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3A Toys/Rebellion Press Release

Started by Robo-K33F, 16 November, 2009, 01:20:59 PM

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Emperor

Quote from: Dash Decent on 20 October, 2010, 12:50:01 AM
Quote from: Mikey on 19 October, 2010, 05:33:11 PM
The other toy lines are based on Wood's other comics-WWR, Popbot etc.

Pardon my ignorance, but who is Wood?  The only Wood I can think of is Wally Wood (early EC artist) and I'm sure it's not him!

Wood refers to Ashley Wood:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Wood
if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

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ming

Quote from: Dash Decent on 19 October, 2010, 02:34:48 PM
I most want a Rogue figure but am also very keen to get Tharg, Dredd and Alpha at least.

The original run Tharg was very good, but looking over the other figures 3A produces I can't see what their appeal is.  There is some great detail on some of them but others just look like old soup cans in capes to me (though beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that).  Do they relate to established characters in other comics/movies/TV shows/RPGs?  Or is it a just being into 3A kind of thing?

Rogue should be after Mongrol, as far as we know... Still don't know how the standard release Tharg will fit into the line up.  Alpha and Dredd (well, Judges of some description) seem slated to round off the first figures to emerge.

As for the appeal of other 3A stuff - the 'bots (and other figures) are very well designed (maybe not appealing to all tastes, but I've found they grow on you something rotten) and made and incredible paint application - has to be seen first-hand to be appreciated properly.  Very good articulation as well!

3A are also Masters of Scale: pic below (by 3A boardie Soulburn3d) is of a 1/6 Armstrong (15" tall) next to a 1/12 version that was recently released... Pretty neat stuff.  2000AD stuff will only be 1/6 as far as we know, but maybe if there's sufficient demand a 1/12 line could emerge?  Unlikely but you never know.



As for where the characters come from... Ashley Wood's highly regarded Popbot has a line of figures, as does his World War Robot series.  Adventure Kartel is another line, full of zombies and general wacky fun - figures first, comics later (we hope).

A few World War Robot paintings can be seen here (or just Google):
http://www.worldwarrobot.com/

Mardroid

#587
It's great they don't skimp on the detail on the smaller scale model!

I can understand Dash's reticence concerning the other models as, I'll admit, the thought did occur to me as well. That's more a reference to the design of the characters though, not 3A's work, if that makes sense. (That image is already growing on me though. Lovely paintwork.)

I'm sure they'll do 2000 AD characters justice. (Well, to be fair, they already did, with Tharg.)

I do hope they go for a 1/16th scale. That would probably be (more) in my price range and my room would cope with figures of that size better.*

So everyone buy these to encourage them to make a new smaller batch!

[spoiler](I'm only joking. I'm not that selfish.)[/spoiler]

*Times like this, I can see the advantage of having one's own place! I do generally prefer the smaller figures though.

Mikey

Yeah, 1/12 are great for space and value and they have the same high quality and articulation. You never know what may come up from 3A...

As it happens I'm going to pick up my first 1/6 scale 'bots this evening-can't wait! ;-)

M
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.

Mardroid

Quote from: Mikey on 20 October, 2010, 05:04:58 PM
Yeah, 1/12 are great for space and value and they have the same high quality and articulation. 

1/12. Right. Trust me to make them even smaller (1/16). I was obviously thinking of  '1/6' and my mind did a bit of merger creating a whole new scale... Second time these last two days I've done something like that. I think I might need a brain enema. Or a head transplant.

Dash Decent

Quote from: Mardroid on 20 October, 2010, 03:29:25 PM
I can understand Dash's reticence concerning the other models as, I'll admit, the thought did occur to me as well. That's more a reference to the design of the characters though, not 3A's work, if that makes sense.

Yes, that's exactly my thinking.  You can see the detailed work that has gone into these but it was the identity of the characters that I wasn't aware of.  If they're established comic book characters then it makes sense that the soup can fans want a Cream-of-tomato-bot[TM] as much as I want a Rogue trooper with an accurate gunnar rifle etc.

Though Ming does imply that the Adventure Kartel doesn't have any other media to it so it appears to be a 'love of 3A' thing rather than love for those characters.
- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

ming

Heh, the Clamshells Soup 'bot is a really, really outstanding custom design - not something done by 3A (and there's far more to that custom job than just paintwork) and nothing to do with any of Ashley Wood's comics or other work. 3A often release plain vinyl 'DIY' versions of figures for people who want to paint them up or adapt them in some way, and there are some very talented people around.

As for the characters linked to the comics, in some cases they are designs based closely on what's on the page (e.g. Popbot) but others have more fuzzy origins; a lot of the World War Robot stuff is just hinted at or mentioned by Ash online months (or years) before a design emerges.  The story around the Adventure Kartel stuff is growing as the figures are released; each figure (Boiler Zombie, Tommy Mission and Little Shadow followed by Ankou and Fighting JC - (that's Jesus, by the way)) comes with a fold-out poster / comic.  It's a nice way of doing it, really.

As for the 2000AD line, I'm hoping we'll see more soon - and have a couple of figures (Mongrol and Rogue, maybe) on sale before the end of the year.  I have no worries at all about the quality of the stuff, and I long ago resigned myself to paying what I previously would have though of as 'crazy money for a toy'; I haven't likened Ashley Wood to Uncle Ump for nothing...


Buddy

Quote from: ming on 16 October, 2010, 11:31:36 AM
I've probably gone over all this before, but runs of 3A toys are always limited one way or another.  Numbers produced used to be announced but this is no longer the case; partly to stop flippers and buy-to-sell speculation based on perceived rarity.  One a toy is made and sold out (or sold to a pre-determined number and then made), that's it - no revisiting of previous toys.  3A is a small, young company and they're always looking ahead to the next release or ten - no time or capacity for second editions or looking back too much.

One thing I will say is that they try to adapt and please fans where they can (without changing any of the above too much); sales have changed and I know at least one figure was made to order based on how many were ordered in a set time period.  That at least calms the feeding frenzy of people desperate to buy before stuff sells out (which can happen in minutes, hours or days).

Hopefully Mongrol (and most if not all future 2000AD figs) will get a long, leisurely release to allow all who want one to get one direct.  Paying retail (inflated or otherwise) plus shipping later on is daft and very expensive so avoid it if you can.

When more news comes (particularly a date) I'll start a thread with Everything You Need To Know.



How about taking pre orders??

I'd be happy to pay 50% of the price upfront to make sure I get a Dredd.

James Stacey

Quote from: Buddy (previusly Uncle Umpty) on 21 October, 2010, 02:34:04 PM
How about taking pre orders??

I'd be happy to pay 50% of the price upfront to make sure I get a Dredd.

That's a pretty good idea. Some limited edition stuff I buy (books) have a white list too. You apply to be on it and get kicked off it if you resell in a certain time frame.

ming

Quote from: Buddy (previusly Uncle Umpty) on 21 October, 2010, 02:34:04 PMHow about taking pre orders??

I'd be happy to pay 50% of the price upfront to make sure I get a Dredd.

All 3A sales are pre-orders, with payment at the time of the sale.  Then there's generally quite a wait while the figures are made / painted and then packaged and shipped.  There's still a degree of experimentation going on to find the best way to deal with all this, but at least 3A are trying to find ways to keep people happy and get toys out as fast as possible without sacrificing quality.  As I said, at least one recent sale was done on a 'we'll make as many figures as are ordered in the sale period', but another recent sale was done on a strictly limited basis linked to a number of figures that had pretty much already been made, just to speed up delivery.  Delivery time used to be 'six-to-eight weeks' but that's been overshot regularly so now stuff just ships when it ships; people get a bit pissed off over this but patience is key and I doubt you'd be disappointed when things finally arrive (and I for one would rather wait a few months than have something a bit crappy turn up sooner).

For 2000AD stuff... I'm hoping for (a) plenty or warning (unlike the Tharg surprise) and (b) a long, leisurely sales window to allow as many people as possible to get an order in.  A guaranteed 24 or 48hr window, with figures made to match the number of orders, might work.

Mikey

They are actually pre-orders which is why there's the wait from release date to shipping. But splitting payments would be a good thing if they could do it. How about nipping over to the 3A forum and suggesting it? Some 3A retailers do it IIRC.

I know they're a small company though and perhaps the possibility of balances going cold, leaving unsold toys, may be why they don't do it presently.

I brought up the concern re: availability of eg Dredd but no 'official' word on that yet. Just some opinions from 3a boarders...

M
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.

Mikey

Oops-pipped by Ming, i'm on me phone so it didnt tell me there was a new reply.

And I can't edit...

M
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.

ming

...and along comes Mikey at last ;)

Mikey made a good point by bringing up retailers - although you'd be something of a mentalist to miss buying at Bambaland (3A online sales point) at the time of purchase (cheaper than retailers, price includes shipping worldwide) we're expecting to see 2000AD stuff being offered to retailers.

One of the best UK retailers for 3A stuff is One Sixth Bruce who have a layaway option for purchasing some items over time; might be worth checking out once more is known about the 2000AD figures coming up.

I'll keep an eye on things as always and mention it to OSB when the time comes to see if he'll be stocking 2000AD stuff.

I also keep pushing for info from Ash and whenever I get any news, I'll be posting it here as always!

Buddy

I'd think a longer period than 48 hours would be needed.....

There are times I don't use the computer for a few days... I'd miss an opportunity there and A1 would miss a sale.

A week would be a better idea.. more orders... more sales... more money.

How can that be a bad thing??

Mikey

That would make sense for a large, mass producing company but 3A are small and relatively new. They're an indie producer with a lot of similarites to small indie record labels I reckon - sometimes hard to get the stuff unless you're in the know about releases etc.

I'm only supposing here, I have no idea about why things are done as they are, but...

Maybe in time 3A will have long sales, but I think their approach is so as to keep all their stuff moving along without sacrificing quality - if a toy was on for a week or so, the amount of orders may stop production on the other stuff, so slow down all the lines and they'd may be only able to concentrate on the biggest/most popular stuff - likely not 2000ad no matter how hopeful I'd be!

Ming and me must sound like broken records gushing about how good the stuff is - but it is! And the way they do things is different, but it's all about delivering the goods and I believe their intentions are good, not cynical as others have supposed.

I'm a total convert in case you were wondering!

M.
To tell the truth, you can all get screwed.