I am sure this has been discussed before, so I apologize if I am bringing up a continuing thread, but don't you think hasbro would want to either buy and or put a stop to third party figures? I would say I lean towards the 3rd party figures as they are usually pretty dope and keep getting doper, and well I think look better almost. What's the consensus on this?

 

And they're kicking YOUR wallet.

I'm sticking with Hasbro, I'm better off buying 6 Voyagers for $120 than for $600.

 

Oh boy here we go.

I don't see much reason for them to stop 3rd parties (if they even could). Rarely are they competing against Hasbro's product and sometimes they actually help sell Hasbro's crap. Remember when nobody wanted to buy Asia Bruticus? Not anymore with FP Bruticus getting re-released.

 

could Hasbro even actually stop them do you think?

 

hasbro 's tfs toys is better

 

"Eff you Hasblo, I'm not paying $15 for an oversized scout!"

*drools over a 3rd party deluxe costing $90 and a $30 head+gun set*

-3rd party fandom in a nutshell

 

I don't even understand why people feel the need to compare them. They're two vastly different things.

They'd send online retailers a notice to stop selling unofficial merchandise.

 

The consensus is that you are in dire need of new adjectives, my friend.

 

I <3 this thread.

 

How about we ask their respective Accountants on that one.

Hasbro makes and sells toys primarily for children and abide by US safety laws and regulations.

Third Parties don't.

There's no comparison to make.

 

Not financially I mean, I mean in what fans want, or I should say I personally like the 3rd party designs better, I think they are better executed almost. There action figures , now not all of them but a majority of them are killer ass figures! Hercules for example , those insecticons, I could go on. Not to say hasbro's are not cool just picked up A MP optimus from toys r us..pretty killer!, I am looking forward to those throttle bots that merge.

 

If Takara really wanted to fuck with third parties like TFC Toys for instance, couldn't they just get a hold of the Hercules design and sell it with a Takatomy label? Would they really try to sue Takatomy for a Devastator design? Same with Igear MP coneheads. Just wondering.

MP Soundwave blew the third party out of the way. Takatomy just needs to continue this.

 

Yeah they really did smack it out of the park on that one, and I do want it bad as Optimus and soundwave are my favorite ones.

 

Could they? Yes. I'm not taking a stand one way or another on the "3rd Party vs Hasbro" debate but from a strictly legal standpoint Hasbro and TT are within their rights to shut them out of conventions they run. They would be within their rights to say to retailers "we're going to stop sending you our product as long as you carry unlicensed products." Hasbro and TT have the upper hand when it comes to the legal realm. So yes, they could "stop them" in a number of ways.

As for quality? I mostly buy FansProject, and the quality there is top notch, though I think a lot of 3rd party zealots tend to exaggerate just how good some of their stuff can be. Like Warbot Defender, the Springer homage. I wanted him when he was released, but I didn't have the money at the time. I forgot about him entirely until I saw one going for a decent price at TFCon. So I picked him up.
Now when this guy was released a lot of people were saying "Hasbro and TT should take notes." So that did set my expectations a little high. As it turns out Defender is a great transforming robot toy, but he has his fair share of flaws, and in no way would I say he's "better" then an official Hasbro or TT figure of comparable size.

At the end of the day I think the "3rd Party vs Hasbro/TT" debate is pretty pointless. Both sides offer something different to the collecting community, and no side is really kicking the other side's "arse."
I don't see the point to ideologically tying yourself to one side or the other. Just buy what you want, be it Hasbro, TakaraTomy, or 3rd party. It's your money and your collection after all. Why limit yourself by arbitrarily declaring you won't buy figures from one source or another?

The only real point I want to emphasise is that at the end of the day we all have to respect the fact (yes, the fact) that Hasbro and TT will take legal actions to protect the IP that is rightfully theirs.
While I certainly enjoy a good deal of what comes out of 3rd party companies, I'm not fooling myself. When the hammer comes down there's nothing 3rd party companies can really do about it, and we fans will have to recognize that Hasbro and TT are well within their rights to do it.

 

i not want see this war between two co on here
please somebody close this thread

 

So far 3P has won ever Epic Toy Battle I've place them in against Hasbo, but I admit, I picked the best 3rd party toys.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...istory-hasbro-vs-3p-round-1-jumpstarters.html

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...sbro-vs-3p-round-2-optimus-targetmasters.html

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...ttles-history-hasbro-vs-3p-r3-blast-offs.html

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans...-history-hasbro-vs-3p-round-4-long-hauls.html

 

Personally I prefer 4th party products - accessories made by 3rd party companies for OTHER 3rd party toys  

Maybe 2nd party products would be small run/garage/fanmade items that have a 1 day license/limited permission from Hasbro/Takara to make, like the Wonderfest Dai Atlas?

 

There's an entire forum dedicated to 3rd party, how'd you miss that?

Also, until 3rd party products stop costing roughly eight times as much as Habro product, they haven't kicked shit. They're high-end collectables and high-end prices. Hasbro is retail-level toys at retail prices. There's no winner when the only two contestants are in different races. Not until I can go out to Wal Mart and pick up munitioner for $16. Third Parties have one undeniable, massive shortcoming compared to Has/Tak product: convenience.

Also, Has/TakTom have no interest in stopping 3rd parties unless they cross the incredibly fat line. Hell, they've even started complementing 3rd party works, like reissuing the Energon Bruticus mould. (because it's so popular by itself you see, has nothing to do with Fansproject.  )

We live in an incredibly spoiled age where in addition to strong official product we have 3rd Party collector product, and neither side seems to be overtly competing with the other. Keep prodding the bull with these comparrisons and blastign Hasbro for not being the same market and we could lose that. Hell, that not-even-enforced rule at Botcon about 3rd Party products only came about because loudmouths forced Hasbro's hand in acknowledging blatant IP theivery, which they had been content to ignore until there was a big stink about it. It would be easy for Hasbro to shut down 3rd party sales by simply teling all their online retailers (which still make most of their money through official product) to cease carrying.

If fans ruin the incredibly good thing we have going now by insisting on making it a competition, I'll be pissed.

 

Yeah, I'll be sticking with Hasbro unless 3rd Party products start going down to Hasbro TF prices and become available at US retail. Which I think is safe to say won't actually ever happen.

I just prefer buying my figures in-hand and at low prices. I'm fine with a more or less $3 increase for smaller figures, because I know it's still way less than what I could be paying elsewhere in the world AND for just about any 3rd Party item. I'll happily admit that a lot of 3rd Party stuff looks better than a lot of Hasbro stuff, but Hasbro has them beat without question to me in the US market.

 

If third party toys were really kicking hasbro's ass, I'd own more than 8 of them compared to the 723 hasbro/takara figures I own.

I have yet to see any single third party figure that's better in my eyes than United Jazz or Generations Warpath, for example. and those guys cost a fraction of what any third party offering does.

They're not playing by the same rules, so there's no comparing the two. If Hasbro and Takara didn't have safety laws to abide by, and have to fit everything in retail friendly standardized price points, they'd mop the floor with the third parties.