Agree. Reprolabel could be the only 3rd party company that Hasbro would like to shake hand with.

 

+1. I suppose that guy failed to see the hypocrisy of his own stance/actions. Or maybe he does and just doesn't care when there's money involved.

 

Is there a link to info on this?

 

And the fans who dump on 3rd parties now but were buying from Reprolabels, Transrepro, and others for years before that movement was much more than a blip on Hasbro's radar.

 

Is it really IP infringement if the IP owners don't enforce it? Hasbro has never so much as sent a letter of complaint to them that I have heard of.

 

Reprolabels helps sell Hasbro's products more than anything. There's a chance I wouldn't have bought DOTM Leadfoot if there weren't reprolabels for it.

 

Reprolabels are stickers, not toys.

If you can't see where the difference lies I'm not sure what I can do for you. For one, HasTakTom don't produce label sheets, in fact before Arms Micron stickers were almost a thing of the past.

 

If you can't see that those sticker sheets are copyrighted, then I don't know what I can do for you either. You know, reproduction of printed artwork versus something as vague as "six construction vehicles" that gets people bent out of shape.

 

I see no difference.

 

I see a difference. Reprolabels infringes on trademarked materials. Third partiy Transformer makers do not. There is a good reason toys like Hegemon, Hercules and Defender lack faction symbols and have new names and molds. Reprolabels are often straight KOs, or at least infringe on trademarked symbols.

 

Some of the third party items I don't feel Hasbro has any option but to let them exist. But yeah, there are some pieces out there that I am amazed haven't been closed down.

The entire third party movement is a very interesting event from an IP viewpoint.

 

Now that Arms Micron figures are here and include sticker sheets, it's not a thing of the past anymore. Not that this has anything to do with what Reprolabels does.

Ironically, I think you're right. Figures like Hercules could probably be sold in the West with little recourse by HasTak since they have no competing product (hard to prove loss of sales when there's a lack of said competition), in theory. There are other factors to consider that makes 3P items found at retail a harder sell though, like costs (kids and parents won't buy 3P stuff for this reason alone) and child safety safety laws (failed drop tests; small parts = choking hazards), among other things (like branding--Walmart would probably ask who the eff these TFC guys are XD).

 

It's called China. Same reason there are direct copies of figures...aka knock-offs. If these were produced somewhere that enforced IP, trademark, and copyrights, then they would likely have an end put to them.

 

Reprolabels would fall more in line with upgrade kits than standalone figures. In other words, you need the official product to use it.