Also..Pike, sounds like you ordered 1 Dirty Deeds? From a retailer? As far as I know not a single retailer has received their stock...I guess that doesn't really alleviate your concerns, but at least you haven't been singled out. All of the direct orders from 3A are filled before retailers. Though I am a huge 3A supporter I do agree that it is a precarious balancing act. If something occurs that disrupts the balance like a dip in the quality, I can see the potential for things spinning out of control. Or go d forbid something interrupts the very stringent time frame and sets things back even further...how long will people actually wait for things to arrive? lately I've shifted my interests slightly back towards RxH, Super 7 and Gargamel, but I still end up getting something from almost every WWR or WWRp release. Granted I did pass on the 12 pack...because I also felt I did not need 12 of essentially the same robot.
I heard they just started shipping the single figures to retailers on April 15- I'm still waiting to hear from bbts about it. As for painting maybe if I could find a broken one, or one with some sort of flaw in the paint, but from what I've heard 3A's paintjobs are like the best things in the world. Everyone keeps telling me to wait until I get it and all wrongs will be forgiven... I doubt that, but their promises are keeping me from cancelling my preorder or just flipping out entirely. =)
Well, they do from time to time offer DIY blank ones in the direct-order packs. I'd have a tough time painting over a production figure as well... none of them are ever not as good or not as popular, so they're all hard to get! You won't be disappointed when it does finally show up.
Hopefully is doesn't end up being one of those cases where the arrival of your figure can never meet the hype created by other people.
I've heard this too, I know I haven't been singled out, but your right; it doesn't help things. Most companies that work in factory production work 6-9 months in advance, so I understand that it takes time to produce these things. But it seems like 3A is taking money for "toy-A" and then they start working on it at the factory, but instead of focusing time and money on completing "toy-A" they jump right into taking money for "toy-b, toy-c, toy-d, etc.." This could be done if they were big (hasbro doesn't just work on one action figure at a time) but I've heard time and time again that 3A is a fledgling company and to cut them a break. Well then they should scale back their upcoming projects and work to finish the jobs they are already contracted to do. I can understand that they want to keep a constant flow of new items going, and have to take in money to get them going, but how about just 2-3 releases "in production" at a time instead of like 9-10? And really work to get those 2-3 out the door as quickly as possible? Or maybe, since they seem to be having some level of success (and i would assume profit) they complete production for the next release BEFORE they announce it, and set a street date that it will be guaranteed to be out by? that's another fear- what if? What if there is an earthquake, or a factory workers strike or anything? They've got some many preorders for so many items in production and so much money tied up in it all, and it's been made abundantly clear that they are a small fledgling company. Are they going to be able to refund if something were to stop production suddenly? I just feel 3A is biting off more then they can chew. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. I probably am. I'm not seeing the whole picture. Yeah I've been hearing that the 12 pack was a little too redundant all the way through. And my focus certainly isn't on 3A in the least. I ordered bertie on a whim because I heard good things about 3A's sweet robots and Bramble was all sold out. phil
This thread has made me really look into 3A for the first time. Now I want to collect it. And I'm imagining a detolf full of 3A figures. Dammit, maybe just one shelf.
dude just make sure they're set up the right way and not wobbly. one of my tomorrow kings took a shelf dive and snappo went his leg.
I've really wanted to snag one of these guys but have yet to do so. I think I'm a little scared I will get hooked.
The thing you need to watch out for when venturing into 3A is they have several different lines all going at the same time and it is virtually impossible to be a completist...even if you've been there since the beginning. So you need to poke around, do some research, and decide what you like and try not to get to spread out. I don't necessarily stick to any 1 line but about 30% of the time I just have to pass on releases I want because I know more hotness will be right behind it in a line that I like more. The hype machine has turned me off a bit, but the toys continue to wow me so I continue to purchase and have become very patient when it comes to 3A. I do wish they would catch up and then start releasing things once they were done. But as Andy said...reversing the process also reverses the flow of capital and right now they're made in the shade.
This was my main issue and the reason behind my discontinuing my participation on the 3A boards. That and the fact that flipping and hypebeasting seem to be not only validated but encouraged by Ashley and the mods themselves. I still buy the toys though....(and the comics).
Yeah I don't spend as much time there either. There are people that have been there 3 months and have 5000 posts already.
I remember when the board first started there were people with post counts over 5000 in less than a few weeks. All that posting made finding anything worth reading in the forum very difficult to find. Wading through 35 pages of "I can't wait" and "+1" and other useless banter got old fast.
the "fanboyism" is a bit much for me to stomach. I also got creeped out by people saying how much they wanted to take the clothes off of the new girl dolls that are coming out now. that and the banter make it a bit unbearable to handle for more than 10 minutes at a time.
These are all true statements... the news on that board is invaluable, but I certainly can't fault people for being enthusiastic about something, but man, there's some serious Kool-Aid being passed around or something. It's great that they collate all of the little nuggets that Ashley Wood drops as news, but the fact that they record and itemize literally everything he says seems a bit weird.
well it's that and reading statements like "I can't wait to take off her outfit and see if she has the same body as blah blah blah" it's called getting out of the house once in a while. i seriously get annoyed when grown men oggle over women, and in this case dolls, like they've never seen one before. it's absurd.
It's gonna get a whole lot worse in the next couple of weeks when the Tomorrow Queens drop! I think the sculpts and detail are amazing but I just can't get past the whole slutty Barbie deal!
I admit, I did buy two Little Shadows, because I like the outfit design as a companion to the Tommy Mission figure, but they're so much more artsy fartsy display pieces than the robots are. I don't need to oggle the girly bits, but I like the character design. I'ma out my horrible tastes here, but Tommy Mission and Little Shadow look like characters that Gerard Way, the lead of My Chemical Romance, could have designed, which I'm a fan of.
If you're going to collect the other 1/6 humans, I suppose I get wanting to purchase the TQ's, but at the end of the day, they are Barbies.
this. I don't care...call it what you want, but at the end of the day it's a barbie with a bazooka. Maybe I'll save some $$ and customize a barbie or two
