The Energon Pub

EDIT: News story pulled, as actual source of the image was found. It's a reworked April Fool's image from 2013/14, first seen here with an actual Rattrap head: http://gigazine.net/news/20130401-aprilfool/ | http://tyouhen2.seesaa.net/article/353472024.html

Given how well the fandom reacted to the announcement from Takara Tomy Transformers to produce a small set of figures based on the Street Fighter II game - you can read more about that here - it looks like there may or may not be another general team up in terms of ultra popular franchises before Takara loses one of the licenses: Transformers X Pokémon X Gundam.

Don't believe us? Take a look at the image below, which comes to us from a Singapore based discussion group - but mirrored via IG user Jhund the Jester - and bear in mind that this may very well be untrue, entirely fabricated, not real. But what we can see is a retool of the original, spring-loaded Beast Wars Rattrap mold to look more like yellow electric rodent Pikachu, and a Gundam unit head in robot mode. Check it out, and join the discussion bound to follow in the Energon Pub!

There’s ridiculous, then there’s this.

Looks photoshopped... look at the robot head. It’s resolution is higher quality than the rest of the body. Might be fake but I dunno. *shrug*

That has to be fake, I just can't see Nintendo ever allowing such a strange crossover, or Bandai letting someone else touch their Gundam baby. Plus that's not Generation Rattrap, that's the original Rattrap. I could maybe have seen someone at Takara goofing around with this back in the '90s to be funny and it just now surfacing since Pokemon would have been new and not the cash cow it is today, but it's nothing official.

(edit: Looking closer it seems to be "new", but I'm still saying it's unofficial if it's a real product.)

Emerje

Looks like something I'd see at the Bootleg Toys Twitter feed. Doubt it's real since Takara and Bandai are rivals in Japan.

My gut is telling me this is fake as it just looks so...bad. while I would love a gundam crossover with tf (humans using mobile suits to fight on equalish footing with/against the Transformers) this is certainly not it...but I've been wrong before.

I have been searching everywhere for this to be debunked, but no dice yet.
Any help is appreciated!

https://twitter.com/Protoman/status/318769409630011394

Fake - someone just slapped a couple of Gundam heads on this image from 2013:



Seems to be a little early for April Fools' Day.

MIKE
engledogg

UPDATE! Found the source, it's a reuse of an old (2013/14) April Fools joke.
http://gigazine.net/news/20130401-aprilfool/
http://tyouhen2.seesaa.net/article/353472024.html

Just think of the legal meeting between these three competing massive companies. Chances are it's fake. It's a rare thing to see.

Debunking a hoax takes more than looking at pretty pictures, it's looking at the text as well. And from what I can tell, it's either legit, as ridiculous as it may sound, or really well done. It even has product info:

P01 Pikachu Rattle
Release date: June
Price: 2,100 Yen

What's the magazine btw?

:EDIT: and there we have it. I really wish magazine would make it clear it's an April Fools gag, to protect the gullible.

Yep, that's what I was doing too.
So busy reading all the writing, didn't even think to reverse search the image.

So it was fake then, kind of a relief really. Still for a gundam x tf story...

I knew this seemed very familiar (with the only difference being the addition of the Gundam component), so I googled Pikachu Rattrap and ended up at the Allspark and clicked the Twitter link.

MIKE
engledogg