Transformers 3rd Party: iGear - Rager MW-02G

A lot of Transformers fans that I've run across have mixed feelings when it comes to the 3rd party Transformers company, iGear.  Many love what they are currently doing, while others still have ill feelings towards the company for their blatant rip offs of the Hasbro & Takara Masterpiece molds.  All that aside I was thrilled to see a few years ago they were tackling upgrading many of the G1 Mini-Bots.  I quickly grabbed the first two figures released, Rager (Huffer) and Spray (Seaspray).  While I particularly liked Rager, his colors were more modeled after his animation self and not the original G1 toy.  I can't say I'm completely surprised then that iGear released Rager again...this time labeled as the 4th Anniversary Edition.

In addition to a new paint job, Rager also gets new packaging.  I loved the original Mini Warriors packaging, this time around however it feels cheap.  For whatever reason they decided to put a fake window on the box showing the toy.  This looks very cheesy.  In fact the whole box looks amateurish in my opinion.

It also didn't help that iGear shipped these boxes in just a bubble envelope.  Cheap skates.

The back of the box is a little better.  You get a faithful G1 looking tech spec card which is a nice touch.  By the time this version of Rager was released the next two Mini Warriors had been released, Hench (Brawn) and UFO (Cosmos).  At the time of this post I've yet to secure either of those.

This has to be the biggest warning I've ever seen on a toy's packaging!  This large warning label is found on the bottom of the box.  Notice the 'Dillinger' logo in the bottom right corner?  I guess those guys can be blamed for the cheap looking box layout.

Enough about the packaging, let's look at the actual toy.

Rager comes packaged inside a small plastic tray with a removable lid.  This might be the best part of the packaging.  You can also see that he comes with the same two pistols that the previous release had.

Now this is what I'm talking about!  I love his darker, richer G1 colors.  In addition to the darker orange and blue, iGear also painted the wheels.  While a small change, it makes a huge difference in truck mode.

Notice the deeper, richer blue color in robot mode?  This is a huge improvement over the original.  So much in fact that I quickly sold off the original to a local friend of mine that missed out on the first release.

I love the fact that he actually has weapons.  I hated that all but one of the original G1 Mini-Bots didn't have weapons.  I know Huffer came off as a whiny jerk in the original cartoon and I can't really see him fighting on the front line, but this new version makes him look less whiny and more tough.  All he needs now is a little Autobot sticker on his chest.

To fully appreciate Rager's new look, let's take a look at him against his original self and then we'll close by comparing him against his G1 toy.

There really is no comparison.  For me the 4th Anniversary Edition is the way to go.  The figure was limited to 500 pieces, but I'm sure if you look in the right places he can still be had for close to what he originally retailed for.

This picture just makes me smile : )