At Slagacon, someone with ties to Hasbro ( not sure if it's cool to mention their name as they could very well post this themselves, but have chosen not to ) said that the 3rd parties are in for a rude awakening. Supposedly, Hasbro has had enough and are going to start going after them. File this as rumor for now, but the person who said it is one of those people that would be in the know if it's true. This could be bad news for those collecting Hercules.

For the "he tell me's" that are coming, I'll let the person that spoke to this person directly reveal their identity, if they think it prudent.

 

I can see it affecting the retailers like BBTS, TFSource, etc. and force them not to carry the product. But what's to stop the 3rd parties from just selling directly, like iGear?

 

God I hope not. 3rd party TFs have been the only interesting ones this year (and probably next year as well, imo)
It's not the 3rd party companies fault that Hasbro only focuses on the movieverse and now prime. If Hasbro want their customers they should make toys we want to buy.
What does the laws say about this? Are the designs trademarked? Is it illegal for a company to make a green giant robot that is made up of 6 smaller ones that also turn into construction vehicles?

 

Meh. I think it's a bunch of hogwash. Can't see how Hasbro will go after them... Most aren't based out of America. Hasbro can't even stop companies from making knock offs of their current official lines... how will they be able to stop these companies who are actually designing and making bots that only RESEMBLE certain characters in their lines, and not knock offs of HasTak designs?

IGear may be in trouble, but even they are getting away from making straight knock offs. Plus I think it would be bad for business... you're going to alienate members of your hardcore fanbase. 3rd party toys DO NOT take away from the target Hasbro demographic. Hell most are even marketed as items for collectors over the age of 13/16 (can't remember which it usually is).

 

Lots of ways to interpret that comment, if it even comes from a credible source. For instance, it would be a rude awakening for Hasbro to beat a third party to market with a big ticket item and price it much lower. It would be a rude awakening for them not to be able to do business with BBTS.

Nothing changes the fact that it's expensive, time consuming and difficult to prosecute IP cases in China. It's also not common for every employee to know all the details of an impending case. If this person doesn't work in the legal department, I would consider it an opinion. An Engineer or Marketing person wouldn't necessarily have any more information than your average interested party. Put it this way. I live in New York. Last week I could have said "The Tigers are in for a rude awakening" and I would have been basing this on very good information, but it would nonetheless qualify as an opinion, and further, one that proved to be incorrect.

Last of all, "some guy told me" isn't news.

 

They have every right to go after them, but that doesn't mean they can actually do anything.

 

Why is it bad news for people collecting Hercules? Surely it would its bad news for Giant, PP05's, fanstoys Soundwave, blaster etc. as well. I think it's scare tactics.

 

If anything it will effect US based retailers.

Overseas will still be fine.

 

When they say "third party" is it a reference to KOs or whole new third party figures?

I think I heard this as well in another thread.... whatever the case, the ones who'll get hit the worst are the newer groups. iGear for instance isn't gonna get that badly hit because they already set up their own online storefront, so they don't need to worry about being cut off from Western retailers as much.

For that matter, RobotKingdom might be out of the immediate Hasbro jurisdiction too, given they're in China.

 

I would love to see Hasbro/Takara step up and put official items out that are currently being designed or produced by 3rd parties. People say "Competition is good" in defense of 3rd party products. Let hastak up the competition even more.

 

It's even worse for people already investing in Hercules because they already paid for two robots when they're expecting six. At least with all the other ones you just pay and then you're done. But Hercules you're stuck with nothing but a paper weight if at least one of the six doesn't come out, unless you like having individual bots meant to be part of a team.

 

Oh good, then we'll have absolutely nothing to look forward to, other than a sea of Bay movie-style crap, repaints, half-bakes gimmick lines (PCC, Human Alliance), and mismanaging the only good lines (Classics, Animated). Huzzah.

 

Hasbro could always put them out of business by making the toys we want themselves! A combining Classic style Devastator or a HOS Shockwave might be nice instead of yet another movie Bumblebee repaint, are you listening Hasbro?

 

Yup, Sueing a company that is based in China, or even in the shadows is going to be very difficult. Only thing they can really do that will be easy is squeeze the big retailers (BBTS, TFSource, etc), but it is going to be pretty difficult to stop the producers. Even if they get one, it would be doubtful that they can find them all, and even harder to prove that some are stealing IP in many of the cases.

 

This about sums it up.

Seriously fuck anything Hasbro would have planned besides THIS.

 

I'll start to worry once they close down all 3rd party companies altogether instead of just preventing any U.S store from selling them.


Translation: I'll never be worried.

 

Probably just some random opinion. Hasbro reps don't even know when their own stuff is supposed to come out, so what do they know.

 

Hasbro cannot legally stop sale of products in other countries so while this will affect the online retailers based in the USA, those like HLJ or Robot Kingdom shouldn't be affected by this.

And for the whiners, Hasbro does more than it's fair share to cater to fans so stop being so damned greedy. What you want is not always what you get.

 

Hasbro has a right to protect their brand. No matter how cool these "3rd party" items are to fans. It has taken Hasbro decades to build their brand, these companies are piggy backing and not merely doing new characters, but well established characters with made up names to flaunt copyright and trademark law.

 

Does Hasbro have much of a case? The great detail gone into these 3rd part originals make them look leaps and bounds better than the original toys they pay homage too, which makes them look, in some cases, quite different. None of them (to my knowledge) share names with Hasbro/Takara products, save for Giant and none of them come with insignias of Hasbro/Takara designs...or do they?