You cannot draw a true parallel between the real car scene and the RC car world. There's that much more money in the real car scene that a lot of the aftermarket tuners are quite big businesses in their own right. I'm sorry, but Trishbits and Nortech etc are not going to have the same clout as Schumacher, AE, Losi etc when it comes to promoting and sponsoring our hobby.
The current situation is healthy. It's great that the aftermarket RC guys are doing their thing. But if we lost our manufacturers then the aftermarket guys would suffer too, because it's our manufacturers who have enough resources to innovate new models etc and keep the game alive. And what about supporting our own talent and skills? Does that not come into the equation?
At the end of the day, I don't suppose that enough people will abandon the Original's in favour of the Clones. But if they did, it would be harmful to our hobby - that's not in doubt.
We've all benefited materialistically from the Chinese. My computer, your computer, our mobiles, TV's, clothes etc etc. This stuff has never been so cheap. But there's no such thing as a free lunch as the old saying goes.
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