eFX vader and muppets

[defstartrooper]

........

 

[Apollo]

:lol C'mon Bro, as far as "picking up a phone directory" to find a factory is laughable at best. :lol

I for one would never take a deposit up front for something that only has had a proto but thats just me and that is a very valid and good point you make.

Are you talking about the Vader helmet?

One replica company had a perfect Proto and when the production was started they changed one aspect of the prop that threw it off totally they did'nt tell the company nothing and by the time the units were shipping it was to late.

That's just how the Chinese operate sometimes :unsure

As far as the Chinese making billions of goods, apples and oranges bro, You know that Prop replicas are small runs that have to be made to exact tolarances.

Yeah they have a factory like that's the hard part, pick up a telephone directory.
They don't have and didn't have a factory produced sample of what the final product would be before taking preorders though did they.

And let me just point out once again because you seem to be focusing on one particular line from one particular company the points i've raised are issues with all these companies.

As far as understanding the prop replica business lets highlight the operative word here business.
And once again i don't have an issue with a company asking for a deposit up front and never have i said they shouldn't do that.
My issue is with WHEN they ask for the money up front which is before they even have a factory that they are satisfied are able to produce the product, picking up the phone and saying hey i want X made isn't enough.

When you have a factory produced sample and it's been signed off as adequate and you have a timescale of when the factory can deliver the goods that's when you ask for deposits and place a production order with the factory.
That's how business works.

Having someone on site was just a solution i put forward to your excuse that China can't produce stuff unless someones on their tail 24/7 watching everything they do.
If it ups the costs so be it that's business too, you do what it takes to produce the goods or you aren't in business you're just playing with other peoples money( the customers).
These are small runs of a few hundred units we're talking weeks here not years of production time you don't need to pay a specialist guy who's demanding a salary of $500 an hour or something, i think you're over exaggerating the extra cost.


It just seems funny to me that Chinese factories produce tens of billions of dollars worth of goods covering just about any form of manufacturing you care to name every year.
But when it comes to producing goods for prop companies they seem to be completely inept and even hesitant to want to produce the goods and take the prop companies money, at least that's what the prop companies seem to say.

 

[Stormtrooper]

Well I've been checking eFX's website every 2 or 3 days, hoping that at least a Pre-Order date for the Stormtrooper Hero 'Legend' helmet would be announced. The helmet was being announced (and still is) as due in the Fall, ie. Q3, but they haven't started taking Pre-Orders and yet, here we are in the very last days of Q4... :unsure

I have resigned myself to losing-out when the Pre-Sale is announced anyways, considering that the Vader 'Legend' sold out in a matter of hours! Not days or even weeks.... but hours!
....then factror-in the Global Time Difference between the US, and myself in the UK, of between 5 and 8 hours...
.... so unless I stay home everyday, with my PC on the eFX homepage, continually pressing the 'refresh' button every 10 minutes.... :wacko

@ GINO - do you have any ETA(s) for the Stormtrooper Hero 'Legend' helmet, that you can share with me/us? Please?! :confused

I got one of the Legend Vader helmets and I have to be honest, I hope it does not start shipping this close to Christmas. A month of financial recovery would be good :lol.

If you had put a deposit on the Stormtrooper Hero 'Legend' helmet, I'd be waving a bundle of $$$'s at you right now, offering to buy your spot in the list from you! :love
.....In fact, I daresay you would be able to re-sell your place on the Vader 'Legend' helmet list, considering how much eFX promises with this one! :lol

Cheers,
John
john@manicminer.plus.com

 

[GINO]

Well I've been checking eFX's website every 2 or 3 days, hoping that at least a Pre-Order date for the Stormtrooper Hero 'Legend' helmet would be announced. The helmet was being announced (and still is) as due in the Fall, ie. Q3, but they haven't started taking Pre-Orders and yet, here we are in the very last days of Q4... :unsure

I have resigned myself to losing-out when the Pre-Sale is announced anyways, considering that the Vader 'Legend' sold out in a matter of hours! Not days or even weeks.... but hours!
....then factror-in the Global Time Difference between the US, and myself in the UK, of between 5 and 8 hours...
.... so unless I stay home everyday, with my PC on the eFX homepage, continually pressing the 'refresh' button every 10 minutes.... :wacko

There will be adequate time between the announcement of the pre-order date and the actual pre-order for most people to be informed. These announcements are almost always communicated via a combination of the eFX email list (which I highly recommend if you aren't already on it), announcements on the forums, and also on the website itself. No need to obsessively refresh.
PS, the Legend Vader sold out in approx 4 minutes, not hours. :thumbsup :eek

@ GINO - do you have any ETA(s) for the Stormtrooper Hero 'Legend' helmet, that you can share with me/us? Please?! :confused

Both Vader editions are getting very very close to being final approved. :cheers
No new news on Legend Hero Stormtrooper pre-order date yet.



.

 

[Funky]

As always as one member puts it here if you can do better by all means knock your self out!

That is the WORST defense for an argument I have ever heard! I suppose if I say "Steven Spielberg's last movie SUCKED!" You're valid argument is "make one better yourself"???

 

[defstartrooper]

........

 

[cboath]

Both Vader editions are getting very very close to being final approved. :cheers
No new news on Legend Hero Stormtrooper pre-order date yet.



.

Thanks for the update. It is very appreciated!

 

[Apollo]

Yes and you have lots of props to film it with!

if I say "Steven Spielberg's last movie SUCKED!" You're valid argument is "make one better yourself"???

 

[Apollo]

Oh I hear you and agree with you on most points.

The specs and tolarances are very different for a run of say 1 Million plastic hair Combs, then say the vader legend helmet.

In a perfect world the Company should put up ALL money up front, have the run down and shipped, verify that the products are good to go, and THEN start taking money for the item which is already here ready to ship.

:lol We all know we don't live in a perfect world though! :lol

I'm not referring to any particular helmet or prop or even company which i believe i've already gone to some trouble to point out several times already.

I am just voicing an opinion on how pretty much all these companies work which is taking orders before they have everything ready to go to to production.
Not produced just ready to go.

Apples and oranges ? i see so every other type of company out there just takes whatever crap they get sent, they don't worry about specs or tolerances ?

Again if supervision is required or quality control on site is required then have someone on site or find a manufacturer who doesn't cock up the product.
One persons salary is really going to be more costly than a year to eighteen months worth of back and forth delays and crap ?

Saying oh well that's how the Chinese work they just send whatever the hell they like isn't a solution and neither is it any way to run a BUSINESS.

And i'm sorry but we always get fed this line that the delays are necessary to ensure the final product is right.
But then somehow even with all these huge delays time and time again we the customers get faulty goods or goods with quality issues arrive on the doorstep which then have to be returned for a refund or replacement.
We're not talking a one off incident here i could list quite a number of products from several companies where the goods haven't been up to par.

 

[defstartrooper]

........

 

[jcoffman99]

There will be adequate time between the announcement of the pre-order date and the actual pre-order for most people to be informed. These announcements are almost always communicated via a combination of the eFX email list (which I highly recommend if you aren't already on it), announcements on the forums, and also on the website itself. No need to obsessively refresh.
PS, the Legend Vader sold out in approx 4 minutes, not hours. :thumbsup :eek




Both Vader editions are getting very very close to being final approved. :cheers
No new news on Legend Hero Stormtrooper pre-order date yet.



.

I hope it's more of a notice than the Luke ANH X-WIng helmets were.

 

[GINO]

I hope it's more of a notice than the Luke ANH X-WIng helmets were.

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."
Seriously though, I think that situation was more of an exception vs the rule.



.

 

[Apollo]

Ummm...no the point of having everything already done is so you don't have the customers complaining about the things that are being posted here.

Up for sale now is a Vader Legend helmet Limited of 1000, ready for shipping as soon as you place your order.


As far as the argument of not being, mass produced parts falling off a conveyor, has a great deal of relevence.

Making a comb and a Vader legend Helmet are two entirely different things.

Nope don't have to put all the money up front, unless you're of the opinion that the major cost of a production run is having a factory produce a production sample.

When you're at the stage where you have a final signed off sample from the factory you then take preorders and place the production order with the factory.
The argument that they aren't mass produced parts falling off a conveyer belt is of no relevance.

When you walk into a 3 michelin star restaurant and place your order the waiter doesn't say thank you Sir your order should be with you in 12 to 18 months we just need to find 3 chefs, some farmers to supply the fresh produce and rent some space for a kitchen.
And their rationale for this is what ? well Sir chefs,fine produce and kitchens are expensive you can't expect us to outlay that kind of money at the risk you might not have come in for dinner this evening this isn't Mcdonalds mass produced stuff it's gourmet food cooked to order.

 

[defstartrooper]

........

 

[OldKen]

I just want to know why when you go to the STAR WARS section ALL of the last updates were from 2009...

There should be a pic of the Vader helmet with the kind of explanation Gino has given us.

And every product you click should say SOMETHING. There should have been some update in the last 2-3 years in this section.

A casual customer who isn't a member of a forum and only collects liscensed pieces I'm SURE would go to the site... click STAR WARS and look for some sort of word on the item they have already speant money down for.

My only complaint about eFX! Great company, great products, great people! There just needs to be more info for the casual non-RPF customer. IMHO.

Thanks for the update Gino.

 

[Apollo]

Agreed but therein lies a problem as some Factories can not put out something like the vader and will shy away.

Different objects same requirements, both have to be produced satisfactory to the specs provided by the company placing the order.
Plastic comb wholesalers don't place an order with a factory and simply say make us some combs, they provide specs which those combs have to conform to just the same as prop companies provide specs which the props have to conform to.
Whatever the product it all works the same way, ergo it's of no relevence what the product is.

 

[OldKen]

I should say that I am on the apollo and Clutch side of this...

I WOULD much rather wait for them to do it RIGHT. And NO this isn't something that can be easily mass produced. Not the way WE want it anyway...

Now the hasbro cheapie helmets? Sure. I'd say they go from concept to production in a week! LOL!!!



I do think that updates should come every month or so on ANY product but ESPECIALLY ones that have already had their target date come and go.

I think that a REAL explanantion for why it isn't easy to get these PERFECT and why they have held out for the BEST possible result... I don't think that sounds un proffesional... Sounds like they care. But to the non-RPFer who has money invested and no real idea why it hasn't showed up on their doorstep... I just think the info should be VERY easy to find on the site.

I feel better everytime Gino posts SOMETHING about it. But I am here and look for the thread to be bumped almost on a daily basis!

 

[Apollo]

Yeah thats the thing about eFX they love the same things we do PROPS and they want to do it right and that's what I have been trying to point out.

A LOT of things go on behind the scenes that makes replicating props very difficult.

It is not an easy thing in this business climate as well as what has gone on in China.

 

[OldKen]

Yeah thats the thing about eFX they love the same things we do PROPS and they want to do it right and that's what I have been trying to point out.

A LOT of things go on behind the scenes that makes replicating props very difficult.

It is not an easy thing in this business climate as well as what has gone on in China.

I have more faith in them and this helmet than ANY liscensed SW prop EVER made.

Many others feel the same. Which is why they know it HAS to be as perfect as possible.

Anyone who would rather it just be rushed and sent out... :wacko

 

[defstartrooper]

........