A little less tricky but depends on what condition you want and how much you're willing to pay. They can get pretty pricey sometimes. Probably shouldn't say anything since you're technically the competition but hey if you beat me to that deal it is what it is I guess. That and it's not too difficult, as long as you go the money to burn and/or have low standard (quality/condition wise). They pop on eBay in more frequency. In varying condition from loose to boxed. They also pop up in rarer frequency here on forums. Saw a set of the ones I have last time I went to Botcon. I got the two I have from some guy here on forums. A bit later saw the same set in same general condition at this last year's Botcon for same price I paid. Guy said he had the other two in set but sold em a year or two back for same price. They do cost quite a bit much considering how small they are. That and sometimes people ask way too much for them. Then again thats how much they may have paid for them. Basically you gotta keep an eye out for them, understand worth and how much you willing to pay for them, have the money ready, and be able to jump on them the moment you see them.
But yeah I'd like to advise that some KO's of all 4 are supposed to be coming out soon. From WIP pics they look to be decent. Should be lot cheaper than paying however much for the originals. I'll probably settle for those in meantime and just keep looking for originals at a fair price/decent elsewhere. Link to forum topic below. They haven't announced the preorder date as of yet but guessing should be soon. Hope info helps.
If you happen to have any further questions just pm me and I'll help answer as best I can. Happy to help a fellow collector in whatever way I can. Happy hunting.

https://www.kotoys.com/forum/index.php/topic,1715.0.html
sidenote: you may have to register to see pics. they're kinda all over place througout thread

 

thanks i will keep my eyes out for real ones but might get them out of box or something like that as it will probably be cheaper and i realy just want the cassettes as i am collecting cassettes at the moment lets hope we can find the ones we need. 

 

Added new pic. And for anyone interested created following doc: Definitive TF Cassette List

Provides list of all known cassettes with some general identifiers. Looking for any experts to look over list. Let me know if you got any recommendations or you see any needed additions to list. Thanks.

 

holy crap nuggets batman!!  

 

Added a few pics. Collection has grown a but since. And started collecting Soundwave variants since. Got most of the hard ones with the exception of Microchange and IGA variants.

 

Awesome collection! Good stuff.

 

holy bejeezus--them there are a lot of cassettes!! I agree, you need a Soundwave of Holding! And here I thought I was doing pretty good with my couple dozen cassettes of various colors and whatnot. (you can see them in various places on my Buckets o bots display thread, but they are spread out on a few shelves, not put all together like that!)

love the sea turtle. he have a name?

bucket

 

Sea Turtle supposed to be called Terrorpin. That's what the customizer named him. And Viporclaw for the other one. But yeah just skimmed though your collection as well. Saw all those multicolor seekers. Pretty cool. But yeah pretty wide collection you got there. Would take up a decent sized room. Props

 

terrorpin--->win! love it.

bucket

 

Very cool collection.

 

very nice collection, cassettes are some of my favorite figures

 

Your collection rocks. I thought I would inquire about this, as it seems the album is missing:

Also, what is your source for all of your cassette cases?

 

cool collection!! love the case for the cassetes.

 

I can't see the pics (link doesn't work anymore) but I'd presume the more expensive route is the English KO micros sets, but since G1 cassettes are scaled perfectly to (actual) micro-cassettes, cases for those would probably be easy to get.

 

You actually may be right on either account. Micro cassette cases may be a bit harder to come by than one may think, though. Hopefully, mellowmut can chime in here and give a definitive answer, though.

 

I did a quick look on ebay. Maybe the cases on their own are harder to get, but if you don't mind buying the tapes too then it would be ok. They aren't bargain basement, apparently, they seem to still have a use in today's world.

The english Micros KOs are definately not as easy to come by than the micro-cassettes.

 

Where did you get the custom Ramhorn and Steeljaw?

 

wow sir, very nice. I need a sundor for my collection  

 

Appreciate the kinds words. Always feels nice to know others appreciate as much and/or more than me. Don't think I missed any questions, but if I did apologies

You have to click on the link to view the catalog. Not sure if you need a google account to view but would assume unnecessary. You might have to zoom out or scroll right to view all the columns. And might be 2 pages depending on how you sort (306 and counting). All really depends what you consider a variant. Some might be a little questionable but try to be neutral or thorough or whatever you want to call it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvdB2930F9i-dDRnSldEV05JbDZKNFJRM3o3T3FCNGc

Regarding cassette cases. Its kind of hard getting all Takara original cases. With that said I think a large brunt of the collection (atleast half, maybe a little more) is probably in Takara cases. They come in the various reissues and whatnot. Gotten lucky a few times and been able to get some lots of them.
Some are the KO ones (small number maybe 10-20) that came with the Micros, usually came across those mostly when I aquired one of the KO Micros/TransitorRobot cassettes. Basically if it came with a case I probably have it in that same one it originally came in (I say this for the 3rd party ones like BTS and Igear).
Some are the more recent clear KO ones that KOToys made (those Zhong Kin translucent/recent KOs generally only fit in these along with Classics Ravage). Maybe 30-50 of these.
The rest I grabbed some regular real Microcassette cases and broke off the tabs and used those until I can replace someday. Maybe its another 50-60 of these. Never really took a count of them all so all these are just guesstimates.

*updated 12/3/12. Didn't count the totals but do seem I'm in need of atleast 25 Takara and 16 KO cases. That's given I put vintage and legit reissues in Takara cases. And any KOs in KO cases

I uploaded the pics directly to the boards so not really sure what happened there. If anyone needs or desires clearer pics just PM an email address and what they needed.
But yeah they're all worth about the same across the board. Its just some work finding people that have some that are willing to let go of. Think alot of people dont really care about them. Otherwise you have to nickle and dime em. Don't really have too much hope in replacing all the legit ones but given enough time and vigilance and a dash of luck maybe

I'd think the clear KO ones that came with the Micros cassettes might be a bit harder to get since less of them out there. But they sell for the same basic value I think. Too many reissues and encore releases come with the cassettes to make them rare and/or hard to find.

They're not really customs more like a limited run. 30 of the Steeljaw made and 100 of the Ramhorn made. You can see the link below. He might still have Ramhorns. Steeljaws long since sold out but you might be able to get lucky. I know one just sold on eBay a week or two back, as a set with Ramhorn. The link should be near the end of the thread.
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...cussion/634220-erh0204-ramhorn-etf-ready.html