This. Hasbro has been bullshitting us the whole time with excuses such as "we lost the mold!" or "there is no market!". KO companies basically just proved that Hasbro is lying. And yes the KOs were expensive, but with the price you managed to get very G1 accurate G1 looking toys in very accurate G1 looking packaging. On top of that many of the KOs were toys which Hasbro(and to a lesser extent Takara) have refused to reissue. If Hasbro put out the toys I wanted with at least kinda accurate packaging, and if I could find them in stores, I would be more willing to buy them for the TRU prices from years back.

Oh but its OK! We get another reissue Prime later this year!!1 (but its $70) (and its got the shortstacks/longmissiles) (and its in an ugly package) (and its planed for release on black friday) (yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if its going to be massively scalped) (also, Im just not going out in that mess of humanity on black friday)



Also, given that Hasbro failed to aggressively defend their trademark, I would really be interested to see something go to court, because it seems possible that a case could be made which would result in Hasbro loosing the rights to the trademark. If they're going to continue to treat long time fans like shit then I would at least like to see a legal and competitive market fighting for our dollars.

Oh shit! Did I just not worship Hasbro and then not defend them to the ends of the earth?! I must be a crazy person!!

 

Easy come easy go I say...Did I like the KOs? yes. Did I wish Hastak would officially release them? yes. Though I didn't agree with the almost exact reproduction of the original boxes. Sure this was a big draw for purchase, but it also drew the attention of Hasbro. If these KO makers would've made the same product without the G1 exact packaging Hasbro would never have given a shit about them.

I think the worst part is the loss of all those clear figures that Hasbro or Takara will never produce. Ghost Mirage and Prime are just too cool and we're lucky to have them made available to us KO or not.

 

There will be no satisfying everyone. Hasbro did a good job with the re-issues a few years ago and it turns out that there really wasn't a strong market. Most of the later ones ended up on deep discount clearance, many for well under $10 before finally selling out.

Considering how cheaply made the KOs were - Shoddy quality, with no investment needed for safety testing and so forth - Look at how much they still needed to charge. What makes you think Hasbro can produce them any cheaper?

Re-issues are a very niche market. Hasbro had to release theirs as "adult collectables" because they all simply don't meet current safety standards. And when they change things, people complain. I don't blame Hasbro for not wanting to do more. Collectors are generally not a profitable market to target. They are finicky and their desires change like the wind.

 

Hasbro haven't taken action against the bootleggers until they started bootlegging movie (and dare I say it - classics) figures. When it comes to figures Hasbro has stopped selling you can see that they haven't done anything against bootleggers for years.

 

While I understand Hasblow defending and protecting their property, I find if they say that there is no market for the old stuff, and that they lost the old molds, then really, what are they defending?

It's not as if the KO's were competing with Hasblow- because Hasblo- which got their property from Takara- isn't making anything.

The KO's were doing what Hasblo said can't be done.

Not that it affects me any cuz I don't buy anything any more- except the Classics.

 

I liek cheap KOs though.....

 

No. Hasbro did not do a good job with their reissues. They did a good job with the first wave, which did well in sales. When they realized they could sell them at a high price, Hasbro/TRU thought it would be a good idea to start pulling out random characters which may or may not have been popular. When Hasbro's idiocy caught up with them they declared that there was no market and the crack team of Hasbro worshipers have been quoting that ever since. The domestic reissues were overpriced compared to their cheaper Japanese counterparts. Seriously, I bought an import Japanese reissue Starscream for less money than a TRU Thundercracker. And the Japanese toy came in a nicer package, was more G1 accurate, and by the time book-style reissues came around the Takara versions had some neat little extras thrown in. Who would buy those TRU reissues when you could have a better deal from Japan for roughly the same amount of money; and in some cases, not have to make a lengthy trip to TRU. Hasbro messed up, and they blame the "market" for it.

Maybe the KO makers can make them cheaper? Maybe the KO makers make $40 profit on each unit sold. I dont know, but it seems that Hasbro should be able to cheaply make some of the more fan favorite characters such as the Dinobots. (but wait! I think they lost all those molds!)

Its not hard to please fans. Whats hard to please are all the anti-geewoners. If they reissued toys like Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Devastator, or the Dinobots and other toys which Takara has not reissued, I would assume that they would do quite well.

 

or they dont exist...

to the guy saying KO buyers arent true collectors...do you think ANYONE who bought a KO Mirage would have bought that KO if they had a choice between it and a real re-issue?

 

Explain the people buying KO insecticons when we just had Reissue Insecticons?

People complained they were too expensive, or hard to get but what they really wanted was the fake G1 packaging opposed to the takara bookcase display and blamed the fact they missed them 2 years earlier and that Hasbro should keep re-re-re-reissuing to please fans.

All these excuses boil down to: "I waaaaaaant it and I should get things I want, and it doesn't matter who it hurts as long as I get it"

 

You are making a lot of assumptions and guessing on all of them.

Comparing Takara's "success" with Hasbro's "failure" on re-issues is laughable since Takara was losing money the final few years before Tomy took them over. Hasbro is a financially strong company, it's one of the few stocks I own that's been a very good investment. Saying "no" to a losing business like re-issues is one of the reasons why. Taking steps to protect their IP is another.

I'd prefer Hasbro continue to promote new products than dwell in the past.

 

maybe people coming back to TFs late, with the movie...yes your right, there is a lot of 'i want' with KOs but some people, like me, dont want to pay £300 for a decent G1 Devastator (i wont pay more than £50 for any toy), but are quite willing to pay £10 for a KO...

The whole KO issue is very grey...and i just hate it when people call it black or white

 

  

There is a market for reissues this is a known fact. Look at what has been released from Takara over the past 5 years has been sold out. All of them have been G1 figures. Takara has even been good to go back and launch more popular G1 reissues since their has been a demand for them. Hasbro is missing out on a nich market. Selling items like these on the Hasbro toy store website is a untouched market for them. They can like so many of the collectors companies that make items limit the run to so many pieces that are numbered. Or have them offer preorders for selected pieces. Once the preorders reach that level then make the production run. have them pay for the figures also before the production run this will cut down on cancelled orders. The one key point here is that these bloody knock off companies have been making money on reissues the demand is there and they where providing the market for it. It goes back to what I said before the reverse engineering of this molds and making new ones can go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some one made the investment to do this...if there was not a market for them then why did they produce the figures. You don't put money into a idea that you don;t think you where going to be getting some return on your investment.    

 

I never saw them for sale anywhere local. Or far away either.

 

I'm curious-
how much money were the KO companies losing on their fake re-issues?

 

Actually, now that I think about it I have bought a couple KO's in my time.
The first was a Devastator, so I could repair my REAL Devastator... since a REAL Devaststor was a little hard to come by.

The second was a Defensor... I think I was gonna use it for repairs too, but I just gave it to my kid.

It seems that the KO's filled a good void- especially since there isn't a market for them.

 

So where do we buy these KO's now if not E-Bay?

I see they pulled all of the Big Lot type KO's off of there too... 

 

Alright HASBRO! Its about time. I for one was sick of trying to determine what was real and whats not. Applause to them.

Now get off your butts and do some reissues so people don't have to settle for KOs!

 

as long as they mark the toy and the box so you can tell the KO apart , I dont mind. but for a MIB collector or MISB it gets difficult if they are going to make them exactly like originals.

and if ppl dont want to spend big money then dont collect G1..its expensiv.

 

Im talking from the consumer standpoint. And what steps other than this do they take to protect their IP? They have let KOs slide for so long that they simply should have the IP revoked (and it can happen legally). If you can go into stores like WalMart and there are blatant Knockoffs being sold there (like the easter baskets) then they are obviously not working to protect their IP and should have their IP revoked.

#1: We just had a movie. You dont think that didnt bring in old fans?
#2: They didnt produce enough of them. Have you seen the prices for that set lately? Insane!

And boo-hoo! Who is being hurt when Hasbro refuses to release what the market wants and when they have been very very relaxed in protecting their older IPs? Oh yes! I remember, the poor collector who speculates on the value of their toys! What a shame...