Warrning: Is your Encore Metroplex a KO?

Craven Knight wrote:The TFSource folks seem pretty straight up to me, I can't imagine that they'd try and swindle someone - they are an established online store and a bad rep would destroy them.

However I have to say that they did have KO Metroplex and Metrotitan for sale before the Encore version was out - is it possible an inexperienced staff member grabbed one of the KOs that was in storage not realising is was a KO?

I dunno, but I'll be giving my Metro the beady when I get home.

Dead Metal wrote:They must have not noticed that those were KOs, remember that rumour we had a while ago as Encore Metroplex was announced that we would be seeing the rest of the KO Metroplexes in Encore boxes?
Well this is what happened, TF Source ordered a shipment of Encore Metroplex and received KOs in Encore packaging instead.

torgo1 wrote:hmmm...
Mine bears the "H2208" mark of the beast but doesn't have the lines around it. My eyes aren't keen enough to tell if there is any yellow overlay on the grid, but all the TakaraTomy labels look good. I opened mine to check and it does have the rivets on the wheels. I never had Metroplex, were his legs kind of loose where they snapped together up near the knee?

Chaoslock wrote:At this time, I hope through the retailers, Takara can trace the kos back to its source, and with the Encores being its big hit, sue the hell out of the manufacturers...

D-340 wrote:Wow, this is crazy. Normally, I don't mind KOs when they are obviously marketed as such,i.e. Generic Walgreens and Big Lots 'formers, but this is over the line. These KOs are made with the purpose of fooling the collector into thinking it's the real deal, and that's wrong. Hopefully it all gets sorted out.

Stormrider wrote:Good job finding this story. There was a lot of chatter on ACToys last month about a KO Metroplex hitting China, but I couldn't decipher what they were exactly talking about. A lot of the Chinese members were very upset that their Encore Metroplex was a KO. It looks like foreign retailers got affected too.

This sucks. I'm one of the folks that purchased it from TFSource. Even though I live in Japan and could have purchase it easily from here - I chose TFSource because of their reliability and because I wanted the figure shipped to my address in America. I trusted their packaging and shipping. Unfortunately, I won't be returning to the U.S. until next June, so I can't check the contents until then.

I shot TFSource and email. I hope that this will get resolved well. I wonder how many other online retailers got affected.

I hate KO to no end, especially the ones that try to pawn themselves off as the real thing. They destroy collectors confidence. Takara needs to get their act together and stop these imposters.

drfeelgood81083 wrote:And on that note I brought my omega and sky lynx out of hiding (both from tfsource) and I don't see any of the same "tell tale" signs listed for metroplex on my sky lynx. However, Omega does seem to have the issue with the cross hatching having some yellow and gray mixing only on the front and not the back like the picture shows. Does anyone else have this issue? I am about to haul out the whole encore collection and see what I can find...

outsider wrote::sad: sad sad day. My Metroplex is also a fake. Mine came from BBTS just a few weeks ago to be a xmas gift, but sure enough ko. hopefully they can do something about this.

starfish wrote:It was inevitable really, technologies are progressing at such a rate that these things are getting harder and harder to tell apart from the real deal.

But how did these KO people get enough capital together to be able to afford to build hundreds of fake Metroplexes? That's right, from the profits they have gained from selling other KOs.

Some posters have stated that they don't mind KO's so much, as long as it's easy to determine if they are real or fake.

I'm sorry, but that's out of line.

ALL KO's are highly illegal and immoral, however they're packaged. And if anyone on here has ever bought a KO, willingly or otherwise, then they are only serving to line the pockets of the criminals who make these things.

So some people on here would be willing to buy a KO Fort Max?

Shame on you, because that's the kind of attitude that helped to create this mess in the first place.

D-340 wrote:

starfish wrote:It was inevitable really, technologies are progressing at such a rate that these things are getting harder and harder to tell apart from the real deal.

But how did these KO people get enough capital together to be able to afford to build hundreds of fake Metroplexes? That's right, from the profits they have gained from selling other KOs.

Some posters have stated that they don't mind KO's so much, as long as it's easy to determine if they are real or fake.

I'm sorry, but that's out of line.

ALL KO's are highly illegal and immoral, however they're packaged. And if anyone on here has ever bought a KO, willingly or otherwise, then they are only serving to line the pockets of the criminals who make these things.

So some people on here would be willing to buy a KO Fort Max?

Shame on you, because that's the kind of attitude that helped to create this mess in the first place.

Whoa slow done there, son. Who are you to say that about other collectors? Would I buy a KO Fort Max, hell yeah I would, but I also have already plunked down a few hundred to get the original. As I have with all the other KOs I got, I already spent money on the originals. So don't you run around passing judgment on myself or any other collector who happens to like picking up a KO here and there. That said, however the KOs I purchased were obviously KOs, this type of situation I disagree with.

torgo1 wrote:hmmm...
Mine bears the "H2208" mark of the beast but doesn't have the lines around it. My eyes aren't keen enough to tell if there is any yellow overlay on the grid, but all the TakaraTomy labels look good. I opened mine to check and it does have the rivets on the wheels. I never had Metroplex, were his legs kind of loose where they snapped together up near the knee?

*Update - December 23, 2008: Sweet! I just got a reply from TFSource:

"Hi ___________,

We unfortunately didn’t receive any email on Saturday, but we’ve been having email issues all week. Sorry to hear about the Metroplex, please see the below.

No problem and we do apologize for the KO product being shipped, as our policy is never to misrepresent any items to our customers. We rarely carry any KO’s, but if we do we always clearly label them as such. To support our holiday sale we actually ordered from 4 suppliers, of which one shipped the KO’s. Fortunately we were able to catch this after shipping less than 10% of orders with the KO product. We have filed a claim against the seller, as well as contacted Takara/Tomy with his name and address, as well as website, to report him for selling counterfeit products, as well as misrepresenting goods to customers as we have email communication stating that this was legitimate Takara/Tomy product.

At our cost, we also have purchased twice the amount of KO’s shipped out, to fill any claims, from a legitimate supplier. So by all means please send your purchase back no questions asked, and we will send a replacement as well as refund shipping for the inconvenience. Normally we are good at identifying this product but the information regarding the counterfeit wasn’t readily available and we also receive so many orders during the holiday, we really weren’t looking for it, so it is our oversight. Apologies for the unfortunate situation, and the address for mailing your KO Metroplex back is below.

___________
___________
___________
___________

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Curt"

I'm very glad that they are taking care of this issue immediately and to the best of their abilities. And yes, TFSource is still AAA+ in my books.