As anavos has cancelled international shipping , North America only apparently ... does this indicate a downgrading of their license from Disney ? Or are they ready to go bust ?
Costuming has always been a completely different thing for me than most of that other stuff. Socializing, appointments, school, work, family... There are no stakes for costuming, though. And even when I'm doing a lot of the work myself, I don't think I have any where I've been able to do all of it myself. Hell, sometimes it takes me years to source the right fabrics and acquire them. Chris Trevas stumbling on a cache of Cold War era British Civil Defense radiation dosimeters was the only way I was likely ever going to get accurate code cylinders. I'm still trying to ID parts for my Merr-Sonn blaster.
Then there are vendor issues. SkyGunBro had some seriously rough patches, as did DL, as did MC, as did Gio, etc., etc. In my experience, the vendors who never have any hiccups are so rare as to be astonishing. Occasionally there are other issues. Once, I was saving up to get a set of Stormtrooper armor from RT-MOD. He had told me he needed until January to clear his queue, but he'd put my name down. So I spaced out my budget to make sure I had enough come January to order it. Then he e-mailed me in November saying a couple people had backed out and I could go ahead and order. I said I wasn't ready yet -- I was scheduling for January, sorry for the inconvenience, I don't mind moving to the back of the queue to let someone else have the slot, even if it means waiting until after January to order. Never heard back. Gave him a year. Finally re-initiated contact and tactfully said I still wanted his armor and I felt like I was being punished for not being ready months in advance of when he'd said he'd be ready for me to order.
So this is far from the first time I have had a lag of years in getting stuff for costumes. I dearly want my FOTK while it is still a current and relevant thing in the pop culture. I don't know how much milage the First Order will get after Episode IX. Yeah, OT Stormtroopers are still popular, but still. My benchmark is probably my Royal Guard. I knew as soon as I found out about the 501st I was going to have to do one. I'd fallen in love with them in '83. That was in late '01... My rough draft is pretty good, and wearable, but I still need to acquire the correct fabric, revise the inner robe, finish my suede gloves, finish the jumpsuit and armor from Force Unleashed for the inner layer under the robes, etc. I've been wanting it done-done for a good decade.
I don't understand why this is so hard. If you don't want to wait, either don't order from Anovos or only order when something is in stock. If enough people stop ordering from them then they'll have to change their business practices. There's no point in clogging up the thread with arguments back and forth complaining about the wait for stuff when it's a well known issue with them. If you already have money down, then get a refund. I've ordered several things from Anovos and I'm totally satisfied with what I received. The delays weren't bad for the two things I preordered, but since I know it's an issue, I wouldn't order again unless something was in stock. It's pretty simple.
Also, with a few exceptions (Relicmaker, Luke 0312, and Peter74 come to mind), most of the independent builders I've bought from have had plenty of delays too. I don't like making people wait for stuff, so personally, I don't offer something for sale unless I have it in hand and ready to go, but a lot of the hobby doesn't work like that. I understand why. It can be expensive to make a lot of this stuff and having it sit around for months without being sold ties up funds. I get it. So either accept it and be willing to wait, or don't, and find somebody who will sell it to you now. Complaining about the wait times isn't really doing anything.
Could simply mean they don't want to deal with it. They didn't intially, added some, everyone constantly complained it was too much, etc.
There hasn't been a licensed company that hasn't had issues either. I don't think they all had no idea how to handle the manufacturing process or were incapable of hiring people who knew how to handle it. Clearly implies it's not them, it's another part of the process.
I hate to say it, but I had to order those rogue one style imperial cog patches. A prospective new 501st member got one and had brought it with him to the con over the weekend, and I have to admit they look way better in person than the photos on anovos's site. I'm working on a custom imperial officer-style uniform and felt they would look pretty nice on them. Took advantage of that sale they were doing, so didn't pay full price...We talked about it though, they're still pricey as hell, but we feel they really missed a good opportunity to sell them in pairs at a reduced price VS $35 each, sold by themselves
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I'm still sticking with vinyl for the shoulder patches, but one of these for the chest of a letterman's jacket? Yes. Now if they'd do a big back patch in the same technique...
These are also vinyl
I mean the flat, non-textured, OT-style vinyl patches.
Oh I know what you meant! Get with the times! The future is now, old man! :lol
Received shipping notification for my Ghostbusters pack frame.
I received the pack itself last Fall around Halloween, so it'll be good to have the frame to go with it...
Sean
The STAR WARS AT-AT™ Pilot Helmet Accessory Kit has just been cancelled .. I'm fairly disappointed as I had it on preorder .. always wanted one and the price was really good! Looks like they didn't have enough interest in this which is very surprising as not many offered that helmet through they years (I know D Laws did but the wait time always turned me completely off).
Looks like I'll get my money back with a useless 20% rebate! Oh well!
I'm sure there's interest; it's just people don't want to give Anovos money and wait years before they get around to actually making the product. The public is finally catching on to their game.The STAR WARS AT-AT™ Pilot Helmet Accessory Kit has just been cancelled .. I'm fairly disappointed as I had it on preorder .. always wanted one and the price was really good! Looks like they didn't have enough interest in this which is very surprising as not many offered that helmet through they years (I know D Laws did but the wait time always turned me completely off).
Looks like I'll get my money back with a useless 20% rebate! Oh well!