3rd party combiner blind pre-orders... I hate them

[chovner]

I love my 3rd Party TF suppliers, they do great work giving us awesome stuff Hasbro's too busy/stupid to produce... However, I don't like how we sometimes have to pre-order their products without a proper look at what the final product should look like. This mostly applies to combiners that have you shell out lots of money per body piece without knowing what the other pieces look like, of what the combined product could look like. What if Giant/Hercules ended up looking like complete garbage once the individual pieces were combined? You’re left with a hefty $600 hole in your account for 6 individually cool TFs, that end up looking like Roseanne Bar when combined. Now I know most people would say that they trust TFC/Fansproject/Maketoys based on their track records, which is a valid point, but anyone can screw up at sometime and come up short.
The main reason I didn’t buy yellow Giant was for this reason, I don’t remember seeing a concept Giant mock up until pre-orders were up for Set B, and by then you’re already $120 plus shipping into a figure you may not like, and lots of suppliers have rules on pre-orders where you can’t cancel or you have to pay a penalty if you cancel a pre-order, and if you cancel several than you’re banned from ordering from them in the future.
I’m in the same dilemma with the upcoming TFC Uranus… Arm looks cool, leg looks cool… I can pre-order them now for next month and keep waiting to see what the next body parts look like then finally a combined mode and I end up disappointed with the overall look with no way of returning them for my money back. Also I don’t know what the final overall price should be since I’d guess Silverbolt should be bigger (and thus more expensive) than the other 4… Will he be $100…$150…. $175??
I’m sure they know what it’ll look like (concept at least), and a close estimate at individual prices… why not release that info at the start instead of being “mysterious” and keeping us in the dark… Seems a little narcissistic of these companies.

This all being said, I still love most of all their products and want them to keep producing them… Just be more upfront and less secretive. “See this? Huh? You see it? Oh you want it don’t you? OH NO… no no no… You can’t see what all of it looks like… don’t be stupid… just give me some money for this peak at it…. You can even get a little piece, and I’ll be back next month with another piece for you to buy… I know you’ll love it… How can you not? I OWN YOU…don’t hate that you know you love me…” … That’s how I feel TFC, Maketoys, and Fansproject talk to me lol… While wearing a trench coat and showing me their legs with the rest of the coat teasingly held shut…

*end rant*

[FEZaid]

Yeah I agree,
I remembered what Mattel did with Voltron at NYCC, they had all of the lions combined in display with all the main characters next to it.

That let people get sense of how big this thing would be and what you will be paying for and it turned out very popular.

It got fanboys riled up on purchased everything, each lion was around $50 - $70 (Depending on size) also comes packed with their pilots, thats not bad.

[Slayback]

I agree with you that it would be nice if the 3rd pary companies showed more pictures and details. But it has nothing to do with the third party stores. They only get what the supplier/distributors give out -and they get them directly from the parent company. Stores do pre-orders because they don't want to be saddled with overstock. I have to pre-order all my stock because none of my suppliers will carry more than whats absolutely necessary. If i miss it -than i miss it -and my regular customers have to go somewhere else and pay whatever it is someone else is charging.

You dont have to pre-order. you can wait and get them whenever they come out. its not impossible to get the item -yes. you'll have to pay more, but if you really like the item then you'll pay for it right? There are some stores that won't jack up the prices right away.

[chovner]

^
Oh I understand why the suppliers do pre-orders, my rant is mostly directed that the 3rd party companies for not showing the final product or estimate final price at the beginning.
I know it's possible to get these at the end once their all released but I did the same thing with Yellow Giant which is now sold out anywhere but on eBay for almost double the original price, which sucks lol.
It's real simple... The companies spent a lot of time doing up drawings and mocking up prototypes and concepts before they decided to roll out the first figures for pre order, and they have a pretty accurate idea on what they'll charge so the whole project is profitable in the end ( they obviously don't plan on losing money ). What's the harm in sharing with us? Do they think they'll get less interest if they put all their cards on the table right away?
I'd be way more convinced to pre order the first 2 Uranus pieces if I knew what the final product looked like and cost.
Also... It's Thursday (I don't work tomorrow), I'm full of breakfast meats and this thread is keeping me from going back for 3rds....

[brickonator]

Practically, many of these companies don't have the money to fully develop later toys until they sell some of the first ones.

They can help ease a lot of worries by being really good about providing extra/replacement parts. I knew that I could buy the Hercules bots because if something went wrong, they'd ship a replacement part with the next one.

Personally, when I went in on Hercules, I made sure that I was okay with owning each toy on it's own even if the rest never came out or turned out bad. That's one of the reasons I picked him over Giant, as I personally did not like their individual modes as much and would not want to only own part of the set.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Ive learned my lesson. Outside of a couple of 3rd party companies. I won't pre order anything until I see it in full glory. It's the reason I didn't order herc or yellow giant until I saw reviews of them. I also wanted to make sure if there's were qc issues I knew about them and they were being addressed.

Worked out great for me. I ended up with the improved green giant. There isn't a shortage of herc or giant. If I wanted to right now I could still get herc at retail price.

The way I figure it there's most likely going to be a second run and if you're going to spend big bucks, it's better pay a little extra mark up than blow $500 bucks on something you don't like.

If you're patient you can find anything for a reasonable price.