What is Hasbro's official stance on Third Party items?

Discussion in 'Transformers 3rd Party Discussion' started by MpCollector81, Sep 16, 2014.

  1. Rquiem

    Rquiem Dutchbot

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    Ow god that looks.... Majestic...

    Agreed 99%!!!
    Except for Bayformers, please people keep flaming Bayformers and the Bayformerlovers!!!
    (Nah just trolling< See, I'm actually coming forth about being a small insignificant trolly here! Ah maturity at last...... on a toy forum)
     
  2. Raiju

    Raiju Navel Shocker Veteran

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    Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Official, non-official, just buy and enjoy what you like. Life is too short to get ticked off over what negative thing some stranger on the Interwebz has to say about what you like/bought/enjoy. That meme picture of the kid making a mad face and the words, "Stop liking what I don't like!" is spot on. Try being a Bayverse toy fan on this board, lol (as Rodney Dangerfield says, "We get no respect, no regard!" :D ).

    I buy and collect both HasTak and 3P and don't really care what anyone else has to say about how I spend my hard earned money. It's not my (or any of the fandom's) job to defend HasTak's IP; they have a dedicated legal team for that purpose and to pursue litigation if they so choose. I support HasTak by buying their stuff when I like it enough to do so but that's the extent of my relationship with them. They're not my friends and they don't owe me a damn thing just as I don't owe them a damn thing either. And that goes for 3P too. The exchange of goods/services for money is the limit of my dealings with both.
     
  3. Steel

    Steel Landing Gear Specialist

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    Officially: They do not approve and enforce copyright infringement to the fullest

    Unofficially? They know exactly who is doing what and maintain communication with the Designers, as I am sure they are looking to hire them up, reducing their competition and expanding their In-House Team in the process. I'm sure Takara watches the 3P market very closely, learning from it and adopting what they like.
     
  4. motorthing

    motorthing Too old for this $hit

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    Just out of interest where is the "hardcore Hasbro Hate" in this thread?

    I've read a couple of fairly mild comments about Hasbro not meeting a need and that seems to be about the extent of it.

    Hastak have had enough of my money over the last 30 years that I'm pretty certain they can handle themselves without anyone having to press the "over sensitive" button. If it's in reaction to things said elsewhere then ok, but it's been pretty civil in here.

    There are jerks on both sides of this particular issue and frankly I don't feel there even needs to be sides. I buy official and unofficial product and love both. My hackles get raised only when someone feels the need to talk down, denigrate or otherwise seek to restrict my choice on how to collect and why. Fuck that.

    Oh - exhibit A: Cog Diss..............where's that "you have no fucking idea what you are talking about" meme when it's needed?;) 
     
  5. Curium

    Curium Well-Known Member

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    He said "most" are not ones HasTak are making, not "all". As for the combiners, I would suggest that next years "Combiner Wars" is happening at least in part to seeing how all the 3P combiners are doing.
     
  6. Henners

    Henners Sonicron

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    This is true. I love my 3P figures - and I use them to either fill gaps or if I think the particular figure is better. I'll use some examples.

    Classics Megatron vs Hegemon - I have Hegemon

    Generations Springer vs Warbot Defender - I have Springer

    Generations Roadbuster vs Warbot Revolver - I have Revolver.

    Now, I also want HasTak Roadbuster, i think he's a great looking figure.

    I approach each toy on a case by case basis. There are several HasTak figures I own (more them than 3P) and I choose (most) of them very specifically.

    I think my Wrecker display looks great with Warbot Revolver next to Springer, Sandstorm, Whirl and Kup. I still greatly anticipate HasTak figures. I prefer Generations Arcee over any of the other ones. And I think Brainstorm looks GREAT - sure he might be a little cheaper looking but when you break it down to cost to look ratio, I think it still beats SmartRobin. Not saying smartrobin looks bad - also looks great! But I find them so comparable in looks I'd rather just spend 25 than 100+.

    I also prefer Hasbros new Generations Jetfire over Kronos, but I have MMC's Sixshot on pre-order.

    I just judge each figure on it's own, regardless of who makes it. If it's a nice figure, I get it.
     
  7. Gryph

    Gryph Action Master

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    You clearly have not heard of Steel Core or Glacial Lord.
     
  8. Curium

    Curium Well-Known Member

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    Just thinking about this, even though they are transforming robots, they aren't really "Transformers". There have been a ton of other transforming robots, but Transformers is a specific brand. So rather then being 3P wouldn't they be 1P?
     
  9. Convotron

    Convotron Well-Known Member

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    I believe you are correct.

    Steelcore and Glacial Lord are FP creations without an existing character concept inspiration. So as the originator and manufacturer, FP is the 1st party when it comes to those two toys.

    A common misconception is that "3rd party" means unlicensed or unofficial. 3rd party is a broad category. The Hot Toys Optimus Prime figure that is slated to be released in the future is a licensed 3rd party product, for example.

    Generally speaking, the 1st party is the IP holder and primary producer, the 2nd party is the customer, and the 3rd party is anyone who isn't the 1st or 2nd party. The 3rd party can deal with either the 1st party(ie. acquiring a license to produce) or the 2nd party(sell their licensed products to the customer)

    All unlicensed products are 3rd party products BUT...not all 3rd party products are unlicensed products.
     
  10. Pharoid

    Pharoid Time Traveling Robot

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    I am sorry I must have been vague. Vendors like BBTS would have to stop selling 3rd parties if Hasbro sent a cease and desist. It would not be a choice, if Hasbro decides to pursue you for selling unlicensed toys you have no legal leg to stand on and you will be reaching for your checkbook. (In the US) This is why there is no Macross stuff available at BBTS.
     
  11. Pharoid

    Pharoid Time Traveling Robot

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    Apologies I must not have made my point. I did not mean that the character was something that Hasbro was not willing to make.... I meant it's that PLUS a combination of price point. 3rd Parties in many cases (not all) are willing to put a lot more into molds, complexity, transformation, paint, etc, etc, than Hasbro is willing to risk at that price. Example MP-10 is pretty complex and it's been out and remolded plenty for how many years now? TW Orion is more complex than anything Hasbro has released since. And to be fair without Takara we would not have masterpieces. Without Takara there would be nothing nearing the quality and complexity of many 3rd parties.
     
  12. MpCollector81

    MpCollector81 Banned

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    Thanks for all your info about third party TFs. I do like the look of Quakewave, Hegemon and a few others, but with Takara reissuing the Optimus release (that comes with the trailer) maybe another Megatron will follow. These companies have to know that people like accurately scaled heroes and villains in their collections.
     
  13. Rob3880

    Rob3880 Well-Known Member

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    Most of the time, the third party figures are going to be better anyway, so I don't think there's much risk. The only time I can think of where Hasbro came out with something better was with FP Defender/Generations Springer.. Someone else brought up Roadbuster/Revolver, but seriously? Can anyone who has Revolver really claim to have buyers remorse after seeing the official one.. Revolver shits all over Gen. Roadbuster. But yeah, buy third party products without hesitation.. They are almost always better.. I buy way more third party than official stuff now, because with the exception of MP, Has/Tak just doesn't stack up.. And with Takara only releasing like 3 MP's a year, it's going to take a long, long time to get all the characters we want, so It's nice to have these 3P companies filling in the gaps. Don't be concerned about quality, as long as you are buying from the good 3p companies (Fansproject, Maketoys, MMC, Fanstoys, Badcube, Unique Toys, DX9, etc..) you shouldn't have any problems, and even if you do, most of these companies stand behind their products and will provide replacement parts etc.. when needed. It's all just a matter of do you have the disposable income to spend $100 + on a single Transformer... I think a lot of us were apprehensive before we bought our first third party product, but have now spent tens of thousands on them..
     
  14. webz

    webz Banned

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    I always get a giggle about things like this... Obviously, a company would prefer you buy official products, that way they can get a cut of it... Seems silly to even ask... It's like asking a pharmaceuticals rep if you should buy generic.

    As for why hasbro hasn't clamped down on the grey market? Probably coz it keeps the collector market involved instead of moving on, and combining all the sales amount all the grey market producers, probably amounts to less than 1% of what Hasbro makes on a global scale with the brand.
     
  15. Taziir

    Taziir Well-Known Member

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    Hasbro stance = Don't ask, don't tell ;) 

    However I think we can argue that 3P as influenced Hastak's recent release strategies (Combiner Wars anyone?).

    I also think it's likely that as collectors are picking up expensive 3P releases, this has driven the MP 2.0 changes but also given the greenlight to target other official lines more squarely at kids.
     
  16. deaculpa

    deaculpa Stand Alone Complex

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    their reach is limited, its very hard to prosecute in china and the average court settlement is 30k there, ...if they can get by the generally locally-biased judicial system. but when it really does bug them they make the large etailers like BBTS and TFSource stop carrying the item. usually direct KOs of hastak stuff like the igear seekers or faith leader.
     
  17. Scaleface

    Scaleface Well-Known Member

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    According to recent interviews with Rik Alvarez, Hasbro is pretty oblivious that third party TFs exist, and they don't consider them competition. Hasbro makes kids toys for the masses.
     
  18. discoamazing

    discoamazing Well-Known Member

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    Can you link to that interview, Scaleface? I'd be interested to hear someone (formerly) from Hasbro speak about this.
     
  19. Scaleface

    Scaleface Well-Known Member

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    Last edited: Mar 6, 2015