $155. Find a way to buy it and ship it to North America, and its easily over $200 at the least. Kapow is the only store I found outside of Japan to have a preorder. And since they put the preorder up soon after reporting the news, I'm wondering if they actual secured any from FansProject? Otherwise, if not, this Henkei verison could be a limited version as well, only released in Japan? This makes the TFCon version the one that was cheaper to buy originally. Anyways, just some quick facts about this that I feel are being over looked.

One major fact you're overlooking: FP said the mold was destroyed after the TFCon sets were made, meaning no more of these would be made. Wide release or Japanese exclusive, it was still meant to be a TFCon exclusive, meaning ONLY TFCon attendees had a shot at this, hence it being a TFCon exclusive. If people wanna bring up the argument, "Oh well, its to give other people in the world a chance to own this", then A) Fans Project should have never agreed to an exclusive release in the first place and B) Those other people in the world need to find themselves a way to that particular convention just like all our overseas brethren have been doing for Botcon for the last umpteen years.

And shipping is irrelevant, there are cheap options for shipping, you just gotta wait longer to get it. Why people are defending FP is beyond me, but then again, I'm one of those people who thought who got an "exclusive".

Another superb, professional retort. Are you sure you and CP aren't the same? :wink:

Of course, I'm biased because I also thought I was getting an exclusive. At least Takara retooled and recolored Dirge and Thrust (for the record I own both the Botcon and Henkei releases, and they are differentiated enough to own both sets). Fansprojects is a travesty to "Fans" IMO. All the good they've done... erased in an instant. I'd like to hold out hope that this is just a rumor, but the silence is deafening. I keep checking BBTS everyday to see when this will be posted for preorder, then I'll be able to let go of this... damn Fansproject...

News Credits: 4 · by **typh0id** » Wed May 13, 2009 11:47 am

First Gen wrote:
typh0id wrote:Frankly I don't care...I just want to stop seeing new news reports involving City Commander and it's clones...I have City Commander and it's one of my favourite pieces...Shadow Commander was nice too...But seriously...Can we please move on to ANY of the other 10billion projects they supposedly have in line? I would much rather see a headline saying "Rodimus Prime Protector upgrade released soon!" than "Oh look, ANOTHER freaking release of the City Commander set!"

That's just me though...I think Powered Convoy is ugly as hell...

The 500 people who got the TFCon exclusive (including myself) and the 100's maybe 1000's more who are happy to hear the news of a mass release, seriously disagree with you on this one.

And we give the news on the "other 10billion projects they supposedly have in line" as we get it.

Apologies, First Gen, that came out wrong...I wasn't implying that I was tired of you guys posting news about City Commander and its brothers...I meant I was tired of there BEING more news to post...You guys do a great job getting the news to us and if there is new updates on this mold then of course you should certainly report it...I just wish the whole thing was over and done with so the NEW stuff can start getting more work and you guys will have news on them to report...

News Credits: 1014 · by **First Gen** » Wed May 13, 2009 1:17 pm

typh0id wrote:Apologies, First Gen, that came out wrong...I wasn't implying that I was tired of you guys posting news about City Commander and its brothers...I meant I was tired of there BEING more news to post...You guys do a great job getting the news to us and if there is new updates on this mold then of course you should certainly report it...I just wish the whole thing was over and done with so the NEW stuff can start getting more work and you guys will have news on them to report...

No worries. I neglect to put myself in the shoes of the poster sometimes and take things the wrong way. I broke my own cardinal rule of being open minded about posts and for that I have to apologize.

To a degree I am not a fan of repaints, but I do like some. Yeah its a contradiction, I know, but thats just how I feel. I'm pretty psyched over the Springer kit and the Rodimus kit too.

I guess I'm being selfish cause I thought I had something only 499 or so other people would have and that meant I had a piece to my meager collection that meant alot.

Worse part is that Henkei version looks pretty sweet to me and I want that too.

But believe you me typh0id, and the rest of you Seibertronians, the minute news breaks about something cool, you'll be first to know. And let me apologize in advance to you all, who like typh0id are tired of hearing about PC, cause there will be more news on it in the future.

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Wed May 13, 2009 1:59 pm

FansProject comments!

FansProject wrote:We, Fansproject, noticed that a discussion regarding the D.I.A Commander (Japanese Version Commander) have been growing rapidly and negatively on various forums. We are deeply sorry if any fans are upset / disappointed when they see the discussion topic. I hope you could spend the next few minutes to read the following and have a better understanding of the situation.

Fansproject is a group of fans who love to play, modify and design our dream toys. We have experienced in designing and manufacturing but not sales and marketing. We love to share our joy and happiness whenever we have some exciting ideas but we could never put these on the hands of general fans at our own power. Therefore, we can never tell if our designs will ever be produced and reach your hands.

We have no intention to keep re-coloring our design, particularly our City Commander. In designer’s point of view, we always play around with the colors to see how it looks and therefor always be one or two colors more favorable than the rest. There have been numerous inquires regarding whether the black and the red color scheme of City Commander will be released after people seeing our test shots at last year TFCon. However, we cannot make any promise unless an ordering request is confirmed. We have a mutual agreement, verbally, that there will not be another Powered Commander which is identical to the TFCon Exclusive Version. In order to make this convention item more unique, we have included a briefcase (which is a meaningful accessory explained in the comic) and suggested to have some graphical paint job on the sides of the trailer which, unfortunately, was discarded by TFCon and replaced with a simpler sticker sheet. At the end, there is the Powered Commander trailer with slightly different coloring than our test shots.

We produced this Powered Commander by request. If the supply of this item is running short; price of this item raise to double or more in a day; you are not able to get one for yourself, we are deeply sorry but there isn’t much we can do. The best we can do is to hope that there will be a repeat order from the same buyer or there will be a different buyer who is looking for a similar item to relief the high pressure in demand. In this case, an Asia-Pacific wholesaler shows interest on the Powered Commander. We have kept our mutual agreement with TFCon and made the following changes:
- Japanese version will have chrome parts to match with other Japanese products
- Japanese version will have different color scheme or design
We understand all the concern about the coloring of Japanese version. We aim to find a mid tone to match with both US and Japanese version, just in case if a fans wish to use either version armor onto either version op.

We don’t release any details of the new color change is because we are still working hard and try to find the best way to shown the difference between TFcon version and Japanese version; especially in truck form which has “Tfcon exclusive” sticker that can be apply on the side of the truck. We wish to give Japan/Asia fans to enjoy a different feel of our D.I.A Commander.
To further avoid any conflict between these two versions, the Japan version will not be available to any North American retailer or wholesaler. If any North American retailer or wholesaler orders through Asia dealer, please kindly understand that’s actually something out of our control.

In our designers’ point of views, we will be very upset if my D.I.A Commander doesn’t come with the briefcase because it will always be “incompleted”. We could never imagine fans will be disappointed to own a “completed” version of Powered Commander. Again, we are designers and production coordinators, we do not involve in sales and marketing, and retailers asking price is also beyond our control.

Some fans have questions us about the mold being destroyed. At the first place, we have to deeply apologize for any mis-leading and unclear explanation we made before. So we are very sorry and hope that we can explain this clearly again. “Mold” means the steel injected mold which we use to produce toys, where “Mold” will be modified all the time but won’t be destroyed because this is part of the company capital. Some Fans ask about whether we will destroy the mold of Tfcon Powered Commander and we say yes; it’s really our fault of getting misunderstanding around this point. What our meaning is actually that we will never produce this Tfcon pc again unless Tfcon request to do so. So, there will never be anymore Tfcon version production to be made after the convention. That was what the misunderstand we made to fans and we really, really feel sorry about this point. Certainly, we all clear about this mutual agreement for this exclusive production’s for Tfcon version and we will never, never break the rule. That’s why we get the compromise from tfcon for a different version pc before we go ahead for that another version. No matter how, this is still our fault of misleading fans about “mold destroying” and we hope this statement is clear enough for everyone.

Sadly, some mold do not held their ground and damage during production. Our very first project CJ upgrade kit; which was using resin-casting mold and cannot be kept for a long period of time, and that’s why this project is forever retired.

Based on fans reaction from the forums, we had an important lesson and would like to apologize to anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable for owning the TFCon Exclusive Powered Commander. We have to admit that we had a bad coordination this time but some information is just strictly confidential between Fansproject and our buyer that we could never release ahead of time. In the future, we would try to avoid similar request as much as possible; we would have black and white instead of verbal confirmation/agreement; we would have to think more thoroughly from fans point of view before making any confirmation/agreement; we would work harder on our designs; we would work harder to keep up the quality of our products.

You have seen some of our new ideas at this year TFCon and there are plenty more on our desks. We are ready and would love to move on to new items. But, as we have always said, we couldn’t tell if these designs will ever become a real product and reach your hands. These are design by fans, and made for fans. If someone believes there are enough support in the market, the design will become a real product. If the supply is running short, then someone has under estimated fans preferences. If we have a promise to keep, we will always do. If majority of fans don’t like it, these will remain on paper at our desks.

We have no intention to harm or disappoint anyone and do not wish to start any argument anywhere. We always let our project talk for itself; if a fan like it Thank You, but if you don’t please let us know and we will improve. We are only interested for the love of toys and designing toys. If you have any questions or comment, please let us know. This is the best way for us to learn and improve.

News Credits: 9 · by **Editor** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:09 pm

If that is correct then Why is Kapow selling something that should only be available to Asian sellers?

But I hope this means that the new commander is going to be even more different than the pictures on their site.

News Credits: 10 · by **HighPrime** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:16 pm

Editor wrote:If that is correct then Why is Kapow selling something that should only be available to Asian sellers?

But I hope this means that the new commander is going to be even more different than the pictures on their site.

Means Kapow is getting this from an Asian source, which is what is mentioned in the notice. They don't have control over this.. Similiar to the "credit card" exclusives to the Japan market for Henkei Strafe. The oversears retailers have buyers in the local markets. In any case, as long as this version of Powered Commander is colored differently w/chrome, I'm OK. When I see official pictures, all will be forgiven. Thanks FP for stepping forward and clarifying. I'm still a tad annoyed that they didn't mention the "Henkei" release before the convention, but I can chalk it up to lack of business experience. I hope FP has learned some things after this 'crisis.' :grin:

News Credits: 6 · by **Venksta** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:18 pm

Editor wrote:If that is correct then Why is Kapow selling something that should only be available to Asian sellers?

But I hope this means that the new commander is going to be even more different than the pictures on their site.

Like I said in my previous post, maybe Kapow hasn't secured any from FansProject, because they thought it was a wide release.

And going by FansProject's statement, it looks like TFCon was told there would be a different version from the start. Who made the statement for TFCon? The same person FansProject dealt with? Or someone else that really didn't know about this other version? :?:

News Credits: 127 · by **Counterpunch** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:24 pm

Good enough for me.

Honest apologies resulting from unintended offenses set things right once again.

by **IceWilly** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:55 pm

While I cannot say that I was part of the group who bought the TFcon one or is even trying to obtain this re-release.... it does sound like FP knew beforehand that there would be a chance of another release. Who knows how well this was communicated or if the right people heard about it from the convention staff, but if that's true then they can't really be to blame. Its unfortunate that there seems to be a language barrier that prevents 100% clear communication at times, but for a group that's spending a tremendous amount of time and upfront costs to make molds for collectors I really think we should give them the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe the things they considered more valuable in an exclusive (the briefcase) were overestimated in their value. It seems that if anyone should be a little more to blame it would be whoever decided to tone back the TFcon deco details. (Assuming they had some clue that a future, similar release may be likely)

News Credits: 23 · by **Prime Evil** » Wed May 13, 2009 2:59 pm

Well, I guess business mistakes happen. And it is the company's first year and all. I still do not like paying more (TFCon cost) and then the rest of the world gets it for less. But if they are limiting the release to Japan only, then it takes the sting out a little...only a little.

Still looking forward to future products with Fans Proj, but from this point, the word "exclusives" means crap to me in terms of ANY transformer, from Hasbro, Takara/Tomy, Fun Pub, and Fans Proj.

News Credits: 7 · by **Narc** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:08 pm

Everyone has his own strengths and weaknesses. Doctors can't be asked to build a bridge and engineers can't be asked to do brain surgery. As FP said they don't know how to do marketing. They apologized, and I forgive them.

For a group of fans to share their work (and their work is awesome) with the rest of us and not know how to do marketing of the product in the first place is a testament of how they really meant this to work: they want their work to be enjoyed by those who appreciate them. Can you fault them for that?

People bitch and moan about how much the TFCon exclusive is right now and how much they could have saved if they knew of this upcoming repaint, or about the exclusivity of the figure going down, but come on... it's still technically a different figure. I bought the TFCon exclusive myself at a high price: $305 + $30 for shipping. Do I regret doing that? No. Because I have a figure that's exclusive to TFCon and I like it. Will I get the new chromed PC that's scheduled for asian release? Hell yes, because it looks sweet and I want it too.

FansProject, I still look forward to your next project.

News Credits: 1014 · by **First Gen** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:16 pm

Very well appreciated that they said that. I still love my Powered Commander set.

News Credits: 9 · by **Editor** » Wed May 13, 2009 3:23 pm

Prime Evil wrote:Well, I guess business mistakes happen. And it is the company's first year and all. I still do not like paying more (TFCon cost) and then the rest of the world gets it for less.

Again look at the cost. The price that Kapow listed in Brit pounds at current conversion rates is so close to the TFCon price in Canadian dollers the difference is quite small.*

*unless your a person that freaks if you see something a buck cheaper than what you payed for it.

by **Badassimus Prime** » Wed May 13, 2009 4:30 pm

I'm glad most of you are taking their statement well.

For starters, I never blamed them for the entire ordeal but then again, I didn't go to BotCon and buy the toy so it would've been a biased stance. It's like a few of you said, mistakes happen even in the business world and at least FansProject stepped forward to clairify the situation. I just thank FansProject for keeping their heads up and providing us with interesting, great-quality products and hope they continue to do so.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Wed May 13, 2009 5:07 pm

Whatever. I can't really say anything against an apology, whether its from the heart or not.

News Credits: 1 · by **T-Macksimus** » Wed May 13, 2009 5:13 pm

I found that to be very well explained, very thought out and concise.
Nobody should have any issues with this apology.
Unfortunately some still do which leads me to ask...

So what, again, is the problem here with the fans?? They went to the Convention, dropped obscene cash for an exclusive, and that exclusive is not going to appear anywhere else. Folks are pissed because a different version is coming out elsewhere with chrome on it?? Tough Sh**, you still have an "Exclusive" figure! Color schemes on TF's change all the time, even 'con items get repainted and recycled elsewhere. You people know this stuff and yet you still whine even though it's you're own damn fault for using your disposable income to satisfy your damn HOBBY!
This fan response)is half the reason I don't bother with special set or Convention exclusives. I've had numereous chances to pick up convention items and I've passed simply because I don't want to be like a lot of you people.
If I'm gonna dis on a company about their product, I'm saving it up for Hasbro alone!

News Credits: 198 · by **DevastaTTor** » Wed May 13, 2009 8:42 pm

I don't know, from what I've read, I actually am leaning towards the FP story about all this. FP's going to sell these guys no matter what. TFCon had more to gain getting people to come to the convention by offering up this set as an exclusive. Just my opinion...

In any case, glad they finally broke their silenc. Like I said a lot earlier in this post, they're a young company and were bound to make mistakes along the way. It sounds pretty clear to me now that they'll learn from all this.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:24 pm

DevastaTTor wrote:TFCon had more to gain getting people to come to the convention by offering up this set as an exclusive. Just my opinion...

Did you not read what TFCon said?

TFCon wrote:We at TFcon wish to extend an apology to any attendees or fans who feel slighted by recent events concerning the release of a Henkei Commander Set. We at TFcon were unaware of any intention of FansProject to release the set (with or without changes), and had been informed that this colour scheme would be exclusive to our convention. We regret that this is not the case, and hope that the actions of FansProject will not reflect poorly on our show, as they are outside of our control.

News Credits: 6 · by **Venksta** » Wed May 13, 2009 9:52 pm

Blurrz wrote:
DevastaTTor wrote:TFCon had more to gain getting people to come to the convention by offering up this set as an exclusive. Just my opinion...

Did you not read what TFCon said?

TFCon wrote:We at TFcon wish to extend an apology to any attendees or fans who feel slighted by recent events concerning the release of a Henkei Commander Set. We at TFcon were unaware of any intention of FansProject to release the set (with or without changes), and had been informed that this colour scheme would be exclusive to our convention. We regret that this is not the case, and hope that the actions of FansProject will not reflect poorly on our show, as they are outside of our control.

TFCon's statement goes against what FansProject stated today, that both parties talked about a second version, and it was ok if the second version was different. So either believe one of them, or consider it was miscommunication. With that stated, the following assumption is based on both FansProject and TFCon both knowing there would be a second version eventually made...

TFCon had to sell 500 units in two days. If fans thought that would be the only place to get Powered Commander, then it would help TFCon sell them all out. As FansProject stated, they only make the products, not sell them. So they didn't have to promote Powered Commander at all, as TFCon bought all 500 pieces from them. All FansProject said online was "TFCon Exclusive Ver.". TFCon themselves said it was an "Exclusive", not "Exclusive Version". So everyone thought it would be the only place to buy it. And with that, a lot of fans made the trip out to TFCon just to get Powered Commander. I'm sure if FansProject announced another version before the event, TFCon would be mad and a lot of fans would not show up. So assuming all this, it would make TFCon not look to good if they admitted to knowing it in the first place that FansProject was always going to release another version. The only problem then is that FP says one thing, and TFCon says another. Anyways, the above assumption is based on one side of the story. Other side is FP are no good liars who cheated TFCon and fans, lol.

News Credits: 8 · by **NuclearConvoy** » Wed May 13, 2009 10:08 pm

While, admittedly, I would love to own a set of Powered Commander armour, because I think that it looks lovely in general (and better than the Ultra Magnus colours) I can't see myself wanting to drop hundreds of dollars on an unoffical, unendorsed product.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:05 am

Venksta wrote:
Blurrz wrote:
DevastaTTor wrote:TFCon had more to gain getting people to come to the convention by offering up this set as an exclusive. Just my opinion...

Did you not read what TFCon said?

TFCon wrote:We at TFcon wish to extend an apology to any attendees or fans who feel slighted by recent events concerning the release of a Henkei Commander Set. We at TFcon were unaware of any intention of FansProject to release the set (with or without changes), and had been informed that this colour scheme would be exclusive to our convention. We regret that this is not the case, and hope that the actions of FansProject will not reflect poorly on our show, as they are outside of our control.

TFCon's statement goes against what FansProject stated today, that both parties talked about a second version, and it was ok if the second version was different. So either believe one of them, or consider it was miscommunication. With that stated, the following assumption is based on both FansProject and TFCon both knowing there would be a second version eventually made...

TFCon had to sell 500 units in two days. If fans thought that would be the only place to get Powered Commander, then it would help TFCon sell them all out. As FansProject stated, they only make the products, not sell them. So they didn't have to promote Powered Commander at all, as TFCon bought all 500 pieces from them. All FansProject said online was "TFCon Exclusive Ver.". TFCon themselves said it was an "Exclusive", not "Exclusive Version". So everyone thought it would be the only place to buy it. And with that, a lot of fans made the trip out to TFCon just to get Powered Commander. I'm sure if FansProject announced another version before the event, TFCon would be mad and a lot of fans would not show up. So assuming all this, it would make TFCon not look to good if they admitted to knowing it in the first place that FansProject was always going to release another version. The only problem then is that FP says one thing, and TFCon says another. Anyways, the above assumption is based on one side of the story. Other side is FP are no good liars who cheated TFCon and fans, lol.

I think you're a little bit too sympathetic towards FansProjects here. You're right, if anyone of the 500 knew that this wasn't going to be an 'exclusive' then I'm pretty sure most of the people outside of Canada wouldn't have come to the Con. But that's not the freaking case. No one knew that it would be released in Japan, and in my opinion, Fansprojects is the one to blame.

Either way I'm mad, angry, whatever, and I'm not buying another product of theres.

by **newbe_collector** » Thu May 14, 2009 1:56 am

Hello, I'm reatively new to collecting and EXTREMELY new to this Forum and I hope all of you seasoned vets will forgive me in my "youth" as I become accustomed to this new world.

That being said, I've been a huge fan of Fansproject and the work they've done. When they first produced the city commander set I HAD to get it cause Ultra Magnus looked naked with no armor. Now I've been following this whole "powered commander" set from the very beginning and I can't help but wonder did everyone forget that on the origional artist sketch for the P.C. on fansprojects website it said in "TFcon exclusive ver"? meaning from the beginning that another version was basically guarenteed.
http://www.fansproject.com/wordpress/wp ... con091.jpg

by **newbe_collector** » Thu May 14, 2009 2:09 am

I also forgot to reading this little bit of information right here on Seibertron.com awhile ago.

FansProject have updated their site with a picture of concept art for the TFCon exclusive Powered Commander. This version appears to come with some extras, according to the artwork. If what the artwork is to be believed, then those lucky enough to receive this exclusive will receive shoulder missiles as well as what appears to be an energon-cube carrying case.

Also of interest is the sub-title TFCon Exclusive Version. Could we possibly see a general release of this figure sometime in the future? Seibertron.com will keep you informed!

News Credits: 5 · by **Oilspill** » Thu May 14, 2009 3:46 am

It's nice that they apologized and I do think that people should keep in mind that they are a new company and are only human. I bet I would make business mistakes too if I was starting up a new company.

Anyway, I think it was probably a misunderstanding. TFCon may have looked at the phrase "TFCon Exclusive Version" and thought their Powered Convoy was an exclusive version of the City Commander mold. Whereas FP were trying to say it was an exclusive version of Powered Convoy.

This makes sense when they said they had originally suggested the TCon logo be painted on rather than a sticker set.