More G1 KO Cassettes including the Japanese Dinos?!

In light of the recent increase in interest, and the positive comments towards KOs in this section, I need to remind people of the purpose of this section:

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KOs and counterfeit/replica items must not be promoted/sold here - only post about them to help others know how to avoid getting fooled by them. If you want KOs, search google for them.

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That also means that if you want to talk favourably about them, or talk about any that you recently (intentionally) purchased, please take it to a messageboard that solicits discussion of counterfeit Transformers.
If you want to help out other fans, post up ways of identifying the fakes (without promoting it of course).

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Originally Posted by VERT

Yeah Powerglide :D

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That's the KO of the Wonderfest Garage kit, no? It was originally licensed from Takara...... I don't think that license would apply now though.

Also, if you weren't aware, Powerglide mini-bot has been knocked off before :(
You can get him in the Transformers Collection (TFC) release from '04 but I don't think he was released in encore.

Looks like KO CASSETTES SQUALKTALK BEASTBOX GRANDSLAM and RAINDANCE are close to release

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...I don't have Squawktalk... should I be concerned? Or are people more likely to not separate these KOs and sell them as lots? (e.g. Squawktalk w/ Beastbox)

What I mean is, if I see Squawktalk sold on his on, do you guys reckon there's a good chance it'd be legit? Or should I play it safe and try to gets myself a Squawktalk ASAP before the KO come out?

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

...I don't have Squawktalk... should I be concerned? Or are people more likely to not separate these KOs and sell them as lots? (e.g. Squawktalk w/ Beastbox)

What I mean is, if I see Squawktalk sold on his on, do you guys reckon there's a good chance it'd be legit? Or should I play it safe and try to gets myself a Squawktalk ASAP before the KO come out?

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i'd be looking now. They say these KOs will be available by end of month. I'm sure there will be slight differences with the original and KO though

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

...I don't have Squawktalk... should I be concerned? Or are people more likely to not separate these KOs and sell them as lots? (e.g. Squawktalk w/ Beastbox)

What I mean is, if I see Squawktalk sold on his on, do you guys reckon there's a good chance it'd be legit? Or should I play it safe and try to gets myself a Squawktalk ASAP before the KO come out?

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Do what I did. When there were hints of an imminent KO release, I used to rush and buy the real one before it happened.

Better safe than sorry. Thanks for the advice guys. :)

Squalkbox and Slamdance pre-orders are up. Expected to ship in 7-15 days. Buyers beware

Just got Slamdance on ebay as a preemptive move because of these scumbags. Hopefully I can also pick up Beastbox too before these hit eBay. :mad::mad:

(moved posts about KOTOYS to their own feedback topic)

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Hit up HD for an answer to that man, he's one of the members who've most recently bought the 4 of them that I know of. :o

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I can give that answer over PM :D

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Originally Posted by valkyrie_76

Interesting......time to tease a certain member about this :D

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who?

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Originally Posted by valkyrie_76

That is probably the only way Ill get a set of Dinocassettes....unless someone wants to be nice to me.

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who again? :D

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

Just these 2 so far, they have the other two on the works still I suppose, as that was apparently what the creators have planned...

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I going to speak slightly in code here, but I think the "other 2" may take some time before they see a release. Some KO company has indirectly approached someone who owns the originals and asked for certain things re the other 2 - they don't have all it takes to make the release. They have been turned down by the person of course. So until they find someone else with the originals willing to provide what they need, the "other 2" may take some time to see the light of day.

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Originally Posted by kup

Do what I did. When there were hints of an imminent KO release, I used to rush and buy the real one before it happened.

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Agree that's the best plan!

It might take even longer thanks to a certain phone call last night ;)

Just found this listing on eBay UK guys, so be aware that it would seem that some sellers are willing to be as dubious as to only mention their 'reissue' nature in the listing's description and not in the listing's heading/title. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Hursticon

Just found this listing on eBay UK guys, so be aware that it would seem that some sellers are willing to be as dubious as to only mention their 'reissue' nature in the listing's description and not in the listing's heading/title. :rolleyes:

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This was always going to happen, despite the claims of others across in multiple forums. I've reported the item. I hope others do the same.

I broke down and ordered a set of the cassettes, and they arrived this week.
All safe and sound, by the way, from a certain retailer.

But my post is not to review their service and reliability, but the rather poor quality of the product. At first, I was just thrilled to finally have my very first piece of Japanese toy packaging, and planned to display them just behind my two dinos. I don't know how the originals were produced, but this is a single piece of cardboard folded to make a box, and then the "tab" part that sticks up from the square box is glued together. Extremely flimsily. to the point where the glue was peeling on one of them, and just looked so tacky.

I can't believe that anyone buying these toys will mistake them from the original. the cassettes themselves don't come with the stickers applied, and there is no sticker instruction sheet. My hands have microtremors, which makes applying ANY stickers a little difficult, but the complexity of these dinos and number of separate stickers made for a rather messy job. Many times I had to reapply, because there were no instructions on which stickers went where. I'm guessing the originals didn't have these problems, and came applied (just like the Encore cassettes).

The raptor cassette is just beautiful, and very impressive. He's my favourite of the bunch. The one that looks like a diplodocus (sp?) has serious quality contol problems. The head/neck just won't stay up. Even if you delicately pose it, within a few minutes it just droops again. I think this is the quality of the little metal screws/rivets/nuts, whatever they are called. I might have to try and pop them out and replace them, but with my hands it isn't an easy job
and I'm not mechanically minded to find the right one at a hardware store.

Your mileage may vary, but if all of these have the same quality problems, I can guarantee that if you buy one or both of these loose on ebay, you will be able to tell the genuine from the knock-off rather easily. Also, the sticker sheets just do NOT match the box art. I don't know whether the box art and photos never matched the deco of the originals, but you can also see that the colour of these characters is quite off compared to the actual toy as well.

Hopefully some of you may find this information useful. I don't want to "knock" the knock-off - its rather affordable for collectors compared to the original, but I'd bin mine in a heartbeat if reissued in encore. It just isn't very well executed. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless you're good with making modifications to robots for loose joints.

KOToys = closing down.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

At the risk of turning myself into a pariah in the fandom again, I have a confession to make. After I got banned from KO Toys' forums for voicing concerns over there being no intentionally built in differences between the KO Dino cassettes they were making and the genuine article, I did an IP check and found out their website was hosted in the US. About a week and a half ago, I used the international minutes on my mobile to report them the Hasbro, including giving them their IP address, and website address. Looks like they acted pretty swiftly on this one.

Some people might hate me for this, but I'm proud of what I did and I'd do it again. Contrary to their claims, KO Toys were giving scammers cart blanche to pass off fakes as genuine G1 Toys, which has even proven true in at least one eBay auction for the Dino Cassettes.

HasTak certainly need to get better with their reissues, and there's certainly a market for access to these molds. However if someone is genuinely about "filling gaps" then this needs to be done in such a way that scammers can't rip people off in the process.

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Originally Posted by Cat

KOToys = closing down.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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It is?

Damn Ill have to make an order soon for some kitbashing. Rather use the KO stuff than the original stuff.

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Originally Posted by Cat

KOToys = closing down.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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I honestly would have to agree here. :cool:

Whilst it is obvious that KOToys isn't necessarily creating all of their KO items, what is more obvious is the rather cost effective long term strategy Has/Tak is employing in the combat against infringements against their Intellectual Property. ;)
Good on 'em, eventually if they cut off enough Limbs then there wont be anything to feed the Head. :)

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Originally Posted by bowspearer

At the risk of turning myself into a pariah in the fandom again, I have a confession to make. After I got banned from KO Toys' forums for voicing concerns over there being no intentionally built in differences between the KO Dino cassettes they were making and the genuine article, I did an IP check and found out their website was hosted in the US. About a week and a half ago, I used the international minutes on my mobile to report them the Hasbro, including giving them their IP address, hosting company (which is based in Michigan) and website address. Looks like they acted pretty swiftly on this one.

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What... so Hasbro are allowing KO Toys to keep their site live in order to flog-off the remainder of their stock out of sheer kindness :rolleyes: Hasbro have been aware of KO Toys and where they operate from for years.

Bowspearer - A) Good on you.

B) BUT I'd suggest removing the post. The guy from KOToys is a vindictive arsehole known for harassment and insanity.

Save yourself any potential drama, IMO. It's just not worth the risk.

C) Marry me.

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Originally Posted by 5FDP

What... so Hasbro are allowing KO Toys to keep their site live in order to flog-off the remainder of their stock out of sheer kindness :rolleyes: Hasbro have been aware of KO Toys and where they operate from for years.

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Who knows, I never heard back from Hasbro, so maybe it's just a coincidence. On the other hand, maybe there were rumblings and KO Toys got nervous. Maybe my phone call had nothing do do with what has gone down. I just like the thought of potentially having made a difference here. Even if I didn't. it was still worth it and I'm still proud of it.

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Originally Posted by Cat

Bowspearer - A) Good on you.

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Thanks, it was partly self serving though as this was bound to affect me as a collector and other collectors down the track.

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Originally Posted by Cat

B) BUT I'd suggest removing the post. The guy from KOToys is a vindictive arsehole known for harassment and insanity.

Save yourself any potential drama, IMO. It's just not worth the risk.

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Last I checked, Australia has extradition treaties with China (where I believe he resides),the USA and Canada. If he ever got to violent and threatening, I'd simply contact the AFP ;). At that point I'm fairly certain there would be grounds there for him to be refused entry if he ever did come over here, so I should be pretty safe. Besides if I got any abusive emails, I'd simply block him and report him to his ISPs.

After having another psychopath by the name of Don Murphy (yes, Transformers movie producer Don Murphy), to the point where he even pretended to be me to vandalise Wikipedia articles he didn't like while constantly harassing me on AIM; I can handle this guy. ;)

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Originally Posted by Cat

C) Marry me.

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I'm flattered, but I suspect that if I entertain the notion, my girlfriend will murder me.:D

Now I'm crushed, man.


EDIT: But seriously, at the very least, PLEASE edit out some of the info you passed along, as your statements provide VERY good ideas of how the guy can start operating again.

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Originally Posted by Cat

But seriously, at the very least, PLEASE edit out some of the info you passed along, as your statements provide VERY good ideas of how the guy can start operating again.

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I've edited it, but it's gone viral in a way with multiple people on here and on the Seibertron boards quoting and discussing it.

That said, if the guy has even half a brain, he'll see that replicating the packaging to the point where scammers get a free pass, not only makes enemies out of HasTak, but also of the very fans and collectors they want to sell to.

The irony of this is I went from wanting to buy a set of Dino cassettes, to reporting them to Hasbro, all because of that packaging issue. There's a lesson for them to learn there if they really do want to operate successfully.

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Originally Posted by bowspearer

At the risk of turning myself into a pariah in the fandom again, I have a confession to make. After I got banned from KO Toys' forums for voicing concerns over there being no intentionally built in differences between the KO Dino cassettes they were making and the genuine article, I did an IP check and found out their website was hosted in the US. About a week and a half ago, I used the international minutes on my mobile to report them the Hasbro, including giving them their IP address, and website address. Looks like they acted pretty swiftly on this one.

Some people might hate me for this, but I'm proud of what I did and I'd do it again. Contrary to their claims, KO Toys were giving scammers cart blanche to pass off fakes as genuine G1 Toys, which has even proven true in at least one eBay auction for the Dino Cassettes.

HasTak certainly need to get better with their reissues, and there's certainly a market for access to these molds. However if someone is genuinely about "filling gaps" then this needs to be done in such a way that scammers can't rip people off in the process.

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I thought they were closing due to internal problems nothing to do with Hasbro. As it has already been said, Hasbro is not ignorant of KOToys and other websites promoting KOs, they just choose to do nothing about it.

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Originally Posted by kup

I thought they were closing due to internal problems nothing to do with Hasbro. As it has already been said, Hasbro is not ignorant of KOToys and other websites promoting KOs, they just choose to do nothing about it.

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Maybe the phone call had nothing to do with it. However there was some other information I found and provided them with (which I have since edited to remove) which would have made taking them down dead easy for Hasbro to do.

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Originally Posted by kup

I thought they were closing due to internal problems nothing to do with Hasbro. As it has already been said, Hasbro is not ignorant of KOToys and other websites promoting KOs, they just choose to do nothing about it.

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Nah, that was definitely not it.

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Originally Posted by kup

I thought they were closing due to internal problems nothing to do with Hasbro. As it has already been said, Hasbro is not ignorant of KOToys and other websites promoting KOs, they just choose to do nothing about it.

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Likely - if it were hasbro, Chimungmung and Chms would be going too and there would be a good chance of some sort of press release.

The guy probably went mad from all the money he has made :D

Give it a few months and notkotoys.com will be up. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Cat

KOToys = closing down.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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Lol that's actually pretty good news. No more depreciation in value of our beloved vintage G1's!

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Originally Posted by bowspearer

Maybe the phone call had nothing to do with it. However there was some other information I found and provided them with (which I have since edited to remove) which would have made taking them down dead easy for Hasbro to do.

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Nah man. Don't go acting all one-man-army / it-was-all-me / rambo on the announcement of kotoys closing. We all know heavenly forces were truly at work here.

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Originally Posted by Skullcruncher

The guy probably went mad from all the money he has made :D

Give it a few months and notkotoys.com will be up. :rolleyes:

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Lolll

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Originally Posted by Cat

KOToys = closing down.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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Amen

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Originally Posted by Skullcruncher

Likely - if it were hasbro, Chimungmung

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Not true. As one board member has requested I not mention certain details, I wont publicly say why due to this possibly being read publicly. However there is one significant difference between KOToys and Chimungmung.

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

Nah man. Don't go acting all one-man-army / it-was-all-me / rambo on the announcement of kotoys closing. We all know heavenly forces were truly at work here.

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We have no idea whether it was or wasn't that phone call- either by providing valuable info, or simply being one complaint too many- that caused this to happen. The reason I think it might is because of the timing involved (Hasbro would need a couple of weeks to investigate, pass it through the proper channels and then act).

I do know that the woman I spoke to over the phone at Hasbro customer service was very grateful for the info.

Also how do you know that if heavenly forces were at work here, that I wasn't merely one of the instruments used to make this happen. ;)

If it was me then the lesson is clear- never screw up a fan's chance at one of their grails (Slamdance). :D:p

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Originally Posted by bowspearer

Not true. As one board member has requested I not mention certain details, I wont publicly say why due to this possibly being read publicly. However there is one significant difference between KOToys and Chimungmung.

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You like one and not the other? :p heh who would ever know the real story they are all 'friends' as has been factually stated on another board.

With one major players gone the source where all the KO's are made would still be there so I wouldn't put money on not seeing a KO G1 Weird Wolf, Slam Dance etc, "Knocking Off" KO toys may just delay these guys.

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Originally Posted by Skullcruncher

You like one and not the other? :p heh who would ever know the real story they are all 'friends' as has been factually stated on another board.

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Pmed you what the difference is between the 2 is.

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Originally Posted by Skullcruncher

With one major players gone the source where all the KO's are made would still be there so I wouldn't put money on not seeing a KO G1 Weird Wolf, Slam Dance etc, "Knocking Off" KO toys may just delay these guys.

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Yes but in this case something could be done about it, and in similar cases, the same will be true.

Also things are eventually going to get to the point where China will be forced to act of Hasbro will move their production facilities elsewhere, potentially costing the Chinese economy trillions.

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Originally Posted by bowspearer

Pmed you what the difference is between the 2 is.



Yes but in this case something could be done about it, and in similar cases, the same will be true.

Also things are eventually going to get to the point where China will be forced to act of Hasbro will move their production facilities elsewhere, potentially costing the Chinese economy trillions.

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I seriously doubt Hasbro is involved at all with KO Toys closing or that they will do anything about chinese counterfeits aside from blowing and puffing.

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Originally Posted by kup

I seriously doubt Hasbro is involved at all with KO Toys closing or that they will do anything about chinese counterfeits aside from blowing and puffing.

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Actually there's one particular difference in the case of KOToys, which again, I'm not mentioning publicly at the request of one forum member.

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Originally Posted by kup

I seriously doubt Hasbro is involved at all with KO Toys closing or that they will do anything about chinese counterfeits aside from blowing and puffing.

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On the KOtoys forum itself (link below courtesy of fullmetalhero) the store owner says he was pressured into shutting down by some "company". Whether or not it was actually Hasbro, we're yet to find out.

What's interesting though is that he's still siphoning / liquidating the remaining stock and honoring preorders. The crackdown by this unknown company on KOtoys clearly hasn't taken on a very hardline approach if he's still able to operate for the remainder of the year.

https://www.kotoys.com/forum/index.p...ic,2161.0.html

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

On the KOtoys forum itself (link below courtesy of fullmetalhero) the store owner says he was pressured into shutting down by some "company". Whether or not it was actually Hasbro, we're yet to find out.

What's interesting though is that he's still siphoning / liquidating the remaining stock and honoring preorders. The crackdown by this unknown company on KOtoys clearly hasn't taken on a very hardline approach if he's still able to operate.

https://www.kotoys.com/forum/index.p...ic,2161.0.html

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It may well be that Hasbro have looked into it and the legal costs outweigh the gains from taking action against Mike/Kate/GenZhao, so this is the best option for them. Annoying as all hell that the KO G1 Combiner cassettes are going to make it onto the market though.

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

On the KOtoys forum itself (link below courtesy of fullmetalhero) the store owner says he was pressured into shutting down by some "company". Whether or not it was actually Hasbro, we're yet to find out.

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Someone else mentioned that maybe Fun Publications had something to do with it so they might be 'the company'. Maybe in response to complaints received at this years BotCon about KO's being sold at an official convention.

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

What's interesting though is that he's still siphoning / liquidating the remaining stock and honoring preorders. The crackdown by this unknown company on KOtoys clearly hasn't taken on a very hardline approach if he's still able to operate for the remainder of the year.

https://www.kotoys.com/forum/index.p...ic,2161.0.html

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1,000,000% agree

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Originally Posted by canofwhoopass_87

On the KOtoys forum itself (link below courtesy of fullmetalhero) the store owner says he was pressured into shutting down by some "company". Whether or not it was actually Hasbro, we're yet to find out.

What's interesting though is that he's still siphoning / liquidating the remaining stock and honoring preorders. The crackdown by this unknown company on KOtoys clearly hasn't taken on a very hardline approach if he's still able to operate for the remainder of the year.

https://www.kotoys.com/forum/index.p...ic,2161.0.html

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That's the main reason why I think Hasbro had nothing to do with it. They would have shut them down completely not allow the to sell their remaining stock like a normal shop going out of business.

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Originally Posted by kup

That's the main reason why I think Hasbro had nothing to do with it. They would have shut them down completely not allow the to sell their remaining stock like a normal shop going out of business.

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It could well be. The thing is with this that KO Toys had managed to piss off that many groups that this was inevitable- fans by facilitating scam artists (the very fans they were claiming they were marketting to), Hasbro and FP into the mix.

I honestly can't think of a more disastrous PR situation for a toy/collectibles company in recent years.