3A Toys/Rebellion Press Release

[Steven Sterlacchini]

Do ThreeA keep their buyers up to date on delays?

[BPP]

They don't put out an official shipping date at purchase.
At the start of each month they list what is shipping at that that month.
Everything else is informal via either Ashley Wood's blog / twitter or their forums/ conventions. No different than buying a sub to 2000AD on the basis that Ichabod Azrael is coming in 2011.

3A's official promo for Mongrol can be seen archived here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?m=201102  and the only mention of it since was the 'shipping late August' that went up at the start of this month here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?p=1679

Everything else is ideal speculation of the fans, estimates based on past delivery dates, dribs and drabs of comment here and there from Ashley Woods (who must get sick of people asking him when) etc.

[Steven Sterlacchini]

They don't put out an official shipping date at purchase.
At the start of each month they list what is shipping at that that month.
Everything else is informal via either Ashley Wood's blog / twitter or their forums/ conventions. No different than buying a sub to 2000AD on the basis that Ichabod Azrael is coming in 2011.

3A's official promo for Mongrol can be seen archived here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?m=201102  and the only mention of it since was the 'shipping late August' that went up at the start of this month here: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/?p=1679

Everything else is ideal speculation of the fans, estimates based on past delivery dates, dribs and drabs of comment here and there from Ashley Woods (who must get sick of people asking him when) etc.

Sorry, I don't understand the comparison with a subscription at all and I don't see any problem with people complaining about goods they've already paid for being delayed.

[ming]

Just as an example of how 3A try to do things, I'll mention two recent events:

(1) A recent release (Adventure Kartel Zombie 2.0) had paintjobs that Ash felt were sub-par; the main problem was just one of four colourways, but Ash decided to replace ALL orders.  Everyone who'd bought ANY of these figures was promised a replacement, free of charge - plus they get to keep the original ones.

(2) The 3A membership thingy for 2011 was pretty late in shipping, and US customers encountered a screw-up due to the company doing the shipping Stateside.  Packages were meant to go to specific addresses (individual membership cards, hoodies ordered to size) but were going out randomly.  Again, 3A just promised to send out additional correct membership cards and hoodies.

No company's perfect, but 3A do go above and beyond more than most, I think.

The 2000AD stuff is slow in coming, and I've been bugging Ash for news for months; I'd still rather have these figures as and when they appear though.  The 1/12 news is a nice surprise and will hopefully open this stuff up to a lot of people not able (or willing) to go for the 1/12 stuff.

TB - as soon as we get word that we'll have a 1/12 Mongrol, yours is on me! 

[BPP]

Minty - its real simple, you pay up front and at some point in the year the strip you want appears. Tharg said IA would appear sometime this year but as we all know little about scheduling comes out till very near the time of publication. 

As for 'delays' - the point is there hasn't been any - they don't say when the goods will appear and only give unofficial estimates through unofficial channels (much like 'forthcoming thrills' rumours of 'Dom told me he's drawing a second IA). First date you can nail them to is the 'shipping august' and that's not been delayed. 

[TordelBack]

Tordelback, a Troll...?

Well, me knob is rock-hard. 

In fairness it was a pretty trollish post, but FBD's relentless negativity on the subject of 3A gets my goat (geddit).

Oh and Ming, that there constitutes a written contract.   

[Mardroid]

TB - as soon as we get word that we'll have a 1/12 Mongrol, yours is on me! 

It'd be great if they did a Mongrol that size! Actually I suppose somewhere in between, (i.e. the 6" type like the Marvel and ReAction figures) would be preferable, but I think that would be still out of my price range if star wars size is around $40! With a bit of saving a 1/12 would likely be just about doable. (Possibly more than doable if I pass the job interview tomorrow.)Assuming it's around the $40 of the others... still a bit pricey for such a small figure but if it's of a quality near the big-un*, fair enough. Of course Mongrol would still be around twice the width of a standard figure which could push things up but.... well, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

*Although realistically I wouldn't expect it to have all the same articulation and detail. That's part of the point of the big figures.

[Steven Sterlacchini]

Minty - its real simple, you pay up front and at some point in the year the strip you want appears. Tharg said IA would appear sometime this year but as we all know little about scheduling comes out till very near the time of publication. 

As for 'delays' - the point is there hasn't been any - they don't say when the goods will appear and only give unofficial estimates through unofficial channels (much like 'forthcoming thrills' rumours of 'Dom told me he's drawing a second IA). First date you can nail them to is the 'shipping august' and that's not been delayed. 

Sorry, I've never bought an entire subscription to a comic based on the notion that a strip I want might appear at some time? If I subscribe, it's because I want to read it every week, otherwise I would simply buy it weekly. I don't know anyone who would buy a subscription to anything based on that? That's why I don't understand the comparison.

Regards delivery. So, when people bought the figures they were never given any idea when they might get them? I'm not making a judgement, just trying to understand the facts.

[BPP]

Minty - nope no date was ever stated - 3A seems to have stuff for order every other week (they run several lines) and it never has a shipping date. Like I said above at the start of each month they set out what is going to ship that month. So Mongrol had a few promo shots, a sale date and then no news until the post at the start of this month saying 'shipping 2nd half August'. That's the first thing that could be considered a shipping date or a commitment as to when it would be delivered.

As for the subs analogy - its simply that, no need to verify it against YOUR experience or expectations for a subscription as everyone is different. If Button Man V was announced to be appearing in CLINT in 2012 I'd probably cough up a sub to cover it even tho i can't stand the writing in the rest of the thing. You can tell me 100 other ways to make sure I get the Button Man issues but none of them may suit me. Much like people who don't want to pay upfront for Mongrol can go buy it off Forbidden Planet once its released. Or Ebay etc..Anyway if you don't like the analogy don't let it bother you - point is 3A for all their products work on a 'its done when its done' basis. They didn't say it would be out in June or July. The only thing they have said is August.

[JOE SOAP]

Tordelback, a Troll...?

Well, me knob is rock-hard. 

Stay away from those Hobbits!


Dirtbird.

[vzzbux]

It'd be great if they did a Mongrol that size! Actually I suppose somewhere in between, (i.e. the 6" type like the Marvel and ReAction figures) would be preferable, but I think that would be still out of my price range if star wars size is around $40! With a bit of saving a 1/12 would likely be just about doable. (Possibly more than doable if I pass the job interview tomorrow.)Assuming it's around the $40 of the others... still a bit pricey for such a small figure but if it's of a quality near the big-un*, fair enough. Of course Mongrol would still be around twice the width of a standard figure which could push things up but.... well, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

*Although realistically I wouldn't expect it to have all the same articulation and detail. That's part of the point of the big figures.

The Ephant Mon hasbro figure was a huge size compared to the rest but that was still the same price so here's hoping on the Mongrel being the same price.




V

[ming]

*Although realistically I wouldn't expect it to have all the same articulation and detail. That's part of the point of the big figures.

I'd expect Mongrol to have pretty much exactly the same level of articulation as the Big Boy.  3A have shown they can scale articulation and paint details really, really well.  Google for some comparison pics of WWR vs WWRp Armstrongs, for example.



Might be a long time coming, but hopefully we'll start seeing these early next year (complete guess, but at least plans are underway, and 3A is going through a lot of changes right now - hopefully mostly good ones).

Oh and Ming, that there constitutes a written contract.   

Yup

[ming]

3A have started sending out a weekly newsletter via email, with shipping updates, pics of things in boxes nearing shipping, etc.  It's a response to calls for more info, and very good to see!

Mongrol ships August 31st, apparently; delayed by problems with the boxes.

Sign up for the newsletter via the 3A site here:
http://www.threeaonline.com/

[BPP]

heh, beat me to it. Here's both the first newsletter (with the full info on Mogrol's date) and a handy 'sign-up' in the top left hand corner.

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=df39a60ebc972356a8428c41e&id=601c22b791

[Colin YNWA]

Really like there tee-shirts, colours and what not. Would be intrigued to see what they did for 2000ad in that line.