F4F went BIG this week, and the *COMPLETE* F4F Q&A #121 Recap this week has now been posted! In this week’s exciting installment, learn the answers to queries like:
WHO would the next two Dark Souls busts be after Artorias if he sells well?!
WHEN are we likely to see the POs for Reignited Spyro, Sonic & Tails Diorama and Neo-Cortex?!
WILL we be seeing any Berserk statues up for order this year?!
WHICH Castlevania SOTN characters does Alex want to make a reality?!
WHAT is Alex’s “absolute recipe for success”?!
…And more!
Announcements and The Week in Review:
- Jet Black pre-orders still open until June 7th
- Mini Aku Aku Masks, Mario on Yoshi, Meta-Ridley, Mimic, Psycho Mantis, P2 Shovel Knight, Phoenix Wright, Warp Star Kirby, Alphonse and SD Snake still up for orders as well
- Ornstein and Sif would be the next two Dark Souls busts if Artorias does well
- Drop Test video for Bowser isn’t ready yet
- Alex is getting excited to start working on small metal items after Mini Crystal Dragon
- Cowboy Bebop Spike statue is now arriving safe and sound in Australia/Asia; so far so good with no damages; will begin shipping worldwide in 1-2 months if all goes well
- F4F knew that they wouldn’t hit the target of a new pre-order every 2-3 weeks during the first part of 2019
- Alex feels kind of guilty he didn’t die very much in his most recent Sekiro live-stream since he’s too good now
- “Can’t afford this, running out of room… we hear it every day!”
- Alex is up to 3 subscribers on Twitch! He’s a pro subscriber now!
- Alex truly believes that F4F won’t be so small-potatoes after PVC Nation has more releases under its belt; believes #PVCNation is absolutely key to the growth of First4Figures–“an absolute recipe for success”; plush/resin/PVC will be the three pillars of F4F supporting each other
- Will definitely see PVCs with DEs or bigger bases in the future
- So many PVCs in development now that no one knows about! It’s going to be another level. Alex is so excited for the club to watch this journey! Alex is so motivated for the future! Looking forward to investing in the future!
- PVC Nation is becoming a full-blown arm to sit next to the resin arm of F4F
- No plans to make PVC comparable to the size of 1:4 resins; wants to hit a price-point that will allow PVCs into retail shops, and at that size PVCs would go over the price that chain stores are willing to pay
- Production video of Ornstein and EX Ornstein Spear at the factory being shown; shows the EL cable that powers the light-up effect on the spear as a continuous line instead of the “dots” that LEDs would be
- Alex has given the thumbs-up to Ornstein to go to the packing stage and ship out to Australia/Asia in about two weeks! Watch for photos of packaged samples in early June!
- Filmed the Okami Amaterasu PVC Documentary this week!
- Trying to get videos done early so that there’s a back-up plan in case something doesn’t go as expected
- Sonic & Tails diorama is significantly more complicated and larger than 25th Anniversary Sonic, and will cost quite a bit more
- Crash Racing “Tee-Hee” was shown this week; got approval to go to the physical prototype from Activision
- Mario Kart TT: 96.5% Yes, 30.5% No; Poll is barely moving at all
- PsychoNauts TT: 231 Votes; 39 ‘Yes’, 192 ‘No’
- Slayers TT Next Week!
- #F4FLowerBridge is this week’s hashtag for a chance to win Rewards Points next week!
- The Ornstein Dreaded Drop Test video is shown! WHAT A BOX!!! First4Figures managed to get Ornstein into one box instead of needing to split it into two boxes, although it will be double-boxed.
- Will adjust the shipping charge accordingly since Ornstein will arrive in only one box–don’t worry, F4F isn’t going to screw you
- 3PM Christian Hernandez survives another week in King of the Ring IV as the sole surviving participant! Will he advance after the next match between Pac-Man and Running Mega Man?!
The Q&A!:
- Metal Gear Solid PO soon? “Nope.”
- Gray Fox tease? “Nope. Almost.”
- Already did a character poll for other Spyro characters
- An SD PVC made of resin would probably cost about 2.5 times the regular cost
- Considering an F4F Art Book; would be made at the end of the year as a sort of Year Book in terms of what was available for pre-order this year; could start in 2016 and work forwards, since prior years didn’t have as many pre-orders
- Still making the prototype for Kiryu
- Sonic & Tails pre-order hopefully toward the end of June–needs approval from SEGA
- No blind pre-order for Jin
- Have first-time meetings for the Licensing Expo with both companies that haven’t attended before and also companies F4F hasn’t been able to get meetings with before and want to
- Completely re-working Zero statue; Onion Bro plush is on Buffy’s plate now
- Atlus isn’t exhibiting at the Licensing Expo, Persona fans. =/
- Can talk to Nintendo about future Zelda plans and characters at the Licensing Expo next week
- Spyro Reignited Resin has now been approved; probably will have a pre-order in early July 2019
- Nintendo wouldn’t allow a yellow cape for Mario, so made the DE to overcompensate with the most massive base possible
- Thinks Skull Knight will be up for order this year; not SD Ornstein or Nito
- No poll necessary for a modern Sonic diorama–will probably just make one
- Would have to run a Borderlands TT to see if folks are interested
- Neo-Cortex PO in the next 3-4 months most likely
- Is the Darksiders license only for resins, or could PVCs be done too? “I don’t know, because there is no contract.”‘; Always like to do PVCs when possible though
- If F4F went for Xenoblade, Nintendo would liaise with the relevant parties
- Richter and Maria would be great companion pieces for Alucard–Alex will see what he can do to make this a reality
- Apologies for any questions Alex and Chock don’t get to in this episode–please resubmit for the next episode!
Life-Size & Grand Scale Artorias Busts Documentary!
- The Dark Souls Artorias Busts go up for order at the conclusion of the Q&A!
- Chocks: “I like them big!”
- First Dark Souls bust for F4F! Perhaps the biggest First4Figures piece ever! You really have to see it to appreciate the size of this. Will bring in the other Dark Souls statues for scale later in the video.
- Jessica Castick: “What made you decide to do busts, and why did you choose Artorias first?”
- Grand Scale and Life Size Artorias Busts are the same with the same details–just different sizes
- Alex would like to do more busts and props; this isn’t the first F4F bust, since Amaterasu LSB was also done
- Wanted to do Artorias to champion the Dark Souls series since he’s so popular
- Alex picked up the Ornstein SD prototype and could visualize the helmet in a larger size
- Making two scales to see if there’s a demand for both; if not, won’t do both sizes in the future
- Grand Scale Bust is meant to be accessible to a lot more collectors, but wanted to do Life-Size as well since that’s what many fans picture when they hear “bust”
- Grand Scale Bust is a lovely size, probably a little bit less than half the size of the LSB
- Alessio Bucci: “Were you expecting these busts to be this big when you first thought about them?”
- No one really says “I collect Grand Scale Busts” because this scale isn’t established and hasn’t existed before, so didn’t feel like they had to be this particular size
- When you go from GSB to LSB, you’re doubling the height, width and depth and creating a very different price point as well
- Stefan McNally: “Have you managed to put more details into the busts than the Artorias 1:4 statue?”
- The busts have a built-in turntable that will allow you to turn them very easily by yourself [Chocks demonstrates how easily the bust turns on the video]
- Completely reworked all of the textures on everything, because the 1:4 textures on the helmet and cloth didn’t look good when blown up to the size of the large busts; lots of new details like the ponytail band added
- Had to consider where the cuts would occur on the bust to keep parts of the armor like the shoulder guard intact
- “Going back to Jessica’s question about why Artorias: F4F Colors! Blue and white and silver!”
- Armor has a shiny metallic sheen to it, but still has a weathered appearance and has an extra wash in grooves to give them that extra darker look
- Matte shading in the folds of the cloth
- Base is like a pillar-shaped round cylinder; difficult to decide how high to have it be and to make practical considerations for a base for a humongous life-size bust; goes 360 all-around detail-wise
- Gem-shaped Soul of Artorias on the back of the base; gem is smooth but still feels like it’s been hand-carved to its shape
- Artorias GSB Height: 40cm (15.7″)
- Artorias LSB Height: 74cm (29″)
- EX Busts have moving lights inside to simulate a moving “soul” of Artorias
Dark Souls Artorias Bust Exclusive Ordering Details:
- Don’t have the two busts in the studio during the livestream, since they’re on their way to E3 right now
- Alex isn’t worried at all about the bust potentially falling over
- Make sure to leave enough space from the wall so you don’t hit Artorias’ plume off the wall
- Dark Souls Busts are an all-new line with all-new numbers available
- Artorias Validation Day will be June 21st during the next Q&A!
- Life Size Bust will be part-resin and part-fiberglass; will affect the weight
- Estimated release date is Q3 2020
- 12-month payment plans available for either size bust; 10% deposit due when ordering
- Really want this line to do well so that F4F can make more Dark Souls busts and more busts in general
- Want to do what F4F does and offer the best kind of value possible; as such, are offering these pieces at the lower price they want to rather than the higher price they should be
- Artorias Life-Size Bust Price: $675 or around $50 a month on 12 month payment plan after the deposit
- Planned to be shipped in 2 boxes: Base/Shoulder/Plume in one box and Body in another box
- $125 Shipping to US; $125 to EU; $175 to Canada; $315 to Australia; $330 to Israel, etc.
- Artorias Grand Scale Bust Price: $274.99! INSANE!
- $45 USD Shipping to US/EU; $55 to Canada; $95 to AUS; Other Zones $115
- If Artorias LSB sells well during this first week, Alex will talk to Konami about an Alucard LSB next week at the Licensing Expo
- Want to sell high quantities of statues at low prices and not vice versa; want to get statues into the hands of people who have never purchased them before
- Alex is going to cosplay as the First 4 Figures owner at E3 in two weeks–find him on the floor to claim 500 Rewards Points (maybe!)
And that’s a wrap for the 121st F4F Q&A! The Artorias Life Size and Grand Scale Busts are going live today–now that you’ve heard all about them, are *YOU* considering ordering one of these? Why or why not? And see you in 3 weeks when the F4F Q&A returns on June 21st!