Chris55 wrote:Nah, not how I operate.
These lines are planned out a year + in advance. So, 2013 saw KC correct? He was planned in I think late 2011. TK joined up with BC in Feb 2013. The designs etc for G14 started in about March or so if I remember correctly. They started making the G14 figures in Summer 2013. Those hit in March of 2014. The 6 inch G14 was released in the fall along with the reissue of KG 01 and that was planned way before release too.
I'm well aware. Even if I had thought - and again, I didn't - that they would immediately get to work on new figures in early 2013 after they heard our initial feedback - and I can't stress enough that I didn't - I know it would take easily a year to see them on the shelves. I know these things take time - sometimes a long time. You don't need to explain that much to me.
Now, if the interviews, the poll, the G14 figure line midnight reveal, the figures being given to TK 3 months before release for review and explanations aren't enough for you, how would you, Mr. X, like for them to show you that they're listening to you/the fans?
Lol, I like how you make this personal. "If you were in control, how you handle it?"
And I do want to drop this, but I will say this much - the interviews and the polls, while informative, didn't mean much concerning the future. We got a small look at what happens behind the scenes, and I can appreciate that and I liked them. Yeah, they were answering our questions and in that sense listening to us, but we still didn't get anything to suggest they were taking our opinions into account for future releases.
Even if it was something small, like "one of the characters that many of you have mentioned is currently being considered by our team". That's all. Also, nothing concerning the G'14 figures has anything to do with them listening to the fans. Back in February 2013, nobody here knew squat about G'14, and no one was really asking for stuff with him. Even when we did learn more, no one was asking for those gimmick figures, and that's not like a "oh nobody wanted these so they shouldn't have made them" - no, I'm just saying that these particular figures don't prove that they listened to us from the start.
And I know I shouldn't answer this, but I will anyways. If I, *adjusts tie*, Mr. X, was in charge of Bandai Creation... I would be more in-touch with the fanbase, be honest with them and let them know when plans change. Look at NECA. Yeah, I know - they're a much smaller company, they're... very, very different from Bandai, but I still think this is valid. NECA is absolutely fantastic when it comes to being in touch with the consumers, and honest.
They've explained that their
Planet of the Apes line isn't doing as well as they hoped, and that they desperately want to continue, but they honestly don't know what's going to happen. They made it a point that the most recent prototypes they've revealed are simply "potential" releases, and that they might not see release, and that, even if the fans were there for support of its continuation, it might not make any sort of a difference. I like seeing that honesty. And I'd like for BC to do something like that. Explain where the line's at. IIRC, they were honest with the Tokyo Vinyls not doing well - if the main line is simply not doing as well as they hoped, they could tell us that, too. Whatever's causing hiccups in their plans and delays - they can tell us this.
TL;DR - All I want is for them to keep us in the loop better. Let us know earlier when plans change, and if there are any plans for anything new at all. We were all looking to the Toy Fair earlier this year for new figures, and besides some G'14 stuff, didn't get anything. Would've been nice to know ahead of time that they weren't even close to being able to reveal a new figure, and that one may or may not have even gotten past the conception stage at that time. That's all. Like I said earlier, even if its something like "we have plans to do a character many of you have been asking for"... that would've been satisfactory.
Lastly, I'd like to say, in case there is any confusion, that I'm not faulting you or blaming you for any of this, Chris. I greatly appreciate what you've done for the kaiju community, and I hope you don't just write me off as some blind and ignorant "hater". I've said how I don't know the process in detail. You can't blame the consumer for not knowing everything that's going on behind the scenes. All I, the customer, know is that we've been told since the beginning of 2013 that they wanted to know what we wanted - and being the year before Godzilla's 60th anniversary, the year before the first new film in a decade, and an American film at that... many of us thought this meant they had big plans for 2014 (beyond just the 2014 film)... and here we are, two years later, with nothing but an estimated release date for one figure, three and a half years after this little campaign began. I'm sure they intended on releasing stuff. But surely you can understand all the waiting with absolutely nothing to show for it beyond "something's coming eventually" can be... annoying.
I apologize if I've upset anyone or anything like that. I don't want to be a burden. I've said my piece, so I'll duck out and drop it if no one wants to continue. I know I don't want to drag this out further.