After three frenzied days in Providence for HasCon (one of the most unique conventions I’ve ever done coverage of, no question), it was nice to return home knowing that there’d be three hours of video with the F4Family to look forward to! In this week’s F4F Q&A #36, we learned all about the revisions to the F4F Snake statue that goes up for order this week on the site (for real this time!), as well as the neon green Stealth Snake, the status of the BOTW Sheikah Slate, an update on Reala & Aika, and more!

On Metal Gear Solid / Snake:

• Pre-orders for Snake statue will be open from September 12th-15th only for now; there will be no Wait List at this stage
• No 12-month payment plan will be made available for the Snake statues. F4F wants to get him out earlier than that.
• Decided to make revisions to Snake when a plethora of comments were posted after his reveal discussing accuracy–F4F stayed up till 5AM reading comments
• This industry is no place for “take it or leave it” attitude or egos–have to listen to the passionate fan base
• Spyro was easier to do because he has one iconic look from first game, whereas people have different interpretations of MGS Snake
• Paint on Snake’s arms and legs was changed first–“low-hanging fruit” that was easiest to do quickly
• Removing mullet and thinning arms was also a quick change–legs are perfect as-is
• Night Vision Snake head will be unchanged except shortened back of head hair
• Snake release date may move to Q3 2018 because of the revisions
• Snake has been most controversial piece in Alex’s history because of visibility due to all the comments in the club
• Ammo box will have additional orange accents added as detailing
• New “younger” Snake head sculpt will come with all versions as an addition and not a replacement; Snake will still also come with the original head shown (but without the mullet) at no additional cost to collectors
• Didn’t want to show new head until it was approved by Konami; caused delay of PO
• Only change to Snake not approved yet is changing the gun to SOCOM–legal rights issue

On Neon Green Stealth Snake:

• Fans united and wanted neon green stealth Snake version, so it’s happening; 5000 Reward Points to Nanase for making the mockup
• Twin Snakes Combo Pack can come with Blue or Green Snake statue now–specify which you want during order
• Snake The Essential Collection Triple Pack will be available for $1400, a savings of $175 over buying the three versions of Snake individually
• No combo pack with three figures and one base packaged together will be produced–doesn’t make sense to include three figures with two that can’t be displayed
• Both Stealth Versions of Snake (Blue and Green) will be available for three days only from September 12-15–neither version will be orderable at NYCC or when Snake goes back up for sale in a few months

On Nintendo:

• Now that Bowser has been fully approved by Nintendo, it’s time to start work on Mario and Yoshi again
• Alex wants to see 500+ votes in order for consideration of Princess Rosalina
• First4Figures will default to the lower number for Bowser for those who authenticated both Cat Mario and Lucky Cat Mario statues
• Bowser blind pre-order sold very well, but not announcing the number of orders until the real pre-order opens and orders are confirmed
• F4F has a scheduled meeting with Nintendo in October; will create a Nintendo Wish List post to show/document what people want to see
• Fighter Kirby going through production process; no update yet on Warp Star Kirby
• F4F is still doing revisions on Varia Suit Samus in order to resubmit her for approval
• Donkey Kong TT is going great; DK would likely not be flocked

On Crash Bandicoot and Spyro:

• Based on the poll results, the Life Size Aku Aku Mask will probably be put up for order before the resin Crash
• There will be no numerical relation between the Aku Aku Mask and Majora’s Mask, as they’re not part of the same series
• Crystal Dragon not in scale to the game–would be much too large
• Sparx & Dragon Egg are coming along nicely

On NiGHTS / Skies of Arcadia:

• Aika needs at least 400-450 votes to go to the next stage of development (physical)
• ~$275 is the approximate, proposed price of the Aika statue were to be released
• F4F will look into E-Mailing the customer list of those who bought Vyse in order to help rally the Skies of Arcadia fans
• Reala is at the painted, physical stage now but will go to TT regardless
• Reala must do better vote-wise in her TT than Aika, as Vyse sold better than NiGHTS did

On Dark Souls:

• Waiting on final approval of Solaire to begin production–had to darken the inside of his shield
• Bandai Namco looking into approvals for Ornstein
• Impossible hint of Mimic’s tongue was posted last week–was not a close-up of lady parts
• Factory has to add glossiness to all of Sif’s eyes and not just the yellow parts

On Zelda:

• 500+ votes for the Happy Mask Salesman is not enough. With approvals from Nintendo so scarce, every Zelda piece needs to have a huge impact–have to justify choices made for limited opportunities.
• Vote for the Happy Mask Salesman here–needs to hit 800 votes for serious consideration.
• No pre-order date for True Form Midna until she gets approval. Has not even been submitted to Nintendo yet.
• The Sheikah Slate replica is at the physical stage and painted–looks sweet and ready to be shown to Nintendo
• U.S. Wait List orders for King of Red Lions will start being converted in 1-2 weeks
• Wolf Link Life Size Bust is still “possible”, F4F needs to run some polls on this
• Fierce Deity Link Version 2 is a possibility
• No update from Nintendo on Majora’s Mask yet

On Soul Calibur:

• Taki is the most likely next pre-order after Snake
• Mitsurugi is the next Soul Calibur character in line to be released after Taki
• Nightmare may finish production before Fighter Kirby; coming soon

On Sonic:

• Sonic vs. Eggman diorama is “possible”
• Working on 3D model of Flying Tails and Sonic diorama now
• Considering using Badnik Rexon to suspend Sonic & Tails in the air for vertical diorama

On Anime:

• Busts for Berserk are “possible”–let’s see how the first statues in the line sell first
• Guts is looking good and has been submitted for approval
• Tweaks being made to the Alphonse physical model
• Next TT is Yu Yu Hakusho
• New hashtag for this week is #F4FHaku

On Various Statues:

• Amaterasu Life-Size Bust Order has been submitted to the factory
• Morrigan is coming along–almost ready to submit in 3D form

On Logistics:

• Snake may be the last pre-order of the Q3 2017 (which ends in September, this month)
• F4F is not interested in making comic book sculptures right now (Marvel, DC, etc.) because of the crowded marketplace
• Chances of getting Final Fantasy license are very unlikely
• Still working on card holders
• First 4 Figures won’t sell gift cards that convert into Reward Points
• Working on adding red colored “Fragile” logo’s printed onto sides of shipping boxes to make it more noticeable for the courier.
• Gift cards difficult to implement because of Flexipay payment plans; would like to see gift cards available by beginning of December for Christmas

• No confirmed nickname for Chockles based on his role in the F4Family–suggestions include “Fun Mummy” and “Grumpy Wife”
• Absolutely plan on doing more DDT Drop Tests videos when Alex is next at the factory
• Persona 5 TT is going well and looks promising–keep it going

That’s all for this week! Make sure you remember to head over to the site on Tuesday to order your Snake statues, especially if you want one of the three-day-only Stealth Versions!

Learn anything new that got you really excited this week, F4Fans?