The Energon Pub

At BotCon 2007 we learned that the original G1 Dinobot molds had sadly been lost. This news has since increased the demand for the original Dinobots. Soon collectors are going to have to be careful. The makers of the knock off Mirage are now putting together knock offs of Dinobots Slag and Sludge. You can see knock off Slag and Sludge here and here. To get all the toy news that is important to you, check out the Seibertron.com Toy Section.

Hmmm.....will these be accepted by the people that can't afford the originals? Only time will tell......

What kind of quality will they be? Did anyone get the KO Swoop? Was it any good? I saw auctions going for $90+. Is it really worth that? Would these be worth that?

I don't know but with paitence, one would be able to find the origs. eventually.

There is a seller on eBay that is trying to sell a KO Sludge as an original. Asking about $400 US. He is known to sell KOs. Buyers beware. KO G1 Devastator gift set, Mirage and Wheeljack are also known to be coming out soon.

DJDrew&ScoobyDoo wrote:What kind of quality will they be? Did anyone get the KO Swoop? Was it any good? I saw auctions going for $90+. Is it really worth that? Would these be worth that?

I don't know but with paitence, one would be able to find the origs. eventually.

It is alright. Better kept displayed MISB. One rocket attachment never properly fit into the wing. The chrome was not well applied and some joints were loose. Well done KO though. Could fool the novice. Price have since dropped to around $50-70 US.

On one hand I like the service of some of the KO's but it is making it harder and harder to tell what is real and what is a KO as these guys get better at.

Hotrod wrote:On one hand I like the service of some of the KO's but it is making it harder and harder to tell what is real and what is a KO as these guys get better at.

I totally agree. At least with the G1 OP KO you could tell from the box that it was a KO with that aweful fold line on the back. With the more recent ones I would have to say that the marketplace may need to go the way of the AFA'ed figures that have had the proper inspections done to them. Trouble is that even they might get fooled since they are getting better at it.

I already have 2 slags from G2 but i do need a sludge. If the price is right i may have to get Sludge.

I still have my Slag lying around somewhere in storage. I would like to get my hands on that Sludge though.

I just bought a TRU reissue OP for 98.00 on ebay and ive seen the newer KO sell for more than I paid for a real one. I wonder if these people know they are fake.

Bjjer wrote:I just bought a TRU reissue OP for 98.00 on ebay and ive seen the newer KO sell for more than I paid for a real one. I wonder if these people know they are fake.

This is my point exactly. I recently corresponded with a nwebie eBay seller who was trying to sell the G1 KO OP on eBay as the real deal. I PM'ed her and explained that it was a KO and she said she knew that and that she was just trying to get her money back as someone else sold it to her in the same manner. Sad state of affairs when honest people are taken advantage of by these releases. It really clouds the marketplace as well.

This is why I only buy G1 MISB CANADIAN TFs as they have not been KO'ed and they can be trusted.

I'd rather just spend the $ and get some G1 dinobots

Some of these KOs are getting real good. Of course as a purist, I wanna have Takara/Hasbro product. But I'm just saying, I have all the G1 DinoBots who are mostlu in good shape, but still I don't wanna realy toy with because I know their value.

But these look dam good, and I wouldn't mind sendeng them as avatars to The Front.

And even if I didn't have the DinoBots already, if the cost is right, I'd get them as filler till I got something official.

Hasbro has just been ripping us off with repaints and Takara is alot to import. On that note, if you collect to resell, these may not be for you.

But if you collect to enjoy, I can see these being worthwhile!

yay more garbage for me to sort through when trying to find a quality g1...

'scuse the language but ... assholes.

This is frustrating. By the looks of these they look like really good knockoffs. So my question is this. Are these reversed engineered? If so why can't Hasbro or Takomy do the same? If they can't then i'll just have to get me some ko's. I would much rather get it from either of the two company's mentioned above.

These will be fairly easy to tell... No metal on the chests.

It is my understanding from what I've been told by some sources that while these are what we would consider to be knock offs, the stickers, the paperwork, the boxes and the figures are coming from a huge factory in China that was recently purchased. The reason Hasbro and Takara couldn't make reissues of this stuff was because it was long lost at a factory that had been closed down or sold off long ago. With the recent purchase of this factory, all of this stuff was recently rediscovered, hence why there's a surge of the exact products that Hasbro and Takara claim were lost.

This is the same factory that is putting out all of the G1 reproduction stickers that are being passed off as the legit thing. Some of the stickers are great, some of them are not.

Buyer beward indeed.

I have several sources via eBay that have told me basically the same story about where the reproduction stickers and "knock off" Transformers are coming from. I've heard it enough times from various people and seen the absence of these same products as reissues (minus Laserbeak and Buzzsaw) that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

I'm so glad I have the original G1 Dinobots.

Seibertron wrote:It is my understanding from what I've been told by some sources that while these are what we would consider to be knock offs, the stickers, the paperwork, the boxes and the figures are coming from a huge factory in China that was recently purchased. The reason Hasbro and Takara couldn't make reissues of this stuff was because it was long lost at a factory that had been closed down or sold off long ago. With the recent purchase of this factory, all of this stuff was recently rediscovered, hence why there's a surge of the exact products that Hasbro and Takara claim were lost.

This is the same factory that is putting out all of the G1 reproduction stickers that are being passed off as the legit thing. Some of the stickers are great, some of them are not.

Buyer beward indeed.

I have several sources via eBay that have told me basically the same story about where the reproduction stickers and "knock off" Transformers are coming from. I've heard it enough times from various people and seen the absence of these same products as reissues (minus Laserbeak and Buzzsaw) that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

eh, people didnt believe me when i said this when the swoop ko emerged...maybe you will have better luck.

I have all but one dinobot, and I wanted to buy Swoop in april, but those idiot Knock-off makers put up that "chinese reissue" than, and that discouraged me from buying it from e-bay.

I like KOs that are scaled up or down (1/2 Fortress Maximus, 2x Topspin,...), or in funky colors (like the disco Nautilator) they are actually funny, but exact KOs, made so, that they can be misused in wrong hands to fool customers, are simply wrong, and if I were in Hasbro/Takaras place, I would hunt the chinese idiots down.

most KO I have come across have a lack of diecast metal and have plastic instead. will these be the same?
or are these KO makers also giving them the metal pieces?

i hope these are better quality than swoop.

Senor Hugo wrote:I'm so glad I have the original G1 Dinobots.

Here too. Thank God.

Seibertron wrote:It is my understanding from what I've been told by some sources that while these are what we would consider to be knock offs, the stickers, the paperwork, the boxes and the figures are coming from a huge factory in China that was recently purchased. The reason Hasbro and Takara couldn't make reissues of this stuff was because it was long lost at a factory that had been closed down or sold off long ago. With the recent purchase of this factory, all of this stuff was recently rediscovered, hence why there's a surge of the exact products that Hasbro and Takara claim were lost.

This is the same factory that is putting out all of the G1 reproduction stickers that are being passed off as the legit thing. Some of the stickers are great, some of them are not.

Buyer beward indeed.

I have several sources via eBay that have told me basically the same story about where the reproduction stickers and "knock off" Transformers are coming from. I've heard it enough times from various people and seen the absence of these same products as reissues (minus Laserbeak and Buzzsaw) that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

Totally interesting story. This must have been that factory that did all those Classic TFs from the 90s in gold packaging I guess. All the original G1s were made in Japan as it states on the original figures.