I own a legitimate TT MP Ironhide and was never a huge fan of Ratchet, but I feel like I need one for my collection. I've largely burned my figure budget for the year, but after watching a few video reviews of MP Ratchet KOs, I'm tempted. They go for really cheap on eBay, and I'm in no hurry so the slow delivery is no concern. My collection's been without a Ratchet for years. Does anyone have experience with KOs of MP-30? Is there a particular company with a reputation for better quality or reliability, and if so, is there any way to know if you're getting one from them, when they all look so much like the real thing these days? I appreciate any advice.
I have both official and KOs of both Ironhide and Ratchet. They're good. If anything, better than the officials. Ironhide has chrome wear on bumper and headlights, while Ratchet had reports of paint scratching and flaking. The KO's had neither of those issues. I actually stripped the chrome of all of mine painted them for toon accuracy, but before I did so the chrome wear on the officials was almost as bad as the MP Hotrod chrome issue. I haven't had a problem with paint flaking on my official Ratchet but plenty of others did. Bith my KO's have been damn near perfect> Great paint, solid joints, quality plastic. Unlike the earlier carbots, the Van KO's retain the plastic tyres of the original. Aside from the chrome and white paint, in a side by side, there's pretty much nothing to distinguish between official and KO. I'd struggle to know which was which on my shelf. In terms of manufacturer, as far as I can recall the vans were from the days when MP KO's were pretty much-unnamed copies. I don't know if there are different versions of KO's but my instinct is no, all the KO's are the same. You should be able to pick one up from Aliexpress, SirToys, TaoBao or probably Show.z, and the price is bound to be pretty low. I paid about US$40 for mine from TaoBao back in 2018. The one caveat is that, even more than with official stuff, there's no way to tell whether you'll get a dud or a perfect copy. I have KO's as duplicates for a lot of figures and almost all have been great but occasionally there's a dud. But at $40 a pop, I can afford to buy three KO's for the price of one official.
I've had 1 ko ironhide & 1 ko ratchet & I've not won the ko lottery. Bought both off reputable ebay sellers. The Ratchet had the rear tail light on one side completely missing from the package & the Ironhide had his anger-face missing from the package. These were sealed, so this was typical KO factory QC. Now if you buy one & run into issue hit me up cause these 2 are just sitting in my junkbox now.
Both Ironhide and Ratchet are ko's in my collection. No issues at all with Ironhide, Ratchet had some tight tolerances during transformation, mainly the piece that rotates down from under the bumper. I couldn't fix this issue until I got the mod kit that moves those ugly hip pieces. I fixed it during disassembly
Thank you! I appreciate the advice. It's really starting to feel like I need a medic on the shelf, but I really don't want to pay three figures for an Ironhide twin. I have a boxed-up GT Bulance (not-First Aid) that looks fantastic in either mode, but feels awful in hand, and transforming him is less enjoyable than a root canal. He's just a bunch of plastic panels that refuse to stay tabbed together, making posing him a nightmare. He looks awesome if you don't touch him, though. I'm likely going to sell him on... hence the need for Ratchet.
I've had both KOs and officials. Ironhide KO is near perfect, but I replaced my Ratchet KO, tolerances were too tight and I just didn't care for it. If you're not too picky the KOs are great for display.
My Ratchet KO had to be my worst KO so far. I had a string of bad luck with. OFC nothing that can throw it to a trash bin, but it needs to be fixed (been almost two years that I didnt do so....) Anyway, heres what I run into: It was missing a part of his head (one of the ears). Contacted the seller (ebay) and miraculously he sent me an entire second head for free! Then after receiving it, I noticed I was missing the missile launcher....Seller sent me that one too. Then I noticed that the chrome on head lights was chipped out of the box. Then I transformed him and it either needs a couple more transformations or it completely needs to be disassembled due to excess flash on several areas. At any rate, I dont regret it, it just needs some touch ups. BTW the faces on the KO and official have a slight difference in sharpness. Its not that much as the Hotrod Ko, but you can tell if you look at them side by side. EDIT: Also the repair beam effect doesnt seem to sit on the repair gun. Υοu will need to thicken the slot with some nail polish.
