TFARCHIVE FORUMS

I'm back - and will be posting news and updates!

First off - in the wake of BotCon:

Auto Assembly 2012 Third Party Product Official Statement

Transformers fandom has been buzzing the last few days with discussion about third party products and the fact that they will no longer be available for sale from some events. As with many of our friends at other conventions such as Savcon, Slagacon and Dairycon, we believe that Transformers fans should be able to make an informed choice for themselves over whether or not to purchase unofficial third party products.

We have spent the last seven months looking at our policy in relation to these and while we will still prohibit the sale of some items, we will be adopting a more open approach which we believe will be much fairer on dealers and attendees alike and provide a much more enjoyable convention and a better trading experience for everyone.

For more details, you can read our official statement here in full:- http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/AA2012/A ... tement.pdf

For more details on Auto Assembly 2012 which is taking place over the weekend of 3rd - 5th August 2012 in Birmingham, England or to book your tickets or find out information about booking dealers tables, visit the website at http://www.autoassembly.org.uk and for all the latest news on Auto Assembly Europe, visit http://www.autoassemblyeurope.eu

The Auto Assembly Team

Web: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk / http://www.transformersvideogames.co.uk / http://www.ct-alpha.com
Auto Assembly Europe: http://www.autoassemblyeurope.eu
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/autoassembly
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/auto_assembly
Forum: http://www.autoassembly.org.uk/forum
Email: contact@autoassembly.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0)7860 948296

Auto Assembly is sponsored by

Toyz And Gamez - http://www.toyzandgamez.co.uk
Transformers @ The Moon - http://www.transformertoys.co.uk
TransformersAnimated.com - http://www.transformersanimated.com
TheTransformers.net - http://www.thetransformers.net
Titan Books - http://www.titanbooks.com
3 Darths Comics - http://www.3darthscomics.co.uk
Science Fiction Collectables - http://www.sf-collectables.co.uk
Big Bad Toy Store - http://www.bbts.com
Xyber Toys - http://www.xybertoys.com

Mmm, seems reasonable to allow original third party moulds, whether inspired to a greater or lesser degree by TF artwork, whilst banning bootlegs of current products.

Bootlegs of old designs that aren't being offered for sale through official channels are available online fairly easily for anyone who wants, anyway... although I imagine some will sneak through, simply because vetting every item of stock isn't feasible. The downside is that preventing dealers from clearly noting that they're bootlegs will encourage claims they're the real deal, or at least discourage careful checks.

Considering it must be a difficult balancing act to both keep Hasbro happy and avoid looking like a hypocrite (after all, AA is an unofficial convention and therefore effectively is as much about making money from someone elses property as any bootleg toy) I think that strikes a happy medium.

As someone of limited funds (and as someone who is totally hasbro's bitch forever) I've never gone in for 3rd party stuff. But to me, on a legal level, it doesn't seem that different from selling a few Go-Bots or something.