C-109 wrote:Venksta wrote:Too bad the original reaction to the prototype for this kit was negative. Otherwise I would of made done a bigger run, and make it a bit cheaper. Since I've already shipped kits out, I can't change the run number.
That's a pretty unprofessional thing to do, blaming the customers for the limited run and pricing when so many are simply voicing their disappointment in being able to obtain your product.
If your reasoning is true and you really kept orders low due to the initial reaction, of the PROTOTYPE then you've got a helluva lot to learn. That's one of the reasons companies even release images of their prototypes, to gauge fan reaction and make changes. Not to brag or say, "look at this cool thing I'm doing".
But you took that "negative" reaction to your prototype and you did what you should: fixed the problems and made a better product. Good job.
The problem is that I don't remember seeing
any images of the NEW and FINAL head sculpt being paraded around here or your site until the
very day you opened orders in the first place - there was literally
no time to gauge reactions to the new sculpt and adjust production accordingly to fan reaction.
So for you to just say "too bad you guys thought it sucked when I showed you a crappy version otherwise I'd made more and made it cheap" is a pretty crappy thing to do to those of us who like your work and want to support an up and coming 3rd partier.
Not cool.
You are right. The way I said it was unprofessional. However, it is true the run number was affected by negative reaction. This is because even with positive reaction, it won't mean the kit will sell that well, if I made enough for every single person that said they would buy it. For example, I had a waiting list for the new batch of Skyfall kits. I asked for 40 people to commit to buying it, so I could start the new run. I ended up getting over 70 people on the list, by the time I could start production. However, only 30 people got back to me from that list. And around 20 of them actually bought the kit.
This was also true for the waiting list for the Red Alert kit. If every single person on that list had bought a kit, I wouldn't even have many kits to offer on my website. The original run, when I began this project, was going to be 300 kits. As none of the other upgrade kits, up till then, had sold out, or sold very well, after the waiting lists, I thought 300 seemed like a good number. I was going to make 200 red sets, and 100 black sets. While people asked to go on the waiting list, most of them just wanted the red set. So with the reaction from the boards, and those on the waiting list, I decided 150 red sets, and 50 black sets, would be plenty for those on the waiting list, and enough extra for those that weren't. But after taking orders from the waiting list first, I decided to bump the numbers up. So the final run, combined, is 275 sets. 25 sets less, than what I originally planned.
If everyone was positive about the Red Alert set, from the beginning, I would most likely do no more than 350 sets. Maybe if somehow I was guaranteed to sell 400 sets, its possible the run could be that high. However, I'm only one person. And doing this takes a lot of time. So I don't want to be making the same kit over and over. And 400 wouldn't mean much, if I decided to end the run at 350 after, after being sick and tired of making them for a couple months. There are tons of other ideas I want to produce. So I do have to keep my production run small. Blaming the actual run for this kit on the initial negative reaction was unfair for me. And I apologize for it.
If people are willing to be patient, I will accept all orders. I was going to only accept the 30 orders total, as of posting the news on Friday. I was close to that, already, as of last night. However, I can take all orders, as long as everyone knows I'm one guy doing this. 
I can't even afford to offer my stuff to BBTS, when they have asked to carry it, with out taking a huge loss. 
