Buyer beware: KO Menasor

It still amazes me to no end that Hasbro and Takara aren't jumping onto these "re-issues" with all the recent combiner love we're getting from various sources like the PCCs, Movie Devastator, Superion and Bruticus. Sure they'd probably need to reverse engineer a couple older degraded molds but still... And they'd get the chance to secure 6 names (7 with the Constructicons) at once. Combiners are great play value and have great potential as reissue/repaint fodder, too. Just look at RiD Ruination.

I almost forgot to ask...whats the going price on a set like this ???

Relic Dinobot wrote:It still amazes me to no end that Hasbro and Takara aren't jumping onto these "re-issues" with all the recent combiner love we're getting from various sources like the PCCs, Movie Devastator, Superion and Bruticus. Sure they'd probably need to reverse engineer a couple older degraded molds but still... And they'd get the chance to secure 6 names (7 with the Constructicons) at once. Combiners are great play value and have great potential as reissue/repaint fodder, too. Just look at RiD Ruination.

they'd rather make ugly ass bayverse toys

If it has the launcher, he's so mine. I'd turn him into an Autobot for Metroplex...that is, if I had the repainting skills.

That common KO set not only has 2 Technobots, it's all plastic, and the rub symbols are fake (the are just solid black squares of sticker! they don't have heat-sensitive material!). Some early versions had normal Decepticon and Autobot symbols, but later versions changed it to been weird generic faction labels (I think the actually wanted to move away from using copywritten symbols!) It has all Motormaster's assessories, but none of the accessories for the other robots. It does feature a working launcher for Motormaster. Also, the box for the common KO is EASILY not a real Hasbro/Takara item.

As you can see here, the earlier Chinese release has better stickers with real factions. Later version for US release had faction symbols changed or remove.





They also made a mini-version of that KO, where the combined size is about that of a large Deluxe, and the individual robots are a bit bigger than a WST toy:

Zeds wrote:The only con would be supporting the KO marketplace

thats the BIG CON, supporting the KO marketplace is asking to get burned the next time you want to purchase an authentic hasbro or takara G1 mold.

every serious collector knows what a pain in the ass it is to buy a cyclonus, mirage, any of the dinobots or devastator (to name a few) because they have been reproduced outside of hasbro at lesser quality. I hate that I am well versed in how to spot the fakes, but it is almost essential if you want a full G1 collection.

KO manufacturers should NOT be supported. Everyone cries foul over scalpers (remember movie bb?) but its cool to make KOs? To me, a transformer display with KOs as cheap stand ins is not a transformers display.

krayziejones wrote:ko toys suck and should be shut down. i cant believe you guys wanna support that crap. get a job and buy the real stuff so you can be proud when you look at your collection. instead your looking at your collection thinking, i have a shelf full of crap. if you guys wanna pretend to have a quality collection, go ahead cause i cant stop you.

If it makes you feel better, to me KO's are good for only one thing: kitbashing.

Newsflash, I have a job and I do what I damn well please with my money. Or you can keep crying a river over things that won't change and be completely ineffectual in the process.

I personally see plenty of reasons someone might buy a KO instead of the real thing. Fair enough if you don't want to, but if the option is there its good, IMO.

As to a G1 collection of 100% authentic toys being "better" than one full of Knock-offs? Really? You're discussing how much "better" you are than someone else because you've paid a hell of a lot more for slightly higher quality plastic (and occassionally metal) toys?

People might be buying KOs to give to their kids to play with, and can't/won't spend hundreds of dollars for something that's not unlikely to get broken regardless of how high the standards are. People might have jobs, but have other expenditure that takes precedence over buying back childhood memories. The KOs might be for kitbashes. What people do with their money might not be all that important to someone who's so clearly "better" than them?

edit: I don't think it's all that difficult to tell the KOs from the real thing either. Certainly there's a few examples that prove otherwise, but most packaged examples are quite different. If Hasbro/Takara want to stop these guys, then that's their right, as its those companies the KO sellers are theoretically stealing money from.

look, do what you wanna do with your money. you're right, i shouldn't worry about it. me personally, i will never buy knock offs because i like quality. im not trying to come across like i'm better than anyone cause i spend money on originals. i do think i was a little harsh in my last comment but i still think ko toys suck.