megatronus wrote:YRQRM0 wrote:If this is true...
I get Hasbro has the right and respect that. But a lot of us were a bit disappointed in Haslab Unicron to begin with, pointing out that indeed the kibble could be managed better, not many features, etc. Some people were acting like this was nonsense, but the Zeta one proved you could do better imo, even if they fell short in some areas like the planet mode.
I was going to buy Haslab until I saw Zeta, and I'm sure not going back to Haslab now just because Zeta isn't available anymore. If that's what they're hoping for (it must be), I think that's ridiculous and greedy. They've already lost to many 3P designs and this was just one more that they should have accepted.
Translation: “Dear Hasbro, I know this hurts but I benefit so you should be cool with it.”
Why is it greedy for Hasbro to want to protect their property and enforce their copyright, but not greedy of Zeta to totally rip it off without paying dues or licensing fees?
You're right, it's totally greedy on 3P part to do what they do to begin with. But Hasbro has kinda set a precedent of turning the other way with this sort of thing. It would be like an artist letting everyone cover their songs, then they have 1 new lead single and suddenly strike down every cover someone makes.
I respect that Hasbro has the legal rights here, but I also appreciate the 3P market because it gives options. Star Wars fans enjoy Hasbro offerings, Disney, Bandai, Figuarts, etc. 3P is usually the pleasant market copmpetition/variety. So yeah, Hasbro has the rights, but I don't think any of us would complain if it became a legal reality that other companies could make figures for us to choose from, too. That's basically what 3P has been...just without the legal part.
None of us work at Hasbro so none of us can really talk about whether the price is right, how long the 18-month lead time really is for a design like this, etc. Personally, I feel that it's not that impressive. The price feels a bit high, the engineering doesn't seem all that amazing (the chest doesn't even attempt to be part of the transformation), the features are lacking, etc. Again, I don't wanna argue this because none of us work there or design transformers for a living, but that's my initial impression. With that initial impression, seeing them strike down a more reasonably-priced design that way more ingenuity went into feels greedy, so that's why I said that.