eFX Darth Vader A NEW HOPE Helmet!

[IrishJedi]

What I want to know is what steps they're taking to upgrade their site so this won't happen again.

Now THAT is a position I can 100% agree with. That definitely needs to happen in light of this situation.

 

[demorathis]

No one would have been randomly excluded. Every order has a time stamp on it. The excuse given is that because of the servers lagging it allowed 114 extra orders to come in and to be fair they all get one because there is no way to tell who actually pressed their order button fastest at home. The thing is, it shouldn't matter, laggy servers happen all the time on everyone's site with a limited item. All they had to do was look at the time stamps of the orders and the first 250 orders should have been the ones getting the item. The extra 114 should have been sent an email that said "sorry, our servers weren't up to snuff and 250 people ordered this before you, it was only a glitch that enabled you to place an order, here is your deposit money back." But why do that when you can pocket an extra $100k.

Point being, As far as all of the buyers are concerned, we all ordered in time enough to get the confirm message

... so beyond 250 or not, I got the confirm notice,

so it would be a huge disappointment for ANY one of us to get a rejection notice.

and if they did pick the last 114 folks, as far as I am concerned, it would have seemed random, because I wasn't assigned a customer number...if I got a "pass" I'm not going to be happy to get a late notice saying "fail" -- that's why they did what they did, they didn't want to dash our dreams of owning one of these gems...and I think it was for the greater good...

we should care enough about our fellow collectors to see that this is a small issue vs not letting the few others have the same opportunity...
if we let this ruin our ability to appreciate what we have,
as Yoda said:
"the shadow of greed that is..."

 

[IrishJedi]

I don't think it would have just seemed random... I'm sure it would have been random.

That would have been the worst possible outcome in all this.

 

[demorathis]

Now THAT is a position I can 100% agree with. That definitely needs to happen in light of this situation.

I sure they're doing something about it as we speak, that was a pretty big goose...

 

[GreatFire]

But they can delineate the first 364? It's an ugly situation for sure and I eagerly await the arrival of the helmet, which is none-the-less magnificent in light of this issue. Because right now I think having it on display is the only tangible factor that will make the frustration go away.

 

[IrishJedi]

But they can delineate the first 364?

Yes, because the first 364 are all of us who had confirmed orders and charged deposits before their system believed they had reached the 250 mark.

 

[demorathis]

I'm not concerned with this helmet dipping below retail, as I, too, don't believe it will in my lifetime. My concern is simply one of supply and demand being manipulated by eFx in what I deem an irresponsible move. I'm in the minority, I know. I'm in favor an unchanged, rock-solid edition size. Period.

When I write "floating around" I'm suggesting "total pieces in the marketplace."

Star Wars fans may be born each day, but Star Wars fans willing to spend upwards of $1,000.00 on a helmet are not.

Irresponsible would be not honoring the confirmed orders. They had to take their lumps when they increased the number becuase of course it would upset fans, but it upset MORE folks if they suddenly took 114 helmets away from those of us who thought we had it.
Thats also why they had to "sweeten" the deal, with 3 new things, option to opt out, get a print, and get a signature -- all things that, whether or not we care -- add value, (the same way a racing stripe, power windows, or an extra piece of plastic add cost to a new car)

Total pieces are OFF the marketplace ... they are now with the end user...

There will be NO SUPPLY -
unless they are resold in SECONDARY MARKETPLACE

(well, technically speaking they will be off the marketplace after we actually pay for them

 

[demorathis]

...right now I think having it on display is the only tangible factor that will make the frustration go away.

The Magic of Vader!!

 

[GreatFire]

Demorathis, I understand the situation and why they did what they did. It remains true that any decision they came to would not satisfy 100% of their customers. I'm one of the few who isn't happy with their choice. Total pieces are off the retail market, but a secondary market will arise and while it won't include all 364 helmets, it will indeed exist. There's been at least one McVader for sale at any given point since its release.

 

[IrishJedi]

While all of that is true, the McVader is a much more niche item than this. An ANH Vader helmet from the original molds with an authentic production-quality paint application is probably the ultimate SW prop replica helmet you could ever own.

 

[GreatFire]

An ANH Vader helmet from the original molds with an authentic production-quality paint application is probably the ultimate SW prop replica helmet you could ever own.

Agreed. The helmet is a thing of beauty.

 

[IrishJedi]

Agreed. The helmet is a thing of beauty.

This calls for pics!

 

[Chaosorb]

The Legend helmet is not going to "dip" in value. Sure, an ES of 250 would hold a tad more value than 364, but in the big picture it's likely minuscule. And there is no way the value of the Legend helmet is going to drop, ever.

Even the Limited (with 1,000 pieces) sold out in less than a week, and it doesn't have nearly the same grail factor as a piece.

I bet you could pre-sell your Legend right now for more than the $1000 retail price.

Also, the "pool of potential buyers" is the same as it was before this revelation anyway, since all 364 owners assumed they were among an Edition Size of 250. It's not like they opened it up to the Wait Listers or something. And eFX has a Wait List of 100 people for the Legend helmet. And they had to freeze the Wait List and take no more 2 days after the item Sold Out. There are still a ton of people who want one of these who don't have one on pre-order.

I have to agree 100% with you on this. 114 is not a big enough number to worry about.

 

[demorathis]

Demorathis, I understand the situation and why they did what they did. It remains true that any decision they came to would not satisfy 100% of their customers. I'm one of the few who isn't happy with their choice. Total pieces are off the retail market, but a secondary market will arise and while it won't include all 364 helmets, it will indeed exist. There's been at least one McVader for sale at any given point since its release.

That's true...there'll always be some who have to sell for one reason or another...or or bought with the intent to make extra dough >;P

But hopefully the majority of us (esp the 114 lost ones around here) are able to keep them...

 

[GreatFire]

In grand terms, 364 is not a large edition size--agreed. But with the initial promise of 250, an extra 114 (which I believe some have calculated as a 46% increase) takes some getting used to.

 

[IrishJedi]

In grand terms, 364 is not a large edition size--agreed. But with the initial promise of 250, an extra 114 (which I believe some have calculated as a 46% increase) takes some getting used to.

Well, hurry up and get used to it already so we can go back to celebrating snagging one of these grails.

 

[GreatFire]

Irish, your pics certainly did help.

 

[IrishJedi]

 

[icruise]

That one on the left looks really off to me. Oh wait...

 

[Khev]

A new company just offered me a job with a life-changing raise yess and after studying the quality of this piece for some time I decided to head over to eFX to jump on the wait list today. Gah, even the wait list is closed.

Old news for you guys I'm sure. I wonder how much coin us later comers will need to drop to get one on the secondary market.