I am sure it is costing them a significant price to make these... KOs are not always cheap unless they are made in huge quantities like regular toys. And being targeted at collectors they are probably limiting the run and increasing the cost...

So a KO at Family Dollar that is made in 40,000 numbers is going to be infinitely cheaper than a KO focused at collectors made in 3,000 numbers.

 

Well thankfully they keep screwing up the boxes so that when the "nice guys" who tells us these are counterfeits become the scumbag sellers who pass them off as real, we can at least tell the difference. Where the Devastator figure "bleeds" into the windows on Hook, Longhaul, and Mixmaster the window border is supposed to be gray not purple. Of course, I can't really tell on the figures, but on the Longhaul it looks like some orange color in front of the rear wheel, which of course there isn't orange on the originals.

 

I think you're just seeing a reflection/shadow in the chrome. Also, I'm getting a bit tired of these "reproductions," because it's all too easy for people to get duped into spending a lot of money for something with no real value. If you just want a Devastator facsimile for display purposes and you know it's not legit, that's fine and you should be able to get that on the cheap...But when sellers don't make it obvious and take advantage of people, I'd rather Hasbro flex their legal muscle and drop the hammer on these guys.

 

Sure they're cheaper and in new condition, but they are not licensed Transformers. So I don't expect them to cost as much as originals. No different than fake purses or watches. They look great for half the price but carry none of the quality or heritage of an original.

 

Long time reader, first time posting, hear are my thoughts:

Hasbro really dropped the ball with the reissues - what took them so long to get these figures out on to the market? Don't tell me it was because they "didn't have the molds" - clearly that hasn't been a problem. Why in the world they didn't release (A) the dinobots, and (B) devastator and (C) jetfire as part of the TRU series - all of which they could have charged at a huge premium and made loads of money - is beyond me.

The truth is that if Hasbro had kept on producing the reissues these past couple of years then the KO artists would not have gained traction in this sector of the toy collector world - with Hasbro apprearing to be completely disinterested in putting out more G1 reissues (along with the profit that goes along with it), I don't really feel sorry for them.

With that said I look forward to getting my hands on a KO reflector (with G1 styled box  )

 

Oh, yeah - KO devastator better come down in price - $155 shipped for a KO? That's crazy, especially since the constructicons could not have been expensive to replicate (unlike say mirage or the dinos). I might buy a set, but at a third of that price - otherwise I'd save my cash and wait for a real one to come on the market.

 

I wonder if they will do a G2 colored set too down the road... that would be hella nice.

 

Those look nice. I hope they bootleg Whirl, Roadbuster, and the trriple changers eventually.

 

I'd be much more interested if they did an upsized set. Keep the blocky G1 molds - just make each of them the size of a standard car/truck character. Even at a ridiculous price point, they would still sell by the boat loads.

 

How much is too much? It seems KOs are slowly taking over the vintage market.

 

OK. I'll bite.  

(A) Supposedly some of the molds are broken or lost. I remember Swoop in particular being broken.
(B) On this one I'm not sure, but I seem to remember Hasbro saying the only combiner molds available to them from before 1987 being Bruticus.
(C) The original mold is owned by one of Hasbro's competitors, who did reissue the figure but not in the Jetfire deco. (Bandai)

The Conmemorative Series underperformed. Some fans think it was because TRU (not Hasbro, as the price was set by TRU) set the price at a huge premium.

And yet one of the first KOs was Optimus Prime, a figure re-released every couple of years.

-airfox

 

This KO Devy giftset box looks even better than the original IMO.

I'd love to get Devastator in G1 colors (I only own the G2 orange versions), but I'm afraid the price for the KOs is too much.

That'd be amazing. I love my upsized Bruticus.

-airfox

 

I agree with the majority of this. I truly believe KO's have an influence on TomyTakara's next move. They're releasing Omega Supreme and Sky Lynx because they don't want to get beat to the punch (Metroplex). Hopefully, it's a race to Trypticon next.

I also believe that eBay is the sole contributor to the KO maker's next move. When Devastator was announced, an MISB giftset went for $3,000. We all know that Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, and Mirage have been the most expensive of the G1's on the 2nd hand market too. They're not dumb ... they're getting very good at knowing what the fans want according to eBay.

Also, they're following the standard repaint schedule as dictated by e-hobby.

1st round = TF release
2nd round = Diaclone counterpart
3rd round = when in doubt, go black
4th round = turn it clear

 

 

You should add there: 2.1 round (or 3.1) 2007 Movie Deco. (if applicable)

-airfox

 

What are the chances of them doing a KO of Computron? The reson I ask is I need a nice Computron Giftset box to go with my original complete Computron.

 

These guys are nuts. They've proven that anything is possible.

I wonder how good these reissues would get if they had an editor on their staff. If they had someone proof checking before going to print, man ...


Until then, gooooooo "Dinobot Bombander"

 

Having a mold and reverse engineering a mold and having the rights to a mold are all different things.

Hasbro's attitude has been they have not wanted to reverse engineer damaged or lost molds because they feel it would be a substandard product. While they probably could engineer a mold that is 95% quality, they took the position not to.

And some molds like Jetfire and shockwave they don't have the rights to so they couldn't reissue them if they wanted. Heck... Jetfire was never even sold in Japan. At the time, many of th emolds in early G1 were licenced off other lines and Hasbro doesn't have rights to the molds.

And the third part of your premise is they could have made loads of money. The TRU reissues were a disastrous flop. The reason why Takara Reissues and Encores are doing ok is due to the high cost and low production. That is not suited for retail TRU release. TRU cannot put a 200$ Predaking on their shelf, it cannot happen. Frankly, many of the reissues would be a surefire way to lose money. That is why we get *ONE* reissue or encore every 3-6 months so they don't compete with themselves.

False premise = failed rationalization. They can't sustain *ALL* of G1 as a reissue which is what some of the fandom expects. And if Hasbro put out Devastator for 150$ people would complain unholy about being a rip-off even if the limited run due to a lack of market forced costs to be that high. We are getting Jazz, Skylynx and Omega Supreme. In another 6 months we may see 3 others... People want *EVERYTHING* available *NOW*. Even figures released less than 2 years ago people are already crying because they missed it and the secondary market of these figures are too expensive. What? Hastak needs to keep insecticons at retail for 5 years until everyone has a chance to get theirs or else they Hastak deserves to be KOs due to their own inaction?

No, people are selfish and cheap and have only themselves to blame for the slow rate of reissues at retail. You were not driven to it due to Hasbro inaction because they made a heavy commitment to G1 reissues and the fandom shit in their hands and flung it at them when HOIST and DIRGE were too much for 30$ and didn't have springy guns because of US laws.

 

Nothing beats the original Devastator!!! Its too bad they couldn't re-tool the original 6 Constructicons into a totally new toy.

 

  ... actually, it might.

I can't keep my original together unless I use duct tape, zipties, and JB weld.

 

Good quality or not, they are knockoffs. The prices these things are going for lately is stupid. What's worse is that people are actually paying it! YOu are supporting the wrong people by buying these expensive ripoffs. I like KOs as much as the next person, but this is getting out of hand.