The Energon Pub

Here ya go!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-Custom ... dZViewItem

I just read your Shia quote in your sig.



Oh man, if that guy weren't in the TF movie, he'd just be the 'Boy Meets World' reject.

I think it's pretty spiffy, but not worth almost $600. And you need clear rubber bands to keep the legs on too. Look closely, and you'll see 'em.

It doesn't look like the armor transforms, so it's a wonder why they didnt' just make a non-transforming Masterpiece Ultra Magnus. I'm not a customs expert, and I know it would take time, but the masterpiece Optimus doesn't seem to add that much to the overall equation.

You can add crappy paint job to the list of reasons why that armor set is severely overpriced. Check out the red on the chest.

The clear rubber bands are obvious from the picture showing the back of the armor.

Man, thats just wrong. For $600 that thing better be made of gold. This is right up there with the $80 swords for Movie Prime.

Grahf wrote:Man, thats just wrong. For $600 that thing better be made of gold. This is right up there with the $80 swords for Movie Prime.

true dat. for that price, i'd rather commission Jin himself to do a custom, he could do it for less that price and better the quality.

Good to see how it being done though.

I passed on MP Magnus simply because he had no armour, an add on pack like this from somewhere more professional like Justitoys would easily lure collectors back to the MP UM.

If you read the description, it's made by Aenemis/Mark's Customs. He's notorious for demanding disgustingly large sums of money for his sometimes (not always) sub-par work.

The armor does actually transforming into a working trailer that will accommodate Alt/BT figures.

But the close ups quickly remind you that this is a fan made item and should be treated as such.

The difference between this and one of Jin's customs? Jin actually does good work, not to mention he actually starts with a base figure, not just chopping pieces of plastic, gluing them together, and saying "There. It's a masterpiece."

It's pretty ridiculous what Aenemis demands. *shakes head* And guess what? This guy is undercutting the original price he paid for it!

These started at like $650-700.00 and went up!

Guess we'd all better go and buy those other, cheaper MP Magnus armours.

are those rubber bands on the leg armor? i looked at 3 pics and i see fine lines holding the leg armor together. and the paint job looks very nice for a 600-buck custom.

hey, at least you get a free 20th OP (as if you really needed it).

What a load of old shite

Sledge wrote:Guess we'd all better go and buy those other, cheaper MP Magnus armours.

Haha. I agree, he's the only one out there that's doing this. My problem is, you can tell it's a custom and he's arrogant about his work.

If he was humble and didn't act like such a (insert expletive here) about it, I'd be fine with the armor as is.

But with him tootin' his own horn like he does, acting like his work is the end all, be all of customs and it looks shoddy in spots...yeah, you bet I'm gonna dis the work and his attitude.

This isn't the Mona frickin' Lisa here, it's a bunch of Styrene sheets, a few painted metal hinges, and frankensteined pieces of figures, slapped together and painted.

If he acted like "Oh, thanks guys! I appreciate the compliments, I really do. And to those of you who criticized it, I'm sorry you don't like it, but this was all I could do, given the materials. But hey, at least I'm trying, right?" I'd be fine with it.

I've seen him post things like (not word for word, but close) "Yeah, thanks for the compliments. Those of you who criticize, can kiss my... at least I made the kit, half of you don't even know how to build like I do, so either put up or shut up. You don't like my prices? Well tough, just don't buy anything and shut up about it."

He always comes across arrogant and defensive.

That's my problem with his customs and the lack of quality. That thing looks like crap up close.

Before anyone asks, no. I can't do that kind of custom work. I never claimed otherwise either.

Yes, I realize it can be very hard work and it doesn't just come to you, it takes time, patience and skill.

But I also know that if my custom looked that shoddy up close (gloppy paint, off kilter chest plate, etc) I certainly wouldn't be demanding people fawn all over it. And I wouldn't be asking $600.00 +

Dude. eBay itself is the definition of overpriced.

Wow that armor isn't that great I know I wouldn't pay $599 dollars for that piece of sh*** but there is always some fool that will. You want to see something amazing check this auction out: http://cgi.ebay.com/SIXSHOT-D-98-JAPANE ... dZViewItem

I must say, the only times I've seen Mark getting defensive is when someone's been getting offensive, and quite rightly. And while I can't personally vouch for the quality of these pieces, I frankly don't think the price that much considering what goes into it.
I look at it this way; I don't know about in the States, but minimum wage here is equivalent to a bit over ten bucks an hour. At $600, therefore, that price would be accounting for 60 hours work at minimum wage (which no skilled craftsman should have to put up with), and not accounting for materials. And I'm batting it takes somewhat more than 60 hours to build one of these from scratch.

You don't like it, you don't buy it.

The $900 for Sixshot, that's pushing it - he's a great fig, but he's not that great, especially if you're not even allowed to play with him...

Sledge wrote:Guess we'd all better go and buy those other, cheaper MP Magnus armours.

Quote of the thread! Completely agree.

How can something be "overpriced" when it's the only one ever priced.

GetterDragun wrote:

Sledge wrote:Guess we'd all better go and buy those other, cheaper MP Magnus armours.

Quote of the thread! Completely agree.

How can something be "overpriced" when it's the only one ever priced.

But that's the thing. It's not the only one ever priced. He made several of them for sale, not just this guy's.

And all of them were $600.00+

The point being no-one else is doing them cheaper.

And each one's hand-made - that kind of time and skill has to be paid for, you know.

Ramrider wrote:I must say, the only times I've seen Mark getting defensive is when someone's been getting offensive, and quite rightly. And while I can't personally vouch for the quality of these pieces, I frankly don't think the price that much considering what goes into it.
I look at it this way; I don't know about in the States, but minimum wage here is equivalent to a bit over ten bucks an hour. At $600, therefore, that price would be accounting for 60 hours work at minimum wage (which no skilled craftsman should have to put up with), and not accounting for materials. And I'm batting it takes somewhat more than 60 hours to build one of these from scratch.

You don't like it, you don't buy it.

The $900 for Sixshot, that's pushing it - he's a great fig, but he's not that great, especially if you're not even allowed to play with him...

You cant expect people to pay your wages for you, thats completley the wrong attitude to have when doing this stuff.

You should just do it because you want to, and maybe make a bit of extra cash on the side. Like i said this isnt a job so why should we have to pay anyone wages? You should sell what you made with material costs in mind, and a bit extra for the skill. With this it should be about $250/300 MAX. $600 is just a middle finger to the fandom.

This guy is an idiot, and any crafts man doing their own projects and then selling them on as if people owe them wages is an idiot too.

quite true Sonray.

i don't wanna pay for the man's labor costs. but maybe he should have just set it at a lower price you know. $600 is still $600, that's the price of a decent PC or laptop there. for a sorry excuse of doing it because nobody's doing it ain't right at all.

time and labor and monopoly on that particular bash, as well as the skill required are not excuses, especially with the quality of craftsmanship this guy produces. i would be ashamed of myself if i started charging 600 bucks for a kitbash that could be done by a competent basher. for that price, i'd expect Jin-quality craftsmanship and ingenuity.

Are you basically saying all those hours of scratchbuilding aren't worth anything? Would you be willing to put weeks of work into a scratchbuild and then sell it on with little to no profit?

And when it comes down to it, each one is made to order; that is, someone knows up front how much he's charging and is willing to pay that for the job, so fair play to him says I.

And no offense to Jin, but as good quality as the work he produces is, he's not a scratchbuilder. Add to that the profit margins he regularly makes just on repainting a fig, and I don't think it's really a fair comparison.

Thats true about Jin not being a scratchbuilder, but he does do a fair amount of upgrading and fan appreciated retooling of sorts.. Id have to imagine if Jin did take on something like this it would be of the utmost top quality!

well atleast it's better than the same creator's scratchbuild "mp megatron".

Sonray wrote:

Ramrider wrote:I must say, the only times I've seen Mark getting defensive is when someone's been getting offensive, and quite rightly. And while I can't personally vouch for the quality of these pieces, I frankly don't think the price that much considering what goes into it.
I look at it this way; I don't know about in the States, but minimum wage here is equivalent to a bit over ten bucks an hour. At $600, therefore, that price would be accounting for 60 hours work at minimum wage (which no skilled craftsman should have to put up with), and not accounting for materials. And I'm batting it takes somewhat more than 60 hours to build one of these from scratch.

You don't like it, you don't buy it.

The $900 for Sixshot, that's pushing it - he's a great fig, but he's not that great, especially if you're not even allowed to play with him...

You cant expect people to pay your wages for you, thats completley the wrong attitude to have when doing this stuff.

You should just do it because you want to, and maybe make a bit of extra cash on the side. Like i said this isnt a job so why should we have to pay anyone wages? You should sell what you made with material costs in mind, and a bit extra for the skill. With this it should be about $250/300 MAX. $600 is just a middle finger to the fandom.

This guy is an idiot, and any crafts man doing their own projects and then selling them on as if people owe them wages is an idiot too.

Yes! Exactly! Thank you!

zemper wrote:quite true Sonray.

i don't wanna pay for the man's labor costs. but maybe he should have just set it at a lower price you know. $600 is still $600, that's the price of a decent PC or laptop there. for a sorry excuse of doing it because nobody's doing it ain't right at all.

time and labor and monopoly on that particular bash, as well as the skill required are not excuses, especially with the quality of craftsmanship this guy produces. i would be ashamed of myself if i started charging 600 bucks for a kitbash that could be done by a competent basher. for that price, i'd expect Jin-quality craftsmanship and ingenuity.

Oh yes. If Jin tried this...we'd be all over it. He actually takes the time to create a new look, not just "make" it work.

Ramrider wrote:Are you basically saying all those hours of scratchbuilding aren't worth anything? Would you be willing to put weeks of work into a scratchbuild and then sell it on with little to no profit?

And when it comes down to it, each one is made to order; that is, someone knows up front how much he's charging and is willing to pay that for the job, so fair play to him says I.

And no offense to Jin, but as good quality as the work he produces is, he's not a scratchbuilder. Add to that the profit margins he regularly makes just on repainting a fig, and I don't think it's really a fair comparison.

I'll give you the fair play part. We never said that people were smart.

Jin's not a scratchbuilder, but I wouldn't say Aenemis is one...not 100%. Oh sure, some of it's sculpy and Styrene, but quite a few parts of his creations come from other figures. To me, a scratchbuild is just that. From scratch, nothing else.

Deceptiwho? wrote:Thats true about Jin not being a scratchbuilder, but he does do a fair amount of upgrading and fan appreciated retooling of sorts.. Id have to imagine if Jin did take on something like this it would be of the utmost top quality!

If anyone could do it, Jin could. He's one of the best. Here's something to think about...maybe he choose not to do this kind of work? He might have super bashing skills and just doesn't use 'em.

Gutter Bunny wrote:well atleast it's better than the same creator's scratchbuild "mp megatron".

Gah. I remember that. That was...yeah. I'll be nice.

What we need, is to have the KO makers upsize the original Ultra Magnus trailer to fit MP-02 Magnus, like they did for the original trailer and Roller for MP-01/20th. Optimus.

That, to me would be worth $200.00

This is kinda a tough call.

On one hand, the piece in question is not a prime example of the topend of custom work, and I would not pay 600 for an UM trailer.

On the other hand, one could argue that this is a unique piece of art and worth whatever a person is willing to pay for it.

Can't blame the guy for trying. For all we know it might have taken him 100 hours of work. (Unlikely, but you never know).

From a personal standpoint though, I draw the line on how much I would pay for customs at 150. For a good UM trailer, I would go 200 like Autobot032. Still, I give the seller the benefit of artistic licsence and the benefit of a doubt.