Originally Posted by
Ode to a Grasshopper
+1.
I'd gladly have bought, say, 3 different Scout Reflector robots that formed a single camera alt-mode if Hasbro/Takara had put them out, but as it is I've got the PE ones instead. It was 3rd party or nothing - even the lame half-track Perceptor remold never came out. If I'd seen an old G1 Reflector set beforehand I probably would have got that instead, which still wouldn't have netted HasTak any money. Same for City Commander - I'd totally pay Leader or even Ultra class prices for a Voyager UM and decent set of armor to go with him, but as it is it was CC or a naked Magnus.
I understand there's budget and safety concerns that Hasbro have to worry about, but they have also made a business choice to go with the 'Lowest common denominator' a lot of the time and neglect to cater to a niche market, so of course other people will fill the gaps. I'll happily buy from Takara/Hasbro most of the time, but if they aren't going to make something I want and a 3rd party will, well, that's money that wouldn't be going to HasTak anyway. I'm not looking for 'new ideas', I just want my Transformers collection done well...usually that means HasTak, sometimes it means someone else.
That said, there's a cut-off point with what I'm down with - outright KOs and even resizing a al Faith Leader goes a step too far for me to support that. It's one thing to make a new mold based on an existing (not to mention really old/'classic') idea, and another to just lift HasTak's designs straight up (IMO).
It's also stupid for the fans to keep asking Hasbro reps if they're going to work with 3rd parties - they're pretty obviously opposed to them, and it'd be nice for the fans not to rock the boat on this one.
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