TF Views

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... icture=out

Check it out. Now, I'm usually not in what you'd call Fansproject's target market (being as I'm a cheap bastard). They do good work and all, and a lot of their projects look really nice, but I can't bring myself to spend eighty bucks on a deluxe, or a hundred on a suit of armor. But this, this I might get. He's a neat little Targetmaster guy, and while ten bucks is high for a gun, it's really pretty good for one of these third-party things.

Thoughts?

I'm not really a big enough fan of Firebolt to want him for my Rodimus. That said, if they go and make a Fracas for the upcoming Generations Scourge, I will buy the hell outta that thing. Might end up getting a spare too, if that Jazz gets repainted into Stepper.

Y'know, I really wouldn't mind getting the Crossfire guys, considering I already have the Universe/Movie Bruticus to add them too. It's just...waaaaay outta my price range.

Actually, Stepper/Ricochet would take Nightstick. But, Fracas would be good for a custom Artfire.

Dom
-is seriously considering this.

Aha, but if they made a Fracas, there's a strong chance they would base it off of his comic model, which would make him look like Nightstick! Which would make him perfect for Stepper's toy. It's a happy coincidence that I'm using to avoid having to buy a whole second Cyclonus.

Alternatively, I could just give him the Nebulan from my G1 Stepper.

I have to admit, I want to be on Hasbro's side about these sorts of non-licensed figures and accessories, but Hasbro continues to flatly ignore these markets despite some great-looking upgrade products, and they haven't approached a licensee to take over that area to counter it. It's hard to deny that Hasbro could have just as easily re-released Rodimus in the Generations line with a Targetmaster buddy like this and it would have sold fine, but they drag their feet at every opportunity to do anything like this. I'm not even saying do the upgrade trailer/armor, no matter how cool it would be to have Hasbro do that, just do the Targetmaster version, and they can't even do that despite a VERY slow, small brand right now that needs bolstering. I doubt they'll ever know that they're bringing this sort of thing on themselves.

I agree JT. I am a huge one for protecting intellectual property. But, if something is not being official produced and sold, then selling and buying bootlegs takes bread off of nobody's table.

Hasbro has every moral and legal right to protect their assets. But, Hasbro has little sensible reason to complain about people making and selling items that Hasbro is not interested in making.

Dom

Dominic wrote:I agree JT. I am a huge one for protecting intellectual property. But, if something is not being official produced and sold, then selling and buying bootlegs takes bread off of nobody's table.

Hasbro has every moral and legal right to protect their assets. But, Hasbro has little sensible reason to complain about people making and selling items that Hasbro is not interested in making.

Hasbro vehemently disagrees though, and they do score points for showing that these little companies haven't approached them for an official license or anything of that nature. These sets do take liberties with Hasbro's imagery character IP, but Hasbro isn't helping by dragging their feet and claiming these little boutique sets are an affront to the business model that they could never approach. That's crap, if only 1000 sell, make a business model that works within such a small space, who better than Hasbro to deliver that? Yet they actively put up a wall to it, they make excuses rather than address a market's needs, and it becomes a situation where they come off as lazy or actively disdainful of their loyal market, neither of which is an enviable position for them that they are putting themselves in. Ultimately, this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me, I look at BBTS selling this guy for $10, and how can Hasbro claim there's no market for it when someone can make a Targetmaster figure happen that actually looks good and is better than Hasbro's decades-old original for ten bucks?!? Ten bucks isn't making profits, that cost is only about delivering what fans want, and Hasbro seems to want no part in that, they just want to get angry when fans try to fill the void themselves.

So I can see it from both points of view, but ultimately I think Hasbro Transformers is erring big time with this situation, and that type of thinking is going to keep them from growing their brand.

This is one of the few times in 5+ years or regularly talking to you that I have agreed completely.

Duh, Hasbro disagrees with us on this. If they agreed, this thread would not be up. (And, then we would not be agreeing.)

And, yeah, Hasbo is stifling their brand. There is proven demand that they do not seem interested in meeting. Hell, there are people who would buy an official toy that would skip a fan made toy, meaning demand is likely even greater than sales on fan made items would indicate.

I stand by my moral point. If Hasbro is not interested in selling something, they lose nothing when somebody else decides to produce and sell it.


Dom
-might buy one on principle now.

Very true. I refuse to pay inflated prices to unofficial shit. The closest I ever got was considering ordering the Blastoff and Swindle upgrades for toys I don't even frickin' own. That and the price tag are the only reason I don't have them now.

Dominic wrote: Hell, there are people who would buy an official toy that would skip a fan made toy, meaning demand is likely even greater than sales on fan made items would indicate.

That's my position right there in a nutshell. I'm not ready to take that leap.

I stand by my moral point. If Hasbro is not interested in selling something, they lose nothing when somebody else decides to produce and sell it.

-might buy one on principle now.

I'm not quite that extreme on it, but it's hard for me to ignore that Hasbro's inability to address the fan market demand in this situation is pushing us all closer to that realm.

Onslaught Six wrote:Very true. I refuse to pay inflated prices to unofficial shit. The closest I ever got was considering ordering the Blastoff and Swindle upgrades for toys I don't even frickin' own. That and the price tag are the only reason I don't have them now.

For me, it's a catch-22, if Hasbro doesn't make stuff I want, I won't buy it from a fan company, but simultaneously, it'll be 1 more push towards not buying more Hasbro products either and just walking away from the whole thing.

I mean, shit, Takara has a MASSIVE business model built on boutique fan sales in Japan, and yes it's a wholly different market, but it's enough of a boutique market to garner OVERSEAS sales here in the US. If Takara can make a market out of 500 items with a notable portion that are sought after in the US, how can Hasbro not be able to do exactly the same thing?