OK...no longer a club mod (no boards to mod) and not a big reseller for these...I have 2 subs coming my way..so I have no horse in this race, but I will say it's going to be a fine line to walk and I see FP in a pretty much "no win" situation (though how is that different from every OTHER FP situation?   )

If FP goes totally even with the numbers they pretty obviously seel out of the usual suspects immediately. The fan backlash will no doubt be "But you KNEW these were popular! Why didn't you order MOAR!?!?!? Rabble rabble rabble....."

Meanwhile if FP orders a bunch more of the usual suspects that are pretty easy to figure they risk killing the golden goose...the specualtors and the guys who orderred by the TON. If they suddenly find themselves with tons of Slipstreams and Scourge's they can't move because FP themselves is undercutting their prices (no to mention all the Circuits and Jackpots they are sitting on hoping to recoup those costs with sales of the more popular guys) then for the next year and even the years after those big guys like BBTS cut their orders drastically and it hurts FP and the future subscriptions with lower overall orders. I'm just using BBTS as the obvious example and not at all trying to go after Joel at all but we do know his order alone was at least a couple hundred and if he suddenly saw a ton of cancelled pre-orders I'm pretty sure he'd second guess his order next year. Not to mention all of us who were on the fence but figured better safe than sorry only to see a ton extra made of the couple figures we wanted.
For those who would say "good", remember, the club is small and NEEDS specualtors to help pad their numbers and give them the operating capitol the club needs to survive.

 

Good, thoughtful post. After reading that I do think it would be dangerous for future business to produce more of the hot figures (for reasons you listed). I would have to imagine that they will stick with even numbers.

 

Sorry, can't link to what I physically heard them say at both BotCon and again at JoeCon, more than once when someone asked for clarification.

I'm also not going to search the entire FB page just to prove a point, as I don't remember exactly where else I read it. So you can take it for what it's worth, and believe it or don't believe it. Yours or my belief, or lack of, (much like what the Club has previously stated) will likely have little effect on what the Club actually does.

 

This, the orders are in and I would imagine with those finalized this would be when they would sit down and make the last decision to what they will do on their own end.

But I eagerly await this to start, need some new stuff that aint Prime.

 

I can see them getting say 50-100 more of Scourge and Slipstream than the others, not enough to have fans going for the pitchforks but enough to help meet the higher demand.

Also , its likely to be those that fans will be most picky about and so most likely to spot faults with and be willing to pay postage to get replacements so is possibly going to see more returns.

 

Hey, as I said, I don't doubt it's the case.... just saying have a quote or link, or don't expect other people to just believe it. But I'm also sure you know that too.

 

To say nothing of the possibility of "you misunderstood the words they said, and took it to mean something else."

I won't say I always quote and/or link to my sources, but I do try to when I make claims of this sort for this very reason.

 

Show me where they where advertised as a set?? They go together yes. They are a set of brothers that can be stored in the same boxm but in no way was they ever sold through the store as a set. And that is the point a lot of people are arguing over on figures for the set. Your example has NO bearing on the discussion at hand.


@Dragonclaw. you make a very good point.  

 

And yet, IMO there was more that should've been done, specifically regarding the release of better information to the fan community on the actions taken to make the TCC more secure; going one-by-one on the more common problems that arised during and previous to the CC fiasco (stolen CC info, stolen user info, internal print outs with full CC information, non members getting mass mails, members not getting emails, etc.), not to mention, implementing other payment methods such as PayPal which IMO would've been great PR for the club.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate Brian's message from late February where we were informed that the CC info was stolen through an SQL Injection attack, I appreciate his apology during BotCon 2012's club panel and I really appreciate all the work YOU do here as a direct link between the club and the fan community.

But that only covers how the CC and personal information was stolen, and skips over the other issues.

Regarding the FSS, in the end I decided not to order through the club, even though I wanted all 6 figures. I'll wait for a while to see if there are reports of stolen credit card info tied to the club, and will continue to monitor threads such as this one to see if the other issues were solved and if there are no new issues present, before trusting the TCC store with my new CC number; this thread made me aware that the new system still have too quirky a behavior for me to trust it (members getting invoices from other member, for instance).

Had there been more information regarding the steps taken to not only make the TCC store more secure, but also to make TCC's internal processes more secure like I said in my first paragraph; had there been the option to pay with PayPal; or had the FSS order window been in January when I still have access to my yearly $400 limit (mandated by my local government) on my e-Card (which I can turn on and off whenever I please, thus protecting me if the number is stolen), I would've ordered directly from the club.

-airfox

 

I would prefer that TCC produce more Scourge and Slipstream than others Since that will better alleviate demand. Most complaints come from selling out of the popular stuff. People do not complain about not being able to buy Timelines Airazor because the demand was met a long time ago. We still have people complain about Punch Counterpunch and G2 Ramjet (I was one of them). The better TCC can meet demand, the more customers they can satisfy and thus make more money for themselves. It is a win-win situation. There will be extra singles at the store but they may sell out fast, like the old model. The subscription model guarantees that people will get what they want, even of they get more than they wanted. It is better than getting none of what they wanted.
My biggest complaint is the fact that we have pay up front before they produce a single toy. There is already a 25% cancellation fee. Customers really should not be charged that far in advance. The cancellation fee already guarantees that TCC will have capital to produce the toys. People are complacent because TCC has no competition (BBTS is second hand that is more expensive).

 

I just think it would be a bad idea...there's too big a risk that while you'd get sales today, you'd kill sales tomorrow...

I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that if there are plenty of the couple characters *I* wanted from the set once the time comes I seriously doubt I will renew next year and instead just pay extra per figure to just have the ones I want. While I'm not going to say I speak for everyone, I feel pretty confident in saying I am far from alone.

meanwhile stores like BBTS (again...just as the best example I can think of...) will no doubt order a lot less if when the time comes Joel suddenly sees 50-100, or even more pre-order cancelations because the figures are plentiful. We know the secondary market stores buy a ton of exclusives, and those guys will no doubt vote hard with their wallets next year if they get stuck with product they can't sell because FP upped their numbers.

Either way FP can't win. But as much as I hate to say it, as a business owner myself I think you have to go with less extras and a quicker sellout. It keeps your big customers happy and placing big orders and, again, as much as I hate to say it, creates a sense of urgency for future subscriptions that would otherwise take a hit if enough people figure they can just wait and get the characters they want ala carte...yes, being dissapointed is a bummer, but it's a fine line FP is walking and erring on the side of the future of the subscriptions is the better move IMHO.

 

People don't like to think like a business. They like to think "this is what I want, I will subscribe to the reasoning that results in me getting that regardless of how little sense it makes"