ANOVOS issues (ANOVOS ONLY discussion)

But Inquisitor - don’t you at all have a problem with the idea that your assessment opens up an avenue of sympathy for these two jokers?
Don't confuse my saying there's some blame all around with absolution for anybody. I definitely don't blame anyone who's still in this thread -- we've hung on longer than many. Even those who have cancelled and been (finally) refunded still have an interest in seeing what happens and hoping with some faint glimmer that it's not the crash and burn that seems likely.
There are overwhelming examples of delusion and deceit. Myself, I have it on good authority that their Kylo costumes were never even started. That whole write up about them being finished but then all being trashed is also suspiciously missing from their site.
Yikes. I had zero investment in the Kylo stuff, so I never dug into it.

There's a part of me that's wondered if the "revised" First Order Stormtrooper stuff was a separate thing to supply Dinsey's parks, and some leftover kits were sent ot customers. I know they did start the TFA armor and helmets (and, indeed, sent out many of the helmets) before things went weird... But I wouldn't be shocked to discover the TFA armor project is still languishing somewhere and the TLJ stuff was a whole different thing.
These guys dont have what it takes and, in fooling Disney, fooled themselves into thinking they did.
I think they did, at first. Something happened partway in. And I doubt we'll ever know beyond the vague "the owners got in over their heads and bulled forward rather than pause and reassess".
And any cancellations a week or so after purchase were not numerous enough nor frequent enough to affect a company with any real sense of structure. They had more than enough customers to wait through their Q1-Q4 system if they adhered to it.
What I have is that, across eight or ten preorders, multiple thousands of preorders each, that then, after preordering was closed and actual work was committed to, multiple hundreds in each of those started cancelling. Not all at once, but someone posting about it on social media tends to get others to go "Hey, yeah, it's been two months and they haven't shipped me my thing...*" and cancel theirs, too.

*"...that I totally didn't read the bit on the picture saying that was only a representation, or the part in the listing that said production would commence after pre-orders were closed and it would take a year or so to be ready to ship..."

Basic math, even without exact figures, yields tens to hundreds of thousands of invested dollars that suddenly weren't there any more.

You are right. They couldn't handle something like this. It was a foray into a type of product they hadn't made before, on a scale they hadn't had to meet before, for a more impatient customer base than they were used to dealing with, and a licensor who demanded a fee much bigger than they'd had to account for before. Their business model that had served them perfectly well up to that point broke its hip and fell on its face and they had no idea how to react.
 
The below is based on my experience with orders placed with Anovos starting in 2015. The orders were primarily Star Wars helmets or armor. I have not ordered soft good items other than the Imperial Officer costume in 2016.

Anovos filled many helmet and armor orders until the fall of 2017. I received 12 items directly from Anovos up to that point.

They kept putting up new preorders through mid 2019, but were not shipping much. In 2019 they stopped taking preorders and created the Texas facility to build items in house starting with the Mando helmet. They did pretty well with filling the orders for items produced at the Texas facility. Some people had issues with several month delays for items that were listed as "in stock". Unfortunately most of the preorders from 2017 - 2019 remain unfulfilled, one exception being the Royal Guard helmet which was moved to the Texas facility.

They were able to fill plenty of orders for helmets and armor early on. For some reason things seemed to fall apart late 2017 with the overseas manufacturing. I don't know what changed in 2017, but they were able to get helmets and armor from overseas manufacturers prior to that.
 
That's the maddening crux, that "something happened" bit. And a combination of natural human reticence to talking about our ****-ups and the Disney gag order means we'll probably never know what. Which is doubly infuriating because, if we knew, we might have been able to help prevent, ameliorate, or recover from it. We collectively on here have the knowing of a lot of things, from how to do the actual work to how to run a business to how to deal with problematic customers or subcontractors. I know we could have helped, whatever it was. None of us wanted -- or want -- to see ANOVOS fail. Never mind the owners, everyone I know who worked or works there believe in what they're doing and have the best intentions. It's so frustrating it makes my teeth hurt to know it almost certainly could have all been prevented or dealt with handily, if only... *grump*
 
Quite certain I've been lied to on multiple occasions about my undelivered Krennic ensemble that I ordered five years ago. Almost three years ago, they sent a message saying its all ready except for the pin on the hat. They also said they'd start shipping it in pieces starting with the pants within a month. That never happened, and they never even bothered with a followup email. I requested a refund last March, and then in August they asked for my address to send a check. Then silence and nothing after that. These worthless crooks delivered nothing and have stolen my money.

Five years, three Star Wars films, and two seasons of a TV show have passed since I placed my original order, and I have nothing. These crooks have repeatedly lied, and I want my money back. In the time that they had been blatantly lying to me, they announced new products to scam more people out of money.
 
That's also part of the mixed experience. In the time since I ordered my First Order Stormtrooper ensemble in 2017, I have ordered three more things and gotten two of them, one immediately, and one after minor production delays. The remaining order I know is past the prototyping phase, and that COVID has legit slowed the rest of the process down, but it's still on track as far as manufacture and delivery. But that's because I know the head of the Star Trek side, and they're not under a gag order from CBS. He can't tell me everything, but a damn sight more than the company can say about their Star Wars stuff.

This is not to diminish those who, like me, have been waiting for three or four or more years for something that should have been delivered long since -- or those who got sick of waiting and demanded a refund they either eventually or never got. You are suffering. We who are still hanging on are worried. I just do what I can to make sure the more nuanced reality of what has been finished and delivered versus what hasn't is maintained. Else, from all the people stating they didn't get the thing they preordered years ago, it might appear they have delivered nothing in several years, which isn't the case. I have received nearly a thousand dollars worth of product -- I am just still unfulfilled on a couple thousand more.
 
In recent years Anovos has delivered some Star Wars items for the first time (Mando helmet, Royal Guard helmet, Cassian Andor jacket, Rogue One Imperial Officer hat) and additional runs of previously delivered products (Poe helmet, Snowtrooper helmet, Sandtrooper helmet, AT-AT helmet, etc). Unfortunately they have a huge backlog that very little progress has been made on.

I would like to be told at a high level what stage each of the long delayed products is in. Some products probably should be cancelled all together. I understand Anovos can't say much without permission from Disney, but surely Disney knows there are lots of very unhappy customers. The lack of communication and delivery of many products has been a huge failure. I'm surprised by the lack of effort from Disney to get the situation resolved.

Is there a good way for lots of us to contact Disney with the details of our long delayed orders? I know some have tried that already. Maybe if Disney receives many at the same time they will get a better idea of the level of dissatisfaction.
 
Is there a good way for lots of us to contact Disney with the details of our long delayed orders? I know some have tried that already. Maybe if Disney receives many at the same time they will get a better idea of the level of dissatisfaction.
+1, either this or somehow disney needs to get pulled into the lawsuit again by the judge (and being forced to make everyone whole, even those from outside of the US)
 
+1, either this or somehow disney needs to get pulled into the lawsuit again by the judge (and being forced to make everyone whole, even those from outside of the US)
This is my issue with things. Disney can weasel out of the lawsuit, and they can play hardball with Anovos telling them what they can/cannot do/say, but refuse to step in and make sure customers are taken care of? That's a load of crap.
 
I still hope that that io9/Gizmodo article gets published. Even a “large” group of us here appealing to Disney seems unlikely to do much.

But if one of the larger tech/geek websites picks up the story, others will probably link to it, and our story could snowball into something that Disney can no longer keep ignoring as easily.
 
Yeah, I was flabbergasted when Disney and Lucasfilm were excused from the lawsuit. Where the hell was the legal team that day? A simple breakdown of various companies and their licensing fees would show how hefty Lucasfilm's are for the Star Wars brand. Disney is legendary for demanding a huge cut. Any halfway competent attorney should be able to link ANOVOS' problems at least in part to still having to pay those, regardless of how many cancelled orders they have to refund or how many Chinese factories demand ransoms to release their orders on top of what was contracted for. Any halfway competent attorney should be able to point out that souring people on Star Wars merch from one source can have ripple effects that affect the brand as a whole. That it is in the interest of their bottom line to prop up this licensee so they can fulfill their orders and keep paying the licensors their cut.
 
I was over at galaxies edge this week. They still have some Anovos products. The Kylo Ren helmet is still for sale at US$750. One of their first order suit is on display but it’s not for sale. I took multiple photos, best I could, so the group can get a good look at what we’re dealing with.

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They also had first order Tie pilot helmets on display, but not on sale at the small gift shop that I was in. (there was a waiting list to get into the larger gift shop area, Dok Ondor, and I didn’t have the time to wait to get in to the main store ) There were also first order flame trooper helmets on display but not for sale, and multiple first order blasters throughout the store on display but not for sale.
 
I know there is always a big push to demonize Disney and blame them for all suffering in the world. Disney is no stranger to law suits either the ones being sued or the ones doing pushing the law suit. And they have their shares of wins and losses. Also I notice no one is asking why Paramount and Sony is not getting sued for the lack of Trek and Ghostbuster items getting shipped.

I will start off with saying I have no legal education other than standard business law college courses. But I do know that contracts are not cookie cutter items so they are always different from on agreement to the next.

We have no idea what the contract between, Disney/LFL and Anovos states. So we have no idea who is responsible contractually for what. However I think we can make some assumptions. Whatever the problem with Anovos, there is nothing in the contract that holds Disney at fault or else we would see them mentioned (keep your conspiracy theories saved for the Flat Earth forum please). Another assumption is that whatever Anovos has... or has not done... they have not broken any contract deals with Disney or else we would see Disney suing Anovos as well. That's not to say that Disney is happy with Anovos. They may have higher expectations of the profits they would see but whatever the deal was, it would seem Anovos is not in violation of the contract. Otherwise Disney would file suit or pull the license. Of course they may have to wait till the licensing period is over to prove non-fulfillment of contract.

I have no idea when the current contract for Star Wars ends. I would be surprised if they re-sign with Anovos. However, if the contract is not giving Anovos exclusive rights (and other companies are allowed to make such items), then there may be no risk to Disney for letting them continue as long as there is profit to be made.
 
I'm not sure anyone was speaking contractually.

My point at least, is that Disney could step in and make things right for those getting screwed with basically money they find in their couch cushions. Not a whole lot more than that. I can tell you right now, i will be making no purchases from Anovos again and i won't buy anything from Disney, or even stamped Disney unless i can pull it off the shelf.

And again, it goes back to the point of Disney could make things right if they chose to, regardless of what the contracts say. Not doing so does damage their brand whether they want to actually admit that or not. So, it's their right to not make things right, but it will hurt them going forward. Admittedly, they won't lose as much as making things right, but to many it will simply prove the point that the Disney stamp is essentially worthless as all it seems to do is get them money and dump a huge amount of red tape on their vendors who'll pass it on to their customers.

I wonder if they were selling glass slipper replicas for a couple grand if they'd toss those customers into the wind as well or step in to some extent since that's direct Disney property and not a purchased subsidiary.

As for profit, what good does a yearly license fee do you if all you get is cash and ill will from customers? They're not producing jack. How many people in this thread are going to hand someone else 1-5k for a costume or prop that Disney hands a license too? Not under the same product model. I can't see it. MR, fool us once, shame on you, EFx, fool us twice, shame on us, Anovos, 3rd strike, you're out. Why on earth would anyone believe a 4th company will be the charm?

I guess those last two show disney does not give a rat's ass about the customer. Efx doesn't do squat with the license and takes money and issues nothing. Anovos does it more/worse. Disney: "Don't blame us, we just cash checks". The message I get from them is we don't care of our licensee's screw people left, right, and center as long as they pay us.
 
How many people in this thread are going to hand someone else 1-5k for a costume or prop that Disney hands a license too? Not under the same product model. I can't see it. MR, fool us once, shame on you, EFx, fool us twice, shame on us, Anovos, 3rd strike, you're out. Why on earth would anyone believe a 4th company will be the charm?
Seventh. Seventh company would supposedly be 'the charm'. You forgot Icons, Museum Replicas, and ThePropStore.
 
MR gets a bad wrap but they were actually very good at meeting their ETAs. The problem is the way it ended. Corgi bought them out and had no interest in the Star Wars license and elected not to pick it up again And the last of the projects fell through such as the storm trooper helmets.

The bad thing about MR was the threats by ownership to people on this board who made and sold fan made items. They threatened With lawsuits and set the community back several years.
 
MR gets a bad wrap but they were actually very good at meeting their ETAs. The problem is the way it ended. Corgi bought them out and had no interest in the Star Wars license and elected not to pick it up again And the last of the projects fell through such as the storm trooper helmets.

The bad thing about MR was the threats by ownership to people on this board who made and sold fan made items. They threatened With lawsuits and set the community back several years.
And let's not forget their Grand Finale: the fully funded HAL 9000.

 

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