if hasbro/takara released it...

[optimus1]

I'd buy Hasbro over 3rd Party anytime
Mostly due to: price, availability and they are official

But I will get the standout 3rd Party items.

[Tallestblue]

I probably would. But the HasTak Ultra Magnus and Springer better be phenomenal for me to replace my City Commander and Defender on the shelf.

[gdmetro]

I probably would. But the HasTak Ultra Magnus and Springer better be phenomenal for me to replace my City Commander and Defender on the shelf.

This.

Having said that, I will buy what I want. This will be on a case-by-case basis.

Generally though, If the character is already 3rd partied and I have it, (i.e. City Commander),I would most likely get the Has/Tak if it is even half decent.

This will be due to authenticity, also price, and just to have MORE OF A GOOD THING. Nothing wrong with that. I can have 2 awesome yet different ultra magnii and I won't be complaining, especially where the HAs/Tak one costs much less. Yet the third party one offers something special and unique aswell.

This has already happened to me: i.e. PE rumble/Frenzy vs United one. I prefer the PE ones due to their scale and more cartoon accuracy to the united ones.. which are ok. I still ended up purchasing a united one just to have an official one.

This will also occur since I have bought the PE reflector- yet Has/Tak one will be perceptor remould/repaint. Now I havnt even seen the official one yet, but I already prefer the PE one due to proper homage to g1- alt mode/transformation and better SCALE with other classics. However, I will most likely get an official one ANYWAY since it will be cheap- and more of a good thing/awesome character.

However, if I had to prioritize, then it will be factors of cost/moulding/ tribute/ etc that I will have to consider case by case.


All ethical/legal considerations aside, I think 3rd parties are awesome- gives Has/Tak incentive to work harder for their releases and gives us collectors much more options. They are merely a complimentary avenue for us die hard collectors who want the character that Has/Tak has not yet made or most likely will not make or do properly (i.e. devastator, dinobots, reflector as a camera, Ultra Magnus with armor).

I think that the recent dirge of 3rd party releases based on the classics line really pushed that line's popularity. Between end of Henkei till generations, fans were still not fully on board for the classics line, but it is safe to say Generations boosted the popularity of the line by propounding the notion of a full cast that will realistically be available in classics form.

Although there is no empirical evidence, I don't doubt that the popularity of items such as City Commander had some influence on Hasbro to continue with a Generations line, and no doubt that the release of those 3rd party figures gave some collectors an incentive to collect the official classics lines.-Atleast ive seen some posts elsewhere where people have asserted as such.

[I can only cite the fact that the original classics line was meant to end as Hasbro stated- hence the Botcon Seeker Fiasco. Also if you look at the trend and demand for the classics stuff now compared to before, and how prices have soared due to increase demand it is a compelling point.]