Time to show off my new KO friends

[reillyd]

Weird, there are so many customs and third party items shown in the august acquisitions, that I didn't think it mattered.

[griffin]

Weird, there are so many customs and third party items shown in the august acquisitions, that I didn't think it mattered.

Well, this is (just) a Transformers (r) forum, not a 'transformable toys' forum or a 'Transformers themed' forum, it is a Hasbro/Takara/etc Transformers forum... so anything that isn't officially a Transformers-branded toy shouldn't be on the Transformers part of the forum. Third party toys and KOs shouldn't be in the Transformers sections of the board (which includes the *TFs* acquisitions section), but it sometimes it takes too much effort to move posts or chase up people to edit their posts if something non-TF is included.
I created this section for 'convertible toys that are based on existing characters or toys' to accommodate the growing number of unauthorised "homage" toys... plus there are several "other toys" sections at the bottom of the main table to cover everything else. I don't see why toys that aren't (officially branded) Transformers need to be included in the Transformers sections if there are now specific sections for them.
When the first few 3rd party items were being produced, we had a lot of members, not just new fans, assuming they were actual Transformers products, causing a lot of confusion. That's why those are kept out of the Transformers sections.
Counterfeit toys are kept off the Transformers sections to minimise the promotion of them, as the accurate reproductions end up hurting more collectors than they help, as dealers love to pass them off as the real thing if they can.
Custom figures don't usually show up much in the acquisitions topic, so aren't as much of a problem. And if they do get posted there, they would either be obvious, or are noted as a custom figure. (but usually gets posted in the Creative section though)


And as per the Board's rules, if a member is wanting to find out how to get a particular counterfeit toy, contact the person privately... don't ask for public posting about where to buy a fake/pirated Transformers toy.

[mentok27]

Well, this is (just) a Transformers (r) forum, not a 'transformable toys' forum or a 'Transformers themed' forum, it is a Hasbro/Takara/etc Transformers forum... so anything that isn't officially a Transformers-branded toy shouldn't be on the Transformers part of the forum. Third party toys and KOs shouldn't be in the Transformers sections of the board (which includes the *TFs* acquisitions section), but it sometimes it takes too much effort to move posts or chase up people to edit their posts if something non-TF is included.
I created this section for 'convertible toys that are based on existing characters or toys' to accommodate the growing number of unauthorised "homage" toys... plus there are several "other toys" sections at the bottom of the main table to cover everything else. I don't see why toys that aren't (officially branded) Transformers need to be included in the Transformers sections if there are now specific sections for them.
When the first few 3rd party items were being produced, we had a lot of members, not just new fans, assuming they were actual Transformers products, causing a lot of confusion. That's why those are kept out of the Transformers sections.
Counterfeit toys are kept off the Transformers sections to minimise the promotion of them, as the accurate reproductions end up hurting more collectors than they help, as dealers love to pass them off as the real thing if they can.
Custom figures don't usually show up much in the acquisitions topic, so aren't as much of a problem. And if they do get posted there, they would either be obvious, or are noted as a custom figure. (but usually gets posted in the Creative section though)


And as per the Board's rules, if a member is wanting to find out how to get a particular counterfeit toy, contact the person privately... don't ask for public posting about where to buy a fake/pirated Transformers toy.

thats all fair enough really.... i mean the stance on KO's especially should pretty much go without saying. I'm a fan of them in the sense they provided other options that may not be available to me so theres a choice there but I often forget since im a "classics" guy that all you Geewuners have to be constantly vigilant of getting ripped off with fakes... I guess I just assume most folks are aware of things to a similar level i am and can make their own decisions... I figured everyone knew about CHMS and by simply showing what i got it wouldnt be seen as promoting since it was general knowledge of there existance anyway.

Unothorized products Im obviously much more lax on personaly... Ive loved TF's since i was 5 but have only started buying the toys in the last year, its a nostalgia thing for me and classics all the way.... sometimes HasTak leave things out since there primary goal isnt to tend to my every nostalgic whim and fortunatly other smaller outfits are prepared to cater to my "needs"... yes its in a grey area but since they dont use trademarks, patented moldings or direct IP violation as far as Im concerned these are legit organizations filling a very niche market and theres no problem with it.

[Defcon]

I don't mind the deepcover and the purple air warrior, but those rain makers and suns storm look hideous !

[VERT]

I have to get a set of Rainmakers in all the day glow glory. and the black SS repaint one too. That purple one looks great when you have more than one

[griffin]

That's okay. I know people have bought cheap fakes on purpose as a place-filler until they can afford or find the real thing, or could never afford something that rare (like the JP Headmaster Heads). It's just unfortunate that despite some people knowing they are fakes and are happy with that, there are a lot of people at collectors fairs, ebay and even conventions like BotCon, who don't disclose their fakeness, selling them off at prices close to legit figures.

yes its in a grey area but since they dont use trademarks, patented moldings or direct IP violation as far as Im concerned these are legit organizations filling a very niche market and theres no problem with it.

Don't worry. If Hasbro aren't interested in acting against fakes or unauthorised toys, it isn't my job to stick my neck out to prohibit any reference to them here. But I can make sure that newer fans (and older ones like me) don't get confused by seeing items in the Transformers sections that aren't actual Transformers-branded items (which the Global fansites do just to pad out their news pages - although these days they do note that they are not authorised toys, but in the beginning it was even confusing for me on some items).
I just want new fans and members to find this place as being obvious enough with the actual Transformers content, and if they start getting into more creative elements, then they can venture into those other non-TFs sections.


On a related note though, I do often see people claim that if it is a new mould and doesn't use the actual Transformers character name, then it should be legal... but the thing to remember is that if it copies the likeness of a current character enough for fans to recognise it or refer to it as that character (regardless of what it is named by the 3rd-party), the licensee or even the license-holder could claim that they are not getting royalties for that 3rd-party profiteering from those 'currently released' characters.
Because at the moment, we have at least two current license-holders of Gen1 story content - IDW and Smash Factory. While both of those are selling product (comics & DVDs) of Gen1 characters, anyone other than Hasbro or TakaraTomy selling toys that homage those actual Gen1 characters, regardless of what they are called or look like, is not paying back a royalty for making profit off that currently used character.

I'll put it this way - a new Batman movie is coming out next year, and Mattel gets the license to produce the toys. A 3rd-party designs and produces a more screen-accurate action figure and calls it "Nocturnal-guy". It doesn't use the Official name or Mattel's Mould, but it's a clear rip-off of a current character in the new movie and current comics just to make money. It uses the likeness of someone else's property for profit, without paying a commission, license or royalty to DC comics.

Just because Hasbro doesn't try to stop these unauthorised toys of Transformers likenesses, doesn't mean it's legal. It's just that it (currently) isn't worth them chasing after the 3rd-party businesses.

But like I said above, it isn't my job to be enforcing a legal position that Hasbro has no (current) interest in. If their position ever changed, only then would I re-evaluate this board's position on the matter.
What people collect is up to them. There's probably even collector forums out there for 3rd-party items, but this one will remain committed to being a Transformers (branded) forum that allows for some non-TFs discussion in the non-TFs sections.

(if there are any more questions or comments on this, I'll split this off into it's own topic, as it is deviating from content of the original topic)

[Decepticon]

Im sure some of these people who are against KOs would have burnt copies of DVD movies around their house. Same thing. Anyway, whats wrong with a good quality KO? Should be praised me thinks.

[kup]

I don't like KOs that rip off official Hasbro molds but I don't mind unique 3rd party items that offer completely new and interesting designs.

I know that 80+% of what Hasbro produces these days don't interest me at all and although I am fan of the 'Classics' lines, they can be too few at a time or released in too short windows per year to hold my interest.

If it wasn't for the 3rd party companies filling in gaps in my 'Classics' collection that Hasbro is unlikely to do or improving ('upgrading') an otherwise lackluster official release into something that I would be happy to have in my collection, I know that I would have lost interest in collecting modern figures a long time ago.

The 3rd party figures and upgrades are keeping me in the game, otherwise I probably would have lost interest and stopped buying altogether including much of the official stuff.

[mentok27]

I know this is off topic from KO's and should be continued in the general Unauthorized area but it happening here organically and I want to mention something.

Speaking of fun classics 3rd party updates have you got fansprojects G3 trailer? It's less obviously awesome from pictures but in hand it's totally the beat thing around. city commander/protector, the various headrobots upgrades or even full 3rd party figs have nothing on how pure fun this thing is...

I don't like KOs that rip off official Hasbro molds but I don't mind unique 3rd party items that offer completely new and interesting designs.

I know that 80+% of what Hasbro produces these days don't interest me at all and although I a fan of the 'Classics' lines, they can be too few at a time or released in too short windows per year to hold my interest.

If it wasn't for the 3rd party companies filling in gaps in my 'Classics' collection that Hasbro is unlikely to do or improving ('upgrading') an otherwise lackluster official release into something that I would be happy to have in my collection, I know that I would have lost interest in collecting modern figures a long time ago.

The 3rd party figures and upgrades are keeping me in the game, otherwise I probably would have lost interest and stopped buying altogether including much of the official stuff.

[reillyd]

Third party toys and KOs shouldn't be in the Transformers sections of the board (which includes the *TFs* acquisitions section), but it sometimes it takes too much effort to move posts or chase up people to edit their posts if something non-TF is included.

Fair enough then. I shall try to be more mindful of this in the future.

When the first few 3rd party items were being produced, we had a lot of members, not just new fans, assuming they were actual Transformers products, causing a lot of confusion. That's why those are kept out of the Transformers sections.

I guess we sometimes forget, being die-hard collectors, that not everyone follows transformer-related news 24/7 as if we were addicted (I could stop any time, I swear!)

While an obvious knock-off (eg some of these garish rainmaker seekers!) would probably stand out, the third party "upgrades" or "add-ons" (I'm thinking of the masterpiece trailer ko, before takara released one, or the classics prime trailers, for example) might be easily confused with a has/tak product, especially since many takara ones have english on the box.