Hasbro bans KOs & 3rd party goods at Botcon

[Sleeve]

How I feel every day:

[griffin]

That's so true...

[SharkyMcShark]

neglecting

neglect

neglected

neglected

neglected

neglected

You're nothing if not consistent.

[kup]

You're nothing if not consistent.

I know I am

To built on that consistency, the comic above is interesting in the sense of 'Why do 3rd party stuff dominate the news sections rather than official stuff?'

Sounds like a result of Hasbro practicing the N word again...

[dirge]

I blame kup for... neglect?

Okay, on a more serious note... I can understand Hasbro's stance but you do have to wonder how switched on they are having taken so long to crack down on this.

I've been collecting Transformers long enough to not complain. Sure, there are some characters I'd love to see Classics-ised (Gears, Skids, Smurfette) but I can recall eras such as the time of Transmetal IIs, where things were dire & uninspiring. While I'm just as jaded by the 47,224 movie Bumblebees as the next guy, I'll be content with the classics toys we do get (although I would like to see more focus on that line). Content enough to not buy the unofficial stuff, anyway.

[kup]

Since this thread has gone a bit wider than what the core subject here is, just to be clear, this is how I stand in regards to 'no unofficial stuff at Botcon':

From TFW (I am Predacon):

Hasbro has every right to ban unofficial stuff at Botcon - It's their convention after all.

This is not open to debate regardless of which side of the fence you sit in. It's a Hasbro hosted event, what they say goes.

BTW: I am an avid 3rd party supporter but despite so, I can understand that Hasbro has every right to determine what is and isn't sold at their convention provided they give proper warning which they have.

that is the whole crux about this....they did not provide adequate warning....adequate warning would have been at last years botcon( a large mega corp does not make decisions like this quickly) ....

NOT THE MONTH BEFORE THE CONVENTION TICKETS GO ON SALE.

This is their convention and a month's warning is more than enough. If people were relying on buying or selling unofficial toys at botcon then that's not Hasbro's or FunPub's problem.

[primatives]

hehe hasbro can do what they want as it is their convention Im not going to be at any botcon anytime soon. I'd rather go to that singapore one if i read correctly attracts much more people and closer to us!! Dont care if no 3rd party items arent allowed at the convention because if i like it i'll just get it online

Whilst I understand Hasbro can't cater to us oldies or me at least that wants updated g1 characters, their target market are small kids and imo we're just a small market for them. Yeah they may make or release characters we want eventually until then if the 3rd party companies can pump out good quality items then I'll just buy it. I'm not really interested in the movie or prime lines other than the classics

[GoktimusPrime]

Even though I don't support unlicensed toys, I can understand the frustration that people like kup feel. There IS undeniably a demand for Classicsverse versions of classic G1 characters. Whenever Hasbro releases them, fans scoop them up post haste! But when they don't release them and someone else does - even at much more expensive prices - people are buying them.

From a business POV Hasbro shouldn't be sitting on their laurels and hoping that fans will be patient -- they should be getting their butts into overdrive and developing/releasing these toys into the market. Hasbro are happy to develop and release shelf warming toys like Stealth Force, Cyber Slammers and endless Bumblebees and Optimus Primes; yet if they released new Classicsverse toys I'd wager they'd sell better. And as Sky Shadow pointed out on this thread they can keep it within budget by retooling a several moulds for different characters (as they have in the past).

The third party folks are satisfying a consumer demand. Are they doing it illegitimately? Yes - that's why I won't support them. But as kup said, the best way for Hasbro to combat this is to satisfy the consumer demand themselves. If Hasbro released a Generations G1 Arcee toy now I would buy it in a heartbeat as well as so many other G1 characters that are "waiting" for the Classicsverse treatment.

Banning people from selling unlicensed toys at conventions is only treating the symptom but not the cause of the problem. Third party folks will just find somewhere else to sell their wares (like the internet)

[kup]

If Hasbro released a Generations G1 Arcee toy now I would buy it in a heartbeat as well as so many other G1 characters that are "waiting" for the Classicsverse treatment.

So true. Hasbro releases a decent Classics Arcee and that will be the end of 3rd party Arcees. There is a precedent to this as the release of a decent Hasbro Classics Wreckgar put a stop to the unofficial one and the 3rd parties have not really visited the character (or resemblance of him) again. However I need to stress the word 'decent' as Hasbro's sorry attempts at Springer resulted in Defender.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

The third party folks are satisfying a consumer demand. Are they doing it illegitimately? Yes - that's why I won't support them.

See, I always find this particular argument to be interesting. Outright KOs and Igear resizings aside (neither of which I personally support), it seems to me that the legitmacy of said 3rd party products is very much down to the actual legal stuff - much like HasTak themselves often makes a practice of doing alt-modes with 'just-generic-enough' vehicle modes to avoid paying licensing fees. City Commander might obviously be based on Ultra Magnus, but from a legalese viewpoint if it passes the just-different-enough test it's legit, albeit not strictly a Transformer.
From a moral POV, I'd probably be more sympathetic to the IP theft argument if the stuff that was being done by 3rd Parties wasn;t stuff that HasTak doesn't seem to be interested in doing (because they're not going after the collector market in any big way), and if the stuff that's being done by said 3rd parties wasn't mostly revamping characters birthed from old Diaclone and Microman molds. For sure, Hasbro bought them legally, but again that's a matter of law. For my part at least HasTak hasn't lost any sales over any 3rd party stuff - the only practical difference is one or two of my particular collecting itches have been scratched.

Botcon? Yeah, Hasbro can ban whatever it wants - it's their baby. General '3rd Party stuff is bad mm'kay?' Well, that's between HsTak, the 3rd party producers, their respective lawyers, me, and my wallet, and so far me and my wallet are winning and losing.