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This was bound to happen...gray market VF's?


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So when this happens to Hasbro Takara they have the weight of a bank vault full of cash, and expensive lawyers to throw down a challenge to the IP breaches.

How well financed is Arcadia ? This could break them if it gets outta hand.

Edited by big F
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I'm surprised there is a big enough market to warrant reverse engineering the V2 VF-1 but then again when a real Max 1J is going for $600 I suppose there is money to be made. Guess we all have to pay a little more attention to what we buy these days. Doubtful that Arcadia will pursue legal action, I don't think Takara pays it much attention either with the transformers KOs.

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I don't bother with 1/60 anymore, but if the quality is decent I'll grab a few as gifts for friends. A lot of my friends always liked my 1/60 stuff, but screamed like girls when I told them prices, and now the prices are even worse. I've never shied away from KO or third party, so I'll give one a whirl someday after a review. Chances are good RocketPunchArmy will review one when they're available, he always reviews KO Transformers and other stuff.

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Looks good to me.  Valks are being way overpriced lately.  I'd like to see some at decent prices.  Look at the current bandai offerings.  Really miniature valks at the steepest of prices.  I'm not too happy with that.  Count me in on some bootlegs.  Even Yamatos had problems with yellowing and broken joints.  I doubt this will be a bad thing.

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The issue is that the bootlegs will have the adverse reaction of causing the originals to go up in price, if the original manufacturer has to now deal with losing business to bootlegers. I use to not care about bootleg stuff, until i realized amazon and ebay have become a mayor detriment to medium business catering to collectors and smaller groups in general. to the big companies it may not brake them, but to to other companies , it can cause major damage. I have opted to buy from reputable sources, including movies , books , etc,just cause because I want them to still make stuff.  same for book stores and comic stores. (even though though the stuff is more expensive, amazon doesn't allow you to brows through a book the way you can in a real bookstore, or talk to real people) Its tempting to get stuff at cheaper prices, but in the end the quality will probably be crap anyways.

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18 minutes ago, frankell05 said:

The issue is that the bootlegs will have the adverse reaction of causing the originals to go up in price, if the original manufacturer has to now deal with losing business to bootlegers. I use to not care about bootleg stuff, until i realized amazon and ebay have become a mayor detriment to medium business catering to collectors and smaller groups in general. to the big companies it may not brake them, but to to other companies , it can cause major damage. I have opted to buy from reputable sources, including movies , books , etc,just cause because I want them to still make stuff.  same for book stores and comic stores. (even though though the stuff is more expensive, amazon doesn't allow you to brows through a book the way you can in a real bookstore, or talk to real people) Its tempting to get stuff at cheaper prices, but in the end the quality will probably be crap anyways.

Nothing to argue here and you should do what you do. I'll just say that whatever happens, sombody will still make stuff for us to buy so I'm not too worried about it. I just see it as competition. There is a basic rule in business that asks the question, "is your business easily duplicated?" It's on them to deal with it and we are just part of the market that dictates what the value of anything ends up being.

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2 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Nothing to argue here and you should do what you do. I'll just say that whatever happens, sombody will still make stuff for us to buy so I'm not too worried about it. I just see it as competition. There is a basic rule in business that asks the question, "is your business easily duplicated?" It's on them to deal with it and we are just part of the market that dictates what the value of anything ends up being.

Why are you not taking intellectual property into account? We're not talking about duplicating a business but duplicating unlicensed products by piggybacking on legitimate investments by the rights holders and licensees. The main reason these toys are so appealing is because they're tied to a media that we're fond of. The media gives these toys value and by stripping away a part of their incentive, you're discouraging the holders and creators of the franchise even if this particular instance doesn't do much damage. I don't know if toys contribute that much to Big West's coffers but that would just make it easier for them to cut off that segment if it's no longer profitable.

That being said, I do understand there's a demand that the rights holders are not fulfilling but I see bootlegs as a short-term fix with long-term effects. There's no stopping bootlegs. We can't even stop piracy.

Edited by neoexcaliber
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3 minutes ago, neoexcaliber said:

Why are you not taking intellectual property into account? We're not talking about duplicating a business but duplicating unlicensed products by piggybacking on legitimate investments by the rights holders and licensees. The main reason these toys are so appealing is because they're tied to a media that we're fond of. The media gives these toys value and by stripping away a part of their incentive, you're discouraging the holders and creators of the franchise even if this particular instance doesn't do much damage. I don't know if toys contribute that much to Big West's coffers but that would just make it easier for them to cut off that segment if it's no longer profitable.

Because if you are a business that takes advantage of low labor rates in a country that doesn't care about your "intellectual property" rights then again, it's on you to calculate the risks involved.

Edited by Slave IV
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I know Arcadia is a smaller outfit and may not have the resources to fight this at all, but I wonder if Big West would get involved in any way?

I also don't think I will support these at all, I already have all the original v2's from the Yamato days and also have the Arcadia duplicates so I dont really see a need for them in my case. 

Edited by Loop
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16 minutes ago, Loop said:

I know Arcadia is a smaller outfit and may not have the resources to fight this at all, but I wonder if Big West would get involved in any way?

I also don't think I will support these at all, I already have all the original v2's from the Yamato days and also have the Arcadia duplicates so I dont really see a need for them in my case. 

Like I said in the Arcadia-thread when this news was first reported, it'll be interesting to see what and how Arcadia is gonna respond to combat this issue.

Not really sure BigWest or any entity can do anything about the problem, anyway. 

Bootlegging Macross toys (or any Macross-related stuff) ain't exactly a new phenomenon.

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Slave IV said:

Because if you are a business that takes advantage of low labor rates in a country that doesn't care about your "intellectual property" rights then again, it's on you to calculate the risks involved.

IP protection should go both ways, especially when it comes to media; the rights holders and those who consume the media. Surely the fans have a part to play as well. The onus cannot lie with the licensees/rights holders alone.

Edited by neoexcaliber
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11 minutes ago, neoexcaliber said:

IP protection should go both ways, especially when it comes to media; the rights holders and those who consume the media. Surely the fans have a responsibility as well. The onus cannot lie with the licensees/rights holders alone.

Well, it's China so...

Anyway, personally, I wouldn't go for KOs. I prefer legit when it comes to toys. But if they're better than the real ones wouldn't one be tempted?

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18 minutes ago, neoexcaliber said:

IP protection should go both ways, especially when it comes to media; the rights holders and those who consume the media. Surely the fans have a part to play as well. The onus cannot lie with the licensees/rights holders alone.

Well, the fans wants to consume some stuff and are ready and willing to pay for it. In fact, pretty much begging for the stuff.

The "rights-holder" does not offer the stuff and seemingly continually ignoring the fans about it.

So, then, now what?

Do you expect the fans to just continue to be ignored and just twiddle their thumbs about it?

 

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1 hour ago, Cowboy17 said:

predicting this thread is gonna get ugly...

You may be right, but I really hope it doesn't go that way.

As to the topic at hand: while it's tempting to go for a cheaper valk, I just would not be able to bring myself to do it (had I the funds).

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TAMPO. Darn arcadia should have addressed that hole long time ago.

As long as original toy companies maintain their engineering standard, they should be ok. I tried some gundam KO's kits but went back to bandai because of the fit/finish and proportions.

That being said, KO's are competing more with toynami and HG, since they might have similar quality 'plastics' but slightly better execution/proportions.

C'mon HG where is your weight pulling now huh.

Edited by seti88
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