Keep those Vids coming guys. some really great stuff.

Is there anything about toys?

 

Most of those counterfeit clothes are sold as the real item. Not so much with KO toys.

Melting an entire shipping container to stop one $5 DongMan Jin Giang isnt cost effective. They are mostly shipped per order.

I'll put it this way...

I once saw a lady going to buy her kid a $35 Jurrasic World set at Kmart. I saw several of that same set for $8.99 at Ross not 30 minutes before that.

She clearly didn't want to buy it so, I told her go to ross for the price. She looked at me like I was an idiot, told me "no" and put it in the cart. At overpriced, dying Kmart of all places.

Parents will just buy the shit, because kids gotta have it now. They aren't going to get on Ebay/Ali and search for an alternative.

They will buy a $120 pair of "Jordanz" for $80, though. Because fashion over function in America. And $120 is idiotic to pay for a pair of shoes.

 

Yeah, but that's the thing- you will always get some folks saying "I'll just wait for the KO." Well, what happens when everyone just waits for the KO?

I'm pretty much out of the 3P collecting game because I've severely paired down my collection to a few Legends/Generations figures a year (2-3 figures a year). BUT if I were still collecting 3P, I'd always get "official" 3P mainly because I want my favorite 3P companies to continue making figures. Every sale really counts when you're dealing with smaller companies.

When a KO company releases something that just got released-- well that just sucks.

 

If nobody buys it, then nobody buys it.
The ko is merely the scapegoat.

Why else would say that they will wait for a ko?
Because they aren't interested in buying it as it is.
Sure a lot gets ko'd- but not everything does.
Whoever says that they will wait for a ko is prepared to never buy it.

 

@StriderHiryu and @blitz thanks for giving me something to watch/listen to at work.

After watching those, I knew some of it, but the details are clearer for me and I can formulate a better opinion, albeit a much harsher one.

The big companies (hasbro/takara) opened the doors to the third world production. Did they think they would be immune to the problems of the third world? How stupid or blinded by greed can you be to think you can get labor that cheap without consequence. People want to talk about ethics and morals, where the hell were those when companies went to China.

The third parties are even fucking dumber. They literally live in that environment and didn't think it could happen to them?

You can point the finger at people buying KO's, but human nature is what it is and money is finite. Once big companies went to China the results were most likely inevitable.

 

People are going to buy what they want to buy, and that's pretty much all there is to it.

Where it comes from, who owns the design, what brand it is- none of that matters to some people- they just want what they want and if they can get something better from a KO product then they'll take that route- that's just how it goes.

 

Anyway to bring up a point for consideration , has anyone bought those lead paint test kits ? To test both 3p and ko products ? Didn't see anyone bring this up , pardon my ignorance if someone already did .

 

If they are never prepared to buy it, then it doesn't matter if a ko exists or not. There's just a lack of interest in the figure.

You mean, they aren't interest in buying it at that price. The customer is making a financial choice. Are there repercussions that come from that choice? I don't know. But clearly the customer likes the original design, otherwise they wouldn't bother buying the KO. (Sometimes folks buy KOs for other reasons then price-- I admit that. But price is a big factor.)

It's largely about money. Why dress it up differently or divert attention away from that? If 3P prices are turning off customers then there's repercussions to that too. But that's the 3P companies choice, to determine the price they want to put on their figures and they'll live or die based on that choice.

 

So therefore the existence of ko's have no bearing on the success or failures of a company.

 

Flatter myself over what?You not carring yet replying 3 times?  No I am not flattered, I am amused though.
I am not calling you names, I am calling you what you are.

3rd party/original, if you push someones buttons, they are bitchin like there is no tomorrow. Especially if they dont want/cant admit it. Oh wait, after 3 replies, he doesnt care  

Not at all, its called logic.

ON topic: Lets start an interesting speculation here: Was anyone taken aback by the new 7 eleven Prime and how similar it looks to the UM Prime KO released recently? Same thing happened with the SG Prime? Do you think its random happenstance?

 

Mommy, I know you really want to hop over the dinner table and shatter the pasta bowl over Daddy's head- but think of me...

 

I have no idea of what are you talking about, care to exaplain? But truth be told I love Jack Nicholson so heres a like.

 

I just want a pleasant, positive, and bubbly dinner table- not a negative, rough, and awkward one. I want everyone to get along for the sake of the children, and me....

LOVE EACH OTHER DAMMIT!!

 

Lol. Sure. I typed a longer reply but it's not worth it.

 

Therefore I cant love you. But I need to catch some shut eye so, see ya tomorrow gents and ladies.

 

Ok, i am bored so will comment on this discussion.

Bobby Skullface whoever hisface did try make a sound argument, kudos. In principle i agree with most of it, but couple of things stood out to me. He sat there trying to justify the fantoys grimlock as artistic interpretation, now some 3ps have incredible artistic interpretation and the fact that companies have designers who come up with unique transformations and create the entire thing themselves is commendable however that grimlock with it's unusual looking dino jaw only for an ft upgrade kit to be released shortly after for extra accuracy is also a form of ko. You can't really argue.

There was this other point that goes something like if you have a ko you don't have the thing... I have kos and i know what i have because of how much they excite me, having the official this or that name does not guarantee doing that. There are many times when the official toys are just not what i want from that toy.

No doubt kos hurt and chip away. 3p exist to fill the gaps so aslong as they do that they should be ok i hope. I am just trying to complete collections and the options help.

 

Knock-offs of official pieces are nothing new and probably don't matter much if at all to HasTak.

Knock-offs can theoretically cripple 3rd Parties, but I wouldn't worry, because 3P are also in a good position to nip those KO people in the butt and keep them under control.

 

I own YM Cupola and I really don't care about Chromedome. But, for $60... I like it.

No way I would've bought it at $140. I will only spend money with 3P on characters I want. I don't hoard like with I used to with Hasbro.

Herein lies the problem. Are they too expensive? Do they need to be that expensive? I know shipping is factored in with "free shipping".

How can a KO maker/dealer make a profit at $60 shipped vs $140 when it's 99% the same thing? Should 3P learn to adjust? Zeta's gigantic Combaticons are only $60 shipped.

 

Yes, infringement is infringement, but even crimes can have various levels of severity, so it's not all black and white.