The Energon Pub

KOToys has posted that CHMS has KOed the Classics Ramjet mold.
For those not in the know, CHMS is a KO company that is responsible for the recent pricey Henkei Seeker and Animated Arcee KOs that have been swamping the internet.
The following toys will be KOed from this mold:

• Henkei Ramjet (in about 2 weeks time)
• TFCC G2 Ramjet (in about 2 months)
• Ghost versions

KOToys is also having a poll which versions should be done next, one of the options is BotCon Dirge.
It also sounds like there will be KOs of the other Conehead molds.
You can click here to see the original posting.

Wow this is going to suck for anybody who wants a real Henkei Ramjet, Henkei Starscream has already sky-rocketed in price and has become really, really hard to find ever since the KO came out.

However, I'd be interested in a Hybrid of the standard and the conehead mold, just for how awesome that would be.

I'm not going to lie, if the quality is good then I wouldn't mind picking up a KO G2 Ramjet at a fraction of the cost...specially for those who did not get a chance to pick him up...regardless if there is an outlet where we (the collectors) can find figures that are either expensive, hard to find, or even from 3rd party companies that either provide KO, unofficial or their own original bach of figures than I will be the first in line...either way, lets hope that they are of decent quality, because in the end, whether it is a HasTak sanctioned figure or a KO...if the quality is not there then, at least to me, is not worth the plastic it's molded...can't wait to see what they come out with!

**** these people.

Razorclaw0000 wrote:**** these people.

I own an original Henkei Ramjet and have a G2 Ramjet on pre-order. I paid top dollar. And guess what ??? I STILL SUPPORT KO's !!!

Just like Obama is opening up drilling to bring down the gas prices, we need KO's. Classics figures have gone through the roof should have never gotten that high. Everybody has a right to enjoy the updated mold of the characters we loved from are youth. Theyre just plastic toys.

If you are looking for value and investment, go buy stocks, bonds, gold or silver, or land. Make real profit. No chump change.

I'm really pleased when KO companies fill-in missing characters and decos from TF history... but it's definitely a bummer when this happens.

Rated X wrote:Just like Obama is opening up drilling to bring down the gas prices

Sans politics, that actually won't work.

Dead Metal wrote:Wow this is going to suck for anybody who wants a real Henkei Ramjet, Henkei Starscream has already sky-rocketed in price and has become really, really hard to find ever since the KO came out.

However, I'd be interested in a Hybrid of the standard and the conehead mold, just for how awesome that would be.

Did they skyrocket in price? That's an interesting consequence of KOs. I'd have imagines the price being floored.

These get a big "meh" from me. With the Coneheads being released domestically there's no point in settling for a KO. I also wonder how much the G2 Ramjet KO will resemble the real deal. It hasn't even been released yet, so they don't have one in-hand to compare it to.

Hey Gauntlet101010... what kinda hybrid of the standard and conehead molds are you thinking??? Wouldn't that be like a Starscream head with Ramjet wings? Trying to picture a version that would look cool....

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Wow this is going to suck for anybody who wants a real Henkei Ramjet, Henkei Starscream has already sky-rocketed in price and has become really, really hard to find ever since the KO came out.

However, I'd be interested in a Hybrid of the standard and the conehead mold, just for how awesome that would be.

Did they skyrocket in price? That's an interesting consequence of KOs. I'd have imagines the price being floored.

Nope, sadly not. Just before news of the KO where announced he was almost everywhere for around the same price as when he was originally released, 2-3 months ago he was still around for around 35-45 and plentifully in e-bay. Now when I finally managed to go and buy him, he was sold out and when he was in stock somewhere he was priced at around 70 to 120, all thanks to the KO.

gothsaurus wrote:Hey Gauntlet101010... what kinda hybrid of the standard and conehead molds are you thinking??? Wouldn't that be like a Starscream head with Ramjet wings? Trying to picture a version that would look cool....

I think you're referring to Dead Metal, not me. But it'd be kinda cool if they made the prototype versions of the Conheads with regular heads. Or an all white version so I could finally have a use for the Leader-1 head from the Coronation set (although I'm hoping for a standard Seeker for that more than Thrust).

However, I'm kinda burnt out on this mold. They need to find themselves another army builder to make. Hopefully more cheaply than the Seeker KOs have been.

Yeah, after getting all the seekers, Sunstorm, Rainmakers, and an assortment of purple clones... I can't get too excited about any more seekers coming out. Ready for some other classic bots, too. Insecticons anyone?

gothsaurus wrote:Yeah, after getting all the seekers, Sunstorm, Rainmakers, and an assortment of purple clones... I can't get too excited about any more seekers coming out. Ready for some other classic bots, too. Insecticons anyone?

I'm totally burnt out on this mold! I've been wanting a Classics Thundercracker for a long time now and i've seen him quite a bit at retail but i just cant seem to bring myself to buy this mold again. It's boring the **** out of me now. Even if it is THundercracker or whomever.

Dead Metal wrote:Nope, sadly not. Just before news of the KO where announced he was almost everywhere for around the same price as when he was originally released, 2-3 months ago he was still around for around 35-45 and plentifully in e-bay. Now when I finally managed to go and buy him, he was sold out and when he was in stock somewhere he was priced at around 70 to 120, all thanks to the KO.

That simply isn't how the laws of supply-and-demand work; I'd be hard pressed to blame that KO (which, parenthetically, wasn't from CHMS). There was a general huge upward trend in the prices of most Henkei figures in the time frame you mentioned across the board; have you priced out a Henkei Sunstreaker or Sideswipe lately?

Perhaps the supply of actual Henkei Starscreams finally dried up? It seems like you're making your case on correlation without causation.

In any case, I couldn't care less about most possible products based on the conehead molds, though I might bite on some in the unreleased G2 camo schemes. I don't know why anyone would actually want a Botcon Dirge now that there are more G1-accurate versions, but I suppose there are some transfans who base their collections around rarity instead of how cool a toy something is.

OTOH, I'm very much looking forward to the CHMS Classics Deep Cover and will be very happy to see a g1 Classics Breakdown.

G2 Ramjet. That's ballsy. And stupid.

Now I need to get my hands on a TFCC G2 Ramjet before the market floods with KO.

This also makes me glad that I already have the Henkei Ramjet and Starscream. What's funny is the reason I got them was because I missed out on the US Classics so I bought them cause they were cheaper along with a few others. You can probably guess how grateful I am that I made that choice.

metaphorge wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Nope, sadly not. Just before news of the KO where announced he was almost everywhere for around the same price as when he was originally released, 2-3 months ago he was still around for around 35-45 and plentifully in e-bay. Now when I finally managed to go and buy him, he was sold out and when he was in stock somewhere he was priced at around 70 to 120, all thanks to the KO.

That simply isn't how the laws of supply-and-demand work; I'd be hard pressed to blame that KO (which, parenthetically, wasn't from CHMS). There was a general huge upward trend in the prices of most Henkei figures in the time frame you mentioned across the board; have you priced out a Henkei Sunstreaker or Sideswipe lately?

Perhaps the supply of actual Henkei Starscreams finally dried up? It seems like you're making your case on correlation without causation.

The supply dried up because people panicked that if they waited a little longer they would end up with a KO.

Dead Metal wrote:

metaphorge wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:Nope, sadly not. Just before news of the KO where announced he was almost everywhere for around the same price as when he was originally released, 2-3 months ago he was still around for around 35-45 and plentifully in e-bay. Now when I finally managed to go and buy him, he was sold out and when he was in stock somewhere he was priced at around 70 to 120, all thanks to the KO.

That simply isn't how the laws of supply-and-demand work; I'd be hard pressed to blame that KO (which, parenthetically, wasn't from CHMS). There was a general huge upward trend in the prices of most Henkei figures in the time frame you mentioned across the board; have you priced out a Henkei Sunstreaker or Sideswipe lately?

Perhaps the supply of actual Henkei Starscreams finally dried up? It seems like you're making your case on correlation without causation.

The supply dried up because people panicked that if they waited a little longer they would end up with a KO.

OK, that _does_ make a bit of sense, though one can make an argument that the release of the KO did all the people who had Henkei Starscreams languishing in their stock a favor by making all the fence-sitters actually buy them.

These shouldn't cause that same problem since CHMS makes changes to the packaging their KOs ship in (and only seem to dupe the Henkei packaging in any case), though it could create some confusion for loose samples. (CHMS has not, as far as I know, duped the basic Henkei Starscream as of yet.)

Based on what I've seen of CHMS's products before, I doubt they'll be able to copy the tampos on the fan club G2 Ramjet particularly closely. I wonder how many people would buy one of those without the fan club's packaging in any case (which is unlikely to be KO'ed)?

Yeah, club packaging is pretty unique. I don't think CHMS will attempt to copy it. Everything I've seen so far, they've been pretty adamant about not trying to create a believable copy of the vintage items. (Their Reflector and Devastator have their own original boxes... G1 styled, but obviously not vintage items.) I respect their choosing to do this.

I'm glad the Club has gone to lengths to include bio cards and new artwork/boxes with their figures... as well as appearances in the comic, pages in the magazine. That stuff helps bring the characters to life, instead of just throwing out a toy.

AAAND I'm glad someone is stepping up to reissue these toys, since apparently HasTak's hands are tied. From what I hear at conventions, it hinges on finding specialty vendors to purchase the limited edition/store exclusives. (ie. Target, WalMart, Sam's.) If none of them bite, then they don't get to release the toy. This is what happened with the Seacons... delayed for a year or two until the Club secured the toy for a release.

Sadly, there's a lot of politics behind the scenes that throw a wrench in releases. (Not to mention copyrights, licensing, and child safety... that botches releases like Fort Max and Megatron.)

gothsaurus wrote:Yeah, club packaging is pretty unique. I don't think CHMS will attempt to copy it. Everything I've seen so far, they've been pretty adamant about not trying to create a believable copy of the vintage items. (Their Reflector and Devastator have their own original boxes... G1 styled, but obviously not vintage items.) I respect their choosing to do this.

I'm glad the Club has gone to lengths to include bio cards and new artwork/boxes with their figures... as well as appearances in the comic, pages in the magazine. That stuff helps bring the characters to life, instead of just throwing out a toy.

AAAND I'm glad someone is stepping up to reissue these toys, since apparently HasTak's hands are tied. From what I hear at conventions, it hinges on finding specialty vendors to purchase the limited edition/store exclusives. (ie. Target, WalMart, Sam's.) If none of them bite, then they don't get to release the toy. This is what happened with the Seacons... delayed for a year or two until the Club secured the toy for a release.

Sadly, there's a lot of politics behind the scenes that throw a wrench in releases. (Not to mention copyrights, licensing, and child safety... that botches releases like Fort Max and Megatron.)

Isn't this the same company that released KO Keneki Thundercracker and Skywarp packaged in their exclusive boxes?

Dead Metal wrote:Wow this is going to suck for anybody who wants a real Henkei Ramjet, Henkei Starscream has already sky-rocketed in price and has become really, really hard to find ever since the KO came out.

However, I'd be interested in a Hybrid of the standard and the conehead mold, just for how awesome that would be.

Man I have ha 5 Classic Starscreams. The 06 version, two Universe versions, and two legit Henkei ones.

I sold all my Starscreams, but decided to keep my last Henkei one MIB. I got my last oe from Robot Kingdom when they had Henkei Convoy pseudo 2nd run. They had one more Henkei Starscream for $25. I am always so lucky!!

I honestly haven't seen anyone pounce on that over inflated price, but Henkei Starscream (if the paint apps are right) is the best of the three. Lucky me!!

Stormrider wrote:Isn't this the same company that released KO Keneki Thundercracker and Skywarp packaged in their exclusive boxes?

Not sure about the packaging, but this same company has released a high quality Henkei Thundercracker and Skywarp KO.

gothsaurus wrote:

Stormrider wrote:Isn't this the same company that released KO Keneki Thundercracker and Skywarp packaged in their exclusive boxes?

Not sure about the packaging, but this same company has released a high quality Henkei Thundercracker and Skywarp KO.

That's what he meant, they where exclusives and yes CHMS copied the packaging, however they aren't complete dicks, so they replaced the TakaraTomy name with CHMS and instead of the impregnated (I'm really sure that's the wrong word) "Transformers" on the side of the bubble it reads "CHMSFormers", at least that's what I've been told.

Dead Metal wrote: they replaced the TakaraTomy name with CHMS and instead of the impregnated (I'm really sure that's the wrong word) "Transformers" on the side of the bubble it reads "CHMSFormers", at least that's what I've been told.

Hey. Yeah, this is correct. I don't think they've put out anything in fake HasTak or vintage rip-off packaging... which I appreciate and respect.

I more get the impression that these guys are fans as well.... It seems like most of what they do is "missing" characters... like the Rainmakers, Diaclone Magnus (ie. blue prime), Sunstorm, Deep Cover (black sideswipe), etc. I've been glad to pick these up.

I wish Hasbro could find a way to issue these figures through a store exclusive or box set. If they do, I'll snatch it up. Till then, these KOs will be a nice place holder.