The Energon Pub

Hasbro.com has posted some new customizing guidelines for all the creative collectors in the G.I. Joe fandom - the announcement will also be interesting to all the fans of the Transformers fandom who dabble in "kitbashing" existing Transformers figures into unique, one-of-a-kind creations!

To see Hasbro's announcement click here.

And for hints, tips and more information on customizing Transformers figures, or to see the works of fellow fans and customizers, visit the "Transtopia" Forums on Seibetron.com by clicking here.

Interesting.

So I wonder what their stance will be towards the creation of custom boxes, as I know of one guy who produces them for others. Will they eventually go after him for using the TF logo and old G1 backgrounds? Because i'd assume that would fall under the artwork category.

Be a shame for them to crack down on something like this. I mean really, it's done for customizing purposes, these things aren't made available by Hasbro to begin with and it's not done with the intent of defrauding the consumer like the recent surge in KO's.

I understand and apreciate the copy write issues in customizing a box, to match a customized character, especialy if you're going to sell it. Gotta respect trademark.

I understand and apreciate them encouraging KitBashing, as lets face it, alot of figures sometimes need that little bit extra.

What I don't understand and apreciate, is why they would want to come down on an artist for selling an improved figure that they spent months working on while so dam many KOs are floating about though!?!

Because they have to crack down on copyright violations as a whole.

We all know there's a difference between a kitbasher producing a G1 styled box to suit their custom character and an outright knock-off designed to fool and rip-off the general public, but legally, it's easier to just crack down on everything.

Otherwise you'll have the KO companies fighting in court claiming they're simply kitbashers. And you just know they'd try it too.

In rebuttle I bring light to the gentleman in your initial post.

Why penalize someone for making a custom box while sampling previous art while companies in China are copying full box layouts with origional art in place?

Why, because it's easier to single out the average person and make an example out of them.

I say go after the reproducers who are selling these products as "reissue" as apose to the individual offering an inspired take on an existing product.

And this may be their first step in doing so.

I think it's good of them to offer this advice as they don't want to go after the little guy, because the little guy is a loyal fan.

But if they're going to go after the big KO groups then they need to be consistent. If they go after the KO groups while allowing the loyal fan to do what they want, then they're being hypocritical and in court (if it ever reaches that far) the KO groups have a leg to stand on.

It's just another example of how these KO "reissues" hurt the fandom.

Liege Evilmus wrote:In rebuttle I bring light to the gentleman in your initial post.

Why penalize someone for making a custom box while sampling previous art while companies in China are copying full box layouts with origional art in place?

Why, because it's easier to single out the average person and make an example out of them.

I say go after the reproducers who are selling these products as "reissue" as apose to the individual offering an inspired take on an existing product.

China has made it clear that they pretty much care nothing for the
trademarks of foreign product. They continually do nothing
to combat the rampant pirating of dvds that occur in their
country. They will most likely do nothing for action figures as well. It appears Hasbro is making a power play and will
possibly take anyone to court in the future to protect their
copyrights and trademarks. Much like the music industry did
with download sites like Napster which then led to individuals
being sued.

Personally I agree with it to a certain extent.
Take Mirage's boxes for example. That guy does outstanding work on his custom boxes. But, he makes them look G1 styled.
In 2004 I was at the OTFCC in Chicago. My first big time Transformers convention, and I was blown away. I stumbled upon
one of the General Lee customs in a G1 box. I didn't know what
it was and I asked the vendor and they had no real information on it. I bought it thinking it was official. It's not. While being
mislead I thought I was buying a rare Hasbro item. Heck, the box even says Hasbro on it. Is the minibot cool as Hell? Yeah.
I probably still would have bought it, but, I was mislead
by the packaging.

I just hope everybody stays observant and takes a look at
what Hasbro most likely has planned for their legal dept.
They are going to try and preserve the trademarks and copyrights
and will probably seem like they are bullying people, no matter
how small fry they appear.

After reading the posts on that other TF site from the ages 3 & up it's quite obvious Hasbro is starting a big push to foil KO and fakes. Can't say I blame them.

-_- Ridiculous.

I'm all for them protecting their property, but come on...seriously?

Go after the Chinese bootleggers, by all means. The little guys who sell their personal, one of a kind works on eBay should be left alone.

And kitbashers wouldn't have to go to such lengths if Hasbro would actually make the figures from the getgo.

I'm expecting Hasbro to say "No. We're not going to make that item right now. And no, you can't do it either because you might upstage us. All it takes is one person and we just can't let that happen."

I think you guys are missing the point that I'm agreeing with you.

However much like the girl with the cell phone when the movie came out, I don't wanna see individuals made out to be examples.

Hopefuly these guidelines will help, then again, hopefuly they won't just start nailing people to the wall with "I told you so"

Time will tell.

I've never been a KO suporter unless they come with a lighter, and I also hope these are steps in the right direction as well.

However I am sticking with the fact that coroprate america loves an easy target, so guys, watch your asses!

That's all I got.

Liege Evilmus wrote:I think you guys are missing the point that I'm agreeing with you.

I'm not. I know we're agreeing. We're just disagreeing on how far Hasbro should go to protect themselves.

Though I don't like the idea either of them going after the little guy. Because really, the customizing market, whether it's for TF's or Joes or whatever, wouldn't hurt them that much.

But they need to show consistency in protecting their intellectual copyrights, and unfortunately that means the little guy will get hurt as they go after the big guys.

I would think that this would be common knowledge.

It's cool to see that they encourage the making and resale of repainted and modified TF's.

Hasbro's just worried that someone will turn out a product that someone will actually like! Ha Ha! What about all the custom repaints of Movie Megatron? Why can't we tell Hasbro, Sorry you can't do that. All the others that do customizing have already done that! Just not fair.. some big company bossin' the lil' man around. Well, actually i think it's because Hasbro wants to show to Sideshow how well they can police and protect their own licensing.

Mike Decepticon wrote:Hasbro's just worried that someone will turn out a product that someone will actually like! Ha Ha! What about all the custom repaints of Movie Megatron? Why can't we tell Hasbro, Sorry you can't do that. All the others that do customizing have already done that! Just not fair.. some big company bossin' the lil' man around. Well, actually i think it's because Hasbro wants to show to Sideshow how well they can police and protect their own licensing.

Thank you for bringing up Megatron.

Leads me to this...

Plenty of fans have already done the work long before Hasbro did and those people will be lost sales for the Premium Megatron. This just will not do for them.

I just find it kinda weird that as more and more fan repaints and fanworks end up being leaps and bounds better than Hasbro's work...they decide to start pulling this.

Afraid of a little competition? If so, that's pretty ridiculous.

Okay people, seriously.

How long do you think it takes a person to do those customs? You think they churn them out quickly? Doesn't happen.

Hasbro have to MASS PRODUCE for a worldwide market.

Now I know there are things out there that are high in detail and have amazing paint apps, but are they distributed on a scale that TF's are?

I just don't see it being viable for them.

Burn wrote:Okay people, seriously.

How long do you think it takes a person to do those customs? You think they churn them out quickly? Doesn't happen.

Hasbro have to MASS PRODUCE for a worldwide market.

Now I know there are things out there that are high in detail and have amazing paint apps, but are they distributed on a scale that TF's are?

I just don't see it being viable for them.

Granted, the work of Jin, Sonray, etc...wouldn't be financially smart. However, doing simple things such as releasing Premium Megatron in the first place would go a long way with the fans and customers.

I'm not asking them to revamp an entire figure just for craps and giggles.

Just a little common sense would be a nice thing.

That and not crackin' down on the fans for doing the work they could've.

Fan = Common sense
Company = Business sense

Threads like this, all the same. People crying out from a fan perspective yet never bother to look at it from a business perspective.

Hasbro pump out a boring looking Megatron to appeal to the masses, then come along later and release a better looking one to appeal to the collectors.

The only thing they did wrong was not tell the collectors before hand but I suspect this Premium sub-line may have been a late decision.

Though that's all irrelevant to the topic of this thread.

All the points taken on individual figures seem moot.
Hasbro said nothing about ceasing the work done on the figures themselves. They actually said they appreciated them and they basically gave the design team insight.

They did point out that making packaging that was
created to give the effect that it was official went against
their trademarks. Things like using official names or the Hasbro
label to give the effect they were real. Even if most of the collector fan base who sees them knows they aren't legitimate
there may be a certain percentage who doesn't and gets
duped by purchasing said item.

Hasbro also realizes that by sticking something in a box
with an art design, like background art, can help dramatically sell a custom figure. Hasbro had to pay people to create said design. The customizer didn't pay anything and they are using the
art to promote their own work.

Autobot032 wrote:

Burn wrote:Okay people, seriously.

How long do you think it takes a person to do those customs? You think they churn them out quickly? Doesn't happen.

Hasbro have to MASS PRODUCE for a worldwide market.

Now I know there are things out there that are high in detail and have amazing paint apps, but are they distributed on a scale that TF's are?

I just don't see it being viable for them.

Granted, the work of Jin, Sonray, etc...wouldn't be financially smart. However, doing simple things such as releasing Premium Megatron in the first place would go a long way with the fans and customers.

I'm not asking them to revamp an entire figure just for craps and giggles.

Just a little common sense would be a nice thing.

That and not crackin' down on the fans for doing the work they could've.

I think your missing what was said. HASBRO stated that it encouraged the customizing and selling of individual figures OUT OF PACKAGE. You can't use the trademarked package or name and sell it as an original is what they stated.

And those Megatron customs had to take days to finish. So while custom Megs may have led to the Premium version being created, it only helped fans get a more movie accurate version instead of getting in line for one of the good customizers you know to take a commission for you/

IMHO,doing custom accurate boxes are fine as long as they have clear notices stating they are infact unofficial,my reasoning for this being the autobot/decepticon symbols are TM so by all rights should not be allowed on custom figures period,yet hasbro has no problem with allowing kitbashers to use them.
I personally think this is VERY lenient of hasbro.
Video game companies are far more strict of such issues(i.e.bethesta,blizzard,etc) and Games workshop(a modelling company in itself) throws a temper tantrum when they think people are infringing their rights(which concidering their 'intellectual property' is amusing in itself).
Give the 'big mean evil empire' company a break,they could do alot worse.