Professional-grade KO producers expand to Metroplex/Metrotitan and more (!)

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Denyer
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Professional-grade KO producers expand to Metroplex/Metrotitan and more

Post by Denyer »

Courtesy of AgesThreeAndUp:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=157786

I have receintly been contacted by a different company than the first who is also doing KOs of G1 figures. Their first release - METROPLEX! I am told this is done is high quality and will come in a G1 style of box with styrofoam insert, instructions, catalogue and sticker sheets. I don't know what they will have for copyrites, this will be found out when they come in stock. The retail on this figure will be $124.99 US which I find is much more reasonable than $80 for a Dinobot considering the size and complexity of the figure. (a good portion of the cost is in the shipping

TF@TM have more information and an early testshot image:

http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/conten ... rmed+.html

After speaking to the manufactures of the knock-off Binaltech and recently announced Metroplex knock-off we can bring you the first actual images of the KO Metroplex toy (a testshot of the figure) as well as the first image of the packaging. Previously all images were of the Hasbro release.

In even bigger news, they have confirmed to us that they are already planning a Metrotitan remake! There is no word as to whether the KO will come with Metrobomb and extra ramp, or whether it will be a straight re-colour of the Metroplex figure.


It's been mentioned that they're trying to get bigger UK distributors interested, though quite how that works I dunno...

Meanwhile, the other main producer isn't idle either:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=157662

KO Sludge and Slag are now in stock!
December: KO Grimlock and Sharkticon
January: Wheeljack and Sunstreaker
Feburary: Devastator and Snarl


And someone's randomly done a crystal-clear Warpath:

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=157846
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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

True, Metroplex was a bit of brick, but I still think he's kind of neat. The version I had during my childhood broke in half (a common problem maybe?) and had lost nearly all the pieces. I may or may not consider this one, if I feel it practical to have one or spend the cash on one since I'm not much of a collector anymore. Personally, the Sunstreaker has struck more of my interests, having already purchased the Mirage KO and being quite pleased with it (I still want the Diaclone red version...it's neat-o). I really like those Diaclone, etc, car molds a lot, and wouldn't mind a Sunstreaker to round up the set I already have, which is boxed away somewhere. I always wanted the figure anyway.
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numbat
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Post by numbat »

Originally posted by zigzagger
The version I had during my childhood broke in half (a common problem maybe?)
Yup - that's common. Certainly happened to mine within a few weeks, and also to a friend of mine's. Pity, 'cause he's a rather fun figure. One day, maybe I'll get another, or a good KO... And, maybe a KO Metrotitan to face off against him!

KO Sharkticon interests me greatly... A genuine G1 figure in good nick just seems to cost too much - for my wallet at least!

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).


Check out my new sale thread now!

Also items on eBay.
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RID Scourge
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Post by RID Scourge »

I was lucky. I ended up getting mine for $50. Had to win him, twice, though, since the butthole seller cancelled it, at the last minute, and relisted it. I won it for pretty much the same amount, both times, so I guess he just gave up and sold it. I also snagged Trypticon from the same seller, for about $50ish, too.
Cliffjumper
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Erm, yeh, even in the UK, MIB Metroplexes don't seem to go for much more than that. Metrotitan's just as cheap, when you consider the easiest way to get one is to give Metroplex and a set of poster paints to some ADD kid...
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martyboy70
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Post by martyboy70 »

I cant see how these prices can hold up I got a near mint body with no accessories for less than £10 and then got a scabby 100% complete one for £12 -result 100% complete mint Metroplex and scabby one for £22.
Hes one of the most available G1 toys on Ebay UK anyway so its not like hes rare there must be 2-3 up for grabs every day in life so its a strange choice for a KO
Loss of job. Will sell for food here.
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crazy_chris
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Got my KO Metroplex today

Post by crazy_chris »

You guys have better luck than I do, so far I've gone through 3 Metroplexes that claimed to be "mint" and they were far from it. But here's my review of the KO toy. Like I said, I had just got mine. It shipped VERY quickly, in fact in just a few days.

The Box: The box was okay, it was very thin compared to the old Metroplex box and some of the colouring actually rubbed off the black parts and it left some blue (probably toxic) residue on my hand. LOL. So I notice the Glow in the Dark poster thing on the box and I open it up and right away, I notice there's no poster. Is the box the poster? Beats me. I didn't really care.

I take it out of the insert and look over the parts, everything is there. The sticker sheets are okay. The glossy one with the helipad and building details was okay. The instruction booklet is okay, some of the colour ran. Nice and glossy indeed. The other one was kind of weak. Right away you could tell it was a KO sticker sheet to the quality of the Mirage KO stickersheet. It feels thin and flimsy and you can tell that it'll smudge if you rub it with semi-sweaty fingers.

Six-Gun, all the pieces are here and fit together okay. The maroon cannons don't fire the missiles. Doesn't appear to have a spring in there at all. Also the colouring is more intense on the maroon pieces than the original. All the pieces fit together reasonably to form Six-Gun, though the white chest piece is a bit loose. The cannons don't really fit on the body too well to form the legs. It's a bit tight and when I plugged them in, there were major stress marks on the sockets on the body piece where the legs plug into place. To be honest, I wouldn't know it was a knock off if I didn't know there was a knock off out there.

Scamper, well Scamper is pretty good. Transforms well, all parts look legit except for a few scuffs on the hand. Pieces plug together nicely. It looks VERY authentic. Overall quality, excellent.

Slammer looks VERY good. Light gray, is very close to the original colour and the whites are VERY white. We're talking glossy gorgeous beautiful minty white. It simply looks like a mint white Slammer. I can't say anything bad about him except something everything that is gray suffers from and I will get to that.

Metroplex. WOW, this thing is white. Was he ever this white? I don't remember. All 3 of the ones I got had beige looking feet with a beige looking left shoulder. This one has a PURE WHITE left shoulder, PURE WHITE antennas, PURE WHITE feet. Holy cow. The whites are VERY white as I would expect from a new toy and the blacks are glossy and perfect. The gray parts, well, they're okay. The Hasbro/Takara info is actually embossed on the back of the toy like on the genuine ones The whole Metroplex toy suffers from that dirty contaminated gray look where it looks like there was a dirty stream of black or dark gray dye that wasn't mixed properly going through the plastic. I suppose Masterpiece Optimus Prime's legs suffer from the same thing so I guess it's not the worst thing in the world. The left shoulder doesn't stay folded in very well and keeps unfolding itself which one of my genuine Metroplexes suffered from. I also noticed the antenna in Metroplex's arm is backwards so that that hollowed out part is facing foward... Another lame thing is that the wheels (which are the plastic version) are screwed in like the cheap Devastator KOs! Also the fists have slightly less detail than the real one. Lastly, his rubsign doesn't even freaking work!

As far as the sizes go, all 4 units are proportionately the same as the originals.

I paid $100 for this KO, overall I am VERY impressed with his quality considering he is a KO. Do I recommend him? I have to say yes, but not for the price I got him at. If you can find him cheap, sure. He seems of pretty good quality for a KO and better than I was expecting to be perfectly honest. He also seems very easy to disassemble and would recommend replacing majorly yellowed parts with the new gorgeous white pieces. You could come out with an absolutely box perfect Metroplex. You could even take the rubber wheels off an old one using a soldering iron and then inserting them into the widened holes created by the screws after filling them with a bit of epoxy putty. I definitely recommend getting the real deal first though, having a KO version of him is good for repairs though.
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Sir Auros
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Post by Sir Auros »

I just don't understand the market for these new, really expensive KOs. If we were talking $15-$20 more than original price, I'd still be interested, but the prices so far negate the quality for me.
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crazy_chris
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Post by crazy_chris »

I agree. I kind of knew I was going to get a cheap KO, but I still feel a bit sore over the price. Still, I got some good replacement parts for my genuine article. I also noticed upon taking it apart that it has a plastic beam to hold the arms together and to the body, the real one has a metal beam.
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crazy_chris
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Post by crazy_chris »

I take it back, the rub sign does work! I thought it didn't because I didn't think it had the film that the figures traditionally have but it did and with it removed, the sign works perfectly. I also spent the past half hour taking the wheels off my real Metroplex and put them on the KO and I also put the metal beam from the real one into the KO, it looks amazing now. I hate to support KOs but when you're like me and you spent around 200 bucks on "mint" Metroplexes that turn out to be junk, this is the closest you'll ever get to a mint one unless they released a reissue.
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Tetsuro
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Post by Tetsuro »

I'll be wanting that Metrotitan.

I'm such a sucker for the latter days Japanese G1 stuff. :(
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