The Energon Pub

So there's this Botcon SG Prime on Ebay, and the listing says it's a variant with solid, not clear, windows. Mine has the same solid windows. What's the story with it? This is the first I've heard anything about the variant.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140392271427&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Ryan's looks clear:

Razorclaw0000 wrote:Ryan's looks clear:

and fingerprinted too

I always wanted to get the Sg series but man those toys are fetching some serious dough...

I don't think the one in the auction is real. The legs aren't painted with the scuff marks, the yellow squares are uneven and look hand painted. Looks like a KO with a Nemesis Prime leg swap.
He says:

There's is an Hasbro / Takara marking at the leg of the toy itself.

Which only means the legs are real and speaks nothing about the rest of the toy.

I don't trust it.

zodconvoy wrote:I don't think the one in the auction is real. The legs aren't painted with the scuff marks, the yellow squares are uneven and look hand painted. Looks like a KO with a Nemesis Prime leg swap.
He says:

There's is an Hasbro / Takara marking at the leg of the toy itself.

Which only means the legs are real and speaks nothing about the rest of the toy.

I don't trust it.

I disagree, I believe this thing is legit. It would take a genuinely skilled artist to replicate the text on "Till All Are Gone"

Besides. Here's a photo of mine to compare it to. It's been stored away since I bought it back in '08. Today's the first day I've looked at it in well over a year. So, with that: photos.

See the vents on the legs? Yours, Ryans, TFU.info, TFWiki, all of them have painted scuff marks on them that just aren't on the eBay one. And frenzy_rumble has done the wording spot on several times.

With the doubt I have, it's simply not 100% proven to me.

Moment of clarity - see post below

zodconvoy wrote:See the vents on the legs? Yours, Ryans, TFU.info, TFWiki, all of them have painted scuff marks on them that just aren't on the eBay one. And frenzy_rumble has done the wording spot on several times.

With the doubt I have, it's simply not 100% proven to me.

Second thought. Look at the angle of the legs on mine when transformed. You can't see the scuffing paint apps on the back leg because of the angle of the photograph. We can't see the scuffing paint apps on the ebay listing because of the awkward photo angle.

Shattered glass figs rule!!!

there is another version of Botcon SG prime, but this is in fact the Factory prototype. Battle Dame version, only different is the mouth piece.
Eventually was scrap for mass release.

Anyway.

I bought this guy off eBay using BIN a day or so after Botcon '08 ended, thinking I was buying it off a Botcon attendee. I should've checked the item location, because it came from China.

There were a handful of listings for SG Prime on eBay, which were probably the solid window variant. What I want to know, how many of these could have made it to the market and into the hands of collectors? How rare is this variant? And, did any Botcon attendees end up with this variant?

The variants are just test shots, so nobody buying it at BotCon got one of them, I believe the variant test shots where just possible versions for FunPub to choose from.