>>11242731> I was kicking around buying some G1 bootleg repro off Ali Express but I dunno if those will fall apart instantly or whatI want to say you get what you pay for, but it's not the 90s anymore and sometimes the Chinese knockoffs actually have better build quality than the official stuff while also being cheaper. It's a rabbit hole- you'll spend hours and hours browsing through aliexpress with how much Transformers knockoff shit there is out there if you're not careful.
But if you're open to knockoff shit, just some additional suggestions here for your consideration.
There's a bunch of fairly cheap Bayformers Optimuses because the Chinese love that shit. Just worth mentioning. The Bumblebee movie design tends to look pretty G1-ish so your kid might be happy with that (he might even like the greebles making it look more "adult").
MPP-10: $40-50 but well worth the cost, this is a knockoff downsized version of the Masterpiece MP-10 Optimus. Probably too complex for a kid (Though MP-10 is a pretty elegant transformation as far as MPs go), but plenty of kids love toys that are "too grown up" for them.
Power of the Primes Optimus: $50-60 so obviously way above what you're looking to pay, but I wanted to suggest this one because it has some of the most play value out of any Optimus toy. Basically it's a version of him that comes in Optimus's younger form Orion Pax but then he wears the trailer as a suit of armor to turn him into Optimus Prime. It has a lot of ugly kibble on the vehicle mode but it's a "comprehensive" version of the character that includes Orion Pax, Optimus, and Truck+Trailer. It also has an oversized KO version but it really likes to hide on Aliexpress for whatever reason. I found one searching HMK-09A.
Lego Optimus and/or the KOs of it: Always worth mentioning. Legos are just an evergreen toy for kids. $150 for the official but you can get a KO for like $35.
