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16 years ago, that would place this sample in 1998, before bootlegs became commonplace. Weird, normally some stickers were pre-applied, especially on the sides of the trailer.

Eep, looking into it more... You may have a bootleg there. I found a thread over at TFW2005 with a guide to Optimus Prime KO's and all of the signs are there:

1. Extra grey border between the grid of the box and the trailer
2. "Formers" having shifted to between the "R" and "A" of "Trans"
3. Off-center text, "Transforms from..." should be right after a grid line instead of right on it here.
4. And missing stickers... Which is the case here.
6. "Ages. 5 & up" instead of "Ages: 5 & Up"

I'll spare you the other signs, but if you're curious, here's the thread.

Finally, I'm sorry.

Another common sign: those KO's are made with/copied from the French molds originally used by the French company Joustra, who imported the Diaclone and Microman lines into the Benelux. The years come from Japanese copyright law at the time, the first is the original year of Diaclone, the second the year the mold was patented, usually a year before release.

petfid wrote:So would you say this one I have is unique in some way ???

It does bear the novelty of being one of the first true fakes, but that's it. That's the only silver lining to this piece, aside from it being a nice conversation starter