EXO-6 Star Trek "General Discussion" 1/6 Line

[Skyroes]

I am sandwiched between approval and production. I can only afford to sustain a maximum of 5 to 8 days of no work (shut down on the 6th day). So either I put a figure out as soon as the figure is approved or put it in Below demand so it will be a sold out everytine. Below demand is the worst situation for collectors.

No perfect world, want 1/6 Trek to continue, then we have to live with its limitation.

Gap Fillers are a must for my factory. I am irrational to pick up Trek already, expecting me to irrationally burn down my factory and lay off my employee is not possible.

Will advise those gap fillers limited production ahead of time. But I don't see a need to do this on presale that has no fixed quantities except marketing gimmick.

Please, give me some room to maneuver. How can you expect me to function like everyone else when we accomplished everything differently.

Is not logical for us to accomplished all these if we follow industry norm. Expecting us to such thing is like telling us to jump off a building. Doing industry norm is telling to leave the playing field.

1/6 trek has plenty or either or and neither nor. Star Wars can have everything. We star trek can not have everything and should be thankful to have something. Accept this.

I think everyone recognizes that your situation is unique Nanjin and that you know best how to navigate 1/6 Trek.

I think the general concern is that people simply don’t want to risk missing out, especially if they have started to build a crew and then suddenly a particular crew member PO gets announced and sells out leaving the collection incomplete. More people are aware of exo-6 since the initial release of FC Data so there’s always that risk of demand exceeding supply and being the last one to the party.

I check this forum daily for items of interest applicable to me and appreciate whatever foresight you provide and the other posts from members updating us on your Facebook feed, this is my main resource.
Just a general question - if one pre-orders with a distributor (e.g. Sideshow) within their pre-order window, are we guaranteed a figure or are they just allocated a specific amount and it’s handed out to customers in a order of who PO’d first and so on?

Thank you!

 

[Mike86]

Yeah, I mean no disrespect and I don’t pretend to know the business beyond what we’re told, but it seems like there could be a better model than just surprise drops with a same day pre-order.

 

[davejames]

Well it's obviously not a problem for uniformed figures like Tuvok which he already said will have plenty available, but more for those "gap filler" figures that are only made in very limited quantities and could sell out within a couple hours if they're popular enough.

But if this is the only way he said he can do it, then I guess that's how it's going to be.

 

[nanjin]

I think everyone recognizes that your situation is unique Nanjin and that you know best how to navigate 1/6 Trek.

I think the general concern is that people simply don’t want to risk missing out, especially if they have started to build a crew and then suddenly a particular crew member PO gets announced and sells out leaving the collection incomplete. More people are aware of exo-6 since the initial release of FC Data so there’s always that risk of demand exceeding supply and being the last one to the party.

I check this forum daily for items of interest applicable to me and appreciate whatever foresight you provide and the other posts from members updating us on your Facebook feed, this is my main resource.

TNG is going to be a hot commodity so I don’t want to miss the fun!

Just a general question - if one pre-orders with a distributor (e.g. Sideshow) within their pre-order window, are we guaranteed a figure or are they just allocated a specific amount and it’s handed out to customers in a order of who PO’d first and so on?

Thank you!

Guarantee is between you and the reseller. I Guarantee my offer to the vendors. I can't Guarantee over one level.

Look at the situation like this. There is a company that release regular uniformed Star Trek figures from different series on a timely basis, and have open quantity preorder period to Guarantee all presale orders.

While there is another company which releases non uniformed Star Trek characters on a non timely basis. They release whenever they can muscle out to the market just like a Normal Collectible company. Do you remember the days when collectibles release in a fixed quantities? This is how this company runs.

Just look at the whole thing like the above.

Fans are already guaranteed to have 1/6 scale uniformed Star Trek figures that never should have happened already. Anything beyond this arrangement is not possible. I would have done it because I surely can make a lot more money with a lot less risks. I am like knowing the future when I maximize presale and maximize production to create maximize profit like every producers in the industry..... I love that too. Trek just simply can't do it. Just accept the fact that we can't fly because we have no wings. We can jump really high like a Kung Fu master, but we can't fly like Thor or Ironman.

 

[Venzhe]

People are just nervous for fixed production gap-fillers to start dropping, because those will attract a lot of scalpers. Reselling/retail arbitrage/scalping is at an all time high and many have access to advanced technology like purchase bots to grab up all the inventory before humans can click through a webpage. EXO-6 needs recaptcha challenges at the minimum. More advanced - a subscription service to guarantee gap fillers ahead of time or an order phase for gap fillers that requires having previously purchased general release figures.

You are probably accurately predicting the number of fans wanting to collect gap-fillers, but not the breadth of human greed willing to profit off of them. Demand to profit off of later gap fillers for reselling will probably make a Ferengi blush after the first few gap fillers show very high resale value on the secondary markets.

 

[nanjin]

Yeah, I mean no disrespect and I don’t pretend to know the business beyond what we’re told, but it seems like there could be a better model than just surprise drops with a same day pre-order.

Why? Really? Is not going to sell out. Unless I want to do marketing gimmick and create some anticipation. I love to do that. Scheduling just don't allow.

I never said it myself. I will explicitly say this,

Trust me, if there are some ways I can do what you said, I will love to do it. Because I can make more money. Now, I am burning money. Explaining to you will require a 1 inch thick reports. So I won't go in.

If you truely see my success, then Trust me, and you have no other choice. Likewise, I have no other choice but to do the stupidest things a producer could do in order to keep my production alive. I am like you, no choice. Really, if I can choose, I will do it like another producers.

 

[nanjin]

People are just nervous for fixed production gap-fillers to start dropping, because those will attract a lot of scalpers. Reselling/retail arbitrage/scalping is at an all time high and many have access to advanced technology like purchase bots to grab up all the inventory before humans can click through a webpage. EXO-6 needs recaptcha challenges at the minimum. More advanced - a subscription service to guarantee gap fillers ahead of time or an order phase for gap fillers that requires having previously purchased general release figures.

You are probably accurately predicting the number of fans wanting to collect gap-fillers, but not the breadth of human greed willing to profit off of them. Demand to profit off of later gap fillers for reselling will probably make a Ferengi blush after the first few gap fillers show very high resale value on the secondary markets.

I ain't superman. I will try to prevent. Obviously, I will choose to keep the factorysee alive over anything else. I, too, have no choice. Needle can't be sharp on both ends.

To be realistic, collectibles are investments. If it doesn't have value mutation, it has no value. Value came from the concept of limited resources. We can't contradict ourselves.

Trek market is microscopic comparing to others.

 

[A55imilated]

There’s no one else I’d rather have in command of 1/6 Trek than Nanjin I trust him completely with the decisions made re: releasing figures. From my own experience, I was late to the game, but still managed to get earlier releases (FC Data, FC Picard, and VOY Janeway) at RRP. Whether you’re on edge about hitting that preorder/order button the second a new piece drops, or you’re chilled out and order later on, there’s so much passion for the franchise here, and that’s brilliant!

Keep knocking them out of the park Nanjin

 

[mynameschris]

I really don’t see what the problem is here, even with Hot Toys some things get a tease and then go up for PO a day, week of sometimes even months after.

Then again some figures have their promo pictures put up and within a couple of hours they are up for PO with whoever you prefer to get figures from.

I think the only difference here is unlike Hot Toys we have the option to buy from the manufacturer without needing to visit them in person.

Hot Toys don’t say this is coming tomorrow they just post pictures… that’s not too different to what Nanjin has been doing through social media.

That aside, Nanjin I really appreciated you showing off the detailing around how we will be able to pose Burnhams hands not to mention the Phaser this morning. The level of detail your going into is insane!

 

[Johnny Utah]

The difference is these are more limited than a Hot Toys figure. Look at Data and Picard, they only came out a year ago.

Hot Toys figures sit for years now for the most part.

Because these are more limited and knowing Janeway sold out quickly, I would appreciate more of a heads up when a wanted crew member goes up for preorder.

I'm getting the entire Voyager crew and skipping all Disco, Picard. I just want more notice, that's all. Since Nanjin posts here, a sentence saying 'Tuvok is going up for preorder on such and such a day' would be nice.

I've seen people on Facebook saying they can't preorder him because it's an off paycheck week, I totally get where they're coming from too.

 

[user 68638]

The FOMO is strong in here

 

[user 68638]

as someone who collects non hot toy sixth scale you usually have to preorder or pick up soon after release or the figure will sellout. As far as EXO 6 Goes the pre order window has been pretty generous imo. As far as the gap fillers and the pre order window for those we don’t know what we don’t know ..worse case scenario and I miss out on TMP I’ll console myself with one of the other figures that go up for sale

 

[nanjin]

Com'on, HT has a whole development team stationed in Korea, they have 15+ years of experience in operation, and they are working with franchises that have someone specifically serving them with assets. They have an in house marketing team. Distribution, we don't even need to mention, worldwide full coverage with 4 or 6 major worldwide vendors carrying their products.

We only have 15 MONTHS of experience (i have about 3 years), 80% of our production employees were 1st time in detail work or have never worked before entirely. We have 2-3 people doing all paper work, 1 person doing marketing (me), we can't even hire a photographer because of bad approval timing, and the decision maker is 7000 away from all protos and production. Plus a franchise assets, approvals departments that function like a blackhole where emails only go one direction.

Oh BTW, HT sends in 6 or 7 prototypes of a same character approval so the franchise can choose.

We can only do 1.

Their volume is 20x bigger than us. And their profit is about 50x

We are just a worm comparing to HT.

I might be able to do what HT does in about 4 years but that's the time for ne to leave exo-6.

No way we can change the way we operate until our Year 4.

Most requests are unrealistic for a young company struggling to survive. We aren't stable until year 3. I mean, seriously, most new operation failed in 3 years. We haven't even past 19 months of operations and we are expected to be as good as everyone.

Expecting a turtle to fly like an eagle or run as fast as Road Runner is unrealistic.

EXO-6 is a worm comparing to any 1/6 producers in the market. We can't even match the operation of a bootleggers.

Guys, be realistic please. We are not HT. HT is just an imagined competitor to motivate my people. HT can kill us with its pinky without even looking, so is 3Zero, StarAce, Asmus, and most of the bootleggers.

Seriously, we cant even match any of their operation and we are expected to function as well is an unrealistic expectation.

Lower the expectations please, or use aomething more comparable.

QMx was thinking exactly how you guys are thinking now, not very realistic expectations. I told QMx the same worm comparison everytime I saw him. I am a very realistic person. I spent ZERO seconds on wishful or unrealistic thinking.

Check out my production, I have realistic expectation. Have you really look at our proven realistic results for reistic expectations in Price, Speed of Delivery, and Quality.

Just thought of a good comparison. Think of us as like a small tiny restaurant on a small street in NYC with only 8 tables. Led by a Chef with his family who love good food and chat with customers and take pride on every single dish pit on the customers table. This is EXO-6, we don't belong to 5th Avenue and we simply can't afford to rent a place close to Central Park.

 

[Johnny Utah]

You should display more confidence in your product and stop comparing yourself to Hot Toys.

They have lost touch with their customers and only began providing regular updates when their income was marginally threatened by another new company recently.

But you should ignore them and act as if they don't exist. I'm tired of HT being endlessly praised because let's be honest, their innovation only comes into play with MCU figures and their recent Batman. They don't give nearly as much of a **** as you do, especially with getting minute details like Archer's boot correct.

How many figures have they churned out with a repainted sculpt? Something you could do but choose not to do, like repainting 1996 First Contact Data to look like 1991 TNG Data. Added to that, their general current 2-3 year turnaround time from preorder to release is absolutely ridiculous.

Show more pride and frankly show more ego about your line, because you product speaks for itself and is literally a gamechanger in this tired old hobby.

 

[GhostBeard]

They have lost touch with their customers and only began providing regular updates when their income was marginally threatened by another new company recently.

Exactly this

 

[nanjin]

You should display more confidence in your product and stop comparing yourself to Hot Toys.

They have lost touch with their customers and only began providing regular updates when their income was marginally threatened by another new company recently.

But you should ignore them and act as if they don't exist. I'm tired of HT being endlessly praised because let's be honest, their innovation only comes into play with MCU figures and their recent Batman. They don't give nearly as much of a **** as you do, especially with getting minute details like Archer's boot correct.

How many figures have they churned out with a repainted sculpt? Something you could do but choose not to do, like repainting 1996 First Contact Data to look like 1991 TNG Data. Added to that, their general current 2-3 year turnaround time from preorder to release is absolutely ridiculous.

Show more pride and frankly show more ego about your line, because you product speaks for itself and is literally a gamechanger in this tired old hobby.

Is impossible for me not to praise them. I followed HT since 2007 particular Howard (I have observed HT for a long time because their strategies really stood out around 2007).

I think there are only a handful of people whom I believe I could never able to challenge. Howard is one of them.

Believe it or not, no one can get close to HT, not QS or whoever is coming in the future. Howard won the game 10 years ago. Bottomlines on financial statements determine who is the boss.

I am going to SDCC hoping to see Howard and thank him in person. I practically admire his strategies, and i duplicated mist if not all his strategies used arpund 2007. I myself was the senior strategist at Vegas Wynn. I hardly admire anyone....

Whether people like HT products is another story.

 

[nanjin]

My 2 cents on the new challengers coming for HT. HT responded just because of ego issues. Absolutely not a threat. Giant size mosquito can't post threat to an elephant.

HT's acting out of bruised Ego not threat. There aren't any threat for the next 5 years for HT. HT has a 36 months guaranteed income. All the new challengers have 36 months of guaranteed gigantic and damaging risks.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Yeah I'm not overly hyped for InArt anymore. Ten Jokers couldn't hit that nostalgia spot as much as Chakotay or any TNG characters would.

 

[crasis]

Janeway may have sold out quickly on the EXO-6 site back during the preorder phase, but I casually just popped over to Sideshow and bought one last week. And I grabbed the EMH on BBTS, despite him being sold out all over. I had a ton of opportunities to grab FC Data and Picard when they came out, but decided to wait for TV versions. Even the ones that are scarce now were obtainable through other sites at one point. I appreciate that Nanjin offers these direct, but that’s not the ONLY option. So, even if the EXO-6 site sold out on a preorder, that’s not the end of all hope. If this stuff makes you guys nervous, you clearly never felt the pain of being a Bandai Macross collector with 1-second sellouts.

 

[AlanJG1]

I will be getting all versions of Pike but after watching this week's episode, I am hoping this will be the Pike uniform we first get from SNW: