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:

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?

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.

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.

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".

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...

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

They can, and they did. With Soundwave.

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.

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 ....

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