KO US Boxed Slag and Sludge to be Released on Oct-18th...

i_amtrunks wrote:Front Paged and Credited. Thankyou very much for the info Zeds. Hope not too many people get burned by these figures thinking that they are true originals.

My pleasure as always to help the fandom. Some want these but most want them honestly and it described as a repro in the auction :grin:

saintsfan1983 wrote:whats the quality of the KO Swoop? I always wanted one as a kid but damn parents always said no.

The only really big difference is the beak, the KO has a clear plastic beak which looks a little naff close up but on display with the other dinobots he fits in nicely.

The other issue is the missile launcher not fitting in which seems to be universal.

Overall depends what your disposable income is, i was happy to waste my money on a KO as it looks nice and ill replace when i find a realy one in good condition.

with all this ko garbage coming out and such, does this mean that it's less and less likely we'll ever get a true takara reissue mirage, wheeljack, or the dinobots?

Sledge wrote:Because they sold the factory before reissuing G1 became big business?

Perhaps, but to allow their molds to slip away still seems retarded.

As Kimmer mentioned, it is unfortunate that we can never look forward to an official reissue of Mirage, Wheeljack or the Dinobots.

Is there a list of all the molds lost through this sale?
Could Hasbro conceivably get these molds back?

Too bad for them. I already got said Dinobots over two months ago. Only Swoop evades my grasp and I know better than to go for the KO's. I'll settle for a 20 year-old one in good condition, even if it means forking over a little extra.

It would be a pass anyway, and the price mark only confirms it!

Kimmer wrote:with all this ko garbage coming out and such, does this mean that it's less and less likely we'll ever get a true takara reissue mirage, wheeljack, or the dinobots?

I would think so, especially given that they don't have the moulds.

I'd also like to see some authentic reissues of the various combiner gestalts, but given how widely knocked off they are, it seems unlikely.

If they're as expensive as Swoop was, I won't bother. What? Some KOs are decent quality, like Laserbeak & Frenzy. Other than that, I don't think these interest me much.......

The purchased factory stuff is nonsense. The knock-offs are being made from donor toys. A while ago we saw pictures of an original Wheeljack they were going to reproduce. And now he's coming out soon. They don't have original molds, all modes are "re-engineered".

The boxes are re-designed. That's why the Mirage K-O box is slightly different from the original, as the art doesn't fit the box entirely on the K-O version.

The quality of the knock-off Swoop is not good at all, he can't even stand up straight; he topples over. Let alone the missile carrier which doesn't fit. The only reason one could buy it is to keep it mint in sealed box, because apart from the tape size and quality of the box material (it's more "shiny") it looks like the real deal.

Kimmer wrote:with all this ko garbage coming out and such, does this mean that it's less and less likely we'll ever get a true takara reissue mirage, wheeljack, or the dinobots?

Mirage and Wheeljack were NEVER going to be re-released by Takara. Wheeljack is covered in Lancia and Alitalia stickers, to which Takara lost the rights ages ago. Mirage has big honkin' Citanes stickers everywhere, and it's even in his paint aps. on the side of the car.

Takara was willing to change some minor stickers on Jazz (Martini Porsche was replaced by Agent Meister) and Bluestreak (Fairlady Z was replaced by Streak) but they couldn't re-issue Wheeljack and Mirage because of all the licences on them. Same goes for the huge "Countach" sticker on Sunstreaker.

Obviously, the K-O guys couldn't be bothered by rights, so the molds Takara let us miss out on are the first the K-O guys ar going to release. Sunstreaker is next after Wheeljack.

The K-O cars are worth their money, btw. As long as you keep them mint in box, they certainly provide a sufficient "blast from the past".

Kimmer wrote:with all this ko garbage coming out and such, does this mean that it's less and less likely we'll ever get a true takara reissue mirage, wheeljack, or the dinobots?

I doubt we ever would have.Takara and Hasbro doesnt owen any molds for those figures that arent damaged beyond repair.These KO molds were found or remade by others and are now being used by these KO pro's.

In a way, should all just be happy that the mold does exist "somewhere" out there, even if it is the hands of KO makers. After all, not all companies save their toy molds... many toy molds are destroyed after a period of time has passed...

I'm still confused about this "lost mold" thing. So they lost the Dinobot molds after G2? Isn't that a little weird- since the DInobot Reissues were so sought after?

And if the KO people can re-engineer molds, then why can't Takara/Hasbro?

And when will Trypticon get a re-release? (jk)

SoooTrypticon wrote:And if the KO people can re-engineer molds, then why can't Takara/Hasbro?

They can, and they did. With Soundwave.

SoooTrypticon wrote:I'm still confused about this "lost mold" thing. So they lost the Dinobot molds after G2? Isn't that a little weird- since the DInobot Reissues were so sought after?

And if the KO people can re-engineer molds, then why can't Takara/Hasbro?

And when will Trypticon get a re-release? (jk)

As a whole G2 didnt do that well at the time it was released so It would have looked like a waste of money to put a lot of money into preserving and safe guarding the molds.

Takara can but has desided not to sighting that it would cost them more then they can make in a fixed price market.Un-like the KO that go to on-line selleres and are sold at really high prices at first, Takara would be expected to sell them at prices close to the other reissues of the type.

Trypticon was reissued as part of the Japanese Beast Wars toyline with just a small remold.

Hans wrote:

SoooTrypticon wrote:And if the KO people can re-engineer molds, then why can't Takara/Hasbro?

They can, and they did. With Soundwave.

Thats not a fair comparason...........the Soundwave reissues are made from the Soundblaster mold witch is a "re-engineer" mold of Soundwave but was made in 1987.Thats 20 years ago and the re-engineering isnt all that large of a retooling.The changes were minor.And they still had a largly intact mold of the original to make it from.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Thats not a fair comparason...........the Soundwave reissues are made from the Soundblaster mold witch is a "re-engineer" mold of Soundwave but was made in 1987.Thats 20 years ago and the re-engineering isnt all that large of a retooling.The changes were minor.And they still had a largly intact mold of the original to make it from.

Geeeezzzz.... how many times do we have to explain this one?? Soundblaster had nothing to do with it. The original Takara mold for Soundwave from 1985 was exactly the same as the one that got re-issued. It was different from the Cassette-Man and US Tranformers versions from the 80's!!

The only thing they did for Soundblaster was change the clear cassette-door, so that it expanded and fitted two cassettes. That's all. The mold was still lost apparently, that includes the legs, arms, head etc, all of which were used for all variants of Soundwave/Soundblaster.

Look at the door hinges in this original 1985 Japanese Soundwave:

Hans wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Thats not a fair comparason...........the Soundwave reissues are made from the Soundblaster mold witch is a "re-engineer" mold of Soundwave but was made in 1987.Thats 20 years ago and the re-engineering isnt all that large of a retooling.The changes were minor.And they still had a largly intact mold of the original to make it from.

Geeeezzzz.... how many times do we have to explain this one?? Soundblaster had nothing to do with it. The original Takara mold for Soundwave from 1985 was exactly the same as the one that got re-issued. It was different from the Cassette-Man and US Tranformers versions from the 80's!!

The only thing they did for Soundblaster was change the clear cassette-door, so that it expanded and fitted two cassettes. That's all. The mold was still lost apparently, that includes the legs, arms, head etc, all of which were used for all variants of Soundwave/Soundblaster.

Look at the door hinges in this original 1985 Japanese Soundwave:

I'm not sure about that pic..it looks more like a reissue with the box looking so good its almost perfect.......but they did more then change the door for soundblaster.Every Soundwave I have ever seen from the early 80's mold had the rewind and fast foward buttons as sepreat buttons.But the Soundblaster and all the reissues have them as one big mold pease....I'll post some pics ....

and more

You can check for yourself here........
http://www.microforever.com/MC10cassetteman.htm

Dude, this discussion has been done millions of times before. The pic I showed is no re-issue.

Like I said, Cassette-Man and US Soundwave were identical where the door is concerned, the Japanese version in 1985 was different. Period.

Hans wrote:Dude, this discussion has been done millions of times before. The pic I showed is no re-issue.

Like I said, Cassette-Man and US Soundwave were identical where the door is concerned, the Japanese version in 1985 was different. Period.

You may be right about the Japanese 85 figure.......Do you have any clearer pics of the buttons?????Because the reissues and Soundblaster had different buttons.And if what you say about the 85 is right that only meens that the remolded the figure 2 years earlyer then I originaly stated.I thought it was done for the Soundblaster mold.

Here's another one. These pictures were taken before 2002. I believe the very first Soundwave re-issue was on sale in 2003. I may be wrong on that one though.

This exact same discussion was pretty popular at the time. I believe Ryan himself only found out after he made a big collage about this being a Soundblaster retool... only to find out afterwards that it was an exact re-issue of the original Japanese version from the 80's.

The US version of Soundwave was available in Japan as well though. In the VSY Giftset most notably.

Hans wrote:Here's another one. These pictures were taken before 2002. I believe the very first Soundwave re-issue was on sale in 2003. I may be wrong on that one though.

Thank you........I do think there was a reissue back in the late 98 or 99.I remember seeing one or two of them in China Town in NYC but it could have been a real good KO so dont quote me.Anyway like I said before it looks like they remolded the rewoind and fast foward buttons 2 years earlyer then I thought.

As per my post these have been released in CHINA:

SLUDGE:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FTransformers-Reissu%20...%20dZViewItem%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

SLAG:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FTransformers-Reissu%20...%20dZViewItem%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

Thats ALOT of money for a KO , I want them but they would have to come down quite a bit.

MegatronBomb wrote:Thats ALOT of money for a KO :shock: , I want them but they would have to come down quite a bit.

I agree. Swoop has come down in price since it was released. It is now in the $50-65 range:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?siteid=0&pub=5574891718&campid=5336631220&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2FSWOOP-Generation-1-%20...%20dZViewItem%3C%2Fa%3E%3F

I would wait a bit if you want these two.