No, overall, but that has a lot to do with relative cost. Hasbro Deluxes are only 10 bucks. But as more 3rd party stuff comes out, especially at the Masterpiece scale, and my overall collecting scales back (I already have most of the stuff I want that's available, and most of the stuff in the pipeline I want is 3p), I see the ratio shifting. It helps that 3rd parties appeal to 'geewunners' such as me. I know Hasbro has to keep reinventing the brand, but what I really want are perfectly-realized versions of characters I have decades of investment in. With the focus on movie toys this year, and the numerous excellent forthcoming 3rd party options, I can see myself buying mainly 3p stuff for the first time this year.

I still think that almost all of the best Transformers products are still made by Has/Tak though, and when Has/Tak and 3rd parties do the same thing, Has/Tak's is almost always better. Don't believe me? Compare your $20 Springer toy to its heraded third-party predecessor. Compare Citizen Stack to MP Magnus. Compare an iGear Seeker to MP-11. Get out a MP Prowl and mess with it. As good as QuakeWave is, I think if Has/Tak did an MP Shockwave, theirs would be better. There are always exceptions; the 3rd party FOC Onslaught is way better, for example--but those often have to do with budgetary constraints and market realities (Hasbro COULDN'T make a Voyager Onslaught) or the fact that 3rd party products don't have to meet toy safety standards. In other words, 3rd party toys are often doing more than the official ones set out to do, because they're targeted to collectors... but when Hasbro is able to put a budget behind a toy, or design one for the high-end collector market, watch out!

 

I've still bought more HasTak releases because of stuff Generations and Masterpiece toys, but I've spent more on 3rd party simply because they just cost that much more. But I try not to dwell on stuff like "Green Giant cost how much?!" because it will just make you sad, and it's better to enjoy it for how great it is instead.

 

3rd Party by a mile, but when Hasbro hits a grand slam, like Gen Springer I tend to fiddle with it more.

 

I bought more Hasbro/Takara product than I did Third Party/Independent product. Although the amount of money between the two types of product may have been close, Hasbro/Takara still dominate my collection and will continue to do so. I'm not getting the same satisfaction with these Third Party toys anymore. The market is flooded with offerings, which can be a good thing for some collectors but also a deterrent to others like me. Combine that with the amount of money a single figure commands by an independent company ... my interests dies quickly.

 

yeah, I hope i didn't come off as saying there's a better place for it. for me it's takara mps, some 3rd party and a random hasbro figure. I think since hasbro reduced their overall scale of deluxe figures, I walked away and sold all my classics. after working so hard on customizing and reshelling the g1 line up, they went and changed the scale on me. 

 

Money split isn't even close. ~$1200 spent on 3rd party and only $700 on official product.

 

Yeah, I hear you. Blitzwing = sore thumb no?

 

My hasbro purchases have dropped to near zero with an exception here and there. The future for collectors is 3rd party.

 

Absolutely, no doubt.

My TF collection is 90% 3P. I only collect TakSbro MP's.

 

Right now I'm buying more 3P than Has/Tak, but my collection overall still has more Has/Tak than 3P.

 

Now Beast Hunters has finished it's a pretty close run thing. I'm not exactly running out to buy the current Hasbro stuff.

But if I'm honest I'm not buy much of anything lately.

 

Really not even close for me the last 3 years. After Animated, I pretty much stopped buying most Hasbro stuff. I will buy Takara MP stuff and specific classic figures from Hasbro. However, 80-90% of my budget is 3P now.

 

I almost don't buy Hasbro at all...

 

It use to be more official than 3p cause I was catching up to a lot of older classics figures I wanted. But now yeah way more 3p stuff. With the generations line dying down and the movie garbage taking over I might not buy any official figures save for the odd mp for quite some time.

 

Not really, mostly because of the fact that 3rd party products are expensive and I can only buy them occasionally.

 

Far more third party, no question about it.

Even the Has/Tak stuff I HAVE bought ended up getting third party upgrades(Omega Supreme, Hoist, Trailbreaker, and Blitzwing for example).

Has/Tak is simply not making much that I need anymore.

 

3P spending is always much higher than Hasbro for me, just because of the huge gap in the prices. I can buy more Hasbro figures than I can 3P and thats pretty normal per year.I used to buy tons of Hasbro to build my collection, then started on a 3P binge for missing characters and pieces and combiners for the last couple of years. Now that I can see the end of my collection tunnel (for now), with only about 20 to 30 characters left to get to be satisfied, I would expect that 3P will be higher in quantity as well as budget for the foreseeable future.

C'mon FOC Dinobots, Overlord, Fembots, Tank Megatron, Monsterbots, Deluxe Hot Rod Patrol, Deluxe Windcharger, DJD, Voyager Shockwave, Nova Prime, Ultra Class Cosmos, The Circle of Light and The Guiding Hand! Whoever makes the better version will get my dollars.

 

Last year was roughly the same. Hasbro/TT won with one or two figures.

This year will be different and likely 3P will win.

 

Well if TT ever decides to make the rest of the MP dinos. I think that ship has sailed for me with what the options thanks to 3P's.

 

Until AOE came along, yeah, I was snapping up 3rd party at a higher rate than official. The movies give me the only hope for official toys, lately. Some good Generations molds, but jot all and they're hard to come by due to distribution.