Some my undertanding on KOs

[GoktimusPrime]

5, Factory directs. These are unboxed toys, directed from factory. They are born from same product line of genuine boxed toys, but deliveried out of factory without packing for various versions. Honest sellers in china will sell these with a decent plastic bag packed at cheaper price. Unhonest sellers may find box pack themselves and sell at retail price. You won't see any factory direct of metroplex but you will see lots of rotf OPs, etc.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that these factory directs aren't legally sanctioned by Hasbro/Takara, rather factory employees or insiders smuggle them out of the factory and then distribute them. If this is true then no amount of retailer honesty would really change the legality of this practice.

6, Korean version, they have korean language packaging. In Korea, transformers are distributed by a partner company of takara. So all TFs sold in korea are neither in english nor japanese box. I heard their quality is same as japanese henkei versions but cannot verify.

Transformers in Korea are distributed by a company called Sonokong (孫悟空). The toys are the same quality as Takara, but sometimes their tech spec stats can be incorrect, and often the toys aren't even packaged with the correct tech specs card (or sometimes none at all)! The Autobot insignia on the tower of their Brave Maximus is factory applied upside-down. But otherwise they're the same as what you'd get with Takara.

G1 japanese box without "复刻版" paint on upper left corner, then KOs, but maybe in good quality.

I think you meant "復刻版." Be aware that only the 復刻版トランスフォーマー (Fukkokuban (Reissue Edition) Transformers) and Encore series feature the word 復刻版 on their packaging. Other Japanese reissue series such as Transformers Collection and Collectors Edition and numerous exclusives do not have this.

Metroplex and G1 devastator has many KOs. Have to judeg by naked eyes. Don't buy from Internet.

Devastator's never been officially reissued, so anyone claiming otherwise is lying.

Some of the 25th US version aniversary toys, in my opinion, even worse than some KOs.

It's unfortunate when a counterfeit is of better quality than a legitimate reproduction, but it still doesn't change the fact that it's a counterfeit.