My Little Pony discussion

[Onslaught Six]

And see, this is where I think Prowl and I really differ. We just...don't care. Sure, it'd be nice if they matched, but at the end of the day I'd rather have a good toy than a bad toy that looked like a cartoon that I probably don't even watch.

[Dominic]

But, at the end of the day, the toys came out first. So, back during G1, even if you wanted a show accurate Ironhide or Ratchet, you were screwed. You either got the one toy that the model was loosely based on or you just didn't have that character. Period. I was kind of the opposite. My exposure to TFs came in order of toys first, then the comics, then the show. So, I remember watching the show and wondering why the show didn't get the models to look more like the toys.

I think I saw the toys first too. But, after seeing the cartoon, I wanted toys that looked more like the cartoon (which looked better).


Dom
-was always bothered by the jets in particular.

[Dominic]

Wow.

http://www.laspegasusunicon.com/

This makes BotCon 2004 look good.


Dom
-just...wow.

[Shockwave]

Damn. That is seriously messed up.

[Onslaught Six]

Hasbro shuts down pony fangame:
http://www.mane6.com/2013/02/c-megapost.html#more

I don't get it. Why can they do this, but they can't shut down the third party toy companies? Or at least send C&Ds to A) the suppliers and B) the fan websites? (If third party coverage and discussion were banned on TFW or AllSpark, it would fucking evaporate.)

I mean, we all have our own opinions on them, but I think we've all agreed that Hasbro has the right to shut these companies down. (We might argue that we are "okay" with them existing, and some of us have even bought third-party products. But I don't think any of us are under the illusion that what they do is "right," or even "legal.")

[Shockwave]

But I don't think any of us are under the illusion that what they do is "right," or even "legal.")

I did back when it was just Fansproject making the oh so cost prohibitive trailers that Hasblo flat out refused to make. But when they got into the realm of "Not Devastator" they lost me. I mean, making an add on that requires an original Hasbro toy (like City Commander armor) is one thing and I can see that being both right and legal. Because it doesn't infringe on Hasbro's profit. In fact, if anything that kind of thing helps it because fans who ordinarily wouldn't have bought their lame ass "White Optimus" are now buying Ultra Magnus. Now, when they got to making Giant or Titan (or whatever they're called), at that point, they were treading dangerously close to infringing on Hasbro's IP. I do not think that's right. But, unfortunately, the way they are doing it is "Legal". They are making new toys that Hasbro doesn't make and using names that Hasbro doesn't own. Visually sure, it's obviously Devastator. But legally and on paper it's not and that's why Hasbro can't touch them.

Now, this sucks about the FIM game, but in this case they were directly using Hasbro's owned IP without permission which is why the 'Bro was able to shut them down. If they renamed and slightly redesigned the characters they could have probably got away with it.

[BWprowl]

I think what really kills it for me is, unlike a big not-Devastator that's sold for $600 that goes straight to the unlicensed companies that made it, this game (a piece of digital media that could very easily be construed under 'parody') was set to be given away for free. No money would have escaped Hasbro since the game wasn't making any money in the first place. And having played the leaked build of the game, I have to say what they had so far was *very* impressive for a Doujin fighter they put together for free in their spare time.

Ah well, we'll see where they go from here.

[Onslaught Six]

Ah well, we'll see where they go from here.

Apparently they now have Lauren Faust on as "original character designer." There seems to be confusion over if they'll be new humanoid characters or new ponified (or other four-legged-animal-fied) characters, but she's doing it, so.

I did back when it was just Fansproject making the oh so cost prohibitive trailers that Hasblo flat out refused to make. But when they got into the realm of "Not Devastator" they lost me. I mean, making an add on that requires an original Hasbro toy (like City Commander armor) is one thing and I can see that being both right and legal. Because it doesn't infringe on Hasbro's profit.

Except what you're saying is that if I wrote and drew a Transformers fan comic, and sold it, I should be allowed to sell it. Because, hey, I'm just telling the stories that IDW won't, right?

Intellectual property doesn't work that way. You could even very easily say that even if I made my own original comic series with fighting transforming sentient alien robots, they could probably still sue me. Look at the early cases with Captain Marvel, or the entire problem with Marvelman (later Miracleman) and all that noise.

In fact, if anything that kind of thing helps it because fans who ordinarily wouldn't have bought their lame ass "White Optimus" are now buying Ultra Magnus.

Except Ultra Magnus had disappeared from store shelves for two years before City Commander was released. Hasbro made none of the profit there.

[JediTricks]

Hasbro shuts down pony fangame:
http://www.mane6.com/2013/02/c-megapost.html#more

I don't get it. Why can they do this, but they can't shut down the third party toy companies? Or at least send C&Ds to A) the suppliers and B) the fan websites? (If third party coverage and discussion were banned on TFW or AllSpark, it would fucking evaporate.)

I mean, we all have our own opinions on them, but I think we've all agreed that Hasbro has the right to shut these companies down. (We might argue that we are "okay" with them existing, and some of us have even bought third-party products. But I don't think any of us are under the illusion that what they do is "right," or even "legal.")

It's a singular company at the center of that MLP thing, plus it probably infringes on a game they're considering putting out (I'm betting a simple Hub site browser game), it's not dozens of little shadow companies in China.

As for not reporting on 3rd party by fansites, Hasbro has no legal leg to stand on there, it's freedom of speech and they can suck eggs if they don't like it. The only thing Hasbro could do to the fansites is not grant them interviews or invites to special events, but A) Hasbro doesn't actually do that many invites; and B) the fansites are a big part of advertising for the brand so it's unwise to piss off those readers since they're also Hasbro's customers.

Hasbro has the right to sue the companies to make them stop producing products based on Hasbro IP and to forfeit profits derived from those products, not shut them down though. But since these companies are in China where international trademark law is routinely ignored and outright defied, that's not likely to get anywhere.

If these were fans making garage kits for no profit, then there'd be a very strong legal gray area, but we're not there anymore.

I think what really kills it for me is, unlike a big not-Devastator that's sold for $600 that goes straight to the unlicensed companies that made it, this game (a piece of digital media that could very easily be construed under 'parody') was set to be given away for free. No money would have escaped Hasbro since the game wasn't making any money in the first place. And having played the leaked build of the game, I have to say what they had so far was *very* impressive for a Doujin fighter they put together for free in their spare time.

Ah well, we'll see where they go from here.

Hasbro had prior knowledge of the game in beta and said they hadn't plans to take action. That has since changed, and I believe it's because they are planning to exploit the media in their own efforts. Digital products are a lot more difficult to handle financial potential with than physical objects so that may be part of it.

[Shockwave]

I did back when it was just Fansproject making the oh so cost prohibitive trailers that Hasblo flat out refused to make. But when they got into the realm of "Not Devastator" they lost me. I mean, making an add on that requires an original Hasbro toy (like City Commander armor) is one thing and I can see that being both right and legal. Because it doesn't infringe on Hasbro's profit.

Except what you're saying is that if I wrote and drew a Transformers fan comic, and sold it, I should be allowed to sell it. Because, hey, I'm just telling the stories that IDW won't, right?.

Not quite. Because FansProject doesn't name the "City Commander" armor as "Ultra Magnus". They list it as Parallax and it's also not a direct copy of anything Hasbro makes. A better analogy would be if you were making your own Transformers comic, but calling it and the characters something else with different designs even though it's obviously supposed to be the same. In fact, the Protector armor set actually does come with a comic featuring some Transformers but using different names. Essentially they can't sue because it's original content that they don't use. Or probably a better example would be if you were to make up your own Transformers characters and then write a comic about them but calling it something else.

Intellectual property doesn't work that way. You could even very easily say that even if I made my own original comic series with fighting transforming sentient alien robots, they could probably still sue me.

No they couldn't. Again, you'd still be producing original content that they're not using. This is why stuff like Robotech, Go-Bots, Macross, Gundam, Voltron, and well every other giant fighting robot franchise is allowed to exist without getting sued by them. This is also why 3rd world toy company knock offs are allowed to exist.

Granted, that was why I didn't get into any of those franchises when I was a kid because I saw them all as knock offs of Transformers and I wasn't interested in anything that didn't have an Autobot or a Decepticon logo on it.