My apologies for not recapping last week’s F4F Q&A #64–I was vending at Anime Boston 2018 and just couldn’t swing it. I didn’t want to repeat that tragedy, so I gave away my Friday PAX East badge for today so I wouldn’t miss out again! And this week’s a big one, as the long, long-awaited F4F Berserk Guts Statue is finally up for order after the revised version (and bloody version!) was revealed during the show…

[The F4F Q&A #65 Recap is now LIVE! Refresh over the course of the next 4 hours to hear the latest news, tidbits and commentary from First 4 Figures CEO Alex Davis and Lieutenant Chockles as they happen!]

The Week in Review:

• Admin Jessica Castick has now officially joined the First 4 Figures team. Congratulations, Jessica!!! <3
• You now set your birthday on the F4F website to receive 1000 Reward Points free on your birthday. The team worked hard to make sure that people can’t game the system and change their birthday every day. 😉
• If Blaze the Cat is something that collectors would be interested in, Alex opened a poll in the club to see if anyone would be interested. Blaze isn’t doing great right now in the poll, so if you want her, please drop in and place your vote to give the fiery cat your support!
• Alex has had some thoughts on Aika–he hasn’t done anything just yet, but he has some thoughts about her.
• One or two new statues will be shown at Gamescom, but it will mostly be statues that are already out or up for pre-order that will be displayed at the show. Alex doesn’t want the group to be stale because of revealing too much at once again, as with what happened after NYCC 2017.
• Due to all of the support from the 500+ fans who voted for a Modern Amy Rose statue, First4Figures has started early, early work on Amy. Congrats, Amy fans!
• Spyro Remastered was finally announced by Activison this week, and as expected, that news spread like wildfire in the club.
• Next week a new Customer Service online system will be implemented on the website! This will ultimately be more efficient that just handling CS via E-Mail.

On Temptation Thursdays:

• Golden Sun TT: 63% Yes votes right now, but only 248 ‘Yes’ votes. This needs more votes to be seriously considered! The best way to make a difference is to go out and invite new members–Golden Sun fans–into the club.
• Splatoon TT: Pretty neck-and-neck between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ votes so far. Splatoon needs a lot more ‘Yes’ votes before specific characters would be looked at. Bring in more Splatoon fans to show their support!
• Stein’s Gate TT Next Week!
• Shin Megami Tensei TT in 2 Weeks!
• Attack on Titan TT in 3 Weeks!
• Alex is excited about visiting the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas next month, where the waitresses are dressed like scantily-clad nurses and the entrees are thousands of calories.

GUTS!!!:

• [This space will be filled in live over the course of the Q&A.]
• The First4Figures Guts Exclusive Edition statue went up for order at a little after 2PM EST. Read on for all the details and photos of Guts (including the price) as they were revealed during the stream…
• The shipping chart for Guts with the shipping rates for every country will be posted after the full reveal of the statue.
• Alex has been having a “TEE-HEE!!” for six days now. There’s been 499 free Rewards Points available since April Fool’s Day, as Alex edited the used-up code to a new one after the Feeding Frenzy completed. 499 free points to help with the bill for Guts!
• Wanted to give people a choice between bloody and non-bloody versions of Guts, as the bloody version may not be suitable for everyone’s collection for a number of reasons. Those with kids (and others) may prefer a cleaner version of Guts in their household.
• This is Reservation Friday when you can place your order, but you’ll still need to come back on Tuesday 4/10 to Validate for the Day One Edition.
• Guts’ sword is made of PU, so it’s not as heavy as polyresin
• Alex demonstrates that there’s a very long metal rod attached to Guts’ hands that the sword slots into–this engineering ensures a sturdy sword that won’t droop or lean
• Non-bloody Guts still has some splashes of blood on him–he’s just not drenched in it
• All new numbers in the Berserk line are up for grabs, as this is the first piece in the line
• The blood on the Bloody Guts statue is too red right now–the color will be darkened and corrected during production, even though it’s still very bright red on the prototypes shown today
• Guts is six cans high, as per the photos during the stream
• There will be no issues with Guts leaning–F4F has tested this and will continue to test it throughout production. Alex was concerned with this as well, and is constantly monitoring this during the production stage.
• Bloody regular version of Guts will have the Berserk logo text in red on the base during production–it wasn’t changed yet in time for the official photos and reveal. The non-bloody regular version of Guts will not have the logo in red.
• The base on the exclusive gives meaning to the pose–a reason and story for Guts to be posed the way that it is. The angle is slicing downward like a golf swing on the purple demons.
• If you purchase both the regular and exclusive versions, the heads are compatible
• Skull Knight and Berserker Armor are both already deep in development as the next two statues in the Berserk 1/4 series

Guts 3-D Changes Still to Be Implemented:

• The wrappings on Guts’ hand will be improved to be more realistic during production
• The canines on the two open-mouthed Guts statues will also be tweaked during production to make them slightly more pointy and less straight

Berserk Guts Pre-Order Details and Pricing:

• 12-Month Payment Plans Available for All Versions; All four SKUs have a 10% Non-Refundable Deposit
• This is the first statue in the anime line that will be tested with a pre-order window that’s not a hard two weeks
• If there are less than 1000 pre-orders during the first two week window, pre-orders will remain open until either A) the edition size hits 1000 or B) production starts
• If Guts hits 1000 orders after two weeks, the statue will immediately go to Wait List
• Validation for low numbers will be next Tuesday, 4/10/2018
• There will be a removable, replaceable battery that can be charged with a micro USB included with the exclusive versions of the statue with on/off/animated modes of being lit up.
• Guts Exclusive Price (Both Clean and Bloody Versions): $724.99 (including $73 Non-Refundable Deposit)
  
• Shipping Cost (Comes in 2 Boxes): $105 US in the United States; $105 USD in Europe; $235 USD in Australia/New Zealand; $140 USD in Canada; $180 USD in Asia; $225 USD in Middle East
• The Exclusive statues weigh 13.8 kg on their own, not including the weight of the packaging
• Guts Regular Versions Price (Both Clean and Bloody): $599.99 (including $60 Non-Refundable Deposit)
  
• Regular will only be shipped in one box and will have a lower shipping cost, although shipping costs are subject to change in case the statue ends up having to ship in two boxes if it doesn’t pass the drop test
• Guts Exclusive includes the extra head sculpts and heavy clear resin Blood Spirits base with light-up functions, which is the reason for the higher price of the EX vs. the regular version
• Regular Version Shipping Cost: $60 USD to the United States; $60 to the EU; $80 to Canada, $155 USD to Australia/New Zealand
• There are no combo packs for Guts this time
• Release window planned for Q1 2019, but could be pushed to Q2 2019 because of Chinese New Year
• You get a Bonus 725 Reward Points for the Exclusive Day One Edition, along with a sticker and bonus signed art card for remembering to come back and validate on Tuesday 4/10/2018

The Q&A!:

• No followups on My Hero Academia/All Might yet.
• Captain Falcon TT can still be before the Las Vegas Licensing Expo next month.
• Not sure yet if Banjo-Kazooie will be the next pre-order after Guts. May know next week.
• You can pay off the balance of your order early, but not the shipping cost–that would mess up the system.
• Mimic is coming along nicely and on-track for Q3 2018 PO.
• Aiming for a new Berserk pre-order every 5 months.
• Try a Funday post to see if there’s any traction for a Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic line
• Additional Dark Souls statues in development besides Nito and Mimic
• Nothing to update for Tekken or Soul Calibur
• Keep pushing for Darksiders statues if you want them
• Mario Question Cube Magic 8-Ball Head on Samus Helmet: “YA-HUH!”
• What fans want to see adult or child Simon from Gurren Lagann? Alex isn’t sure which it would be. “Probably adult?”
• Modern Sonic line is based off the designs from the Dreamcast onwards
• “Does thou Wang?” Alex consults the Mario Question Block: “Signs point to yes.”
• Don’t want to give any kind of timeframe on True Form Midna until concrete information is available
• Check back in 1-2 weeks for Alucard edition size numbers
• Amy Rose development has started–Alex will be checking to see that those who voted for her order! 😉
• There’s still a NDA on Kamina–cannot be revealed at this time
• Won’t try to convince people that the First4Figures Gut statue is the best in the marketplace versus other companies’: “We just do F4F. We just do us.”
• Twilight Princess line has not been completed
• Difficult to devote limited resources to niche Zelda characters like the Stallord from Twilight Princess
• Haven’t had a chance to breathe and think about the Core merch line yet
• Mario Question Block on Acquiring the My Hero Academia license: “No problem!”
• Most memorable video games Alex has played in the last five years: Hellblade Senua’s Sacrifice, To The Moon, The Walking Dead by Telltale Games
• Chocks’: Dark Souls III , Shovel Knight
• Alex starts to panic when he plays against Chock in Street Fighter and Chock picks Blanka
• The next piece in the Zelda Life-Size Replica line will be the Sheikah Slate for certain
• F4F needs at least two weeks of development time to put together photographs, documentary, videos, etc. for each pre-order–this is a large influencing factor on upcoming pre-orders
• The Exclusive Base for Guts was the first thought that F4F had
• Not all F4F lines will be getting the SD PVC treatment
• F4F has its own in-house painters who work in the China workshop who can go to the factory and explain to the factory how they painted it if necessary
• Solaire will be finishing production toward the middle of May, while Artorias SD regulars will be leaving the factories in April–slightly earlier than the exclusives (since the EXs are more complicated and have lights built-in)
• For Dabid (That’s Me!): “Always let us know in the group when you do cons–Spot Dabid! Gank Him! Grab Him!”
• No thoughts on Ed & Ein just yet
• Alex’s Proposed Title for his Autobiography: “TEE-HEE! And The Art of How to Do It”
• Way too Early to Talk About Rider Link
• Goalpost for Blaze the Cat Poll: 550 Votes
• Amaterasu with Issun and the Solar Reflector would destroy Wolf Link without Midna
• A lot more paint detailing has gone into the new version of Zero than the original one that was cancelled back in the day
• No plans for running multiple questions for the same TT any time soon (ie running both Normal Luigi and Luigi’s Mansion TTs, etc.)
• Will there be combo packs for Guts? Stay tuned for the rest of the stream…
• Sonic Boom8 Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 information hopefully coming up as soon as possible
• Zelda pre-orders will start coming more regularly soon (Alex believes)–it’s been a resources issue
• Going back to the way the Collector’s Club was before (pre #F4Funday) where people what they want when they want it isn’t the answer–there’s too many members now for that
• Can revisit Splatoon TT later on with a poll by Alex if necessary if people don’t want generic Inklings but want Marie & Callie
• The Guts documentary is 1 Hour and 40+ Minutes
• Spyro Trilogy Remaster: Alex had “absolutely no idea” *wink wink?*
• We can get an official poll for Coco around the time when Neo-Cortex goes up for order
• Aika is not officially saved yet–Alex needs to do more thinking on this, but would love to save her
• Birth year doesn’t matter for your Birthday Rewards Points–you can put whatever year you want
• The Vault will be coming to Gamescom–on Alex’s USB
• Bowser still looking like a Q3 2018 Release
• Mario on Yoshi is looking “T-T-T-Tight!”
• Already have a plan for next several Zelda releases
• Factory doing Katamari, Mugen and Jin is doing Snake
• The Vault is closed for a reason–Alex won’t keep opening it up to try to revive old projects
• Sure, F4F would want to try to make a statue that’s 100% original and not based on anything
• Thruster Lights on Varia Suit Samus will be changed from green to orange
• Would collectors be up for Modern Tails and Modern Knuckles statues?
• No updates on Spyro PVC–F4F has finite resources, and they allocated their resources to other projects when Spyro PVC was denied last year
• Hard to say whether Sheikah Slate or True Form Midna will go up for order first
• Nothing to announce on Persona 5: “Hope [the anime] does well!”
• Ready Player One: Chocks is seeing it this weekend. Alex doesn’t want Chock to spoil it for him (unlike “IT”).
• Midna won’t be put up for order until F4F has final approval to go into production from Nintendo based off of the physical model–want to avoid collectors waiting for that approval after pre-orders
• “Hopefully” Kamina will go up for order in 2018
• Guts will be stable on his base–will do an aging test in a hot oven for 72 hours to make sure that the statue doesn’t have leaning issues
• Rider Link may or may not have a blue light-up Master Sword–not answering that now
• No updates on T-Shirts
• Haven’t thought about whether or not future Berserk statues will have bloody and non-bloody versions
• Alex has made contact regarding the Darksiders license, but is still concerned that fans don’t know what they want (scale, on/off horse)
• Alex is happy with how the Berserker Armor is coming along
• Two Berserk statues per year sounds reasonable
• Nothing to report on Persona 5 for now
• Phoenix Wright and Dante prototypes are finished in 1:6 and the size is not being changed
• Alphonse is “a big boy”–not particularly tall, but extremely chunky
• Attack on Titan license wouldn’t be difficult to track down, but might be hard to acquire
• If F4F got the Attack on Titan license, polls would be run and everything would be considered (Titans, 1/4 humans, etc.)
• “Not leaning toward” Wolf Link Bust
• Alex picks Roman Reigns over Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania so that Lesnar can return to UFC
• It is absolutely impossible to change the model for the Spyro statue to the new, Reignited Trilogy model at this point–may look into doing a new statue based off this model in the future
• Chock’s favorite Red Bull flavor is the Original
• No reason Sonic line is the only one with dioramas so far
• Alex is in contact with the Darksiders licensor now
• “Is Casca 4th in the Berserk line?” “Tee-hee!”
• Mikasa is not definitely happening at all–F4F doesn’t even have that license.

…And that’s it for this week’s Q&A questions! Stay tuned for the information regarding the Berserk Guts EX Statue pre-order, and come back next week for another live recap of the longest-running weekly episodic official collectibles news stream put on by a manufacturer!