Could be wrong but I think manufacturer and or retailer could be creating a pseudo scarcity to potentially increase demand also feeding the scalpers. Keep an eye out for release, I expect Bandit will be in-stock, however briefly. Initially I passed on Spoiler but then I bought Roadking, and now waiting for a re-issue for Spoiler. Menasor wars have my head spinning, spend hours watching vids and deciding on which Motormaster almost to the point of fuck it and pass on all of them but I was already 4/5 into XTB Stunticons and wanted what I consider the best representation of the character Motormaster to go with the others even though both XTB and FT MM towers over the rest of the team. lol

 

Wow... FT-31E Bandit has me scared... I pre-order from NA retailers, am I going to get screwed on the last bot????

 

My thoughts on what I believe is goin on nowadays.

 

Yeah, will have plenty of opportunities to put in a pre-order eventually. I think we're still 6-9 months away from its release.

I hope whomever's trying to scalp these Bandits are not going have enough cash to cover all their pre-orders when it'll be $250-300 each.

 

If you know the difference so well, it would be pointless to point out that 3rd Party are INDEPENDENT designs that are simulating/imitating a likeness to First Party characters. With that you would know they're very careful with insignias, logos, branding and naming conventions to not be 'direct copies' allowing them to operate in a grey area of legality. Seeing as how you already knew that (because your so smart), you also already know that 4th Party or KO Companies are producing lines that are generally 'direct copies' or upscale versions of said direct First Party figures. But you know all this, you're a genius and would never make a belligerent statement that wasn't factual and not based on statistical data. It was idiotic of me to think that a 3rd Party vendor would try and protect themselves from copyright infringement by slightly modifying their design. They just must be terrible designers - guess that's why they forgot to put the Lamborghini logo and branding on the figure and all on the packaging like the First Party and KO guys do. Wish I was as smart as you.

 

What are you going on about now? So sensitive.
FT's other Stunticons are very close to the model of car they are based on, but with Spoiler they decided to add different model year pieces to specific model.

 

Nice back track.

 

popcorn gif time!  

 

what do the 2nd parties make?

 

Licensed product

 

oh ok like Super 7s stuff

 

I thought that the "second party" was us the buyers. Am I wrong?  

 

Nope.

Companies like Super 7 and 3A are still 3rd party, they're just licensed.

 

so whats the second party?

 

The second party was us all along!

 

Legally the second party is the person purchasing the product. The second party is you! First party would be Hasbro, second party is the consumer, third-party is somebody outside of those like Fanstoys, and the knock off companies would be a fourth party.

 

Yup, we are the second party, as mentioned.

 

It depends on the context... in the case of Transformers, you could interpret it in two ways:

1) The producer/consumer relationship. If you consider yourself the the first party, then Hasbro would be the second party. Or you can flip it around, the company producing the product is first party and the consumer is the second party.

2) Producer/contractor relationship. For the Transformers brand, Hasbro is the first party and say for example the Haslab Unicron, Takara would be the second party. Hasbro has commissioned (or partnered) with Takara to design Unicron for them. Takara could even be producing the product for Hasbro, but it is sold by Hasbro as a Hasbro product.

Third party - official licensees... Flame Toys, 3Zero, Super 7, anyone that wants to use the Transformers brand and character likenesses. They pay Hasbro for a license, or Hasbro takes a cut of sales, but the product is sold as a Flame Toys, 3Zero, etc product.

Fourth party - legally doesn't exist... it's a made up thing to refer to knock offs. Also used to reference companies like Wei Jiang or Black Mamba that steal an original design and oversize or improve upon without licensing the product.

 

Fourth party, in this forum at least, often refers to things that are add-ons/accessories for 3P items.

 

...yeah, so I’m trying to get my head around it, but if the consumer of 1st party is 2nd party, then what does that make a consumer of 3rd party?

if 1st party is the consumer, this arguably makes more sense, as then they may buy from the official 2nd party, or unofficial 3rd party. But, then, which party is the licensed product, not made by the 2nd party?

-A.S.