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Post by blueshift on Jan 20, 2016 12:15:47 GMT
I'm confused as to what Hasbro do or don't own from the original Gobots line. Do they own the names or likeness of Leader One and so on? -Ralph Hasbro own the names/concepts but bandai own the likenesses |
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Post by legios on Jan 20, 2016 16:56:55 GMT
Succinct and comprehensive. Yep, everything of Gobots except the look of the toys and the animation models belongs to Hasbro (having been developed to repackaged the Machine Robo toys for North America/Europe).
So they could have a toy called Leader-1 which is the same characater, but it can't look anything like the Gobot's toy Leader-1 (any of them).
Karl
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Post by Toph on Jan 20, 2016 18:15:13 GMT
I think there's some wiggle room in likenesses.
Hasbro and Takara have over 20 years of experience creating new designs that distinctly homage past characters/looks, without looking very much like said characters.
As an example, I do feel Hasbro could give us a jet that clicks the right hallmarks of Leader-1, without crossing those leagal lines.
I mean look at both Classics and CW Jetfire as a perfect example. We all know how sue happy Harmony Gold is, and they couldn't really touch Hasbro over Classics.
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Post by blueshift on Jan 20, 2016 19:34:48 GMT
I think there's some wiggle room in likenesses. Hasbro and Takara have over 20 years of experience creating new designs that distinctly homage past characters/looks, without looking very much like said characters. As an example, I do feel Hasbro could give us a jet that clicks the right hallmarks of Leader-1, without crossing those leagal lines. I mean look at both Classics and CW Jetfire as a perfect example. We all know how sue happy Harmony Gold is, and they couldn't really touch Hasbro over Classics. I think it's one of those areas where it's grey but no-one really wants to try anything. For example, the Crasher 'Fracture' repaint was only allowed to be painted like that because the deco artist managed to find a real life car with that deco. A lot of it is about being professional. Yes you can pull one over on your competator by abusing loopholes and doing stuff that they could sue over but probably wont, but that just ups the ante. |
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Post by Toph on Jan 20, 2016 22:12:40 GMT
I dunno.
Because that hasn't seemed to be their philosophy to date on other characters with appearances based on outside content, like Jetfire, Whirl, Roadbuster, Skylynx, and even Omega Supreme.
Save for Omega, all of which have received updates incredibly recently, and look far more like the Non-TF owned sources than what I've talked about for Gobots.
Also, my understanding of the Fracture story was more in the designer convincing a disinterested Hasbro more than legal issues.
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 20, 2016 22:53:53 GMT
I'm actually quite curious as to how Hasbro Whirl and Roadbuster came about as I had always thought they were untouchable due to their 80's toy origins but we had years of repaint homages before the updated 'proper' Generations ones.
-Ralph
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Post by Toph on Jan 20, 2016 23:25:43 GMT
I'm quite honestly less surprised by the Hasbro releases than I am the Takara versions.
Hasbro and whomever owns the originals have completely seperate markets. The originals simply may not feel threatened by hasbro servicing their own western market that this franchise doesn't really exist in, nor sell toys to.
Takara however DOES serve the exact same market.
Though the owner company (sorry for all the vagueness, i genuinely know nothing about who or what the originals are) has released some "roadbuster" variants of some of their chibi versions of what Roadbuster is based on.
So maybe there's some understanding between them?
It also surprises me how popular Whirl and Roadbuster are with Hasbro, but that's not an appropriate conversation for a Gobot thread.
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Post by legios on Jan 21, 2016 7:47:21 GMT
I think there's some wiggle room in likenesses. Hasbro and Takara have over 20 years of experience creating new designs that distinctly homage past characters/looks, without looking very much like said characters. As an example, I do feel Hasbro could give us a jet that clicks the right hallmarks of Leader-1, without crossing those leagal lines. Oh indeed - it would be quite possible to have a toy which strongly resembled the Bandai Machine Robo toys, and even used a very similar engineering for the Transformation, but as long as it was "sufficiently distinct" (note, sufficiently is, as ever, not precisely defined in law) they would be safe under any subsequent lawsuit. In much the same way as the Ingram Patlabor's head is clearly a nod to the original Valkyrie head but is sufficiently its own animal. (I sometimes wonder if that "sufficiently distinct" thing is one of the influences behind Classics Jetfire having the wings folding upwards in humanoid mode instead of downwards in the classic Valkyrie style) Well, we don't know for certain that they couldn't - they didn't try and so we don't know how a judge would have ruled on that one. I'm trying to remember whether that happened at the same time that the Berlisconi case about media monopoly was going on was going on when that came out - if it was that would explain why HG were "asleep at the wheel" there - they had rather more important concerns. When it comes to the Combiner Wars one, that came after the dismissal of the case about the SDCC Skystriker set which had been thrown out "with prejudice" - which basically means that it would be next to impossible for them to sue. (The tenor of the judges tone during that case makes me think that the suit would likely have been thrown out as "vexatious" or the US equivalent in due course if Hasbro hadn't put a settlement on the table). Karl |
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Post by legios on Jan 21, 2016 7:55:19 GMT
Though the owner company (sorry for all the vagueness, i genuinely know nothing about who or what the originals are) has released some "roadbuster" variants of some of their chibi versions of what Roadbuster is based on. So maybe there's some understanding between them? Those weren't actually by the company that own the original designs (which come from "Special Armoured Batallion Dorvack"), but by another company that got licenses to do merchandise for the anniversary of Dorvack. They weren't really "Roadbuster" versions in honesty either. The colours on the Roadbuster toy are the same as the colours on the Caliber mecha of one of the lead characters of "Dorvack", Dai Mugen (I may be misremembering the first name), who had "personal colours" to distinguish him from the rest of the extras piloting the grey Caliber's who existed to get killed in the background. So the chibi stuff - like the regular armoured and standard action figures that CMs Corporation did were using the "Mugen's Caliber" colours. There was a toy in the "cannon fodder" colours as well. (Whirl was the same - its colours are those of Louise Oberon's Gazette mecha rather than the "cannon fodder" Gazettes) Karl |
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Post by Toph on Feb 21, 2016 7:31:50 GMT
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 21, 2016 11:05:50 GMT
Ooh, look at all those ball joints. These are starting to look more akin to good Generations Deluxe type toys than Masterpiece to me. Even starting to see some hollow in the legs.
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Post by Toph on Feb 21, 2016 12:10:53 GMT
I think that's what they're intended to be, with the MP label slapped on by MP crazed early reporters.
Though at this point, a decent Generations figure (especially from the pre-dotm generations) is worlds better than the lousy figures Takara has been calling MP, lately.
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Post by blueshift on Feb 21, 2016 15:43:13 GMT
I like the look of these, and they look affordable. Shame that Cy-Kill looks nothing like Cy-Kill, but then not surprising as they're following the anime looks which he does match there.
I'd kill for a Smallfoot though!
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Post by Toph on Feb 21, 2016 15:51:38 GMT
It looks like the toy.
Which is largely how I remember him looking. So it looks right, to me.
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Post by blueshift on Feb 21, 2016 15:53:22 GMT
Oh yes, I mean it's a perfectly valid interpretation and I have no issues with them doing it that way. Just as Cy-Kill it doesn't work for me. But it's not meant to be Cy-Kill. Still, that's what third party heads are for.
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 21, 2016 15:54:06 GMT
TANK!!!
I love Tank. I still treasure the one darling Nickos gave me a while back. I don't think they've got the tank mode quite right though, hard to tell, but I'm very interested in this.
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 21, 2016 20:54:16 GMT
Leader-1 doesn't remind me of him at all but the other ones look great.
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Feb 21, 2016 20:57:50 GMT
Leader-1 doesn't remind me of him at all but the other ones look great. -Ralph It has the toy face |
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Post by Bogatan on Feb 21, 2016 21:41:36 GMT
Interesting. I wonder if bandai could do the cartoon heads even if they wanted to.
Maybe hasbro own the rights to them as part of their ownership of the gobots intellectual property, or whatever it is that they own.
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Post by KnightBeat on Feb 21, 2016 22:59:57 GMT
I do feel that if Gobots had gone to a better animation house than Hanna Barbara, their fate would be vastly different. It's a pity the 1986/87 Machine Robo series wasn't dubbed and imported. It was made too late to replace the Hanna Barbara Gobots series, but might have formed the basis for a Bandai relaunch. |
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Mar 4, 2016 20:51:42 GMT
Here's an oddity from the tail end of Super Gobots that I found on eBay a few minutes ago: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262276898620"Night Fright", who appears to turn into a Russian HIND helicopter. I have vague memories of seeing one of these years ago, but I think he (or she) is pretty goddamn obscure. This is sadly reflected in the obscene starting bid. -Nick |
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Post by blueshift on Mar 4, 2016 20:56:10 GMT
Not worth that much though, surely!! I'm sure I've seen a few loose ones of those from time to time.
Did you see my Dread Launcher?
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 4, 2016 21:50:22 GMT
That sounds so much like a euphemism.
-Ralph
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on Mar 4, 2016 22:20:58 GMT
I had one of those, was pretty good
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 4, 2016 22:42:31 GMT
My mind has gone to a dark place!
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Mar 4, 2016 23:29:11 GMT
Here's an oddity from the tail end of Super Gobots that I found on eBay a few minutes ago: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262276898620"Night Fright", who appears to turn into a Russian HIND helicopter. I have vague memories of seeing one of these years ago, but I think he (or she) is pretty goddamn obscure. This is sadly reflected in the obscene starting bid. -Nick Nice looking toy that is one of the great things about Machine Robo and Gobots - the sheer variety of alt-modes is rather wonderful Karl |
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Jim
Thunderjet
Micromaster Backside Monitor
Now in glorious Ultra HD 4K
Posts: 4,922
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Post by Jim on Mar 4, 2016 23:57:18 GMT
Lovely packaging too!
-Jim
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on Apr 14, 2016 8:49:07 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 14, 2016 13:47:37 GMT
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Dezzeh
Thunderjet
Wait, what?
Posts: 4,888
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Post by Dezzeh on Apr 14, 2016 14:15:01 GMT
Check the other machine robo thread
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