Anovos Stormtrooper.... thoughts?
- Thread starter Starrfox1
- Start date
Timmythekid
Sr Member
Which still doesn't explain why they maintain radio silence, try to slip ship date changes quietly past without mention, and have all of a sudden curtailed what was fantastic active relations with their clients on these boards and others. Nobody is asking for all three, but picking two doesn't in any way preclude them from keeping people abreast of WTF is going on with stuff they've already paid for. THAT'S what's hurting them right now, not the delays per se.
kman
Well-Known Member
Agreed, although this is hardly uncommon in the world of preorders.
The good news is reports are finally here stating that the first kits are actually shipping. I suspect later this week we'll start seeing the first first-hand reports of actual unboxings of the final product. So while they didn't make their original "Winter 2015" estimate, they do appear to be right on target with their 1Q 2016 revised estimate. No, they didn't hold everyone's hand as much as everyone would like, but they were open with periodic updates about the overall process and what expected ship dates were, and they appear to have made it with only one relatively small revision to the original estimate.
While obviously I wish everything had happened faster, I am reasonably content with how things have played out, given the fantastic price. (Again, working under the assumption that the final kits are as good as promised, which appears to be a semi-reasonable assumption, given other products that have shipped.)
DBoz
Sr Member
Technically, they did make the "Winter 2015" estimate as it is still winter.
Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
As someone who works in the "winter" industry, I can confirm that we are still in winter 2015.
Lichtbringer
Master Member
As someone who is seeing snow when watching out of my windows ..... i can second that.
kman
Well-Known Member
You want to read what you wrote again, and try again?
It's still Winter, yes, but last I checked it's no longer 2015.
Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
You want to read what you wrote again, and try again?
It doesn't matter what year it is right now, Winter 2015 is the winter season of 2015/16 (at least as far as winter products go) (Snowboards/skis, boots, tires, etc) winters are named after their starting year, same as we do with humans. We categorize people by the year their born, not the year they died (Baby boomers, millennial, get x, etc)
kman
Well-Known Member
Fair point.
Of course, that just means they're that much more "on time" with their estimates.I'm still satisfied ... enough ... with the process, even if communication could have been better. There are waiting lists for many of the more traditional suppliers, too, but you'll have to pay 2-3x more, maybe more, and STILL wait.
JD
Master Member
As someone who checked a few websites, I see it's Winter 2015-16.
As someone with a calendar, I know 2015 ended 18 days ago.
As someone who knows when the winter solstice is, I know there were only 10 days of winter in December (the winter solstice - which is the beginning of winter was December 21st at 11:48 PM).
As someone who remembers the hype from Anovos promoting the sale of this armor, I recall suggestions that this would've been in our hands quite some time ago.
Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
Fair point.
I'm still satisfied ... enough ... with the process, even if communication could have been better. There are waiting lists for many of the more traditional suppliers, too, but you'll have to pay 2-3x more, maybe more, and STILL wait.
As I'm I...
I walked into this knowing that a pre-January shipment was optimistic. Projected launch dates for products are rarely accurate, especially when you're looking at the very beginning of the product creation stage.
I support Anovos and their business model any day! I'll take a lower price and longer wait all day!
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Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
They straight out said they were aiming for late November... but they also straight out said there was no guarantee that it would ship before TFA came out. They are still perfectly on time with their timeline for OT tk...
ggriffaw
Sr Member
You don't get it, and simply not worth in trying to explain to you again and again. I'm talking about how the TK armor and helmet looks with the "defects" that were present back then (due to producing errors, materials quality, rush etc.), not what it could have appeared due to storage of 40 years. And yeah, the bump in the eye, the overall asymmetry in the helmet, the forearm length, the fingerprint mark, etc., are present on each and every Stormtrooper. At least 2 of these are present on Anovos too. Make your research on how the armor looked back then, and maybe we'll talk again after that - at least visit www.starwarshelmets.com.
Where did I say the bump in the eye or the asymmetry were an issue? I don't understand why so many people feel every defect on 40 year old armor is authentic to how the armor looked when it was used in the film. It makes complete sense that there would need to be some cleanup unless the armor has been stored and treated perfectly for all of those years.
Scanning and cleaning up defects that are not supposed to be there is a valid way to manufacture new armor. It remains to be seen how much Anovos cleaned up. It may be great, it may be awful, or somewhere in between.
Just casting directly off of old armor that may have additional defects since it was originally used is not automatically the gold standard. Even if the Anovos armor is overly cleaned up for some people, others may prefer that look. There is room for different approaches. Not everyone is looking for the same thing.
mortifactor
Well-Known Member
go look on starwarsscreencaps and look at the stormtroopers. Nobody is talking about storage degredation or weathering. They were originally manufactured badly. That's how they are. It is authentic.
Cleaning the armour up is inauthentic by definition. Unless it is to restore the screen used state. That isn't required, for the helmets at least. Plastic doesn't just erode, or dent. It can warp, but the helmets are quite a sturdy structure so this isn't apparent on the surviving examples. Only the paint and decals have faired badly.
Fett's helmet might need clean up, as I believe the original ESB has dents and cracks not there during filming. Your approach would be authentic for that example.
The weird bubbles, wonky sculpt etc and other manufacturing flaws are not eligible for clean-up, unless idealisation is the aim (which is okay!, just not my preference)
It is very simple. If you want cleaned up, fair enough, it is understandable. But some people don't want a sugar coated, revisionist item. That is why there are different providers. An un-altered cast of the real thing is the gold standard for prop replica, but not necessarily merchandise
You might like the hero helmet better than the stunt helmet.
Cleaning the armour up is inauthentic by definition. Unless it is to restore the screen used state. That isn't required, for the helmets at least. Plastic doesn't just erode, or dent. It can warp, but the helmets are quite a sturdy structure so this isn't apparent on the surviving examples. Only the paint and decals have faired badly.
Fett's helmet might need clean up, as I believe the original ESB has dents and cracks not there during filming. Your approach would be authentic for that example.
The weird bubbles, wonky sculpt etc and other manufacturing flaws are not eligible for clean-up, unless idealisation is the aim (which is okay!, just not my preference)
It is very simple. If you want cleaned up, fair enough, it is understandable. But some people don't want a sugar coated, revisionist item. That is why there are different providers. An un-altered cast of the real thing is the gold standard for prop replica, but not necessarily merchandise
You might like the hero helmet better than the stunt helmet.
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JD
Master Member
That's why I used the term "suggestions." I may be mistaken, but I don't think they "straight out said there was no guarantee that it would ship before TFA..." - but, it's all semantics as they were clear that shipping was an estimate and that it might not be ready for the premiere (but again, I don't recall them "straight out" saying that).
In fact, one rep (owner?) said: "We are looking at November. Hopefully sooner !" in this very thread.
I know stuff happens and delays occur and I do appreciate the updates. But, the track record here hasn't really sat well with me. Many of us ordered this over seven months ago and have weathered through changes to this deal - materials change and changed again, the arming suit (which again was discussed by the rep/owner in this thread) was basically deleted from the deal... and here we are with still no ST armor.
Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
I didn't know Anovos was offering ST armor!!! Sign me up for that too... (although I'll have to finish my TK first )
In all seriousness though, some of their bigger delays are a bit of a bummer, but we all knew going in the ship dates were estimates. They're a small company, and they took on a license that probably dwarfs all their other licenses combined. Add in Disney's ridiculous restriction and QC checks and you get delays. (I'm betting mostly from having inexperience with the mouse, and as such they based the licensor check time frames off their other licenses, which are probably much faster to get done)
)In all seriousness though, some of their bigger delays are a bit of a bummer, but we all knew going in the ship dates were estimates. They're a small company, and they took on a license that probably dwarfs all their other licenses combined. Add in Disney's ridiculous restriction and QC checks and you get delays. (I'm betting mostly from having inexperience with the mouse, and as such they based the licensor check time frames off their other licenses, which are probably much faster to get done)
Gnar Gnar Jinn
Well-Known Member
then get a refund. They've been very good at honoring that policy for those who did not read read what was written on the product page. There never was a firm date given. I'll wait for a goor product at an affordable price. It is not Anovos' fault that you didn't read the product page. So what, they took longer than they though to go through their first product checks with disney. I guarantee you they will have better estimate for future products (both because they now have a better understanding of the timing, and expectations from disney)
JD
Master Member
A refund doesn't excuse poor practices. Yes, that's been offered to me - for other issues that they've changed in this deal. There's a trend here, it's not just about the delay nor is it just about Disney.
Do we even know that this is about Disney? I mean - it's been 7 months since the first pre-order wave ended. ...they did manage to get a First Order bucket out in record time - so, I'm totally buying the it's the mouse's fault as you'd think that would be under a terrible amount of scrutiny - but, I don't know.
You can read about issues other folks are having - it seems that even their support system is backdated quite a bit
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