1/6 Hot Toys -TMS 068 - The Book of Boba Fett: Fennec Shand

[Jedi_Col]

I thought it was just that the closer to release it gets, the more precise a window they provide?

No, it was always pretty much a three month window. Like it would be July-September 2024. Now it's July-December 2024.

 

[borgified]

I had a feeling that Fennec will end up being delayed by “x” months during the lockdown as everything that was assembled overseas was grounded to a standstill.

Now that things are opening back up to pre-lockdown phase, there is still the possibility that raw materials is still getting hard to find and work orders are slowing getting back to normal. Even Exo-6 Star Trek figures were having issues getting shipped out during the second half of the lockdown and people were still whining and acting like Veruca Salt about their stuff.

I know that’s annoying that everyone is still waiting for their stuff that was ordered over the lockdown or just recently and their getting impatience.

 

[skizzoid]

No, it was always pretty much a three month window. Like it would be July-September 2024. Now it's July-December 2024.

Hot Toys has been posting a 6-month estimated release window on their releases for a while now, which Sideshow copies on their site. Hot Toys used to have 3-month windows, but Sideshow's actual ship date would often miss the quarterly estimate due to the delay between the HK release and when they get their inventory. They've improved on some releases, but with all the COVID-related manufacturing/shipping delays, the 6-month window is probably more accurate, even if it's frustratingly vague.

 

[Jedi_Col]

Hot Toys has been posting a 6-month estimated release window on their releases for a while now, which Sideshow copies on their site. Hot Toys used to have 3-month windows, but Sideshow's actual ship date would often miss the quarterly estimate due to the delay between the HK release and when they get their inventory. They've improved on some releases, but with all the COVID-related manufacturing/shipping delays, the 6-month window is probably more accurate, even if it's frustratingly vague.

Yeah I agree with that. It also stops people from being able to cancel and get the NRD back when it misses that date. It hasn't been a six month window for THAT long as I'm looking at my open order page. Sometime in 2022 is when it seems to have shifted from three months to six months, at least according to a lot of my orders from 2022. It seems about half were three month windows and half were six.

It doesn't really bother me for the most part. I've never been one that gets upset about delays or waiting. For the longest time when I explained this hobby to people on the outside it was always basically ordering something and then waiting nearly two years. I'd also say that for quite awhile SS and Hot Toys worked out something pretty good where we were getting simultaneous releases (even though the first SS batch seemed to be small) and that was during the COVID situation. So I actually thought they were doing quite well with it. Anyway, my point with the original post wasn't so much as about delays and/or waiting as much as the longer window cuts down the opportunity for customers to change their mind and cancel if they choose and get their NRD back (although I've never been denied my NRD the few times I cancelled prior to the release window passing)

 

[Spanbauer]

Hot Toys has been posting a 6-month estimated release window on their releases for a while now, which Sideshow copies on their site. Hot Toys used to have 3-month windows, but Sideshow's actual ship date would often miss the quarterly estimate due to the delay between the HK release and when they get their inventory. They've improved on some releases, but with all the COVID-related manufacturing/shipping delays, the 6-month window is probably more accurate, even if it's frustratingly vague.

Yeah I agree with that. It also stops people from being able to cancel and get the NRD back when it misses that date. It hasn't been a six month window for THAT long as I'm looking at my open order page. Sometime in 2022 is when it seems to have shifted from three months to six months, at least according to a lot of my orders from 2022. It seems about half were three month windows and half were six.

It doesn't really bother me for the most part. I've never been one that gets upset about delays or waiting. For the longest time when I explained this hobby to people on the outside it was always basically ordering something and then waiting nearly two years. I'd also say that for quite awhile SS and Hot Toys worked out something pretty good where we were getting simultaneous releases (even though the first SS batch seemed to be small) and that was during the COVID situation. So I actually thought they were doing quite well with it. Anyway, my point with the original post wasn't so much as about delays and/or waiting as much as the longer window cuts down the opportunity for customers to change their mind and cancel if they choose and get their NRD back (although I've never been denied my NRD the few times I cancelled prior to the release window passing)

Given how many figures are still missing their release dates, I’d bet even with the 6-month window most figures still end up qualifying for cancellation because they don’t ship when promised.

The only figure I’ve taken advantage of the automatic cancellation due to it being late was Scarlett Witch, as it gave me an opportunity to pre-order the Multiverse of Madness version instead. Not a great business model to have not shipped one version of a character before their different appearance from another film or show goes up for pre-order.

 

[skizzoid]

Yeah I agree with that. It also stops people from being able to cancel and get the NRD back when it misses that date. It hasn't been a six month window for THAT long as I'm looking at my open order page. Sometime in 2022 is when it seems to have shifted from three months to six months, at least according to a lot of my orders from 2022. It seems about half were three month windows and half were six.

It doesn't really bother me for the most part. I've never been one that gets upset about delays or waiting. For the longest time when I explained this hobby to people on the outside it was always basically ordering something and then waiting nearly two years. I'd also say that for quite awhile SS and Hot Toys worked out something pretty good where we were getting simultaneous releases (even though the first SS batch seemed to be small) and that was during the COVID situation. So I actually thought they were doing quite well with it. Anyway, my point with the original post wasn't so much as about delays and/or waiting as much as the longer window cuts down the opportunity for customers to change their mind and cancel if they choose and get their NRD back (although I've never been denied my NRD the few times I cancelled prior to the release window passing)

Got it, though I still feel like HT will miss the longer release windows given their current pace of figure releases.

I don't mind the delays/release windows that much either- it's always been a long wait for preorders, and I'd rather HT be more realistic about their capabilities rather than give us an artificially early estimate. At this point in my collecting, I don't preorder much and will only do so for the characters I really like (fewer impulse preorders), so I've only requested a refund when the final product is underwhelming (and also delayed).

2022 sounds about right for the change though- I don't think HT has been doing the 6-month window for much longer than a year.

 

[Zurdo95D]

Given how many figures are still missing their release dates, I’d bet even with the 6-month window most figures still end up qualifying for cancellation because they don’t ship when promised.

The only figure I’ve taken advantage of the automatic cancellation due to it being late was Scarlett Witch, as it gave me an opportunity to pre-order the Multiverse of Madness version instead. Not a great business model to have not shipped one version of a character before their different appearance from another film or show goes up for pre-order.

Yeah it would’ve been ideal if the WV Scarlet Witch released before the MOM version was put up for preorder. Though it seems they don’t mind having multiple figures of the same character out there, such as the ROTJ and Kenobi Vaders.

 

[Hoody999]

Given how many figures are still missing their release dates, I’d bet even with the 6-month window most figures still end up qualifying for cancellation because they don’t ship when promised.

The only figure I’ve taken advantage of the automatic cancellation due to it being late was Scarlett Witch, as it gave me an opportunity to pre-order the Multiverse of Madness version instead. Not a great business model to have not shipped one version of a character before their different appearance from another film or show goes up for pre-order.

I remember the days when Hot Toys was only late with the Hulkbuster (due to design changes) and Drax (due to mould issues, likeness rights ???). And that was it. All the rest had about 1 year lead-time, and they turned up on time.

Hot Toys have obviously grown, and their production numbers are probably a lot more now than then, but Howard has just pocketed the money and not scaled his organisation accordingly.

Sure I'm not naive to think there are things like Covid out of his control, however these figure delays are the norm now. It's crazy !

Now the customers are the ones who pay the consequence through delays, 2+ year lead times etc.

 

[Spanbauer]

Yeah it would’ve been ideal if the WV Scarlet Witch released before the MOM version was put up for preorder. Though it seems they don’t mind having multiple figures of the same character out there, such as the ROTJ and Kenobi Vaders.

Yeah, I mean Vision to pair with Wanda was released a year ago so it’s crazy they didn’t release Wanda around the same time. Hot Toys may not care about having multiples of the same character up for pre-order but I bet their distributors like Sideshow hate it as they’re bound to get stuck with unsold stock of the less desirable of the two.

I remember the days when Hot Toys was only late with the Hulkbuster (due to design changes) and Drax (due to mould issues, likeness rights ???). And that was it. All the rest had about 1 year lead-time, and they turned up on time.

Hot Toys have obviously grown, and their production numbers are probably a lot more now than then, but Howard has just pocketed the money and not scaled his organisation accordingly.

Sure I'm not naive to think there are things like Covid out of his control, however these figure delays are the norm now. It's crazy !

Now the customers are the ones who pay the consequence through delays, 2+ year lead times etc.

Yep. Now the only figures that have a chance of releasing in a year or less are helmeted troopers. They probably should have used the lack of new movies/shows during covid as a chance to go light on new announcements and close the backlog, but instead they packed their schedule with weird stuff no one asked for like Iron Strange, Armorized Deadpool, Neon Tech nonsense, Comic Concept plastic wrap and Venomized everything.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Hah i remember the days of ppl endlessly wailing, shrieking and screaming about Hulkbuster. It was actually pretty funny. I was actually surprised that ever released, it seemed to me like they were looking for reasons to cancel the figure.

I wonder how long it will be until we see stuff like Zombie Strange. Makes SW stuff seem timely by comparison.

 

[jaztermareal]

They probably should have used the lack of new movies/shows during covid as a chance to go light on new announcements and close the backlog, but instead they packed their schedule with weird stuff no one asked for like Iron Strange, Armorized Deadpool, Neon Tech nonsense, Comic Concept plastic wrap and Venomized everything.

thing is, what they needed during Pandemic was income, so they needed new pre-orders ergo new announcements. if they slowed announcements and just worked on stuff people had already ordered their cashflow would have slowed to a trickle at a time when they had increasing costs. I can totally understand their motivation in that case but with the huge influx of pandemic pre-orders they received it would have been nice for them to invest more in completing figures for now. With the smaller production runs of late perhaps that is what they are trying to do.

 

[borgified]

Huh… I haven’t heard any heard that much squawking about Fennic than compared to Wandavision Liz Olsen that I’ve been commenting on very frequently as it’s just released.

Wandavision has been out for two (or is it three years now) and some members are cancelling the initial Wandavision Liz pre-orders for the MoM version instead (the improved version with the darker theme contrast) which is to be released in a few months time barring further delays.

I haven’t seen anything yet from members here cancelling their pre-orders and getting something else (or is it just that we’re all accepting the initial estimated release delay and hoping it doesn’t make us become sour grapes upon getting it).

 

[MyenShi]

I haven’t seen anything yet from members here cancelling their pre-orders and getting something else

Apples to oranges. There’s another Scarlet Witch figure in the pipeline and several past versions to choose from.

There’s only one Fennec Shand figure and there’s likely to be only one barring any major costume changes in another hypothetical live action appearance that would be far in the future.

Nothing would really come from cancelling for someone that wanted a Fennec figure. There’s no equivalent or comparable figure to get instead.

Nothing wrong with voicing some displeasure at delays and silence for a release but I think people here have been pretty patient. Despite what the perception might be, Star Wars collectors are generally willing to wait.

 

[Ramatuelle]

In fact, Fennec is an integral part of the display that Throne Fett fans want to have. The addition of Fennec is going to put that just waaaaaay over the top. I bought her -just- to put her on that throne arm.

Canceling Fennec would be me shooting myself in the foot. Boba has been waiting months for her. I wont deny him. I did not buy the Iron Studios statue version of this scene because I was planning on a HT version. No, Im not happy about repeated pushbacks. No one is. That does not mean I will cancel this figure. I need her.

There have been figures we waited two+ years for. I recall much complaining about Gamora.

 

[Zurdo95D]

In fact, Fennec is an integral part of the display that Throne Fett fans want to have. The addition of Fennec is going to put that just waaaaaay over the top. I bought her -just- to put her on that throne arm.

Canceling Fennec would be me shooting myself in the foot. Boba has been waiting months for her. I wont deny him. I did not buy the Iron Studios statue version of this scene because I was planning on a HT version. No, Im not happy about repeated pushbacks. No one is. That does not mean I will cancel this figure. I need her.

There have been figures we waited two+ years for. I recall much complaining about Gamora.

Yeah Fennec could fit in Mando, BoBF or TBB displays! She‘s pretty versatile.

 

[sithocan]

I'll probably put in TBB. I believe she would look the same 20 years ago.

 

[Zurdo95D]

I'll probably put in TBB. I believe she would look the same 20 years ago.

Can’t go wrong with any display! I know a popular display would be to have her setup with the Repaint Armor Boba with throne, but I‘m gonna pair her with Reclaimed Armor Tython Boba!

 

[Hoody999]

In fact, Fennec is an integral part of the display that Throne Fett fans want to have. The addition of Fennec is going to put that just waaaaaay over the top. I bought her -just- to put her on that throne arm.

Canceling Fennec would be me shooting myself in the foot. Boba has been waiting months for her. I wont deny him. I did not buy the Iron Studios statue version of this scene because I was planning on a HT version. No, Im not happy about repeated pushbacks. No one is. That does not mean I will cancel this figure. I need her.

There have been figures we waited two+ years for. I recall much complaining about Gamora.

Totally ! I even built myself a stone altar out of foam covered in filler (easy to do).

She needs to join my head canon team. A Gamorrean or Black Krysanthamum would have also been a welcome addition to the real King Boba Bounty Hunter mercenary team.

I still hold out a little hope for a ROTJ Gamorrean for their anniversary. They have done so many already (Luke, Leia etc), the Gamorreans need some love too !!

 

[DarkChocobi]

stunning display as usual Hoody, but strongly recommend to have x2 Death troopers and x2 Dark troopers to flank Krennic and Gideon to achieve the more dramatic effect.

 

[user 71794]

I agree, this is the way.