OK, so Big Lots in Pekin, IL had some gestalt KO's. I always remembered them being a little larger than this, and I'll get confirmation when I can get my G1 stuff from my parents. For reference, they're a tiny bit shorter (less than an inch) than Leader Optimus Prime. I got a Superion, a Devastator, and a Defensor. All three of them are made out of (understandably) cheap plastic. It's very hard and dry-feeling, almost like it's snap like a cracker if it was worked too hard.
I never had Devastator for real, but this guy was a huge pain in the ass to put together...Mix Master and Scrapper plug into this weird black plastic insert thing that's shaped like an inverted Y, then Long Haul's bed plugs onto the top of that with the cab turned 90 degrees so that the bottom part of this U-shaped clip with Devastator's head will plug into the top. Inside that U, you stretch out Hook and bend him around sideways, and then Bonecrusher and Scavenger form the arms. I really like the way that just about every other Gestalt team works with their uniformly-shaped heads plugging onto the feet and into the arm sockets much better. Also, when I was transforming them all to robots, Hook's arm came off the socket, but it was easy enough to fix with a tiny Philips-head screwdriver.
Yes, I know Superion's legs are rotated 180*, but the reason for that is that he leans way forward if you put them so the wings and such are in the back. Really oddly weighted, and I dont' remember the original G1 having that issue. He came with a weapon of some sort but I htink I dropped it between the cushions of the couch and now I can't find it. The armor that goes on Silverbolt has a single peg that should hold it in place (like the G1 IIRC), but the peg is larger than teh hole and thus doesn't quite stay on all the time. He's kinda fragile. Actually, in general, Silverbolt seems pretty fragile, as the leg bots' heads get stuck and I actually pulled one of his feet off in an attempt to get the bot's head out of it. It snapped back in.
By far, the best-constructed gestalt of the three is Defensor. With the exception of First Aid's lower legs, the plastic is plenty thick to offset the cheap feeling. This gestalt, I think, might actually be G1-sized, as I distinctly remember Hot Spot in my tiny little brain being about the size that he is in this thing. I did have a problem getting Hot Spot's head to stay down and Defensor's head to not flip backwards, but it's a very stiff joint and I think that'll fix itself with play.
The only thing that I feel is missing from all of this is that hardly any of the little bots have weapons. Devastator is the exception, as each little truck had something mounted on it to use as a weapon (two drills and some little yellow weapons that today would not pass the 2" rule). Defensor only came with the armor for Hot Spot, the hands and feet, and an Optimus Prime-looking gun. Superion came with the armor, hands and feet, head, and I think a weapon that disappeared. None of the limb bots have any weapons at all.
All of them looked pretty good in the packaging, but the only one that was really adequately constructed was Defensor. Devastator isn't terrible, but wiht all the add-on parts, he's fragile and limbs will fall off. Superion gets an F- because of Silverbolt, but the four limbs aren't terrible. If anybody knows of a GOOD KO Superion, I'd like to buy one, if only to give as a gift. My sister's son is six now, and to the point that he could easily transofrm any of those bots and probably combine Superion and Defensor wihtout any help, though Devastator could be Devastating.
So this post is worthless without pics, right? Well, I made a small webpage for it and
it is located right here.