You know full well that things have gotten out of hand when one starts buying bizarre over-sized/under-sized/wacky coloured variant bootlegs of any and all Transformers of a particular series. That's where I'm at with TF Animated now, and here's the over-sized knockoff Activators Bumblebee from China. There are tonnes of Activators KOs, different coloured and even different sizes. I've gone on a slight Taobao spree buying KOAnimated figures that really made me laugh, but this one came from eBay, listed bizarrely under "Custom Class Bumblebee". It came bagged in a packet labelled simply "Toys".
This Activators bootleg Bumblebee has no black stripe or Autobot sigil (or even a rendition of it different enough to escape legal action), but unlike the proper-sized Activators KOs, this one is actually just as articulated as the official version with posable forearms and head. The spring mechanism is pretty powerful but it's very difficult to get it to stay in car mode when compacted again.
These above shots with the over-sized KO alongside a regular official Activators (Battlefield) Bumblebee clearly demonstrate the difference in size.The KO is not quite deluxe sized and that feeling of not quite being up to official plastic quality (as much of a moving goalpost as that is) exists in abundance. For example, with the official Activators Bee when you tuck the arms in, the rear panels automatically clip into place and rotate, but with the KO you have to do it all manually.
Interestingly, the KO acts like the missing link (as Dan says) between the official Activators class and the deluxe class figures, especially the Jetpack Bumblebee which is a head shorter than the first official deluxe Animated Bumblebee. Here, then, are all the proper transforming Animated Bumblebee sizes together including the KO, and attention should be drawn to the fact that in car mode the KO is bigger than the Jetpack 'Bee, but not in robot mode.
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| Legends - Activators - over-sized Activators KO - Jetpack deluxe - deluxe |
All the best
Maz
haha I've been really looking into KO animated toys recently, one character I have always wanted was Wasp. Not sure if this is from the same toy producers but there are three green version of KO oversized activator BB. The peoples will be really interested too see it if you can get your hands on them, I think because it would be the most relevant of the KOs as a standin to an unreleased character.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the die cast green one that's normal size, but never the oversized green/. Will definitely keep an eye out for that! These KOs tend not to have the smirk/mouth on them either so even more Wasp accurate!
DeleteAll the best
Maz