The Energon Pub

[lanzajr26]

During my off years from Transformer collecting I completely missed many of the reissues, with the exception of the Takara book releases. However, there's one G1 figure left that has eluded me (see the grail thread) and that's Mirage. I have all of his other incarnations save for G1, and I never even had him as a kid.

However, in trying to snag one on eBay I keep coming across these auctions featuring KO Reissues or KO Remakes. What exactly are these? They say unofficial release so are these just very well done knockoffs? If so why are they so damn expensive? Mirage seems to be one of those figures that won't see an Encore or reissue due to whatver reasons (trademark, lost molds, etc) so it seems like this may be an expensive aquisition.

Any advice or insight into these KO toys is appreciated!

[Burn]

Why are they expensive? Because they're rip-offs. Plain and simple. Rip-off merchants cashing in on TF popularity.

Quality wise they can be what you expect from a KO. Definitely no where near as good as the original.

It is killing the G1 collecting fad as there's still a few hard to find figures I need myself but have to be careful they're not KO's.

And I don't care what anyone says, KO's are only good for kitbashing, don't even try to convince me they're acceptable replacements.

[Bed Bugs]

Why are they expensive? Because they're rip-offs. Plain and simple. Rip-off merchants cashing in on TF popularity.

Quality wise they can be what you expect from a KO. Definitely no where near as good as the original.

It is killing the G1 collecting fad as there's still a few hard to find figures I need myself but have to be careful they're not KO's.

And I don't care what anyone says, KO's are only good for kitbashing, don't even try to convince me they're acceptable replacements.

I don't consider them replacements, more like placeholders. Until you get the real deal, they hold that spot so you can appropriately budget your shelf space. Then, after you get the authentic item, throw away or sell the KO, or in Burn's case, kitbash it.

[Overcracker]

I've always wondered about those, Why exactly can the makers of these make them and Hasbro can't? It can;t be because of the mould. if the makers have a mould, Hasbro can surely make one.

I'm leaning towards the rights holding of either the name or the sponsor stickers on them.

That is they either don't have the name, or don't have the approval by the sponsors that appear on the decals. In which case they could just release it without the stickers or with other stickers.

[lanzajr26]

Why are they expensive? Because they're rip-offs. Plain and simple. Rip-off merchants cashing in on TF popularity.

Quality wise they can be what you expect from a KO. Definitely no where near as good as the original.

It is killing the G1 collecting fad as there's still a few hard to find figures I need myself but have to be careful they're not KO's.

And I don't care what anyone says, KO's are only good for kitbashing, don't even try to convince me they're acceptable replacements.

I don't consider them replacements, more like placeholders. Until you get the real deal, they hold that spot so you can appropriately budget your shelf space. Then, after you get the authentic item, throw away or sell the KO, or in Burn's case, kitbash it.

At $99 and up, I don't think I could afford to throw it away. And apparently people are paying for them. I personally wouldn't own anything like that, obvious KO's are one thing like the Devastator and Superion ones for $10, but this is a totally different beast. I can see Burn's point on how these might be killing the G1 market, how do you tell the difference?

I'd be curious to see one of these Mirages in person but he'd never share a shelf with my other authentic G1's. Maybe this is where rub symbols come in handy

[Bed Bugs]

Well, it it's damn near $100.00, you sell it, duh!

Any other Big Lots KO's are placeholders, Cannon Fodder, and Kitbash bases.

[Burn]

I don't consider them replacements, more like placeholders. Until you get the real deal, they hold that spot so you can appropriately budget your shelf space.

Normally I disagree with you for the sake of it, but this time I really do disagree.

Collecting KO's are fine, just store 'em on a seperate shelf. Don't mix 'em up with the real deal.

What irks me the most though is that if people are buying these things and trying to pass them off as the genuine thing in their collection. Have some respect for your collection!

One of my "grails" is Swoop. Suffice to say since this reissue came out a genuine one has been harder to find. I was watching an auction a few weeks ago, Swoop was complete and damn near perfect. No box or instructions though. He was being sold as an original and it very well may have been but I couldn't take that chance considering it looked like he was fresh out of a box.

So instead I went with a Swoop that has a broken beak and a couple of weapons. I intend to repair the beak and then chase down the weapons and complete my Swoop that way. It's more fun too.

As for using KO's for kitbashing, sometimes they're not even good for that because the plastic and joints are that crappy.