Ask Ken at Palisades

[kane31666]

to be honest, I don't think we'll see these figures until at least mid June, maybe late June. I'm just happy that I won this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&showTutorial=0&ed=1021836150&indexURL=0&rd=1

so i don't have to wait too much longer for one of the new figures.

 

[frogboy4]

This is rather irritating. I understand that Palisades doesn't have much control over when stores see fit to stock their shelves, but this was an April release! It's not going to his stores till June. I guess we can expect these stores to release series 2 in February.

Can't somtheing be done to correct this?

 

[kane31666]

In the very beginning, the original production release was April. Over time many factors lead to things being pushed back. Look at the problem Palisades had with Beaker, for example. We know that the figures didn't leave Hong Kong(not sure if the country is correct) not a few weeks ago, maybe less. It takes time for the figures to clear customs. Then, it takes even more time for the figures to go from distributors and then finally the individual stores. And don't go by the release date set by EB, because they're always a little off with release dates, us simpsons collectors certaintly know about that. And it's only a two month difference. There have been longer delays.

 

[frogboy4]

I just don't see why the fact those these are -projected- release dates aren't iterated by the companies. If a film were to set a date and come out 2 months later, the public would be livid, I guess it is much different for the world of collectibles and action figures. This is an area that many Muppet fans are just not used to.

On another note - are you certain that the ebay item you won will make it to you any sooner than the EB stores? Don't know how they would get it sooner. Not being an action figure collector, I don't know about these things.

 

[ResidentLilly]

It works like this. First you set a quarter. First quarter, second quarter and so on in a year schedule. As you get closer you pick a target month as best you can. Normally, you keep that month fairly hush, as you wait to see what the test shots will bring. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. Anyway, as you get closer to a final sample of product, one that everybody is happy with, you get PO's locked in with retailers. Then you produce, and start shipping.

We originally hoped for an April ship. All looked good. As we got closer some issues came up and we settled in on an early May date for all goods. I was over there, made a judgement call when the first shipment was ready to go that we should hold it for 10 days or so because there were a few issues that needed to be resolved before the product was acceptable. SO, CASES of product were unloaded from containers and packaged removed, ripped open and corrected. Because of this the line release got moved to basically mid-May to start shipments. All shipments for the US, as of today, are gone.

It is not an exact science. One thing to remember though, when it comes to here and when it comes to us, is that you are a part of the fluidity of the process. As Alice Cooper sang once on the show, Welcome To My Nightmare. You get to hear dates, even guesses, before anybody else does. You also get to experience the same level of frustration that we do when stuff happens to alter the plan. The only real "news" on this line and it's release date was on a few toy sites and in Toy Fare, but not everyone reads these and people tend to forget the actual "date" because they are onto several new issues before the stuff hits.

My point is this. Because I have sort of settled in here and forged some relationships with people on this board, and since you are the core group who "get" what we are trying to do, you get the good with the bad. You get the news first, you get the news before it even IS news, and you are always kept in the loop. You also have to understand, as you can tell by all the line changes and accessories shifting and all that, by being a part of that process you are subject to the non-spun Truth and that truth can be frustrating at times.

Speaking of that, the Scooter door got axed yesterday. One could argue that we are "bad" for dangling the door carrot and yanking it, but the only people that even knew a door was a possibility were the people that read this board. Nowhere else was that announced, because it wasn't etched in stone yet. Maybe I am being long winded about it, but my point, that if you want this level of involvement you have to be prepared for the disappointments I hope is well made.

If I hear anything new about the stuff I will let you know. The Lab Playset is in good shape and most of it should ship by the end of the month. We had planned to show the packaged sample this week on the Daily Bit, but our server has turned into HAL and we have some things to work out. We'll show it next week probably...as well as a Mutant Beaker, New Beaker comparison. You then should get some peace of mind as to why that project was delayed three weeks. When you see it you will see there really was no choice.

Ken

 

[gorry]

ken,i just wanted to know if there's any chance of more convention exclusives in the series to come?because i have the dr.teeth and someone's picking me up a beaker and it wasn't easy getting them.all i need now is someone to get me the animal.but i don't have a problem with em' just that if you don't go to the convention they're not easy to get.i live right next to philly and it was hard enough getting the dr.teeth.sorry if i sound like a jerk i just want an answer to my question.

 

[frogboy4]

Ken

Thank you for the quick response. I admire the fact that you guys are trying to ensure the high quality of your product. It speaks volumes. We're just anxious fans. I had planned a special trip tp EB this weekend with some friends and it is unfortunate that it will be cancelled. Maybe we'll catch a flick instead.

Terrible news about poor Scooter. Can you give us an idea why the door was nixed? I loved the idea, but did think their could be problems with it. What is he coming with instead? Scooter is actually one of the ones I am looking forward to the most! Janice and Zoot too! Eeek, we're going to have to wait a while for them.

Anyway, I am sure the June date will be cool. You know, it seems like Toys R Us had the more accurate date from the beginning. Maybe not their storefronts. That has kind of been off-putting so I will likely just buy the exclusive from their site. Haven't had any problems with that practice yet.

 

[EmmyMik]

Hmmmm...

Maybe these figures don't really exist...

This is all a big JHC conspiracy! Remember those Henson "spies"? I'm thinking that they can read our minds and control our thoughts...

**runs to go get some tin foil to make a hat**



(I really do need to get more sleep. I'm already weird enough as it is. Being tired makes me weirder and disrupt more threads )

 

[Ray H]

Ahhh to be a Toy Collector. I take it allot of people here arn't full time action figure collectors and Arn't used to the ropes of collecting yet. Ken speaks allot of truth it's really not an exact science on the dates and information. Theres many ways for companies to go about these things

Most companies sort of keep people in the dark as to whats going on exactly. Not really that they don't like there fans or anything but They'd just rather not deal with not being able to deliver on what they say by not saying anything until they've got everything cleared away. So they'll keep specifics Vague, and even after that certain changes still happens.

Palisades is a very open company and you can pretty much freely talk to the people and get a sense of whats going on constantly. The cool side of this is you get information really early, you can see the planning process unfold and what not. Sort of bad thing about it is you hear about all the Bumps and delays sometimes cancelation most companies try to cover that stuff up by not even addressing it, the old "ignorence is bliss motto". So thats one of the drawbacks of being so well informed is you have to sort of go with the flow.

The total oppisite of this is a company like Bandai, who make great toys and I'm a slave to some of there merchandise, but i swear it's run by crazy people. They don't even tell you at all whats coming out till it actually hits the pegs. I've walked into a toy store and found a new totally unheard of Bandai figure on the pegs that I never even heard about in this age of Knowing about toys almost before the Ink has dried on the signatures on the contracts.

 

[ResidentLilly]

Well said Ray...thanks.

As for Scooter's door. Basically, when I sat down to design the door I realized that I have a height limit I hadn't thought of. The blister only allows about 6-7 inches max for the door. So, at that size, it would be too out of scale to look right. It would be more like a "mini" door. Not just with Scooter, but with many of the taller characters as well, who would come up to the very top of the door. So, thought about having it something you assembled, but it just looked too weird that way, so we had to let it go.

Scooter will now most likely come with the following. I say "most likely" because an item or two may not make the cut although all are being developed. But I think all will make it. Anyway he will come with a skateboard, portable radio, "To Go" drink tray with two removable soda pop cups with straws, Chinese take-out box, megaphone and clipboard. I don't have my notes here in front of me but I think that's it. Not etched in my mind yet because it's so new yet. The Superhero Scooter variant/exclusive will have all those things but the clipboard will be replaced by the "How To Be a Superhero" book.

SO that's the skinny on Scooter.

Ken