It’s been a full month since the last First 4 Figures Q&A that actually included a Q&A segment, but the bleak abyss of a Q&A-less world is over! In this week’s F4F Q&A #123 Recap, get the answers to such revitalizing questions as:
WILL the Rider Link statue likely go up for order this year or next?!
WHEN is the Sonic & Tails Diorama statue’s launch?
WHAT color will the new-for-2019 F4F Wristbands be?!
HOW many Red Bulls has Chockles ever drank in a day, and did he survive the experience?!
IS this still going to be “The Year of Zelda?”!
HAS the Crystal Dragon production been delayed (and if so, WHY?!)
WHO are the two new F4F Facebook admins?!
…and more!
Announcement and the Week in Review:
- E-Mails will be sent out in the next week or so to give a heads-up regarding the reduced shipping cost on the Dark Souls Ornstein statue since it’s being shipped in one box instead of two
- Difference in shipping prices for prices like Japan and Australia is negligible because they’re using EMS that calculates shipping costs by weight; even though Ornstein is only in 1 box he weighs the same, so the shipping savings is only like 5 bucks
- US and many other countries use volumetric race; $50 coupon code will be sent to US buyers and $55 to EU buyers of Ornstein; $65 discount to UAE and Brazil; $40 discount to Canada
- Amaterasu PVC Signature Edition card polls will be posted during the Q&A; if these polls get another poor turnout, they will likely be the last polls to choose the Signature Edition cards
- 3 Reasons Why To Play Okami article has been posted on the F4F Blog
- Will try to provide more information on where to pick up the regular edition PVCs at retail
- Let us know if you think your local retailer needs to carry F4F PVCs and F4F will put their wholesale manager on the job
- Shiranui PVC is something Alex is looking into; very successful poll posted this week in the OCC, with poll option 7 destroying all of the other options in votes
- Would there be an upscaled resin version of a Shiranui PVC? Depends on the response to Amaterasu PVC at wholesale–if Ammy fares badly, then an upsized resin Shiranui would likely be needed to subsidize the cost of making the PVCs; it might seem too soon for one, but by the time it goes up for sale, it’ll have been several years since the first one opened up for PO
- Berserk is to the top of F4F’s list now
- Half an hour plus of craziness and website crashes for Okami Amaterasu PVC Validation! 700+ people on the site at once trying to validate; a huge strain on the server. Will look into this and work toward this not happening again for future orders. Will figure out what to do for the ECCC and GamesCom purchasers as well. Apologies!
- Really happy with how Sonic & Tails diorama came out, but Alex wasn’t happy that Chockles dropped the prototype; will be the next pre-order in two weeks’ time
- White F4F Logo pins will kick off at GamesCom as giveaways, and will hopefully be available for sale on the website as well at some point
- Zoids TT Current Results: 45 Yes, 187 No
- Ninja Gaiden TT Next Week!
- Star Ocean TT in 2 Weeks!
- Black Clover TT (anime) in 3 Weeks!
- #F4FOHDEAR for a chance to win 500 Rewards points at random next week
- The factory only managed to produce 10 perfect Varia Suit Samus statues last week: “Unbelievable.”
The Q&A!:
- Working really hard on the Luigi’s Mansion PVC; super-deep in development at the mold stage; would hope that there can be pre-orders this year but no guarantees
- Licensing process: Requires a minimum guarantee for permission to produce a piece; licensor then gets a cut of every single piece sold after approving a piece for production and sale; licensor receives updates and packaging designs, etc. every step of the way
- Yu-Gi-Oh Blue Eyes White Dragon and Dark Magician completely redone; submitted BEWD today for approval and will submit Dark Magician later
- Crystal Dragon is at the same factory as Spike and Kirby; was delayed because of a failed aging test prior to production (48 hours in the oven); the wingtips must be slightly thickened at the back in order to avoid a latent defect; this is the reason that Crystal Dragon is not at the production stage yet
- #PVCNation is integral to the future of First 4 Figures; will expand further and further into the PVC market; 3 All Mights, Luigi’s Mansion, Zelda and Link exclusive, Ripto’s Rage Spyro, Crash Team Racing, Sonic, Ornstein SD, Morrigan, Banjo-Kazooie, Mega Man and more in development for PVC; 23 or more total PVCs on the way right now deep in development
- Okami plush absolutely being considered
- Banjo-Tooie will be the next piece in the Banjo series
- Nothing to report on Xenoblade at this time
- Rider Link PO should be this year
- Skull Knight will be next Berserk PO
- Yoshimitisu? “Hmm.”
- Haven’t forgotten about My Hero Academia EU license
- Quite a few unannounced licenses now
- 4 golden ticket signatures each for the two types of Amaterasu PVCs
- Almost at the point now where production can begin on True Form Midna
- Grayfox this year? “Maybe.”
- Resin Luigi’s Mansion statue? “Not saying anything about that for now.”
- Troy Blair Questions:
- 1.)Will we be seeing a preorder for the legend of Zelda PVCs before rider link?2.) Ok the license expo is over E3 is done its Time to spill the legend of Zelda beans a.k.a updates. When will we see the next preorder for the legend of Zelda series?3.) For the new legend of Zelda PVCs exclusives will you be releasing them at the same time and will you make some awesome art boxes for them.
4.) I plan to buy both exclusive PVCs but also debate if I should buy a regular Zelda as well since i have a regular link what do you think Alex?
5.) Will this still be the year of the legend of Zelda. After talking with the big N will our wallets hurt?
6.) This is just a feeling but I feel as if we will get the preorder for the Legend of Zelda exclusive PVCs this year with one resin preorder am I close?
7.) With breath of the wild two being announced does this mean that for the next couple years you’ll be focusing on that timeline meaning that the other timelines will have to wait?
8.) Have you ever thought about doing a young link from OOT/Majora’s Mask or are they in the vault? Would love to have one.
9.) Why don’t we have more dioramas in the legend of Zelda series are they more difficult? Will Nintendo not approve them?
10.) Regarding the dioramas questions would you consider a diorama of Link and a Guardian or Link and a Lynel? The exclusive could be a gold Lynel!!!
11.) Would you ever consider doing a master sword in the stone life size replica?
12.) Will the new breath of the wild PVCs come with numbers on them? And will this be a separate line from the legend of Zelda breath of the wild or will it flow in with the resins?
- 1) Nope
- 2) Nope
- 3) Same Time
- 4) “If you are the ultimate Zelda fan, absolutely.”
- 5) “Absolutely the Year of Zelda is starting this year.”
- 6) Maybe
- 7) “Nope–as in nope, I’m not answering that”
- 8) “In the Vault”
- 9) “No answer”
- 10) “Would love to do all of it”
- 11) “Would consider doing anything–whether or not I can is a different question”
- 12) “Separate line with numbers”
- What happens at the Licensing Expo stays at the Licensing Expo
- Nothing to conclusively say about Darksiders
- Can’t really say if anything was discussed with Nintendo about Xenoblade
- Gruntilda: “Who? Maybe?”
- 100% there will be small and big versions of the Banjo-Kazooie PVC
- No PVC of Wolf Link & Midna right now
- 350 Varia Suit Samus statues are packed and on their way to the US; still 700 to go; “painfully slow”; was not pleased to hear 10 pieces only made last week at the factory
- Mario on Yoshi development is going fine; looking toward end of the year
- Still working on metal Mini Crystal Dragons
- Interconnecting statues can be looked at, but require foresight and planning far in advance
- Bowser PVC? “It’d be interesting.”
- Yakuza is coming along nicely; concept Alex signed off on is killer and now it’s time to continue the hard work and get Kiryu sculpted up
- 3 Cans is the most Red Bull Chocks has ever drunk in a day; “I do drink other things and switch it up.”; “Did it affect me? I’m still here.”
- Mini figures being developed including Mini Crystal Dragons; hoping for it to be a possible line
- Alex has literally no idea what he’s streaming after Sekiro
- Okami and Wolf Link collaboration? “I can’t begin to say how unlikely that it is because they are two different franchises. Would love to, but don’t think that would ever be possible.”
- Black F4F wristbands with blue text this year! Debuting at ACG!
- Actively looking to bring in 2 new people to join the F4F CS team now that Phil is on his own
- Can look into light/dark modes for the website once the website works properly without
- Would be too complicated to ever consider transferring payments from one statue to another
- Will never be done with OOT/Majora’s Mask/Twilight Princess
- Oki will be posed dynamically like the new Amaterasu
- Sonic vs Chopper should be ready around August time from GNF Toyz
- Harry Potter? “RTF.”
- Beginning to get some traction now with anime, but it’s a really slow thing
- Multiple Crash Team Racing statues? No comment.
- Alex condemns me [yes, me] to more sleepless nights considering about Castlevania SD PVCs
- Darkstalkers Morrigan unlikely to be this year; pretty likely the PVC will come first
- Oki first, then will work more on Chibi
- No word on Fierce Deity Link 2.0
- Hopes Gift Cards can be available soon
- All Might pre-order towards the end of the year and release around Easter time
- Would love to do all the major Zelda characters in PVC, but not announcing anything now
- Snagged two licenses at Las Vegas and discussing two more; won’t make the mistake of announcing things way too early again
- Brenda is leaving F4F for career development and to do something new; she’s taken the best we’ve got and she’s not seeing anything new anymore; needs new challenges
- Only making cosmetic changes to the website right now; back-end changes can come later
- Gonna be a while before the next Fullmetal Alchemist pre-order
- Faye and Ed & Ein look great and the whole crew complements each other well; not working on characters past those for Cowboy Bebop right now
- Castlevania SD: “Nothing to say.”
- Dracula pre-order will be before October
- Sonic & Tails full reveal on July 12th when pre-orders open
- Banjo-Kazooie release still expected in Q3
- Plushies and gift cards are both on Alex’s mind
- Anything made in China will potentially be subject to a 25% Trump tariff; hoping China and Trump sort their shit out at G20 today or soon after
- Alex’s week was going really well until the Validation snafu today
- Nito is still kicking Alex’s ass
- Best part of the US trip was getting Nintendo of America badges
- No updates on the game changer mentioned in past Q&As; “come back in 3 months”
- Working on Ornstein SD still
- How Many Crash Team Racing Characters: “Support the line and we’ll see.”
- Working on the next release in the Metroid Prime series now
- Two new admins joining the Facebook team: Jake Meyer and Bang H Le! [Apparently it’s pronounced “Bong Lay”. Who knew!] Congratulations!