Unlike most 3P who hide in China where Hasbro can't get to them easily, this is where Hasbro can easily get to him if he crosses a line.

Seems Pete is burning bridges with Hasbro by doing this. Releasing figures essentially stealing decos/elements from Hasbro IP. Sure you can say it is different enough but its clear he is selling this since it highly based on Hasbro's character. So if years from now if Pete wants to work with Hasbro, they can go "Hey remember when you ripped off our Waspinator? We couldn't do anything to you then but now you want to work with us? F-off, enjoy the shitlist."

 

Pete said they were having difficulty getting "up" there to physically check out the location due to current travel issues caused by the virus, so I'm guessing Chicago or some other North-central city.

 

My only complaint, if you can call it that, is that he doesn't have a gun that looks like Waspinator's stinger blaster.

 

I read that. I knew what Action Force was. But in the main starting post, nowhere does it say this is NOT a Hasbro toy. So is this third party? How come they can release such a blatant copyright infringement on SDCC right under Hasbro's nose?

Also you could have just said "it is a third party toy"...

 

Not for me but looks pretty cool!

Would be nice to get a Retro-future / Glacialord style exclusive.

 

Uh, Peat gotta eat?!? Fingers crossed the ’rona cancels this too. Sorry, not sorry. The hypocrisy here is astounding...

 

Ha ha, yeah. I asked him about Cybertron Optimus Prime's blue thumbs. It was a good time.

 

Considering this reveal is of a figure unrelated to anything hasbro has made, I'd say the convention is firmly unofficial again and unable to use hasbro molds

It's not an official TF convention

 

WTF this stinks of petecon! This is not botcon folks, just pete managed to swindle the use of the old name so he can make money by exploiting TF fandom again, which is the only thing he realize his life is about

This toy just remotely links to TF in the weakest way possible, weak.

im gonna be silenced for this but think about supporting a man like this, REMEMBER BOTCON IS NOT TF FANDOM

 

If you were to boycott everyone who you disagreed with politically, you'd pretty much have to move to the country and become a hermit.

 

I'm sure you're not alone.

 

There is no copyright infringement. While the homage is clear to anyone who knows the reference, I don't think there is any actual copyright infringement off of any existing Waspinator figure here. One could argue it skates a line, but there's real no potential for confusion.

If you're talking about the use of the Action Force name, that's a trademark issue, not copyright, and unless Hasbro's released something with the "Action Force" name in the last few years (and that would have to be specifically in the states), that's not an issue, either.

 

Some years ago, I saw a toy called Triggerhappy that was not by Hasbro or Transformers related. I figured at the time we would not see a Transformers toy called Triggerhappy because of it. Then Titans Returns happened and we did.

 

Triggerhappy would be an example of Trademark. Assuming that the first toy you saw was by an American company, I can only assume one of the following:

1. The toy came out sufficient years before Hasbro's TR Triggerhappy that it wasn't an issue.
2. The first toy was by a company that didn't have sufficiently deep pockets to make a legal issue of the purported infraction by Hasbro.

 

Yup. Waspinator turns in to a wasp...and wasps have "a look" that you can't copyright because they're an animal. So a flying soldier who is painted to look like a Wasp is completely fair game. Much like if they released a dude who was dressed up like a cheetah or white tiger. Now, if they tried doing a purple T-Rex themed soldier with a distinct green tint down his back you could start getting some raised eyebrows.

I also don't see any issue with the "Action Force" conceptually since Hasbro can't claim to exclusively have rights to soldier toys. There's plenty of budget "action hero" toys out in the world. This easily slots in as another.

 

I almost went into that detail, myself, but found I wasn't confident to know what colors real-life wasps might be, so I limited my comments. Thank you for fleshing that out.


EDIT: I've since found this:

 

Glacialord is probably one of the best 3P figures out there in terms of how it represents a way to expand on the existing brand while still seeming to fit in with what's already there. It's an absolutely shame they stopped after one set and pivoted to making things people recognize.

 

I totally agree. From what I can tell, it simply wasn't a successful endeavor for Fans Project, so I can understand why they didn't do more.

But it really does what it's trying to do extremely well, IMHO, and I would have loved to see more of that kind of thing.

 

That part I also understand. It was spendy, and in exchange you got a small (yet dense) G1 style toy. It's right on par with the argument you see from fans of the mainline stuff who are not to pleased about the design changes within the various price points. I will admit for the longest time wanting Glacialord and just not having the money to pull the trigger. Finally did so when it went on deep sale last Black Friday. So I'm partially to blame.

However, and this is the next puzzle, why the hell hasn't anyone come back with an updated Glacialord that actually fits with the modern 3P combiner experience?

I digress though, as this thread isn't about Glacialord.