The Soapbox XII: The Convenient Truth

[STL]

Its difficult to feel bad for Hasbro when there are so many examples of refined lumps of petrochemical inserted into a box with a Transformers logo on it. Go Customisers Go. (Please insert Go Speedracer pic)
Ko'ers have no good intention. Customisers have to make a good product or it won't sell, and you know it aint official before you press buy now. Yes there are property infringements. But comparing Ko'ers with Mass Customs is like Apples vs Oranges.

I agree completely that they are different. My point though is they come into existence b/c of the very same act. What's done after cannot right the first wrong. And in an ideal world, we should not be condoning either. Intention to make a good custom could easily be equated intention to make a good KO. That doesn't change the fact that there is IP being infringed, there is a deprivation of an opportunity for Hasbro/Takara (whether or not they choose to take it). We can't determine that b/c it is good for us, that that somehow makes it right. We can like it but that doesnt' change the fact that we are supporting something unsanctioned and depends exclusively on the Hasbro/Takara characters and toys and hence IP.

Some thoughts/observations:

- KO makers try hard to pretend their KO's are the real deals produced by the real company, while certain fan items (not all) try hard to pretend their works are not related to the real deals or the real company. I find this parallel funny.

- Some of us are treating the support for fan items as having an affair and we're not faithful to our wife (HasTak). We think it's wrong but it feels good to do it. Are we all treating our relationship with HasTak like a real "marriage"?

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

I don't think its wrong at all. I'm perfectly comfortable with cheating in my r/ships But in all seriousness, I do agree with you. I have no problem at all at buying mass-customs. I love them and I think they have changed the way Hasbro thinks about repackaging toys. Just look at Wingblade Prime, Samurai Prime and Hydrodive BB. It costs them less to work with an old mold and just add armour basically but creates a whole new demand for that figure. What I do think is wrong is that we think we're somehow morally right to chastise KOs but fail to see that mass-customisers are guilty of the same infringement. You can't condone one and not the other b/c it makes you hypocritical. As such, I don't see myself as any longer able to be angered by KOs. I can't accept an infringement when it works for me but get angry when it doesn't.

I also agree with your parallel. It's very ironic how the lines are drawn!

- I like this topic "the Convenient Truth":

Thanks! I liked it too and was hoping to get more kudos for such a lovely title Much appreciated.

HasTak released MANY vehicles/jets/whatever related toys in the past. Did they pay licencing fee for all of them? I think the licencing they paid for the Binaltech/Alternators/Movie/Alternaties/ROTF was certainly a good new direction for them. But when they mentioned they've been taken advantage of in the recent BotCon, it was very convenient for them to forget their own past. I'm not saying that just because HasTak took advantage of others then it becomes fair game for others to take advanage of HasTak too. But I just can't help but feel funny about HasTak's comments.

One can argue that HasTak's vehicle toys often came with differences and were not exact scale replicas of the real deals. But hey many of the fan items are creative and not exact copies of HasTak's existing products too. And do not kid yourself if you reckon HasTak's toys weren't inspired by others' intellectual properties.

- WST Dinobots were mentioned in discussions from time to time. How about Roadbots?

I don't disagree with your point but again I don't think it makes it okay to commit the core infringement. In the case of both mass-customs and KOs, they take something (character or toy) that is not their's and use it for their own ends to produce something whose entire success rests on Hasbro/Takara IP. A Sunstreaker toy does not on the other hand rely solely on its appeal as a Lamborghini to succeed. People don;'t buy it b/c it's a Lambo. They buy it b/c its a transformer and it looks nice. So yes, I think you make a valid point but I don't think it changes the landscape at all here as ultimately the core infringement relies on something that is entirely Hasbro/Takara's to succeed.

What about the employment opportunities for the poor factory workers making the KO's! Don't forget about the little people.

I don't honestly think they'd be too different from the ones that normal TFs are made in either. You've gotta remember, all stuff is made in China these days. And a large reason for that is the low cost of labour.

So STL, what are your thoughts on this sort of thing:

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-...coming-168227/

?

The ko'ers don't care whos IP they walk all over.

You mistake me again. As stated clearly in the Soapbox, I'm not by any means saying KOers aren't guilty or deceptive. I contended all along that both mass-customisers and KOers step all over IP. Neither is less culpable. The only reduced culpability that mass-customisers have is derived from the fact that we like their products and that in itself isn't a very rigid position from which to hold some air of moral superiority when we're accepting something just b/c it's convenient to our interests. It's the same infringement and what we need to do is acknowledge that and admit that it's not right.

That's not to say we can't like mass-custom offerings b/c I sure as hell do. But to be credible we need to remember where the line in the sand is. Fact is, both have crossed it and we can't hold to our arguments about the morality of it all when we are condoning the very same act that permits a KO or mass-custom to be produced.