Does 3rd Party MP bothers you?

[Hellboy]

It used to bother me... then Hasbro decided ripping off Lego® was okay so I can only presume they have no issue with doing what 3rd Party companies do.

I don't buy 3rd party (first of all too expensive) mainly because they are not "official" Transformers even if they look almost exactly like the G1 Characters.

[elburrito]

Originally Posted by chovner

I like robots that transform into other things... Whether Maketoys, Fansproject, Hasbro or Takara gives them to me I don't care... Maketoys Giant is one of my top 3 figures ever... And he's basically a custom Devastator a TF fan (like me), was kind and skilled enough to make for us all... I'll support whoever makes the nicest stuff.

this ^

Also, if Takara makes it. It will be better. I cannot think of a single exception. An example might be MP10 vs. Faith Leader. Remember "Acoustic Wave"? Looked awesome until MP13 came along. I like the third party stuff. Thanks to IGear, Ironhide and Ratchet stand with the other masterpiece stuff. The risk is if Takara makes Ironhide and Ratchet, the Igear ones probably won't hold a candle to them.

[wedge1021]

Quakewave is a bad example for me, as I collect all Shockwave figures. So if HasTak came out with one, I'd keep both. But I have pre-ordered those Krank & Stax figures, partly because there's no guarantee that official versions will be released. If they are, I will very likely buy the real MP's, just so I can have the official versions on my shelf. And depending on how much I like them, I may still keep the 3rd party versions, though it does let me sell them off if I so choose. I am OK with having different versions of the same figure - could even display one in bot form and one in alt mode.

As for the new voyager Springer, its possible that was a response to Fansproject Defender. But if it was, its really no competition. I have both, and the Hasbro one doesn't hold a candle to Defender. In fact, aside from the Masterpiece line, the official mainline stuff coming out these days is pushing me more and more towards 3rd Party, as I am less and less impressed by the turds that Hasbro releases.

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

It used to bother me... then Hasbro decided ripping off Lego® was okay so I can only presume they have no issue with doing what 3rd Party companies do.

I don't buy 3rd party (first of all too expensive) mainly because they are not "official" Transformers even if they look almost exactly like the G1 Characters.

I have never really thought about it that way. I'm with you though, never could afford a 3rd party.

[brr-icy]

the only one that's remotely mp is quakewave. ratchet and ironhide? updated, not anywhere close to their tv look, especially in the legs, and too small.

constructicons, nope. small, nowhere near mp engineering. herc's a lot closer, but not a perfect fit

skyfire, not really, i don't even know where i could put that in my collection.

if the company can pull it off, sure. but there's quite a bigger risk i/p wise if you're going mps since they need to be accurate. no fudging it

oh, and the Lego brick design is not copyrighted anymore.

[down_shift]

I will always pick an MP over a 3P. I love most 3P designs, but when push comes to shove everything about mp scale is better. Specifically the price vs value.

[protoform_ironhide]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

It used to bother me... then Hasbro decided ripping off Lego® was okay so I can only presume they have no issue with doing what 3rd Party companies do.

I don't buy 3rd party (first of all too expensive) mainly because they are not "official" Transformers even if they look almost exactly like the G1 Characters.

Now that you talked about it! Yea, so true. Kreo is like third party Lego! However I don't collect any Kreo either. Haha.... because If I really buy building blocks... It probably will be either Lego or MegaBloks but Kreo.... Maybe I am just stubborn.. and I can't stand copy cat, 3rd party, etc... Trying to talk myself into 3rd party...but consciousness just keeps telling me not to. I used to be okay with 3rd Party when there was only Fansproject. The things I ever got was Protector Trailer, City Commander trailer, Bruticus arms & legs, and the Superion upgrade kit. O, Well, maybe it's a good thing that these 3rd Party stuff bugs me, at least I won't end up with a headache when I decided to sell off my 3rd party bots...

[funkmasterke]

The only thing that gets me with 3rd party figures is the price. I don't understand why people pay so much of an unlicensed figure. I understand paying around $100 for a MP style figure like Quakewave, but I don't see why anyone would pay these prices for voyager sized figures.

[DecepticonusPrime]

Doesn't bother to me. In fact, I wish they would go with more spot-on accurate Masterpiece-style releases, rather than Classics-style. But stick to the characters that are unlikely to be released by Takara (e.g. the other Dinobots, Sky/Jetfire, Headmasters, etc.).

I would rather buy official MPs whenever possible, but there's no way Takara will get to all of 'em.

[Darth Cylon]

Originally Posted by chovner

Nope... I'll keep the better version.
What if the guys in charge of making Quakewave got hired by Takara, then made the grey Quakewave repaint (Shackwave) under the name of Takara... but the same figure as Quakewave, would that make it more legit?

Actually, I think a lot of the 3rd guys used to work at Takara/Hasbro, or Bandai, or kotobukiya, or one of the big Japanese toy companies.