Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellboy
I don't blame Hasbro for pulling back on their involvement. 3RD party products are an infringement on their property and is stealing regardless of what fans feel they want or deserve. Offering a convention exclusive created with stolen property is a complete insult to the company that gave everyone (in North America at least) Transformers in the first place.
3RD Party companies benefit from all the financial work Hasbro does to keep the Transformers franchise alive. They do more than just make toys. They are behind the movies, video games and TV shows that incur expenses way beyond what the thieves are reaping the benefits from.
I love some of the bootleg products I've seen and I'd love to see stuff like that on my shelves but I don't support stolen Transformer merchandise any more than I do bootleg movies or music. To me it is just wrong.
I get that I'm the minority here and will get reamed for taking the stance that I do but it makes no difference. I'm content buying what Hasbro produces. In my mind anything that doesn't come with a Hasbro stamp on it really isn't a Transformer and I only collect Transformers.
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How is it stolen? A vast majority of the 3rd party items I am interested in, but haven't the funds to afford right now, only serve to enhance pre-existing Hasbro products. True the Not-Devastator isn't entirely in that same vein, and I get that, however when the company spends all its time making figure after figure based on Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream after a while you begin to feel burn out on those characters.
Hasbro's products of late have failed to stretch the imagination or really push the bar on well engineered transforming products. They have grown sloppy, they have no real competition at major retailers and so they no longer try their damndest to impress both kids and collectors alike.
They take a piece of yellow plastic, call it Bumblebee, and dump it into the huge pile of BBs that constantly take up space on the store shelves. They treat the franchise like it was still a blockbuster movie toyline and not like it needs to keep revolving doors going in order to get the product out there.
It's the same problem year after year, we're sitting on shelves of unwanted product because Hasbro is marketing to the wrong people. The movie going public do not support a toyline, not the way those of us who grew up with the cartoons could, not even the way the kids who follow said cartoons could. Kids want more than just Bumblebee, or at least they are definitely starting to get smart enough to see that all the company seems to care about is pushing certain franchise favorites out the door down their throats add infinitem and leave them high and dry when it comes to other characters that the children might actually prefer to see.
There is too much product from Hasbro, without 3rd parties most of us would probably have abandoned this sinking tub long before this.
Hasbro is like the tick that has burrowed itself deep into the dog's back, it has become overgorged on years of our continued support, so much to the point that it no longer fears what happens when we take our business elsewhere, because they can just make it back by dragging in others, finding the blood elsewhere. Sadly for them they've become so engorged by our continued support that they fail to realize all dog's must die. The blood flow ceases eventually, instead of taking only what they need to survive and moving on to the next 'dog' they sit contentedly growing fatter and fatter until, when the dog finally dies, they will be too engorged to even leave to find another.
I'll admit that is a really odd analogy, but my point is still made. Hasbro is a Corporation that has become a Conglomerate, they've absorded other companies 'The Blood' (Kenner, Tonka, Etc...) and they are content to continue spewing out less than there best because they figure the kids will still support the lines they push at them.
The children however have become more fickle, some less intelligent, others more intelligent, their atention spans have become more focused, less easy to grab, some might say the opposite is in fact true, but I don't believe that for a second. If that were the case the cell phone companies wouldn't be able to keep getting the younger generations interested in signing up.
Sure the 3rd parties might infringe a bit on Hasbro's IPs, but that's because they are small enough right now, and located in areas of the world where the laws help them rather than hinder them when it comes to Hasbro's properties, that they can operate. Today's 3rd parties are what Hasbro were around 30 years ago, small companies seeing something big catch on somewhere and taking advantage of that.
The way they react to these 3rd parties is really rather stupid, instead of being all up in arms about them they should be taking a hard look at their business plan. Because the older fans get, the more focused and niche they become with their collections, no longer do they jump at every little thing that is pushed out the door like the kiddies do. And if the kiddies parents who are the older fans tell them that the companies best efforts have already been met and are sitting on their shelves in their collection rooms... Well those kiddies won't be buying Hasbro's latest product, now will they?
Co-Exist, learn and grow, or risk choking to death on your own greed/gluttony, much like that overfed tick from my analogy.
ehhh.
