Fansproject: Causailty

[Cliffjumper]

Originally Posted by Warcry

Until the day that Hasbro stops making Transformers of their own, selling unlicensed products that use the image of characters they own is illegal.

I can't pretend to have paid much attention to this Causality shit, but surely they're moving away from that a little, in that you'd struggle to link the figures to Transformers unless you were fairly hardcore? Warbot and the Combaticons, sure, they're treading on shaky ground because they're overtly based on well-known characters, whereas the shuttle redeco looks about as much like the original Micromaster as it does like, say, Shuttle Robo. It's no different to Happywell's RoadBot stuff, a lot of which have passing resemblance to Transformers figures, but they're far removed enough for it to be not directly infringing on their characters or designs

TBH, I think it's more for PR reasons that Hasbro leave the more overt rip-offs alone - FP aren't going to challenge their market with expensive limited quantity items, and most people buying them spend ten times the amount on kosher Hasbro items anyway because they're Transformers fans and they buy what they're told to buy. They tolerate their existence because it's not worth the chance of poor PR if they close them down, much like the way they've never made any great effort to shut down websites violating their copyright as long as they're not providing direct competition.

Now, if FP were to sell Transformers-inspired figures to more than a few hundred fanboys in a physical store, it'd all kick off.
 

[Warcry]

Originally Posted by Cliffjumper

I can't pretend to have paid much attention to this Causality shit, but surely they're moving away from that a little, in that you'd struggle to link the figures to Transformers unless you were fairly hardcore? Warbot and the Combaticons, sure, they're treading on shaky ground because they're overtly based on well-known characters, whereas the shuttle redeco looks about as much like the original Micromaster as it does like, say, Shuttle Robo. It's no different to Happywell's RoadBot stuff, a lot of which have passing resemblance to Transformers figures, but they're far removed enough for it to be not directly infringing on their characters or designs

Fair enough. The fact that people over on the bigger boards still argue about whether the Causality stuff are Micromasters or Battle Gaia is proof enough that those two aren't exactly highly recognizable. But in the same breath they make new Insecticon toys, so they haven't stopped the blatant IP theft yet. I doubt they ever would, frankly, because who is going to pay $50 for a Scout-sized robot that isn't representing a familiar character?

Originally Posted by Cliffjumper

They tolerate their existence because it's not worth the chance of poor PR if they close them down, much like the way they've never made any great effort to shut down websites violating their copyright as long as they're not providing direct competition.

Totally agreed. When you get right down to it, a lot of the things that fandoms do are technically illegal. Not just blatant stuff like scanning comics and posting episodes on YouTube, either...even benign stuff like fan fiction violates IP law to some extent, but unless you start costing the company money there's really no reason for them to do anything about it. Putting the boots to your own fans for shits and giggles is never a good idea.
 

[Cliffjumper]

Originally Posted by Warcry

Fair enough. The fact that people over on the bigger boards still argue about whether the Causality stuff are Micromasters or Battle Gaia is proof enough that those two aren't exactly highly recognizable. But in the same breath they make new Insecticon toys, so they haven't stopped the blatant IP theft yet. I doubt they ever would, frankly, because who is going to pay $50 for a Scout-sized robot that isn't representing a familiar character?

Yeh, I doubt this is a genuine attempt to create their own figures, or even a step towards - they've observed that if you can trick some idiots into buying Dead End twice, there're probably fans out there who'll fork out for anything... FP seemed to have tapped into the same sort of fanatics who were ordering Armada figures in different boxes at twice the price a decade ago to 'support' Takara, so it's probably a sensible route to take for lining the old pockets. The recolours are there for the exact same reason Hasbro do them, but they're also vague enough that they could be basically anyone - a white/black transforming space shuttle could be three or four Transformers characters, but also just uses a fairly logical colour scheme for a transforming robot space shuttle.

I mean, obviously IP infringement is IP infringement whether you're knocking off Optimus Prime or Meanstreak, but if they're subtle there's nothing to claim they're just making transforming robot toys in the same way, say, Bandai do... it's not like HasTak are above swiping everything from technology to colour schemes to names from other companies after all.

That said, if FP ever did piss them off the rights and wrongs would probably be neither here nor there, as FP would be unlikely to be able to afford the court case whether they'd win or not.
 

[Thunderwave]

I think it's more of a scale thing. If someone where to, as Warcry said, well KO Star Wars figures through Wal*Mart Hasbro would be pretty pissed, and rightfully so, and do what they could to shut them down. In that case they'd also probably have the help of LucasArts (or whoever is in charge of licencing from the Star Wars people) to shut them down. Small third party sellers working through websites aimed at fans and collectors aren't that big of a threat in a lot of cases. Take, say, Fansproject Protector, City Commander, and Crossfire. While the last one could be, in theory, used on it's own they all are designed to interact official Hasbro products. So you've gotten a bought Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, or Bruticus Maximus set from Hasbro. They've made their dime on the figures. Replacement heads for figures you've already bought? Why not? You had to buy that Kup to put the new iGear head on it (well, maybe not you, but someone did).

Collectors are also notorious for hurling money at their collections. Third party add-ons, or even whole figures they aren't planning on doing for a while (like a triple-changer Springer or the Incecticons), aren't going to hurt their sales too terribly much. I mean, come on, how many of the Micromasters have gotten new toys lately? Might even help to bolter sales in some cases. I know I bought a Bruticus Maximus set after seeing the Fansproject Superion set and hearing them announcing their intent to do a kit for Bruticus.

My point is that as long as people like Fansproject keep their products aimed at fans/collectors and out of Hasbro's main stomping ground I don't think there will be a problem. Sticking to "back burner" characters and add on kits, keeping out of the main retailers, and using fan websites will keep these companies out of Hasbro's crosshairs.
 

[glazios]

Something's just occurred to me, while I was checking the FansProject website: the Causality series and the Crossfire-03 set are listed seperately. They really don't seem to be the same thing.

Causality 2011
■March / CA-01 Warcry
■April / CA-02 Flameblast
■May / CA-03 Stormshred
■June / CA-04 Thunderbomb
■July / CA-05 Backfire

Also coming in 2011
■WB-002
■CA-06
■CA-07
■Crossfire-03
■(Audacity) Amelioration of Novel form, HeartMaster — HM-001
■and much more….

Perhaps the Causality lineup isn't a combiner team at all; we simply assumed they were, because we know the Crossfire-02 repaints to be part of a combiner team...
 

[NightHawk]

They might be a combiner team, as for Crossfire 3, I still say it will be the Constructicon Maximus version, since 1 and 2 were both Superion Maximus and Bruticus Maximus respectively.
 

[glazios]

Originally Posted by NightHawk

They might be a combiner team, as for Crossfire 3, I still say it will be the Constructicon Maximus version, since 1 and 2 were both Superion Maximus and Bruticus Maximus respectively.

I agree with the C-Max point, it makes sense. There is another possibility, though, in the concept images we've seen in the past, with the idea of an ice-age combiner team they were talking about; I think they called it 'TFX-Salutation', or something to that effect... Crossfire-03 could be that, too - we can't discount it as a possibility.

Also, I really can't see them throwing together two Combaticon repaints and three Insecticons and somehow calling them a combiner team. It just wouldn't make sense. Combiner teams usually have a specific theme - Military/Combaticons, Emergency/Protectobots, Constructicons, Arielbots... the list goes on.

My point is, from what we've seen of the Causality lineup so far, there's no overarching theme that links the two military vehicles and the three Insecticons together - they're seperate figures.

I think Causality will be more of a catch-all line, like Universe or Generations, for figures FansProject produce that aren't affiliated with anything else they decide to make.

EDIT:
The Swindle repaint/Warcry does not have a combiner port. Now I REALLY can't see it being part of a combiner team.
http://www.fansproject.com/wordpress...11/01/CA01.jpg
 

[NightHawk]

Originally Posted by glazios

Also, I really can't see them throwing together two Combaticon repaints and three Insecticons and somehow calling them a combiner team. It just wouldn't make sense. Combiner teams usually have a specific theme - Military/Combaticons, Emergency/Protectobots, Constructicons, Arielbots... the list goes on.

Well, the idea of an Insecticon combiner team still looks apealling to me, but yeah, it would be weird for two Combaticon repaints to be in the mix. Though, also keep in mind that, in the list you showed, there is a CA 06 and a CA 07, so who knows? I also wonder who the next WB is.

Originally Posted by glazios

EDIT:
The Swindle repaint/Warcry does not have a combiner port. Now I REALLY can't see it being part of a combiner team.
http://www.fansproject.com/wordpress...11/01/CA01.jpg

To be honest, that still looks pretty much like the combiner port, except they plugged something in it, cause honestly, that part on it looks removable.
 

[NightHawk]

Vangelus has posted his first review on Causality on Youtube starting with Warcry.

It seems I was right about the combiner port being plugged.


 

[Thunderwave]

Originally Posted by NightHawk

It seems I was right about the combiner port being plugged.

I saw a picture yesterday of Bruticus using Flameblast and Warcry rather then Explorer and Munitioner, so the port is fully functional once you get the plug out. However I do like that they made a plug for it, seeing as even though it shares a mold with a combiner it's not expressedly supposed to be used for that.
 

[NightHawk]

Technically you could make a "Bruticus" by just using Energon Barricade or any of it's repaints by purely using FP's Crossfire X2 or Causality. Bit pricey though, as you will need two Explorer's due to that one little connection part.
 

[Thunderwave]

Originally Posted by NightHawk

Technically you could make a "Bruticus" by just using Energon Barricade or any of it's repaints by purely using FP's Crossfire X2 or Causality. Bit pricey though, as you will need two Explorer's due to that one little connection part.

Both feet are slightly different at the point where it meets the leg transformer. You'd have to alter the foot/'former to get them to sit properly as well. Probably could do it by shaving down the rings that sit above the flat part of the foot. Not a huge deal.
 

[NightHawk]

True to that, and like I said, it will be rather costly since you need the connector part for Explorer twice in order to have both arms attached. It's not really worth it....yet somehow I have the feeling that some big spender out there will do it just for the hell of it.