He looks cool. I mean, stiff and un-jointed, and Gundam-y... but more stylish than most KO combiners!  

zmog

 

Is there any place that still has the KO G1 Prowl?


I already have the reissue but would like to add this to my Prowl collection.

 

Well my BTS Sonicron arrived today. The box was wrapped in enough Styrofoam to allow you to spike the touchdown and still probably not hurt the figure.




Now the in package it was held down by heavygauge twist ties. I've pulled them off in this picture.


It comes with an extra head.


And a '9 volt' battery that becomes a second shoulder mounted missile launcher.

And a stat card.


The robot form is definitely an homage to Soundwave.


And it's altmode is a dictation recorder


There are a few issues I have with it. The hips & shoulders are a lil loose, the right shoulder even in it's altmode (the peg doesn't hold). Also the pegs that hold the legs together in the altmode are a royal pain to latch (only have one of the three done in the above pic).

All in all though she is a welcome addition to my collection. Yes I called it a she. I know she is supposed to be BTS's Soundwave, but I'm using her as a physical representation of one of my OCs, a Soundwave fangirl named Sonica. A former preformer who fell into the Decepticons after reading Megatron’s thesis. She started out using her acting skills as a double agent in some of the smaller Autobot settlements and both gathering information & sowing seeds of discent. After a harrowing escape after being found out , she was greated by the head of Decepticon intelligence himself. She was instantly in awe. With nearly thirty percent of her form heavily damaged she opted for reformatting and after seeing how calm & collected Soundwave was she chose a new format that resembled her new idol. Her earth alt form was chosen from a reporter’s dictation recorder. I may keep it blue, but her coloration is more grey shaded where the blue is, metallic black where the silver grey is, & light blue where the yellow is. So far her companions (all to be customized when I them) are the former Action Masters Screech (a blue & green repaint of Laserbeak/ Buzzkill), Catgut (a black & orange repaint of Ravage), & Fire Breath (a green & black repaint of Rhinohorn). I may add the BTS Yin & Yang if I can get ahold of them.

 

That is a very long shipping time. 7 or 8 years is a really long time for a package to arrive.
This is also in the wrong thread. Even though is a crap figure, Sonicron is not a KO. It is an original mold.

 

Nah, only a couple of weeks.

Ah, ok. My bad. Only been on the board for a month or so and still getting used to things.

 

To be fair, the line between 3rd Party and KO items is getting pretty blurry these days.  

zmog

 

Not really. A KO is a copy of an existing product made with stolen molds/files, reverse engineering, or "lunchtime specials". 3rd Party items are original designs. 3rd Party items can be KO'ed, but KO items can't be 3rd Partied.

 

Sonicron is just a pretty outdated figure. I was making a joke about your mini review of something that has been out for such a long time. Don't bother with the BTS cassettes unless they are VERY cheap. They are all pretty crappy and low quality. You are in the right forum, but you were in the wrong thread.

 

Setting aside such pedantic distinctions, and the fact that many people still consider 3rd Party items to be knock-offs of licensed IP...

...there also remains the reality that the shape of the KO scene right now is being challenged by a number of high-end projects that not only adapt existing 3P and official products, but also alter or improve them in extensive ways in the process, building distinct followings similar to 3rd Party producers. In this category, you also have companies like WeiJiang or Meng Ba Di/Machine Boy before them, who produce both straightforward KOs AND original 3P products (or companies like iGear before that even).

So yes... going back to my original statement, the lines between KOs and 3rd Party items are getting blurry. There's no point in denying it.

zmog

 

Then what would you categorize the hybrid mp36/mightron/appolyon figure?

 

Third party figure with KO accessories.

 

Yes, you are correct that there is definitely a gray area. I just meant that KO and 3rd Party are not always the same thing. Sonicron isn't a KO figure. It doesn't fall into the gray area.

 

Soooo... The legs are accessories now?


 

 

The gray area of a trash can, it does.

 

I want an improved version of POTP Optimus as either SG optimus, OR a motormaster!

 

Yeah, but it doesn't really fall in. It was more of a violent throw.

It is a KO. Just because they stole from more than one source doesn't make it any less stolen. If they were 3rd Partying a KO, they would have to take a knock off figure and then create an original mold based on the KO character. Then it wouldn't be a KO anymore, it would be 3P.

 

Fascinating ouroboros of philosophical pedantry this.  

Wouldn't what you describe just be a 3P version of whatever the KO...ko'd?

Unless we're talking like a 3rd Party series of Convertor toys or Titanic Bot...but even that would be more of a 3P of an "also ran cheapo bot"

I guess we'd need something like a 3P version of GrimZilla


Something that is both EXPLICITLY a KO, but also has enough distinct design cues that if you 3P'd it you would also be clearly NOT 3P'ing the original toy, but specifically the KO.

Which begs the question, why DON'T we have a 3P Grimzilla....or some of them winged pointy toothed Sludges.

 

I get your point, but that figure definitely does not meet your original through process. Get one in hand. It may have borrowed some ideas, but it is clearly an original product. Nearly every transformer toy borrows some ideas from each other, whether it be joint types/engineering, general transformation scheme, etc.

 

where do i get grimzilla

 

Curious, would you consider the IF seekers KO's because they essentially reshelled the Hasbro legends seekers. They added articulation, but the whole design and transformation is from the Hasbro figs.