The Energon Pub

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what's the deal with these??

it seems to me with the right Paint applications they could be cool smaller renditions of the G-1 toys, but you build them yourself..

If you have the talent needed to paint them properly, they're great.

Professor Smooth wrote:If you have the talent needed to paint them properly, they're great.

do you by any chance have some that are painted you can show us?? I'd love to see how they turn out..

You can probably find some with a google search. I don't have the talent to paint them properly. The plastic quality is higher than your run-of-the-mill knockoffs, though. If you can find a seller that will combine shipping, you can usually find yourself a pretty good deal.

I love them, and I use Black Gaine pretty frequently. He's a good seller, and his combined shipping means that even getting these over to the UK they're still cheap as chips. The only thing to watch out for with these KOs is that there are two kinds. The larger kits (they're still small compared to the proper toys) come on three sprues, each in a different colour. I've never had a problem with the casting quality on these and the plastic is up to scratch. If you're wanting one of these larger kits then I'd definitely say go KO rather than the $50+ that an original 80s Kabaya in an unassembled state will set you back (asuming that you can find the damned things). The other kind are the smaller kits. Minibots, some of the tapes (not Ravage and Rumble/Frenzy, those two come together as one of the larger kits) and the (roughly) WST scaled kits that come on a single sprue, so one colour, are best avoided. There's moulding imperfections with most of the smaller ones and they're made using a soft, shiny plastic that's a bitch to work with.

I've got my Galvatron in pieces at the moment since I'm in the process of painting him, but don't have any finished ones that I can show you as yet. If you want I can post some size comparison pictures of some unpainted ones to give you an idea of just how big the finished article comes out.

You've reminded me actually, I'll need to be placing another order before too long. The Lio Kaiser kit has just come back into stock and I want a second one to display as individual bots in front of the gestalt. That kit fits in with the WSTs beatifully and unlike the ready built WST LK KO actually has all the right bots rather than replacing one of the jets with a second drill tank.

edit - And here's the comparison shots.

Victory Leo and Victory Sabre (I havn't picked up the Star Sabre kit as yet).


Dreadwind, Darkwing, Hi-Test and Throttle (yes, those powermasters are tiny) these will combine into Dreadwing.


Rodimus Prime with some of the smaller kits, Beachcomber, Tailgate, Powerglide, Seaspray and Steeljaw. Powerglide in particular is a problamatic kit, with all the trimming in the world those arms will never go on properly.


Cassetticons! The Condor mould is another problamtic one. Interesting thing with these is that the cassette mode details are moulded on rather than the stickers on the proper toys.


Trypticon with the (roughly) WST sized Dreadwind, Darkwing, Flywheels, Battletrap, Cutthroat and Rippersnapper(no powermasters or combining abilities in this scale).


Galvatron, Scorponok (no headmaster ability) and Metroplex. These two cityformers can do their mobile alt modes but only an approximation of their static city modes.


Breastforce, and transformed.

Wow!! Waaaaghlord your a cool dude in my book!!! And thanks for the images, it really shows how well they look put togehter, plus they transform.. aYou also answered my other question which was scale, and it seems as if they are all scaled down versions of the G-1 TOYS, OR UPSCALED IF YOU CONSIDER THE CASSETICONS..nice images.. I think I may actually buy them soon.. I mean the toy is a blank canvas and if painted to specs of the G-1 version it would probably loook amazing.. I wonder if Reprolabels will be issuing Kabaya Kit Stickers, basically smaller stickers from the actual G-1 toys??


nevermind they come with stickers!!! cool....

I like these, both as smaller versions of existing characters, and as blank slates to come up with new colour schemes and new characters.
Still haven't got any yet. What's shipping like to the UK?

craggy wrote:I like these, both as smaller versions of existing characters, and as blank slates to come up with new colour schemes and new characters.
Still haven't got any yet. What's shipping like to the UK?

I think only waaaaghlord can answer that since he's there with ya...

but they are very very cheap toys/models none the less.. I may get some of the big names.. especially if they have a Predaking set..

I'd get one if I saw it. I love model kits.

As far as them being smaller versions of the proper toys, that's acurate to a point. They generally follow the same transformation pattern but there are a few simplifications here and there. Galvatron doesn't have the opening battery hatch but is otherwise a scaled down G1 Galvatron, the seperate Star Sabre and Victory Leo kits don't have the combining feature of the full sized versions but there's a Victory Sabre kit (the one that S-2 linked to in his original post and pictured above with Victory Leo) that transforms between combined robot mode and combined jet mode, the Raiden kit doesn't have individual robot modes but four of the trains detatch as their individual train modes, the city bots aren't proper triple changers as they can only do close approximations of their city modes as I mentioned above. Some of them are bang on the money against the transformations of the larger toys, Rodimus, the minibots and the tapes for instance. All in all though they are still cool little representations of G1 characters, some of which would be pretty expensive to get proper versions of (I'm thinking the later Japanese G1s) and make nice little placeholders if nothing else.

As far as shipping to the UK goes Black Gaine has always been pretty reasonable and should be able to sort you out with a quote in advance of placing an order with him. I've always ordered five or more kits at a time though, since they're so small and light the combined shipping really does make all the difference.

Hope that helps folks.

as always wAAAAGHLORD, YOUR a wonderful helping fan...and are much appreciated..

Coincidentally I was just considering picking up the Star Saber, Victory Leo, and Victory Saber kits. Is the plastic strong enough to survive a custom job to make the Star Saber and Victory Leo kits combinable or would the kitbashing process completely destroy them?

While the only knife work that I've done with these personally is cleaning up mould lines and trimming parts to fit on the smaller kits where needed I'd say that you should be fine. Both the Star Sabre and Victory Leo kits are the larger, three sprue variety made from the better plastic, it should cut cleanly without crumbling and I'm 80% certain that a liquid poly cement will pretty solidly bond any pieces that require it (this type of glue works by melting the surface layer of the plastic and fusing it with the plastic of the piece that you're attatching it to, the joint will never be as strong as a piece of plastic cast as a single piece but it will be far less brittle than a joint formed using a superglue or contact adhesive).

Excellent! I just know Victory Leo is going to be a challenge to properly modify though, especially since the Victory Leo kit is a different size than the one in the Victory Saber kit, eliminating the possibility of swapping parts. I'm probably going to get two of each then, just in case it doesn't work. If it does work, and I end up with a fully functioning mini Victory Saber, you can be sure I'll post pics in the kitbash forum.

The Chaos Bringer wrote:Excellent! I just know Victory Leo is going to be a challenge to properly modify though, especially since the Victory Leo kit is a different size than the one in the Victory Saber kit, eliminating the possibility of swapping parts. I'm probably going to get two of each then, just in case it doesn't work. If it does work, and I end up with a fully functioning mini Victory Saber, you can be sure I'll post pics in the kitbash forum.

be sure to document it fully so I can recreate that project, after I do the kitbash of the KO Victory saber toys from the Family Dollar Kos..thanks in advance..

skywarp-2 wrote:

The Chaos Bringer wrote:Excellent! I just know Victory Leo is going to be a challenge to properly modify though, especially since the Victory Leo kit is a different size than the one in the Victory Saber kit, eliminating the possibility of swapping parts. I'm probably going to get two of each then, just in case it doesn't work. If it does work, and I end up with a fully functioning mini Victory Saber, you can be sure I'll post pics in the kitbash forum.

be sure to document it fully so I can recreate that project, after I do the kitbash of the KO Victory saber toys from the Family Dollar Kos..thanks in advance..

Will do!