The Energon Pub

[mechajol]

Finally, the last bootleg I got last night.

Except for a more maroon color, I'd say this bootleg looks pretty faithful to the original...


Out of the pack, Hotrod's flimsiness becomes evident...


I've never owned a targetmaster, so I'm not sure if the Nebulon is upsized or the same size as the original. It looks bigger than my old powermaster figure, that's for sure...




ROBOT MODE



Loose joints, and flimsy build, plus brittle plastic. Take real good care of this fragile bootleg, if you get one.

And for some unknown reason, the bootleggers decided not to give poor Hotrod his elevator boots...


Hotrod comes with a whole set of guns, with only the red one fitting well in his fists.


Quality issues aside, the robot mode looks good and decent.

CAR MODE





From all angles, this alt mode looks cool. Also, it's more solid than the robot mode.

Word of warning, though, the brittle plastic makes it a chore to transform between modes. Particularly the chest/head/front hood parts.

The Nebulon weapon only fits in the engine.



ROBOT OR CAR MODE?

I'd go for car mode. Although with some work, the robot mode will be cool, too.


RECOMMENDATIONS

I'd still say that BL Hotrod is a good buy. Just be careful transforming him since the plastic seems to fragile. Buy another one and customize it into Menasor! Like bootleg Soundblaster, this also needs a few more tweaks to tighten the joints.

Not that bad, and slightly good. But with its cheap price, why not pick one up?

[Valandar]

Just a comment, the extra gun that came with Bootleg Bootstrap Perceptor looks like one of the two guns that came with Hot Rod originally (pre-Targetmaster)...

http://www.tfu.info/1986/Autobot/HotRod/hotrod.htm

[mechajol]

oooh! the plot thickens!

[ZoneDaiatlas]

Hey Mechajol... Where did you get the KO's at and how much did it cost you? Also good find and thanks for sharing your find to us!

[zemper]

mechajol, where did you get your KOs? Quiapo or Baclaran?

[mechajol]

Marikina. My home city. Pretty rare to come across such good bootlegs in my area, so I don't post much.

[It Is Him]

This thread is amazing. Answered all of my questions without having to ask one.

Thank you!

[Bonger]

This thread is amazing. Answered all of my questions without having to ask one.

Thank you!

No, no, thank you for taking the time to read the thread rather than making another post asking a qyestion asked 10 times before. Wish more new, and old members were like you.

[andynsm]

finally opened up the KO Red Defensor so here's a pic to share with you guys...



A

[mechajol]

cool! an all fire department defensor!

the bootlegs here only have the firetruck in red

[ZoneDaiatlas]

Marikina. My home city. Pretty rare to come across such good bootlegs in my area, so I don't post much.

Marikina? Is that by Makati City around the Metro Manila area? Also have you been to "Greattoys.net" shop they have at a local mall in Makati? They sell quite a few KO's there and that is where I got KO Predaking at...

[ZoneDaiatlas]

Found more KO's for everyone to enjoy...


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0145130068


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0153175261


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0146621333
($50 is too much for this KO. I paid $25 for mine)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0144801984


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0162560979

[zemper]

Marikina. My home city. Pretty rare to come across such good bootlegs in my area, so I don't post much.

sweet. here in iloilo there are no good KOs to find. sure, the local Robinsons mall sells a few costing below Php100.00, but i never came across something that has quality like your 'ceptor and soundwave KOs.

Marikina. My home city. Pretty rare to come across such good bootlegs in my area, so I don't post much.

Marikina? Is that by Makati City around the Metro Manila area? Also have you been to "Greattoys.net" shop they have at a local mall in Makati? They sell quite a few KO's there and that is where my Fiancee bought my Predaking KO at...

Great Toys is one good TF shop here in the Philippines, though as i live in the mid-south islands i have no idea where their specific branch locations may be. some of the figures they sell are pretty expensive, but if we pinoys are looking for rare figs, even KOs, they're the place to be short of going online and scouting on eBay.

they're online @ http://www.greattoys.net, they also have an ebay account.

[JHand]

Bought a TF knockoff Monday. I'm not sure, but it probably was a gray-colored Cadillac, Saleen or a Saleen-mod Cadillac that transforms similarlly to Cybertron Minicon Oval. His legs are very fragile, however (fall off with little shaking). Thinking about dubbing him as a gray Sideswipe (on the grounds that TF Armada has a blue Sideswipe). Some photos of him follow.
Any ideas?

[craggy]

wow, bootleg Perceptor looks like a pretty cool purchase! digging the gene simmons boots he and Soundblaster are sporting.

the red Defensor looks like a Hate Plague variant. I read someone had an all-white version too, anyone have both so we can get some crazy mix&match pics?

[Scaleface]

Knockoff Nikes!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIKE-Free-7-0-Trans ... dZViewItem

[Wes Crayon]

ok, heres a question. you know how big lots has the 6 dollar sets with 4 figures in it? the animal one and the dino one? has anyone bought the dinosaur one?

I've got that set! It's um... interesting. I like it since I run a website that reviews all sorts of random wacky things, but I'm honestly not sure how others would feel about it. That auction ZoneDaiatlas posted --

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0069208286

-- is for one of the dinos in the set (though that one appears to have different stickers and a slightly better paint job: the one I have doesn't have a chrome head), so you can probably look at him and know whether you want to get it or not.

If anyone who has the G1 Dinobots picks this set up, btw, I'd be VERY interested in seeing comparison pics. I know that these bootlegs are original -- or at least aren't directly based on the G1 toys -- but I'd be interested in seeing how similar they are in terms of articulation and transformation.

Anyway, back to the knockoffs, this one looks great:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRANSFORMERS-LASER- ... dZViewItem

I not only like its look better than the original, but also think it is superior to pretty much all of the movie Optimi.

And thanks for the reviews, mechajol!

[Scaleface]

Someone at Knockoff TF Inc. is getting smart. First the Getaway redeco to look like movie Bumblebee. Now we get a redeco of G2 Laser Optimus Prime that looks like movie Optimus!

http://cgi.ebay.com/TRANSFORMERS-LASER- ... dZViewItem

Love the name too... "Super Changes Collect Them All Robots". The box art features movie Optimus, Cybertron Optimus and Cybertron Wing Saber.

[mechajol]

whoah! getaway redeco? can you post some pics?

those bootlegs look cool! i hope they turn out in our pegs. all i see here are WST gestalts

[mechajol]

Marikina. My home city. Pretty rare to come across such good bootlegs in my area, so I don't post much.

Marikina? Is that by Makati City around the Metro Manila area? Also have you been to "Greattoys.net" shop they have at a local mall in Makati? They sell quite a few KO's there and that is where my Fiancee bought my Predaking KO at...

nope. but i work in makati. i've been to the greattoys shop, great stuff they got there. i think they're selling some bootleg G1 primes that are more expensive than the encore

[mechajol]

and speaking of bootlegs from great toys...




Yeah! Bootleg gen1 tape robots!!! Got these a few months ago from the greattoys shop. They had a bucket full of these tapes!

The bootlegs come in 2 sizes, the small versions (which, according to my friend, is the G1 size), and the big versions (which are upsized, but slightly smaller than the real cassettes).

And guess how much I scored these! Around 1$ for all 5!!! Of course, I got the small versions because I was planning to pose these along side the Classics toys.


TAPE MODE



The quality of the plastic used is a bit on the brittle side. Typical bootleg plastic. In tape mode, the structure is a bit convincing, except for the fact that some of the limbs are a bit loose.

In tape mode, the structure is still solid enough. All robots are marked "6 in 1" and painted only on the Side A part.

The paint does a good job of disguising these (sometimes even better than the original). Turn these over on the unpainted part, and it becomes obvious. Bootleg robots look like actual bootleg tapes!


ROBOT MODE



For Rumble/Frenzy, the robot mode is nice. The arms have surprisingly good articulation, and the loose limbs can be tightened on the screws. Except for the painted tape label, no other paint is applied, so the facial features aren't clear.

Also, it is interesting to note that while these guys have the Frenzy/Rumble body, they have the Rewind/Eject head. And yeah, I know, the legs are transformed backwards. But the feet are placed in the wrong direction. I fixed these already.



Okay, all of the robots have no Autobot/Decepticon markings whatsoever, so unless you're familiar with them, you'll be lost.

Also, there are no weapons or accessories included.

For Ramhorn, the rhino, this toy has the most loose limbs. When you dig in greattoys' bootleg tape bucket, be sure to choose the robots with the tight limbs. The short legs make limited poses.



Ravage and Steeljaw are great. Both have tight leg joints, with only the paws a bit loose.


ROBOT OR TAPE?

I'll go with either modes. The tape mode is really cool, and even deceiving specially if you have someone who's not familiar with these things anymore.

The robot modes are also fun, specially Frenzy/Rumble/Rewind/Eject.



PROS:
- great buy
- good cassette modes

CONS:
- brittle plastic
- wrong assembly of some parts
- loose joints in some parts


RECOMMENDATION:

If you could grab one, grab one! I preferred to purchase the smaller versions because I want to display these with the Classics TF toys.

Also, be very careful when transforming these bootlegs, and expect to do a little bit of adjusting/tweaking here and there.

As for customziing, why not? But honestly, I'm not even sure if I want to repaint these to their G1 colors. I mean, old cassette tapes are colored the same way, right?

[Scaleface]

whoah! getaway redeco? can you post some pics?

those bootlegs look cool! i hope they turn out in our pegs. all i see here are WST gestalts

Getaway redecoed as Movie Bumblebee:

[mechajol]

nice! gotta keep my eyes peeled for one of those! i used to have a getaway when i was a kid!

btw, the car's roof which turns into the chest. it should be able to turn around. The windshield should be pointing downwards

and the gray "feet" should be folded out to form real feet

[It Is Him]

This thread is amazing. Answered all of my questions without having to ask one.

Thank you!

No, no, thank you for taking the time to read the thread rather than making another post asking a qyestion asked 10 times before. Wish more new, and old members were like you.

[bows with gratitude]

In that case... it might make sense to recap some of the finds. And speaking as an experienced lurker, rummaging through 40 pages is brutal. Not that this thread didn't house an incredible wealth of information, but an FAQ (or a link to one) would be helpful.

[waaaaghlord]

This thread is amazing. Answered all of my questions without having to ask one.

Thank you!

No, no, thank you for taking the time to read the thread rather than making another post asking a qyestion asked 10 times before. Wish more new, and old members were like you.

[bows with gratitude]

In that case... it might make sense to recap some of the finds. And speaking as an experienced lurker, rummaging through 40 pages is brutal. Not that this thread didn't house an incredible wealth of information, but an FAQ (or a link to one) would be helpful.

Is it time to suggest a KO forum? Every new find getting it's own thread? The kitbash stuff all started out as a single thread when AK started posting his BT bashes and this place certainly seems to be getting a lot of traffic lately.