According to the mail from japanese retailer Red Mercury, TakaraTomy warned them not to sell 3rd party products due to copyright and trademark violation, so they cancelled all related preorders. I think it's the first time that the official company react 3rd party products... 

cancelled preorders are:

Kup Head Set
SFX Scouting Force X - Camera Set
Primary School: Primars
Head Robots: Blood
Bee 01
CDMW-16
CDMW-17

 

really the kup head set? LOL
i understand SFX scouting force & BEE 01 but the other stuff are just accessories

 

Ouch. I still think some of the stuff is in the grey area. But IRC this is what happened with the G1 KO stuff. Prettymuch pressured the retail side. There will always be a way to get the product to the consumer, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next couple days if this trickles down to the "big boys".

Edit, the one that concerns me most is Blood. I have a that and a few sets of the Hardshead upgrade on preorder. I can understand blasting anything from igear. But some of the accessories seem pretty questionable to me.

 

Interesting. I heard this also from a 3rd party source over the weekend. But we thought it might of been a late April Fools joke, made up by one of the asian TF boards.

The only people this affects are Japanese fans. They will have to order 3rd party items now from sellers outside of Japan. Same deal if Hasbro wanted to ban 3rd party stuff in North America. We would have to find a international seller to buy from then. 3rd party groups will remain, but it'll be difficult for both the fans and the groups.

 

Exactly what I think.... 3P scene won't die but maybe it'll be only a bit more difficult to get that kind of product, but not so much either imo...

 

Not sure if shops like BBTS order their product directly from Takara, but if they do, Takara can threaten to cut them off. Again, I think this is what happened with the G1 KO stuff at some of the online retailers (Im sure someone has more info on that). If they do order directly, who would places like BBTS and TFSource rather lose, Takara or small 3rd party compaines.

 

F, lol

 

Ok, let's play the "what did Igear make that broke the camel's back" game.

 

I'm sure they might have options, if they buy directly from Takara now. Like going with a wholesaler. But that could increase their selling cost, and its something they would have to consider if it would still would be worth selling 3rd party items.

I am surprised Takara Tomy is placing the ban. Especially from what I was told, about their views on 3rd party items before. I can understand banning full figures, but stuff like the Head Robots: Blood upgrade is weird. This is like a total all out war on 3rd party stuff by them.  

 

PP-03.

Considering the rumors from across the pacific, about how they made their tooling, this is the likely product that broke the back, if any.

 

I guess it was just a matter of time before either Hasbro or TT started doing something like this. Kind of surprised it took this long, but there really is an awful load of 3rd party stuff coming out lately.

I don't think they can or will judge 3rd party items individually. Besides, if they'd do that, people would find ways in that gray area to continue delivering 3rd party products through retailers.

 

Interesting, what are the rumors?

 

Yea, that is what somewhat confounds me as well. I guess go big or go home. May as well go after em all if you are gonna make the push. Gonna be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

Soooo close to having a near perfect g1 devastator now thats all gone.....i really dont know how i should feel about this. I mean i understand why but is there another that the 3rd parties can exist that are not so infringing on the copyright and trademark issuses?

 

Sure. This is just what a couple different sources told me. And take it as a rumor, as no one has proven it, and I'm not saying its fact.

Basically, the group went to a contractor, and paid off an employee where Takara stores their tooling. The group bribed someone into letting them borrow the MP-03 tooling, and used it to create their own. Then they gave it back before anyone noticed. The proof that this is true, is suppose to be in the final PP-03 figures, and how accurate the plastic casting is to the real Takara toy. Anyways, just a rumor thats been around for awhile.

Don't worry dude. TFC's Devy is still going to come out. Only retailers in Japan are not allowed to sell them.

 

It doesn't really take a genius they're blatantly ripping off the Masterpiece Starscream mold, so I guess they're either reverse engineering parts by taking a Masterpiece Starscream and using the parts for new molds, or they somehow got hold of the digital blueprints for the mold (which seems unlikely to me).

In any case, people might disagree with me, but if there is one company that's really pushing its luck it's iGear. Their Kup head is really, really awesome, but most of their stuff, unlike some other 3rd party groups, is outright theft.

But I don't want to point the finger, I'm sure TakaraTomy is looking at this situation as a whole.

 

Im sure they legally have to look at it as a whole. But it sucks cause one or two groups goes too far and the whole thing has to shutdown....

 

Considering Hasbro/Takara haven't shut down actual KOs of their products, I'm not going to worry right now that 3rd party groups like FansProject will go away. Only until they say they are shutting down themselves.