The Energon Pub

hey guys, I have been collecting G1 reissues lately, which has been great as long as they are the official Hasbro or Takara reissues.

Now I have my eyes on a few pieces that just look fishy to me, they arent official reissues and I was hoping some of you could give me some information on them.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Transformers-G1-Reis ... dZViewItem

this seller has a lot of molds that look similiar.

I have found collecting G1 pieces outside of the official reissues to be somewhat intimidating, so any help is appreciated.

Knockoff, the price is the first hint.

go for generation 1 lots becuase u save so much money that way and its just better sometimes the toys arent complete but its better than spending so much money

the money isnt the major concern, quality is.

Other than a vintage one, an official Beachcomber isnt available correct?

Easy to spot KOs are one thing, but if I hadnt been collecting as long as I have, I could have been fooled by these KOs.

How can they package the molds almost exactly like a real TF? How are they not sued over copyright issues. I have seen KOs with names like Transoids and the like, but this one CLEARLY states Transformers. It also displays words like Autobot and Beachcomber, how do they get away with this?

Again, any info is appreciated.

Sid Burn wrote:How can they package the molds almost exactly like a real TF? How are they not sued over copyright issues. I have seen KOs with names like Transoids and the like, but this one CLEARLY states Transformers. It also displays words like Autobot and Beachcomber, how do they get away with this?

Again, any info is appreciated.

Same reason ther are "Oakley" sunglasses in Mexico, and "ipods" coming out of china. A lot of the countries don't really care about enforcing copyrights (probably even promote theft of it). Don't know if this is the exact case with the Transformers KO's, but I would guess that it is for a lot of them.

They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

And no matter how nice they look in the box, 95% of the time, the KOs are made of inferior plastic, There are very few that are of equivalent quality. Just a friendly warning.

Bonger wrote:

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

And no matter how nice they look in the box, 95% of the time, the KOs are made of inferior plastic, There are very few that are of equivalent quality. Just a friendly warning.

That is even more so as the vintage toys themselves have underwent wear and tear. This passes over to the remakes as well. Added with inferior plastic, the remakes are worse.

Bonger wrote:

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

And no matter how nice they look in the box, 95% of the time, the KOs are made of inferior plastic, There are very few that are of equivalent quality. Just a friendly warning.

KOs are really inferior. Correct.

But these original-wannabees, with all the original-look packagings, and proper Transformers logo and text, are good quality. If i'm not mistaken, almost same quality with reissues.

I've seen them. The toy shop have to tell me that they are china pirate copies. Otherwise, they look very real.

Auto Bot wrote:

Bonger wrote:

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

And no matter how nice they look in the box, 95% of the time, the KOs are made of inferior plastic, There are very few that are of equivalent quality. Just a friendly warning.

KOs are really inferior. Correct.

But these original-wannabees, with all the original-look packagings, and proper Transformers logo and text, are good quality. If i'm not mistaken, almost same quality with reissues.

I've seen them. The toy shop have to tell me that they are china pirate copies. Otherwise, they look very real.

They do look exactly the same. But the plastic used is still of a slightly lower quality. More brittle.

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:

Bonger wrote:

Den-O wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:They can get away with it. No questions about that.

For me, they're as good as the originals. There are probably the same companies that Hasbro tapped to produced their toys. Only, that they overproduced some and drop them out thru the back door.

The only difference is that, they're not "official". Hence, cheaper.

And another way is remakes..... Reverse engineering a vintage original toy to replicate it.

And no matter how nice they look in the box, 95% of the time, the KOs are made of inferior plastic, There are very few that are of equivalent quality. Just a friendly warning.

KOs are really inferior. Correct.

But these original-wannabees, with all the original-look packagings, and proper Transformers logo and text, are good quality. If i'm not mistaken, almost same quality with reissues.

I've seen them. The toy shop have to tell me that they are china pirate copies. Otherwise, they look very real.

They do look exactly the same. But the plastic used is still of a slightly lower quality. More brittle.

I can testofy to that. I do have a weakness for interesting KO repaints, sooo....well, unfortunately they are not quite up to par.