Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[Prime Evil]

It's also very informative to know what is wrong with the knock offs as well. Besides what Fans Proj posted I mean. I hope you can get your money back Q-united.

BTW, this isn't Q from the con last year is it?

[Longbridge]

I must admit I nearly bought one of the knock offs on eBay but then I saw how many he had available and thought "damn that's a lot of damaged boxes, something here is fishy" and I'm glad I did now.

I feel sorry for those that bought them and I hope your disputes go your way.

[Q-united]

No, i'm not that Q. I'm from the Netherlands and would love to visit a convention one day. But i think the trip would cost me all my spending money. I have made a mistake about the sellers user-name. It's Toys-models from Japan and not Toy-models. And to be a bit more precise about the flaws of the product i have to ad that there were no screw-hole cover-up parts included for the obvious reason that there were no screw-holes. The armors shoulder posts have a very loose fit and are very hard to keep in place for a good display.
On a you-tube review you could hear the waist-part click in place by an authentic version. With my version i'm very lucky it stays in place long enough to give the figure a nice display pose. And each time i want to flip the licence plate i brake a nail.
As i mentioned in my first reply the arms are the biggest drama to keep in place because they are just to wide to snap in place. So theres no way he can wear that big gun of which btw the handle does not fit in the hand. And last but not least the chest-piece. It was glued together so badly that it always hangs to much to the left or right side and the flaps on the back-side are so loose that they can't prevent this from happening.

I regret i did not do enough "research" on this item to know that the price was just way to low to be an authentic item. Not only beacause the pictures that were placed in this offer were of an authentic one (which makes me even more miserable). And
i've also seen some replies from people who are glad they can get a cheap Shadow Commander.

Well, is this what you realy want?

[arneld048]

im also a one who unfortunately bought one too, q. the seller replied to me and this is what he said " hello, sorry for late reply. in fact for the past few days, we're trying to get answers from our supplier. till now, our supplier did not admit that this is a knock off version and we could do nothing for any compensation! however we do want to make some compensation for our customers on out part. if you send the figure back to us, it's money and time-consuming. so we would like to refund you us$35.00 as compensation. would you agree with that? thx a lot!


- toys-models" this is crap because i spent 50 for the toy and 35. for shipping. and all he wants to do is payback the shipping. screw that!!!!! i told him i want a refund and to keep the KO. it may not go on nemesis prime very well, but the trailer looks ok on him. its a lesson learned i guess..

[Blackstreak]

That's too bad. I own the original City Commander and it is freaking awesome! And the price was very do-able. Now I had no idea that Fans Project wasn't making much if any money out of these things but $250 per shot? I don't think as many people would be willing to buy them, I would not have. I can see $100-150, Hasbro would sell them for that I think (the greedy $^&%%^!@).
Anyways, for a KO company to come along and rip off such a sweet rarity is pathetic, appalling. I've noticed the pictures and if you can't tell the rip off then you deserve to lose your money on such cheap-@!#$ plastic.
All I can say is if I had Nemesis Prime and Optimus Prime I would invest in the upgrades as well...from Fans Project, not the KO rip-offs.

[Serpent O - R]

Hasbroman - Janet, can you get me the subsidiary on the phone?

- Phone Rings -
- Phone Picks Up -

Hasbroman - Run the Commander... Usual distribution methods.

- Phone Hangs Up -

Hasbroman - Damn kids pissin in my pool...

[starfish]

I think it's absolutlely hilarious - FansProject are getting exactly what they deserve!

In all this talk of copyright, everyone is forgetting who the original copyright thieves are - FansProject themselves. The design of Ultra Magnus belongs to Hasbro, and FP are using it without permission.

The fact that FP themselves are being copied... well, that's just karma, isn't it?

[Slayershoop]

I think it's absolutlely hilarious - FansProject are getting exactly what they deserve!

In all this talk of copyright, everyone is forgetting who the original copyright thieves are - FansProject themselves. The design of Ultra Magnus belongs to Hasbro, and FP are using it without permission.

The fact that FP themselves are being copied... well, that's just karma, isn't it?

Okay, what the hell, they make no profit and go out of their way to not copy Hasbro, they come up with original designs and they rock and don't you think that Hasbro would have called them on the whole thing a while ago if they didn't want it to happen? Let's face it, Hasbro likes FransProject because they help Hasbro sell toys. Do you honestly think that as many Ultra Magnuses or Nemesis Primes would have sold if the Commander series hadn't come out? Hasbro sells more toys because of FansProject, in no way do they deserve this. They are Transformers fans too, they do this for other fans and sell their stuff for cost. I'm sorry, but you sir, are wrong.

[starfish]

I think it's absolutlely hilarious - FansProject are getting exactly what they deserve!

In all this talk of copyright, everyone is forgetting who the original copyright thieves are - FansProject themselves. The design of Ultra Magnus belongs to Hasbro, and FP are using it without permission.

The fact that FP themselves are being copied... well, that's just karma, isn't it?

Okay, what the hell, they make no profit and go out of their way to not copy Hasbro, they come up with original designs and they rock and don't you think that Hasbro would have called them on the whole thing a while ago if they didn't want it to happen? Let's face it, Hasbro likes FransProject because they help Hasbro sell toys. Do you honestly think that as many Ultra Magnuses or Nemesis Primes would have sold if the Commander series hadn't come out? Hasbro sells more toys because of FansProject, in no way do they deserve this. They are Transformers fans too, they do this for other fans and sell their stuff for cost. I'm sorry, but you sir, are wrong.

A toy that looks like Ultra Magnus is not an "original design".

FansProject sales are minimal, I doubt they make even the slightest bit of difference to those of megabucks Hasbro. The only people it helps are those who want to sell their classics Magnuses (Magni?) on ebay. Before FP, I could get a Magnus & Skywarp set on ebay for under £10. A couple of years ago they were shelfwarmers in my local Woolworths. Now an opened Magnus on ebay can go for silly money. How does that help Hasbro?

It doesn't matter if FP are a non-profit organisation. What they do is copyright theft. If I copy a CD and give a copy to a friend for the cost of a blank CD, that too is theft. It matters not one jot whether or not I'm making a proft, it's still illegal.

Besides, I'm very dubious that these guys are non-profit. All we have is their own say-so... I'd love to have a look at their accounts. I mean, if they sell these things at cost then how come the non-chromed Shadow Commander cost way more than the chromed one?

[Mkall]

A toy that looks like Ultra Magnus is not an "original design".

Sure the exterior bears certain similarities to the original G1 depiction of Ultra Magnus, however the engineering, mold design and marketing go out of their way to be different from all official incarnations of Ultra Magnus. In other words, there are similarities, but only so far a FreeBSD is similar to Linux. Unless you're a lawyer and can produce a court-worthy argument of this point, I will stick with City Commander being a "original design"

FansProject sales are minimal, I doubt they make even the slightest bit of difference to those of megabucks Hasbro. The only people it helps are those who want to sell their classics Magnuses (Magni?) on ebay. Before FP, I could get a Magnus & Skywarp set on ebay for under £10. A couple of years ago they were shelfwarmers in my local Woolworths. Now an opened Magnus on ebay can go for silly money. How does that help Hasbro?

Perhaps City Commander came along far too late to help Ultra Magnus sell, but Shadow Commander assisted in selling off more SDCC Nemesis Primes and the Upcoming Superion Limbs will guarentee that the ROTF Superion will fly off the shelves, and most likely the Bruticus too because fans will hedge their bets that a limb set for him is next. That will help Hasbro.

It doesn't matter if FP are a non-profit organisation. What they do is copyright theft. If I copy a CD and give a copy to a friend for the cost of a blank CD, that too is theft. It matters not one jot whether or not I'm making a proft, it's still illegal.

Again, that comes down to what is and isn't copyrighted. They've designed the character, the mold, the engineering and the connection sequence with the Hasbro Ultra Magnus figure all without stealing or poaching any ideas from Hasbro. And before you try the whole "Trailer combines with robot" argument, such a technique is hardly confined to Transformers. The whole "x combines with y" is pretty common in some cartoons and anime. If Hasbro has a copyright on the image of what an Ultra Magnus should look like, then there could be an argument. But I'm not a fan of searching the US Patent office so I cannot say definitively that they do or don't. I highly suspect they don't though.

Besides, I'm very dubious that these guys are non-profit. All we have is their own say-so... I'd love to have a look at their accounts. I mean, if they sell these things at cost then how come the non-chromed Shadow Commander cost way more than the chromed one?

Wait... there's a chromed Shadow Commander out there?