Two questions: Knock-offs and Gold Plastics

[Uberman]

Hello all. Rather than post two seperate threads each covering the things I've been pondering, instead I'll wrap them into one, even though they don't really relate to each other.

Firstly, the easy one: What's a good, standard price for a crappy Chinatown knock-off, the weirdly recoloured or garishy carded bootlegs? I saw a few today, having finally ventured into the Chinatown mall. There was a whole run of Beast Wars figures, and I was and am rather interested in getting the Tigatron and the Optimus Primal [Robot Masters mold]. They look pretty janky as far as quality, and were 8.99. Seems... a little high. But maybe not? [There was also an eye-scorching and possibly under-scaled G1 Bruticus which I may also ponder, although I didn't see the cost.]

Secondly, having just got a BW Mutant Soundwave, I'm forced to ask; is there a list somewhere of confirmed cases of figures that have or will have the GPS? He's from the acursed era, and he's all gold. I've been stricken with a paralyzing terror about touching him. And I'm seeing pre-emptive fear-mongering about Universe Dinobot now, too... What was the last figure to be made that for sure had it? When was it 'cured'? Is Soundwave next? And what about my Micromaster train that looks suspiciously golden? Ease my mind, please.

[Dark Rage]

1st: It's cheap compared to online sites selling KO's with shipping and possible importing taxes.

About 6-7 years ago, I got a yellow KO Devastator for about $10 I believe. Prices vary, depending on the size of course. KO's range from G1 to Disney Label (which probably aren't here...yet).

Haggling can't hurt. Goodluck with that though! *Grins*

2nd: What's GPS? Gold plastic syndrome? I dunno what the acronym means. Is it gold plastic or gold plated? There's a difference btwn the 2. Gold plastic is what you see on Black Zarak and that one G2 Aerialbot jet that's part of Superion. That plastic is delicate, and can easily break/crumble. Even if a KO has the same colored plastic, it doesn't mean it'll be the same material, so who knows how the plastic will be like in 10+ years.

If you're worried about the value of vintage KOs, I wouldn't count on them being valuable.

[Richter]

2: Pretty sure he wasn't talking about gold plastic on KOs. I'd like to know too: just picked up Universe micromaster Superion, and has a lot of gold plastic. Did they cure it? Or are these figures just not old enough to have FBGPS (Full Blown Gold Plastic Syndrome)?

Also, GPS, gold plastic syndrome. Not gold plated

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Here's the prices I've seen for KO's around my area.

Scramble city combiners full size and G2 devastator $10-$20

Mini size scramble city combiners $8-$10

I've seen some youtube videos reviewing KOs and the guy doing them is from the philippines and he say he pays around $1-$3 bucks for stuff like KO classics starscream and prime.

I get the feeling that the farther you go from asia the more expensive KOs are.

As for what's a good price, it's pretty subjective, but as a general rule, I wouldn't pay more than roughly one tenth the price of a real one. So for example a real G1 superion would run you at the very least $100 depending on condition and stuff, maybe higher. So I wouldn't pay more than say $10. Maybe $15 if I really really wanted it.

But my ideal price for any KOs would be under $5, but I haven't seen that around.

[Ultra Maverick]

I've just started picking up a few KOs from time to time, I find it really hit or miss.
I actually picked up the undersized KO Bruticus and was a little disappointed, all joints were quite loose, But the KO Defensor set I picked up was great.

I've got a KO Star Sabre coming to me in the mail as we speak... Can't wait!

In terms of GPS, I can't say that I have experienced any problems as of yet

[brr-icy]

as far as kos go, the plastic is very easy to break for the chinatown kos, such as regular sized or worlds smallest size combiners, 8-10 for one of them is fair.

GPS affects things like BW Grimlock, TM2 Megatron, G2 Slingshot, BZ, Thunderclash to a point, and there are others, i just can't remember them all

[chans formers]

the pricing is pretty fair for the knock offs.that's about what they average here in calgary.
for the gps syndrome,bw mutant soundwave should be good.he does have a bit of "swirling" but not too bad.the swirling is just basically from the plastic not being fully mixed properly before it was injected into the mold.the last one i can think of that had a serious problem with this would have been bw transmetal megatron.even though he was brown where he was breaking,if you look closely at your bw tm megs,the brown is actually a "metallic" brown.usually he broke at the shoulder hinge,but if you looked closely at the hinge itself,it usually tends to break right on the "swirl" line.the problem was fixed later on but only with the "takara" versions,and not hasbro.basically,the more swirling that's evident,the more likely he'll crumble in time.

[Uberman]

Cool, guys, thanks. I may swing around and get the Primal KO to test the quality of it, and then decide if I wanna get the Tigatron KO [I just need the character] and/or the RM Beast Megatron KO.

And also, that's good info ont he swirling. I'll look out for that in the future, rather than simply seeing yellow and then plotzing.

[Nocturn]

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Gold_Plastic_Syndrome

Looks like your mutant is there to me... Just be careful with it, it should be fine. My Torca's still in pristine shape.

[spikex]

Don't some of the terrorcons who form monstructor suffer from gps too?