This goes for Hasbro/Takara MP and 3rd Party VS any KO company.

My opinion is that KO is better when it comes to Combiners as of late. Considering the copious amounts of the QC issues in most $100+ figures nowadays, KO is way better because it's priced right. Take Warbotron for example. LITTERED with QC issues across the board and they STILL expected $100 each figure. I'd rather buy the KO at $30 each and fix the problems myself than pay $100 for authentic and have to fix the problems my slaggin self. That's not to say that a lot of these 3rd Party companies don't make good figures but Emgo said it right. They need to stop wasting their budget on Comics, Collecter Cards and other fluff and just focus on making the figure(s) the best they can make them. I'm not an MP collector so all I have to go off of is what my MP collecting friends tell me but a lot of them find the same with some MP products and 3rd Party MP scaled products.

What do you guys think?

 

I think there's tons of threads on this and they generally end badly.

 

Don't know how this thread will be like, but the only ko's I'll buy are takara carbots, except for 3rd party stuff. Sideswipe, wheeljack, bumblbee, red alert and some seekers and coneheads will do, and hope this thread goes well.

 

I am not very optimistic about this thread...

So ... I buy the originals and I've bought KOs because the after market price is ridiculous. I prefer the TT stuff to KOs. Having said that yes the "Tracks KO" was made better than the original. Most of the KOs that I've bought have been for my boy. Its easier in my mind to give him a $30+/- Transformer than a $70-80 figure.
My most recent KO purchase have been the MP10 SG and this past week the MP10 Eva and the KO OS Sideswpe. I have no plans on getting the KOs of Ironhide or Tracks. I've been more focused on 3rd Party offerings recently Ex: DX9 and Maketoys.

Buy what you want and be content. My boy likes his small collection of MP KO nissan cars.

 

ko's can be cool, there are some that I would like upscaled (ex irondibots to voyager) and some i'd like downsized (ex most combiners currently to MT/FP size) also repaints that we want but didn't get (ex FP Intimidator into Masquerade)

 

I agree 100% with this. How many people actually collect those cards? The comics I really don't care about either, but at least some companies tease further products in their pages.

At this point, I only do KO's if they do something different with them, like upscaling or downscaling them.

 

I think the official companies need to stop giving us useless collector cards with rubbish art, that are framed badly and would not even appeal to most 10 year olds who could easily find better art online and print it themselves.
Do they pay the work experience kids to do the art for those cards?
Oh this is a 3P... well everything I said, but just substitute "3P" for official.
The comics are a waste of materials and money too. Just put them online for free and use them as part of the promotional BS.

 

I think i agree that some of the KOs for the combiners are indeed very promising, and I would seriously considering picking them up. Namely, the Warbotron and the Feral Rex.

There are others, such as MP Cars that are good enough, though official at early bird from asian etailers is almost same price.

Then the real place KOs are doing well is for Oversized / Undersized products, such as MP-10 and MP-08. As well, the improved KO, such as the Hexatron KO.

All that said, i only own one KO, and that is MP-Goldbug. No real room, as I have the originals of what I want, and no time to wait for a maybe KO that may or may not happen and by that time, the original is much more expensive. In some cases, the flaws of the KO in terms of paint arent as good as original, and in those cases, having the original is better. It really depends case to case, but personally, in general, unless it is an improved version or a repaint or the original is really far out of my price budget, I prefer going with the "originals" made by Tak or by the 3rd party.

 

I bought car KOs (Nissans, Wheeljack, Red Alert) and one seeker KO (Yes Model/BB7), and the SG Optimus KO, and MPP10B. The cars had garbage paint. I bought the originals recently and the lines are crisp and exact, you do not get that with the KOs. Red Alert is garbage, happy to get that MP14+. Smaokescreen was loose and had sloppy paint, Wheeljack was solid but again blurred sloppy paint. The YM Skywarp is amazing, perfect in nearly every way if not superior. The OS Grimlock and Nemesis Prime are also fantastic.

Mileage will vary on them, but if detail and paint are important don't get the MP car KOs I listed.

 

I don't care what version I get as long as it's a good product. I have KO Tigertracks, BB7 Skywarp, KO Powerglide and KO Grimlock. Grimlock, Powerglide and Skywarp are superior versions, while Tigertracks is on par with the official.