Rated X wrote:Wow, I had no idea people would be so sensitive about Hasbro and their "rights". Some may see them as gods or see "Mr. Hasbro" as Vector Sigma himself, but I just see them as a corparate giant who capitalized on a million dollar franchise 26 years ago. Yeah I said it.
How could they not, it was an unexpected success
They are not the creators of the G1 characters that made this universe we all love. They are just a toy company. I credit the original artists and animators, both Japanese and American with being the creators of our obsession. Some are dead. Some are really old.
Transformers was actually a shared property: Hasbro dealt with the toys, Marvel and Sunbow the multimedia and characters. Ultimately though, Hasbro makes every single call back in the day, and still does. How else would you explain characters being killed off in shows to make way for new product?
Some sold their copyrights for money when the G1 toyline lost popularity after 1988. Copyrights are like stocks and bonds. They get bought and sold every day. Often by people who dont know or have anything to do with the creators. Michael Jackson owns the copyrights to all the Beatles songs. (and he's dead) Who cares who ends up with a stupid piece of paper that says "you officially own the rights to a name of something 26 years old". They can take that piece of paper, shine it up real good, turn it sideways, and stick it straight up their candy a** !!! If you choose to follow the chain of owners to the G1 franchise, it's characters names, images, etc, then more power to you. If you choose to look at a bunch of people in suits and ties with papers as supreme beings, suit yourself. My respect goes out to the original G1 production team who created the characters we love from 1984-1988. and if some of those people sold their rights or passed away, then I say the use of their creations is up for grabs.
You should realise that the copyright of everything employees create for a company
defaults to the company itself: Hasbro or Takara for the toys and characters, and the studios for the animations and comics. It's in the contracts.
If Hasbro doesnt use it fine. But somebody else will. Thats what im saying. And those sombody elses shouldnt be referred to as "third parties". They should be refferred to by their names, because they are more dedicated to the Transformers universe than any corparate entity will ever be.
Some companies do keep copyrights for themselves for the sake of keeping it, and preventing other companies from using it. And "dedication" is a matter of viewpoint. It's more than just catering to fans you know?
P.S. After a little research I found out it wasnt Henry Ford who created the automobile. But Henry Ford is credited with being the first person to create a company to market the automobile in mass quanity and make it affordable for the middle class. So he is very similar to Mr. Hasbro in a way. But along came Chevy, Buick, and Crysler, to offer him some good ol American compitition by giving consumers things he wasnt giving them. These companies were not called third party car companies. They were the real deal. And just like them, Fansproject, I-Gear, Impossible Toys, Headrobots, and Perfect Effect are the real deal. Pay homage to the people who respect us...the collectors.
Again, you're overlooking a detail: those companies are registered at Chambers of Commerce, which allows them to
officially and
legally compete with other companies. And I don't really see a sign of those Third Parties being registered anywhere on their homepages (anybody can correct me on this). Which makes them hobbyists, but still making money by "copying" (I'm using the term loosely) Intellectual Property. The fact they're just hobbyists may be another reason why Hasbro pays them no heed... for now.
The resident Rewind... well, half of one
- Jelze Bunnycat =:3
Looking for:
- TR Furos (Hardhead's head) and Crashbash (lost him
)
- PotP Punch head
- TR Galvatron right arm (the gun one)
- CW Brake-Neck/UW Wildrider, CW Offroad
- TR Twinferno & Grotusque
- Greenlight, Lancer and PotP Elita-1 (plus repro Victorion hands and feet?)