I know why they cancelled it and as I stated in my previous post, I theorized why the pre-sales were low. But this is not a fan project in the junkyard, this is the big league kiddos. Time to put your big boy pants on. I believe that if you did the research, you would discover their was an advance out their. I say that under the current circumstances, their are more potential buyers for items for stock than those willing to invest in questionable pre-sale delivery dates. As a result, pre-sales does not give you an accurate gauge of interest and potential sales. In short... If you build it, they will buy (assuming you did your homework).
For instance: I really would like a TIE helmet (and if they ever sell it, the chest armor), but you're not going to get me on an Anovos pre-sale list again. I also tend to buy a lot of things for my collection, not because I had an interest in the item prior to its release, but because it was done so well that it became a must have for my collection.
Hmmm...if I were to paraphrase Master Yoda I would say "you seem to have a lot of anger in you, like your father...". But if you did your homework, then you would know that the cost of tooling a product is very expensive and gauging interest to justify that cost in producing a product is one way of doing it.
I have no idea what you do for a living or what your college degree was in, but just in case you do not understand the manufacturing process, I would recommend you do some homework and look up what caused the demise of other prop companies such as ICONS, Master Replicas, and now Prop Shop, and then you would know what is causing ANOVOS and eFx to have issues with getting product out and the approval process they have to go through with Disney and Lucasfilms.
You seem to think these companies, which are privately owned and funded, have an endless supply of money to tool each and every prop (very expensive); get it approved by Disney and Lucasfilm; then manufacture it at their own cost; deal with the Chinese in getting it made; get it in stock; and then hope it sells out to the public where they then finally make a profit and can stay in business.
The purpose of pre-sales is to see if there is enough interest to justify the tooling of the prototype. A good recent history lesson is to look at what happened to the Prop Shop and how not to do things in the current prop market. Remember, this company was making the props as they were ordered with a four month wait time.
If you were referring to me as doing my homework before posting, then please be reassured I did exactly that as I went straight to the source and spoke directly with Joe at ANOVOS to find out why ANOVOS canceled the product in question. All I did was pass along what he told me was the real reason the product in question was canceled so everyone, including you, would understand. My post was not meant to hurt your feelings or get you all riled up and angry.
I am sure if you have a better understanding of the licensed prop business, then both ANOVOS and eFX would love to hear from you with your business expertise to help them with getting their business plan corrected and the right product out to the public at a fair price and without the long wait time and hastle when you consider all the business factors the market currently has to deal with today.
But seriously, you sound like you have it all figured out, so why don't you reach out to Joe at gotmaul on this forum and Bryan and eFX and I am sure both would be interested in hearing your financial proposal on fixing the current prop replica market issues.
As always, MTFBWY and LLAP and Take Care,
Rick
