The Energon Pub

(apologies in advance for the less-than-stellar pics)

Okay, so many of you have seen the pics of the box art already, but in case some of you haven't, here you go:




Once opened, you can see that the plastic insert, layout and everything almost exactly resemble the official MP Seekers. Even down to the instruction manual, collector card, stickers, etc. BUT WAIT!!!! It's not an instruction manual, it's a mini-comic and featured on the very last page is the first look at...we'll get to that later.







Here is jet mode. When you first handle it, it "feels" like an official MP Seeker. Same weight, sturdiness, etc. So far, it doesn't feel cheap.





The rear wings fold up, then you slide the legs out just like normal, same transformation, etc. Since these don't have the hip kibble, the transformation is altered slightly. Once you have the feet in place, just slide the wings up alongside the leg so it will give more of a stationary stance.





The legs feel funny...not cheap, but almost like they're a bit lighter in weight. This will come into play later. Here you get a look at where the conehead goes in transformation, no adjustments are necessary the transformation is smooth.





The rest of the figure transforms just like the regular MP seekers. Everything seems good so far, right? Well, on to the negatives.

The figure will not stand straight up, with it's legs straight, without teetering backwards. The legs are lighter, making the diecast parts of the upper torso weigh it down even more.

**EDIT: CORRECTION - I didn't have one of the side-wings extended enough, so he does in fact stand up straight. However, it must be said that you do need the side wings for extra support.

Meaning, if he's standing up straight, slide the wings down so they're flush with the same surface as the feet. If you spread the legs to give him a dramatic pose, then you need to slide the wings down further to touch the surface and give more support.

BUT, this isn't really anything new because the "official" MP seekers have the wing supports as well, this is just due to the change in design. So, just to reiterate, it stands just fine.**




But hey, how many of you display them in stiff poses anyway, right? We all go for dramatic poses. Well, when you spread the legs apart to the first notch, they automatically spring back into the straight position. Whether the spring is too tight, or one of the notches in the groove isn't deep enough, who knows. However, you have to really widen it's stance in order to have a dramatic pose. Either that, or use the other piece that connects to the base (standard in all MP seeker releases) that gives it an aerial pose.





Other than that, the joints are tight throughout, no out-of-the-box stress marks or anything (granted it would be harder to tell since it's mostly white). Truth be told, it looks just like an official Takara-Tomy release (imagine that, lol). Highly recommended.

Received mine today. It felt good and sturdy in plane mode but when I went to transform him he felf very fragile. I've so far broken the left stomach piece and a tiny white tab bit on his lower leg where the piece slides up.

His joints are funny on the hips. It either wants to go straight or do the splits. I'd like to set mine at the first click of the ratchet joint from being straight, but it just won't stay.

Other than those moans lol, I do like him and he hasn't put me off getting dirge and thrust.

So does this transform the same way wheeljack's custom does? That's the big point of contention with these guys.

It's too bad the stomach pieces broke. Maybe you can ask for a replacement part.

So... what was the image on the last page of the instructions / comic?

Not even close to being worth the cash, especially when you could have bought four classics versions for the price of this one. And it is a KO at that.

Not impressed.....the figure is ok, but igear is out of their damn minds if they think any rational person would pay $130+ for one single KO figure.......

I got my Ramjet recently, and I have to say that I'm very impressed with it. I already own the North American/Hasbro MP Starscream, and the Japanese/Takara Skywarp. I find my Skywarp looks nice, but doesn't quite line up in robot form, and my Starscream looks like he's made with a significantly cheaper form of plastic, plus the paint applications are a little sloppy. iGear Ramjet blows them both away, IMO. With the exception of the head, all the joints are tighter, the plastic has a nice, clean, solid look to it, and all the parts line up perfectly in both modes. I find both my official release seekers don't quite line up in jet form, as the nose of the jet around the cockpit doesn't quite snap in place, but this figure does. All in all, this is my favorite MP-style seeker, and if I've got the money (rarely do, really), I'm willing to take it to a third party who is making high-quality representations of g1 characters.

zappatton2 wrote:I got my Ramjet recently, and I have to say that I'm very impressed with it. I already own the North American/Hasbro MP Starscream, and the Japanese/Takara Skywarp. I find my Skywarp looks nice, but doesn't quite line up in robot form, and my Starscream looks like he's made with a significantly cheaper form of plastic, plus the paint applications are a little sloppy. iGear Ramjet blows them both away, IMO. With the exception of the head, all the joints are tighter, the plastic has a nice, clean, solid look to it, and all the parts line up perfectly in both modes. I find both my official release seekers don't quite line up in jet form, as the nose of the jet around the cockpit doesn't quite snap in place, but this figure does. All in all, this is my favorite MP-style seeker, and if I've got the money (rarely do, really), I'm willing to take it to a third party who is making high-quality representations of g1 characters.

I just received my PP03J - Jet (aka Ramjet) and none of the pictures I've seen so far (whether from iGear or customers) do that burgundy paint job any justice.

Did anyone else notice the information on the outside of their shipping box? "PP03 Series FIGHTER TEAM" - It lists 9 different product names on it, the first being PP03J.

PP03E - Elegy (aka Dirge)
PP03A - Attack (aka Thrust)
PP03S - Storm (aka Sunstorm)
PP03C - Current (aka "Blue Rainmaker")
PP03T - ?
PP03D - ?
PP03L - ?
PP03R - ?

Yikes, that's a lot of jets. I can only say that I'm glad iGear has started pre-orders on Storm for $100 w/free shipping (the cost of preordering all Coneheads + shipping estimated about $137/each), and can only hope they continue this lower pricing than the Coneheads. I'm very interested in having a shelf full of MP Seekers, as I already have both Hasbro/Takara Starscreams, TCracker, and Skywarp. And considering a proposed 2011 release for the Ironhide and Ratchet figures... wasn't I just complaining about buying all the Constructicons/Hercules figures?

It would be pretty cool to have a display table deco'ed as an airfield for this array of figures.