Possible Universe 25th Anniversary Shockwave

Ooooo, new Shockblast, how fun!

Torso halves connect perfectly fine. But yes, the arm is huge. He has giant feet with decent stability, so balancing with the giant arm is not a problem.

Then you guys are out of luck Have you ever considered why Hasbro sometimes doesn't make the more "obvious" repaints, particularly ones that fans have done themselves as customs or digibashes?

Hasbro has legal problems doing repaints that are extremely similar to something a fan has come up with, unless Hasbro can prove they came up with the idea first and independently from the fans.

By coming up with the idea first and doing a digibash, you may actually cost ever getting the toy in those colours.

Essentially, avoid giving unsolicited ideas to Hasbro. They are good enough at their jobs and knowledgeable enough with Transformers to give you all the G1-like repaints you want given time. Telling them they should do something or showing them what they should do just means they can't legally do it, unless the idea is a rather generic, ultra-obvious one like "repaint MP Starscream in G1 Starscream colours" or "repaint Starscream into Skywarp and Thundercracker".

Really? Has that ever been stated by Hasbro? I only ask because Hasbro themselves did the G1 deco first, about 25 years ago. I find it hard to believe that Takara/Tomy/Hasbro is restricted from 'copying' G1 decos that they originally designed.

If true, then that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

Things like that can only harm the fans because then they do not get the repaints they constantly ask for, and the only reason they come up with these "repaint homages" is because they currently do not exist in colored plastic form.

Remember, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. A bunch of fans get the repaint they always wanted instead of just 1 guy who took a past figure and repainted it for himself.

These are Hasbro owned and created characters, they should be able to repaint them however they damn well please no questions asked.

They should have full and complete legal right to paint their products however they want.

We as customizers should only have the right to buy their products and alter them to our liking. Sure we sell them as well, but they legally aren't ours to sell as our own "100%" creations. Someone else made that toy and all we did was take what they did and altered it. It is not originally 100% ours.

Our alterations to their products should not matter because Hasbro should have the complete right to take their own products and make them however they want in order to use them for their full potential at generating money and paying off for that figure's mold.

Just my 2 cents.

EXACTLY. So essentially all our "homage" repaints all originated from what they originally did for the said characters in question way back in the 1980's. We are only basing our custom repaints on their original works. So again, they originally did everything.

Besides, you know if there is a repaint color scheme that everyone likes then it would be a no-brainer for them to use it and make it official because then people would still buy it since it would now be molded in the correctly colored plastics and not just a custom someone did using another version of the toy with it being completely covered in paint(which if done incorrectly can look like shit).

Even if it were a Universe Shockblast for any reason, I'd still get him. I love the mold. However if it were a 25th Shockwave, you'd better get outta my way because that non-KO sucker is MINE.

They did the deco for a toy that was released 25 years ago. We're talking about the idea of putting a similar deco onto another toy. That's not the same.

Depends on how much those are "copied". We're not talking about slapping the exact deco/paint mask of a 25-year-old toy onto a different toy. If that was so easy, Hasbro wouldn't have to pay deco artists for "homage" redecos.

Welcome to the world of legal.

Not if there's the possibility of someone being able to claim having had the idea to do the deco in question first.

So Hasbro could just paint Optimus Prime as Superman?

No, but the alteration idea was yours, making it a "derivative work". Technically, Hasbro could prevent you from selling it, but Hasbro couldn't copy it and sell it without your permission either.

Again, if YOU had the idea to alter their product in a certain way, you could claim they stole your idea if they released a reasonably similar alteration of their product.

They did not originally come up with the idea to redeco toy X as a toy Y homage. At least they might not be able to legally prove they had the idea before you posted your version on the internet.

It depends on how "obvious" the idea is, and if there is precedence. Redeco patterns that have been done multiple times (Starscream into Thundercracker and Skywarp, Optimus Prime into Ultra Magnus or Nemesis Prime) are fair game. Cybertron Crosswise into G1 Bluestreak would be a totally different thing, on the other hand. And anything that falls in between is a very tricky gray area.

And even if you said "ha-ha, Hasbro can copy my idea all they like" - first, are you able to set up a legally binding document that really guarantees this freedom to Hasbro? Second, even if you said it was okay, there might be other instances where there's really a fan who's dumbarsed enough to sue Hasbro over "stealing" his idea of a Movie-Optimus-Prime-into-G1-Overload redeco. And unless you can guarantee that no single person in the entire fandom would be retarded enough to do this, Hasbro would simple prefer to avoid this minefield altogether.

(Come to think, I was told there was an instance where a Hasbro deco designer did use a similar deco to what had been posted on the internet, but didn't learn about the fan idea until much later, and he said he was very glad that Hasbro Legal didn't know about it.)

I believe it was stated at one point... like a long long time ago by a Hasbro employee (I believe this might have been at Botcon or something), but I think it had less to do with repaints of a character and more to do with original characters from what I remember.

Like, someone suggesting a G1 Scorponok repaint from Energon Scorponok wouldn't have been an issue, but if someone were to actually send them an image of said Energon Scorponok with exact details on how it should be done (similar to one of Hasbro's color guides they use for toys) then they couldn't do something exactly like that. Also, if someone were to send them an original designed character they couldn't take that and use it for themselves. In other words... customizers are free to customize without fear of Hasbro never doing their own version... just don't expect it to be exactly the same as one of the customizers version. And they simply can't do people's original creations unless they solicited said person's talents.

That's what I remember about that.

So all we are doing is shooting ourselves in the foot?

Great...thanks everyone!

Now that's just silly. They would need the Superman or DC toy licenses first. Then they could do anything. Hell, look at Marvel Crossovers.

Isn't that what we are talking about. G1 repaints on G1 inspired toys. Scorponok, Shockblast, etc are already based on G1 toys so their G1 paint schemes should be possible regardless of how many fans digibash them.

Already have this guy (the green and purple version) standing in with Classics Megatron and the rest of the Classics/Universe cast. He's been in there since the beginning. And I love him there.

The only reason I'd have for buying this new one is if it had a better paint scheme.

What a coincidence! Botcon is coming up. Someone ask the folks at Hasbro.

To my understanding... yes. As long as they aren't copying known kitbashes or digibashes or something like that. However, I can see where this would open up a can of worms for Hasbro if said original toy is kitbashed into his G1 scheme nearly constantly. If there is already a lot of them... how do you do it without copying any of them. Or... like was already stated... what if they do one and then they don't know about the similar deco?

It could get ugly for them... especially if one of the more dumb arse fans actually decides to go after Hasbro for it. And don't think that fans are too benevolent to do it either. I've seen at least three threads by bozos on this site claiming that Hasbro somehow copied their works... don't think they ever went after Hasbro for it, but what if someone decides to finally? Even if it's totally BS.

I would dare say that your information is a little misleading.

In terms of "intellectual property", Hasbro can repaint Starscream in to Skywarp a billion times, even if a fan customizes it first. Hasbro owns the mold, Hasbro owns the likeness, therefore, Hasbro can do what they want with the toy. There has never been any hurdles with "Oh we can't do that, a fan repainted it first" that I have *EVER* heard about.

When it comes to someone creating a *NEW* character and presenting it to Hasbro, that's the issue. I remember someone created, as a joke, the idea that Animated should have a villain character named "Bayhem", who looks like Michael Bay and blows stuff up.

Some of the Animated guys read it, loved it, and pushed it as far as it could go but ultimately were unable to get legal to sign off on it because it didn't originate from Hasbro's offices, but rather, the TFW2005 Boards.

So when someone creates a *NEW* character for Hasbro, or a *NEW* storyline, or anything of that sort, and submits it to Hasbro, they are basically sealing the deal and Hasbro is unable to use it. But just because someone takes a Hasbro owned toy, recolors it, and renames it as a Hasbro owned trademark/copyright, that means jack squat. Hasbro has more power to sue that person for copyright infringement than the person has to sue Hasbro for "using my idea!1!11!!".

Why don't repaints happen?

Marketing, retailers, mold usage, etc. The more likely reason Energon Scorponok doesn't get repainted as G1 Scorponok is because for starters:

1) Horrible color scheme. Bright greens/oranges/pinks do not sell
2) Retailers may scoff at the idea of a brightly colored robotic scorpion
3) Cost. Would releasing another mold that's more popular in another popular color scheme be a better seller?

Universe 2.0 happened because WalMart wanted something "realistic" like the movie to be on the shelves. The fact that it allowed Hasbro to make you feel like "Classics" was continuing was a bonus factor. But make no mistake ... retailers control Transformers more than you think.

Well now. I should dare say that we all stand corrected on the issue. Kickback, once again, is the man.

Well that is VERY reassuring. Thanks Kickback.

Now I know if I ever came up with an idea for a new Transformers storyline just to ignore showing to anyone BUT Hasbro.

Kinda sad since TF fans have already did repaints to that toy

Only because they wanted it badly enough to exist that they took the effort to make it real.

As I said, it basically depends on a) how much precedence there is and b) how excplicit the fan idea is, and how much Hasbro's official version resembles it.

Starscream into Seekers with G1-based decos is a non-issue. Same for Prime into Magnus or Nemesis Prime, Prowl into Bluestreak etc.

Now, if it comes to somewhat more unusual redeco ideas, such as, say, random helicopter guy into G1 Spinister, there might be a problem if a fan came up with the redeco idea "first".

And then it at least depends on how much the Hasbro deco resembles the fan deco, and how much the fan deco derivates from the G1 toy's deco. If, say, the fan adds paint details that aren't based on the G1 toy's deco, and Hasbro add similar same paint details, that might be considered a problem.

It's probably also not really a written Hasbro rule, but more of an internal courtesy, just to stay out of trouble.

I recall a conversation with a Hasbro deco artist who basically said that if he had to acknowledge a fan custom/digibash, he could never ever do a similar redeco.

.... why did you use my Starscream example? I used Starscream as an example of where there would be no problem because it is such a generic, obvious idea.

So just because you've never heard of it means it has never happened? Golly, I was not aware that you were omniscient.

Oh boy. This could get ugly.

Oh fuck yeah!!!!!

I was waiting for someone to light this fuse.

Robot mode is ace, alt... not good at all.

Yeah...I do give them kudos for at least trying something new with his Orbital Weapons Satellite mode. And even tring to make him a triple changer. But the execution really didn't turn out to well. But it's still a fun figure.

Yeah i would buy that

Is there a link to this news or maybe a pic? I tried to look and could not find any. I know there is a link about the bootleg G1 Shockwave.

You can kind of put him in a gun mode too so he could be a quadruple-changer.

I've got a Sixshot, and unless they've fixed the floppyness of the chest & shoulder connection to the waist I doubt I'll bother with another copy of this mold.