This is already being done with that company Play With This Too. I have no idea how that company is working.

 

Probably not.

#1. Some other company will probably make it
#2. Why invest in an unproven company
#3. Why invest when I won't see any of the profits.

Now if it's a proven company to make a desired figure I want, that no one else has made. Well, that's a different story.

 

No, No, NO!

Why? Because they DO NOT have to fulfill their pledges.

 

Because dozens of successful action figure Kickstarters MUST be wrong? it was all a plan to fool you into backing one where they don't deliver?

I have Kickstarted books on my desk and Kickstarted action figures on the shelf. This conspiracy theory that's it's all a scam is laughable.

 

I think there's a trust issue behind it though. A lot of the figure Kickstarters have been by known and named individuals from the American toy industry. There is somebody to go after if they rip you off.

The third party companies are nameless, faceless people based in China. If they rip you off, say goodbye to your money.

 

Well, I suppose it helps when a new Kickstarter is being run by people whose live in the US and are publicly known, and people who have run successful Kickstarters before.

 

In the interest of balance; it's not really ripping off. Unless that was the persons plan to begin with. Generally speaking, if people are trying to make a quick cash-grab, they probably won't have a well thought out, polished pitch and bankable product idea.
I'm not saying there are not dishonest people on Kickstarter, but there are easier con jobs out there.

Even the dude who made $53k on a Potato Salad kickstarter met all his obligations and gave the rest to charity.

If you put money into a kickstarter, you are taking a risk no different to a financial backer on any other investment product. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. If in doubt, and if you can't afford to risk losing the money on an investment gone sour; DON'T BACK THE PROJECT.

There is no-one to "go after" if the project goes wrong, because the risk is explained right up front.

I've backed several projects on various crowdsourcing projects, and thus far I've been lucky enough for them all to come to fruition. But hot damn have I had to wait on a few of them.

 

The dozens of OTHER campaigns that have gone south say otherwise. If your lucky the project just gets delayed a few years and/or ends up not looking ANYTHING like they promised.

Going into this without a err of caution is foolish and will catch up to you eventually. You're not making a preorder, you're DONATING to the development of this project and you're getting a copy as a GIFT in exchange.

Now I am not saying they would INTENTIONALLY run with your money, but things happen, ultimately leaving you with the bill. Plus given the nature that most 3P's "borrow" their designs from IP's they don't own, well its just asking for trouble. BMOG is special because its a unique idea that just so happens to work with other toys.

The stuff that PlayWithThisToo is doing though? Man that is risky as hell. The ONLY thing that might save them from Hasbro is that Aaron Archer has some insider experience and might know what can and cant be singled out for attack. I personally WONT back them though, just for the simple fact that Hasbro does not have to do crap during the KS and could just hit them with a C&D a few months down the line. Which by that point they had already used a good part of the money on R&D, so even if they do put out refunds it would be very little, if they even bother at all.

 

Out of curiosity, can anyone point to ANY Kickstarter which was okay'd by the Kickstarter people as legal (and yes, they check this before starting!), money was collected, and then some company's lawyes shut it down with a C&D?

I say this because I have seen successful Kickstarters that could be said to be making figures similar to characters from Star Wars, for instance, and no one went after them.

I mean if Lucasfilm and Disney didn't try to shut down the "Gay Empire" figure Kickstarter, how much more IP infringing do you have to get? The thing even uses an actual picture of Star Wars Stormtroopers on the package! That Kickstarter raised over $43,000 last year and you can buy the figure now on ebay!

 

More than likely they managed to fall through the cracks. Either it was obscure enough to not get their attention, Lucas just didn't care, or Lucas saw some sort of PR risk behind a takedown. Well another thing that worked in their favor is that they are a Parody and Copyright protection gets fuzzy when your dealing with a Parody.

Here is are a couple of good examples using a company more "active" with defending their IP.

Square Enix shuts down Final Fantasy VII web series - GameSpot

Nintendo Issues Cease And Desist To Metroid Fan Film On Kickstarter | My Nintendo News

NBC tries to kill Inspector Spacetime, but he regenerates instead

SHP Forums ? View topic - Al wants ?infringing? Kickstarter campaign taken down

Dipshit on Kickstarter tries to make Lufia sequel

 

Taking a quick look at these, they seem to be cases where the Kickstarter maker was stupid enough to actually call their project by the IP holder's actual names. You want to make a web movie series in a fantasy setting, that's fine, but to actually call it the "Final Fantasy VII web series" without permission? Using all the characters from Final Fantasy, are they stupid? There is a reason why FansProject makes Defender, not Springer!

So let's assume any third party TF Kickstarter would not be STUPID enough to call their characters Optimus Prime and Megatron, or their groups Autobots and Decepticons, right?

Second one, was a guy making a Metroid movie without permission, again calling it a trademarked name they don't have permission to use.

Third one, the guy making a movie used a name from an NBC property, and to continue the project, he charged the name.

For the 4th one, they creator of Leisure Suit Larry didn't want someone else to make a new version of his game. It went ahead anyways and delivered product. The Kickstarter had the legal rights to the game, but they maker of the game was suing them because he said that they misrepresented that he backed the game on the Kickstarter. Okay, so lesson learned, make sure on a 3PTF Kickstarter DO NOT imply that Hasbro backs the project.

The 5th one is a video game the developer didn't convince anyone he could make. He raised about $102 of the $40,000 he needed before he closed the project with people laughing at him for showing nothing and having no experience. No C&D was issued, someone on that forum just suggested he might get one.

 

Changing the name doesn't equal protection. "Infinity Gokin: King of Beasts" the third party SOC Lion Voltron was successfully taken apart by WEP shortly after going up for preorder.

Infinity Gokin Golion |

Now keep in mind that this was produced by a seasoned 3P company that has done this before. If anything it proves that if Hasbro was determined enough they could do something about about 3P's.



Seriously though, you usually wont see the takedown happening after money is collected because 9 times out of 10 they get them far before the kickstarter ends. However just because it gets funded does not mean they CANT take it down though.

Plus, as I said, your biggest risk is the creator actually hitting a major snafu along the way and the project getting majorly delayed or it being to cost prohibitive to correct and the project getting canned.

I am wanting everyone to understand that nothing is guaranteed here. Your are funding the idea and "backing" the company, nothing on kickstarter is a "preorder" because you not guaranteed anything.

This being the best example.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1372319351/levitatr-a-keyboard-with-elevating-keys-for-ipad-t

They project was completely backed and NO ONE got a keyboard and NO ONE got a refund. Why? Because their goal while it sounded plausible on paper ended up being far to ambitious and impossible to produce.

 

For the second example, I think we can ignore it because we know that companies CAN in fact make third party Transformers, so it's not a matter of lacking the technology.

However, I would like to know more about the first one. What exactly did WEP do to shut them down? I'm not seeing many facts on what action they took.

 

How so? The creator of the Levitatr was also obviously able to create the hardware given he has a functioning prototype. It even states on the KS that all he was needing the money for was the later stages of design finalization like keyboard layout, firmware, the production PCB layout, and of course the production of the injection molds for the plastic components.

From what I understand the problem came up when, of all things, the factory they contracted to make the molds screwed up and it would had ended up costing way to much to have the problem corrected. Thus the project was canceled to the dismay of all of the backers.


Also as far as the whole WEP thing is concerned, I personally don't know a whole lot about what exactly went down.
All I know is that they got to a point where they was actually producing the figures, put up a order page, and then they got contacted by WEP and the whole thing vanished overnight. A lot of people assumed they would not get anything up until their Voltron just show up unannounced in the mail.

 

quite surprised about the reactions in this thread. if its a character im interested in, hasnt been done and isnt likely to be done any time soon then yeah.

 

Looks like the Kaiju Kaos Kickstarter will be funded and closing soon, and one of their unlocked stretch goals is a Decoy-like figure based on a 2012 Slagacon exclusive Hydrophone. So technically a tiny original third party Transformer made at a Kickstarter. It's a small beginning. Maybe next time we will get something a little more complicated, but I'm getting one just to put on my shelf as a curiosity.

It may be a small obscure item, but at the current rate like only 16 other people will have one. So pratically a lucky draw, right?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/992965371/kaiju-kaos-the-soundtrack-volume-2/posts/1179928

 

No. If a producer doesn't believe in his product enough to risk his own money, why should I risk mine? Make a figure I like and I'll buy it. It really is that simple.

 

There are also examples where a designer comes up with something good but no company will produce it, there was someone that designed some based on Micromasters late last year like that. They looked really good, but couldn't get any interest from 3P companies. Another example was a design from Cassy Stark for a Lugnut/Jihaxus/Depth Charge that looked very interesting, and he is a well known designer (there was interest, but the company wanted to make a change Cassy didn't agree with).

For me I would simply decide based on my impression of the design, if I like it I will support based on that, otherwise I'll pass.

 

If a reputable designer like Jizai wanted my money to start his own company, I would back the hell out of that. Or if 539 designs wanted to make his own line of toys apart from xtransbots, definitely interested as well. But I wouldn't back a kickstarter project that blatantly infringed on another company's ip though.

 

If it came from a reputable company/designer, maybe.

If it was clearly designed as a small run that you were essentially paying up front for knowing the final release could be a year away, maybe.

If it was just putting in my money with the vain hope of a release, no.