Don't really get the fanstoys worship? ok Astrotrain is a bit more understandable since there's not many but if people are paying this kind of money for Jazz, a character with 4 good MPs already, then you're insane fanboys.

 

I am no Fanstoys fanboy but why do we always assume that they are somehow price gauging or making their products limited on purpose?

It wasn’t too long ago we were complaining about how they do not release their figures quickly enough. Maybe this is the price we have to pay for getting them quicker, lesser numbers and higher prices because of lower volume.

Are factories all operating normally like before the pandemic over there in China? Do labor rates, shipping and raw materials cost the same as last year? I have no knowledge of the happenings behind the 3rd party scene. If anyone can confirm that these guys are villains, please let me know.

 

A. They're not going to charge $220 out the gate because Jazz is a car bot and smaller, he'll likely be around the usual carbot FT price and B. If you don't pre-order, you have a possibility of paying the late tax depending on supply. Welcome to figure collecting in general, even moreso for 3rd party figures that are smaller runs. It's not about "insane fanboys", it's about tastes. If FT is going to have a more cartoon accurate Jazz than Downbeat, I'm gonna go with FT's offering. Simple as that.

Anti-FT fanboys are more and more frequent nowadays, likely because more people have jumped onto the FT train, so demand has been driven up while supply has stayed mostly the same. They're not price-gouging anything (they're still cheaper than official Masterpieces, pound for pound) and are likely making the same amount of product for an even larger fanbase that wants them.

Then again, I've never had a single issue getting a FansToys figure on pre-order. They don't sell out instantly, this isn't some limited sneaker or something like that, they're up anywhere from a few hours to a few days recently. Take Thomas for example, I missed him the morning he went up on BBTS, and was able to just easily grab at TFSource a few hours later in the afternoon.

People are either just mad because they missed out and didn't preorder, or just mad cause it's the cool thing to do right now.

There are absolutely valid complaints about FT's products, for sure, some of their recent figures have been absolute messes, but as far as prices and supply go? They're fine, people just need to learn to pre-order.

 

my concept of fanstoys pre order has changed many many mths ago...... snap at it when its out

 

Well, that's the reason why I'll have to live without Thomas now.

 

i m still waiting too..... TB is way slower than NA retailers..... but with signs of ppl having no issues with recent thomas...my fingers crossed

 

I think my Thomas came with the wrong accessories...

 

Is there going to be a reissue of fanstoys thomas at some point in the future?

 

And the award for train "tracks" pun of the year goes to ........

 

I agree with the statement that FT needs to open their own shop like Fanshobby and the others. My copy shipped from show z the other day but I’m still shitting bricks until it’s in hand

 

Never had gabriel (too big for my shelving), so i cant comment there, but to me thomas is worth a bit more than the likes of similar sized bots from FT ie roadking and maverick (due to the triple changing aspect), but too much more than the original pre order price I paid (uk £175), and i would just not have been interested (top £200).
Comparing to other manufacturers is difficult because i value quality both in terms of materials / build and looks above size / low cost.
Quite agree, as per a previous post i wrote, on the slippery slope of feeding scalping and similar practices.

You mention Starscream 2.0 which is an interesting comparison.
I got burned badly by Hound, who to me looked good but just was not well made (backed up by so many reported serious issues), which was made worse by his huge price tag. If starscream 2.0 is anything similar im not interested and will be waiting for reviews (and if i miss it because of this then i wont be concerned).
Besides, i have maketoys version which is decent but not perfect, which i bought for approx £90 - so starscream 2.0 needs to provide something other than just a imo a minor-reasonable increase in looks.

It may disagree with others opinion, but i just dont see Starscream 2.0 being anywhere near the worth of thomas atm.

 

Finally unpacked him and stickered him up.
Looks great. Glad I preordered it half a year ago.
Paying 300+ now would hurt. Im curious how pre orders of future FT bots will go. I never pre order bots but saw the Thomas pre orders went quick.

 

Save that for Blitzwing! They said he should cost the same as Astrotrain and I wonder will it be a repeat of this guy on the secondary market next year

They mentioned being at 60% employees back around March

 

I got these two answers in a very brief chat with the man:

At first it sounded as if it was too late. But I guess it might be worth waiting a bit AND NOT BUYING FROM THOSE F%^£₩× EBAY SCALPERS!

 

Good to know

 

I feel like the prices of MP style figures for both official and 3rd party have gone up a lot in the last year or so in general, to the point where the $220 preorder price for Thomas, which a lot of people complained about, feels fairly in line with the rest of the industry now. I have no idea how DX9 Gabriel could be sold for $180 by the likes of BBTS right now, but if it was a new product released this year I'd seriously doubt that it would sell for the original $280 price. I'm pretty sure it's bigger and heavier than Studio Cell Unicron and that's selling for $400+, I believe. Looking at some of the figures I've bought this year, the MSRP for Thomas doesn't seem too out of line:

-Toy World Freedom Leader Deluxe: MSRP around $220~$250. It's pretty impressive looking in robot mode and is bigger than Thomas, but the engineering is crap. I personally prefer Thomas at this price point.

-Fans Toys Dunerunner: MSRP $100. I would say Thomas is easily twice the figure as Dunerunner.

-TransArt Skateboard Gorilla: MSRP ~$100. I like this figure but it's like a tiny fraction of Thoma's weight and complexity. It's probably overpriced on its own and certainly compared to Thomas.

-Big Firebird Nicee: MSRP: $80~$100. I love this figure, but I'm comfortable saying Thomas is easily "worth" twice as much.

-G-Creations M Wrath: MSRP $250. I think I'm one of the few who thought this figure is worth the high price (most people seem to like the figure but hate the price). I feel like the value proposition here is similar to Thomas.

So based on my personal experience this year, I do not feel like Thomas is overpriced at its MSRP. Obviously I would love to pay less if possible, but given the current market, $220 seems fair now.

As for the aftermarket $350+ price Thomas is commanding now, had I missed out on the preorder, I'm not sure if I would have went for it at the inflated price. I might have just said I'm out for now and hopefully can get in on a reissue.

 

Greetings all,

First time poster, long time lurker.

I just wanted to give a heads up to those that pre-ordered Thomas from bababobo00712 but did NOT pay the full-payment request when it was sent out months ago. You're most likely out of luck.

I did a pre-order and deposit in April, but when the full payment request showed up soon after, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I had never experienced a store asking me to pay up so far in advance from release day. And considering how long Berserk has taken to release, I didn't want to see $200 tied up for possibly years.

Baba's request caused a big stir on here, and many considered it to be a bit shady, so I chose to ignore it and hoped I'd get another opportunity to pay closer to release date.

Well I finally emailed them yesterday asking when I will be seeing a payment request, and I received this:

"HI friend.
Our colleague has notified you of the repayment via email. But you did not respond.
Toy manufacturers cut orders. We do not have enough toys. We send toys based on customers who have already paid. Currently out of stock. We can cancel the order for you"

I guess it's on me for ignoring the request, but I also didn't imagine I'd get bounced over for someone that paid even if they ordered after me. Call me naive, but I've never heard of that in this market.

I see other stores had pre-orders at some point. Did they all request payment upfront?

And is there anyone out there that paid in full, but still didn't get their order?

Thanks!

 

I would venture to guess that the reason this particular FT bot's pre-orders flew was because FT's bots are popular AND this guy was sorely lacking representation in most people's collections. I think that's a perfect storm in this hobby. So I'm gathering other bots by FT may not sell as quick.

The same thing will happen when their Tesla 2.0 comes out. Another bot that needs an update and limited options MP-wise.

 

The only way another run of this figure doesn't happen at some point is if FT were shut down or an official one was announced. The thing sold out in a matter of days...there's a lot of money still on the table for it.

 

I already peeled the sticker off but it was QC 32