MJF, for what it's worth, I get your point.
But sci-fi fans are so used to the 'startup operation' concept of money first and product someday down the line, I, too, wanna bang my head against a wall for how much the fans now are willing to put up with.
Bottom line for professional prop copy companies? Shoulder the costs, make the product, then I'll buy. That's how it works for everyone else.
Otherwise,
pass.
This is not an anovos issue, its not a replica prop license issue... this happens in all industries...
No, it doesn't. I can't think of any other 'industry' where this kickstarter method of production is so common. Yes, you wait for other companies to come out with a product, but it's not nearly as common to take pre-orders for said product as the primary method of ordering.
My beef with Anovos has never been that they take forever to deliver anything; it's that in many cases I've seen that's the
only way to you'll ever get one. The only items of their I have come from people who pre-ordered several and I bought them from them.
I think that among sci-fi types, we're all so used to that, that we don't get how insane it sounds as a business model (if you wanna call it that).
"Hey, it's a small company,"
Not my problem. They'll take my money just as fast as a big company.
"But that's how it works for sci-fi stuff,"
Not my problem. People who argue this have simply gotten used to paying first and watching their kids grow up while they're waiting. Not me.
"They got to fund the production somehow,"
Not my problem. A normal business model is you invest in your supplies (often with a bank loan for startups), manufacturing and such,
then you make the stuff, sell it, then recover the losses and what you have left is your profit. If you can't grasp how everyone else makes stuff, maybe you shouldn't be in a business?
"But they're fans, too,"
So not my problem. They're not a non-profit, I can assure you of that. They don't give me a discount if I use the stuff to visit children hospitals, so why do I owe them any slack?
