Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Oh yeah I wantWell we know one is Powerglide, I think one is pipes and Beachcomber. Not sure what the others are yet. But yeah
You know if 3rd Party stuff is so wrong why can they show it all at Botcon and thats a Hasbro event. Im sure the Hasbro guys go over and have a look and say cool stuff guys. If they did not like this stuff that would be a perfect time for them to stop them etc.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
It looks like beachcomber, gears, wheelie, pipes, powerglide and cosmos.
With fansproject doing seaspray, powerglide and possibly others I'd rather buy from them then igea.
As for hasbro doing something about them at botcon igear and fansproject weren't actually there tfsource was just exhibiting their stuff
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thats true, but its similar in the case of piracy of games - Nintendo has shut down japanese distributers of flashcarts and I also remember posting about Takara stopping the sale of 3rd party products in Japan so why hasbro have not taken action against distributers like TFsource and BBTS is anyone's guess.Originally Posted by swoop
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Why would you burn the hand that feeds you? TFSource and BBTS sell thousands of transformers. With BBTS, they are one of the biggest distributors of TFs in the globe. Hasbro would loose more money from fear of retribution from retailer/fans.
Hasbro aint gonna push this - its too much trouble for very very little gain.
Fansproject/igear help build sales not distract
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I'm interested to see what they come up with and if they can actually sell them at a competitive price. Although given the price of Perfect Effect toys, even a minibot can cost a fortune. Still we shall see.
Seems like someone else is doing ths same thing judging by the Botcon photos, there seemed to be a second Seaspray and a Powerglide.
Anyway I will need to see what they come up with, some of the toys we saw looked too G1, on the other hand Hasbro's Powerglides and Seasprays aren't G1 enough for me, so we'll see if these guys can hit the spot. Huffer looked ok.....
Judging from what I've seen lately yes some companies would bite/insult/cut off the hand that feeds them. If Hasbro are anything like miniatures company Games Workshop who told some of their biggest internet store clients they couldn't sell to people outside of Europe, and then described them as freeloaders to boot, then yes I could see them going after them.
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Wow! 3rd party release news has gone off the wall. igear has certainly made a bold statement with the multitude of projects that they have shown in these past weeks.
The volume of these designs and blatant proximity to the IP of these characters and designs have definitely reached a new level. I think after this, anything is possible. Excited, but worrried this is getting closer to the line that once crossed.. will end Has/Tak's tolerance of 3rd parties (if this is even possible or feasible).
Another issue that is evident is multiple releases of the same character by different 3rd party companies. How will the companies compete? Will they cooperate or fight it out for market share? [larger projects will be harder to do by new companies- as it would be all-in on their capital, win or bust] The quantity of releases/choices has just increased dramatically... from a consumer pov- hopefully prices get more competitive
These minibots excite the hell outta me- I am prepared to get these if they are reasonably priced- around $30 bucks each (which I think is reasonable) and the QC is decent. IF igear want to compete against FansProject, disregarding the top notch quality of plastic and design, their price will have to be around that mark. I mean, FP explorer and munitioner were around $50 and were much larger scout sizes and bulkier to the traditional Has/Tak scout-borderlining as deluxe- included a heap of accessories and also enginereed to be fit on as limbs. These minibots are way small... Huffer reaches to classics primes knees...and is head in height smaller than RTS Windcharger.
Having said that if these igear minibots are good, the (purportedly) FansProject seaspray and powerglide moulds will make it hard for me to choose (especially so if FP does its own line of minibots to compete). although, the FP powerglide is a bit off... it doesnt feel Fansproject in its design.
All in all, igear definitely have chosen the right characters but they better bring their A game in pricing and quality to sway me.
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hmm... fansproject at least create products to compliment existing hasbro figures - cliffjumper, prime, ultra magnus, rodimus, combaticons and the upcoming g2 prime. but they've also made products that dont like - springer and the upcoming insecticons.
to the point though, is that hasbro makes no money from any of these. all the figures aren't sold through retail anymore nor their online store - they're now acquired through ebay and online shops like TFsource/BBTS at scalper prices.
igear however, have KO'd the MP molds and I dont see how hasbro profits from it. the kup heads are great though, but i don't think they influence the sale of hasbro's generation kup - otherwise igear would have sold 1:1 for every kup hasbro has ever sold.
Finally, I don't think they'd lose money from stopping the sale of 3rd party products in North America. Transformers is only a part of their revenue as they have a lot of other licenses and there are plenty of dedicated fans like Gok who only buy licensed products.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I could be wrong about this and if I am please show me how so but given what I see on a daily basis within the Fandom, most people seem to be into 3rd party toys in one way or another. Before the DOTM line begun to gear up, 3rd party toys were dominating the news section for about a year and fan sites were competing with breaking out the 'latest' news of them to the point that even minor stuff was was plastered all over the news sections.
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I'm not sure what you mean kup...
the hasbro website shows they sell a lot of products catering to a wide variety of consumers - Transformers, Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel, Board games, My Little Pony/Littlest Pet Shop etc... so yeah, Transformers is only part of their revenue.
Blocking the sale of 3rd party products in North America wouldn't affect them much since they are not stopping people from purchasing from asia from places like RK or ebay. So I doubt it would cause people to boycott them to the extent it would hurt them because they predominately cater to retailers like Walmart and their business model is focused on the big holiday sales.
was that the right answer?
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Not really, Magnus. There's only so much money to go around. Every Transfan dollar that goes to iGear or Fansproject is not going to HasTakTom. Making Minibots is just wrong, and things like Knockoff Coneheads, Shadow Scyther etc. only help to inflate the coffers of secondary sellers, not Hasbro or Takara.
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