I'd bet it's not as hard as you'd think to track them down. We have third party presentations at cons, and they have social media accounts which can be tracked down without that much effort. Plus, you can squeeze the retailers cutting off availability. Or, you can get contact information from the retailers. They're getting the product from somewhere and they're talking to someone at the company. Heck we have a sticky thread on how to contact the Third Party companies in this very forum! And if they are hit with a cease and desist or a lawsuit, passing off the plans puts a person in severe legal penalty, opening them up to more lawsuits, greater damages, etc.

I honestly have no idea if this is gone forever or just delayed. I'm just saying this whole thing is a lot more precarious than people think. If Hasbro wanted to they could pull the plug on all this. They don't though, and in the past they've been somewhat friendly to the third party scene. If Zeta really did tick Hasbro off that the lawyers are set free, then it could become very very tough quickly.

 

That by the way is what makes Zeta's situation so precarious for all of the third parties. If Hasbro decides to blame the crowd source failure on Zeta then that would likely set the lawyers and investors on edge. And once they're involved then it will snowball.

 

Cutting off official merch retailers - sure, no problem, they can do that. I have no doubt they would, pretty sure they have played that card in the past. Sending angry letters and getting videos taken down - also not an issue.

Anything beyond that - I'll believe it when I see it. They say they are "friendly" to the 3P scene and don't want to be the bad guys, to me that's just doublespeak for "it's not something we can easily put a stop to and we don't really care enough to try".

 

Yeah, I can agree with that. They haven't cared enough to try really. Nothing is anonymous on the internet, and the fact many third parties have a social media presence means they could be found if Hasbro really wanted to. This Unicron thing is the one case I could see something playing out here. That crowd sourcing campaign failing is a corporate black eye, and Zeta stupidly made themselves an easy target to take the blame. Tracking them down wouldn't be that hard with lawyers involved.

 

Love it! The engineering is amazing!

 

Buttimus Plugus?

 

Poor LEGO. They had an exclusive patent in the US for 20 years, from 1958 to 1978, but after that it expired, and here comes the copycats. The competitors. And the legislation, much of it lasting into the 2000s.
It almost killed the company. Transformers never had something they could patent, right? You can patent Hound's toy design but you can't patent the idea of a car that turns into a robot. They had imitators and competitors immediately.
Anyway, I think everything you are saying is right. Core Star is may be one of the only times I can think of any 3P product that could really affect the company Hasbro. Every one is possibly money lost to Hasbro, unlike almost every other 3P.

 

Zeta might be staying low for the moment but I believe they'll come back with a vengeance. Wouldn't surprise me if they show an upscaled, fully painted testshot down the road just to pester with Hasbro again. They're quite ballsy at that  

 

ya know, im definitely a supporter of 3p, but if they did something like that i would hope they got sued into oblivion

 

  Well, what's wrong with going on a rant sometimes? It's therapeutic.
I do agree that Transformers have a lot more playvalue than most other action figures - even though the Power Rangers lightning collection is really amazing (Thank you, Hasbro) - so you do get a lot of value for what you pay.

 

lightning collection is great! love what i've gotten so far  

 

They really are. I only bought the Dino Charge Red Ranger for my kid. I'm not really a Power Rangers fan. And I got the feeling he isn't into them so much anymore either. But the range of articulation is so cool! He's so much fun to handle! I often put him in a few poses when my son isn't playing with him.

 

It's CORE STAR OR NO STAR FOR ME!!!!!

 

AMEN BROTHER

 

Well, I don't know about any Stars but there's a neat figure called Unicron that is still available.

 

For Me:
Too expensive
Too Big
Too Kinder-Egg Like

The planet mode does look awesome though and has a perty mouth.

If I were a rich man with a big house and a four car garage I would def buy it.

but as it is, Zeta is the way for me when it emerges.

 

I get that. Me, I don't see the appeal in MP44.

 

This'll still happen. It's just that right now Zeta have had their wings clipped for flying too close to the sun.

And that's all Hasbro have done about it. Just put the frighteners on them to remain the only game in town right now. And fair play to 'em.

I think this says more about what they are prepared to turn a blind eye to than anything else. Retailers offering Hasbro's Unicron continue to offer Zeta's take on Bruticus.

Nobody has been shut down here. And I think that's important. What precedent it might set remains to be seen. But right now the Transformers fandom remains ridiculously well served and while in the here and now we're a bit pissed off, that in itself is a positive we shouldn't overlook.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and that.