The Energon Pub

Much mo betta

Fo sho!!

It just feels right.

Neeeeeeeeeeeeet

Yessssssssssss

At least it wasn’t a comment about Dr. “Eggman” Robotnik!!

itscramtastic wrote::lol:

At least it wasn’t a comment about Dr. “Eggman” Robotnik!!

wrong death egg, but I'm feeling ya

Yup

Got my KO MP Sideswipe in and it happens to be a pretty good copy. For those keeping track this one came from Ali and I think is a newer variant? The box is 100% identical to the official except for the lack of the holographic Lamborghini logo. The eyes are of the pointy variety (like the official) opposed to the more squared KOs, best my old eyes can tell the Lamborghini and Countach are spelled correctly and he comes with a white rifle.



I did have two fixable "major" flaws. First the legs were flipped (easy fix) and the up/down head swivel is super lose so his head falls back and he is always looking up (temp fixed with some bits of paper to hold it in place until I feel like floor polishing it) and a few "minor" flaws with some fixable some not. The most obvious are the not matching reds of the alt-mode panels, slight hood dimples (which are present in the official G2 version, just less prevalent) and some annoying piss poor panel line-up. A little fiddling makes a pretty good alt-mode. I did have to trim a tiny bit of flash between the back of the car so the legs would fully tab. The codpiece also won't fold away properly, so no rolling this guy around. The good news is that I almost never display my figures in alt-mode.







The other issues are either moving bits and joints either being too tight or too loose. Mostly the windows that fold behind the back are scary tight and his left shoulder swivel and right knew are looser than I'd like, but hasn't hindered poses yet. The chest to waist tab was tight, but with repeated tabbing it's working just fine. I do have to come in at a tilted angle, but then lowering the back pulls it all together just fine.






And there's no way I could end this without some ketchup and mustard Lambros



Overall I'm very satisfied with my copy of KO MP Sideswipe and he looks great on the MP shelf.

You may have noticed the air quotes... let's circle back to that in a bit






He even comes with the flight stand and does the derp flying car mode (which I dig the **** out of).


M, M, M, MASK... amiright?

I'd never claim to be an expert on anything Transformers, especially KOs, but I did my research on both KO Sideswipe and Tracks. Sideswipe exceeded my expectations (especially after Cobotron's bad experience) but even though Tracks is absolutely exceptional in every way and possibly flawless, he still disappointed me in unexpected ways. What's that you say? Everything I read said that the KO Tracks had rubber tires and the hood alignment was fixed. Well guess what, mine has neither. The tires are as plastic as the official and the hood does't quite line up as good as I feel it should.

So other the the plastic tires, something else immediately grabbed my attention. It's a little slip that I've seen packed in with pretty much all my Takara Tomy TFs. I'm guessing it's some kind of promotional material or proof of purchase or collector point or warning? I guess I could give google translate a shot, but anyway it's the little B&W piece of paper on the right.


Blaster, some board game piece and the ..... plug (not pictured) are included as well.

I'm sure you've all seen this in at least one of your Takara TFs before. So after I found plastic wheels and that slip of paper I became very suspicious of what I had in my hands and started over analyzing everything. I also found that some people on the KO Tracks thread over at TFW also feel they were sent something other than what they actually ordered.

Moving on. My box says Takara Tomy and has all the official branding (unlike the Takasa Tony ones), the images on the box are very sharp and vivid (unlike KO SS), the collectors card and instructions feel thicker and of higher quality than KO SS and match the quality of my other Tak MPs. Even the side mirrors were packed in their own baggie unlike the Takasa Tony version. All the joints (including the knees) are very tight however...

I searched youtube unboxing vids, the interwebz and even looked at siebs very own gallery and this has only muddied the waters even more. I don't know, take a look and see what you think.




I'm calling it a newer more 1:1 KO and moving on. EDIT: actually after really looking at the seibertron gallery I'm pretty certain it's a KO, but a damn good one

Unfortunately this is my first experience with the 'Vette mold so I don't have anything to compare it to. I am however very pleased with this figure/mold. It's such a tiny almost Generations deluxe/voyager sized alt-mode that turns into a tall slender MP sized bot. It's fun to transform and looks great in both modes and like I said, flawless (inherent mold issues aside). I may even order the Road Rage version (cause red Corvette) and I really hope a Loud Pedal version comes out

Well, if you're happy that's all that matters

Nemswipe looks pretty badass!

shajaki wrote:Well, if you're happy that's all that matters

Truer words have never been spoken. Now if only more people would come to that same conclusion we'd all be a lot happier.

Nemswipe looks pretty badass!

Because he is totally bad ass

YOu know, at one point, Traxxx sold so poorly you could pick him up for around $32-34 buxxx. About the same price as a KO. (or maybe that was Road Rage) Maybe the Ali seller just threw all the Traxxxxes in the same bin.

Or maybe the KOs are so good, the seller couldn't tell the dif!

I'm very relieved you had a better experience with Side Swipe that I did.

I was actually talking about price v quality with Mrs theone.

IIRC Road Rage was down to $30ish around the time of the last BotCon and I think I remember Tracks may have gotten down to $45ish. But don't quote me on that.

Sideswipe is pretty dang good for a cheap KO and Tracks is an absolute masterpiece. Everything lines up perfectly except for the hood and it's just barely off. I found that if I wedge it just right the front sits well with the back just popped at like an induction hood. So works for me

Nice nice nice! Glad you actually are having a good KO experience! I had KO MPM5 for a bit, sold him, long story there that gave me headaches.

But you are correct, there was a time that RR was $30ish and Tracks was $40ish. Really nice vette modes, I really should have got one at the time!

Nemswipe still looks BO$$

I need to roll the KO dice and see where I end up. I’m also calling your Tracks a factory second. KOs never come with that Takara promo slip!!

itscramtastic wrote:I need to roll the KO dice and see where I end up. I’m also calling your Tracks a factory second. KOs never come with that Takara promo slip!!

Yeah, that was the biggest red flag.

How **** up is it that I'm disappointed that I may have gotten an official figure?

#thingsonlyacollectorunderstands


Roll them dice buddy Cobotron and I used the same Ali listing/seller. Cheaper than TF-Direct and ships free. Took close to 3 weeks to arrive though

I'm all over Loud Pedal when he becomes a thing.

HA! I just literally came up from the basement, where I was inspecting the box and paper work of Traxxx!

Dude, I really think you got a real deal. The slip of paper is identicle, and there is no halo-sticker. Just the printed GM logo.
Also, the embossed production number. I feel like that's a tell also. I don't think you usually see those on the KOs.

And as a collector, I #don'tgetwhyyou'dbedisapointed.

Cobotron wrote:HA! I just literally came up from the basement, where I was inspecting the box and paper work of Traxxx!

Dude, I really think you got a real deal. The slip of paper is identicle, and there is no halo-sticker. Just the printed GM logo.
Also, the embossed production number. I feel like that's a tell also. I don't think you usually see those on the KOs.

And as a collector, I #don'tgetwhyyou'dbedisapointed.

My Sideswipe has an imprint and no halosticker.

I wanted rubber tires

He's dope beans and I don't get why all the fanbabies™ whine about that mold.

carytheone wrote:

Cobotron wrote:HA! I just literally came up from the basement, where I was inspecting the box and paper work of Traxxx!

Dude, I really think you got a real deal. The slip of paper is identicle, and there is no halo-sticker. Just the printed GM logo.
Also, the embossed production number. I feel like that's a tell also. I don't think you usually see those on the KOs.

And as a collector, I #don'tgetwhyyou'dbedisapointed.

My Sideswipe has an imprint and no halosticker.

I wanted rubber tires

He's dope beans and I don't get why all the fanbabies™ whine about that mold.

Well slap my pickle and call me Sally! I just double checked my KO boxes, and Sipe has the embossed code, and Prowl does not.

Also while in the basement, none of my Datsuns had halo-stickers. I didn't check Lambo variants. I'll look again when I go down to get the laundry out of the dryer.

I dunno man, I guess we'll just have to leave it at, you got a dope figure that you like.

Yeah, the lambos have halofoil stickers, I don't think the Datsuns or Lancia use them, they use other things like that printed GM on the vettes. IIRC the Lancia sticker is weird double layered see through or something?

I'm calling it a dope figure and if I were to sell it I'd sell it as a KO with a beatered ass box.

Dudes. Totes legit. Another giveaway is the WAY the batch is imprinted. The KOs seem to be more legible, the officials seem softer, the punch of it that is.

Also, I only complain about Road Rage not tanning properly in the shoulders. It’s lame. Otherwise, gorgeous!

itscramtastic wrote:Also, I only complain about Road Rage not tanning properly in the shoulders. It’s lame. Otherwise, gorgeous!

Well that's a valid complaint. It's not working as designed.

You think it's legit? I wanna think it's just round two of the KOs. Kinda how TFD sometimes is out of the Takasa Tony (CP) versions but has the others (MP).

So a little over a month after it was first reported this jerk finally showed up at a local Ross. Actually the one I bought was the second one I found (hidden in the pink toy section(thorough I am, yes)). The first one was opened, half mis-transformed, a shoulder pad broken off, big ass scuff in the hood and missing the instructions.


Cross-eyed looking bug/bird face, but he has pupils

So I dig him with his premium paint job. I've always felt the Lockdown mold was fun to transform and looked good in alt-mode, but the bot is a dumpy ugly claw hand nightmare. So I was stoked when I saw Hot Rod was going to be using that mold, but of course the bastard never showed up at normal retail. Well that's $11 saved assholes



Alt-mode is is where this boi really shines.






Bot mode is no slouch either.




"How am I supposed to use this damned thing?"

The extensive retooling this figure has undergone is amazing. But ultimately they are so goddamn the same toy. Internally, only the underpinning "skeleton" and shoulder pad mounts are reused.



It's really quite amazing what they pulled off while correcting some of the shortcomings of the original mode and improving others. Literally every visual part of this figure was remolded, even the hood swivels. But... it's like time ran out when they got to the shins and feet and they said "**** it, just paint 'em!"



Ironically, unlike Lockdown, Hot Rod does not like the way his **** smells





OH look, it's Optimus coming to welcome the new recruit.


Scale, we don't need no stinking scale...


...oh wait, maybe we do?


Optimus Prime: ...and remember young warrior, freedom is the right of all sentient beings...
Hot Rod: What ever old man!


Hot Rod uses Megatron, it was super effective!



Wait, wasn't Hot Rod supposed to be a Wal-Mart exclusive?