The Energon Pub

trilobitepictures wrote:

Megatron_Wolf wrote:

trilobitepictures wrote:So... recording 20 seconds of a movie is wrong and the young girl who did it should be bound, gagged, sent to prison, book thrown at her, and throw away the key. Because bootlegging is wrong.

But it's okay to endorse a knock-off toy made by a company as a direct attempt to cash in on the ideas and reputation of another company and gather profit from said ideas and reputation? And people should be encouraged to purchase said unauthorized item because bootlegging is good?

You do know that old G1 molds can be bought by toy companies. A lot of the G1 KOs that are around now are from molds that were bought from tarkara or hasbro. There are some that are made by cloning molds or making there own molds but some are legit. Pluse this dosent hurt the original toy companies. This mold isnt in use any more so hasbro/tarkara loses no money off of this. Now if this were for a KO of movie Optimus then yeah its wrong. The only thing wrong about this auction is the price.

Shockwave (Astro Magnum from ToyCo), Omega Supreme (MechaBot 1 from ToyBox), Roadbuster ("VV-54 AR Mugen Calibur" from the Japanese anime series Dorvack) , the Deluxe Insecticons (Armored Insect Force Beetras from Bandai), blah blah blah. Yes... I know. Transformers were such a success that Hasbro wanted to get as much product out on the shelves with the Transformers name on it as possible. Since they were running out of old Takara molds to use, they obtained licenses to use the molds of other companies' robot toys in the Transformers line.

I personally don't give a crap about either recording a movie (in part or as a whole) or copying a toy... I will happily do both. Hollywood is WAY overpaid and I'd rather save my money for creative ideas that genuinely deserve it... and if a toy sees shelf time again because it's a copy of something that hasn't seen sunlight in 20 years, then great. Hell, I own more than my share of bootleg toys because there just was no other way to get them.

Bootlegging can, sometimes, be a good thing. It built up excitement for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in the US because bootleg DVDs of the series were coming in from the UK, for example. It was ENCOURAGED by the Japanese film studio, Daiei, in order to build a case to distributors stateside that their then-new Gamera movies were popular and had an audience in North America.

I just needed clarification about where people stood, seeing that everyone wanted to all but lynch some un-named kid for bootlegging on her cell phone, yet squeal like schoolgirls when a bootleg toy is put out... where is the line drawn and what shade of grey is on either side? Is bootlegging okay or not? Bootleg and get lynched, or bootleg and get praised?

In my opinion, both are wrong. The companies that spent their resources to create the products you mentioned are entitled to money ... plain and simple. There's fair use and then there's simply stealing someone else's physical or intellectual property or properties. I don't have a problem with someone doing screen captures or posting a few clips of a video because those things can't replace the actual full length video in question. Same with things like Reprolabels (or repro parts). Those are not things that we can purchase separately from buying vintage toys ... and they do not replace the original toy in question.

I am still baffled that Hasbro and Takara can't figure out a way to stop the production of these "knock off" G1 Transformers from an old factory that one of them used to use back in the day. The biggest problem that I have is that this factory/company is using pretty much identical packaging (minus a few details as well as the quality) which makes it difficult to know an original from one of these new knock offs. I'm glad I've finished my collection because I know everything I own is original. It really bothers me thinking about some new naive fan getting duped into buying one of these knock offs because they thought they were getting a good deal on an original.

I could go on but I won't at this time. Bottom line is ... I don't like that this is happening. None of us know what deals Hasbro or Takara made with those factories back then so this might very well all be legit, but considering the nature of the overall "bootleg" market from China, I somehow doubt this. I imagine the whole situation is shrouded in so much red tape that a legal battle waged from Hasbro or Takara against the factory/company or multiple factories/companies just isn't worth it to them.

What bothers me more than anything is that we won't see any high grade reissues of some of these figures because the molds are in the hands of this company that is wrongfully using the Transformers brand.

i really want it i looks really cool

trilobitepictures wrote:
Since you'd rather not see people get duped my inferior product, then by all means, place it as toy news. Fine. Dandy. I'm 100% with you on that. If someone chooses to add it to their collection, they should not do it under the pretense of having an original. But if you don't endorse the idea of bootlegging toys, then might I suggest... here's a nutty idea... not posting (or ALLOWING someone to post) a direct link to the auction and, by extension, to the person selling it.

I disagree with your suggestion. Sticking one's head in the sand does not make one smarter.

If we constantly chip away at what we are and are not allowed to talk about on a public forum, then eventually all we will be able to do is sit around and hum.



I am saddened by the influx of KOs onto the TF market for all the reasons Seibertron mentioned. I can't say it any better than he did, so I just add my agreement with what he said.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:

trilobitepictures wrote:
Since you'd rather not see people get duped my inferior product, then by all means, place it as toy news. Fine. Dandy. I'm 100% with you on that. If someone chooses to add it to their collection, they should not do it under the pretense of having an original. But if you don't endorse the idea of bootlegging toys, then might I suggest... here's a nutty idea... not posting (or ALLOWING someone to post) a direct link to the auction and, by extension, to the person selling it.

I disagree with your suggestion. Sticking one's head in the sand does not make one smarter.

If we constantly chip away at what we are and are not allowed to talk about on a public forum, then eventually all we will be able to do is sit around and hum.



I am saddened by the influx of KOs onto the TF market for all the reasons Seibertron mentioned. I can't say it any better than he did, so I just add my agreement with what he said.

Your statement is indeed a laspe of reason. Read it. Not once does he say what you think he does. Actually read a post man, where does he say that?