anybody have one of these?

 

hows the quality compared to the actual thing?

 

are there any particular brands of knockoff that one should look for when considering making a purchase?

That looks like the same brand as the Defensor knockoff I have. The quality is a lot lower than the real thing, but I only paid $5. I don't really think it would have been worth much more than that; Groove and Blades can't be properly transformed without risking breakage.

The Devestator set is probably similar quality.

but they look alright on a shelf shelf just kickin it... is this a decent assumption?

The best knock-offs are the 1980's ones that wold even have die-cast like the originals. Those new ones are made to be as cheap as possible, and you get what you pay for.

I was so excited when I found the knock off protectobots at "Big Lots" I was just hoping that the fists and chest pieces would fit my hand-less G1 Defensor. Then I opened them. There size is a little larger than the G1 guys so nothing fit. I can't figure out why though. A mold is a mold right? Anyway Hot Spot broke the first time I tried to merge him. A few days later all the rest of them broke. I bought the Defensor pieces I needed off eBay and all is well. These guys have a date with a hot knife...it's battle damage time!

 

P.S. I also got the 4 "bug" transformer set and kitbashed them into a gestalt after they all fell apart. I used KO Defensor's head for the bug guys head.

That defensor kit looks a lot like the black and yellow KO I found for $6. It's very slightly larger than the original but stays together about as solidly as the original toys outside of a couple of tabs missing. He doesn't stand all that well due to the joints in the steam shovel being a bit loose so I have to prop him up against something.

There size is a little larger than the G1 guys so nothing fit. I can't figure out why though. A mold is a mold right?

IIRC, the knockoffs are made with new molds taken from the production toys and not the Hasbro/Takara molds. So, in essence, they look very much like the originals, they're actually just a tiny bit bigger.