The Energon Pub

I Gear just updated their website with 3 news images of upcoming TF004 Prime trailer. See attached and link for images:

http://www.igear.tf08.net/?p=20

Instead of taking the opportunity to create something brand new, they upscaled the THS-02 rollar to MP size.

Well, iGear isn't really known for it's origional thought, now is it?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, iGear isn't really known for it's origional thought, now is it?

To be honest. When they first talked about their version of MP Roller (which they called it as Battle Rollar, TFC Toy's product name), it sounded like they were going to make an entire new version of him.

As nice as iGear's ideas are (excecution is still up in the air until more stuff comes out), only the ark playset has displayed origional thought. Grimmy's crown, Autoscout, Kremzeek, Energon Cubes, the mini MP Prime, and especially the trailer are all pretty derivitive. I'm impressed they made it have turning wheels, really.

Their trailer is kinda tempting. But I'm kinda hoping it'll drive the price of the non transforming one down further ... my MP Prime doesn't need a transforming trailer ... if he needs a trailer at all. Too much space is required.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:As nice as iGear's ideas are (excecution is still up in the air until more stuff comes out), only the ark playset has displayed origional thought. Grimmy's crown, Autoscout, Kremzeek, Energon Cubes, the mini MP Prime, and especially the trailer are all pretty derivitive. I'm impressed they made it have turning wheels, really.

Their trailer is kinda tempting. But I'm kinda hoping it'll drive the price of the non transforming one down further ... my MP Prime doesn't need a transforming trailer ... if he needs a trailer at all. Too much space is required.

You mean the turning wheels on the Roller? That is taken straight from THS-02 Roller. They pretty much copied it down to the smallest detail, from what I can see. As for the playset, I read its based off some of the japanese metal chain bases you can find at hobby shops. Haven't seen any photos to compare though.

Venksta wrote:As for the playset, I read its based off some of the japanese metal chain bases you can find at hobby shops. Haven't seen any photos to compare though.

iGear's sets do seem inspired by the chain base sets but have completely different patterns (to match the appearance of the Ark), and Teletraan-1, the repair bay, etc. are all new tooling. On the whole, a more ambitious undertaking.

A few shots of some of the chain bases:





I wonder if anybody would be complaining if Takara had just upscaled the Hybrid Styler Roller and included it with MP-04....

I love it-iGear talked a big game a while back about their roller being so unique and different with lights and sounds, something really original. But in the end, they couldn't resist taking the easy way out and just ripping off the HS version. I'm really disappointed in this.

RD, I'm working on posting this as news now.

Upscaling the HS trailer isn't a bad thing, It's a nice trailer!

But since I already have an upscaled G1 trailer, I think this is a skip for me.

Oh, I didn't know they talked big about their roller. Hah, oh, well.

To me, Roller is just a Prime accessory .... I can't say I care about it. Well, sometimes non-HasTak products can be like this too. Maybe lights and sounds would have made it too expencive.

Preorders posted on BBTS:

IG-TF004B New Black Trailer For MP-01B
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=IGR10007&mode=retail

IG-TF004A New Original Color Trailer For MP-01
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=IGR10006&mode=retail

So that's the price huh? $110.00 a little rich for my blood, and my blood's pretty rich. I already have MP-04 whick obviously comes with a trailer, and I have the non-transforming Bestoys version paired up with Ultra Magnus. Still the black version is kind of temping to go with the upcoming black MP. Still need to know more about I-Gear's quality as well.

metaphorge wrote:As an aside, I get the distinct feeling you don't like the iGear folks very much, right, Venksta? You seem to spend a lot of effort trashing their work.

I wonder if anybody would be complaining if Takara had just upscaled the Hybrid Styler Roller and included it with MP-04....

Venksta is only pointing out the obvious. This is a blatant KO of the THS-02 trailer, all they did was up size it. Same goes for their mini MP-01, another blatant KO only this time down sized. No two was about it, they are KO's. The thing about most companies that produce KO's is that they do it quietly and try to stay under Has/Tak's radar. I-Gear on the other hand is right out in the open and even advertising their KO's. They are practically daring Has/Tak to take action. At least other third party companies like Fansproject, BTS, Impossibletoys, TFC, etc., only tread on Has/Tak's intellectual property with their add-on's and takes on characters. I'm all for third party companies getting in the mix and producing things that us fans want that Has/Tak doesn't offer. I'm even interested in I-Gear's mini MP-01 and this trailer, and if they produce a 1:1 scale mini MP-05 I'll be all over it. These are KO's though, no doubt about it.

Seibertron.com sponsor BBTS.com has posted new pre-orders and pricing information for both the TF004-A standard and TF004-B black MP Trailers. Each are listed for 109.99 and are expected sometime in February of next year.

To view the pre-orders, click the links below:

Standard Silver:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail

Nemesis Black:
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail

I hope another 3rd party puts out a trailer for MP-01B and price it cheaper than the iGear one, $110 is somewhat steep for just the trailer/roller. But for now my preorders will stay, I don't want my MP Nemesis Prime to be trailer-less...

El Duque wrote:Venksta is only pointing out the obvious. This is a blatant KO of the THS-02 trailer, all they did was up size it. Same goes for their mini MP-01, another blatant KO only this time down sized. No two was about it, they are KO's. The thing about most companies that produce KO's is that they do it quietly and try to stay under Has/Tak's radar. I-Gear on the other hand is right out in the open and even advertising their KO's. They are practically daring Has/Tak to take action. At least other third party companies like Fansproject, BTS, Impossibletoys, TFC, etc., only tread on Has/Tak's intellectual property with their add-on's and takes on characters. I'm all for third party companies getting in the mix and producing things that us fans want that Has/Tak doesn't offer. I'm even interested in I-Gear's mini MP-01 and this trailer, and if they produce a 1:1 scale mini MP-05 I'll be all over it. These are KO's though, no doubt about it.

I'm really hoping Hasbro figures out a way to take action. It seems like they could get the online retailers, at least the American ones, to stop selling these by cutting off their supply of official Hasbro products. I'm getting really tired of all of these unlicensed third party products (or knock offs, if you will). I'm especially starting to get tired of seeing all of this stuff posted on Seibertron.com. If I knew Hasbro's legal department was actively making an effort to get these products off the market, then I would make Seibertron.com follow suit. But since that's not happening, we're forced to report this stuff as news because, well, it's news still despite how I feel about this.

My main criticism of things like the TF004 and the mini Masterpiece OP is that when you create a product that is derived in design from an existing product, you're poking companies like Hasbro and Takara in the eye and asking to be a target. I understand that people want different scaled items but ultimately, it's a knock off.

As a fan and collector of Transformers, I admit that I love 3rd party products like the City Commander. It's because I get something from it that Hasbro and Takara will not provide.

Seibertron wrote:

El Duque wrote:Venksta is only pointing out the obvious. This is a blatant KO of the THS-02 trailer, all they did was up size it. Same goes for their mini MP-01, another blatant KO only this time down sized. No two was about it, they are KO's. The thing about most companies that produce KO's is that they do it quietly and try to stay under Has/Tak's radar. I-Gear on the other hand is right out in the open and even advertising their KO's. They are practically daring Has/Tak to take action. At least other third party companies like Fansproject, BTS, Impossibletoys, TFC, etc., only tread on Has/Tak's intellectual property with their add-on's and takes on characters. I'm all for third party companies getting in the mix and producing things that us fans want that Has/Tak doesn't offer. I'm even interested in I-Gear's mini MP-01 and this trailer, and if they produce a 1:1 scale mini MP-05 I'll be all over it. These are KO's though, no doubt about it.

I'm really hoping Hasbro figures out a way to take action. It seems like they could get the online retailers, at least the American ones, to stop selling these by cutting off their supply of official Hasbro products. I'm getting really tired of all of these unlicensed third party products (or knock offs, if you will). I'm especially starting to get tired of seeing all of this stuff posted on Seibertron.com. If I knew Hasbro's legal department was actively making an effort to get these products off the market, then I would make Seibertron.com follow suit. But since that's not happening, we're forced to report this stuff as news because, well, it's news still despite how I feel about this.

Obviously I know your stance on KO's by your previous comments, but what do you think about the other third party companies that design their own stuff? Fansproject for example, I assume you were a fan of CC since you did a gallery and he was even part of the front page banner for a while.

El Duque wrote:

metaphorge wrote:As an aside, I get the distinct feeling you don't like the iGear folks very much, right, Venksta? You seem to spend a lot of effort trashing their work.

I wonder if anybody would be complaining if Takara had just upscaled the Hybrid Styler Roller and included it with MP-04....

Venksta is only pointing out the obvious. This is a blatant KO of the THS-02 trailer, all they did was up size it. Same goes for their mini MP-01, another blatant KO only this time down sized. No two was about it, they are KO's. The thing about most companies that produce KO's is that they do it quietly and try to stay under Has/Tak's radar. I-Gear on the other hand is right out in the open and even advertising their KO's. They are practically daring Has/Tak to take action. At least other third party companies like Fansproject, BTS, Impossibletoys, TFC, etc., only tread on Has/Tak's intellectual property with their add-on's and takes on characters. I'm all for third party companies getting in the mix and producing things that us fans want that Has/Tak doesn't offer. I'm even interested in I-Gear's mini MP-01 and this trailer, and if they produce a 1:1 scale mini MP-05 I'll be all over it. These are KO's though, no doubt about it.

In regards to Metaphorge's reply(since I can't find his original post with my name mentioned). I don't like the products iGear is putting out that is a blatant KO of Hasbro/Takara items. iGear has shown they can make their own designs. But since their jumping into the 3rd party spot light, so then instead of feeding fans something Hasbro/Takara have given us, in a smaller or bigger dish, it'd be better if the energy was spent on creating something entirely new. Like FansProject makes stuff that is based on Hasbro's character. But the designs are all brand new, something we have never seen or own. Impossible Toys is making figures now based off designs we've always wanted, which Hasbro has failed to give. TFC is making weapon addons to help complete a look for certain characters. All the groups I mentioned are doing something new, except for iGears. What I also don't like, is what El Duque pointed out. iGears isn't hiding in the shadows to make these KOs. Which is bad for the other groups, as iGears gets grouped with them. So if Hasbro or Takara decided to do something about them, the other groups would be effected. To be honest, I have given some respect to igears for other products. The MP Grimlock addon is great. That way, fans that own MP-08 won't have to buy the special edition just for the crown. And the bases are something fans have wanted, so its good they stepped up to take care of that. If they did more original stuff like those, then it would be great.

I see no difference between this and the WSTF dinos or the WSTF Seekers and trailers. I liked those and this is something, in principal, that I like. Or City commander or the Quints for that matter (although it's a bit lazier in terms of ideas). It's just rather pricey.

I'm not concerned about this attracting the attention of HasTak. The 3rd parties already have their attention. It was never something that would last.

i was expecting the price would be in the 80 or 70 not hte 100 but ill get it someday not as preorder maybe on cleance or giftcard from bbts who knows

I'll definitely get the Nemesis trailer, but I'm torn on the Prime trailer.

I have the G1 upscale, but this is really nice.

I put both on preorder, so I have time to decide.

I may sell my current one, IDK.