Exactly. The amount of whining here is unreal.
It's not whining! When you enter into a professional arrangement with a company that seeks our monetary support through commerce, customers expect to be treated with a degree of respect that places value on the very support the company (or the man) seeks from us. And just about 100% - 1 of these companies (or men) also actively seek and value customer feedback in order to produce the products that are most likely to satisfy the very people who make the company's (or the man's) endeavor possible! So, when MANY of these customers receive THE EXACT OPPOSITE of what they expect and deserve in the act of civil commerce, they would be FOOLISH NOT TO vocally and passionately COMPLAIN!
Now, that the classic model. But this is BY NO MEANS what we have with EXO-6 and NT. I've said this before, but I guess I'll have to say it again until my forum mates who don't get it yet either accept it or block me!
1. EXO-6/NT is BY NO MEANS or by any measure anything close to the classic model. NT is producing these figures Firstly and primarily for HIMSELF. We, the customers, are nothing more than a necessary annoyance that he is forced to put up with because he could never foot the bill to create all this figures for his personal collection without the engine of mass production/economies of scale, and that forces him to let the public in on his game. But make no mistake, this is his PERSONAL PROJECT first, foremost, and always! And in that light, no one alive, save perhaps own his personal advisors, have any standing whatsoever in his mind to offer any thoughts at all on the process or the results.
1a. It's EXACTLY the same as if you were painting your own personal private vehicle, and you decide to go with a snappy shade of pink with purple racing stripes because you really like the way you think it will look racing down the highway. And then a neighbor you barely know comes up behind you and says, "Hey, that looks horrible. You really need to go with Fire Engine Red with white stripes or you'll embarrass the neighborhood!". If this were YOUR car, what would you tell this person? And now you know! This is EXACTLY how NT sees his figures.
2. SO, KNOWING ALL THAT, what do you do? There are only two choices. Since this is not a "normal" business model, you can't just walk down the street and buy your museum quality limited edition 1/6 scale Star Trek figures from the next merchant in line, because there is no such option. So if you want these products in your collection, your choices are:
A. Accept EXO and its founder for what they are, and buy what they offer if you want it with the understanding that your voice and your preferences, no matter well-intentioned, will be seen as out-of-place, valueless, personal attacks on NT's personal space. So, buy what you like, skip what you don't, and never expect any typical measure of respect from this company like you may have become used to in (every) other venture.
B. If you are SO insulted and so (understandably) Indignant about how you are viewed by this company, or by NT himself, that you cannot in good consciousness support the man or the company, then DON"T. Get your stuff from the Nacelle Company, or pray that one day someone else gets the license.
Either choice is fully reasonable. But I expect a VERY high percentage of this forum's membership will continue to go with option A because we are fully addicted to this hobby and passionate about our Trek.
That said, I fail to understand why discussing the latest fit of customer mistreatment offered by NT can't be openly discussed here without trolls trying to push the idea of "How Dare We"!
We are a group of collectors discussing our experience collecting. Just because the treatment we might get from this particular company can be seen as outrageous is no reason to try to inoculate the forum against talking about it. Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but it's possible that one or two (but certainly not all) of the most vehement members who attempt to squelch all of the NT talk might well be NT plants or NT himself
.
There! Now don't make me write this novel again!
Your Truly,
QGF
