IGear MW-09 Tubes and MW-01B Manatee Announced

So that's it? That's Pipes? Our dreams of an upscaled Rager are crushed?

So Tubes is just a straight repaint of Rager... No new headsculpt?

On a related note, even though it is now undersized by the other iGear MWs (and often requested by the fandom to be upsized accordingly), this Rager mold is a pretty damn sweet money maker for them.

I mean how many repaints have there been so far? And, to me at least, all of them look pretty great too.


I was thinking the same...

The price makes it so much easier to pass on.

Not sure who that green/black Spray is supposed to be. As for blue Rager, I'm somewhat disappointed that's all we get for Pipes. And $40 for a near Legends class figure is pretty redonkulous. That's like Con exclusive pricing.

Yeah, $40 each of those is a big fat NO.

Easy Pass!

I so hope those are just mock up images. Definite pass on both until proven otherwise.

Not that this will make it any better for some, but appears to be limited to 500 and BBTS has all 500 allocated. Might be an exclusive for them. $35 each if you buy them as a set

Cool repaint! New nice figure

He's supposed to be RTS Deep Dive.

If Not-Pipes is indeed not getting a unique headsculpt, that may mean that they're saving it for the larger scale version 2. I could see them doing that to give people more incentive to buy another Not-Pipes. This could be their last attempt to get more return on investment for this small mold. Plus some people prefer the small size.

I'm thinking that Spray redeco might be a reference to the old GI Joe hovercraft, "the Whale".

I also assume they are gonna do another Pipes since they wouldn't really limit Pipes to just 500. I don't understand why his designation would be MW-09 as if it's a new mold and not a limited redeco name like MW-02T or something. Of course that's just BBTS' listing so it may not be official.

i want to see the finished product. the computer images are not always accurate with the paint/color... and $40?!? not due till feb, i put in a preorder for pipes... it is starting to bug me the rager mold is so small compared to all the other minibots though.

What a disappointment! Not even a new head sculpt for Pipes?
Hopefully they'll do a proper one since this one is 'limited edition'.

When in doubt, throw in a preorder just I case. Which is exactly what I did.

According to Dillinger's Facebook page, Manatee is an homage to "The Whale" from GI Joe? I'm not a Joe guy so I have no idea what that is?

Agreed. Either way, these two are complete and total passes as far as I'm concerned. It's very odd for Pipes to just be a recolour; iGear has shown some willingness to treat the later minibots as separate characters, and Pipes was far from just a blue Huffer. If anything he was probably the most radically different looking of the redeco'd G1 minibots. I fully expect a new, upscaled mold to come along once this version has made enough money

If they make a bigger Rager, I hope it inspires Perfect Effect to make a bigger Reflector.

I haven't even bough Rager or Spray yet based on their small size. They are pretty much a pass for me, so re-colors are the same. Having said that, I'm totally happy with the new scale for Brawn and Cosmos. They fit in perfectly with the classics line.

Dex

Like a lot of people are saying...pass because of the price.

Even so, at an exclusive run of 500 a piece, I'm sure these will sell out.

I'm shameless, preordered!

ditto

I can't justify $40 on them. Sorry, but pass

They are exclusives or retail?

Eh,Im not really interested in Not-Pipes and Not-Deepdive. too pricey.

yeah that doesn't look like Pipes, it looks like Blue Huffer, but I'll keep a pre-order in for the time being....

(anyone have an I-Gear Rager next to a Botcon Huffer, or one of the other use of that mold?)

!?!



never miss a chance to show off this bad boy...

"Tubes" doesn't sound right. Then again, neither did "Pipes."

pipes
Pipes - 1986 Transformers - TFW2005

huffer
Huffer - 1984 Transformers - TFW2005

if this is the only pipes they make i probably wont worry about it too much. id like them to move on to Impactor...

it was just a pipes dream...

I'll certainly consider that Deep Dive - but it is like a Whale too - but then it's not unlikely that Hasbro had the Gi Joe/Action Force (Killer) Whale in mind when they made that toy originally.

They are perfectly ok but may not be considered exciting.

This right here, this is exactly the sort of shady business practices that turn fans WAY off a 3rd Party company. Even though these images look like recolors of the CG Models which they probably are the fact that they are limited to 500 pieces each might mean that they are retiring the molds in this size and are being offered as a last chance thing before coming out with new larger figured.

Though I seriously doubt it.

has/tak has done the same shit.

I'm no big fan of 3rd party products, but how is it Shady to get the most $ possible out of a mold before making a new one.....They're not running a Charity here.....

It's hard to justify that price when iGear themselves just sold a 500pc limited run toy on their site for $27 shipped from Asia.

Justify sure...
But Shady implies they are doing something wrong (and I mean more wrong than "what we don't like")

who would homage the whale? i think whoever meant the killer whale for sure.

I might be playing Devil's Advocate here, but the information we have doesn't seem to indicate if it is the same mold or not...and the images are recolored drawings, not actual photos of the product. So we may be jumping to conclusions here. The price would indicate that they are more than just a repaint.

Of course Hasbro and Takara has done the same thing... but not at $40 a pop and usually when they do a recolor it comes with a new head sculpt or some other distinguishing add on and the price is still the same as the first run. Examples, Kup and Swerve, Thunderwing and Sky Shadow, Jazz and Wheelie, Wheeljack and Tracks, Sunstreaker and Red Alert and Sideswipe, all six of the seekers, Blurr and Drift, Megatron and Banzaitron and Bludgeon, okay that last one is really only Megatron and Bludgeon, but still. When Banzaitron was repainted into Bludgeon was the price jacked up?

The TFCC stuff is a little different, but I can see the same frustrations coming up.

Because that's direct from iGear themselves.

BBTS needs to up the price because they are doing the importing in this case, so the import fees are bundled into that.

iGear offers free shipping because its SAL, BBTS probably can't use SAL because they order so much merchandise. I know some websites don't offer SAL when you get over a certain price or weight limit.

man tuuuuuuuubes reminds me more of this guy than pipes

i was specifically referring to the "Last Shot" MP Optimus Prime, soon followed by MP-10.

the price reflects being imported and sold by bbts. its a $13 difference. everything on bbts is more expensive.

Oh, no dispute there. There's nothing shady about it, they're doing what any smart company does, try to maximize profits. I don't see why people seem extra appalled when it comes from a 3rd party company. Takara is worse, there's no reason why Henkei Strafe, United Stepper, or Artfire should cost what they do. Hell, given the available stock on them it doesn't even seem like any of them were a very limited run. It's probably going to turn out this is a BBTS exclusive and they're just taking their cut on top of iGear's price.

i like repaints as much as everyone are they planning on repainting every character they release?

im still intrested how these guys are suppose to combine if its possible so they say ill be sticking with original colors when i get them eventually

I posted this earlier in the other miniwarrior thread. my sentiments are the same..... LAME!

Pipes deserves his own mold, and his own head. at the very least, his own head. Pipes, albeit very similar to huffer, have a reverse transformation that made him look different from huffer, not to mention the details.
Igear needs to giver Huffer/Pipes the same treatment and respect that they are giving the other miniwarriors. Larger Size, Unique Heads (with switchable toon/toy face), and Differential Detailing in the body!
I don't care about the whale color scheme on seaspray. now, make a full sized transforming G.I.Joe Seaspray/whale and we have a deal.

what? news to me. are you not thinking of the TW Throttlebots? they were the suprise combining team.

wow, tubes by himself is down to 47 in stock on bbts. i think it was around 175 a couple hours ago.

They might have paid to commission these exclusive and need to recoup expenses there as well. I just wish they would have commissioned something more interesting.