Another 3rd Party Omega Silhouette

[1orion2many]

In regards to this 3rd party Omega, it is a huge toy with a fair bit of thought and engineering gone into it to translate the character model from the game. $300 doesn't seem that much when you compare it to something like Supreme Devastator from the movie line that had a pretty high price tag on release and was nothing but blocks put together with a stupid gimmick

I don't disagree on that monstrosity (Devastator) but then again I did my talking with my wallet, I'm sure if I did my research I could find some shocking third party items with stupid release prices as well

[kup]

I'm not arguing that they haven't got quality on their side compared to the average deluxe but you aren't paying deluxe prices you are paying the equivalent of the latest MP prices (Lambor and Alert) which I consider to be superior to the third party offerings at the same price point, I notice you say different Kup but I have had bad experiences with third party items and not official merchandise where as you seem to be the opposite so our experiences will colour our perception. The third parties are superior to the average deluxe but inferior to the MP's so wouldn't it make sense for these third party items to be sitting around the $45.00 mark. Yes I know they have smaller production runs but they also have a lot less in the way of overheads. One last thing, Don't forget a lot of these items are stolen intellectual property which Hasbro/Tak/Tom has deemed not to chase in court at this point in time, I understand some of the third party people are now creating their own designs which are quite good but still have their faults which people seem to forgive more easily than say if it was an official item. I'm putting all this out there as I'm interested in peoples views and the reasons for them.

No one is arguing, you asked a question and it's been answered but I am not blind to what's not being written either.

I call it as I see it which means that I will have a variety of experiences as you pointed out. My Hasbro MP-10 experience was great so I wrote good things about it. My MP Soundwave experience wasn't so great so I had more negative things to say but I did acknowledge that Soundwave itself and even Laserbeak were very well designed just got hit due to prone bad QC.

The whole intellectual property theft is a whole different topic as we are talking about the quality of the product. Well unless that's what you are really wanting to protest about in which case you won't get much of a counter argument because it is pretty obvious that stuff like this Omega and several of the MMC toys are clearly intellectual property theft.

I don't disagree on that monstrosity (Devastator) but then again I did my talking with my wallet, I'm sure if I did my research I could find some shocking third party items with stupid release prices as well

Yes there are like that Nova Lord coming out. I do not defend 3rd parties just because they are not official. I don't have a 'Us vs them' mentality. Some of them are indeed over priced crap and I am not afraid to say it when I see it. Like you, I vote with my wallet so I pay whoever makes me a good toy.

Third parties are not a single encompassing thing where one can judge the whole range on just one or two companies.

[1orion2many]

Thanks for the replies Kup, I was just interested in peoples opinions and not trying to start an all out argument (Which I'm not saying has happened). Most probably the wrong thread to do this, Sorry for derailing it.

[Lord_Zed]

To be honest I've found most of the third party releases I've picked up to have superior QC than the latest MP's.

I'm not a huge fan of the prices, they are specifically targeted at collectors, however that also means they tend to add those extra touches collectors like such as cool accessories, techspech cards, comics etc.

Also the division between costs is starting to shrink, the newest Hasbro toys are notably reduced in quality for the same cost, while the superior Japanese versions cost up to 40% more for what we used to get for the same price.

For me personally I have found a lot of Hasbro's latest offerings in the standard lines to not only have reduced quality but also be uninspired and mediocre at best. I'm hoping this will change with the newly announced Generations toys, however for now it means when I have to choose between two mediocre Hasbro toys that I kinda like and one good third party toy that I really like that costs twice the price, I'm going to go with the third party.

I still love the MP line, but I honestly don't see that huge a division between it and the better Third Party toys anymore, and paying the big bucks for these toys has had the effect of desensitizing me to Third party prices.

And yes there are plenty of absolutely terrible Third Party toys. Pretty much everything Impossible toys and Xtransbots has released, Igears older knock of MP's and accessories, and even some of Fans Projects early accessories were both overpriced and absolutely terrible in my opinion.

[kup]

Yeah thinking back, the very early FansProject stuff was pretty terrible like the CJ upgrade and the MP coronation set. I don't feel too bad about them as several board members here including myself managed to get it and the Starscream Crown set dirt cheap.

However the demand for the CJ upgrade made it go from $20-$300 market value! The kit wasn't even plastic but some porcelain like recin. The kit effectively converted the boring copout that was a red Bumblebee into Cliffjumper and that's what took everyone by storm despite the poor material quality. This was probably the catalyst that kickstarted the 3rd party movement due to all the demand the kit caused. Then City Commnader came along to hammer the nail on the head to further make the point and that kit wasn't exactly great but it added something Hasbro was negating begging fans for years.

[kup]

My Genesis Gallery:

[UltraMarginal]

That is a pretty sweet bit of kit you have there Kup.

[lancalot]

his head becomes a separate tank?.. that cool !

[Trent]

Very nice Kup!

Can you do me a favour? Can you measure the total height of the rocket mode? Thanks.

[kup]

Very nice Kup!

Can you do me a favour? Can you measure the total height of the rocket mode? Thanks.

Sure, I'll do that when I get home but it is certainly pretty freaking tall. From guessing I would say possibly same or taller than MP-10.