Small Scale Military Headquarters

Thanks to everyone who took the time to gave their opinion on my last post. I continue to investigate the relationship between BBI and JSI.

It is very starange as JSI comes to the market BBI fades into the fog. JSI's' new F14 prototype looks to me to be an exact style of BBI. As with many prototypes both airplanes and vehicles there is a certain look than can be attributed to a sculptor, design house. or selection of which model kit they copy. Check out the 1:18 figures and compare varies releases. Check out airplanes and vehicles do they not have an overall look that is unmistakeable.

The F14 has a full blown BBI look, coupled with the selection of Merit International as their initial distributor and Koiwi Toys distributors in Japan. Raises very serious question.

Was BBI a player in the demise of 21C?

What behind the scenes deals were cut with the factory manufacturing both BBI and 21C items?

How does Merit International plan into this? My sources tell me 21C always questioned any business with Merit International, strange.

Could be a very serious trademark/copyright game being played out. Only time will tell.

Maybe JSI rolled the dice as 21C fell into a state of demise. Unfortunitly Copyrights and trademarks and all other intellectial property always pass to another.

Thank you for your time.

Always seeking the latest news,

Josha

Careful you don't need the MIB showing up on your doorstep now do you???

21c corsairs used to have REAL fingerprints all over them...

it wouldn't surprise me if the f-14 was originally done my BBI and taken over by JSI when BBI lost interest in producing it. JSI probably improved upon it as well.

I doubt BBI had any part in 21c's demise. For one thing they were a customer of BBI, as they used at least one of their factories, so not a lot of incentive to see them fail. Also, BBI is huge and considered the whole 1/18 market of very low importance......so i doubt they were trying to destroy 21c so they could take over their molds.

The reasons why 21c failed have been well discussed and bbi had no part in it at all, in my view.

Anyway, these are toys, not top secret weapons systems.....i doubt there was much in the way of intrigue going on.

aferguson wrote:21c corsairs used to have REAL fingerprints all over them...

I had a Bbi F-18 that had REAL fingerprints too!!!!!!!!!!

they used at least one of their factories

Makes sense then that 21C molds would wind up in JSI's hands.

I have heard that perhaps JSI is in some way related to bbi. One thing is for sure, the F-14 had to be in the works LONG before JSI came on the scene.

There is nothing here that resembles the truth. Merit is a reputable company and the reason 21st did not do business with it had more to do with the fact that it is hard to sell 21st product when you could buy it at Wal-Mart for the same price. Bbi profited from 21st existence because of the energy that ways around when new items came into existence and now they are worried about producing because of the lack market. I know both bbi and Merit and they are good people and they don’t like false claims being made. Just be careful.
Just my humble opinion , for whatever it is worth

Bye the way. Aferguson is correct on his comments.

also the fingerprint mark was a signature from the artist

So someone is correct but nothing resembles the truth?

I am not buying or endorsing any conspiracy theory but let's not be naive and just say "they are good people" - companies are not people and they rightfully have one thing in mind - $. Frankly there is no explanation yet on who started development of the F-14 or how JSI got 21C molds. That does not mean there were black ops going on, but it does mean there are unanswered questions.

There goes my theory about the company lurking in the "grassy knoll" being responsible.

As long as I get my planes in 1/18 scale at a reasonable price I don't really care who's who or what's what for that matter, as long as no one dies. When dealing with products made in China that can be questioned at times.

I don't know why everything has to be a conspiricy now a days. When in reality the only way two people can keep a secret is when one of them is dead.

To help with this conspiracy theory, I called my contact at bbi (head of the USA division) and read the blog and ask the crucial questions. “did bbi have anything to do with the demise of 21st and are you in bed with JSI on the F14 project”. When the laughter died down the response was no to both question. Also I was informed that they are happy to see the f14 because it brings excitement to the industry.
Yes, they are good people.

So long as you had him on the phone and he was being so candid - you should have asked him if bbi is going to get anything out in time for the holiday.

digger wrote:So long as you had him on the phone and he was being so candid - you should have asked him if bbi is going to get anything out in time for the holiday.

almost certainly won't

digger wrote:So long as you had him on the phone and he was being so candid - you should have asked him if bbi is going to get anything out in time for the holiday.

It ain't looking good is it! Unless they plan to surprise us by dropping something at the last minute, it appears that they have decided to give the holiday season a pass this year. Curious decision considering that most of their best-selling 1:18 scale items are not stocked anywhere.

bbi is just such a huge company that the 1/18 market is small potatoes to them....so they don't put a lot of thought or energy into it. If they feel the 1/18 market is alive and well the will probably start reissuing or producing again.

I still think there is some sort of link between bbi and jsi....even if it's just that bbi sold 21c's old molds to jsi. I really thoght the f-14 was a bbi product that they decided not to produce and also sold to jsi.

Whatever.....as long as cool 1/18 toys come out..

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it just may be a duck.

Question everything!

What peaked my interest and started my investigation was the following, as I indicated JSI appeared from out of the mist, if they truely are the initial factory building the 21st Century Toys products that is well within their capabilities and explains the old paint schemes.

Here is the rub.

Most if not all OEM factories have no sales or distribution in the USA. So how did this factory get to distribution so quickly in the USA and Japan?

How did the distribution in the USA and Japan obtain jpeg photgraphs and comprehensive discriptions of the products. Most OEM factories don't know a P38 from a boxcar.

Where are the product license statements from Lockheed, Boeing, EMI, UPC code on the product, who carries the product liability coverage, has this responsibility fallen back to the distribution, I doubt it.

Obtaining a license to manufacture a P38 is a very costly undertaking and it is unlikely a factory would one; have the connection and two have the money, let along obtain the trust of the licensor to issue a license to an OEM factory in China with no Hong Kong or USA office.

It is very unlikely that the factory in question accomplish this quick entry into this market place with all of its complexities on their own.

Consider the following, on the bottom of every 21st Century Toys product there is a copyright notice and a date. Humm, On the bottom of JSI's use of 21st Century Toys moulds there is their insert. Yet, the only notification of JSI ability to use these molds is a few remarks about their inheriting the moulds. This to me is very strange.

There is more to this tale than meets the eye.

Maybe there are some members of this forum who are connected with the factory or JSI and can help explain away what appear to be some very strange business practices.

Should be interesting.

Respectfully,

Josha

Heck, for all we know, when 21c started with it's dirt nap, the owner just decided to start new and is now JSI. I'm not worrying about it.

Ummm what?

I see resemblance with 4D Vision's 1/32 F-14 in JSI's F-14 more then anything. So now who is the mastermind behind all of this F-14 madness?!

well, i just gotta ask: who cares?

The F14 has a full blown BBI look, coupled with the selection of Merit International as their initial distributor and Koiwi Toys distributors in Japan.

It's Kawai Toys.

It is very starange as JSI comes to the market BBI fades into the fog. JSI's' new F14 prototype looks to me to be an exact style of BBI.

Really? No offense to BBI's sculptors at the time, but I don't see turbofan blades inside the afterburner nozzles of the JSI F-14.

It is very starange as JSI comes to the market BBI fades into the fog

They are fulfilling demand for products that weren't produced by any of the 1/18 companies; in my opinion that doesn't reek of conspiracy that tells me that JSI jumped in at the right time.

JSI is a very different company than BBI. If you want to compare looks, compare the landing gear of the Tomcat to that of the BBI Falcon and Hornet, VERY different in execution.

I hope the Tomcat has durability/sturdiness that is just as good as the BBI Hornet, but that's different from looks. When I first saw the images, the JSI Tomcat did not strike me as a BBI Tomcat at all.

*slowly putting on my tinfoil hat*

Jay wrote:*slowly putting on my tinfoil hat*

I was going to wrap my sandwich with that!

I wrapped my Nuts around it first, I like keeping them fresh.
























Btw I am talking about cashew nuts...
I store them in the fridge with tinfoil under the plastic lid they stay fresher for a longer time.

VMF115 wrote:I wrapped my Nuts around it first, I like keeping them fresh.




Btw I am talking about cashew nuts...
I store them in the fridge with tinfoil under the plastic lid they stay fresher for a longer time.

I like my nuts dipped in chocolate.




I'm talking about cashews as well.

Jericoeagle1 wrote:

VMF115 wrote:I wrapped my Nuts around it first, I like keeping them fresh.




Btw I am talking about cashew nuts...
I store them in the fridge with tinfoil under the plastic lid they stay fresher for a longer time.

I like my nuts dipped in chocolate.







I'm talking about cashews as well.

The ladies like it when I dip my nuts in chocolate.


Of course this time I am talking about peanuts....

yeah sure they do...