F4F Q&A #110 Recap: Mario on Yoshi Exclusive Statue Reveal & More!

Posted on by March 8, 2019

We got our first tease of the icons literally years ago, but now they’re finally perfect and ready to be fully-revealed to the world: the F4F Mario on Yoshi Exclusive statue is now up for order! But before you pre-order, there’s another delectable episode of the First4Figures Q&A with CEO Alex Davis and King Chockles to enjoy! This is a big event, so I’m recapping it as it happens! If you can’t watch the video right now, sit back and relax, because the F4F Q&A #110 is now live!

Comparison of Bowser and Mario on Yoshi StatuesAlex Davis Checking Out Mario's ButtAnnouncements and The Week in Review:

  • The F4F Mario on Yoshi statue will be fully revealed at around 10AM EST and then go up for order on the website afterwards
  • The F4F Q&A is not a game
  • Chocks is drinking Red Bull during the Q&A–it’s just been disguised inside of a McDonald’s cup; “It’s like those guys drinking alcohol out of a paper bag.”
  • “It’s your first episode in March? Where the hell were you last week? Filthy casual! (Just kidding.)” — Alex Davis
  • Torch Torch Dark Souls rings are still up for pre-order but will close on March 15th
  • There will not be a stream next week from Alex and Chocks
  • Friday Q&A With Phil & Brenda #1 Next Week?
  • Bowser EX edition size will remain at 1000 and will not increase to 1100 as rumored
  • Solid Snake SD Exclusive & Variants are still up for order until March 29th
  • No new First 4 Figures shirt this week, as everyone has been busy preparing for ECCC and the Mario & Yoshi launch
  • Extended POs are still available for the following EXs: Guts, Spyro PVC, Warp Star Kirby, Psycho Mantis, Mimic, Phoenix Wright, Meta-Ridley and Shovel Knight P2
  • Mario on Yoshi statue prototype is on its way to Emerald City Comic Con now, so we’ll be shown a pre-recorded video of them during the livestream instead of seeing them live on the show
  • Doing zero renting of furniture from the convention center for Emerald City Comic Con–bringing own custom furniture instead this time; will be a very interesting thing as the furniture will be F4F-branded; the furniture will be left in storage in the United States and will be sent out for the next convention in the US that F4F attends; crazy 3 meters by 3 meters backdrop thing has also been made for the show that only cost about 300 bucks with metal framing in Hong Kong (the cloth can be replaced with the metal frame to refresh the signage whenever F4F wants)
  • Movable booth with plinths, graphics, printed materials, and several PVCs that can easily be inserted into a 10×10 booth; could attend 15-25 conventions throughout the United States during the year as a traveling events person whose job is to spread the word of F4F really appeals to Alex; hit up Chocks if you’re interested
  • This is not an easy job or a dream job when you’re doing it on your own; there might be enthusiasm for 2 or 3 shows, but then you must be less excited; there’s a serious side to this job as well; there’s an internal expectation that there might not be a way to get the connection necessary to hire someone to represent First4Figures; going to be a learning experience to see how this process can work
  • Two Week Reservation period for Mario on Yoshi since there won’t be a Q&A with Alex and Chocks next week while they’re in Seattle
  • It’s a different experience from when you’re sitting at a booth and people are walking past seeing your amazing products instead of trying to chase after people and solicit them for leaflets
  • If all goes well, the uncolored prototype of the Sonic TF PVC will be ready to show at ECCC next week; will be up for pre-order if everything goes well around Sonic’s birthday; the resin version will have a much bigger and more elaborate base than the PVC Sonic will; hopefully will appeal to both PVC and resin collectors; would be concerned that the fanbase might be too small for just a Sonic PVC to be a success at retail, but made viable with a resin version being made as well
  • Spyro Reignited resin is deep, deep, deep, deep, deep in paint stage and is looking really nice
  • Ornstein is super-deep in production; From Software still hasn’t approved a few aspects of the detail work, but looks much more reflective than the original color; so much of the statue that didn’t need to be revised had pretty much already been completed that Ornstein will be able to quickly go from pre-production samples to packaging; Alex will be able to nail down the release timing once he visits the factory after ECCC
  • Alex feels First4Figures currently goes well beyond what other companies in the business do as far as videos and documentaries go; can’t really do more in-depth interviews and documentaries that people are asking for with current resources, so asked if people would be willing to support donations or a Patreon to hire someone dedicated for this purpose
  • Alex trolled the OCC and got some backlash from the group because members thought he was serious about showing Mario on Yoshi first to people if they paid; “We’re profesh, but just F4F profesh if that makes sense”
  • “I just love drama! I love backlash! I love it!” — Alex Davis
  • Praise the Sun Solaire SD PVC production video posted in the Facebook group this week for those who are interested
  • Poll on favorite Edward Elric fight in the group was interesting
  • “China… dealing with factories is difficult. Yesterday, I get a message from the Varia factory saying they want 40 bucks more per piece in addition to what you’re already paying or else they’ll finish really really really slowly”; Alex has been shaken down by factories before; if you don’t play ball, the factory holds you over a barrel; some shakedowns are like “If you don’t pay this we’re not releasing it–fuck you” and then F4F will no longer work with a factory
  • The shakedown this week was different–at the factory that made the Artorias resin–factory manager said that they can only afford to make maybe 350 pieces a month if First 4 Figures paid $40 more per month and only 70 per month otherwise because of how complicated the piece is and how high the quality standards are; F4F priced Varia Suit Samus far too low even when they relaunched pre-orders; Alex paid the money since they had to

F4F Mario and Yoshi 5 Cans TallTemptation Thursdays and King of the Ring

  • Noragami TT:  288 Votes, 193 No, 95 Yes
  • Spider-Man PS4 TT: Huge difference from the Batman TT; more ‘Yes’ votes than ‘No’ this time
  • Journey TT Next Week
  • Overlord TT in 2 Weeks
  • Only one entrant remains in the King of the Ring III tournament, so she will automatically be the winner regardless of what happens in the remaining matchups
  • Although Dracula vs. Bowser is still ongoing, Jennifer Johnson has not chosen the correct ranking for her bracket regardless of what happens, so she will be eliminated and the tournament will end with this match; Rose Pesiri is the runner-up

F4F QA 110 Red Bull in McDonalds CupThe Q&A:

  • It’s going to be longer for Dark Souls II & III
  • No Yakuza updates but there will be
  • No news on Phoenix Wright
  • Chocks is getting applications like crazy for the US job
  • High-end action figure line by F4F? “We want to absolutely look at it all.”
  • No way could the Mipha pushed for in the club be made in the pose people wanted
  • There has been movement in working on the new studio
  • Will be meeting with at least one licensor next week while at ECCC
  • Sonic & Tails diorama not started being painting yet
  • Last thing that needs to be improved on Guts is the bandages, which need to be more dirty and bandage-colored instead of grey; almost ready to begin production
  • Sonic TF PVC pre-order around June loosely
  • Metroid Suits Poll: Alex is a bit scared after Varia Suit kicked his ass
  • Possible to make a 1:4 PVC but would be very, very expensive
  • Kid Icarus and Fire Emblem? Rally the Fans!
  • Would love to have the licenses for Final Fantasy and Pokemon and to own Earthworm Jim
  • Dante is being restarted from scratch
  • F4F Q&A is now paused to play the Mario on Yoshi video–questions may or may not be revisited following the 1 hour and 22 minutes Mario on Yoshi reveal video!

Making of Mario on Yoshi DocumentaryF4F Mario & Yoshi Statue Details:

  • The Mario & Yoshi EX Statue goes up for order following the conclusion of the Q&A!
  • Mario on Yoshi has been in development since 2015; pricing/sizing/shipping info will be revealed following the documentary 82 minute video being shown right now
  • 4th in the Super Mario line after Tanooki Mario, Cat Mario and Bowser
  • Question 1 from Dabid Kuhrt (that’s me!): Chose this version over a Super Mario World era Mario on Yoshi to make this an “evergreen” product that covers many modern games instead of just one, and also to be consistent with the other statues released previously in the line; didn’t want this statue to look out of place
  • If you’re interested in a classic Mario line, please let F4F know in the comments!
  • Mario is the world’s most iconic video game character; it’s taken First4Figures around 14 years to bring this Mario to pre-order; required a lot of ambition to tackle something more complex like this piece; asked Nintendo to allow them to make a statue based on the official artwork of these characters back in 2015; did make a regular Mario DS holder around 2011 previously
  • Most difficult part of designing Mario on Yoshi: Was pretty straight-forward coming up with this; new that they wanted to use official artwork from the evergreen modern era for this piece; didn’t want to use art where Yoshi had his feet both backward; Alex loved the sense of movement of the pose chosen
  • The engineering of the feet was the most difficult part of the piece, as they had to make sure this was easy to put onto the base and the feet had to be positioned perfectly
  • Chose the ideal angle for this statue as the side view because Mario is a side-scrolling game traditionally and they didn’t want the piece to be centered on Yoshi’s snout; wanted to show forward movement in the way that Yoshi is posed; legs opened and arms pumping to show that he’s walking quickly forward; Mario is also leaning backwards and holding onto Yoshi to show the pace of the scene; actual artwork is a little more isometric, but the directions Mario and Yoshi are looking have been slightly modified for the statue
  • Is it easier to make Mario and Yoshi because they don’t have a lot of texture on them? It can be a lot harder to hide imperfections in a piece like this because of how clear-cut and clean everything is; you can hide a lot of imperfections on more hyper-detailed pieces because of all of the paint shading and sculpted details; dents and defects show up much more easily on cartoon-like characters like Mario and Yoshi
  • Stitching line details go all the way around on Mario’s trousers; classic Mario gloves; his one hand is a fist, but the other is more relaxed and differently sculpted; the shell curves along Mario’s backside; had to carve the shell to make it fit the body–believe they’ve gotten the perfect blend of showing Mario and the shell; sculpted nostrils on Yoshi
  • Andrew Prentice in the Facebook comments for the stream: “Chockles just commented on Yoshi’s chunky curves“
  • Why did you choose this base and what was the reason for it? The base itself is Acorn Plains from quite a few modern era games; Mario on Yoshi just about perfectly fit the same sized block as Cat Mario and Tanooki Mario, but the feet would go over the edge and not have a great balance to it; the rectangular base for this piece allows better distribution of weight; wanted Acorn Plains since it’s early-game and familiar to most players; like the 3-D look of the leaves going across and the multi-colored greens on the base
  • Most challenging part of this piece for factories: making sure it passes drop testing; will require a lot of time and effort to paint each leaf on the base; Mario’s hand and arm are quite easy to paint and shade because they’re separate pieces; may be frustrating for the painters to have to paint the base since it’s one solid piece and can’t be shared among several workers; assembly will also be difficult since the arms have to be inserted perfectly so that red arms are a lower level compared to the blue overalls
  • Mario’s pose can only be done because he’s on Yoshi–it’s very unique to the two characters being paired together. Only decided to do a resin Mario in his traditional costume in 2015, so it’s taken years to get to this stage. Alex can be convinced by the OCC that people want a standalone Yoshi or Luigi–tell First 4 Figures if you want an individual Yoshi statue later on, and whether you’d want it in resin or PVC.
  • Exclusive versions of Tanooki Mario and Cat Mario came with an extra Leaf and Bell statue respectively; Mario on Yoshi will have an Exclusive as well: a Yoshi Egg on its own base! The Yoshi egg will be magnetic to attach to the base during production, although the current prototype doesn’t have the magnets in the base and inside the egg. Will be a bit of a cushion in the base so that the paint of both the base and egg will be protected.
  • “Nice timing for this piece with Easter coming up!”
  • Measurements: 19″/48cm tall; 9.5″/24 cm deep; 6.34 kg

Bowser Checkpoint Flag on Mario on Yoshi StatueMario on Yoshi Definitive Edition:

  • But wait–there’s more! DEFINITIVE EDITION! Includes a multi-tiered Acorn Plains base! Would almost consider this DE to be a diorama piece. Beautiful step-level presentation!
  • Movable flowers on the DE base as a feature
  • Wanted to give the feeling of different heights on the base to honor the actual levels you play in the games
  • Don’t want to just randomly add stuff to this piece–want what’s included to make sense and add to the story of the statue
  • Egg can be moved around to several spots on the DE base
  • …But that’s not all!! Bowser checkpoint flag is also included and attaches to the base! Magnetic and can be positioned in the front or the back of the base , however you’d prefer.
  • The resources that First4Figures originally received from Nintendo were flipped looking in the other direction, so it was really important to make the change to that 3D file in order to facilitate this Mario on Yoshi Definitive Edition–the Bowser sign MUST be on the right for Mario and Yoshi to be walking towards it logically
  • But there’s one more thing! There’s a Mario flag as well, in case you want to display your piece with Mario and Yoshi already having walked past the Bowser checkpoint flag! Technically, you could display both flags at once if you really wanted to.
  • Definitive Edition Dimensions: 21″ Tall (2″ taller than the regular); 19.5″ Wide; 17.5″ Deep; Overall weight of 16.3 kg (about 36 lbs.)
  • Maybe there could be magnetized additions to add to this base in the future, like the companion pieces that F4F does
  • Exclusive and Definitive Editions will share the same number pool, and those who authenticate Bowser can carry over their edition number from Bowser to Mario on Yoshi

Mario Flag on DE Mario on Yoshi StatueMario on Yoshi F4F Statue Order Information:

  • 12-month payment plans available; estimated to release in Q2 2020 (April-June 2020)
  • Pre-orders opening immediately following the stream and reservations will be open for two weeks until Validation Day on March 22nd
  • 10% deposit required; standard and exclusive have different prices because the exclusive comes with a lot more work and more statue; $38/month on the 12-month plan
  • Standard Edition Price: $499.99 (including $50 required as the deposit)
  • Exclusive Edition Price: $39/month payments; $524.99 MSRP (including $50 deposit)
  • Definitive Edition Price: $50/month payments; $674.99 MSRP (the deposit is $67)
  • Wanted to keep the price on this low with the expectation of selling more units; believe this is a strong piece that will be able to sell more pieces; pushing for a lower price and praying to sell a lot–future pieces won’t be priced as low if expectations aren’t met
  • Value, Value, Value! F4F tries to position themselves as giving the greatest value possible for collectors’ money.
  • Shipping Costs – Standard and Exclusive: $55 USD to US and EU; $75 USD to Canada; Zone 7 $155 USD; AUD/NZ $205 USD [for the regulary; $225 for the EX in this region]; $225 USD to other regions like Egypt
  • Shipping Costs – Definitive Edition: Should Arrive in 1 Jumbo Box; $75 USD to US and EU; $95 USD to Canada; $255 to AUS; $195 USD to Japan/Singapore; Other regions top out at $255 USD

Mario on Yoshi Statue EX Egg on BaseThe Mario on Yoshi EXCLUSIVE Statue will be up for pre-order on the F4F website following the completion of the livestream! Now that you’ve seen and heard all about it, are you getting one? And a reminder: there will be no Q&A next week, as Alex and Chock (and me!) will be at Emerald City Comic Con 2019 in Seattle [with Mario on Yoshi DE in tow]! If you’re at the event, make sure you drop by for the second First 4 Figures convention ever in the United States!

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