The Energon Pub

Diem wrote:

Scaleface wrote:h) China releases low cost blue Seeker, and people who couldn't afford previous Thundercrackers or missed them are more or less happy.

i) Fans who already have Botcon/Henkei Thundercracker start crying and moaning that these KOs exist.
j) Fans who don't already own Thundercracker don't give a rat's behind about the "elite" owners crying.

Corrected that for you.

Scaleface wrote:

Diem wrote:

Scaleface wrote:h) China releases low cost blue Seeker, and people who couldn't afford previous Thundercrackers or missed them are more or less happy.

i) Fans who already have Botcon/Henkei Thundercracker start crying and moaning that these KOs exist.
j) Fans who don't already own Thundercracker don't give a rat's behind about the "elite" owners crying.

Corrected that for you.

Ouch

Anyway, I'm in the bafflingly rare 3rd group: Fans who don't own Thundercracker and don't give a toss about the fact.

Elite owners, really, give me a break. I don't think paying $56.00 a piece for Botcon figures makes one elite.

No, I don't mean all owners. "Elite" means owners who did pay a lot for the toy then can't stand the idea that someone else has a cheaper alternative. Anyone who takes time on a message board to say "no, you can't own that KO! It looks too much like my toy" counts. Anyone who would tell someone else they can't go buy something for fear it would impact their collection's exclusivity.

As this thread DRAGS on, I'm all of the sudden confused. Is it not up to the person who owns the collection to decide what figure is considered what? I mean, all of this hub-bub about about an exclusive figure is out of control and the "fandumb" is getting borderline stupid in this thread.

Some people collect differently and I don't see the point in arguing over somebody else's collection. Some people would rather pay $75 for a $12 toy because its an official exclusive. And I could appreciate that. Some people would rather buy a $10 knock-off and give it a coat of paint. And I could appreciate that too.

After all, each figure is just a blank piece of plastic. It isn't until somebody puts some paint on it does it get an identity. Hasbro can take two pieces of plastic and paint one blue and red and the other blue and white and all of the sudden they are two different toys. Two minutes ago they were exactly the same thing but now they are different?

Therefore, why can't somebody else take a classics Starscream and paint it blue and call it Thundercracker. That person only did what hasbro does. They took one toy, gave it a new coat of paint and called it something else. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, people. If someone wants to buy a knock-off Cracker and give it a nice coat of paint and some stickers and call it Thundercracker, I applaud them for their effort.

Its a little ridiculous to disrespect somebody else's collection because they don't have the official Thundercracker. This isn't a "can't we all get along" reply. This is more of a "we all need a bit of perspective" reply. If person A can't get his hands on the exclusive Cracker but wants to have Cracker represented in his collection, what exactly is person A supposed to do? Just give up on Thundercracker? Maybe let botcon and/or Hasbro decide who gets what figure?

In this day and age, its the collector who decides what each figure is. If I get a knock-off seeker mold and give it a Thundercracker paint job, that toy has now assumed the identity of Thundercracker for the sake of my collection. And nobody else is going to tell that it isn't Thundercracker just because I didn't get it at Botcon. My Thundercracker is no less Thundercracker than somebody else's exclusive. They are both pieces of plastic that are molded the same and with the same paint job. My Thundercracker doesn't have to be your Thundercracker.

And another thing, some of you need to crawl out of Hasbro's back pocket. Quite frankly, Hasbro's toys aren't much better than some of the knock-offs anyway. How many official hasbro toys have you pulled out of the box and they had loose joints, weak pins, terrible paint, or pieces that don't quite fit together as they are supposed to. If Hasbro was so great, there wouldn't be threads all over the internet about home solutions to fixing the problems with the toys that they made.

In closing, there is enough room in this world for the Botcon Thundercrackers and the knock-off Thundercrackers to exist together. Let the buyers buy and the collectors collect. Everybody needs to enjoy their own collection for what it means to them.

What the hell?

Really people? I have to sort this crap out?

Great.

Here's the deal, topic will go unlocked and, you know what?

If you are a jerk, a flame baiter, or can not avoid making dick-ish comments in general, you'll get a warning or worse, your post will be deleted and we'll move on.

No more warnings. It's only the polite responses that some people have left to otherwise rude comments that have kept this open and kept others from receiving a warning.

Scaleface wrote:No, I don't mean all owners. "Elite" means owners who did pay a lot for the toy then can't stand the idea that someone else has a cheaper alternative. Anyone who takes time on a message board to say "no, you can't own that KO! It looks too much like my toy" counts. Anyone who would tell someone else they can't go buy something for fear it would impact their collection's exclusivity.

My apologies if perhaps I mis-read a post, but reading through the thread, I don't think I heard anyone who owns a Henkei or Botcon Thundercracker say that others shouldn't have this because it might devalue their "official" one. Maybe I missed someone saying that. It sounds like people's issue are more along the lines of violation of intellectual property re: KO's, or simply warning ppl not to be duped into purchasing it if their intention was to pick up the officially-released Botcon or Henkei ones. I could be wrong.

Personally, I own both Henkei & Botcon Thundercrackers (& paid out the butt for one of them), but am glad to see others get a chance to own a customizable version of TC or a stand-in/kitbashable TC. My two cents.

Diem wrote:Anyway, I'm in the bafflingly rare 3rd group: Fans who don't own Thundercracker and don't give a toss about the fact.

Amen!

I'd rather have the MP version anyway.

However, I do wonder, where do people order KO TFs? Is there a place that sells them specifically, or do they just eventually show up on Ebay? I guess to people who check the forums or are somewhat internet savvy, even on Ebay they would be able to recognize a KO for what it is, but what about those who aren't? When I was searching for my Alternators Grimlock, I almost bought one with blue feet/seats before I saw that they are supposed to be red. Would that have been a KO then? If I didn't know about the galleries here, I might have bought it assuming it was legit.

Scaleface wrote:

Diem wrote:

Scaleface wrote:h) China releases low cost blue Seeker, and people who couldn't afford previous Thundercrackers or missed them are more or less happy.

i) Fans who already have Botcon/Henkei Thundercracker start crying and moaning that these KOs exist.
j) Fans who don't already own Thundercracker don't give a rat's behind about the "elite" owners crying.

Corrected that for you.

Funny, I don't recall anyone who had a BotCon Thundercracker ever complaining about what they paid for it. It really was the people who didn't have it complaining about how much it costs and that's why they would not buy the official one.

Found these new pictures:

Knockoff Seekers:



Classic/Bot Seekers:



Henkei Seekers:



Vehicle modes:

It's kitbashin' time!

Thundercracker? Clearly it's my third rainmaker! Haha. Coldfront. >P

You know, someone should write a review of those KO seekers. (It surprises me that no one has found other KO seekers yet)

It Is Him wrote:You know, someone should write a review of those KO seekers. (It surprises me that no one has found other KO seekers yet)

There have been KO Seekers for over a year now. No one cared before because they weren't blue.

There is a white and Burgendy Classic Starscream, as well as 2 different Ramjet redecos out there.

I'll be buying a few of these. I wonder if KOToys will get them in?

They just did today. They want $15 each for them. A bit pricy, but generally a reliable seller.

http://kotoys.com/kotoys.php?id=808&cat ... dercracker

Hmm, how well do you think a KO Ultra Magnus would work with a Fansproject City Commander kit?

You'll never know until you try, but he sure looks identical to the original in size.



http://kotoys.com/kotoys.php?id=813&cat ... tra+Magnus

i might consider getting these! i have a few customs in mind! sunstorm and sandstorm!

i can see the appeal of gettin a ko toy and making it something special to u to each his own but i think ill stick to regular old hasbro stuff lol

I want one of those Ramjets. Add some black and gold paint. Boom! Shattered Glass Dirge!

Wait a minute. Why does the Magnus KO has red Decepticon symbols on him? Is he supposed to be Shattered Glass Nemesis Prime? Great! Now I'm gonna have to buy one of those too!

Scaleface wrote:You'll never know until you try, but he sure looks identical to the original in size.



http://kotoys.com/kotoys.php?id=813&cat ... tra+Magnus

Hmm, looks pretty close. I don't mind buying a KO Magnus if it'll work with City Commander, but buying the CC kit and then having it not work on the KO would be pretty upsetting...

honsetly if I could go buy a hasbro thundercracker I would, But I cannot so there you go. If I can get a knock off of a discontinued toy, well I do not see the harm

kjyl wrote:honsetly if I could go buy a hasbro thundercracker I would, But I cannot so there you go. If I can get a knock off of a discontinued toy, well I do not see the harm

But you can easily get a Hasbro Seeker mold for cheap, why buy a knockoff?