Beware: KO Mezco One:12 Figures on the market
 

Hey guys, just thought I'd let you know there are KOs of Mezco one:12 figures starting to appear. A couple weeks back, one of the online sellers I buy from listed a Captain America and BvS Batman for about $30 a piece. I thought that might be a bit too good to be true, but thought I'd take a chance on Cap. The Chinese described it as a "Hong Kong" version, which is a way of listing KOs without calling them KOs.

It arrived today and I think it's safe to say it is indeed a KO. The first give-away is easy to spot in person, but will be impossible online: all the product shots on the back of the sleeve are upside down.

Second, the colouring of the uniform is slightly off. The pants are a shade or two lighter than the shirt. Also, the belt is missing some paint apps.

The quality of the figure itself though is quite good. All the joints are the same and nothing feels like it will break. The paintwork is really good too, aside from the few missing apps on the belt. The cloth suit feels durable and looks good.

For a KO, it's definitely a high-end one, but it is still a KO, so beware, there are KOs starting to show up.

I own most of the real versions but K0's for 30 bucks, I might bite on a few of those.

Especially if they make the Classic Punisher that I wasn't able to get. That would be great!

Thanks for letting us know. If you can take pics, that would be awesome.

Thanks for the heads up. It would be interesting to see if they have a Punisher, indeed. And see how it compares to the OG. I'm not paying $140+ for one. That's almost two figures at their regular $80 price. (And the Classic being even more is just out of the question for a 1:12, as awesome as they are.)

Thanks again

I'd like to see some in hand pic of that Captain America too. I checked eBay and found CA and the BvS Batman auctions. I wasn't impressed with the pics of Batman. It looked like the mouth piece wasn't fitted into the cowl properly. Like it needed to be pushed in further. Some of the pics also showed the suit fitting looser and some of the plastic pieces looking rougher. I would imagine that you'll get what you pay with these.

BBTS has the CA in stock for $80. I don't see the point in buying the KO at around $45.

The Punisher, in the other hand, is $300-400 for the PX and Classic versions.

Here are some quick shots of the KO Mezco Cap. The box is not upside in the one picture, the promo shots were printed upside down on the sleeve. It’s not showing up well in the pictures, but the pants are a few shades lighter blue than the shirt. They feel like a lower quality cloth compared to the rest of the figure, which honestly feels as good as the legit Mezco BvS Batman, DKR Batman and Daredevil I have.

On further inspection, the belt is not missing paint apps after all. When I opened the figure up, it looked like the blue “belt loops” were missing, but they’re there. The paintwork really is top notch on this. The only issues I’ve encountered so far are loose ankles, the star on the chest is slightly crooked and the left shield gripping hand pops off the wrist peg easily.

Thanks for the pics.

The star being crooked is a problem on the real figures.

I actually GOT THREE from Amazon with crocked stars. First time, I told Amazon, they sent me a replacement. They told me if the other one was crocked, they would replace it as well. Well, it was too lol. The third was crocked a little too, I said fuck it and just kept it.

Most pictures I've seen of it are like that.

Amazon has the Captain America for $70 right now, BTW. Theres just no point in buying the KO, IMO.

Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but the point would be to save $40 if you can live with some quality differences.

Agreed. I know it is looked down upon but I would take a dive. I did buy some Revoltechs/Figuarts KO's and they all fell apart.

I actually love KO's but love them where they have a distimct paint job or look. I love my KO power rangers megazords to death. Poor quality but fantastic to look at. I imagine them being an alternate universe version of Power Rangers or and Evil Version, so I get them. Godbeast will destroy the Dragonzord.

Except that the difference is $28, and not $40. The cheapest CA bootleg is $42 shipped. I mean, that may be a big difference to you, but what's $28? 3x you may have to eat a tuna sandwich instead of eating fast food. (Just an example) And then you have the original. Forever. Plus, I make some really good tuna sandwiches, just saying.

I'm not knocking on all bootlegs. Just this one cause the price difference is negligible.

But yeah, and sometimes they can even be from Planet Shoddy

It's weird they made a KO of an easy to get figure.

K0 those Punisher figures..... then they'll have something!

Probably because in order to knock off one, they have to buy 1 original, take it apart to recast and figure out how to replicate the cloth items. Getting a CA to disassemble is cheap and easy, getting a Punisher - not so much.

but you're right, their profit from making a KO Punisher will probably be well worth the initial cost and effort.

I think KO's are 3 things.

The real thing
A factory reject with a defect
A poor quality version/cheap plastic version using the original mold.

I too will love to see the Punisher. I think it will be but who knows how long. I actually want to see the Armored Batman also but that's me being greedy.

Generally KO's are from the same factory . In fact, 95% of the time they are seconds or what they call "overflow" production.

Say HASBRO orders 400,000 of a figure. And day after day they churn them out. Half way through the day they hit their quota. They are not going to change over the moulds during the production run and have employees standing around. They simply finish the day and change the moulds end of shift. These are not the property of HASBRO (or who ever ordered them) but they are not for sale either.

In the real world everything is for sale and they often find their way out. Sometimes right away, sometime 7years later. This isn't always the case for sure, but just like in America the generic root beer is canned in the same place as the name brand root beer. The Johnson's and Johnson's baby wipes are he same as Equate with a different sticker. In the end, often they are the same product, but not always. I just happen to know two people in the States that work in a baby wipe factory and a root beer factory. They told me the A&W is the same as the Kroger cans except the cans have different paint.

Drifting off a bit but the point remains, KO's are more often than not the same quality. Sometimes they are missing a step but other times the same and in the odd case-better than original.

Also to 80USD original versus the 45USD KO, that is a savings of 35USD and tuna sammy's aside, if you do that ten times every two years that is a free 4K tele on Black Friday. Every little bit matters.

Well said. I've bought a few figures on eBay that originally came from China and they all fit with what you described. My DCUC Wally West Flash was an overflow figure that I was able to buy early and for less money. And my Mirage and Arcade Ninja Turtles are made with the existing molds with very little difference between them and the original. Same for my PAK Rise of the Tomb Raider Lara Croft. Aside from getting a figure early, the best reason to buy a KO is because you like the figure but not enough to pay the price for the genuine figure. And that applies to figures with huge aftermarket prices as well as figures like Captain America which are still available.

However, one point against KOs is the quality. Most of the figures I've bought have been good quality but the figures were in producation at the time. I purchased a set of the Movie Star TMNT figures and was less than pleased. I knew there were some differences between the KOs and the originals which was fine. But my hands felt skuzzy after handling them and they had a bit of a smell. Fortunately, I was able to use them as the test subjects for my first paint wash which seems to have helped them. But I still debate on tossing them. I guess my point is that most of the time you'll be ok but you may get burned.

I agree with mostly everything that was said. However, it is a case by case basis. Most bootlegs are lesser products. Most bootlegs have defects and flaws. If you can live with the specific flaws and defects of that particular item, then to each their own, I guess.

The Mezco Captain America is $73 shipped on Amazon right now though:

http://i.imgur.com/qOz8cCo.png

...just saying

There is a Punisher KO

I'd be in for the classic version. That doesn't look bad.

Those Punishers dont look half bad. But shoot, it still kinda hurts to shell out $55-60 for a KO when it was $80 upon release. I mean I know they're going for around $14-150 now, but still.

I think somewhere deep inside you must understand that if people are given a choice to buy a legit original or a KO with marginal quality differences for substantially less, many will just go for the knockoff. It doesn't matter if it's $20 less or $50. You don't have to like it, just accept that it's true.

The ebay listings I've seen though, he looks too pink in the face, on all the heads. That could be a deal breaker.

Dude, WTH are you going on about. I dont care if you buy the KO or what reasoning or justification you have. I was simply stating my own personal opinion, I hate the idea of paying 55-60 for a KO when the original was 80- upon release. Having the original packaging alone is worth the $20 difference to me, PER-SON-ALL-Y

You keep asking why, the answer is obvious. More than 1/6th of your posting history is in this thread, so I will lob that question back at you: wth are you going on about?

I'm not sure if you read everything I said, or if you have a reading comprehension deficiency, but I clearly state that I'm not against KO's. And I just state that the price difference in this particular Mezco KO's is negligible to me, personally. But I'm done here. I've already stated my opinion. I'm not going to continue this back and forth and clutter this thread by repeating myself.

Punisher and Reverse Flash have been KO'd. Punisher is the standard release. I should have one in a few days, so I'll take some pictures and post them here.