The 3P article is up

[Dead Man Wade]

Wouldn't it? You're looking at it from a fan's perspective, and for us, sure, it's a bit ridiculous.

No. I'm looking at it from the perspective of what can be proven in a court of law. If these toys were being sold on store shelves, Hasbro could (if they were inclined to pursue the issue) claim that third-party figures were confusing parents and casual fans. However, the fact that they're being sold exclusively on websites that advertise exclusively on websites like TFArchive under names like Mania King is going to make it incredibly easy for any attorney with a central nervous system to poke Unicron-sized holes in that argument. All it would take is a paralegal scouring websites like ours for references to third-party toys (including reviews and forum posts) to be able to prove that the target market is buying these toys knowing full well what they are or are not.

Would Hasbro still be able to sue these companies into oblivion? Absolutely. But they would not be able to argue confusion in good faith without it being a giant waste of time, which firms that command the kind of money Hasbro is putting out in this hypothetical aren't in the habit of pursuing.

We know perfectly well who makes what, and can make an informed decision based on that. But are we what matters when you discuss market confusion

When you're talking about Transformers based on thirty-year-old designs that only matter to adult fans and are specifically meant to appeal to people who feel that Hasbro's output isn't true enough to the animation model, and that are prohibitively expensive? Yes.

At the very least, I think you could make a legitimate argument out of it.

But as you said, you're looking at it from a fan's perspective. In a court of law, all that you'd need to shoot down a claim of confusion on the part of buyers is proof that the target market (i.e., adult transformers fans) genuinely are not able to tell the difference.