I think you make a lot of valid points. I actually have been more of a Hasbro fan when I discovered the chug line here, on this sub. All the great people before me posted pictures of their modern G1 updated figures and I was hooked. Until combiner wars came out. With the exception of Ultra Magnus and the main 2 combiners (Superion and Menasor) all of the other redecos and remolds and lazy engineering has really put me off Hasbro (for now) that doesn't make me want 3rd parties more because they don't make a lot of good 3rd party scaled bots.

Now, there has been a lot of talk about 3rd party lately (I even started some of it) because for me, my Masterpiece shelf has been getting more attention because there are not really many generations figures I have to seek out. With the way Takara has decided to keep everyone in the dark about releases and how we know there are remolds of certain MP releases coming, people who have the disposable income want to buy new and different bots to display. The 3rd party companies are putting out better products than they have in the past and manufacturing technology is getting better and cheaper every day; it's only natural that there are collectors here who want their favorite childhood character and they don't want to wait until an official one comes out. More times than not, a few companies wind up designing similar characters and there is debate as to which one is better; here is where that is discussed.

All in all, I think the only reason we are seeing it more is because there is a lull in official releases and/or a less than enthusiastic reception for some of the choices they made on the new figures coming out-resulting in more excitement for figures that are from 3rd parties.

It comes in waves. I can tell you that although I wouldn't call myself a fan of all 3rd party bots, there are a very select few that catch my eye enough for me to justify them belonging on my MP shelf. Many purists do not agree with that and I respect their opinion but that doesn't mean the discussions don't belong here.

I think the generalization you make about how someone can't be grateful about what they put out or how someone is spoiled when they don't like the way something is designed is very narrowminded. Can't you relate that to anything you have ever bought or have ever owned where the original 'thing' doesn't measure up to the new 'thing' because if you have ever eaten an oreo or blown your nose with puffs instead of a kleenex, you have.