>>9261983>>9262008>>9262017>>9262029You all are but children! You don't remember The TRUE first 3rd party, transforming mass produced figure? And you could buy it at Big Lots, for that mater! Yes, in 2000, we got this strange , original mold that went above and beyond the other KO's in this line by producing a Beast Machines Optimus Primal that was more show accurate than Hasbro's version at the time. Since the initial goal of 3P figures was to fill a slot in a collection or do a better version of what we got, I'd argue that this meets the requirements and should be considered the first true 3P figure. The only KO part of it are the swords he comes with.
Incidentally, this same year also gave us the
Unicron.com add-on kit for Beast Machines figures, which means probably the most hated Transformer series is also the first one to get third party releases. There are some older "3P " (as in, not hasTak) figures but most fall under nontransforming garage kits, with some being licensed due to Wonderfest, and don't really line up with what 3P is considered these days.
