The future of KO transformers is more or less dead, inside is the official word

Red leader · 06-22-2008, 01:32 PM

Fit for Natalie speaks teh truth, sales are stagnant in Japan , hence the Tomy merger.

wheeljaxx · 06-22-2008, 02:12 PM

I just wanted a US version of the Reflector box, Something that would 100% original and unique.

Mutt12 · 06-22-2008, 03:13 PM

Bootlegs, for me, have always been somewhat of a guilty pleasure. Mostly just the ones with goofy alterations/packaging, like the kinds you find in flea markets and dollar stores. Plus, you sometimes come across bootlegs of TF's that were Japan-only releases, like my clockless Heinrad (seriously, who wouldn't want a TF with ROBO BALLS!) or bright-yellow sparkly LioConvoy. Or there's silly versions of rare TF's like my Laser Rod Prime with movie flames. At least it's obvious that it's not the real thing.

On the other hand, these near perfect replicas... no. Mostly because it's hard to tell the difference alot of the time and people can easily pass them off as the real thing. I fell victim to that when I bought a Ratbat that some dude was passing off as the real thing, only to discover it's KO'ness when I finally recieved it.

While it makes finding silly bootlegs harder to find, I still commend Hasbro and Ebay for taking down the KO's. I can always go to Traders Village or Big Lots for my pastel-colored cheap-plastic fix.

And I wouldn't call KO's dead just because of Ebay. China will always pump out countless TF, Gundam, Brave, and Power Ranger bootlegs which will be found in many swap-meet booths, bodegas, or dollar stores.

GenZhao · 06-22-2008, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechabot-1

China is not going to do a shit's work of anything to help a US court judgement get inforced/collected against one of their citizens/businesses......

And trying to sue that company in it's own country's courts is meaningless also since china is the king at ignoring international copy right/property rights etc.......

yeah....meaningless.....

and

KO's RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yea I know

hehehehehe... Gotta love China

and

KO's !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mutt12

On the other hand, these near perfect replicas... no. Mostly because it's hard to tell the difference alot of the time and people can easily pass them off as the real thing. I fell victim to that when I bought a Ratbat that some dude was passing off as the real thing, only to discover it's KO'ness when I finally recieved it.

I agree, the copy boxes went too far, and how many were produced in such a short time was bound to gain unwanted attention.

But they copied the boxes for the western market, for collectors like the ones on here... if they were being sold to the chinese public in a mass way they would have used weird chinese packaging. Im more of a fan of the odd stuff anyway, so as long as hasbro doesnt get upset about that I will still be happy.

Master Sing · 06-22-2008, 04:42 PM

Maybe HasTak will actually release many reissue for the 25th ann? Cyclonus, Shockwave, Dinobots, Jetfire please?

keebs · 06-22-2008, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Sing

Maybe HasTak will actually release many reissue for the 25th ann? Cyclonus, Shockwave, Dinobots, Jetfire please?

Those will be on everyone's list until they are reissued.

doomtron · 06-22-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fit For natalie

What cool stuff? To my knowledge, nearly everything (outside of reissues and Kissplayers girlie figures) that TakaraTomy have released for Transformers in the past 2 years have been redecos or repacks of stuff Hasbro have already released. So, what cool stuff?

As for Hasbro not puting out enough product we like, their sales figures beg to differ with you. Takara wishes in their wildest dreams that they could ever be as successful Hasbro. But they're not, that's why they merged with Tomy, a competitor. That's why they wound back their Transformers lines - nobody except die-hard Transformers fans in Japan were buying them.

Meanwhile, loads of people in Hasbro's markets buy Transformers, compared to relatively few people in Japan buying Transformers. Obviously, one company fucked up, and one company didn't.

And you want fuck ups to take over a successful company?

theyre classics are better then you take binaltech all theyre alternators stuff.the materpeices they refuse to put out here. i dont have a masterpeice megagtron but i wish i did

Scourge_151 · 06-22-2008, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Draven

Congratulations, Hastak, you've won.
Now kindly bring on the reasonably priced reissues of figures that a bunch of KO makers managed to recreate, despite your insistence that YOU couldn't.

^very much true
If they removed all the Hasbro marking and copyright stuff from the boxes they'd be fine though, or if they just sold them in plain boxes they'd be able to operate still.

mechabot-1 · 06-22-2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megatronwp38

Well, as a KO disliker I say good and it's about time! I already own everything that has been KOed except Metrotitan and that turned out to be a POS anyway.

Dude, That metrotitan with the Hot pink that will burn your eyes out if you look at it directly is the Shiznit!!!!

seriously! that guy rocks!!!!

Chaos Sorcerer · 06-22-2008, 08:44 PM

i have a mixed love/hate with KOs.. i love the rediculous ones that you know are bootlegs.. the dayglo colors, the oversized crap, things like that. The ones that are basically pure copies down to the boxart worry me, because I think it could definately hurt the secondary market (For instance, 3 years from now you buy a G1 figure like Grimlock for good money, and it turns out he's a cheap copy. Sucks). That said, I can certainly understand Hasbro's desire to protect their interests, but I highly doubt this will end KOs at all. It's like movie/music piracy. It wont go away, you can only try to control it. Especially with the lack of copywrite laws in China, they're not going to stop pumping these things out over there, so they'll still show up online. You just wont see them refered to as Transformers or KOs. They'll be "Megabots Morphing Robot figure" or something, and people will learn to look for them under those names.