toyteq is a third party product developer.
you come to them with an idea for a product you want to make, a "toy" you'd like to produce, and they do all the R&D needed to make it happen. so you don't have to do any thinking. they "streamline your development process" (their words) and provide you with a working prototype + manufacturing plan that you can take to the bank, so all you need to do, is manufacture it and sell it to the public.
(like Raven software, developing games for LucasArts..
who in turn "own" the final product, and publish the game as if it were LucasArts' property)
(which it is)
(Raven is just a "hired gun")
--> among the products that Toyteq developed was the force-FX lightsaber, which appears on the toyteq website.
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so who is toyteq, you ask?
Toyteq is the corporate alter-ego of one Brian Ono, the head of the star wars line at MR. Brian developed the studio scale line through his company toyteq, the force FX line, and most of the LE's. Brian physically DREW the MR line of "blueprint sets" in autocad that were sold on their website a few years back. in short: Bryan is "Mr. Star WArs" over at MR. he's the brains behind their entire SW line, (and everything he designed, was technically, developed by toyteq
not MR).
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so what does this mean for EFX?
think of it this way:
we've all played SW video games. (right?)
well who here remembers "JK2:jedi outcast" by Raven software?
well --> few people know,
that particular game started as a star TREK game called "ST Voyager: Elite Force",
which caught the eye of george lucas, and ultimately prompted lucas to approach Raven to make a "similar" game for lucasarts
so --> all RAven did was "reskin" their original voyager game , and then re-released the exact same code under the SW license this time instead of the Trek license. <LOL> they "modded" their own game! to make a star wars "total conversion", from an existing (retail) "trek" game! if you open up the .pak files and check out the code for the star wars game, (and I did), you will even find references to the main character as one "Lt. munroe" instead of Kyle Katarn (note: munroe is the protagonist from the voyager: elite force game! ROFL!) in fact, huge chunks of code are exactly the same. its basically the exact same game, but with different textures to make it star WARS instead of star TREK. the only thing that was really "new" in the code (at all) was the lightsaber weapon
for all intents and purposes the entire game was just "Elite Forces", running a SW "mod" to make it look like jedi outcast.
Raven then delivered the finished product to Lucasarts, who published it themselves, and sold it to the public as if it were their own creation.
point is,
Raven could legally do this because Raven owned all the development materials that went into the star trek game .. so RAven could just "reskin" the same code and "repackage" it as a different product, for a different customer (lucas now instead of paramount), to be sold under a different franchise (star wars now instead of star trek).
Paramount be d**ned.
it was still Raven's code afterall. they wrote it. and they could "reuse" it, to fulfill an entirely different contract down the street, with an entirely different customer if they saw fit. even if that customer was Lucas instead of Roddenberry.
(follow?)*
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* in this case, toyteq=raven; EFX=lucasarts; MR= paramount :
toyteq is basically a third party developer hired by MR to deliver a "manufacturable" retail product ..
so toyteq would end up owning all the R&D that went into MR's product, whether MR likes it or not. (heh)
((why? because MR didn't develop the product themselves. they hired a third-party developer who retains ownership of his own development tools. thats what you get when you hire a contractor to design your swimming pool instead of designing it yourself; next thing you know, your neighbor's got the exact same pool. heh))
so ...
*drumroll*
...
now toyteq can legally "reuse" all the R&D that went into those MR products,
to fulfill a future contract to EFX now instead of MR,
to design EFX's retail product line for them now, AS WELL as MR's.((just like Raven did for LucasArts, "reusing" all of the tools and code written specifically for paramount's job, to create a game for lucasarts now instead))
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short version :
BECAUSE MR didn't develop their own products,
and instead hired a third-party developer like toyteq to develop their product line(s) for them....
(including the unfinished Studio Scale Xwing)
.... bryan's company now owns all the development and R&D materials that went into each step of "producing" each design as a retail product.
(including the unfinished Studio Scale Xwing)
and NOW
brains company can use those resources to create a new product line, for the next prop maker who comes along. (who just happens to be brian himself, the same guy who owns TOYTEQ!! BWAHAHA!!) (!!including the unfinished Studio Scale Xwing!!)its pure genius!!**
** except for the part where MR sold their trademark force-FX line to Hasbro, and Hasbro claimed the force-FX line under their own, EXISTING, license to make toys. (heh)
that part kinda stinks for Brian Ono,
since toyteq (also) owns all the R&D that went into the force-fx; if it weren't for MR pawning off their trademark to hasbro, then Brian could use all that R&D to make a NEW line of "force-FX" for EFX, under MR's "old" license (heh).
but force-FX has always crossed the line between those two licenses; Hasbro was up in arms from the start about MR infringing on the hasbro license to sell "toys"; force-FX could easily fall under either category, and be sold under EITHER license.
--->
the Fact that Hasbro now has the force-FX line, is (probably) a result of a backroom deal between hasbro and MR to sell hasbro the "force-FX" trademark; I'll bet Hasbro did NOT sign a "new" license with LFL; hasbro already HAD a license to sell toys.((I'll bet this was MR's parting shot at brian ono : "you can take our license, and you can take our R&D (since its all owned by toyteq),, but you can't take 'force-fx' with you too (even though it was developed by toyteq in the first place) because we're selling THAT trademark to hasbro))

((bastards))
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thats my understanding of it all, anyways. hope this helps