I anticipate the Third Party/Takara discussion.

 

I can't wait for the HoF discussion myself. You were awesome with putting in the editor comments in 142.

 

It's bad enough Drunk Seth scares me, but now Scottish Seth scares me.

 

I can't stop laughing at the "falling off of the world and seeing turtles" discussion.  

 

WOAH vangelus I font want to see you lay down the hate on Movie G2 Gobot Sideswipe!(Image:G2GobotSideswipe.jpg - Transformers Wiki)

YESS ERECTOR SET INTERMISSION AMAZING

And seth I got a griffon too! Aqua unit for like 10 bucks shipped on ebay, hes neat!

 

Really appreciate you getting these up on iTunes so quickly. That's the best way to get new episodes of the podcast on my iPad.
Seems like all the other podcasts I listen to don't get their new episodes on iTunes till a day later!

 

  Scottish Seth is the best Seth. Maybe Turtle Seth could beat Scottish Seth. But until we hear Turtle Seth, I can't make any kind of judgement. Too bad Seth is not coming to BotCon, because I would do my Newfie UltraPrimal for him, and maybe even sing a little ditty or two.  

 

Since when is Seth not coming to botcon...?

 

Man, you bought that Primus package, and then made a supplemental about it, ALL FOR NOTHING!

 

Brian didn't refund you, or even tell you?!

AWK-ward!

 

I'm letting you guys know right now. I'm planning on pushing for Star Upper for the HoF next year.

 

Cool podcast, you three are a winning trio.
You all should drive, a Winningbego.

 

???

 

God-dangit. Just checked, and my Wreck-Gar has stress marks on his hand.

 

I just wanted to throw something out there for you folks.....

After listening to this podcast (GREAT stuff by the way, almost narfed my soda through my nose at the falling of the world's edge/turtles diatribe) I feel the need to throw out a little inside information regarding the whole IP/copyright/etc. thing.

In my spare time I own an independent film company so I deal with the whole intellectual property issue all the time. Here is how it works:

1. ALL 3rd Party products would - without a doubt - violate copyright law. It doesn't matter if it's an 'add on,' a direct copy, or a new toy in the likeness of a HasTak character - they are all considered - LEGALLY SPEAKING - to be an illeagal use of Hasbro's intellectual property. There are some that skim the legal line very close...but ultimately if it's questionable, the law usually sides with the copyright holder.

2. Financial settlements on copyright violations (if that's the only charge) are relatively low in the scheme of things. It's usually the charges that go hand in hand (like pirating laws with music and video) that carry the larger fines and such. The main reason for this is that, in most cases, all that holding a copyright will do is permit you to force the violater to cease and desist...and turn over their stock and such to you. For instance, Hasbro could sue a third party company and if they won, force the company to stop producing product A, then take all of that product and parts used to produce that product (molds, etc.) In some cases, if the guilty party can force the issue, they can keep the stuff so long as they prove it is destroyed.

3. As 3rd Party things get more expensive, you can rest assured HasTak will pay closer attention. Mainly because there is a little known addition to a copyright case that can bring in HUGE money. If the copyright holder can prove 'dilution of market value' caused by the copyright violation, they can basically take you for a CRAPLOAD of money. I won't get in to the legal particulars of how it works, but the bottom line is the larger the franchise you are pirating, the worse the settlement is going to be for you. TF is HUGE....the loss would be catastrophic to the third party company.

4. That all being said, the question becomes why hasn't Hasbro moved on it more viciously? Could be a variety of reasons. My guess is that Hasbro doesn't generally see a threat to their franchise given the limited release of these items. If even one hit retail locations, I think you would see a huge lashback from HasTak. The industry doesn't have reasonable means for trying to determine how much is being sold online....seeing it in a story and tracking what stores carry it? That's something else. One of the other likely problems for HasTak is that these small companies are located (many times) outside the US. That makes prosecution difficult, if not impossible. On top of that, depending on how the companies are set up legally, it will be difficult to get any financial reward after going after them and, therefore (given the limited release spectrum), be more of a cost to go after them than it is to just let it go. Legally, companies often ask themselves if the 'juice is worth the squeeze' in determining if the cost of a lawsuit is worth it.

5. Trying something underhanded by going after the retailers and threatening not to work with them if they sell 3rd Party Products is the cheap way to go after these guys. If you give them no forum to sell their product, it's easier to drive their sales down to a point where it is worthless to them to continue to make them.

All that information notwithstanding....

I do support third party companies. Without them, we wouldn't get a lot of the cool things we get. The FanProjects "Not Bruticus Upgrade" is one of the best TF purchases I ever made and the way it enhances what Hasbro made is absolutely incredible.

I know IGear is a big sticking point for some folks....I think I probably will buy something from them just to see how they are....If I like 'em, I'll then probably get the coneheads because I want them.

....I realize I may be stoned to death for admitting I'd make that purchase.  

 

*disclaimer* I'll just say that if you message a UK board member in the manner described you're only likely to have the piss ripped out of you   (tbh I couldn't care less but thought it should be said)

I must have bought 15 Windchargers in all, all but one for board members here. If you want to get that trade for one offer something we didn't get or something rare over here like the later universe legends (cosmos, wheelie etc) Universe Hardhead or Animated Arcee or even Tomahawk or Terradive.

Don't message me though. no more Windchargers near me at the moment, I've looked and it's just Chopsaw and Trailcutter around here.

 

By Jove! Are you ill my old fruit - talking like a colonial! Have some crumpets and a nice cup of tea and we'll soon get you speaking the queens English again.

Tally Ho!