... I would have waited an eternity for these...

[GoktimusPrime]

HD: they're your toys and your stickers. You can do whatever you want. You're under no obligation to scan the stickers for anyone if you don't want to really -- it's not like you owe the fandom anything... I just thought it might be a nice thing to do if you wanted to. But if you don't, then that's up to you.

These are my reasons for not donating:

1. If I have the genuine thing (which in Battle Gaia's case I do), I don't want or need the genuine articles to be stickered with repros. If I were to sticker them, I'd sticker them with the real stuff.

Okay, but sometimes stickers wear out or peel or fall off. For example, one of my Sunstorm stickers fell off and so have all the leg stickers on my 1986 Cyclonus. I'm not going to buy new MISB ones just to replace those stickers! In such cases I would find reprolabels most useful.

2. A good few collectors from TFW and myself really loathe the Gen-Y type sense of entitlement - ie: why are Transformers so expensive, they should be accessible, I am entitled to own it. There is an expectation from them that the community owes them the right to own 'rare' Transformers and that its the community that is at fault if Transformers are too expensive for them to buy. I (and a good many collectors) have no inclination of facilitating this (unjustified) sense of self entitlement - eg: I don't wish to provide a scanned Minelba sticker sheet to be repro-ed so people out there can repaint their Nightbeats into Minelba and have the stickers for it because 'everybody is entitled to a Minelba'.

You know my personal policy... if I want a Transformer toy (G1 or otherwise), then I'll get it from a local retailer while it's current. That's what I did with Cyclonus - got him in 1986 (got a 2nd one in 1988, but I've since traded that one off yonks ago ), but after 25 years the stickers on that toy have faded, which doesn't bother me too much, but the leg stickers have lost all adhesion and have fallen off. I've tried gluing them back on, but they keep falling off.

Now I know someone who has Sky Garry and Grandus from their childhood... if the stickers on those toys started falling off simply due to age -- then I think they would appreciate being able to access reprolabels to replace them rather than paying the ridiculous (IMO) inflated aftermarket prices for some G1 toys these days... just for the sake of new stickers.

3. I have no desire to help KO producers along. Imagine if Reprolabels have some of the rarer sticker sheets in stock (eg: Minelba, Battle Gaia, Guard City, etc). What's to prevent KO-ers from just buying from Reprolabels and then putting the sheets in KOs of Defensor and Bruticus (which they have the molds for) and repainting them in GC, BG colours and sell them as KO GCs and BGs. It'd be a cold day in hell before I facilitate this sort of thing.

Yeah alright, I can understand this argument.

4. For the amount of money that Reprolabels will make off it, they are terribly stingy when it comes to rewarding contributors - a sticker sheet here and there, some rub-sign stickers etc. It's such an insult, I don't even want it.

Well... it depends how much of a reward you want. I'd be satisfied with the knowledge that I'd helped fellow fans. Although the notion of helping bootleggers is something I hadn't considered and that would bug me.

I also don't see the point of buying a thousand dollar toy only to apply repros on it? What would I do with the original sticker sheet then? Don't see the sense in it.

Again, what if the original stickers have deteriorated?

Prowl, I completely agree with you. I have businesses myself and its a general rule that if you don't make at least 100% on any product that you are selling, its not a worthwhile business to do. I completely agree with you.

I can bet my bottom dollar that with economies of scale and it being an infinitely replicable product, once someone donates a scan to Reprolabels, that they are making a killing on each sheet. Any sticker sheet they are selling is unlikely to cost more than US$2 to make - hell, they could even outsource printing to India or China and get a bulk discount.

As the Joker said in the Dark Knight, "if you are good at doing something, never do it for free".

Well, I was suggesting doing it as an act of charity for the benefit of fellow fans. But it was just a suggestion. Maybe I'm just naive.

But anyway, it was only a suggestion -- what you choose to do with your stickers is entirely up to you. I appreciate that you at least gave it consideration.