Heroes Assemble Iron Man Hulkbuster LEGO KO

The Heroes Assemble knock-off (KO) version of LEGO's Iron Man Hulkbuster playset is quite a pleasant rip-off: stury, playable and, save for the missing LEGO marks, practically indiscernible from the original. 

Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!

If you haven't seen it yet (Have you been living under a rock?) millions of Avengers fans were thrilled to the bones when Tony Stark took on the Incredible Hulk in a suit designed solely for that purpose. One that he and Doctor Bruce Banner designed  and endearingly nicknamed "Veronica."

Machine Boy Pocket War Commander - KO Generations Optimus Prime

Hello, I'm you.

Presenting the Pocket War Commander from Machine Boy, AKA a KO of the Transformers Generations Optimus Prime.

When Hasbro released the Transformers Generations Optimus Prime, we severely chastised it for being a great concept in such a puny form.

For our original review of the Transformers Generations Optimus Prime - and for our subsequent Reprolabes upgrade , click here. 

Anyway we said that we would love to see a larger version of it, and someone in China must have heard us because.... here he is: A slightly larger Optimus Prime that's not quite as puny, but.... is still rather puny.

But because this particular Optimus Prime does not have any Autobot logos, this is, for legal purposes, NOT Optimus Prime. This is the Pocket War Commander from some rag-tag company called Machine Boy - the company also responsible for creating a Knock-off of Bruticus, and a plethora of other Transformers.

MORE AFTER THIS JUMP

KO Star Wars Episode VII Lego Millennium Falcon

KO Star Wars Episode VII Lego Millennium Falcon 

Presenting a knock-off - KO - Star Wars Episode VII Lego Millennium Falcon.

To the uninitiated (Really? Why are you here?) this is the infamous modified YT-1300 that, in the hands of Han Solo, did the Kessel run in fourteen (TWELVE!!!) Parsecs.

We feel that this should not to be confused with the Millennium Falcon from Episodes III, IV, V and VI because this has a rectangular radar instead of a dish. If you watched Return of the Jedi, then you know that the radar dish was torn off in the Death Star run - blame Lando Calrissian and Nien Nunb for that. We suppose it made sense to JJ Abrams to replace it with an upgrade and give it a lower profile so that it would not happen again.

But in reality, it's probably a marketing stunt so that collectors and kids will say "I have to have one" despite having a massive Legacy Edition Millennium Falcon at home - because it's just not the same thing.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

STAR WARS LEGO KO Poe Dameron's Resistance X-Wing

STAR WARS LEGO KO Poe Dameron's Resistance X-Wing

Presenting a STAR WARS LEGO Knock-off (KO) of Poe Dameron's Resistance X-Wing.

To be more specific, this is an Incom-FreiTek produced T-70 X-Wing cruciform starfighter. Specifically this is Black One, the personalized starfighter used by Resistance Ace Pilot Poe Dameron - Black Leader (Which explains the yellow-jacket paint-scheme).

T-70 X-Wings replaced the Rebellion T-65 X-Wings - those that took on the Death Stars. However we should note that the New Republic already uses a newer version of the X-Wing, the T-85 (JJ Abrams chose to cut out the politicking of between General Leia's Resistance and the New Republic - which explains why the Resistance uses such dilapidated equipment (And perhaps the absence of a Fleet) - they just don't have the funding).

STAR WARS Rebels LEGO KO AT-DP All Terrain Defense Pod

STAR WARS Rebels LEGO KO AT-DP

Presenting a knock-off - KO - version of the LEGO STAR WARS Rebels AT-DP - All Terrain Defense Pod.

To the uninitiated, these are the walkers that are seen in the Star Wars Rebels cartoon series. Before you go out of your way to call them "AT-ST-lites", we should note that the AT-DPs were taller than the AT-STs (11.6 m versus 8..6 m). The final history of the AT-DP versus the AT-ST hasn't been written yet so that's as far as we can go in terms of comparison.

But the two were definitely built with the similar idea in mind: "Let's put two men in a lightweight, decently armored mobile platform that can do quick reconnaissance. hold the fort if necessary, ad tote the Empire's penchant for looking incredibly intimidating while doing so."

Lego KO Batman Bat Tank

Decool Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank Lego KO

Presenting a knock-off (KO) Lego version of Batman's Bat Tank.

The first thing that came to mind when we saw this was the tank used by Batman when he took on the boyscout Superman in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Unfortunately it's waaay too small for that. The Batman Bat Tank is in reality 2/3rds of a LEGO playset entitled "The Bat Tank The Riddler and Bane's Hideout"

In the playset, the Bat Tank is supposed to crash through the gates of Bane's hideout before shooting up Bane's attempt to escape via a motorcycle and Riddler's escape via a nifty jetpack.

On Amazon, the playset will set you back a whopping US$ 498.99 (Roughly PhP 23,452.53 plus shipping).

This Lego KO Super Heroes Batman Bat Tank from DeCool was purchased for PhP 1,500 (roughly US$ 31.91).

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Taikongshenrs Takara AD01 AOE Optimus Prime KO

Taikongshenrs Takara AD01 AOE Optimus Prime KO

Presenting a Taikonshenrs Knock-Off (KO) of the Takara AD01 AOE Optimus Prime from - get this - Hasbro.

We'll discuss why it's from Hasbro later.

We reviewed the Takara AD01 Age of Extinction Optimus Prime all the way back in May of 2014 - which was before the movie came out. We hated the fact that the 1st Edition AOE Optimus Prime came with a bed for a back-pack. We were not impressed with all the gray plastic of the Hasbro version of the Leader class AOE Optimus Prime, but we were quite taken by the shiny chrome of the Takara ADO1.

So we were quite surprised to see a Taikongshenrs version of the AD01 in the black-market here in the Philippines.

And it's a pretty decent replica! Can you tell it's a KO from the pic?

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Lego Captain America Power Armor

Presenting a Heroes Assemble Lego version of a Power Armor for the Avengers Age of Ultron Captain America.

We didn't call it a KO Lego this time because - as of this writing - we could not find a legitimate Lego version that this Power Armor copied - which is quite different from the KO Lego Tumbler that you can see here.

So for now we're classifying this as an original design. Anyway we really love it because you can use it to help envision a world where the Avengers failed to stop Ultron from triggering global extinction. The few surviving Avengers find themselves hard-pressed to turn back the tide of a world made of metal.

So Tony Stark suggests powering up the surviving Avengers: Thor, Bruce Banner (Who lost his Hulk powers trying to stop the fall of Sokovia) and Captain America - whose Shield was destroyed in the fall of Sokovia.

Tony Stark builds a power armor for Captain America that gives him 400x his original durability, while providing him with additional firepower, the ability to fly or zoom around on street level, and a new shield built from the remains of Ultron Prime - making Captain America a prime target for Ultron who wants his Prime body back

Flying out from their secret base, the power-armored Avengers fight on to avenge a world that they failed to save.

Isn't the joy of having no backstory behind a toy fun?

Optimus Pime UFO Annular Trailer KO

Presenting the KO (Knock-off) version of Optimus Prime's UFO Annular Trailer.

The UFO Annular Trailer is based upon the trailer of Optimus Prime as it appeared in the Transformers Dark of the Moon movie when Prime first encountered Shockwave and his driller. Prime's trailer transformed in the movie and became a circular structure bristling with weapons from which Optimus Prime drew a sword and a shield (Since he loves beheading Decepticons a lot).

Later in the movie Optimus Prime would state the need to recover his trailer because he needed the flight technology within it. 

Evasion Mode Nemesis Prime - KO

Presenting the Transformers Evasion Mode Nemesis Prime - Knock-off (KO).

This is a knock-off (KO) of the 2015 Tokyo Toy Fair Age of Extinction Nemesis Prime that retails on Ebay for around US$ 204 (Roughly PhP 9,188 plus shipping). Obviously we did not feel like spending a small fortune to get one - especially when that small fortune can land us an MP-10. We love the Evasion Mode Optimus Prime, but not that much.

This particular KO Evasion Mode Nemesis Prime was purchased after a trip to the pirate nation of Divisoria - the giant black-market cum shopping mecca of Manila where everything is for sale.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in the Philippines. It scares the hell out of us being there. Proof enough is that after purchasing this, we got lost and our perfect sense of direction was thrown for a counter-intuitive loop.

LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy Milano KO playset

Presenting a Knock-Off (KO) version of LEGO's Guardians of the Galaxy Milano playset.

We have to admit that we could not assemble the Milano without "Cherry Bomb" and "Spirit in the Sky" playing in our heads. We're just that happy.

Since last year we've been drooling over the LEGO version of the Milano when we saw it on the shelves. We gained the opportunity to buy a LEGO playset and we purchased the Ghost instead. For some strange reason, LEGO here in the Philippines is ridiculously expensive. An original LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy Playset here would set you back around US$ 164.

Needless to say, we found that price... restrictive.

So you can imagine how we felt when we saw a single Knock-off version in the black-market that sold for only US$ 33. On Amazon, an original LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy Milano Playset would set you back US$ 66 - almost four times less than what it costs here in the Philippines.

LEGO Marvel X-Men vs The Sentinel KO

Presenting a Knock-off (KO) version of Marvel's X-Men vs The Sentinel LEGO Playset.



In a nutshell, this LEGO Playset features the X-Men: Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm and Magneto flying a Blackbird up against a medium-sized Sentinel. Here's the thing though: We're not sure when this particular scenario would have happened. Magneto - and the way he's dressed - was back when he Headmaster of Xaver's School for Gifted Youngsters (Circa: Fall of the Mutants). The X-Men's Blackbird didn't become a forward-swept-wing aircraft til the X-Men returned to from the Shi-Ar empire along with Charles Xavier and Xavier had Forge redesign the Blackbird.

So this could never have happened.

Lego Batman Tumbler - Batmobile - KO

Presenting a LEGO KO version of Batman's Tumbler - Batmobile - from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy.

At the risk of pissing off a lot of Batfleck lovers, this will always be one of the most iconic Batmobiles ever!

To the uninitiated, Batman's Tumbler was originally built as a bridge-layer for the United States Military. A pair of jet-engine powered Tumblers were supposed to jump chasms and set the anchors for bridgelayers. Unfortunately WayneTech couldn't get the bridgelaying to work, and the Tumbler project was mothballed.

There were four prototypes built. The first Tumbler became the Batmobile which was destroyed by the Joker. The other three were co-opted by Bane in the last film and were destroyed by the Batman flying high in the Bat.

This is the knock-off Lego version of the Tumbler.

STAR WARS KO Lego General Grievous Wheel Bike

Presenting the STAR WARS KO Lego version of the Wheel Bike of General Grievous.


To the uninitiated, this is a Tsmeu-6 Personal wheel bike. It was meant as a reconnaissance vehicle by Z-Gomot Ternbuell Guppat Corporation, till some madman discovered and relished in the idea that a big-spiked wheel traveling at 330kph can sow a little "damage" to arrayed troops - at the very least it will clear a path.

General Grievous made the Tsmeu-6 personal wheel bike even more... grievous.... by removing the passenger seat and arming it with an ND-53 Double laser cannon.

And the bad boy had at least three of them made.