The Energon Pub

What's up with this?

Back in Movie 1, they had all the little robots that transformed into everyday household items, and they were called 'Real Gear Robots.' Yeah, we all remember them. But why did Hasbro decide to discontinue the cool little things? In fact, they should have kept them for ROTF, since they could of put Ejector and crew under the line, making characters in the movie have a line of their own while forcing collectors to pay a whole new price-point (possibly) for figures they want.

Also, it was a great idea, but they should've made 'em realistically sized. I mean, sure, High Score 100 (X-Box controller) would've been a Deluxe-size, but...there are several Human Alliance characters and they are all different sizes! Skids - small. Sideswipe - medium. Bumblebee - large.

So, what I'm saying is, this could've been a great line but it was turned to awesome, Scout-sized figs who had tatoos of Cybertron (or Movie, for later waves) characters on them.

Another note: Whatever happened to that awesome line of roleplay gear, the TECH? You guys remember them, right? Anyone have one? I didn't get one, but they looked cool. Sure, they were non-sentient weaponry, but hey, they made drone toys, and we don't complain . Anyone know where I can get a TECH or two?

So, what are your thoughts on these two lines, Real Gear Robots and TECH?

If I remeber correctly most of the real gears lines with unused molds from UAC line.

The Real Gears were pretty cool. But like most of my Movie collection, they have wound up in my sales thread. I did like the Game controller and camera alot though.

The TECH line however I always thought was kinda lame. But if your interested in it you might be able to find them clearenced at BBTS or Hasbrotoyshop.

I liked the Real Gear stuff too, and found it to be a nice homage to the G1 era where you had actual sized guns and tape decks turning into robots.

In fact I'm using several of those figs, like laserbeak & the camera, in my alternators display.

The Real Gears were awesome, I have the Watchbot, Donkey Kong and the Laserbeak-iPod, and Donkey Kong (the green-grey console controller) is my favourite from them. They were good, and they were cheap (relatively) so I wouldn't mind discarding the FAB or Bumper Battler themes in order to produce more of them.

The Tech, however, are a good riddance, I think they were a very weak idea from the start (just who are using weapons from everyday items? I could think of Alice or some human decepticon spies, but that's it...)

Chaoslock wrote:just who are using weapons from everyday items?

M.A.S.K.?

This is quite true. The binoculars, minus the lenses, act as my G1 cybertron mode Bumblebee (until I get a good G1 head for it), and just about everyone thought Laserbeak was awesome.

There were quite a few customs of the controller turned into Beastbox too.

I have all my Real Gear and Tech at the bottom of my G1 and Classics display.

The problem with having Ejector as a Real Gear is simple - the TF1 Real Gear robots were indended to be life-size, 1:1 scale pieces of equipment and machinery.

Okay, they were slightly smaller than 1:1, but that's just so the little kiddies could look through Longview or wear Meantime on their wrists.

So you can't really have Ejector as a Real Gear because he would be way out of scale.

On another note, that last wave was horrible to get hold of - they were on the Hasbro Toy Store briefly but I never saw them anywhere else... probably the rarest toys in recent years to get a mass release.

Interestingly, the decals on the Japanese versions were different to the US versions. So where the US versions had UAC characters on the camera display / game console screen, the Japanese versions had movieverse images.

starfish wrote:So you can't really have Ejector as a Real Gear because he would be way out of scale.

They could make a real gear leader class Ejector - then he'd be life sized. What would his electronic gimmick be? WORKING ELEMENTS! Make toast then transform the toaster. Awesome.

Mykltron wrote:

starfish wrote:So you can't really have Ejector as a Real Gear because he would be way out of scale.

They could make a real gear leader class Ejector - then he'd be life sized. What would his electronic gimmick be? WORKING ELEMENTS! Make toast then transform the toaster. Awesome.

Well, if they can make a working, transforming watch and a working, transforming MP3 player and a working, transforming flash drive... then I suppose a toaster isn't that far-fetched.

Wait a minute, what am I talking about!?! Hell, they can't even make a good movie Devastator!

starfish wrote:On another note, that last wave was horrible to get hold of - they were on the Hasbro Toy Store briefly but I never saw them anywhere else... probably the rarest toys in recent years to get a mass release.

That's where I got mine. I also them once at a K-Mart, of all places. For $9.99 each.

starfish wrote:The problem with having Ejector as a Real Gear is simple - the TF1 Real Gear robots were indended to be life-size, 1:1 scale pieces of equipment and machinery.

Okay, they were slightly smaller than 1:1, but that's just so the little kiddies could look through Longview or wear Meantime on their wrists.

So you can't really have Ejector as a Real Gear because he would be way out of scale.

On another note, that last wave was horrible to get hold of - they were on the Hasbro Toy Store briefly but I never saw them anywhere else... probably the rarest toys in recent years to get a mass release.

Interestingly, the decals on the Japanese versions were different to the US versions. So where the US versions had UAC characters on the camera display / game console screen, the Japanese versions had movieverse images.

I think the Universe 2.0 legends figures were rarer. Like Cosmos, Wheelie, Warpath, and Beachcomber. I've heard from several people who never saw them. The last wave was all repaints anyway wasn't it? I'd love to see more of them, there's a lot of potential there.

The absolute WORST figure to get, period, was Legends Rodimus. I had to have Mkall send 'em to me from Canada to get ahold of the sucker(s)...

...Okay, I had him get me TWO so I could repaint and mod one to be Windcharger.