The Energon Pub

by **SN95 Cobra R** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:25 pm

I've been looking at buying a city commander kit and I keep coming across KO versions. The boxes look the same as the Fans Project boxes. So let me get this straight....people are making KO's of a KO? Or are people selling these just calling Fans Project stuff KO because the are 3rd party, and not just a boot leg. Does this question make any sense?

News Credits: 1014 · by **First Gen** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:41 pm

SN95 Cobra R wrote:I've been looking at buying a city commander kit and I keep coming across KO versions. The boxes look the same as the Fans Project boxes. So let me get this straight....people are making KO's of a KO? Or are people selling these just calling Fans Project stuff KO because the are 3rd party, and not just a boot leg. Does this question make any sense?

The definition of a KO is the duplication of an original property. In FansProjects case, them made original pieces that resembled official products, to a degree anyway. The original FP City Commander was a superb piece that fit well with the Classics OP mold. The KO is not as smooth and poor quality plastic from reviews Ive seen.

The reason some call FP products KO's is cause the products themselves infringe on intellectual properties owned by HASBRO. The line is kind of grey as they completely rename their products to differentiate them from the original HASBRO products.

In the end, its about what you want and what you want to have. I had the CC and loved it. Was forced to sell as I was in a tight spot but its worth the cash you'd drop on it, if you can get it for under 200 that is.

by **SN95 Cobra R** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:44 pm

I've never bought 3rd party stuff but I do agree they look great on certain things. So to be careful and kinda to reanswer my question, there are people knocking off, from box to product, the City Commander item?

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 9:54 pm

SN95 Cobra R wrote:I've never bought 3rd party stuff but I do agree they look great on certain things. So to be careful and kinda to reanswer my question, there are people knocking off, from box to product, the City Commander item?

https://kotoys.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_86_91&products_id=51&zenid=858a6c1fe82d983fa5741f7a5f057dfb

http://acestoystore.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=124

I would think just the sound of a KO from a Ko from an original product should be avoided. Im not one to say that Ko stuff is crap, I own quite a bit of it and some of it's really nice. However though any KO of the fansproject CC,SC,DIA or PC should be avoided. They suffer from poor manufacturing and heaps of Cq issues. peices not fitting, poor paint aps you name it and they suffer from it. I've been lucky enough to grab all 4 variations of this set first hand( all for less than $150 I might add :))

My best advice..and this is coming from someone who LOVES fansproject..Only buy the real thing..Buying a Ko of any of those sets will ruin it for you..The city commander set is truly a masterpeice!

News Credits: 3 · by **DISCHARGE** » Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:22 pm

SN95 Cobra R wrote:I've never bought 3rd party stuff but I do agree they look great on certain things. So to be careful and kinda to reanswer my question, there are people knocking off, from box to product, the City Commander item?

Yes, there are actual KO of 3rd party kits of City Commander. If you want the real thing, but price is a factor, buy the DIA kit. I haven't looked in a while,but it was the cheapest one to get and is the same as the City, Shadow and Powered Commander kits, only in different colors.

There are galleries here if you want to check them out http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... ducts/126/

Like korisifu on Facebook · by **korisifu** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:34 pm

Has anyone seen one for sale recently? I just got the Rodimus one and love it. The Magnus one looks so amazing and would look great with my other classics if I could just find it. Everywhere I look has it sold out, did find a guy on crave with just the classics mangos (-the city commander set) but that's as close as I've come.

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:30 pm

korisifu wrote:Has anyone seen one for sale recently? I just got the Rodimus one and love it. The Magnus one looks so amazing and would look great with my other classics if I could just find it. Everywhere I look has it sold out, did find a guy on crave with just the classics mangos (-the city commander set) but that's as close as I've come.

Sadly unless fansproject does another run of these sets, your best bet will be eBay.When i say best bet I mean you will find them there but the price will be atrocious. These sets sold out fast and when I say fast I mean fast. Keep an eye on bigbadtoystore.com's vintage department. Sometimes people will sell parts of their collection to them and they sell it as a vintage item but they go just as fast.

Like korisifu on Facebook · by **korisifu** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:39 pm

Thanks, I have to agree that it's a totally awesome piece but not worth making someone else's car payment for them

by **NTESHFT** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:03 pm

Tell me about it. The Nemesis trailer set is going for what $250-@300 right now? Should have bought that one when ti first came out, myself.

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:40 pm

Another route is Botcon. I found a dealer at botcon in 2010 who had 3 for sale. he was asking $200 but I managed to talk him down to $120( I know Im good

) I have all 4 variations of the set and I cannot reccomend them enough.. Took me a few years to get it all though...

My best advice is to buy fansproject stuff when it come out (especially new molds) the price for release greatly outweighs the frustration later on..