Hi there, the name is Dark Galvatron and now I'd like to bring to the table something very interesting in my own view: Knockoff Transformer figures. I'm a
TF collector and I've noticed that KO's are being produced left and right, especially since the Transformers 2007 live action movie. At a time in my life, I would never even touch a KO figure because of the fact that it would fall apart when removed from its packaging, but in the past year, I've bought a few KO's which actually turned out to be well worth their money, which is sadly why I wanted to make this topic. Is it possible that KO Transformers could outdo Hasbro? Personally, I don't think they could since Hasbro is such a major toy corporation and they've been the leading manufacturer in Transformers toys for a good long time now. But now I present to you this question: With some Transformers, would you go all the way for a name brand
TF, or would you go KO? Here's some pics of my latest addition to my
TF collection, Optimal Optimus: the Knockoff.
According to BWTF, there was a KO made at one time of the Beast Wars Optimal Optimus, but from the size comparisions, the figure was almost a deluxe class, and was stripped of quite a few features as well as robbed of many things such as detailing and paint apps. Well, this figure that I have posted pictures of was just purchased recently at a Big Lots about 2 days ago and I must say that I am impressed with the work that was done with him. For starters, they had 2 color variants I could have gone with: the original Optimal Optimus colors and then the red yellow and gold version, which sadly I pretty much had no choice to go with, since he was the only one, but I did see the Optimal Optimus colors at one time. Still, I'm glad I went with the choice of the red and gold variant, since it looks kinda spiffy in my own honest opinion and I am surprised at how well they kept with the Optimal Optimus/Primal Prime design, just removing the electronics and missile holders on the legs.
These are pics of the first bootleg toy:
http://www.bwtf.com/boot/bw/optimal/bm.gif http://www.bwtf.com/boot/bw/optimal/cm.gif http://www.bwtf.com/boot/bw/optimal/am.gif http://www.bwtf.com/boot/bw/optimal/rm.gif
This figure was pretty much accurate to Optimal Optimus as well, minus many things. For starters, the forearm armor that could break away gimmick was stripped and in its place, the armor served as the lower arms. Secondly, the fingers could not move like the larger toy. Third, the wheel piece for his ground assault mode was missing, and he lacked thrusters on the underside of his feet for jet mode and finally, his cockpit piece was just one solid piece of plastic. Pretty much, this toy was a sad excuse in my opinion to be a bootlegged Optimal Optimus, and now for the pros on the KO I just bought.
1. Forearm armor can be removed and placed at the shoulders in robot mode.
2. Fingers move fine.
3. The wheel piece for ground mode is added and can split for a backpack in bot mode, just like the first Optimal Optimus.
4. Underside of feet feature thrusters for jet mode as well as sporting an opening cockpit.
5. This figure is also the same height as Optimal Optimus.
6. The toy is only $10.
Cons:
1. The head section of the toy is in camouflage
2. Right lower beast arm/lower robot arm has a slight bit of weakness if you place a gun in it or keep the armor attached to it.
This is my personal review of the Optimal Optimus KO figure. And also, it looks like Bandai of America has some competition as well. I picked up back in late September 2 KO versions of deluxe Megazord robots from Big Lots, running at about $10 each.
The first is the Wolf Centaurus Megazord from Power Rangers Mystic Force aka MagiRanger which was never released in the US but released as WolfKaizer in Japan...
Secondly, the Phoenix Unizord aka Stedergon Fury Megazord in Power Rangers Mystic Force, aka SaintKaizer in MagiRanger....
Red Titan combined with Catastros..
And Koragg with BrightStar
Finally, the result of combining a name brand Red Titan with one of these bad boys...
These figures truly amazed me, since they are just as good quality as Bandai's figures and they are even the same height and no color/transformation, nothing has been changed at all on these figures, plus the figures are somewhat interchangable with the name brand Zords. Well, this pretty much covers all of my review on 3 amazing KO toys. Hope you enjoy!
