Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (98) - Undersized KO Goldran, Undersized KO Advenger

My haul from TaoBao finally came tonight... Gotten a "Movie Moments" Sally+McQueen set, but the whole bubble package is torn from the cardboard... taped with a bit of scotch-tape... arrrgh... now cannot confirm if it is 2nd hand or not... hope it is not... anyway, cleaned the cars & internal plastic bubble with anti-bacterial wipes, hopefully cleaned of any germs, if any... Yes, I am a hygiene freak, hahaha... and I am buying this as a gift for my 4 yr old nephew... sigh...

Anyway, gotten these 2 absolutely wonderful KO Braves! They are from The Brave of the Gold Goldran series; undersized, but absolutely faithful to the original (more or less) !!!!

Undersized KO Goldran
Very very bling!!!! The gold chrome is sooooo shiny! And the other parts are similar to the original's colour. I have also seen a reissue (Korean version I think) that gold chromes almost the whole Goldran (or Gorgon, the big bot/dinosaur name)... Wonder if I should tape-chrome my KO or not... Hmm... Anyway, very very nice piece of KO... Dran is not included, the chest piece of Goldran is only a single piece of mold. It includes the long sword with a scabbard/sheath that can be tabbed at the side of the waist! The shins also have the flipped out cannons, less the firing missiles. Joints are reasonably tight for most joints, something not common in KOs. Only little in-perfect will be the tail-halves cannot close properly and tends to pop out... need to trim somewhere... Overall, a very wonderful piece of KO. Think KOToys is also selling this (these 2 KOs, in fact.)... SGD $7.35 with shipping.



Undersized KO Advenger
Another amazing "little" Brave figure. Includes all weapons (I think); has the big shield, and the front chest can also be opened to reveal the rotor! But I am not sure if it can be fired off or not, I can't find any firing mechanism (I don't know how the original is fired in the 1st place as I have not had 1)... Colours are mostly faithful. Joints are reasonably tight like the KO Goldran; in fact, the waist rotation is too tight, might need to loosen... Can't bend the elbows to perfect 90 degrees in train mode though, and the big long rifle is a bit loose when attached to the clip... Oh, also need to remove or mod the red missiles on the back rack to be shorter/smaller, else will lift the train up in train mode... Missile covers on the legs also a bit floppy, can't stay in place, but just need a simple fix... Overall, a very wonderful piece of KO! And yes, the lower legs can be flipped to reveal the correct side.... also SGD $7.35 with shipping.


Am keen to buy the cute little Sentinel Prime... the Commander size one, cuter...

Restore Repaint - KO Predacons / Predaking

Finally got time to colour my KO white Predacons to their original colours... or close to...



Here's old Predaking... Half-white king....


Above Pic: Wow, so much better now!

Looks nice, but the red colour paint-pen I used on Rampage does not stick well, very much like my KO Kabaya Kits... sianz...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of TFs & Such (97) - Ironman 2 Figurine, HFTD Brimstone, RTS Mindset

Wah!!!!!!! And I missed out the Toy Carnival!!!! Sighz.... 8pm just now then saw in the net... Arrrgh.....

Anyway, got the following from OG PP today:

Ironman 2 Figurine
Yeap, the one with Repulsor Blast... Initially wanted to get the other metallic-coloured one which got the blast off from feet effect, but could not stand the elf-like "hair"... Only cost $3.90, CHEAP!!!!!



HFTD Brimstone
OK, must admit I already gotten 1 Brimstone last September... When I was walking around the pile of TF RPMs today, I suddenly saw this little figure. So I pulled out and naturally looked at the price tag... and it said... $5.90!!!! Wah! So CHEAP!!!!! Don't care, buy first, hahahahaha.... Going to repaint him into Chopsaw... no, too ugly... I know, since he has a skull-like head and has a sleek chopper mode, I'll repaint into Ghost Rider colour scheme!!!! (Picture below is the one bought in Sept last year)



RTS Mindset
RTS Mindset reminds me of the Crossover Hulk (Tank).... This is a repaint of the movie 2 TF Hailstorm... Found this inside the pile in 1 of the stands... At least OG PP bothers to packed their non-DOTM TFs slightly neater in the stands... Not many good choices left... In fact this is 1 of the 2 remaining Mindsets... Sigh... Must visit other stores... anyway, cost only $12.90, so ok...



Looking forward to my KO Advenger and Goldran... scaled down version, of course, hahaha....

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (96) - KO Misc. Kabaya Kits, KO Music Knights, KO Crumplezone (Downsized), KO G1 Mindwipe

Haul from 65Daigou arrived last night... Mixed feelings... Mostly due to the KO Kabaya Kits... damn...

KO Miscellaneous Kabaya Kits
Sign... Ordered 14, only 8 usable, 2 repeat, 3 already gotten, 1 is too simplified... AND THE WORST IS THE SPYCHANGER OPTIMUS PRIME PACK IS PACKED WITH WRONG SPRUES!!!!!!!! #$^&!##... And the bottom leftmost 4 are packed with WET sprues!!!!!! WTF... Dunno what the liquid is, so wash away immediately... Some molds are simplified, eg. Brimstone (beast), now got 2 robot modes instead... sigh...



KO Music Knights
Music Knights (音乐奇侠) is a new China cartoon, and the toys I bought are the KO ones. Seem to be quite good... Basic concept is a rider with a bike that transform into a robot, with the rider controlling it in the middle of the robot body, quite nice... they are basically part formers though, need to plug in the lower arms and lower legs, and some small parts... The KO ones seemed to have the weapons permanently molded in the hands... So need to mod in the end, for minimum part forming.. best is no part forming...




KO Crumplezone (Downsized)
Yes, I suspect this is the downsized version, as I measure it to be around 15.5 cm, which is different from the 18cm as stated in Cliffbee's. Doesn't matter, as this TF is quite good. Although no clear plastic, almost all the joints are pretty ok. Not very tight, but definitely good. Plastic quality is just just slightly below that of Hasbro's... In fact, quite comparable with Hasbro's recent TFs' plastic...



KO G1 Mindwipe
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! The gem of this haul! So long have I wanted to collect the Headmasters but they seem to have disappear from the surface of earth... So I did not even consider the price when I saw this in TaoBao... Very brightly coloured, Mindwipe is cruel... Why? Because he has chopped off Vorath's arms and legs!!!! .... Hahahaha.... Yeah, Vorath came without his limbs nor the face cover... need to give him limbs... The chest's Tech Specs feature is removed, and weapons are different. So happy to have gotten this piece...


This is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahahahahaha..... Batman mode!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha.......

Update #1: Simple Mod & Bash - G1 Encore Ironhide & Ratchet

Remember my earlier post on modding G1 Ironhide and Ratchet without cutting? Well, I give in to temptations and decided to DESTROY my encore pieces, in order for my Ironhide and Ratchet to be "reborn".... Below shows Ironhide done...




Very tough, but tried to follow what the awesome kitbasher in TFW2005 did... but my styrene piece break after I accidentally snapped it... and realised that the piece may be too brittle...


So after some fiddling, decide to use another method... which still allows Ironhide to have a more reasonable arm height position...


I joined the swivel piece (black round part with silver joint in the middle) to the side of the abdomen, which means when I rotate the body down, the arms also rotate downwards. The styrene pieces are used to form structure supports to hold on to the black swivel piece, and the underside, the red linkage piece that joins to the arm had to be made swivel... some trimming are needed, to have a smoother transformation... Then the add-on head lower part needs to be trimmed a little for the body to be able to rotate...


What now needs to be done is to do the mod on the seat as the great kitbasher on TFW2005 mentioned: cut out the part of the seat bottom so that it is not fixed to the windscreen...

Edit:
Ratchet also completed... At last now these TFs look like robots, like in the G1 cartoon... Oh, I also added a piece of styrene to cover the hole in the stomach, and silver stickered the hole in the crotch area...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs (95) - KO Lio Junior (Slightly Simplified)

Gotten this at a shop around Bedok Bus Interchange in the morning, near the NTUC Foodfare coffeeshop... Price is only $6.90... Weight is light... So is it worth to buy?...


YES! Well worth it. Almost all ball-joints are tight enough, not very tight, but almost like the new legit TFs... Cutting of sprue is quite clean, in fact, I have not seen any jutting out points... Colour painting is still not too bad only... But this KO is slightly simplified and modded... There is no longer Magnaboss II's head, and the tail is molded to lift up slightly to reveal a gun (no more axe feature)... which to me makes some sense, since Lio Junior can always transform to the lion mode to "claw" it out with enemies, and leave the robot mode to more modern shooting (think dinobots in the cartoon, without swords...)


All in all, very worth the $6.90 paid... So good that I break my habit of posting only 1 picture of each of my haul....

Oh yes, 1 haul from Daigou has arrived, but Daigou is charging me with questionable shipping weights, again... nevermind, I shall wait for my next order to be shipped here then I arranged for them to send in 1 trip, will save me $5... Then see if they make mistake again in the shipping weights calculations...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of KOs & TFs (94) - Galaxy Defender Beast, Bandai 1:100 VF-1S Model Kit, DOTM Powerglide

Gotten these yesterday at Carrefour, HobbyShop & TRU in Suntec respectively... Forgotten to get the Generations Scourge though... sigh... nevermind, next time then...

Galaxy Defender Beast Transformer
Not sure what this is based on but the transformation is definitely not as simple as I think, for the leg part. Instructions given are too simple and did not stated what the shoulder can split up for which mode... There are 3 different types of printings (Galaxy Defender, Something-can't-remember, and Planet Fighter) in the pile, and I choose this because the sword, shield and protective plastic cover is still intact... Has ratcheting joints, not bad... very huge... cost $10 only...




Bandai 1:100 VF-1S Super Valkyrie 3-Mode Model Kit
Took a gamble & bought this to see if it is fully transformable or not... and I lost.. It isn't.... which means now I got to think of ways to mod the legs to swivel down to form in robot mode... and the font canopy too... Anyway, not too bad, because it's a brand new MISB, and cost only $28 plus after discount... Sweet...



DOTM Powerglide
Wow, an awesome TF!!!! Its like G1 Powerglide given an upgrade... I know there are some who prefer the Universe version, but I like this better. I just felt the chest/breast design doesn't look good in the Universe version... in fact, I feel it is awful... anyway, 1 man's poison is another man's meat, so to each his/her own preference... Yes, I don't quite like the bomb, quite stupid to form a cluster of bomb to be held in the hand to fire... not much logic, even for a fictional universe... Is it a bit too small? Well, depends on your preference again... small is cute, but if big (Deluxe or bigger..) probably it may have the aggressive feel then... Can't tell, until the KO makers upsized it ... will they???? Hmmm.... $19.90 is expensive....




Hope my new items ordered soon... And where can I find RTS Trailbreaker/cutter???? Seems to have disappear into thin air...

Custom: KO FAB "Double-Blade" Optimus Prime

For the KO FAB Optimus Prime... I did a custom Energon extendable blade in Jan 2009, but the blade is WAY too short...


So managed to find some pieces of spare plastics and make 2 blades... Tough work, as have to join the top and bottom pieces together and fill up some part with styrene pieces... made worse by the super glue used, which is supposed to be stronger and more flexible 4x, does not bond instantly...


Anyway, after some tough work over 2 days (night), the new FAB Optimus Prime is born... with weapons to match that of the ROTF FAB Double Blade Optimus Prime!


Blades deployed!!!!! Now much longer and broader than the old one... 2 blades too!!!


Closer look at the blades... Tough work, but end of the day it is worth it...

Side-Tracked: Recent Haul of TFs (93) - PCC Icepick w/ Chainclaw, PCC Sledge w/ Throttle, Sergeant Kup, RTS Lugnut, RTS Grapple

Went over to CSC and OG PP today... Saw a set of RID Build Team (individual packed) in CSC but cost $120... way above my budget... very tempted... resisted... Nothing much in CSC... Then go over to OG PP, and bought the TFs on sale... strangely, the RTS Deluxes are not in the advertisement which shows the sales prices of the TFs...


PCC Icepick w/ Chainclaw
Heh, was struggling to decide to buy his KO counterpart or not from TaoBao, but now price is so low... only $9.90... Looks good...



PCC Sledge w/ Throttle
Powerhouse look! The minicon transforms into a drill-head!



Generations Sergeant Kup
Salute! Nope, this piece is not on sale, unlike the RTS Deluxes which cost $13.90, this piece is still priced at $27.90... lucky have 10% discount at least... cannot resist this piece... buy I must, yes... De-tombed him just now but could not put his backpack flat down on his back, need to check next time (have sealed him back into package)...



RTS Lugnut
Wow, the more robotic version of his cartoonish counterpart... the face is too classics already, keeps being reminded of the TFA version... $29.90 is just barely acceptable... Will de-tomb him later...



RTS Grapple
Ok, I refuse to call him Grappel... Have gotten a KO of him before but undersized, so when the price fell to $29.90 for this piece, just bought him without much considering...


Hope my haul from Daigou arrives safely...