The Energon Pub

News Credits: 3 · by **Fistful of Energon** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:19 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ePb1oMk53k

kinda wishing the speakers worked here at work so I can hear what the guy is saying

News Credits: 3 · by **Midnight_Fox** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:36 pm

Fistful of Energon wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ePb1oMk53k

kinda wishing the speakers worked here at work so I can hear what the guy is saying

Kinda wish he'd made the video with sound to begin with.

News Credits: 3 · by **Fistful of Energon** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 12:38 pm

So there isnt sound to begin with? Guess im not missing much then....

News Credits: 1 · by **ShardFenix** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:20 pm

yeah pretty crappy video overall. Its not really a review either. No size comparions or articulation points were even shown. And either the toy is really tight or the guy in the fideo is really weak. I dont think i have evr struggled like he did pulling and pushin plastic toy pieces.

News Credits: 3 · by **Fistful of Energon** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:45 pm

Now that I know there isnt audio I gotta agree w/ you. Its a crap video, hardly a review. Maybe if I have time Ill do a proper one on YouTube and post it.

News Credits: 3 · by **Midnight_Fox** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 7:52 pm

ShardFenix wrote:yeah pretty crappy video overall. Its not really a review either. No size comparions or articulation points were even shown. And either the toy is really tight or the guy in the fideo is really weak. I dont think i have evr struggled like he did pulling and pushin plastic toy pieces.

The figure is REALLY tight, especially where the chest folds down. If you get it, be careful and go slow with that part.

News Credits: 1 · by **ShardFenix** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:47 pm

I trying to decide which figure i want. The red and blue is nice, but i kinda want the all green. It can be springer prime...lol

News Credits: 1235 · by **LOST Cybertronian** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:35 pm

Better review but the sound is low so you have to turn your speaker up.

News Credits: 1235 · by **LOST Cybertronian** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:09 am

Word of warning that the sound does jump at 12:58 so be prepared.

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:14 am

I'm really starting to regret buying these, but they are already paid for and on the way. Oh well, anybody want to buy my Red and Blue version?

I guess some of the issues people are having with the transformation is why they posted this on their homepage.

News Credits: 5 · by **alexison** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:52 am

They should have started with a slightly smaller/easier first product. This could have been awesome. Unfortunately, it's not.

by **Court Jester** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:05 am

Yeah, I'll have the triple failburger with extra fail... hold the awesomesauce.

by **MGrotusque** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:18 am

I like primes hand guns at least.

That speaker looking plate on his chest sure had me fooled though. I thought for sure there were some sound effects with this figure.

News Credits: 1 · by **ShardFenix** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:49 am

well im pretty glad i wait for reviews before i ever buy stuff. this one just saved me 70.00 dollars. guess its time to buy the FP Powered Commander for my prime.

News Credits: 3597 · by **Seibertron** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:52 am

Not sure what to say about these figures. I'm in the middle of doing galleries of these Grand Patriot figures right now. I have the same problems with my figures. The back piece in the trailer mode doesn't stay together because it's missing the screws. The middle piece that connects the torso to his waist shattered on my green one while doing the transformation which renders this image from their website untrue.

I rigged it together with an extra screw and a tab from an air can. I glued the back trailer pieces together and got a couple of extra screws to keep the trailer connector in place. I'm sorry to say that I would not recommend these figures unless you've got money to blow and don't mind having figures that you will NEED to modify upon receiving them.

While I agree with the video reviewers closing statements about these being toys and not collectible items, I disagree about waiting for these to go on sale for $40. I don't know about you guys, but I like that the things that I spend my money on last for years and years. The green one broke during the transformation thanks to the fragile white plastic. I think it's safe to say that I know how to transform transforming robot toys since I own about 3,500+ Transformers. It's also missing about a half dozen screws on each figure and it just feels cheap. Wait until these are a clearance blowout at $10 if you're still curious about these figures after the reviews.

by **MINDVVIPE** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:02 am

bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutal
thats what you get for loving primes too much. He turns around and shafts ya.

News Credits: 668 · by **Autobot032** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:15 am

Wow. The review just amazes me. And, now that I hear that Ryan's had problems with his, I'm definitely against buying these.

I wasn't all that interested to begin with, honestly, but now? I wouldn't take 'em for free as a gift.

When an $80.00 figure breaks because it's nothing more than a glorified toy and makes Hasbro's work seem like a work of art...PASS.

What a piss off product.

EDIT: Be careful connecting to Xovergen's website. McAfee's Site Advisor went red and stated that connecting to their site would lead to browser corruption or something close to that.

by **Vicalliose** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:24 am

Aw, To bad. Looks like the biz might just kill this little up and coming fan company.

You know, It's not like I'll ever be able to do it or anything. But at least I've seen some stuff that seems to work. These guys kinda broke away from all of these.

1: Release one figure at a time! Save repaints for later when you have the resources.

2: Spend more time designing the thing. You need to make a figure more complex and visually appealing if your going to expect us to buy it. I personally liked Don Fig's designs, but these are pretty ugly.

3: Go the extra mile and choose quality plastic, even if you have to raise the price a little. People don't like things that break, it's not hard to figure out. Also skip translucent plastic whenever possible as it can add quite a bit to the costs.

4: Think small. On your first try at a figure, anything above deluxe and your getting quite out of your depth. Legends/scouts are the way to start.

5: Listen to your fans. Your part of the collectors market, so the people on these sites are the vary people that make up your bottom line. Even so, mixing things up a little could be the way to keep us interested.

Again. This is just what little I've seen that works. I really know nothing about business. :-?

Autobot032 wrote:EDIT: Be careful connecting to Xovergen's website. McAfee's Site Advisor went red and stated that connecting to their site would lead to browser corruption or something close to that.

Well ain't that the icing on the cake. :roll:

News Credits: 3597 · by **Seibertron** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:27 am

I figured out what the problem was with the wheel/backpack thing that wouldn't transform correctly. The piece that attaches the wheel/backpack thing to lower back of the Prime robot mode is assembled incorrectly ... it's upside down! I unscrewed the white connector, flipped the connector piece around, and now it transforms correctly and pegs into his shoulder blade areas properly.

Now that I have the green one transformed correctly, I see yet another problem. The left knee guard piece that flips up in robot mode has severe stress on it ... it looks like it's about ready to break the next time I transform it. Joy.

For the record and for the sake of being 100% up front with all of you, I received these as "review" toys from Xovergen. I did not pay for these. I feel guilty about having to be so blunt about the problems with these toys when they have been so kind and generous with sending me these items to photograph to share with all of you and for express shipping them to me, but I cannot in good conscience just take pictures of these figures and not openly discuss the problems with these toys.

While people did a lot of bitching about the Impossible Toys Arcee / Paradron Medic toys, I did not have a single problem with them breaking, missing pieces/screws, or being assembled incorrectly. I would rank the Impossible Toys Arcee mold higher than this figure at this time.

In Xovergen's defense, however, I will say that these figures are the closest 3rd party toy to the look and feel of an actual Hasbro/Takara Tomy Transformer toy (which might lead some of you to think this sentence conflicts with my comparison in previous paragraph). They've got transparent windows in vehicle mode, which Warbot did not have, they've got light piping which I love and most 3rd party products are missing, they've got little paint details that have Hasbro written all over them, little flip out weapons, etc. It just feels like it's close to a Hasbro toy despite the problems with the figure. It does feel "cheap" compared to a normal Transformer, but it doesn't feel cheap like the Robot Masters toys you see at Family Dollar and such.

News Credits: 15 · by **Ravage XK** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:45 am

By todays standards these seem a little basic. Shame because the design they are based on is pretty smart. These just dont appeal to me at all and they wouldnt be out of place in the corner of your local newsagents selling for £9.99 with the other wierd toy lines you have never heard of but are suspiciously similar to well known brands.

News Credits: 60 · by **fenrir72** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:35 am

A lot of burn from seibertron himself (reminds me of your other scathing review of 25th anniversary Prime......right on the money). Would you give them an A for effort Ryan?

I blame this all to FansProject. They make a product full of awesomeness sauce that, well, has become such a standard that is waaaaaay hard to overcome.

And based on your analogy, yeah, IT's Valkyrie showed such promise too ( I prefer her car mode over iGears )but it was more or less a miss.

iGears Delicate warrior on the other hand looked too boxy in car mode but had a more sturdy, better design fembot mode (plus light piping).

I wait with baited breath on what next is coming in the pipe-line.

by **starboykb** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:36 am

Xovergen definitely going to suffer sales from how bad their products are. i am lucky didn't pre-order the Green prime from RK. Well, let's see what Xovergen going to react on this.

News Credits: 1 · by **Blackstreak** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:48 am

The sound didn't jump around as much as the comments led me to believe. I only heard the volume lose out towards the end.

When I first heard of these my initial thought was where is the premise for these figures? I don't remember there being a comic or cartoon that a 3rd party company would produce these. Knight Morpher has a basis because of the DW comic series. But these Grand Patriots seem to pop up randomly. For this reason I had no intention of picking up a set. I have enough Optimus Primes as it is w/out there being yet one more Optimus Prime for the collection. If I were to buy one it would be the green Green Patriot. But after seeing how loose the parts are I won't entertain a second guessing.

I will hand it to the company. They have a good idea w/ some very interesting concepts for the armaments. I can see potential for the different setups in vehicle whether as a semi w/ trailer or as a military missile launcher. But these variant alt-mode formations aren't enough for me to buy these. Perhaps on future releases when improvements have been made.

News Credits: 198 · by **DevastaTTor** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:03 am

Wow, feel like I dodged a bullet here-was about to get these for my birthday. Me thinks I'll get a few United figures instead. It's a shame too; they looked promising.

I will add that this is the kind of thing that scares me about TFClub's Devastator. It looks awesome but they have no track record that I'm aware of for producing stand alone figures and they're creating perhaps the most complex and expensive gestalt to date. That scares me considering I had to resolder the connections in my Prime gun from their Gear of War 2 set.

News Credits: 1 · by **Sodan-1** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:27 am

Blackstreak wrote:When I first heard of these my initial thought was where is the premise for these figures? I don't remember there being a comic or cartoon that a 3rd party company would produce these. Knight Morpher has a basis because of the DW comic series. But these Grand Patriots seem to pop up randomly....

.....I will hand it to the company. They have a good idea w/ some very interesting concepts for the armaments.

These figures were based on an unused piece of concept art by Don Figueroa that saw him cross Optimus Prime with G.I. Joe's Rolling Thunder. It was a great idea and the drawings were epic, but this figure falls far short of matching them aesthetically.

I don't own this figure, and after that review I have no intentions of ever owning it. It strikes me that Xovergen decided to mass produce their first prototype without an ounce of product development. Did anyone else notice the photo at the bottom of Xovergen's website, the one of the green version with the cannon turret on the rear? It's position suggests Xovergen struggled to keep the turret upright as well.

Such a wasted opportunity.