Questions for Asmus

[superdoug]

Hope you’ve been doing alright.

Same here!

 

[denrep-lilium]

Hope you’ve been doing alright.

I'm fine. Still have not full access to my apartment, but from what I can check my LOTR collection survived. Not so lucky with some other stuff. But there is hope that I will recover it slowly.
Rockets fall occasionally on Kyiv. We almost got used to it. Many shops and cafes are open now in Kyiv. Life almost feels normal here.
Thank you, guys!

 

[BagginsOfBagEnd]

^ Glad to hear you are ok!

 

[Bucky Underbelly]

So happy to hear you're okay! What a horrifying and rage-inducing thing to have to get used to. I know a bunch of toy collectors on the internet can't do much to help, but we're pulling for your, man.

 

[denrep-lilium]

These photos are from today. That's my office from the inside.

 

[superdoug]

Glad you are okay

 

[Someperson]

@Asmus any news on crown Gandalf the white ?

 

[Asmus]

production is now taking place in a well speed~
It will be available as an in stock item~

 

[ghilbertit]

production is now taking place in a well speed~
It will be available as an in stock item~

thanks... when the upgrade pack will be avaible?

 

[superglue81]

I rarely buy in stock figures because I save money for pre ordered figures and there is usually not much more budget because I plan what I am going to buy in advance. Many of my collector friends do the same. This new Asmus policy of "I don't show my figures or let you pre-order them because we're mad" looks like it's going to make me stop buying from them because my money will go towards any other pre-order figures from any other company. And I am someone who has all the asmus middle earth figures except Tauriel. I think Asmus's reaction to criticism is being quite exaggerated.

 

[Chopper Face]

I rarely buy in stock figures because I save money for pre ordered figures and there is usually not much more budget because I plan what I am going to buy in advance. Many of my collector friends do the same. This new Asmus policy of "I don't show my figures or let you pre-order them because we're mad" looks like it's going to make me stop buying from them because my money will go towards any other pre-order figures from any other company. And I am someone who has all the asmus middle earth figures except Tauriel. I think Asmus's reaction to criticism is being quite exaggerated.

Well luckily you’ve got a heads up on Boromir and GTW so… start saving?

 

[RandomHero]

I rarely buy in stock figures because I save money for pre ordered figures and there is usually not much more budget because I plan what I am going to buy in advance. Many of my collector friends do the same. This new Asmus policy of "I don't show my figures or let you pre-order them because we're mad" looks like it's going to make me stop buying from them because my money will go towards any other pre-order figures from any other company. And I am someone who has all the asmus middle earth figures except Tauriel. I think Asmus's reaction to criticism is being quite exaggerated.

It doesn't quite work like that.

Asmus themselves have admitted that quality control has been an issue for them - mostly stemming as a result of the production factories they have used. You can read up on some of @R_R_X posts in various threads about how difficult it can be to work with some factories and what a miracle it is that companies like Hot Toys and DAM Toys almost never have issues on release.

Now, it's fair to debate whether or not Asmus did the right thing by releasing a figure like Ash that had so many quality control issues, but having to refund so many figures over those issues likely caused a huge problem for Asmus, both with finances and man power. That's why they switched to this format, where what you see is what you get after production, so people don't have to worry about what's going to drop off.

It's a smart move by Asmus. As @Chopper Face pointed out above, they're still giving you a heads up. I know Haldir and Gil-Galad are coming, so I'll be setting money aside for them. You can do the same. But this way, Asmus doesn't have to worry about refunds in the future, or people nitpicking about the proto to production process.

And believe me - I'm sure with what they've been through, I'm sure they're going to make sure that their upcoming Bilbo and Boromir releases are going to be among the best they've done to win their fans back.

 

[superglue81]

Okay. I've been warned and I can start saving, but I still don't know if they have confirmed if these releases will only be for the asmus store or regular stores. Buying at the asmus store from Spain means paying crazy fees, taxes and shipping, so this option is ruled out for me. It can also happen that they run out. If you do not have the reservation made, you are not sure that you will have a copy for yourself. Or worse, something similar to the present Toys Indiana Jones may occur. And that of saving for something that I don't know if I'm going to like it, I just can't see it clearly. I understand why they have done it but I think they have exceeded. My intention is to continue supporting them, that's why I say these things.

 

[Sassafras]

I rarely buy in stock figures because I save money for pre ordered figures and there is usually not much more budget because I plan what I am going to buy in advance. Many of my collector friends do the same. This new Asmus policy of "I don't show my figures or let you pre-order them because we're mad" looks like it's going to make me stop buying from them because my money will go towards any other pre-order figures from any other company. And I am someone who has all the asmus middle earth figures except Tauriel. I think Asmus's reaction to criticism is being quite exaggerated.

After reading the Ash thread, I don't. There was a level of viciousness that I don't remember ever seeing before, about a figure. ASMUS like other companies needs to keep an eye on its production; but accusing them of running a scam etc. was way over the top. IMO just putting out a product, and people either buy it, or they don't, is reasonable enough for me. That way they can concentrate on individual customers who contact them about specific issues, and ignore the foaming at the mouth insulting road rage. For *&%& sake, these are dolls; it's not like getting a real Orlando Bloom sitting on the shelf.

Worse, this is one of the few companies I know of that will try to rectify issues. I do know there have been problems with ASMUS; but attacking and insulting a company even after they tried to explain was pretty grotesque reading. We are not paying for custom figures.

 

[FlyAndFight]

I actually welcome the "in stock" purchase, as there won't be the long wait between pre-ordering and shipping. Plus, as mentioned by RandomHaldir, what you see is what you'll get. Those that are hesitant won't have to wait too long to see in-hand photos and reviews before deciding to purchase or not.

 

[RandomHero]

I actually welcome the "in stock" purchase, as there won't be the long wait between pre-ordering and shipping. Plus, as mentioned by RandomHaldir, what you see is what you'll get. Those that are hesitant won't have to wait too long to see in-hand photos and reviews before deciding to purchase or not.

@Asta what’s the procedure for changing a username

 

[Asmus]

Thank you for the explanation @RandomHero
The new policy is more about "ensuring the photos we show is equal to the product you get."

I am sure stores like Sideshow or BBTS will still offer pre-orders, because they only order from us based on what they sold at pre-orders,
so I am sure if you prefer pre-orders on the figures, there will be channels for that too.

 

[batsheva]

Thank you for the explanation @RandomHero
The new policy is more about "ensuring the photos we show is equal to the product you get."

I am sure stores like Sideshow or BBTS will still offer pre-orders, because they only order from us based on what they sold at pre-orders,
so I am sure if you prefer pre-orders on the figures, there will be channels for that too.

The new policy is good.
I'm sure if the promo pics are equal to the actual product, there will be no more complaints and surge cancellations from the customers.
What happened in the real world (outside this forum) is the reality of how the majority of people/the customers/buyers feel about asmus. Many issues with your products and conduct, and finally the ash fiasco hit you really hard.. so this can be a good start to make things better.

Just a suggestion, also make sure the photos include the whole presentations, such as the artbox etc, and no more sudden charge for shipping/surprising things (in a bad way) like that.
I hope asmus get better and better.

 

[Sassafras]

The new policy is good.
I'm sure if the promo pics are equal to the actual product, there will be no more complaints and surge cancellations from the customers.
What happened in the real world (outside this forum) is the reality of how the majority of people/the customers/buyers feel about asmus. Many issues with your products and conduct, and finally the ash fiasco hit you really hard.. so this can be a good start to make things better.

Just a suggestion, also make sure the photos include the whole presentations, such as the artbox etc, and no more sudden charge for shipping/surprising things (in a bad way) like that.
I hope asmus get better and better.

How do you know this? Do you work for a major data mining firm that researches and collates ASMUS purchases from companies worldwide, and conducts surveys in multiple languages and distills this data? Because that's what would be needed to legitimately make statements about the "majority of people" in that it's debatable how many purchasers of any product publicly provide any kind of feedback; and past that how that data would be collated; and further distilled into specific pros or cons, or why.

For instance, apparently there are some people who care about an art box, and some don't, based upon comments in this forum, but that's not exactly specific. And some people are possibly like me, who don't have an issue with ASMUS at this point in time, except for the fact I don't need a Boromir, personally. Also, millions of people like me did not buy the Ash figure, so it's likely we don't care one way or the other.

 

[batsheva]

How do you know this? Do you work for a major data mining firm that researches and collates ASMUS purchases from companies worldwide, and conducts surveys in multiple languages and distills this data? Because that's what would be needed to legitimately make statements about the "majority of people" in that it's debatable how many purchasers of any product publicly provide any kind of feedback; and past that how that data would be collated; and further distilled into specific pros or cons, or why.

"What happened in the real world (outside this forum) is the reality of how the majority of people/the customers/buyers feel about asmus".
I don't have to work for a major data mining firm that researches and collates bla2.. because in that sentence, I didn't say that the majority feel about asmus is negative/positive.
No need to do research or surveys because I'm just stating a simple logic: you want to see what happened in the real world, then you should look and see outside of this forum.

For instance, apparently there are some people who care about an art box, and some don't, based upon comments in this forum, but that's not exactly specific. And some people are possibly like me, who don't have an issue with ASMUS at this point in time, except for the fact I don't need a Boromir, personally. Also, millions of people like me did not buy the Ash figure, so it's likely we don't care one way or the other.

Well, we know this fact: asmus themselves has admitted that they faced plenty of cancellations, that they even need some time to fix it, reply all the complaint emails, and we can also see that from the comments on their social media.. it's still there, you can still read them. The majority of the comments for ash are complaining. It's no secret that ash is a fiasco and caused asmus to even changed their policy.
If there are only few cases, if it's not big enough for asmus.. then they will not be too busy or affected by it. They won't even bother to make and apply this new policy to all of their products.

And to quote you and other member in another thread:

one thing I'd scold ASMUS for is ever letting a Frodo get out the door with dark eyes. WTF. Elijah Wood has those luminous expressive grey-blue eyes so how do you *&^% something like that up. It's on every bit of PR material for the last 20 years.

Then the Faramir vambrace thing...or, although ASMUS has always answered me quickly the few times I contacted them, not keeping track and responding to inquiries within a week, or 10 business days at the very maximum.

There's other stuff I know, tho I only skimmed through the Ash stuff out of curiosity. Of course some things I agree with, other stuff I think folks are too excitable (to be polite about it).

Someone approved Gandalf’s hat. Henrietta’s lack of hair, head sculpts seeming to change from design to manufacture. The last Aragorn sculpt looked great in digital form. Did their head of QC really think that the sculpt we got really looked like Mortenson as Aragorn?

Dunno about producing goods that are packed and shipped at the factory, but it sounds like ASMUS as well as WETA and some others really need to demand random samples before ANYTHING ships.

Which I agree. We acknowledge asmus' issues, in QC (which they also admitted themselves), in final production, not delivering what is in their promo pics, and etc.
Is that just one issue? no, there are many issues.. but the ash fiasco hit them the hardest.

So bottom line is, what asmus try to do now is a good step. This will make sure what you see is what you get.. and that is a good thing because we all want asmus to be better.