The 3A Thread

[kenobiobi]

How do we find out about chase figures/F5 figures now? With the F5 bar, and the forum being gone now and all.

Are we done with those? I can't recall there being one this year.

 

[Pixelpiper]

The forum still exists, it's running on a different free forum site. It's members-only though, so you'll have to join before you can see anything.

I'm sure someone else has the URL handy, I don't have it right now as I'm not a member.

Personally, I don't have the patience for any of the absurd limited, jump on one foot with your thumb up your *** shenanigans they run at Bambaland. If I want something that I can't buy directly from them, I'll buy it aftermarket if possible, or just skip it.

I had no problem grabbing this latest TK, but IMO, it's asinine limiting the sale to 24 hours. To me, that's a big F-U to 3A customers/fans.

 

[dedguy]

I hear you Pixelpiper. I have gone from loving ThreeA to being frustrated to walking away with a fair bit of resentment. A lot of that has to do with the way they sell things. You get no notice before a $150+ item is put up on the store. The best you can hope for is a week to figure out how you're going to pay for it. In some cases it's less than 24 hours. On top of that stuff either is only available for pre-order for a very brief period of time or has some artificial cap on production numbers so it "sells out" in seconds.

It's infuriating. I have been a 3AA member since the beginning but I didn't sign up this year after realizing I bought /nothing/ this past year. The only thing I have is the 3AA kit from last year. There were things I wanted but they either sold out before I could buy them or I was not at all prepared financially when I got the two days noticed that something would be up for sale. I posted a thread on the old forum about it an iirc there was something like 10-15 products I didn't buy because of this BS.

Sorry for the negativity. I'm just really bummed. I want to still like ThreeA but I kinda hate them now

 

[Crazypanda85]

Dedguy, you're not wrong for feeling this way. Asian figure market is funny in a way and I wish they had a more westernized way of doing business.

I do agree that it bothers me that they have these 24hr sales but I've gotten use to it when it comes to the indie Asian figure market, limited poster prints, etc,.

3A is trying to do better with announcing estimated times for when certain figures go on sale via their blog, FB page, twitter,etc,. They have been more vocal about when certain figures get pushed back and why they delay some figures. Some of their pieces are on the store longer than others (the license stuff mainly and even some of their own pieces) but I do wish that some of the more desirable stuff stayed longer.

I have started budgeting a figure fund with my family monthly budget. This helps me to not overspend and to also have money set aside for random drops. I,very subscribed to 3AA for the last few years and I do it as a automatic thing nowadays. I usually like the figure(s) included and I never know when I may actually use my discount. This year I've already saved a little over $100 on three figures. I do, however, wish Ash would leave out some of the more... risqué... stuff out of the membership pack, especially since everyone is not into it.

 

[illproxy]

i have big issue with the decline in QC, i swear there is none anymore. its also a bummer how there seems to be nothing new anymore, it just same old ideas/concepts in a new scale. all seems so phoned in now.

ded i really wish you would join us on forum still tho, do miss you there.

 

[fart jokes]

You can count me in as being a fan whose lost just about all interest in 3A. I've sold off a large chunk of my collection already, and plan on selling off even more. I'll keep a few Caesars, Brambles, and Berties.

 

[dedguy]

i have big issue with the decline in QC, i swear there is none anymore. its also a bummer how there seems to be nothing new anymore, it just same old ideas/concepts in a new scale. all seems so phoned in now.

ded i really wish you would join us on forum still tho, do miss you there.

Definitely agree with the drop in QC. Every single figure I have gotten in the last two-three years has had some issue that I needed a replacement part for.

I lost the link to the forum and honestly didn't have the heart to go looking for it again. If you get me the addy I may give it another go. That was also the last straw for me. The official forum being killed off. The new forum is unofficial right? Unless I got that wrong.

 

[illproxy]

Definitely agree with the drop in QC. Every single figure I have gotten in the last two-three years has had some issue that I needed a replacement part for.

I lost the link to the forum and honestly didn't have the heart to go looking for it again. If you get me the addy I may give it another go. That was also the last straw for me. The official forum being killed off. The new forum is unofficial right? Unless I got that wrong.

it was kinda confusing as to what happened to the official forum, but yeah it seemed as tho Ash/threeA didnt think it was needed anymore. forum hosting ending so instead of gettin a new forum going it was- it had a good run, adios. thats not surprising cuz we have been told on more than one occasion that the active legion makes up for less than 10% of the business/customer base these days or sumthin like that.

gimby and gregory got the unofficial one goin for us. they are 3A staff but was done on there own w/o any help from 3A i think. def more of a fan thing than a 3A thing as it was originally. but again threeA has grown to the point where the **** sells regardless. bad QC and all. so the hardcore legion that helped build it, kinda expendable now i guess.


Free forum : World of 3A Legion

 

[MwNN]

I finally received my 3AA kit and haven't had the heart to open it. I really doubt if I'll re-up next year...
I haven't seen anything I want to order for the last 9 months, I'm not into the fashion dolls and the
AdventureLand type dolls I don't get.
The Marvel stuff is good for those into it...I even got one of the Iron Man figures. Though, I love my Lassstranaut and the Blind Cowboy figures, if they came up with something like those again, I'm on board.
Lately just recycles and rehashes.

 

[Crazypanda85]

I recently received my Zomb MD and it's great. The headsculpt is brand new, came with some cool accessories, and the overall QC is great.

I know a lot are not happy about some of the rehashed ideas but since I collect more than 3A, it makes me feel good that I don't feel the need to get everything from 3A (my wallet agree too,lol).

At the end of the day, if you've fell out of love with the current roster of 3A figures, I understand and I hope they eventually release something that will win you back. For now, I'm content with a good number of their current offerings.

 

[user 19388]

My opinion is that its hit and miss with the quality now adays, but I'd gauge it as 70%good/30%bad. The negative aspects seem to always over shadow any positives. However, you can always count on their bots to be good qc. The human figures on the other hand is mainly the issue with the underlying bodies, that and them poorly packing/protecting the figures (mainly paint rub on faces). Yes some of the designs for the figures lately have been a bunch of recycled parts and some rehashes. The official licenses take the spotlight it seem over the original IP's (Popbot, WWR and AK). Though, there are all the more dolly type figures that seem to have a fair bit of attention.

Delays are part of the hobby sadly, threeA does seem to have excessive delays but I buy so much stuff... I forget what I bought and it always is a surprise when it comes... and it seems I am on a first name basis with my local post office now as a result...

For the most part I'm still happy with them as a company, my collection is mostly comprised of 3A items. I pick and choose more now, if there is a real major issue with something the CS department is pretty quick to address it. If you dont like it, then you dont buy it. My opinions though, reflect as you will.

 

[dedguy]

thats not surprising cuz we have been told on more than one occasion that the active legion makes up for less than 10% of the business/customer base these days or sumthin like that.

…so the hardcore legion that helped build it, kinda expendable now i guess.

THIS is what really bugged me. I know some of the why of the forum being shutdown but none of that kept them from building another one. They just no longer cared to support the people that supported them from the very start. That is real crappy imo.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I have a hard time believing that the "extended legion" (that's people who are now or have been members of their forum, facebook groups and from different countries) account for less than 10% of their sales. I'd have an easier time believing they account for more than 80%. Production for these items is low by their own admission and what we can see in the aftermarket. The number of people in this legion/FB/online group is large. Maybe they refer to only some top 100 people posting to the forum as "the legion" - but that's a silly way to look at it. If the folks online account only for a small percentage of sales, just where are they getting their other customers? Door to door fliers? At the end of the day, whatever you call this loose group of people, the majority of their sales are repeat business, a core set of customers. And in every business, it's much easier and much less costly to hang on to a customer than to develop/find a new one.

The old forum was shut down (and not migrated) for primarily one reason. The person who set up the forum software and hosting for them was no longer returning their emails/contact. They were the only ones who had the hosting login credentials, so none of the mods could get access to the forum files (no FTP, no database dumps, nothing). That hosting account was up for renewal and without the login details they couldn't renew either. So they let it expire and just started a new forum.

 

[dedguy]

No they didn't start a new forum. People on their own initiative started one. Officially ThreeA terminated the forum. They could have started a new one but they didn't. It's nice that some people started an unofficial one but that doesn't change the fact that ThreeA officially abandoned a lot of their core fanbase.

 

[Pixelpiper]

No they didn't start a new forum. People on their own initiative started one. Officially ThreeA terminated the forum. They could have started a new one but they didn't. It's nice that some people started an unofficial one but that doesn't change the fact that ThreeA officially abandoned a lot of their core fanbase.

The same people who maintained the previous forum, who are employed by 3A, started ANOTHER unofficial forum (at the Forumotion free hosting site). The one that was shut down was equally unofficial, even though it was run on a 3A-related domain name. It was not "shut down" - its hosting expired and they couldn't do anything about it as 3A (and those 3A employees) were not the registrants - a legion member has done the registration and setup previously. 3A, as a company, has never been interested in running their own forum, which is why the previous one was set up by someone else and was "unofficial" as well. What I wrote above is not speculation, it's information directly from the 3A employee(s). Take it or leave it.

 

[dedguy]

Yeah I know all the same info. It doesn't change anything I said. I wouldn't consider a forum that is run on a server paid for by ThreeA on ThreeA's domain and moderated and supported tech wise by paid ThreeA employees who are being paid to do so "unofficial".

Yes the new forum is started by ThreeA employees but as far as I know they aren't being paid to run it and ThreeA certainly aren't paying for domains, hosting, or IT.

The difference between the two is significant to me. Especially given that iirc the official stated reason for it being shut down was the "only 10% of sales come from the forum users" reason. I could be wrong about the last part but what I do know for sure is there was the real reason it was being shut down was never officially stated.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Yeah I know all the same info. It doesn't change anything I said. I wouldn't consider a forum that is run on a server paid for by ThreeA on ThreeA's domain and moderated and supported tech wise by paid ThreeA employees who are being paid to do so "unofficial". .

You're off base here. 3A didn't have any control over the former site, and if you know the same info I mentioned, then you'll know the name of the person who did have control and shouldn't draw the conclusion above. If you didn't consider it unofficial before you should still not - it's precisely the same people administering the forum, running it precisely the same way. They're still paid by 3A to do their 3A jobs, and not paid to spend time on and run a forum.

I deleted my account at the forum because I can't stand the setup, I don't think the people running it do a good job of it and I really also dislike the forum software. The elitist attitude of some members was just icing on the cake. They've since made the whole thing private as they don't want non-members being able to see the posts.

Yeah, the whole setup before and after, plus the communication of what was going on was a total clusterfk. IMO, 3A make great designs and great products, but they don't know jack about managing an online presence. And forum or not, their online presence is responsible for close to 100% of their sales.

 

[illproxy]

i pushed for them to make it private. why? because the old one was and because we were a solid community at one point, if someone had a problem, any kind and expressed or vented and asked for help we would help as best we could, cuz we as said were a community. was beyond toys, was a collective of online friends that met via the love of threeA.. the new forum being open for non members to see encouraged the opposite cuz any private info shared could be viewed by non-members. requesting the forum be private like the old one was in a attempt to get the community back to how it was.

we were told by threeA staff that the extended legion account for a very low percentage of sales. an amount that isnt impactfull in any way. that came direct from a staff member who is privy to behind the scenes info.

im sure in the early days the extended legion was 80% of sales. but that doesnt seem to be the case anymore.

this is how a threea forum was even started years and years back- Ash was posting on the spawn forum at same time was gettin together with Kim of threezero to start threeA. so Ash left the spawn forum and started the threeA outpost forum shortly before first threeA fig PO. you cant get any more official than that. the artist and owner started it and years and years later when it was goin down for whatever reason hosting and the like the artist/owner didnt think it was necessary anymore. mods and legion did hence the now "unofficial" one we have.

THIS is what really bugged me. I know some of the why of the forum being shutdown but none of that kept them from building another one. They just no longer cared to support the people that supported them from the very start. That is real crappy imo.

agreed.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I believe any forum that Ash started may have been at least two forums ago. Someone who's name starts with "B" was responsible for all the registration and hosting for the last one that expired and it was clearly labeled as "unofficial."

I'd love to know who their customers are besides the people that make up the legion forum and facebook groups. If those people make up less than 90% of the Bambaland orders I'd be completely and utterly blown away. Retail is another matter, but there's still very little chance that the majority of those customers are not members of these online communities.

 

[Pixelpiper]

BTW, if anyone has a pair of articulated robot hands about the size of human hands available for trade/sale, please let me know via PM. I'm having no luck locating any at the moment. Need them for a custom.