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Rated X wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:The whole Shattered Glass universe idea just seems lazy to begin with. But even that idea could have been interesting if executed properly.

I couldnt agree with you more my friend. Ever get the feeling "Shattered Glass" is nothing but a contingency plan for when Funpub cant get permission to use certian molds ? Or for when they are stumped on who the molds they have available could be used for ?

Im not going to get into my opinion on the "alternate universe" concept here, but repainted figures with no re-tool or intention of being a new character seem pretty convenient for Funpub.

But I must admit the colors do look nice. I might buy him, slap on some Decepticon reprolabels and make him a generic Cybertronian for Shockwave's army.

Personally I enjoy seeing "flip-sides" of characters, where Ratex X would be an Opera Singer whose into theater

Anyways, I may end up getting another and petitioning Reprolabels into making him into an updated W.A.R.S

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:Wow! You can really tell FunPub isn't even trying anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if they lifted that entire bio from some Marvel wiki entry or toy card back bio or something and just went Ctrl+F and replaced "Deadpool" with "Drift".

How about actually looking into it?

Nah. Looked around for 10 minutes, couldn't find anything. Honestly, Marvel is such a juggernaut spanning so many medias, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a Deadpool bio similar to this out there somewhere linked some obscure piece of merchandise. Like on the back a trading card or in a video game or something.

But my point is the SG universe is just so lazy as it is. The basic formula for making a SG character basically boils down to this:
1: Select a character from G1
2: Personality = A. Take that character's personality and flip it; cowardly is courageous, strong is weak, dumb is intellegent. OR B. If that character has a rival, swap that characters personality with their rivals and vica versa.
3: Color scheme = A. Review all the previous toys of that character and repurpose one of it's repaints as said new SG character. OR B. If that character has a rival, swap the rivals color scheme onto the originals body, and vica versa.
Done.

I know some people may like SG, and I'm not gonna fault them for that, but I jut find it boring and predictable. And it's little annoying how we keep getting more SG toys that we don't really need when we could be getting more "Classics" style figures. I mean they could have still done a SG Drift if they wanted, but they could have also made him Deadlock. That way both side would be happy. Which maybe was their original intention, but then ones they got to "white and red car is now red and white car" and they realized "'Deadlock' is close to 'Deadpool'", seems like they kind of "Drifted" away from that original intent.

Rated X wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:The whole Shattered Glass universe idea just seems lazy to begin with. But even that idea could have been interesting if executed properly.

I couldnt agree with you more my friend. Ever get the feeling "Shattered Glass" is nothing but a contingency plan for when Funpub cant get permission to use certian molds ? Or for when they are stumped on who the molds they have available could be used for ?

Im not going to get into my opinion on the "alternate universe" concept here, but repainted figures with no re-tool or intention of being a new character seem pretty convenient for Funpub.

But I must admit the colors do look nice. I might buy him, slap on some Decepticon reprolabels and make him a generic Cybertronian for Shockwave's army.

Thanks.

I'll probably still buy him. I do like Drift and I like Deadpool. I don't necessarily think they should go together. Unless it's actually a comic with Drift and Deadpool in it. Kind of like the Cable/Deadpool comics. That would be pretty fun.


If FunPub ever does a Shattered Glass Beast Wars...I shutter to think of the horror. Primal...in purple and green...saying "No" constantly.

Now that the mock up pics are finally revealed, Drift looks great! Especially in alt-mode. Anyone have a WW-II TF display? Drift makes for a patriotic Japanese solider with the old flag of Japan deco on the alt mode

Drift looks great, but in no way should they still be using a theme from a BotCon from three years ago for a figure available to the general public. Why should anyone who didn't hit BotCon 2008 give a damn?

I think that Rated X is correct, they fall back on this theme when nothing else can happen. Unless this year's Botcon theme proves that wrong. We'll see.

Counterpunch wrote:Drift looks great, but in no way should they still be using a theme from a BotCon from three years ago for a figure available to the general public. Why should anyone who didn't hit BotCon 2008 give a damn?

I think that Rated X is correct, they fall back on this theme when nothing else can happen. Unless this year's Botcon theme proves that wrong. We'll see.

I think after Seekergate a few years back, they are a little gun shy on what characters they want to use for their exclusives. I wouldn't be surprised if hasbro even prohibits them from using a lot of characters when the demand for heritage characters became apparant.

I don't mind the SG theme because it gives my wallet a rest (Runamuck and Runabout are probably gonna get me at any rate). Maybe Funpub should should just go back to inventing new characters.

RiddlerJ wrote:I don't mind the SG theme because it gives my wallet a rest (Runamuck and Runabout are probably gonna get me at any rate).

Exactly my point though, shouldn't the Fan Club's principle releases be created to appeal in ways that everyone will have a reason or at least a desire to get the figure?

There's about 1100 SG sets out there. For everyone else, I'm not sure why they'd care three years after the fact.

Maybe I'm wrong. I dunno.

Counterpunch wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:I don't mind the SG theme because it gives my wallet a rest (Runamuck and Runabout are probably gonna get me at any rate).

Exactly my point though, shouldn't the Fan Club's principle releases be created to appeal in ways that everyone will have a reason or at least a desire to get the figure?

There's about 1100 SG sets out there. For everyone else, I'm not sure why they'd care three years after the fact.

Maybe I'm wrong. I dunno.

The way I see it, its just an "exclusive", kinda hard to word it, but its sort of like the concept behind gold/black exclusive figures. Its just like "hey, lets take this toy and give it a limited run in colour variant." So if you disregard the fact its supposedly SG, it makes for quite a decent repaint, except that it's nowhere close to being worth $60 since its not even a new character.

Not a fan of the SG universe too, it was a cool idea with botcon 08, but now it seems like re-using the idea has caused it to loose its novelty.

gavinfuzzy wrote:

Diem wrote:Originally he had the Kanji for "Ice" on his doors but now it's a new Kanji that looks familiar but that I can't quite place. Does anyone know what it is?

With the powers of google translate, the writing on his hood "定" pronounced "Jō" means "constant".

Some kanji have very fluid definitions. "定" means "constant" and "settle", but can also be expanded from those definitions to mean "decision", which can then be expand a bit more metaphysically to "fate", "destiny" and the most likely definition for Drift, "Doom".

Now, there are other ways to write "Doom" as well, so I have no idea which is more common. But I'd say that "Doom" makes more sense for the character than "constant".

Night_Viper wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:

Diem wrote:Originally he had the Kanji for "Ice" on his doors but now it's a new Kanji that looks familiar but that I can't quite place. Does anyone know what it is?

With the powers of google translate, the writing on his hood "定" pronounced "Jō" means "constant".

Some kanji have very fluid definitions. "定" means "constant" and "settle", but can also be expanded from those definitions to mean "decision", which can then be expand a bit more metaphysically to "fate", "destiny" and the most likely definition for Drift, "Doom".

Now, there are other ways to write "Doom" as well, so I have no idea which is more common. But I'd say that "Doom" makes more sense for the character than "constant".

Gotta love Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji. I do commend FP for using stuff that makes us fans think and feel smart, or at least doing their homework with stuff not many people know about. Petro-Rabbits come to mind

May I add Kanji isn't my strong suit?

I think I'd like to see a Gobots theme from Fanpub.

Wreck-Gar could be Cy-Kill
Drift could be Turbo
Thunderwing could be Leader-1
Warpath could be Destroyer
Grimlock could be Zod
Dinobot could be Scales

RiddlerJ wrote:I think I'd like to see a Gobots theme from Fanpub.

Wreck-Gar could be Cy-Kill
Drift could be Turbo
Thunderwing could be Leader-1
Warpath could be Destroyer
Grimlock could be Zod
Dinobot could be Scales

It could be cool... But as Hasbro doesn't own Gobots, also very tricky. If not flat out impossible.

It's one thing mimicking existing Transformers toys (eHobby Minibots) but quite another to take someone else's characters entirely.

Night_Viper wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:I think I'd like to see a Gobots theme from Fanpub.

Wreck-Gar could be Cy-Kill
Drift could be Turbo
Thunderwing could be Leader-1
Warpath could be Destroyer
Grimlock could be Zod
Dinobot could be Scales

It could be cool... But as Hasbro doesn't own Gobots, also very tricky. If not flat out impossible.

It's one thing mimicking existing Transformers toys (eHobby Minibots) but quite another to take someone else's characters entirely.

WRONG. Hasbro does own the Gobots brand after taking over Tonka. They just don't own the molds as they're owned by Bandai. Case in point: Decepticon Fracture was intended to be Crasher, both in name and character, and the numerous homages by name would have been impossible otherwise.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Night_Viper wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:I think I'd like to see a Gobots theme from Fanpub.

Wreck-Gar could be Cy-Kill
Drift could be Turbo
Thunderwing could be Leader-1
Warpath could be Destroyer
Grimlock could be Zod
Dinobot could be Scales

It could be cool... But as Hasbro doesn't own Gobots, also very tricky. If not flat out impossible.

It's one thing mimicking existing Transformers toys (eHobby Minibots) but quite another to take someone else's characters entirely.

WRONG. Hasbro does own the Gobots brand after taking over Tonka. They just don't own the molds as they're owned by Bandai. Case in point: Decepticon Fracture was intended to be Crasher, both in name and character, and the numerous homages by name would have been impossible otherwise.

Right, Hasbro owns a lot of the Gobots IP. But owning characters and names is one thing. Attempting to recreate the toys they don't own is another. (I misphrased the original post. I meant the characters' designs/toys)

I mean, that's pretty much exactly what the 3rd Party Companies are doing. And Hasbro isn't looking too kindly at that.

Night_Viper wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Night_Viper wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:I think I'd like to see a Gobots theme from Fanpub.

Wreck-Gar could be Cy-Kill
Drift could be Turbo
Thunderwing could be Leader-1
Warpath could be Destroyer
Grimlock could be Zod
Dinobot could be Scales

It could be cool... But as Hasbro doesn't own Gobots, also very tricky. If not flat out impossible.

It's one thing mimicking existing Transformers toys (eHobby Minibots) but quite another to take someone else's characters entirely.

WRONG. Hasbro does own the Gobots brand after taking over Tonka. They just don't own the molds as they're owned by Bandai. Case in point: Decepticon Fracture was intended to be Crasher, both in name and character, and the numerous homages by name would have been impossible otherwise.

Right, Hasbro owns a lot of the Gobots IP. But owning characters and names is one thing. Attempting to recreate the toys they don't own is another. (I misphrased the original post. I meant the characters' designs/toys)

I mean, that's pretty much exactly what the 3rd Party Companies are doing. And Hasbro isn't looking too kindly at that.

When it comes to recreating specific designs of a Gobots/Machine Robo mold, Bandai will put a stop to it. Deco however is pretty fair game.

deco would fall more under IP i would think. Besides who wants the original modes? they were low tier transformer wannabes in the 80's Updated molds though wouldbe much appreciated and i dont think would interfere with bandai in anyway.

ShardFenix wrote:deco would fall more under IP i would think. Besides who wants the original modes? they were low tier transformer wannabes in the 80's Updated molds though wouldbe much appreciated and i dont think would interfere with bandai in anyway.

*ahem* Gobots came before Transformers

ShardFenix wrote:deco would fall more under IP i would think. Besides who wants the original modes? they were low tier transformer wannabes in the 80's Updated molds though wouldbe much appreciated and i dont think would interfere with bandai in anyway.

I think it's very much a mirror of what the 3rd Party Companies are doing. What's the difference between Hercules and say a Hasbro Cykill using Wreckgar?

Hercules uses a mold that Hasbro doesn't own. It uses a name that Hasbro doesn't own. Yet it's clearly meant to be an update of the original Devastator toy. Deco included.

Now Cykill. It would use a mold that Bandai doesn't own. It would use a name that Bandai doesn't own. Yet it would clearly be meant to be the an update of the original Cykill toy. Deco included.

If Hasbro is pissed that the first one is happening, why would they allow to second to happen?

Like I said, something like the eHobby Minibots, no problem. But make an entire set of toys meant as updates to toys that they don't own? That's a bit iffy.

Frankly...I'd kinda like more stuff like the eHobby figures anyway. There's no shortage of Diaclone, Microchange and other decoes that never made it as Transformers. So a red Hoist as Scratch, a black Ironhide as Van Guard... I think that would be a lot more fun!

Night_Viper wrote:

ShardFenix wrote:deco would fall more under IP i would think. Besides who wants the original modes? they were low tier transformer wannabes in the 80's Updated molds though wouldbe much appreciated and i dont think would interfere with bandai in anyway.

I think it's very much a mirror of what the 3rd Party Companies are doing. What's the difference between Hercules and say a Hasbro Cykill using Wreckgar?

Hercules uses a mold that Hasbro doesn't own. It uses a name that Hasbro doesn't own. Yet it's clearly meant to be an update of the original Devastator toy. Deco included.

Now Cykill. It would use a mold that Bandai doesn't own. It would use a name that Bandai doesn't own. Yet it would clearly be meant to be the an update of the original Cykill toy. Deco included.

If Hasbro is pissed that the first one is happening, why would they allow to second to happen?

Like I said, something like the eHobby Minibots, no problem. But make an entire set of toys meant as updates to toys that they don't own? That's a bit iffy.

Frankly...I'd kinda like more stuff like the eHobby figures anyway. There's no shortage of Diaclone, Microchange and other decoes that never made it as Transformers. So a red Hoist as Scratch, a black Ironhide as Van Guard... I think that would be a lot more fun!

The difference is who owns the actual character it's meant to homage, and the mold used. Observe:

Hercules uses a mold that Hasbro doesn't own. It uses a name that Hasbro doesn't own. Yet it's clearly meant to be an update of the original Devastator toy which Hasbro and Takara own the copyright to. Deco included.

Now Cykill. It would use a mold that Bandai doesn't own. It would use a name that Bandai doesn't own. Yet it would clearly be meant to be the an update of the original Cykill toy. It would use a character Hasbro owns, and use a mold first used by a Transformer, the only things it would have in common are the deco and possibly name.

To me, a toy update would be just that: a new mold, based around the original toy and character with all necessary features. Gobots are impossible to do in such a way since Bandai still owns the original molds. But the characters are Hasbro's, and that's all that's needed for a legal homage in the form of a repaint. I do not consider repaints toy updates, just character updates.

I'm with Jelze because thats my opinion worded far more eloquently than i could manage. Also is Hasbro really that pissed about 3rd party toys? I haven't haerd about any lawsuits they have filed, or cease and desist orders, or even seen the try to create their own versions of the 3rd party figures...

ShardFenix wrote:I'm with Jelze because thats my opinion worded far more eloquently than i could manage. Also is Hasbro really that pissed about 3rd party toys? I haven't haerd about any lawsuits they have filed, or cease and desist orders, or even seen the try to create their own versions of the 3rd party figures...

I thought they were okay with them as long as what they make isn't too expensive, I think that's what they said at last year's Botcon, I could be wrong, it has been more than a year.

that was the last thing i heard as well Cannon. Which is why im questiong this idea of hasbro hating on the 3rd partiers. I mean the TFC Devastator may be pushing the bounds of exceptable price to hasbro but they arent saying anything. And yes i do think ~$600 is a bit much haha.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Night_Viper wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:

Diem wrote:Originally he had the Kanji for "Ice" on his doors but now it's a new Kanji that looks familiar but that I can't quite place. Does anyone know what it is?

With the powers of google translate, the writing on his hood "定" pronounced "Jō" means "constant".

Some kanji have very fluid definitions. "定" means "constant" and "settle", but can also be expanded from those definitions to mean "decision", which can then be expand a bit more metaphysically to "fate", "destiny" and the most likely definition for Drift, "Doom".

Now, there are other ways to write "Doom" as well, so I have no idea which is more common. But I'd say that "Doom" makes more sense for the character than "constant".

Gotta love Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji. I do commend FP for using stuff that makes us fans think and feel smart, or at least doing their homework with stuff not many people know about. Petro-Rabbits come to mind

May I add Kanji isn't my strong suit?

Im Chinese and I fail at it! Quite literally

gavinfuzzy wrote:Im Chinese and I fail at it! Quite literally

Haha same, my prowess in my mother tongue isn't very good either.

To SG Drift... I own 3/4 of the mold variations already, and I'm not sure if I want to make it 4/5.

Counterpunch wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:I don't mind the SG theme because it gives my wallet a rest (Runamuck and Runabout are probably gonna get me at any rate).

Exactly my point though, shouldn't the Fan Club's principle releases be created to appeal in ways that everyone will have a reason or at least a desire to get the figure?

There's about 1100 SG sets out there. For everyone else, I'm not sure why they'd care three years after the fact.

Maybe I'm wrong. I dunno.

Well I can't speak for others but I enjoy Shattered Glass and I was on the other side of the world in 2008. I only have 3 SG figures (5 if you count Minicons) and I don't feel like I need to own the 2008 set to enjoy the newer figures.

I'm just hoping that when this guy shows up in the Club comics he has medium awareness.

ShardFenix wrote:that was the last thing i heard as well Cannon. Which is why im questiong this idea of hasbro hating on the 3rd partiers. I mean the TFC Devastator may be pushing the bounds of exceptable price to hasbro but they arent saying anything. And yes i do think ~$600 is a bit much haha.

It's not just the price that worries Hasbro: it's their market share that's a greater concern. The 3rd Party companies tend to the hobbyists and collectors, while Hasbro mainly focuses on the kids and their parents (I can't stress that enough). Hasbro is keeping a close eye on them, but will probably only take action when they cross that mass-market line, as law-suits can be pretty costly (especially when you actually manage to lose one) and not worth it for "small game".
Put bluntly, as long as those companies keep to themselves, Hasbro/TakaraTomy is willing to keep an eye shut... for now. In fact, Takara is more lenient in such matters as they have willingly given out licenses for 3rd Party products to be sold at official conventions. That's an extreme cases though.