I know there are much smarter toy-storians than me on this board but it feels like folks give more grace to 3rd Party companies over Hasbro/Takara.
The latest reveal of Ironhide (total positive surprise) has been met with many saying: "I'll get a 3rd Party version of him before I consider the official version".
This strikes me as a shift in the fandom who used to favor official now favoring 3rd party first and using masterpiece's from Takara to fill in their third party gaps.
Take the 3rd party Masterpiece Megatron (is it Apaloyon?) i've heard terrible stuff about quality control but folks defend it to the end. Yet when Takara/hasbro unveils an awesome ironhide people complain endlessly about the 'hip kibble'
It just seems to me that people give these 3rd party companies more benefit of the doubt than the actually organization that created the character in the first place?

 

There's more 3P stuff I'm interested in, certainly, but Hasbro/Takara have really raised the bar in the last few years -- 30th Springer, CW Superion, etc. Most of the MP releases have also been received favourably. Ironhide probably will be by a lot of people too.

The thing is, it's not the same people. The fandom isn't an homogeneous bunch and there are a lot of people out there that like stuff other than the original show.

 

I think what you're seeing is 3rd party collectors who are actively discussing the products on a 3rd party discussion forum, therefore everything is skewed in their favor.

 

good point but isn't it weird that this is now the most active part of all the transformers forums???? this is where the action is instead of the official transformers parts

 

Aside from the latest announcements of Gen. Fortress Maximus and MPs ironhide and primal, has/tak hasn't given me much reason this year to give them my money. The 3rd parties on the other hand...

 

I actually find myself buying more official stuff these days than 3P. I have no interest in 3P combiners anymore unless they're obscurer characters. And I care even less about all the "MP" attempts.

 

Well, part of that is because official toy discussion is split between the news and toy forums, and everything Unofficial talk has to take place here.

And I don't have metrics, but I think the news forum is still more active on the whole.

 

For me, it's a constant balancing act. Which figures do I think that Has/Tak has already given a good or fair treatment and how likely do I think they are to do the 3P character that I'm looking at getting? Given their current model, I think that anything posing an easy remold they'll do. It's why I've been confident buying Feral Rex, the Dinobots, Ordin, etc. I don't like to splurge on a 3P offering if I think even a halfway decent treatment will come out of Has/Tak.

That being said, I would've bet that Has/Tak would not have touched Sky Lynx and snapped up a 3P offering. Here we are, and their Sky Lynx looks (IMO) bloody amazing. It appears to be everything I'd want to oppose Feral Rex (and more, thank you incidental Combiner Wars).

 

Speaking strictly for myself, I'm much less interested in the current crop of HasTak stuff (CHUG line, which is all I generally collect). Too much mold reuse, too few parts/compromised articulation, too much hollowness. There are a few gems, but generally things seem to have gone downhill the last few years, so I prefer to spend more money for the 3p stuff.

 

There is more 'choice' with 3P, that said I just prefer the general quality/look of 3P over Hasbro/Takara save for some MP pieces.

Especially when it comes to combiners, I mean the Combiner Wars combiners overall just look terrible.

I mean, even their best effort (Titan Devy) gets outclassed;

vs


nuff said IMO

 

My income is limited so as much as I want more 3rd party stuff than Hasbro stuff, if Has/Tak is making an affordable Bruticus that looks good, I'm not going to get the Microblaze Onslaught and FoC Combaticons. When I was collecting hard core from the BW era through the Unicron Trilogy, I was getting pretty much everyone with the exception of repaints. Now I don't get everyone, I just don't have the money and my "main" hobby is collecting and customizing Justice League Unlimited figures (I've made about 1,000 customs, no joke) so that takes a lot of my very limited income. I still want a few more 3rd parties, Fansproject Defender, Maketoys Giant, and maybe Quantron.

 

There's an Apollyon feedback thread and the feedback is very positive with people that own him. You probably just focus more on the people who post about poor QC because they love to repeat themselves over and over, but they have a right to do that.

If you have instagram, just look up #Apollyon and you'll have a hard time finding someone bitching about theirs.

 

I've gone 3rd party only for the simple reason that Takara aren't making MP versions of characters I'm intrested in.

I have no intrest in the likes of Star Saber or any more of their endless carbots, nor do I give a shit about Beast Wars.

With the vast majority of characters I'm intrested in being made by the better 3rd parties in the coming months I have no reason to continue supporting the official line.

 

To answer the question not me. I do both takara and 3p hand in hand

 

3rd Party do offer better looking toys, they always stick to making true G1 toys which is what most of the fans want.

Hasbro update and change designs, which in experience doesn't always look right... But you get what you pay for.

 

I pick and choose freely between them.

I got an MP-10 KO over a real MP-10.

I'm getting Takara's Titan Devy & Defensor over Gravity Builder Guardia, Prometheus, or any other 3P combiner.

I got a Leader Class Megatron over Apollyon.

I may get TFC's Old Soldier Ironhide over the official one, though I am having a rough time deciding. I love both in different ways, and it may come down to price point.

I will buy the first Astrotrin and Blizwing in anything resembling MP scale whether it's official or 3P (DX9 and ToyWorld's efforts didn't meet my criteria, however.)

It just comes down to: who nails my needs first, at what price, and in what style. I have zero loyalty to either. It's all good, and anything goes. Line, scale, whatever. If I like it, and can afford it, I get it.

 

It depends what it is. I'm getting MP Tracks and MP Bluestrak. I have igear Ironhide and I'm satisfied with it so I plan on skipping this. 3P has more interesting stuff coming out and it is more expensive. So I am focusing my resources there.

 

remember, it's not just "hastak vs 3p" - it's "hastak vs 10+ 3p companies". there is only one hastak and its resources are split between mp figures and (imo) crappier, mainstream, affordable figures, whereas you have a ton of individual 3p companies making more intricate figures that are 2-5x the cost of its hastak equivalent. more options = more sales. if hastak had the same amount of resources and made figures aimed at the same pricepoint as 3p companies, I'm pretty sure a lot of people here would be on the hastak wagon.

hastak simply just isn't offering enough figures at the mp build level, so a lot of 80s adults turn to 3p bc they're filling that niche.

 

comparing has/tak toys to 3rd party ip infringing products as usual is just pure ignorance.

3p companies don't have to abide by any toy safety laws (other than sticking orange caps on megatron gun modes) or parts count rules, in fact you could say they have very little rules to go by at all other than whatever rules they set for themselves. not to mention they are geared toward a much smaller audience (the high end collectors with money to burn) whereas hastak is under such strict rules and policies that it's sadly affecting their presentation of their overall product lines not just transformers but everything they make.

I'm just glad we have choices. I buy 3p when i can afford it. however the only official stuff I buy is usually from the Masterpiece line. the reason being enjoy the aesthetic.

I'm a fan of the more complex and higher parts count transformers, myself.

 

Well... at least all of them have elbows.