Personality, I support Hasbro on this. I mean, I'm pretty sure that iGear, TFC Toys, and PerfectEffect have just taken a Has/Tak mold, tweaked it a bit, and called it their own, ( they even kept the orignal "copyrighted" name ) which completely violated hasbro "copyright" rights ( Or however you call it ) to that mold. I mean, notice how Hasbro Isn't targeting third party companies like Fansproject. That's because Fansproject doesn't steal any molds and call it their own, they censor images of Hasbro products that they are "upgrading" in there Transformation instructions, and they never steal a copyrighted name...

 

Other than the MP conehead seekers and the mini MP Ops figures, I don't see how you can say that about every single third party company.

 

Was PE "Reflector" an original Hasbro mold? How about the Rumble, Frenzy, Eject and Rewind figures? The minibots, and the TFC Hercules, Maketoys Giant, Fansproject Bruticus, Rodimus, and Ultra Magnus? The upcoming Soundwave, Ironhide, Ratchet, Sixshot, Megatron, and Nova Prime figures?

 

These are all original projects that made PROPER use of a concept that was never implemented by the technical "owner" of the intellectual property. Sorry, but I can't sympathize with a large, for profit corporation with unlimited resources who made the choice to shrink their products while increasing prices.

 

As much as I hate to say it, the Prime: FE distribution issue was the kick in the ass for me.

 

Come to think about it, all of the MP projects were originally Takara/Tomy products which were imported and tweaked by Hasbro for a domestic release. Also, if demand for a Hasbro figure increases due to an add on kit made by a third party, (think Classics Ultra Magnus and Classics Hot Rod) then why is that such a bad thing?

 

In my opinion, Hasbro is just upset because they are being upstaged in both quality and design by these upstart companies, and this this their way of making noise about it. Instead of coming up to the challenge, they use lawyers as bullies to shut the competition down.

 

Megatron (Hasbro): Such heroic nonsense! *blast

It's more of a character likeness issue than anything. Which is still Hasbro's property. In the end, it's still theft, which they have to keep on to protect their copyrights. It's not a matter of them being big bad guys, it's a matter of theft. I doubt anyone of us would justify somebody taking something that belongs to us without our permission.

"Theft" means to knowingly obtain or exert unauthorized control over the property of another, with intent to deprive the owner of the rights to his or her property.

 

If you take my watch without my permission, then yes, that's theft. However, if you take the "idea" that my watch represents, and then you use your initiative and creativity to produce a product that slightly resembles my watch yet it looks, feels, and works better than the original, then is that still a theft?

 

I do understand what you are saying; however if Hasbro actually put the effort and expense into making a G1 accurate MP scaled Soundwave or a complex neo Sixshot figure, instead of once again reissuing the original figures from 20+ years ago, then I would agree that these third party companies are directly competing with products that would already be in existence, and their presence on the market would affect Hasbro's sales.

 

However, this isn't the case here.

 

Hasbro basically utilized and profited from a concept (which, ironicaly was originally not their own - see Diaclone for a reference) and slapped a cartoon on them to boost domestic sales. Thirty years later, several third party company have now taken the initative to engineer a product that comes closer than ever to the original animation design, giving fans exactly what they want at a higher (ie: collectors grade) price.

 

I see nothing wrong with giving consumers a product that would have otherwise never been made, whether it closely resembles an existing idea or not.

 

The only exception would be the mini MP Prime's, which were complete knock offs from the original product.

The problem is that Hasbro feels these third parties are profiting off their concepts without buying the grossly expensive licensing rights. Perhpas if Hasbro made the license, say $10,000 instead of $100,00, this would go a little smoother.

 

Oh, right, Hasbro doesn't care :redface

The problem is that Hasbro feels these third parties are profiting off their concepts without buying the grossly expensive licensing rights. Perhpas if Hasbro made the license, say $10,000 instead of $100,00, this would go a little smoother.

 

Oh, right, Hasbro doesn't care :redface

 

Not to mention the almost rediculous child safety standards that third party companies don't have to adhere to...

Ehh, competition is always a good thing in my book.

 

Besides Hasbro has made it very very clear they don't cater to collectors "canceling FE anyone?". All that they really care about is that little 10 year old jimmy buys their gimmick ridden toys, wrongly colored gangly limed bruticus, and optimus maximus. At the price point of most third party figures/sets I highly doubt hasbro's target demographic can even AFFORD one part of Hercules.

 

As far as purchasing third party stuff... It would basically be like not buying kreo because its shaped, colored, and looks like lego. :tfpwn

Ehh, competition is always a good thing in my book.

 

Besides HasTak has made it very very clear they don't cater to collectors "canceling FE anyone?". All that they really care about is that little 10 year old jimmy buys their gimick ridden toys, wrongly colored gangly limbed bruticus, and optimus maximus. At the price point of most third party figures/sets I highly doubt hasbro's target demographic can even AFFORD one part of hercules.

 

As far as purchasing third party stuff... It would basically be like not buying kreo because its shaped, colored, and looks like lego. :tfpwn

 

Yeah, Kre-O is about one step below MegaBlocks.

The difference in hasbro liscensing molds and these guys is just that. They did it legally, they didnt steal ip.

The difference in hasbro liscensing molds and these guys is just that. They did it legally, they didnt steal ip.

 

So, what mold, exactly... did "they" steal to create Hercules, Reflector, Warbot, Soundwave, Sixshot, etc?

 

I'm still waiting for that answer.

What mold exactly? Shit, they may have done it legally, but their creating toys in near exact likeness to one of Has/Taks characters. Herc is great and all, and it may be legal, and call it a 'homage' but it's a toy of one of Has/Taks characters. I'm not a lawyer or a judge so my opinion doesn't matter but their profiting off of a character that Has/Tak bought a license to promote and sell toys for 24+ years ago.

 

Now, judging from the announcement of seperating 170 employees at Hasbro has me thinking:

 

Hasbro, Inc. has announced that they will cut 170 jobs.....These cuts were necessary "to address both the under-performance in the U.S. and Canada segment, and the need for different skill sets in the company's workforce to be better aligned with a quickly evolving business,"

 

Does this mean that possibly Hasbro noticed that they aren't meeting consumer demand and looking for different skill sets that will make better toys? or possibly work on more forms of media like MMO/Console games? Hopefully they are seperating the old dusties that still live in the 90's and let some new blood design the stuff consumers have been wanting. This and the announcement that the Generations line will see 40 figures in 2013, WITH a Grimlock looks to be promising.

 

Prime toys are cool and all, but I'm looking forward to the big shake up at Hasbro and the upcoming 2013 Generations figures.