Knock Off Versions of Powerglide and Cosmos on Ebay

I heard ebay was cracking down on the word "knockoff". If they call them knockoffs in the listing ebay might end the listing early - so they have to say "reissue" or "chinese made" or some other way without saying "knockoff". At least they are not saying flat out "Powerglide C10 MOSC case fresh original toy!" These auctions are clearly being honest about the toy's origins as a reissue. They don't say "hasbro reissue".

As for snapping in half when you take them out of the package, that's happened on several of my "real" Transformers anyways. Who would open a MISP G1 Mini-Bot from 1985? A loose one can be gotten on ebay very easily to play with. Keep sealed toys from that long ago sealed people!

yeah there been bumble bees and beachcombers for ages on ebay.co.uk

There's a couple versions of BB,CliffJumper, and SeaSpray floating around too.

Funny though, you can normaly get the minibots in lot auctions for pennies on what they ORIGIONALY cost.

But hell if you want a carded thing that looks like something you want, here ya go!

The arms on Cosmos seem to be put on wrong. I know the turrets are suppose to his fingers and yet they are in the air and I know that putting them down will cause the green side to be in the front instead of the yellow.

This just adds more fuel to the cause why Takara is moving their factories out of China.

I'd like to see the real versions of these figures reissued, actually. In any case, I wouldn't pay $25 apiece for these, but I'd sure pay $5-$7 if I happened upon them in Chinatown.

"Luckily it will be very easy to tell true G1 Cosmos from this Knock Off variety, as the Knock Off labels Cosmos as a "Spase Ship".

...and, if I'm not mistaken, Cosmos'es arms are on backwards...

Call me devious but I find this stuff very off-putting so i have logged in to an old ebay account I have and posted a question saying " Why have you listed these as re-issues when they are obviously low quality copies that are not licensed by hasbro or takara?" ( or words to that effect) Now when anybody looks at the listings before they bid they will also see that question and whatever answer he puts up also and hopefully realise what these truly are. This kind of product should not be sold unless it is absolutely clear that they are of a much lower plastic quality and are not licensed, regardless of the fact that these are copyrighted designs and this auction breaks several laws EVERY country has ( yes - even china! ). Have I done the right thing?

[quote=doomseer]Have I done the right thing?[/quote]

Hell yes, you've done the right thing. It disgusts me when I see these blatantly obvious KOs being listed as re-issues. It's even worse when the KO looks almost like the real thing to the point where only a very astute collector would be able to tell the difference. They're not re-issues if they're not official. Yes, the company may have gotten hold of the molds, but that's all they have the right to use.

People just getting back into collecting or collecting for the first time could easily be fooled into thinking this was an official Hasbro/Takara product.

Does anyone know the difference between an official G1 vintage Cosmos and the KOs from the past 15 years? Trying to find one on ebay to replace my beat up one from when I was a kid. I swear I thought I had replaced him years ago, but I think I was just using the reissues in place of an original. This all gets hard to keep track of after so many years and 10s of thousands of Transformers later.

One thing is sure.

Any "reissue" that is sold from China are 100% knock-offs.

As a collector who care for VALUE, those are worthless. But if you just want to get a feel of the mold without having to spend a fortune on the original, it's a valid option. However, beware that the quality can vary. I once had a Grimlock and Shockwave KO and both broke on me quite easily. Still, their accessories could go with the original so that's that. I also bought a set of the Menasor team because 100$ was better than nearly 300$. The quality is solid but I didn't applied the rubsings by principle.

-Kanrabat- wrote:One thing is sure.

Any "reissue" that is sold from China are 100% knock-offs.

As a collector who care for VALUE, those are worthless. But if you just want to get a feel of the mold without having to spend a fortune on the original, it's a valid option. However, beware that the quality can vary. I once had a Grimlock and Shockwave KO and both broke on me quite easily. Still, their accessories could go with the original so that's that. I also bought a set of the Menasor team because 100$ was better than nearly 300$. The quality is solid but I didn't applied the rubsings by principle.

But what about loose ones? Trying to make sure that the loose ones I get are not KOs.

Seibertron wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:One thing is sure.

Any "reissue" that is sold from China are 100% knock-offs.

As a collector who care for VALUE, those are worthless. But if you just want to get a feel of the mold without having to spend a fortune on the original, it's a valid option. However, beware that the quality can vary. I once had a Grimlock and Shockwave KO and both broke on me quite easily. Still, their accessories could go with the original so that's that. I also bought a set of the Menasor team because 100$ was better than nearly 300$. The quality is solid but I didn't applied the rubsings by principle.

But what about loose ones? Trying to make sure that the loose ones I get are not KOs.

Very, VERY hard to tell. If they come with the original box and the box is a Canadian or European box, chances are they are legit. If the G1 toy never, ever had a "Chinese reissue", it's legit.

This is not 100% guarantee, but buying from trusted sellers like Wheeljacklab or Mandarake is a great way to get authentic G1 toys. You have to pay the price, of course.

Often, if the toy is loose and "naked" and you're sure it's authentic, you can also buy the KO just to give the accessories to the legit one. It's a good solution to have a real G1 toy that is "100%complete-ish".

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:One thing is sure.

Any "reissue" that is sold from China are 100% knock-offs.

As a collector who care for VALUE, those are worthless. But if you just want to get a feel of the mold without having to spend a fortune on the original, it's a valid option. However, beware that the quality can vary. I once had a Grimlock and Shockwave KO and both broke on me quite easily. Still, their accessories could go with the original so that's that. I also bought a set of the Menasor team because 100$ was better than nearly 300$. The quality is solid but I didn't applied the rubsings by principle.

But what about loose ones? Trying to make sure that the loose ones I get are not KOs.

Very, VERY hard to tell. If they come with the original box and the box is a Canadian or European box, chances are they are legit. If the G1 toy never, ever had a "Chinese reissue", it's legit.

This is not 100% guarantee, but buying from trusted sellers like Wheeljacklab or Mandarake is a great way to get authentic G1 toys. You have to pay the price, of course.

Often, if the toy is loose and "naked" and you're sure it's authentic, you can also buy the KO just to give the accessories to the legit one. It's a good solution to have a real G1 toy that is "100%complete-ish".

One side note about "Chinese Reissues": China did get its own version of the G1 toyline. The toys had little to no changes (they're mainly with the copyright stamping), the main giveaway was the packaging featuring stickers with their Chinese name and release info.