The "3rd Party" vs. Hasbro discussion

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by transtrekkie, Jun 1, 2012.

  1. seali_me

    seali_me RIP January 2018

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    Turd party has not given me a proper Devastator. Neither did Hasbro/ Takara. The fandom is hard to please.

    What about the white knight? I don't know if rumours are true but that one is hilarious.
     
  2. transtrekkie

    transtrekkie On the level.

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    Crap. Ya had to ask for the source on this didn't you? :eek:  It was quoted in a thread on another website that I frequent (tfviews.com/forums if you want to see the original thread but I forget the thread title. "Prowl vs. Nostalgia" I think). It was quoted from the site admin who was at the Botcon panel in 2011. I'll track it down later and post it here.

    As for speculation... fair enough. I'll shut up now. :lol 
     
  3. David Hingtgen

    David Hingtgen Chromaticon

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    Frankly---because above all else, beyond anything else---I've wanted a really big, really good combiner team for probably the past 15 years. I'm a child of the 80's, and combiner teams are possibly the most iconic thing of all in the original toy line to me. They are 90% of the "old G1 toys" that I've bought off Ebay over the years.

    And who's making the big, good combiners? Not Hasbro. To me, how FoC Bruticus turned out pretty much made me decide that Hasbro either can't or won't make a combiner team anything like I want, for the foreseeable future. So it'll be Hercules/Uranus/Not-Menasor for me...
     
  4. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Fully loaded MP10 domestic release for $100.

    Beat that, 3rd Parties. And no, you're parted-out, $80 a pop Devastator with a dozen freaking upgrades just to make it look like what it was supposed to doesn't count.

    I'm not even against Third Parties. It's the shitting on Hasbro and TakaraTomy, the companies whom without which we would not have anything to make Third Party upgrades for, that gets my butt hair burning.

    And that's great. For you. But the idea that this is what all fans want is ridicluous and infuriating.

    Fans or not just adult collectors, they're children as well. Children who don't care about the big green guy unless he's Bulkhead.
     
  5. Lt. Faceless

    Lt. Faceless I'm a puppet

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    My collection would be nothing without 3rd party. I would've stopped collecting long ago without 3rd party keeping me interested(i only collect classics,so that limts what i buy). Why doesn't hasbro give 3rd party companines some kind of limited release? and sell it to adult collecters? If BBTS can sell toys for adult collecters,why can't they sell toys that are for adult collecters?
     
  6. flamepanther

    flamepanther Interested, but not really

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    Heh. I'm interested to see that. I could be mistaken, but I'm predicting a reference to a generic "Hasbro will defend its intellectual property" statement that every company is pretty much required to make, regardless of their actual position.
     
  7. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Because they don't have to. Hasbro has, up until loud-mouth morons started forcing them to acknowledge third Parties at conventions and the like, been quite content to let third parties run around and do their thing. Many Hasbro employees own third Party items and have expressed delight at fans stepping up and filling gaps Hasbro can't or has no time to fill.
     
  8. deaculpa

    deaculpa Stand Alone Complex

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    im far less concerned about who makes it, just make what i want and i'll buy it.
    i do like how third party companies are willing to show up here in the forums, giving us a more direct link to them and enforcing (or literally proving) the notion that they're listening to us.. but some tend to view this as hasbro not listening, when thats not really the case in my opinion. theyre (allegedly) giving us MP Soundwave so we do have to say they listen (despite how long and loud we had to shout to get it).
    i saw some questions earlier about what actions hasbro has taken. im pretty sure i read that whoever was making the G2 MP Ramjet received a C&D order, which is why it never came out. and theyve also given ultimatums to BBTS and TFSource, which is why (iirc) they quit carrying the igear seekers, although i believe TFS stil has them on their ebay site. I also think it was generally understood that KOtoys.com went dark because of habro action.
     
  9. flamepanther

    flamepanther Interested, but not really

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    Check out the prices on limited license exclusives from Wonder Festival sometime. That's what it looks like when Takara Tomy grants third parties a limited release for adult collectors.
    Because Hasbro's lawyers have to worry about whether some idiot parent is going to stumble across the item listing, see the Transformers brand name, and assume it is a suitable gift for their even more idiotic child who will stab himself in the eye with a chromed sword. That's a very real possibility that they actually have to be concerned about.

    Besides that, they DO release toys for adult collectors. Alternators and Masterpiece stuff that gets released here isn't meant for kids, even though it has to pass the same safety standards.

    Even if that's true, then we're talking about actual knockoffs in some shape or another, which is totally different from stuff like Hercules, Giant, and anything FansProject is doing. It shows an attitude against large scale recasting of toys from actual HasTak parts, not original toys with an unlicensed resemblance to Hasbro characters.
     
  10. Valkysas

    Valkysas Attack Buffalo

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    Indeed. Looking at Eric Siebenaler's desk in the second Allspark Almanac...

    [​IMG]

    closer...

    [​IMG]

    City Commander standing next to Powermaster Optimus Prime.
     
  11. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Also, Hasbro doesn't care so much they gave us two Almanacs about a show that was basically a gigantic love-letter to every series of Transformers.
     
  12. Lt. Faceless

    Lt. Faceless I'm a puppet

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    Why can't hasbro just beat 3rd party at their own game.Some people can't afford(or dont like him)TFC Herc. Hasbro should take it and make molds of him.Make him look like his proper G1 self and release it a fraction of the price. Hasbro could let 3rd party do the work for them.

    Either way i don't care who makes what.I just want cool transformers toys.
     
  13. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Because that's a shitload of money to sink into something (relatively) very few people would buy.
     
  14. seali_me

    seali_me RIP January 2018

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    It's probably simpler than that. Fans already have it.
     
  15. David Hingtgen

    David Hingtgen Chromaticon

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    I'm not saying it is---but for me it's pretty simple---one company is making what I most desire, and one isn't. I mean, if you're a die-hard G1 Optimus or Starscream fan, than I don't think any 3rd-party company can or will compete with Has-Tak. But if your fave characters are a combiner team, or Springer, or Reflector---then there's not all that much good stuff to choose from that's official.

    This---I consider iGear and TFC/FP very different. One flat-out copies/modifies existing toys and sells them as their own (which is wrong/illegal in any context for anything), while the other two make their own stuff from scratch, which just happens to resemble in overall colors and design some toys/animation from the 80's.
     
  16. flamepanther

    flamepanther Interested, but not really

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    Also because that would be illegal. Third parties still own a copyright on their original molds specifically, even if they don't have a license for the likeness of the character in general. Hasbro and Takara would have to either work out a license for the mold, which would open up several cans of worms, or they would have to make their own product from scratch.
     
  17. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    What if your favourite characters are actual personalities that have appeared in the good shows? Or in comics? Well for comics characters neither party is really doing.

    I mean seriously, why are Third Party companies not doing more comics guys?
     
  18. flamepanther

    flamepanther Interested, but not really

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    Unless you like Drift, Jhiaxus, and Straxus (Hasbro) or some of the guys from War Within (Hasbro) or the Stormbringer version of Bludgeon (Hasbro/Headrobots) or anybody from Hearts of Steel (MMC) or...
    Maybe iGear will get around to releasing that Impactor they showed us ages ago. In the meantime, at least they've given us several comics-inspired upgrades.
     
  19. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    MMC has done, what, TWO HOS characters? (Starscream's not out) and I don't recall a Jhiaxus that wasn't a redeco that didn't look a damn thing like him.

    What about, I dunno, the actual ongoings and stuff? I mean, I know MTMTE just came out, but Igear once teased LSTOW Impactor, then forgot about him.
     
  20. deaculpa

    deaculpa Stand Alone Complex

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    touche'.

    If i had to guess, i'd say because hasbro operates with economies of scale. catering to such a precise crowd would yield a profit from an absolute standpoint, but would probably not be worth the time they spent if their resources could have been spent elsewhere en masse.
    Problem with my theory is that they continued/ramped up the MP line, which seems to cater to the same very specific and limited crowd. im really baffled by that.