shipping schedule visualized

I've seen other people mention how other companies often have delays… but with the likes of Sideshow or Hot Toys you aren't pay upfront. You pay when it shows up and if you want to cancel after it's been delayed a bunch it's no big deal and you generally aren't paying a service fee for doing so.

ThreeA built their business on what is essentially crowd funding like Kickstarter… it's just not super apparent that's what's going on.

Fucking hell. Ship some stuff. Over it long ago.

LOOK AT SHIPPING SEPTEMBER LIST, HUGE; AND ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT!

Wooly wrote:Boo on that shipping update. I actually thought the 3AA Heavy Loper set was shipping this month. End of July, to me, meant August shipping. Now follow the tried and true pattern we've seen so far,.... estimate is September shipping. We'll hear the last week of September how they're being prepared to ship and buyers will probably have them in hand by what? 2nd-3rd week of October? These things should be in flawless condition. I'm hoping the response to the original round of heavy Slicer body issues were dealt with.

I know, another wah wah wah post....
Still thinking that some extras for the delay are actually due in this case. Especially for the amount of $$$ that was ponied up a year ago.

My only edit to that would be that the reality is that most of these won't be leaving the hatchery to actually ship until October.

But all are right about the number of releases on the 1 year delay track.
I think the WWR Caesars were the first crazy delay that I remember. (3yrs ago?)
But I think everyone knew that there was no way a 12+ colorway release of a 1/6 bot was going to make it's shipping estimate. It was actually totally expected.

However, Cowbot? A Pascha? Girl Neptune? All occurring after 3A is 7 years into their own production game? No communication at all to have customers understand,... which is kinda the whole point of communication, right? It won't change the fact that it's delayed, but understanding reasons behind the why sure holds some value.(totally lost at present, preaching to the choir, I know...)

But seriously,... have some kind of internal accountability. If a pre-order, paid in full, goes over the 1 year... then toss in an extra; an accessory, an outfit, a bonus weapon, additional 10% off next purchase. It'd be nice to see something that demonstrated there was a 1/2 of shit given about the situation, especially when nothing is said besides, "Due to unexpected delays they will be shipped later, later and later still"

When I cancelled a long awaited order the other day 1 year + and I had expressed my concerns about the delay and lack of information or apology for the wait, CS asked me to be 'patient' whilst they arranged the refund!

Now that is what I call subtle irony!!

That word "patient" seems to get thrown around a lot these days when it comes to ThreeA.

Wooly wrote:If a pre-order, paid in full, goes over the 1 year... then toss in an extra; an accessory, an outfit, a bonus weapon

Then settle in for additional four-month delay while they make the accessory

^ Oh, you're good. The force is strong with that iron chap there.

Asked CS if I could get any tracking numbers for my stuff that was on the September update. They told me Shade Caster, DD1 and Ninja haven't shipped yet.

I asked for refund on Shade Caster and Hex and they refused saying they were ready to ship....?

I just got a refund on my HEX less than a week ago.

well... they must like you more than me artoo

So, I count 28 items officially past-due now (29, if you count Megatron), with some of those items more than a year past their drop date. Has 3A ever been so 'in the weeds'? 3A is making it almost necessary to include another color code, for the despicable distinction of being delivered more than two quarters past estimate.

looking at the past two years, it's surprising how few surprises there are... The amount of pre-ordered  items 3A has been able ship in 2015 are almost exactly as in 2014... (there probably has been more festival and retailer exclusives than in 2014, so more releases shipped, and probably in bigger amounts...) Here's the comparison:

I think the favorable comparison to 2014 might have more to do with stuff just being pushed towards the end of the year. There's also a lot more pink in 2015 and definitely will be even more.

There is about 6 items on the "Shipping in September" list that have not yet shipped. (couple are variants like Judge Death both versions, both TKlub ladies and both versions of Lost Star Warrior and then 3 other items, so plenty of stuff supposedly coming my way)
I emailed CS and they said they will add tracking once it becomes available. Some of the items are yes, over a year old. Now, I don't mind the wait, it really doesn't bother me so much and I won't ask for a refund. What I hope to see is a better update with regards to this massive September shipping list that didn't seem to happen.
I know my stuff will come in, but what's the point on making a "shipping soon" and none (that I know of) actually get shipped?

from https://instagram.com/ashleywoodart/

       

       

Ash samples. Everything gets sent to him first for approvals. Once he gives the thumbs up they're good to ship.

dedguy wrote:I think the favorable comparison to 2014 might have more to do with stuff just being pushed towards the end of the year. There's also a lot more pink in 2015 and definitely will be even more.

favorable? no. it just is, what it is. 3A wasn't able to speed up output as much as they thought, I guess. Year 2015 started with 14 delayed releases from 2014, of which two are still waiting for shipping (Heavy Duty Loper 3AA - shipping box in previous message, and Blind Nabler / Girl Neptune....) And in retrospect it seems those were not taken into consideration when giving out shipping estimates for 2015 releases.

Joshimus wrote:There is about 6 items on the "Shipping in September" list that have not yet shipped.

There are total of 28 releases that were supposed to be released by the end of September.

But as you can see from the 2014/2015 comparison, 3A will most probably be able to ship tons of stuff before the end of the year. Almost everything will be late to a some degree, from whopping 3 full quarters (HD Loper) to reasonable couple of weeks...

Next 6 months:
In total there are 50 releases estimated to be shipped in coming 6 months. Previously in same time frame (between Q4 2014 and Q1 2015) 3A was able to ship 37 releases. So be prepared for delays in 2016 too.

It will be interesting to see how many releases are coming for pre-order in these last 3 months of 2015. I'm not sure if 3A will start giving more realistic shipping estimates though. Now it seems the maximum given shipping estimate is 6 months, pushing that to 9 months might be bit too much for new customers... Who would want to wait for a product for 9 months?

I personally don't care about the delays. It's just curious how wrong the shipping updates coming from the factory are. That said... Even though 3A is 7 years old, the person who is in charge giving out those new estimates might not have been there from the beginning. It's no surprise he or she would make these mistakes in the estimates, as even the 3A Legion veterans seem to be constantly surprised by the delays...

I would not want to have any other kind 3A though. If 3A turns into more streamlined, corporate and efficient, production facility, that would mean it'd be led by some other guy than Ashley Wood. Who wants that?

gregory wrote:Ash samples. Everything gets sent to him first for approvals. Once he gives the thumbs up they're good to ship.

Ash seems happy enough...

gregory wrote:Ash samples. Everything gets sent to him first for approvals. Once he gives the thumbs up they're good to ship.

I don't get this. If Ash says "Yes"?
So are they finished the whole mass production or not? or "Yes", then the factory's going to start producing them?
What happen if Ash wanna change the boxart? or retooled the figure? remake the whole production?

What about bumblebee, when bambaland ver. is going to ship? seems like they manage to ship retails, but not bambaland ver. What's up with that?

Yeah, I don't quite get that either. Samples before production makes sense but after the fact, not so much.

I Guess it is just a symbolic blessings from Ash to go ahead n ship. If it is a real check  I don't think Ash miss out the floppy body for yoshi n deathmask heavy slicer and still let it ship causing so much  frustration for fans

yeah sounds like bull. product should get checks during production not when it's all boxed up. if that's how things are done ... OMG!