{"id":22946,"date":"2013-03-18T00:15:10","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T05:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22946"},"modified":"2013-03-18T12:18:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-18T17:18:14","slug":"igear-mini-warriors-tubes-m-an-a-t-e-e-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22946","title":{"rendered":"iGear Mini-Warriors
Tubes & M.A.N.A.T.E.E. Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Did I miss a week or what? Some changes at work and a nasty bug kept me woefully away from my IAT duties last week. I\u2019m still not quite back to 100%, but I have to get something posted before I go crazy. Today, \u2019ve got a quick look at the two latest iGear Mini-Warrior exclusives!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve reviewed the figures in this review before<\/a>, the Rager mold a couple times<\/A>, so I\u2019ll leave those handy links there for anyone that wants to know the specifics on the molds. Suffice to say, I\u2019ve given both, though particularly Rager, my rubber stamp. I wouldn\u2019t be buying colorway multiples otherwise. <\/p>\n

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Tubes is my fifth purchase of the Rager mold. I\u2019m not entirely certain that I needed all five. The 4th Anniversary Rager (orange truck) serves as my stand-in for Huffer and more or less makes the original, yellow release, redundant. Shafter (yellow truck, red windows) serves as much as a unique character as he can while I\u2019ve come to look at Black Rager as sort of a Shattered Glass Huffer (I just need CapturedPrey to restock their Shattered Glass faction stickers<\/a>). <\/p>\n

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Honestly, I hesitated a bit on ordering each of those repaints, though I\u2019m ultimately happy I purchased all of them. I can\u2019t quite bring myself to say the same for Tubes. I pre-ordered Tubes right away when BBTS put him up (it was a good call, the pre-order sold out pretty quick) and I thought he\u2019d end up being my favorite version of the mold, standing in for a favorite childhood toy: Pipes. It wasn\u2019t to be. <\/p>\n

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The problem is that Rager does a great job standing in for Huffer. Many of his bot mode details were switched to include elements closer to his appearances in the cartoon and comics. He\u2019s a sharp update on the original. Those changes, though, ensured that the mold really shouldn’t be reused to make an update for Pipes. It just doesn’t look right. <\/p>\n

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The first problem comes into play over twenty-five years ago \u2013 while Huffer & Pipes look very similar in their tiny, tough truck alt modes, Takara\/Hasbro retooled the bot mode pretty heavily when they got to Pipes. The originals transform into two very different bots \u2013 and as a result Tubes bot mode just doesn\u2019t call back to Pipes much at all. I love the colors. I love the alt mode. But it\u2019s a shame that iGear decided to go with Tubes as a repaint instead of including a new head and a new chest to get him right. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Heck, I\u2019ll even take a step back and say a new head would\u2019ve been sufficient. The head with the painted silver \u201cbandana\u201d over the eyes just serves to seal that this toy is Huffer dressed up as Pipes. It feels a space in my collection, but it doesn\u2019t scratch the itch. Not to throw good money after bad, but I\u2019m still down if iGear wanted to go back and do it right. <\/p>\n

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M.A.N.A.T.E.E. was offered in a 2pk with Tubes and\u2026 that\u2019s probably the biggest reason I have him. While I have a soft spot for Spray, his original figure is a little bit awkward to transform, so I wasn\u2019t as in the market for a repaint of him unless it was G2 Chrome (which wouldn\u2019t you know, iGear suckered me into that too). <\/p>\n

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This one is a cute repaint of Spray, mimicking Hasbro\u2019s own repaint of 2010\u2019s Seaspray and calling it a G.I. Joe homage to the iconic Killer W.H.A.L.E.. The most impressive part of that is probably the box \u2013it\u2019s pretty cool, but Spray does look good in the darker color scheme. I\u2019m seeing him as another possible SG figure. I\u2019m not sure what Cutter here has in mind…<\/p>\n

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Overall, I\u2019m okay with buying these two particular repaints, but I\u2019m not sure how much they add to my collection. I\u2019m going to have to draw the line somewhere as the original releases at iGear are going to pile up pretty soon and the space & money for these seemingly endless repaints is going to dry up fast (anyone think the Go-Bot repaints are in our future?). Ultimately, I\u2019m okay with these latest two. Using Manatee & Black Rager as SG versions and even Tubes here has some novelty as the European version of Pipes which was a straight repaint of Huffer. Sadly, though that figure has been nicknamed Puffer by the fandom and well, we just can\u2019t change the first letter of Tubes name to a P. That\u2019s just not right. <\/p>\n

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For more Reviews, check out our sortable Review Index<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did I miss a week or what? Some changes at work and a nasty bug kept me woefully away from my IAT duties last week. I\u2019m still not quite back to 100%, but I have to get something posted before I go crazy. Today, \u2019ve got a quick look at the two latest iGear Mini-Warrior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10,35],"tags":[33,1729,1880,1878,1798,1879,1730,601,1731,2595,2570,1877],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-5Y6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22064,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22064","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":0},"title":"iGear Mini-Warriors 4th Ann. Rager Review (MW-02G)","date":"December 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, it\u2019s another Transformers review. No, we\u2019re not having a secret theme week. We\u2019ll get to the big bad November Matty box starting next week, but sometimes you have to go where the fun is and for me, the fun has been with iGear\u2019s Mini-Warriors this last week, particularly Rager\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21991,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21991","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":1},"title":"iGear Mini-Warriors UFO Review (MW-04)","date":"November 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I had plenty of TFs as a kid, but my fondest memories are of the little guys. My (wonderful) parents were happy to oblige when I wanted a larger Transformer, but when their kid was easily placated by a smaller, less pricey one, they were smart to not look that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21097,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21097","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":2},"title":"Mini-Warriors Rager & Spray Review","date":"September 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"With the Transforming Collections Kickstarter wrapping up this weekend, I thought it\u2019d be a good time to get to a review I\u2019ve had on the backburner: iGear\u2019s Mini-Warriors Spray & Rager. I don\u2019t own a lot of \u201cThird Party\u201d TFs, but the appeal of modern mini-vehicles is hard to resist.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23465,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23465","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":3},"title":"iGear Mini-Warriors MW-01C Chrome Spray Quick Review","date":"May 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve got to head out of town (again) this week, so I\u2019ve just got a quick review to finish of the week. I couldn\u2019t find much in my toy room that would be a good fit for a quick look, but then the postman arrived with something perfect: a repaint\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22379,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22379","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":4},"title":"December Review Index Update & Top Reviews for December","date":"January 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Normally, I\u2019d prefer to post the Review Index updates on the first of the month, but 2013 has started with a roar and I can\u2019t believe January is already half over! Nonetheless, the Indexes could all use a little love and I kicked things off with the IAT & Battlegrip\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20672,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=20672","url_meta":{"origin":22946,"position":5},"title":"Spotlight: Transforming Collections Toy Reference Book","date":"September 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Phil Reed\u2019s Battlegrip.com is one my favorite toy sites. Phil runs a great site with a unique perspective and a cool mix of reviews of new & old toys (including a strange obsession with FrankenBerry). Phil has a new project, an unofficial Transformers guide that he\u2019s taken to Kickstarter. We\u2019re\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22946"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22965,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22946\/revisions\/22965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}