Another warning for vintage collectors courtesy of 2005 Boards Member Yamaotto – the Generation 1 Knock Off Wheeljack has now been released. Like the other knock off Generation 1 Transformers, Wheeljack is in the same style box as the original.
Please note that this product is not an official Hasbro product and is not endorsed by Hasbro in any way and is therefore not subject to the strict quality controls that an official Hasbro Transformer will undergo before release.
mrclean08
Great review!! Thanks for taking the time to show all of those detailed pictures/shots!! I definitely appreciate your effort for this review.
agesthreeandup
I was able to get my hands on a few of these and so a review of them was done. You can check it out here: http://www.kotransformers.com/index…_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=2&MMN_position=4:3
The site itsef is going through a bit of a revamp so it is not complete and many of the reviews are missing currently but they will be reposted very soon and you can check out all the KO figures that have been done to date.
NOTHING ON THE SITE IS FOR SALE AND I DO NOT SELL THEM MYSELF. THE SITE IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.
The metal bar that fell out is for the back of the 'feet' on the die cast parts. It should just slide right back in. My guess is the hole for it was too deap and so it slides back and forth a bit and can come out.
Spencer.
mrclean08
Thanks for posting the pics! Wow, the paint on the metal areas already seems to be chipping off!
Would love to see the finished look after you put the stickers on. That should definitely take the focus off the off-white parts.
Paladine
Closeup of the plastic stress mark that's on each side.
RKillian
Got mine recently as well, but it was packaged very poorly (by the factory as much as the reseller), so the box had all but fallen apart by the time I recieved it.
I will second the slightly yellowed paint on his feet, which becomes less obvious once you have some stickers on it. Also, they must be coming out of the same factory as the 25th Prime, because I noticed the same thin/chipped paint on the die-cast parts. He's also missing paint on his forehead, but at least the roof looks right.
I hope this is isolated, but the friction mechanism that's supposed to hold his shins up doesn't work on his right foot because the parts don't reach each other. Also I felt the wheel pins looked very rough and had to flip all the tires before they looked like they were on right.
Other than that, it looks good. The joints are tight, the launchers work, no serious structural defects. My disappointment is that it's closer to Swoop, who was acceptable, than Mirage, who was perfect. I would probably wait for them to hit $50 or less before buying another.
Soundwave2
yes, we definitely need more pics
mrclean08
Thanks for the update!! Can't wait to see the pic(s).
I have an original vintage Wheeljack if you need to do comparisons w/ pics.
Foster
I love the stronger springs the non-US versions get.
Paladine
Got my KO Wheeljack today too.
Overall the quality of the figure is not bad. I did notice that when I was transforming him, a metal bar fell off/appeared out of nowhere. I searched around the figure to try to find a place where one might be missing, but I couldn't find anything. So perhaps it was just included as a factory mistake.
His feet die-cast metal part paint is slightly off-white compared to the rest of his white plastic. Nothing major, and could easily be repainted to a brighter white if so desired. There is plastic damage/creases along his doors. It's hard to describe, so I'll take a picture later tonight for everybody to see. I've never owned an original Wheeljack so I'm not sure if this is common among vintage figures as well.
The missiles have some serious spring horsepower. Those things can take your eye out.
He's still bone white since I haven't put his stickers on yet, but I will put them on and I'm sure he'll look 100% better.
mrclean08
You are the man for finally clearing the mystery on the Wheeljack roof!! Wow, I'm glad they were able to fix that.
I ended up bidding/winning on an original vintage Wheeljack on eBay last week, but if it happens to arrive in less than stellar condition than what I'm expecting, I'll go ahead and order from Yahobby.
Would you be able to post any pics of yours? Would love to see. THANKS AGAIN for confirming the news about him. Nobody on the net has any confirmation if the roof was painted or not; at least I can't find an active thread that states it.
lord ginrai
I received my Wheeljack today!
Now when I received my Sharkticon a couple of weeks ago he was packaged less than superb and the packaging got a bit messed up.
Luckily this wasn't the case with Wheeljack here. He was protected with bubblewrap, newspapers and foam, so that's a thumbs up for YaHobby.
The box is gorgeous, and an almost exact replica of the original G1 box. That's definately gonna look great on the shelf.
Now, on to the figure itself.
I know some of you have been wondering if the roof was gonna be painted or not.. I can confirm it's painted like it should!
He comes with his original stickersheet as well as factory stickers and a rubsign. Non of these are applied yet, so there's some fun to be had.
Quality wise I'd say he's at least as good as the Takara reissues.
All in all I'm happy I bought him, and wholeheartedly recommend him!
mrclean08
Niiice! Yahobby is out of Hong Kong or China right?
lord ginrai
Shipping for Sharkticon took about 10 days I think. Might've been a bit less even. I remember being surprised with it arriving so soon.
starscream.pt
can't wait to see your wheeljack 2 i'm wanting one of these for a long time, but since i already got 4 different wheeljack versions, it's something my anxiety doesnt demand asap.
Master Sing
C/S
mrclean08
How long did shipping take? Their site says regular shipping is 2-4 weeks? Did your item arrive sooner?
Can't wait to see how your Wheeljack is. Please post pics if you get a chance.
lord ginrai
Yahobby has cheap shipping and they're pretty fast too.
My Sharkticon's box was kinda beat up on arrival, but that's more the postman's fault..
I'll update as soon as I receive my Wheeljack.