Third-Party Company Behind Upcoming Animated Upgrades Revealed

Sounds fancy.

Lets hope its not just a trailer for Motormaster but a whole combiner kit for Menasor. All the molds have been around for a while so as soon as all 5 stunticons molds were announced these guys probally went to work.

Rated X wrote:Lets hope its not just a trailer for Motormaster but a whole combiner kit for Menasor. All the molds have been around for a while so as soon as all 5 stunticons molds were announced these guys probally went to work.

They will combine.

glad to see animated had a big enough impact that fans want to keep it alive

Sweet, animated was dope fo sho... I don't collect the figures much though, just Blackarachnia and Oil Slick so far, and those don't really need upgrading.

MINDVVIPE wrote:I don't collect the figures much though, just Blackarachnia and Oil Slick so far

What's wrong with you? jk

Also, G1UPPERS has to be the funniest name for a third-party toy company ever.

Never got the Botcon set and this won't make me splurge on it .... but hopefully it'll inspire someone to make a Classics version.

The Dude wrote:

MINDVVIPE wrote:I don't collect the figures much though, just Blackarachnia and Oil Slick so far

What's wrong with you? jk

Also, G1UPPERS has to be the funniest name for a third-party toy company ever.

Haha, I only collect figures that can fit into my classics, "realistic" theme... nothing with obviously cartoony (asymetrical) faces and overly wierd limb propotions.

Ha ha, "keep animation alive", I love it! Heh, referring to animated, heh

MINDVVIPE wrote:

The Dude wrote:

MINDVVIPE wrote:I don't collect the figures much though, just Blackarachnia and Oil Slick so far

What's wrong with you? jk

Also, G1UPPERS has to be the funniest name for a third-party toy company ever.

Haha, I only collect figures that can fit into my classics, "realistic" theme... nothing with obviously cartoony (asymetrical) faces and overly wierd limb propotions.

I was thinking that there's nothing unrealistic about asymmetrical faces and overly weird limb proportions but then again I suppose I have been spending entirely too much time wandering around Wal-Mart lately.

Seriously though, I know what you mean about the look of the figures which is why I only have a few myself and those I waited til I could get them discounted. I enjoyed the cartoon but the figures just didn't win me over after having collected the regular one for all these years.
I will admit that I'm curious to see what they do with the combiner set. Every other line has had a combiner of some type and all they offered up for animated was a short lived run with the 2 'Bots that formed the jet and I'm not certain that all regions got to even see that one.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Never got the Botcon set and this won't make me splurge on it .... but hopefully it'll inspire someone to make a Classics version.

I am the opposite, as soon as I heard about the upgrade I bought the box set. Probably wouldn't have done it otherwise.

G1 hope this guys can pull the rest of the dinobots thats g1uppers for the animated fans. n a animated optimus trailer. now that i think about it wat about some fire power " WEAPONS" all 3rd paties do r up-grades which r great but how many up grades can animated need????? unless they want to make thier own figures like dinobots n (OMEGA SUPREME) any up-grade i can think of galvatron up-grade,sound waves cassettes (guitars) other than that its all been done in the animated world .

The Dude wrote:Also, G1UPPERS has to be the funniest name for a third-party toy company ever.

No, funny is how their two products are aimed at upgrading Animated ... not exactly G1 ...

Burn wrote:

The Dude wrote:Also, G1UPPERS has to be the funniest name for a third-party toy company ever.

No, funny is how their two products are aimed at upgrading Animated ... not exactly G1 ...

You're missing the pun.

I bought my Botcon 2011 boxed set FOR this upgrade. It's such an obvious seller, I KNEW someone would produce it. I will be buying this set, and anyone still on the fence about this years boxed set better get it now. You think Shattered Glass got expensive? If this kit is done right, we might have just received the most expensive Botcon set ever to hit the secondary market.

If it does not combine (which El Duque has informed us it will) then not too many people will pick it up, me being one of them.

-

[DECEASED] wrote:Panic $pending i$ illogical...
KOToy$ & it$ U.$. di$tributor Ace$toy$tore will have a batch ready for the one$ not intere$ted in Botcon.
$hame on you GetRight, you $hould know thi$ game by now.

I'm so embarrassed....

[DECEASED] wrote:Panic $pending i$ illogical...
KOToy$ & it$ U.$. di$tributor Ace$toy$tore will have a batch ready for the one$ not intere$ted in Botcon.
$hame on you GetRight, you $hould know thi$ game by now.

Buying from Krazy Owner Toy$ i$ illogical.
$upport the IP owner.

=

There's no guarantee that KO makers will make the Animated Botcon set. Dragstrip seems like a foregone conclusion, but the rest? Not so much.

Heck, just making blue Classics Prime took about a year, didn't it? From confirmation of intention to actual product? And, if not a year, then still a very long time for a simple recolor.

And there's no guarantee a KO will work well with a fanmade trailer. The CC armor doesn't work with the KO so well and the Coronation set does not fit the CMS Seekers (although it works fine with the cheaper KO Seekers).

Very well thought out Gauntlet.

III

[DECEASED] wrote:Very well thought out Gauntlet.

A few things to consider though.
No protos were shown from G1Uppers yet. No release date has been issued.

Mike @ KOToys is in business (shady or not) to make money, and this has cash grab written all over it.

The SG Prime KO was successful.

And finally, never underestimate the patience of an avid collector with limited funds.

By no means am I degrading your logic; in fact, it is completely sound. However, both you and I have seen these things play out before - especially with "exclusives". Why should any practice of successful capitalism cease when there is a market for such frivolous items? As CM Punk says, the wheel will just keep on turning.

I don't buy Knock off's. Yet, I LOVE 3rd party, original items. It's six in one hand, half a dozen in the other and I get that. I don't care who makes what or for how much. So long as blatant KO's don't bring the legal hammer down on superior companies like Fan's Project and shut THEM down, I'm good.

One more thing off topic x2, DECEASED, I like you. You seem to have the ability to discuss without arguing. Not enough of that around here.

[DECEASED] wrote:Mike @ KOToys is in business (shady or not) to make money, and this has cash grab written all over it.

The SG Prime KO was successful.

There is one problem in the immediate though; TFCC destroys all the new molds used to make their unique heads. Now it's entirely possible that the KO people can and will reverse-engineer them, but that will take a bit of time.

Mike may have made SG Rodimus and Optimus, but that's hardly the entire set. And it took him a very long time to make SG Optimus and Rodimus .... Rodimus isn't even out, is he? Cash grab or not, I think it's wrong to assume that there's no limit on what they'll KO. It still costs $$$ to copy these molds, after all

With the Seeker mold, they'll just run with it until people stop buying. And G1 seems like it'll be KOed forever. But I don't see them running with the classics Mirage mold that much, or even Animated Arcee's. The guy who made the City Commander KO has also stopped, so we won't be seeing more of that, cash grab or no. So you won't see a KO SG City Commander set or a KO Toxitron City Commander set.

So, if you want to make use of this trailer set ... I wouldn't count on it being totally KOed just for a cash grab. Just look at how long it's taking them to KO the Dinocassettes. Those are even less complicated that making copies of four deluxe molds and (maybe) a trailer.

And to think I almost bought the set.. Oh well. This add on set just made it impossible for me to but it (not that I could right now anyways), and I don't like K.O.'s so I'll just settle for next years set........

G1Uppers has revealed a little more information of their upcoming Animated Menasor combiner set called Menace. Originally revealed here, this set takes the base figures of the Botcon 2011 Stunticon job set and combines them into Animated Menasor. The set also forms a trailer for stunticon leader The Motormaster.

At TFcon 2011, they revealed a work in progress digital mockup of the head of Menace. They stress that this an early WIP and there will be changes. They also revealed this set will be limited to 1500 and Seibertron sponsors Bigbadtoystore and Toyarena will be their US distributers. A full prototype should be ready in October.

When it was confirmed that there would be no official means to combine the Animated Stunticons, I KNEW there would at least be a 3rd party alternative. Boy am I glad I bit the bullet and bought the Stunticon set. I can't wait to see pics of the prototype. The head along looks pretty awesome to me.

Same here Wolfdawg! I hope these G1uppers guys are not all talk though. An early WIP head and a prototype in 3 months? I might be calling shenannigans! (or however the hell you spell that ) I'm thinking they had the same idea as half of the people with this box set and are claiming it early with no idea how long it will take to produce.

It's just too much for me now. Over the last year there's been too many third party things, for too many exclusives or now hard to find figures, all of it with huge pricetags, heavily limited numbers, and no recovery time for the wallet between preorders for this & that. I'd say I need a comprehensive list of all the third-party items out there with pricing & preoder/release dates, but I'm so far behind I just don't have the cash to catch up at all.

I guess I'll have to settle for being happy there's fellow TF fans out there that have the money & pre-odering-hair-trigger to nab this kind of stuff.

Awesome head for Menace, btw.

Thats what Im talking about !!! Thats why I bought that set !!!

i think ill be preordering as soon as it becomes available, hope its not too expensive

G1Uppers has updated their blog with a few MENACE concept head designs and are looking for fan input.

Top left, or top middle.
Although someone is going to want a mouth to resemble G1, so bottom right.

As most of you probably know by now a new third-party company calling themselves G1Uppers is planning to release an upgrade set for the BotCon 2011 Animated Stunticons that will allow them to combine. During the third-party panel at last weekend's TFcon they revealed a concept sketch for the combined mode head, then followed up by posting several other concept head designs on their blog asking for fan input. Now Derrick J. Wyatt, the mastermind behind the Animated world and the BotCon set, has tweeted his take what Animated Menasor's head design would look like. Considerably different from any of the concept designs currently up for display. The various Animated Menasor heads are mirrored below.

Derrick J. Wyatt Design


G1Uppers TFcon Design


Addional G1Uppers Concepts

I'm digging DJW's design a lot more than the G1 Uppers'. I mean, all the designs are cool and I'd be pretty happy with any of them, but I still prefer DJW's. Plus, using that head would make the gestalt sort of official.

I like the Wyatt design best.

The concept designs are WAY better than Derrick J. Wyatt's.

I wouldn't say those are better than Derrick's. They're more detailed, but not sure I like the style better. More simple looks more "animated" style. Adding a whole lot of rivets and detail will step away from the aesthetics of the set. Hmmm.

I WOULD like to see those pokey side 'horns' from the Derek design brought over to the toy. The curved helmet doesn't look as Menasor to me. Those look more like a mean Prowl or Ratchet helmet.

I prefer DJW's take on the design.

It fits better with the overall animated aesthetic (as you would expect) and still retains the characteristics of Menasor.

The TFCon design is probably the next closest tp the TFA style.

The others would be more appropriate for a different character.

All Wyatt is doing is influencing how the 3rd party design will look so it will ultimately end up fitting into his Animted universe.

I like his deisgn, but I think it looks too much like Motormaster's head. I would prefer if the new trailer upgrade went for something a little more out of the box.

The head Wyatt made also seems like it will make him more on the fat side. I kinda see this combiner being a little more slim after all is said and done. Seeing how the Stunticons are performers, I would only naturally assume that Menasor is just as agile in the combined mode.

NOTE: I have not read the comic. All I know is that they do a circus act.

Now the question remains. Will G1UPPERS take this design a reflect it in their product?

WolfDawg wrote:I'm digging DJW's design a lot more than the G1 Uppers'. I mean, all the designs are cool and I'd be pretty happy with any of them, but I still prefer DJW's. Plus, using that head would make the gestalt sort of official.

That's what I was thinking! It would make it a little more legit. Probably encourage him to use it if they ever do a Season 4 comic, too.

If I had the Stunticon set and they went with Wyatt's design, I'd totally buy it.

I am seriously loving the Atilla the Hun Mongolian warrior references in DJW's head. I think it provides what the G1UPPERS designs lacked, a healthy dose of character!

Marcdachamp wrote:If I had the Stunticon set and they went with Wyatt's design, I'd totally buy it.

I think you hit the nail on the head. If it seems official, I'm going to get it. If not, gonna pass.

IMHO, the head got a prominent chin with a Cybertronian beard (robots with mouth reach the maximum point).
2 days ago, I tried to design something different :


http://chogoking.com/post-57-animated-menasor.html

Enjoy ^__^

Hey.

I'm actually really liking that. It has the Animated nose, the big side points. Nods to the G1 and Animated.

Looking at the old G1 animation model (and Derricks)... those depict the points coming out of the SIDE of his head. The G1 toy design (and these sketches) show a front crest like Prowl/Ratchet... with exaggerated points.

I'm debating which I like best... and which embodies Menasor better.

Either way, I think it's going in the right direction. I can give or take the goatee. (Can always sharpee that on later. LOL.)

Nice job. And thanks for giving the fans a chance to chime in. Hope it doesn't come across to negative getting all this blast of input from all these peeps.

I guessing the reason DJW's head design is so wide is so it could slip over Motormaster'ss blockly head.

Well, The motormaster facial hair looks more like attilla the hun, or however you spell it, on menasor. IDK If it works that much for me. you know, if the show was ever continued, and I saw him in episodes, then maybe my opinion would change...?
*SIGHS*
wishful thinking

LEJAM wrote:
http://chogoking.com/post-57-animated-menasor.html

OK. I think that's my favourite so far. I can actually look at that and see Menasor. The G1uppers guys' sketches all kind of look like what would happen if Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl, Smokescreen, and Bluestreak had a big orgy and nobody brought condoms. Derricks kind looks like Motormaster wearing some sort of samurai or something. Still not 100% perfect though. Something still bugs me about it. It kinda looks like the Cybertron Starscream head with a crest added. But I think this is definitely a case where I'd prefer a comic inspired head than a cartoon styled head. Even though that goes against Animateds origins. I can't help but wonder if it would look better if the Menasor head was a mix of the 5 Stunticons heads. Like if you were to overlap all the head designs and then erase bits, maybe add the antennas, until you have a Menasor looking head. Take Arcee's forehead, Motormaster box, Wildriders jaw, etc.

It reminds starscream because of the side vents.
I tried to get close to these pictures I used as reference with TF Animated design :