No metal parts? What are they thinking?

OT: When are we gonna get our Wheeljack and Sunstreaker KOs?

 

$55 is far better that $100+ for a ko, i might get this and use the box for my loose devy and display the ko instead.

 

Geek for the score and win...lol.

seriously, though, i have only been a Devy fan in appearances only- his combining sucks, it is way too easy to break apart (if they made a gnat sized insecticon, he'd take Devy down, I swear) and i had a cold sweat nightmare several times while assembling him and then putting him on the shelf and backing away like i just saw the Pope.

if replacing the metal would add a 10 or 20 percent improvement to his assembly being easier, tighter, then god bless 'em. and i will kneecap a rival mobster for 'em (kidding) for keeping it under 60 bucks retail.

one other question- i hope that they fix the springs in the hand/wrist assembly- my G1 Devy shoots his fist off like my sister's mouth, without warning or reason.
they fix that, then what's there not to like about this new KO?

last of my 2 cents, what is the big argument over KO's anyway? if the QC is crap, spread the word, and avoid. if the quality is ok or meets a minor need or price range, then go for it.
it ain't like debating over the pros and cons of DDT use in a California field...so why the civil war? this is why cybertron was at war ya know- KOs walking into vintage only Energon bars and stuff....just silly to me.

and hey, where the heck are youse guys getting these massive 2x, 3x gestalts from? are they juiced or something?

peace.

 

Now, this I might consider buying. Finally something in a reasonable price range.
Guess I'll wait and see how the QC is on this thing.

 

Nice! Now, if only Zhong Jin would stop using Hasbro and Takara markings as well...

 

I think (g1) Devastator was my first dissapoinment (and scale issue) with TFs as a young'un. When I first saw them on the cartoon, I thought each Constructicon would be the same size as the Autobot cars, if not larger. After I collected all those surprisingly small guys and built Devastator, One of the first things out of my mouth was "He's shorter than Shockwave!"  

Like they always say, 'there's no such thing as scale in TFs'

 

I've always thought that anyone who lists Devastator as their favorite figure never put one together. I've only assembled him a fcouple of times. (I bought one of those cheap Walgreen KOs last year for those moments when I get the urge to take him apart and put him back together again.) I think they learned what not to do with gestalts when they made him.

 

 

Point of clarification: Does that mean the box will still look like G1 (as in the image at the top of the thread), but not have the 80s-style Hasbro logo on it? (I ask because the Transformer logo itself is a "Hasbro marking," and indeed was probably one of the items that caused Hasbro to crack down on these a short while ago--although you'll certainly know more about that than I do.)

Indeed, if that IS the case (G1-esque, but no logo that says "Hasbro" on it), even if Hasbro isn't satisfied, I certainly am. The best of both worlds.



Now, for the thread in general: I'm not bothered by the existence of these KOs, per se, but I do have to wonder "why do the Constructicons?" These are among the most-often-done KOs out there already. Even assuming that these differ substantively in quality from the other KOs, why not do something that most of us don't already have in some form or another? I just can't see how they can justify an extra $50 (as good as that may be compared to other quality KOs) when we can get something so similar for just $5. I mean, just how many differences and improvements can there be to justify spending $50 more?

 

Well if it is tighter joints than the walgreens POS set that wants to break when you look at it cross-eyed or try to transform it and if it holds together semi-decent ( the G1 one never held together that awesome anyway) then it will be probably worth it....six g1 style bots for $55 is not too bad....

 

I might bite on this, depending on Spencer's in-hand assessment. If it's as nice as my KO tapes I got from you last year, you have a sale.

I always liked how the fiction backed up the look and feel of the toy, how these were six dudes Megatron Frankensteined together and they are a unwieldy, clamoring but nigh unstoppable force that's barely sane. And how the combining process was refined with each subsequent gestalt until you had smooth, well-integrated hunter-killers like Predaking and Pirahnacon. Just like the characters, the combiner toys themselves got better as G1 went on.

 

I'm going to buck the trend here...as a kid I absolutely LOVED Devs ( aside from the fact that his vehicle modes were WAY too small ). I found them @ the stores one and two at a time so there was always that antici-  



-pation of getting the next one. And you gotta love the way they combine...so UNIQUE...not like the generic combinations that followed (aerialbots, stunticons, etc ) Don't get me wrong I loved them too.

I'd pick up this KO if for no other reason than to display it in its box. (I can still remember the day so long ago when I decided I didnt want to keep the boxes anymore so I cut out the box-art, taped it on my wall & threw the rest of the box out...'sigh') 

And as someone asked before...where can you find these 2x, 3x sized combiners?

 

Ebay. and there isn't one of Devy.

 

Dammit. We need an oversized KO of Devastar, badly!

 

i may have just locked one up with a little luck

 

It feels like the new trend in KO's apparent value is not so much the quality of the figure or the mold but the G1-esque MISB box. I think they have found that the appeal and desire goes way up when in trying to appear as vintage G1 opposed to the exact same figure on a bubble-card named "Buildertron Roboteam." I mean, Why do metal parts when a large number of your customers are never going to open them?

Which is why Hasbro has had to actually do something. They bit the hand that fed them.

 

Most of the combiner molds are lost to time... Unless Takara wants to foot the bill of recasting molds from a mint set of Constructicons... it'll never happen, since the original Takara molds for the Constructicons were pretty much worn out after the G-2 molds were done and thus destroyed.

This is also the reason why were not getting any of the combiners besides possibly Bruticus, The Seacons, Dinoking, and Abominus later on in the encore line. (as they are the only surviving Combiner molds)

I know Takara has recasted parts for the TFC/Reissue line over a few years ago, but they haven't as of yet recasted an entire mold.

 

According to Jordan Derber, he read something that said the reason Takara never did a Devastator reissue is because of all the knockoff Devastators that Kidi Toys flooded the market with around 2000. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but it's an interesting thought.

 

If a market is flooded with a similar but cheaper alternative with reasonable quality, releasing your product is a bad business decision, that is basic economics. So it is not absurd to believe that would be the motivation, especially with the G1 repro boxes we are seeing with the newer KOs.

Personally I like the Bookshelf Reissues because they can display in common areas without being overwhelmingly tacky.

 

I'm inclined to agree. But that makes me wonder how it is that Ages 3 and Up, the group (unfairly, I don't dispute) singled out for Hasbro's attention, is selling these now.

 

Dinoking and Abominus are still surviving (And the others aren't)? Where does this info come from?