^so many words so far.

Loyalty to a company? No
Appreciation? Yes.
Bias? Yes.
Fanboy? No
Skepticism? Lots
Summation: Make crap, get ignored. (KFC, XTB, BTS, Xovergen etc, etc.)

 

Yeah, I get that. I'm just tired of having to defend my opinions, either for or against something, on the presumption that I'm biased. I would prefer to be engaged, even challenged, on the merit of what I'm saying. It's kind of a cop out to ignore the merits of an argument with a dismissive : "Oh, you're just biased."

 

But that's just it, it's your opinion. You shouldn't ever have to feel the need to defend yourself against any of us here. Honestly, who the fuck are we to pass judgment? If anything, this is our safe haven and we should all be backing each other whether we agree or not on piddly details. For fucks sake we're grown men/women pickin shit over toys, comics, movies, etc... IDK, man, I think there's bigger things in life to worry about than what some fan site goof thinks about me and my opinion. I guess this is a fIrst world problems list maker LOL. Just roll, dude.... eff the haters.

 

I don't have company loyalty. That's absurd. I just have a certain level of faith for each company. That faith, based on past offerings has a LOT to do with whether or not I even pay attention to their products.

TFC is a company that I don't spend money with anymore because their plastic quality is spotty and I don't generally enjoy their designs. They are actually so consistent in these things that I barely even notice their more recent products.

Toyworld is a company whose response to problems is kind of shitty so I don't feel like giving them any money, nor do I really want any more of their products because Orion kinda sucks and they made the baffling choice to use clear, non-flexible plastic in Hegemon's elbows.

Mastermind Creations is a company that consistently makes high quality products and has a good response to problems and issues. They take the time to try to get things right before release. The same can be said about Fans Toys.

I take this same attitude with Hasbro and Takara. Lately they've been releasing really sup par quality figures and they don't appeal to me. Some have been good in design but used garbage plastic and have some questionable design choices. I *really* want a huge Devastator at a cheap price but the new Constucticons are pretty janked. Even with Takara's improvements that still doesn't really do it for me. So I don't get it.

And then there's Appolyon. I sincerely doubt Takara will release a *better* Masterpiece Megatron but if they do I'll get it.

To be blunt, I pay more attention to the product than who makes it. That's the secondary detail. Appolyon IS an absolute masterpiece, simply made by a different company.


At the end of the day, it really comes down the simple fact of whether or not I like the product and how the reviews of it play out.

In short: Make a good product and don't be shitty to the fans when problems arise or engage in shitty business practices and I'll by your product. Whomever makes said product is irrelevant.

As CVProwl said earlier: "I have no loyalty to any company because no company has any loyalty to me".

This seems to be a concept that a LOT of people (not just nerds that by plastic robots) just don't get. There's two entities; You and The Company. The Company owes You nothing and You owe the Company nothing.

This ain't a friendship or a marriage.

It's business. There's good business and there's bad business. And that's really all there is.

 

Good thread, Yeled!  

I can say I have loyalty for sure, not blind loyalty as Botfan explained. As far as masterpiece is concerned, Takara is still the top dog, they make products with the aesthetics I want and at very affordable prices and with very high quality.

When I say quality I simply don't mean die-cast and rubber tires, even though I'm a sucker for those, I mean being able to pick up a figure out of the box without having to do any modification or coming to ask nerds on a forum what to do before I can transform it, or not having to call retailers for replacement after replacement. That for me is also part of quality. And this what Takara excels in far and above all third parties combined!

Now to third parties...I can say I have a loyalty to Fans toys as they consistently make figures with the aesthetics I want with a respectable level of quality, the same way I have loyalty to legend of Zelda as I'm a huge fan of the series as they consistently make good games, not blindly loyal though.

I'm not above criticising FT. I feel their reflector is pretty lame and as a character I think is already lame it makes it an easy pass. I never bought their Quakewave and never will, as the reservations I had about them are still present till today. I also complained about Soar's chin, Sever's face and a couple of other questionable design and aesthetics choices they've made. The day FT start making Kronos like quality figures with aesthetics that are off like their reflector's on a consistent basis..I will drop them like a bad habit, make no mistake about it! How's that for loyalty?

As for my opinion on other third parties...badcube...they've really stepped up their game but for some reason I never want any any of their figures, either...they're too expensive, there is a better alternative, their proportions are are off or the quality is bad, it's a shame really, these guys have potential.

X-transbot...Bobby Skullface says it best, their figures are like amazing boxers with glass jaws. Let's just say for me to ever purchase a figure from them again, I'd have to be high, drunk, deaf, dumb, blind, devoid of all my senses and even then I'm sure I'd have a shred of common sense not to purchase their low quality products. I bought their Ollie figure and let's just say calling this figure a turd would actually be doing the word turd a disservice.

Maketoys- seem to get it right, my Cupola is on the way to me and I'll be able to male a full assessment!

Warbotron, Unique toys- chugsterpieces that are of no interest to me!

Everyone else just misses the aesthetics and/or quality as far as masterpieces are concerned.

Which leaves me with FT at the moment and hopefully maketoys...if their product turns out to be good.

 

Simply put.

Dislike hasbro, like takara, why? Call it a childhood gripe when I find takara kept many g1 in circulation while hasbro quickly passed to other lines. They look better, paint etc, and they package them nicer. I'm referring to mp.

I always liked what I heard about maketoys quality but the scale wasn't right for me. Their headmasters will be my first purchases. Have no interest in the other re masters like hound and inferno because they look more toy than toon.

Love badcube but I find many items look a tad to wide. Yet their engineering and materials makes up for it and I'll probably buy whatever they make in mp scale.

Love fanstoys but I can see some of their head sculpts fell short of ideal. Yet again, their paint, engineering, materials and right proportions make them my first choice.

I love daca's kronos, yes he had a backpack, I have two, one is misb and it's a great representation with great articulation. Both of mine had perfect paint. I can fix the misaligned vents on the forearm. It's a shame they stopped after the first figure.

Xtransbot, love appoloyons design, wish a few swing arms were better executed. Other than that, it's the start of a loyalty program thanks to 539s designs. The sweeps and cyclonus look great and should be easier to execute than apolloyon was.

Kfc, people hate but my first try with them was transistor and I really liked it. Not sure what else they will do but I will give them a shot.

So as far as loyalty goes, I see flaws with all of them, some more than others. I prefer fanstoys and TT over most. X trans has a great designer which has upped their game.

I'm anti warbo for fn with the fans choosing retailers after the preorder window. Hell, I still have limbs with no fucking torso. Fuck you warbo, I paid in full over a year ago, is that biased? They were biased first and fans paid the price.

Mmc, like them a lot, scale is a tad small. Maybe new line will change that. I'm loyal in the fact I don't believe they will put out crap but I won't buy ones scaled to small. Is the DJD mp scale? I like those original designs.


No other company has my attention. I'll point out what looks off and compliment what looks right.

Am I loyal? Just to the hobby, may the best executed design win.

 

sigged.
thanks.

 

Mmc and maketoys i find myself gravitating too.

I will not defend bad toys though. I do find it funny that you are such a supporter of fantoys that its obvious you try and come to their defense when you feel others are hating on a design.

This became obvious to me when many disliked Tesla. It is natural that you want others to like the same things. But if we dont, try not to tell us why we are wrong for not liking it.

It kinda goes both ways.

 

I don't recall doing that with Tesla. Are you sure you aren't confusing me with someone else?

 

I think there is a difference to loyalty to a company and a FAN of a company. People who are LOYAL, will probably buy every product they put out because they may feel OBLIGATED, or feel like they have to be a Completionist to a particular brand they mostly enjoy.

While there are FANS of a company due to a proven track record of quality releases, and figures. There are different degrees of every type of fan, and loyalist, and a lot of FANS become LOYALISTS, but I feel they are two different dynamics.

The term Fan comes from Fanatic, and to be Fanatic about something seems to have a negative connotation.

For me, I'm a FAN of BadCube, FansToys, and slowly becoming a fan of MakeToys as well. They have a proven track record of quality, and design aesthetic that I enjoy. Does, that mean I like every product they put out? No, but I'm a Fan of their work. But, I don't feel LOYALLY obligated to buy every product they put out.

I think for a lot of people they Feel LOYAL, and obligated to Hasbro for example, and feel that they should only buy their product, because if they buy a third party figure they are being DISLOYAL to Hasbro, and by doing so will be wrong. This could be a psyological response that's ingrained in their upbringing, and could be psychoanalzed by a therapist one day in my opinion. However, that's how they feel.

The problem is Design choices and aesthetics are merely a matter of opinion, like art. For some people that don't like a particular design, they feel like their opinion is the only opinion that matters, and every one else are idiots for not thinking that way. So they will try to cut down the other persons belief or opinion by belittling them in some way, to try to force their opinion and way of thinking on others. I like to refer to them as NAZI's, because they're negative hateful people. Lol.

Just my two cents, about Negative Nazi, Fan Boys!

 

so far i did buy from these 3rd party company:
Fanstoys, MMC, X-transbot, KFC, Badcube, Toyworld, Unique Toys, Giga Power, Fansproject, Xovergen, Firefair, and factory stock (KO white magnus)
some i like and some i don't like, not to be discuss here.
i do hold higher confident level/bias toward certain company product because i believe in their built quality. i like my figure to had more paint apps, better quality material in used; good plastic moulding finishing. however some just focus on the aesthetic.
Different collector has their own criteria to meet, but i do believe most ppl here are not loyal to a company's product; it just happens that particular company's design just tick most of their checkbox.

 

I only use past experiences for quality. So for example: I would have a much higher faith on MMC producing quality figures, but that does not mean I like all their figures willy nilly. I like their Feral Rex quite a bit, but I dislike my one Fembot quite immensely, not because of quality or looks, but it's just too fiddly. Cyclops too is more an acquired taste. And you won't see any post from me defending their elbow gate (Bovis). Minor or not, it's something that should have been caught in the QC process. And don't get me started on Terminus Hexatron, the most overrated figure in MMC's history. Now it may sound as if I am being negative on MMC, but no, up until Feral Rex, I've bought their last 10 figures, and I have kept all except Terminus.

Summary: I buy figures, not companies.

 

Bing to the mutha fuckin' o.

Mic drop.

 

If a company produces a widely praised figure, then I'm pretty sure that people will be somewhat loyal to that company in some form or another . We can pick countless examples, "waiting for [insert name] version". Almost everyone has done it. Some people are worse than others, whilst some are more fickle in their choices. I can with certainty say I'm loyal to tt mp's and planet x, but I certainly ain't no fanboy as I have not been impressed by ironhide and star saber recently. What I'm saying is brand loyalty is definitely a thing, it's the fanboyism that people get turned off by.

Yeled, you do at times come across as "ft biased", but you're not the type that is spewing literal statements like ft are the best, or making aggravating comments.

 

Obviously I am the one that set you off about this, but if you feel you are always defending yourself because you are always being accused of being biased, doesn't that tell you something?
I am not here to make enemies with you or anyone else, but when your comments are so obviously skewed in a biased way (you may not even realise it), it is better to not comment.
Same goes for people who comment just to say they are not getting a figure.
Who cares??? That's information I don't need to know..
I admit that I am 100% biased to Takara and will by any figure they release that was in the first 3 seasons of the cartoon or the movie, but that is all. I don't have Star Saber, Exhaust etc for this reason.

 

I have companies I have a certain disdain for due to design decisions or past experiences, but no real loyalty to a brand. IE: I have a lot of Fansproject stuff, but as Columpio and MADLAW have shown new releases are not always a step forward. I normally steer clear of Perfect Effect since their designs are usually too partsformery for my taste and everything I have gotten from them has had spotty Q/C for the premium they charge. I still picked up the combiner wars add ons because they looked good enough to get a pass and so far they're the best thing I've gotten from them.

 

Right. I probably do have a FTs bias, but not because I have some absolute loyalty. I think they are a good company, I find their products are usually to my taste.

What I do not do is bash other companies because I like FTs. One has nothing to do with the other. I like Gigapower, for example, and I'm happy that they are making good figures. I'm happy that people got to choose an alternative that they preferred. I like FTs dinos better, but it has nothing to do with me if there are alternatives. And more good companies making good figures is good, not bad. In a head to head competition, it's up to FTs to earn our purchases. Not me to win people over to their side.

Also I tend to keep my FTs comments inside FTs threads.

First, what actually set me off was I was annoyed when, in the course of talking about Scoria's hips, I got accused of defending an imperfection because of bias instead of reason. I believe Scoria's hips were done the way they were done for very logical reasons, even if today I don't think FTs would do them the way they did. You were just kind of the straw that broke the camel's back.

That said, your accusation in the Sun Surge thread was simply inaccurate and, to be frank, irrelevant. My feelings for or against FTs have nothing to do with my feelings about Sun Surge. I like some aspects of Badcube's design, like some aspects of Omni's design on their figure, and frankly don't love either one. I was not, however, saying I wouldn't get Sun Surge, something you say you are not interested in hearing about above. I was critical of a design that I thought would be better, and hope will improve with the next reveal. At no time does FTs come into play. So how are my comments in the Sun Surge thread biased?

In addition, you are obviously biased against FTs. You are well known as having that bias, as evidenced by the next poster coming along and telling you just to put it in your sig. Doesn't that tell you something? So we're just two sides of the same coin. Except my bias seems positive and doesn't have anything to do with other companies, and yours is negative and is driven by...what, exactly? Feelings that you are being repressed somehow? Fanboyism towards Giga? What?

Here's the point (in what is turning into a long winded ramble): Why bring up FTs at all? Why accuse me, out of the blue, of having a FTs bias when we weren't talking about FTs? Is that your own bias at work? I just don't get it.

In conclusion, people in glass houses and all that....

 

But wait, isn't that making friends...?

 

exactly