TCC / FunPub announce subscription toys due to ship after BotCon 2013

Any chance we subscribers are to be offered any sort of incentive or compensation for our patience with this massive lapse in customer service? (much like mattel/digital river has done with their MOTUC line)

"After Botcon"

In other words, "Later in 2013. Or maybe 2014. Or whenever we get around to it. We'll see."

dedcat wrote:Any chance we subscribers are to be offered any sort of incentive or compensation for our patience with this massive lapse in customer service? (much like mattel/digital river has done with their MOTUC line)

Ha! The best you can hope for is that your credit card info doesn't get stolen. Anything beyond that from TFCC is just icing on the cake.

And they're still trying to blame the factory. One thing I've learned about customer service is you NEVER pass the buck. Your customers don't care if one of your vendors didn't deliver on time; that's YOUR problem, not theirs. TFCC doesn't understand customer service, though.

The factory not meeting deadlines isn't their fault. I can't fault them any on this.

Regarding the discussion, I know it's been a mixed bag with Botcon/TFCC exclusives. It is an odd set of circumstances... TFCC is in many ways like a 3rd party company, only they have to bow to Hasbro's wishes and rules. (In the sense that they have their own design team, sculpts, bios, comics... independent of the Hasbro universe.) It seems like they have one hand tied behind their backs in a lot of ways (cost, Hasbro supervision, limitations on molds and character choice), but still come through with some good stuff. I'm guessing they don't have a lot of monetary support or discount from Hasbro on manufacturing or such to help drive down prices, if any. Hmm.

As I've said before, I don't envy them being caught between the fans and Hasbro.

But pondering their exclusives, I think the SG storyline and set has been fantastic. Glad it's kept going. Some great looking toys and a rich plot. The SG cassettes are worth the price of entry. Hilarious.

I also loved Runabout/Runamuck, Punch, G2 Ramjet, Sideburn, Scourge, Slipstream, Nightbeat, Dion... As said above, there are a lot of characters we'd not be seeing otherwise. I hope we see more of that. The Animated box set was brilliant, too.

Of the ones I've liked less, I think they got of to a slow start with that red combiner. Also was less of a fan of the Wings box set. (Not sure why. Might just be due to character development in the comic, who knows.)

But I digress. We're going to get the six exclusives eventually. A delay isn't a big deal, as long as the quality is up to par. No worries here.

gothsaurus wrote:The factory not meeting deadlines isn't their fault. I can't fault them any on this.

Yeah, were it not a regular occurrence. Every year it's the same song and dance, "Problems with the factory, figures after Botcon". Happens with the club figure(which I just got the email on that today, SURPRISE SURPRISE ), why would it be any different with the FSS. Hell, if he's having so many problems with the factory, why not try and find a different one? I'm sure if he did some searching, he my find one with better rates. All it takes is a little work to keep your customers happy, not regurgitating the same excuse year in, year out(been a member for 3 years now, same thing every year, club figure after Botcon).

D-340 wrote:

gothsaurus wrote:The factory not meeting deadlines isn't their fault. I can't fault them any on this.

Yeah, were it not a regular occurrence. Every year it's the same song and dance, "Problems with the factory, figures after Botcon". Happens with the club figure(which I just got the email on that today, SURPRISE SURPRISE ), why would it be any different with the FSS. Hell, if he's having so many problems with the factory, why not try and find a different one? I'm sure if he did some searching, he my find one with better rates. All it takes is a little work to keep your customers happy, not regurgitating the same excuse year in, year out(been a member for 3 years now, same thing every year, club figure after Botcon).

It just seems like the figures ship with the BotCon exclusives. The pattern is there ... anyone else see it or is it just me? If this is the case, just wish they'd say it instead of all of the variations of the same story every year.

I'm guessing they're stuck with the factory Hasbro uses... where the molds and the specific equipment to USE the mold are located.

I heard at a Botcon panel that the metal for each mold stores at about the size of a tractor trailer rig. (Think Prime's trailer). I'm sure that's not something to easily (or cheap) move around.

I also know they are able to save money by tag-teaming their run with another reissue/repaint. If somethings going to hit the shelves with the same mold, they can run the exclusives while the mold is on the press. That can cause a delay as well.

Guessing the factory has a calendar full of various products scheduled out for months working around movie launches, etc.. Wugh.

Like it or not, dealing with the official toys and molds adds a lot of issues. It's too bad.

Again... not making excuses, because it still sucks... but hopefully enlightening some people what goes on behind the scenes to help understand what a mess it is.

Bleeh the usual bilge from the hacks at Fun Pub. I'm looking forward to Hasbro dumping these guys. At least all of their figures suck this year, with the exception of Scourge, so I can avoid them.

Yeah, I think the point of this year's offerings are to toss a bone to a number of different factions and fans. No surprise you only like one. You have represented....

Beast Wars
Animated
RID/Car Robots
G1
Actionmasters
Femmebots

A little bit for every type of fan. No leaning toward any specific group. Pretty diplomatic, but no group is going to be super excited... only fans of the entire franchise who collect all the eras.

I don't believe anything the TFCC says... that's why I no longer renew. They do this every year for like 5 years now. All they do is take some of the club items to the Botcon to sell every year. It's shady business so why believe the same "factory" or "ship" story every year. Come on guys don't fall for the okedoke...demand better it's your money after all.

Seibertron wrote:

D-340 wrote:

gothsaurus wrote:The factory not meeting deadlines isn't their fault. I can't fault them any on this.

Yeah, were it not a regular occurrence. Every year it's the same song and dance, "Problems with the factory, figures after Botcon". Happens with the club figure(which I just got the email on that today, SURPRISE SURPRISE ), why would it be any different with the FSS. Hell, if he's having so many problems with the factory, why not try and find a different one? I'm sure if he did some searching, he my find one with better rates. All it takes is a little work to keep your customers happy, not regurgitating the same excuse year in, year out(been a member for 3 years now, same thing every year, club figure after Botcon).

It just seems like the figures ship with the BotCon exclusives. The pattern is there ... anyone else see it or is it just me? If this is the case, just wish they'd say it instead of all of the variations of the same story every year.

This probably saves them money on shipping cost? or larger runs on the same modes that might show up at botcon with different decos? It won't surprise me if this is all planned from the beginning and they want our money from the subscription service in November to keep their business a float.... (of course its pure speculation)

Thanks, TFC, but I'll believe it when I see a box in front of my door.

Y'know, with all these "factory issues" they seem to have on a fairly constant basis, I'm amazed they manage to get the Botcon figures on time. How long do you guys think it'll be before we have a con that's preceded by an email saying "oops, factory screwed up, no toys for Botcon this year! But it's totally not our fault so don't worry!"

I understand there are difficulties in running a business that I don't fully comprehend, but the way Funpub has been handling these situations has stripped them of all credibility. Like I said, I won't believe they've actually made and shipped figures until I have it in hand. But that's just me.

Fair play to you faithful folk. I considered becoming a TFCC member about the time I started frequenting Seibertron, but luckily there has been many a news articles to talk me out of it.

Keep dropping those balls, TFCC.

Yeah, they just need to avoid mentioning any timeframe. Just say "Sometime this year." Heh.

I'm surprised they don't ship more than the first pair of figures... maybe ship them in two packages instead of three to save a bit of shipping.

I think the fun/exciting notion of the "subscription" service was the spread-out nature of... well, a "subscription." Kinda like getting a magazine or comic each month or two.

Having lost that aspect of it, I think they should just drop the robots in the mail asap to try to save face a bit. Try for the bi-monthly thing next year.

Seibertron wrote:

D-340 wrote:

gothsaurus wrote:The factory not meeting deadlines isn't their fault. I can't fault them any on this.

Yeah, were it not a regular occurrence. Every year it's the same song and dance, "Problems with the factory, figures after Botcon". Happens with the club figure(which I just got the email on that today, SURPRISE SURPRISE ), why would it be any different with the FSS. Hell, if he's having so many problems with the factory, why not try and find a different one? I'm sure if he did some searching, he my find one with better rates. All it takes is a little work to keep your customers happy, not regurgitating the same excuse year in, year out(been a member for 3 years now, same thing every year, club figure after Botcon).

It just seems like the figures ship with the BotCon exclusives. The pattern is there ... anyone else see it or is it just me? If this is the case, just wish they'd say it instead of all of the variations of the same story every year.

"And the truth shall set you FREE!" But in all seriousness, yeah, just say everything ships with the Botcon stuff to save costs and cut the crap.

Yeah, truth be told... them saving money comes out better for us. Doing things in a smart way behind the scenes just comes out better for everyone.

gothsaurus wrote:Yeah, truth be told... them saving money comes out better for us. Doing things in a smart way behind the scenes just comes out better for everyone.

It would if their prices per figure were actually decreasing so that we, the consumers, reaped some of the benefits. Instead, in addition to constant delays, we get a hefty price increase each year, at least that's how it's been for the Botcon exclusives. I haven't worked out how the pricing for the subscription service breaks down per figure, but I suspect it's more than the usual $40 that they charge for the normal subscription+club exclusive.

I wish Hasbro could bring back 3H. Their figures were better and more unique/original in my opinion. It seems like everything Funpub does is meant to be or homage an already existing character or figure. Eventually (already, actually) it's going to get old and unless you're a truly die-hard fan of the whole Shattered Glass concept, evil repaints of Autobots and good repaints of Decepticons is going to get old as well (as though it hadn't already).

I dunno. Hard to compare apples and oranges between Beasts VS Vehicles.

I do agree that I like them to mix things up with the exclusives. I think homages go over really well with the fans, but every once in a while you need to throw in a new character or such. Also thinking a year where almost ALL the characters are new is a bad idea, as well. (Though when we were getting just one or two exclusives, getting two new characters was amazing.)

Looking back, I have liked them throwing in a rare UK or Japan character (or actionmaster), as well as the odd "new" characters like Autotroopers, Toxitron, Flak, Landshark and Elita 1. I'm forgetting them, but they've actually been in there occasionally. I guess Flak and Landshark were the last "original" characters we've gotten? (anyone able to confirm or deny?)

Funny that the old set with Deathsaurus somehow seems to not stand out, but analyzing it... it had G1 homages, new femmebots, new jet, a Japanese character, and... if they were able to get a different insect mold, I think that one would have left a better impression. It had a good mix. Heh.

Okay. Someone else's turn to get nostalgic and pick everything apart...

gothsaurus wrote:Looking back, I have liked them throwing in a rare UK or Japan character (or actionmaster), as well as the odd "new" characters like Autotroopers, Toxitron, Flak, Landshark and Elita 1. I'm forgetting them, but they've actually been in there occasionally. I guess Flak and Landshark were the last "original" characters we've gotten? (anyone able to confirm or deny?)

Weren't all of those characters already established to some degree in fiction though? I'm talking completely new characters, not just characters that never had toys (not that there's anything wrong with doing those either, I'm just saying).

Landshark I'll give you, but really he's just another Sharkticon/Gnaw homage when it comes down to it (at least if I'm thinking of the correct Botcon figure/set).

Toxitron was a cancelled G2 character/figure, Flak was in the comics (I think?) and Elita-1 was in the G1 cartoon (Optimus Prime's one and only love interest).

Again, there's nothing wrong with that, but figures/characters that were invented for the cons just seemed a lot more interesting to me, like Antagony, Catscan etc. but maybe I'm in the minority here. I can understand that these homages can be a surefire hit with many of the fans and that not every collector may be open to new character concepts, but I just find it a lot more interesting than adding yet another <insert name of G1 character here> to my shelf, especially if it's just a repaint of a mold that was never really meant to be that character anyway and they're obviously just kinda shoehorning it in with a new paintjob and a new head or doing yet another 'evil' SG repaint/'good' SG repaint.

I find it far more interesting and desirable when they create new concepts and characters. It makes the exclusives feel much more 'exclusive' and unique, to me at least. And if it's a mold I like at all, it's even more desirable.

BotCon 2009 Landshark (the E-Landmine repaint, not the 2010 Land Shark one) was the last totally original character we've seen. Flak was a G1 original Micromaster, but had to have his colors changed to grey for BotCon, thank to Hasbro releasing Universe Overload with Flak's G1 colors around the same time.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:BotCon 2009 Landshark (the E-Landmine repaint, not the 2010 Land Shark one) was the last totally original character we've seen. Flak was a G1 original Micromaster, but had to have his colors changed to grey, thank to Hasbro released Universe Overload with his G1 colors.

Ah, gotcha, thanks for the clarification !

Hey.

I see your point differentiating "first-appearance" toys like Elita 1 — and completely original new characters like Catscan, etc.. I DO like seeing both of these, though. Same with transforming action masters. All fun for a Botcon set.

Oh — Landshark was a big green vehicle in the Wings box set. I think he may be the last "completely original" character we've seen, though Toxitron is pretty close. (Just because Hasbro experimented with a color scheme doesn't mean they provided much in the way of character development.)

BUT yeah... I agree there IS a LOT of excitement to getting a new, well-developed character. (I DO hate seeing a flat character intended to be an unbeatable apocalyptic bad-guy like Sunstorm. I'd rather see them with skills or missions or history or such. Rich characters.)

So yeah, I agree — I'd love to see at least one completely new and original character each year... but not sure how many people agree. There IS a real satisfaction to getting a box set with an epic, memorable somehow-recognizeable-yet-kinda-original leader good guy and bad guy to lead a 15 toy "mini-toy line". Displaying the SG line with Prime and Megatron does have a real satisfaction to it, and certainly drives up the price. Not sure a Botcon set would have the same home-run quality if it were 15 new characters.

I think keeping at least a couple of characters we know in the set is a must — like the G2 set had two UK leaders (well done)... or a big Jiaxus... or Megaplex. (I did think that was a good way to give us a large bad-guy this year — without it being Megs or Galvatron.)

Thoughts? You guys like original, homage, or a mix?