So, for the last few months you've been talking about how long it's been taking and they need to show the final product. Now, they show a final product and you're like "No no no, that won't do, we need to start over again, and take more time"
Le sigh, no wonder no manufacturers want to take part in the dialog here.
Well that tends to happen when the final product, which people have been waiting for over a year for 'improvements' at this point, turns out to actually look decidedly worse than the piece that they were supposedly correcting to begin with.
Regardless of any personal disagreements between members, or the occasional pointed comment that gets thrown about a little too readily sometimes in this thread, I don't think there is anyone here who is actively taking pleasure in seeing Big Chief stumble, or who wants to see that happen. But they have stumbled here, and to my mind stumbled pretty hard. And no amount of comforting faint praise will make that any less apparent, nor will it fool anyone who isn't satisfied, and is unhappy about waiting a year only to see a piece get progressively worse, rather than better.
Ultimately we all want to see them be successful enough so that the dream of, at the very least, getting all of the Doctors made, and made well, may one day come to fruition. We all have our own dream list of characters we'd love to see tackled one day by Big Chief, and done well, at least to the standard that we already know they are capable of from the Eleventh Doctor release, and hopefully even better than that. But this piece for many (most?) simply doesn't measure up, not by the standards of the price point, and not by the standards by which we know Big Chief themselves are capable of delivering. At least to a great many fans eyes, judging by what we have been shown today anyhow. And stating such isn't being mean, it's not a betrayal, or an insult. It is an expression of genuine disappointment for a piece that everyone hoped would be far better than it now appears destined to be.
And no matter what the reasons are behind why it has all turned out like this, at the end of the day the final product is what matters to collectors, and whether it is worth owning for the price it will cost to do so. Good intentions don't make great collections. Alas, in this case I fear that Big Chief is going to take a bit of a bath as far as that goes, if this is truly indicative of the final release version. And while I hope it isn't enough to damage them long term, at the end of the day they still have to earn collectors money, and here I just don't think they have done that, at least for a good many collectors if the feedback so far is any indication.
I imagine this is pretty much a nightmare for Big Chief, given the amount of time and money they must have sunk into this piece by now, and I do feel bad for them on that front. But it's a business, not a charity, and if they want collectors support, and the cash that comes with it, then they have to earn it, and do so with every piece that comes out, or else suffer the financial consequences. That's just how it works. Hopefully they'll fare better with future releases like Ten and Four.
My view anyhow.
