First 4 Figures Q&A #80 Recap: Warp Star Kirby Statue Teaser Trailer!

First 4 Figures may have been exhibiting for the first time ever at ACGHK all day today, but the hardest working men in the statue business are back in the studio tonight for another episode of the world-famous F4F Q&A Livestream! How are Cowboy Bebop Spike pre-order sales going? Did Chock leak the exclusive for Jet Black? Rider Link teaser? Undertale TT? And oh yeah–did somebody say WARP STAR KIRBY PRE-ORDER NEXT WEEK? All this and more in the F4F Q&A #80 Recap!

Announcements & The Week in Review:

Chock is handling business, if you know what Alex means. The second kind. When a man’s gotta go, a man’s gotta go, and there’s nothing you can do about that.
Today was the first day of ACGHK (Booth C-30); in Hong Kong
Chocks is back in the office doing the Live Stream LIVE after working ACGHK all day long! F4F is legit!
Crystal Dragon EX and Crystallized Dragon Statue pre-orders closed earlier this week; Spike Validation was on Tuesday
Alex felt it was busier at NYCC than it was the first day of ACGHK
Alex came in Monday to work on that super-secret thing, which is coming along nicely
Chock showing the Cowboy Bebop Jet Exclusive edition arms at Ani-Com wasn’t a leak–it was an announcement! That’s how you do a reveal–at a big show!
Spike sales numbers are healthy–they’re solid
[NOT F4F: Our Cowboy Bebop Complete Series Blu Ray Giveaway is still ongoing! Want all of the Cowboy Bebop anime for free? Please go enter!!]
Gurren Lagann Character Poll was posted over the weekend by Alex
There’s a lot of wires that run all the way from the base through Snake’s boots and body just to make the eyes light up
This is a teaser week! This is why Alex and Chock worked their asses off and made sure they made it back from the con today–so they could show this teaser trailer and give us something exciting for over the weekend
Warp Star Kirby going up for pre-order next week! Alex will review those who voted in the SAVEWarpStarKirby TT poll and find out who said they bought him and then didn’t
Gruntilda poll ran last week and is doing good–Mumbo Jumbo on Throne is tentatively on “the list” now, but Gruntilda still needs more votes
Solid Snake art box will have a Metal Gear Solid-styled box around it, and then the shipping box over that
Teaser Photo of Breath of the Wild Rider Link posted in the OCC this week
Charging 50 Euros for a Pre-Order Pack at GamesCom 2018; but the pack contains a coupon for the equivalent of more than 60 Euros worth (about $75 USD) worth of credit on the F4F website–basically you get a 14 Euros bonus from buying the F4F Pre-Order Pack at GamesCom
There’s no limit to how many Pre-Order Packs you can buy at GamesCom–bring Chocks a 500 Euro note and he’ll give you 10 packs!
Being able to sell pre-orders for PVCs and even resin statues is the main thing that will allow F4F to attend conventions if all goes well
Guts EX is up to 623 pieces pre-ordered

On Temptation Thursday (TT) Polls:

Divinity Original Sin TT has 30 ‘Yes’ votes right now; one of the lowest total vote counts yet for a TT (Wing Commander still has the lowest ever with 12 ‘Yes’ votes)
Code Geass TT has 146 ‘Yes’ votes and 158 ‘No’ votes
Next Week: Undertale TT!!!!
FLCL Anime TT in 2 Weeks!!
Zero Escape TT in 3 Weeks!
This week’s hashtag to win 500 Reward Points next week is #F4FSTAR
Twilight Princess Link destroyed Item 2 Mega Man in the King of the Ring tournament
4 F4F King of the Ring Polls posted this week to complete the round: Zora Tunic Link vs. Metal Sonic; Tails vs. Artorias; Lucky Cat vs. Skull Kid; Twilight Princess Link PVC vs. Super Sonic

The Q&A!:

Yes, some licenses are harder to acquire than others–too close for comfort to discuss which was most difficult
Will be showing Mimic and taking pre-orders for it at Gamescom
Alex hasn’t looked at the data, but the website PVC Exclusives “don’t move the needle”–PVCs live and die by the regular edition distributor orders; the website sales for an EX PVC aren’t nearly enough to break even because of the high cost of tooling for PVCs (need to sell at least 10,000)
F4F doesn’t really make any money selling resin statues wholesale; so resin lines live and die based on the direct website sales
The vast majority of PVC sales happen through wholesalers, though, so cancellations on PVCs through the website aren’t nearly as crippling as cancellations on resins are
The upcoming Okami Amaterasu PVC will have a 1:4 resin version as well in order to recoup the investment in the project, as wholesaler response to the Amaterasu PVC has been lukewarm
F4F collectors are the primary determining factory in what licenses F4F goes after
Alex Davis’ greatest achievement is the success of First 4 Figures. It’s beyond his wildest dreams.
You can see some of Alex’s regrets in the Vault, but Alex’s biggest regret would probably be that about 10 years ago Alex had a meeting with the Pokemon Company in Europe and didn’t end up getting the license
F4F can’t get a booth at SDCC–someone has to die to get a booth there the waiting list is so long
Alita? Rally the fans.
Chocks collects loads of stuff including Kong and Godzilla–he has a diverse collection that’s not really focused; Chock never gets bored because there’s always something to collect
Alex collects (his own) kids who have hundreds of toys
When Jet’s pre-order? In 4-5 months.
When’s Faye’s pre-order? 4-5 months after that.
When’s Jin’s pre-order? TT.
When’s Fuu’s pre-order? TT.
Waiting for feedback on Ridley from Nintendo.
Started some work on Roy Mustang, but waiting to see how Ed & Al sell
Alex absolutely did not expect My Hero Academia polls to do as well as they have–he’s continuously surprised
“You are stranded on a desert island, and can choose only 3 movies to be stuck with for the rest of your days. Which movies do you pick?” — Alex: Castway, Swiss Family Robinson, Debbie Does Dallas (because Alex has to have a little bit of porn); Chocks: Would rather find something to collect on the island
Donkey Kong and Luigi are the Mario characters that it would make sense to potentially see POs for in 2019
Next anime statue PO will be Fullmetal Alchemist Alphonse Elric
No Berserk character poll anytime soon, since Alex already knows what characters they’re doing
Shovel Knight going into production soon-ish
Green and Black Shovel Knight POs in a couple months subject to licensor approval
Minimum edition size F4F needs to hit is usually around 600-700, but it’s hard to say and the cost has to be taken into account
Alex’s dream license other than Pokemon: Final Fantasy VII
Will definitely be contacting MyFigureCollection about advertising
Shiranui 3-month payment plans shouldn’t be charging yet
Yakuza: Refining Kiryu’s face right now
No limit on number of Pre-Order Packs that can be purchased and you can give away as many as you want, but you can’t stack coupons on the same item to get an item at a massive discount
Would F4F OCC members not attending GamesCom want GamesCom goers to pick up packs for them?
F4F FMA license is for Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Troy Blair Questions:
1.) Alex I always hear you saying this project has been in the works for years so could you tell me do you have any legend of zelda projects in the works for like 2019,2020,and 2021??? Yes.
2.) I tried to sneak it in on spikes validation day lol but can we expect to see breath of the wild zelda anytime soon?? Your guess is as good as Alex’s.
3.) You made me a happy man this week alex when will the preorder for rider link be ? When it’s ready.
4.) Is the 1:1 scale statues for the legend of zelda like the SD statues is it something you have to make a few of before you pitch it to Nintendo or is this something that you could pitch to Nintendo right away? Absolutely can’t pitch to Nintendo yet. Much more needs to be done in that regard, and sales data is necessary.
5.) What would a 1:1 statue of link on epona cost? And is this something you would consider in the future? Would probably cost about $10,000. Would not be considered–too big.
6.) Do you think there will be a definitive edition with rider link? Alex doesn’t need to think–he knows.
7.) In a previous poll that you made a.k.a the twilight princess poll a 1:1 midna was an option and currently has 427 votes how many votes does a 1:1 scale statue need before your jumping to do it? Alex doesn’t really know the economics behind 1:1 scale yet. Interested in looking into it more.
8.) Alex you said before that you wouldn’t know what direction Nintendo would want you to go until Las Vegas meeting was over will you tell us if Nintendo wants you to stick with breath of the wild for another year or if you can start to visit the other timelines in the legend of Zelda series? Not for public consumption.
Would consider a diorama base for all of the Cowboy Bebop statues to be displayed together if the sales numbers are consistent across the whole range; if there’s not enough people who bought all of them, then the answer is no
Ed & Ein will come together
There would have to be a significant number of collectors asking for a certain horse diorama for Alex to talk to the licensor about it
Oki Wolf Form is definitely something on the list
Sparx could come as an extra with a future Spyro statue EX or DE
Goggles head for Cowboy Bebop Ed possible; doesn’t necessarily need alternate arms for the EX
Tekken Law reopening can be used to fill a two-week PO slot when nothing else is ready
Stealth Snake, Gold Aku Aku Mask and Gold Shovel Knight aren’t planned to be brought to GamesCom and aren’t planned to be reopened for POs
1:1 stuff isn’t a problem for F4F in bust form–other busts and props are in the works
F4F Minis probably would be made of metal instead of resin; Alex would
No news on next Soul Calibur statue for a while–but Ivy is coming along nicely
Faye Pose E is the likely choice
Pleasantly surprised by the initial sales of the in-stock PVCs at ACGHK
ACGHK sales bode well for possible high sales at GamesCom
Conker is the next Rare PO, but probably won’t be brought to GamesCom because he won’t be up for pre-order for ages
Aika poll next week
Blind pre-orders for Rider Link? Will be extremely expensive; significantly bigger than Link on Epona was. Price will be significant–multi-hundreds more than Link on Epona cost. A huge upgrade in terms of visuals; the horse is much bigger than Epona. Rider Link looks much smaller on the horse.
Alex agrees that a 1:1 Samus helmet would be neat
Alex’s favorite candy is crunchy bars; Cadbury Creme Eggs are way too sweet for Chocks
Classic Sonic is what Alex grew up with and what’s stronger in sales
Times have changed–1:4 scale used to be the rage, but 1:6 diorama is becoming more the rage now
Blizzard has Overwatch covered themselves
Alex walked past the new SDs while refilling his tea and said they look really tight
July 12th is Rusev Day in Knox County
Bayonetta is still kicking Alex’s ass, but a little bit less than before
The 1:1 Bayonetta guns are pretty much done now and looking really tight
Brenton Friedli Questions:
1. When will Mario on Yoshi be up for PO? How close for 100% approval? Haven’t even started painting it yet. Next up for painting–paint stage will take about 2 weeks.
2. What is most likely the order of release between these 3, Snake, Varia Suit, Bowser? Snake. Varia Suit. Then Bowser.
3. Has Aku Aku started production? If not how soon? Not yet. After Solaire and Spyro are complete.
4. What is the aproximate estimated time to order Crystal Dragon Reg before it closes for preorder? A couple months at least.
5. What will be revealed today for next weeks reservation weekend? Warp Star Kirby.
6. Is the Mystery PVC being shown at GamesCon a Nintendo product? Nope.
7. Has Sheikah Slate been 100% approved yet? If so put that shit up now! Nope.
Afro Samurai needs a TT
No progress shots of Grayfox or Sniper Wolf
Phoenix Wright being sent to Capcom for final approval
Working on Banjo-Kazooie revisions to send to Rare
Haven’t done any thinking about Mini Music Notes for Banjo-Kazooie just yet
Should Wait Lists be converted for all items reopened at Gamescom?
Alex doesn’t know how many life-size Sonic statues would have to be sold for the project to be successful.
Alex lucked into this industry as a 21-year old pipsqueak working with his cousin on WWE, and then pushed into video games after he realized he was better than his cousin creatively
Ornstein’s spear isn’t even a little bit heavy compared to his body weight–zero chance the spear causes Ornstein to lean
No sneaks of Skull Knight or Berserker Armor Guts for a while
Time will tell if we can see Alphonse’s seal
Psycho Mantis is coming down the home stretch
Battle Angel Alita TT?
There are statues in development for licenses that are a complete secret
Solaire SD shipping in a couple months
True Form Midna will be available at Gamescom, so edition size can still go up
No updates on Donkey Kong
No chance of E-Mailing people when they reach the top 10 on their region’s Wait List right now–that’s coding that would have to be added to the site
No chance of attending GenCon unless GamesCom does well with sales
Alphonse was going to be shown at ACGHK, but isn’t now
Alex is up for Darksiders if everything goes smoothly at GamesCom
Spike POs are going along nicely so far
If F4F gets the Darksiders license, he’ll do both characters-only
It’ll be a while before a Bayonetta sneak peek
Yoshi likely in Green and F4F Blue
Alex doesn’t think a repositionable metal whip for Ivy would be possible
Blue Kirby is Vaulted–it was not approved by HAL and isn’t going to happen =/
The Gurren Lagann poll doesn’t bode well for the viability of the line
All MGS Exclusives on the Wait List will convert for statues that are opened for sale at GamesCom if the club will allow it
Regarding the gift card idea, how would reward points work? When you purchase the card, or when you apply it to the purchase? You don’t get them.
Any design idea for said cards? Maybe OCC members should design them?
Any idea which statues you’ll display at GamesCom? Very big ideas on that.
Alex is bald–his hair doesn’t grow; he can’t grow a good mustache in two weeks
Will be tough to get the Bayonetta guns replicasinto Europe
Solaire SD numbers–will wait until after GamesCom to announce
Gurren Lagann DEs? Right now, Alex isn’t seeing enough support for Gurren Lagann. Kamina’s numbers are okay-ish, but the other characters are really struggling.
No Who Dat Who Dat this week because it’s so late–maybe eight players in two weeks?
There’s a Vaulted version of the Warp Star Kirby trailer with sounds, voices and music that didn’t get approved by HAL to be used
Absolutely not Fighter Kirby pricing–Warp Star Kirby will be quite a bit more; prepare yourselves

…And that’s it for this week! Come back for next week’s Q&A, during which we’ll see the full reveal and pre-order for the F4F Warp Star Kirby Exclusive Statue!