Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (62) - G1/G2 Mirage, Oversize Alternator Rodimus, Guard Fire

Finally!!!!!! My package arrived!!!!!

KO G1/G2 Mirage
After so long, finally got the rare "Tutti-Fruity" version of Mirage!!!! Not many pieces left by the seller, so grab it while you can!!!! (Or check out with Mike from KOToys.com, probably he may still have some, check out this thread for more poison...)

The box it was contained in was good, but the card packaging is... torn and tattered... anyway... Plastic quality is bad, and the leg joints, waist joint are loose, arms are moulded in 1 piece without elbow joints ... So why do I still recommend it? Because it looks cute!!!!! So small!!! Never realised that G1 Mirage is so small...



KO Alternator Rodimus
A bit disappointed when I saw the size, thought will be bigger, but it is actually a bit smaller than leader class figures... Parts start to came off the moment I open the packaging... OK, I lied... 1 part already came off in the packaging... anyway, overall looks quite nice, will transform this figure if got time... Rims of wheels are chrome-painted, btw...



KO Guard Fire Set
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After years of waiting, finally collected all 4 members of the Guardion Team!!!!!!!!!! Happy.... until I pick the Guard Fire out of packaging...
Some background: This piece was packaged together with the KO Alternator Rodimus, and the seller from TaoBao just placed the 2 together and used the cardboards to wrap around each other to form a box, and added some other packaging card to cover the remaining sides... and wrap this with a black trash bag... End of background...
Now with all the rough handling, the back part of Guard Fire literally crushed into bits and pieces... no kidding... managed to piece up the "larger" pieces and had to fill the small gaps with tissue+super-glue...


And when I finally open up the rest of the members, the pieces give way too... sigh... spent my precious time repairing... and still not done yet... Sigh.... Anyway, tried to form up the gestalt... and here goes:

Guardion!!!!!!!!!!


Super Guardion!!!!!!!!!!


Not too bad! And btw, the Met-on (means Helmet-on: the individual robots, except Guard Wing, have a back pack to spring out a helmet when they shout" Met-on!" in cartoon) function is still found in the KOs, sweet...

Restoration - KO TFA Sentinel Prime

KO Sentinel Prime. The Tick-Crossover. Hahahaha...

He is not bad, most joints are quite tight, save a couple of them... but the lance has been shorten, I don't know why... So, made a longer lance for him using polystyrene sheet... Ugly... but sigh, no heart to do...

So after restoration, the car mode looks like this:

Bot mode...

Hope my 3rd package comes soon... I want my Guard Fire (so that my Super Guarion can be finally formed after umpteen years)! I want my oversize Alternators Rodimus! I want my multicolour G1 Mirage! ... Hmmm... Should I get the KO Shadow Dagwon set, Joyride, Fastlane, RID Galvatron? hmmm..... $$$$$ is not on my side....

Update: Animated Jazz (aka Storm Shadow)

Not really any mods or restoration or repaints... just some tightening up, and a new concept of weapons for Animated Jazz...

Very nice piece of KO once touched-up... just a little dirty paint... looks a little oversize, but could be just my imagination...


presenting the new G.I. Joe "cross-over" : Storm Shadow!!!!!!! .....


... Wolverine-style!!!!

Very nice nice piece... by now, I have a lower rejection level for TF Animated...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of (non) KOs (61) - G1 Commemorative Piranacon

Unable to resist the temptation #1, I relented and bought the G1 Commemorative Piranacon today, at TRU Suntec. Was quite surprised that it actually cost only $79.90, much less than the G1 Blaster reissue ($99.90)!!! My actual price is $59.90, as I used my redeemed vouchers, so quite happy with the price factor. So how is this piece, well...

Box looks good, like the Hasbro Masterpiece packaging (I think)... or at least it is similar to my KO Masterpiece Optimus Prime... The accessories are hidden in the box at the lower layer, and luckily, I have all accessories, all accounted for...


Back of box is typical... however, the pictures are not true reflections of the figures inside, some colour changes...


Nice artwork...


The other side of box...


... Out of box... Looking closely:

(1) Overbite (Gun) is missing a big rivet in the fish arm facing front (has used a washer-screw to secure the fish-arm already)
(2) Overbite's other fish arm has the rivet, but is not pushed in all the way...
(3) Skalor has a loose screw in its... groin area... (repaired threaded hole with super glue and re-screw in)
(4) Stress marks on the legs of Snaptrap (red/pink plastic)... well, actually the stress marks are unavoidable for that type of plastic, so... anyway, if they don't break, then its OK for me...


Very good piece of gestalt TF, finally able to own a Piranacon at an affordable price (less than $60)!!!

p.s. Yes, my temptation #2 is G1 Blaster reissue, but after looking at the price tag, I overcame it... will wait for lelong...

Update - KO Kabaya Powermaster Optimus Prime

Was deciding whether to continue assemble the Macross Valkyrie or a KO Kabaya kit... In the end, choose the latter... and decided to assemble this... Kabaya Powermaster Optimus Prime!!! And it turn out to be a sweet little gem...

KO Kabaya Powermaster Optimus Prime with trailer...

Optimus Prime in his cab mode... Notice the details are so rich, for such a small piece, and remember, this is a KO...

Optimus Prime in bot mode ... compare to my mini Ginrai pic below it, transformation is exactly the same, and the colours are near too!!!

Rifle seems a bit too large....

Guess what, the trailer can form the Battle Station!!! Compare to my mini version below this pic, not much difference... except got to modify the rifles' positions for the KO Kabaya version...

And now the best mode we have been waiting for... Super Powermaster Optimus Prime!!!! (sorry, not sure of the proper name, and lazy to find out, hahaha...)... painted the face, for fun... almost identical to my mini version!!!!!! Amazing....

Looks tall, from this angle... "Super Powermaster OP does not need any weapon, my super(natural) powers will defeat you!!!"...

"... or maybe not..."

Feel like painting some of the parts to bring out the essence... maybe...

Restoration - Oversize Movie Optimus Prime (Leader Class)

Oversize Movie Optimus Prime (Leader Class).... is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seen pictures of it compared to Unicron, almost the same size!!! In fact, after toying around with this, I suddenly feel the original Leader size version feels very small...

Below picture is before restoration and below below is after...

Major fixes include cutting of fist to rotate 180 degrees ad glue it back...

... cutting the knee pad to 2 pieces for folding...

... No time to make double hinge for the back-pack piece though....

To illustrate, here's a comparison showing my 3 sizes for Movie OP... Middle one is the original Leader class size...

The oversize version is HUGE!!!!!!!! Father, son and baby...

And yes, I will be replacing the original sized version with some parts to make it more faithful to the original...