The Soapbox XII: The Convenient Truth

[STL]

It's been a bit of a gap between Soapboxes. Longer than I'd like but given the current amount of work on my plate these days, any future Soapboxes will be continue to be quite sporadic too.
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The Soapbox XII: The Convenient Truth.

This edition of the Soapbox aims to explore one of the biggest issues in collecting: Knock-Offs (KOs). The announcement of a KO sweeps in with it a tide of fervent cries and wails. The common positions are adopted, the line in the sand is quickly drawn again. But in light of events in the past year, it seems only appropriate to cast the entire issue in a different light.

The common arguments against KOs are:
- Quality
- Illegality
- Deprivation of an opportunity to release
- Price

But are KOs still really a problem? In light of the mass-customisation sprees, I contend that they simply cannot. To claim otherwise is to be guilty of double standards.

Before I continue, it is necessary to underline that this is not an assault on mass-customisation. Nor is it an justification of KOs. This is an attempt to re-examine the veracity of arguments against KOs, about the moral high ground we try to occupy on the matter. It is a moral high ground that is no longer tenable and it is something we as a fandom need to grapple with if we intend to have any credibility on the issue.

KOs or mass-custom projects, it doesn't matter. It is wrong to adopt a moral high ground on KOs if you are buying mass customs products. It is wrong because you are depriving Hasbro/Takara, the rightful creators of the toys, an opportunity to make the product, It is wrong because you are infringing on Hasbro/Takara's intellectual property. The only line in the sand, if you wish to stay behind it that is and have a right to be angry about KOs, is to not buy mass-custom products.

From the perspective of legality, mass-custom products are completely and utterly culpable of impinging on the intellectual property rights of Hasbro/Takara. They are no different to KOs. They take an asset belonging Hasbro/Takara and exploit it for their own interests. They deprive Hasbro/Takara of the opportunity to profit on that idea, that character that they possess the exclusive right to. For instance, had Defender been produced prior to Classics 2.0/Universe Springer, the demand for the latter would've been greatly reduced. Why would fans purchase an inferior product? There's absolutely no reason too. Even the ROTF guns being produced by iGear. They effectively compete with ROTF Buster Prime. If you can buy the guns, there is less of a need to acquire Buster Prime. Have a look at at Hasbro's recent foray into armour and add-on parts such as Hydrodive BB, Wingblade Prime and Samurai Prowl. Fundamentally, the mass-customisers are stepping into Hasbro/Takara's market space and potentially competing with their products.

What's this? Hasbro/Takara never had the intention of producing an Ultra Magnus armour? That City Commander was complementary only, not competing with Hasbro? That doesn't hold up. Fact is, whether or not the choice to produce is made does not reside with the mass-customisers. It resides with Hasbro/Takara. You are in effect depriving Hasbro/Takara of future opportunities. Let me take this further. If City Commander had been something that did not even remotely resemble Ultra Magnus how much demand would there have been for it? Even if it was innovative and brilliant? Nowhere near as much. So fact is: the mass-customiser relies, much like the KO producer, on the intellectual property of someone else to create something of value. There is no difference.

One other complaint that often is thrown at KOs is that they are of a cheap and poor quality. That's false. We're not talking about the ones at the $2 shops, we're talking about the G1-like ones that have everything almost down to the nearest mm. I've played with one or two of these. The Swoop specifically and I assure you that the quality is leaps and bounds above my 2 G1 Swoops. These KOs are expensive, clocking in at $50-$70 USDs. They imitate the real thing, yes. But hell, you'd be hard press to find as good quality as them. On top of that, aren't the KO producers doing what mass-customisers are? Supplying a product that Hasbro/Takara has shown a lack of willingness to provide? All these claims that they can do it cheaper are unwarranted. Fact is, if Takara released a lot of the 1st-2nd year Autobot cars like Mirage/Sunstreaker etc, they'd be close the price of current Encores. $30-$40 USD. These KO producers are not undercutting Takara/Hasbro by doing a cheap job.

It costs them more obviously as that's why their prices are higher. It costs more to develop the mold. It costs more to produce. They don't have the economies of scale. Fact is, they are providing something that Hasbro/Takara hasn't evidenced any intention of doing. Isn't this exactly what mass-customisers are doing? And it's not like custom products are cheaper either. All the mass-custom products produced are quite pricey for what they are. Some cost more than the original toy itself. So those assertions that pricing is predatory and that it prices Takara and their reissues out of the market are wrong. Add to the kettle the fact that Encore hasn't exactly been doing spankingly well either. In that case, does it make the KO producers right as they are providing something that doesn't seem likely to be offered by Hasbro/Takara given prevailing market conditions?

Of course not.

The producers of KOs are fundamentally stepping all over something owned by Hasbro/Takara. Mass-customisers do the same. We should not then decry one group while glowingly praise another. It;'s grossly hypocritical. Until we cease purchasing and supporting mass-customisers, we are no longer in a tenable position to occupy a moral high ground on the matter.

At the very best, we can argue we are morally ambigious. We can argue that we as fans are deceived by KOers and hence that's why we have every right to be angry. But that argument falls apart too easily. We are simply fans. We do not possess the right to the molds We do not possess the right to say what is an appropriate use of the intellectual property of Hasbro/Takara and what is not. We do not possess the right to claim injustice as if our rights have been infringed. Our rights are to purchase official Hasbro/Takara products. Angry or frustrated as we may be, the reality is that we cannot adopt a double standard. We cannot conclude when it fits our interests to have a mass-custom project produced and then say that a KO cannot be produced. Fundamentally, the same infringement is taking place. It's just one that is more closer to home to us as it directly disadvantages us.

Quite frankly, I don't think any of us, myself included, will stop purchasing such products. The mass-custom projects are too good. If we as a fandom come to acknowledge and accept the production of these mass-custom projects that infringe upon the property rights of Hasbro/Takara, we have to realise that we have no longer have a moral high ground on KOs. Such a position is not tenable. But for the moment, we remain content to chastise the production of KOs while we happily accept the offerings of mass-custom producers. We do so because of the quality and strength of their offerings, offerings that can be quite pricey, offerings that we may never else have had a chance to acquire and appreciate. We obscure the truth of it though. The truth that what we clamour in fact is wrong, is an infringement of the property right's of others. That is why we ignore the truth of the matter. It's okay when it works for us one way but it's not okay when it works the other way. It's just too convenient.

And that's what it boils down to. A convenient truth.



The Soapbox Archive
The Soapbox I: TFM or TFTM?
The Soapbox II: The Problem with Jets
The Soapbox III: Price-Matching
The Soapbox IV: The Top 10 Characters of All-Time
The Soapbox V: What makes a good Transformers?
The Soapbox VI: Don't like gimmicks? Start dealing with it.
The Soapbox VII: The Top 10 Transformers toys of 2008
The Soapbox VIII: 2008: A Year in Review
The Soapbox IX: Budgeting Basics
The Soapbox X: A Prime Problem
The Soapbox XI: Battle of the City-Formers

[TheDirtyDigger]

I disagree.

[blackie]

good to see our conversation has been bought to the masses :P

[kup]

I disagree.

+1

[Hereticpoo]

The model Kits, the weapon sets, the armour sets, Teletran 1, the trailers all results of Hasbro not making a finished product me thinks. Someone pllleeeaaassssseeeeeee make Classics Bruticus hands and feet!!!! The poor guy looks like the alligator from HOOK got to him.

So i guess KOer's/customisers think....i'll just do it myself because HasTak cant / wont.

If the customisers will give me what Hasbro wont then i really dont care who's profitting. Its a Sh!t thing to say but dems the cards we're dealt!

[d*r*j*]

This is big business Vs. small business.

Unless you study business who gives a spit?

I will buy whatever toys I see that I like and can afford. I probably prefer the ones made by the big toy companies because they have to jump through more hoops regarding safety.

But bootleg combiners are only $13 new... and they are all pretty shady in the quality department anyway.

Hasbro hasn't cared about Transformers ever... it's just a business venture for them. They aren't the inventors, just the marketers.

[GoktimusPrime]

Unless you study business who gives a spit?

I morally object when it comes to making fraudulent counterfeits because I feel sorry for some people when they spend their money buying something that they actually believe to be a legitimate product, but have actually been deceived into buying an imitation. Like the KO Defensor with red Hot Spot (and other whacky colours), KO white Predaking and of course KO Devastator's shade of green is quite obviously different from the original (not to mention lack of chrome) etc. - people can see that these toys are pale imitations from kilometres away.

What I find more objectionable are say KO Mini bots, cassettes, G1 Optimus Prime, Autobot cars, Dinobots etc., forgeries which are made with the intention to deceive collectors. The toy and even its packaging are impressive imitations of the original product, making it more difficult for consumers to tell if they're real or not.

In terms of the moral argument, it all comes down to whether or not the counterfeiters are allowing consumers to make an informed choice. By lying and trying to deceive consumers you're obviously not trying to give consumers that choice.

Hasbro hasn't cared about Transformers ever... it's just a business venture for them. They aren't the inventors, just the marketers.

Hasbro may not care, but as a collector _I_ do care -- I care very much if the toys that I'm collecting are legitimate or forged counterfeits.

It's the same with being any other kind of collector (e.g.: art, currencies, stamps, antiques etc.); I think most collectors with any sense of integrity would be very discerning against imitations. Collectors are also discerning against reproductions - you only need to watch any episode of the Antiques Road Show to see appraisers spotting very authentic looking reproductions which their owners didn't even know were reproductions (because these things are just so old). I personally don't mind officially made reproductions (reissues), but I won't have a bar of any illegitimate imitation.

[d*r*j*]

...collectors with any sense of integrity would be very discerning against imitations...

I guess that depends on what you collect and/or why you collect.
I find that in most cases there is a way to identify bootleg toys. You just have to do a little bit of research. If you don't know anything about the origin of a toy... why would you want to buy it? As an investment?

[SilverDragon]

I can understand the bad feelings towards KOs, but I'm not so sure about the high-quality KOs of certain toys, such as the Dinobots. From what I've heard, their molds have been lost/damaged too much for repair, so an Encore release is not possible. So the options for people after them are originals, who may be missing bits and be in poor condition, and the aforementioned high-quality KOs.

So while it's annoying for collectors that these KOs are released, they can represent the only means of getting the toy in good condition for others.

Hasbro hasn't cared about Transformers ever... it's just a business venture for them. They aren't the inventors, just the marketers.

If they don't care about Transformers, then why do they keep making them? Why are they trying to get Animated toys released despite the fact that the franchise is essentially over? That fact alone proves that they care about Transformers.

[kup]

Oppinion by nature is biased.