Fate has conspired against the F4F LIVE Q&A Recap the past few weeks, as I was offline with technical issues two weeks ago and no Q&A was held at all last week while Alex was away. But today, the livestream is back–and so is the conquering hero, as F4F CEO Alex Davis returns from the Las Vegas Licensing Expo 2018! What news tidbits will Fun Daddy have for us? PLUS: It’s been almost eight months since his reveal, but today the long-awaited Dark Souls SD Solaire PVC statue exclusive will be revealed and go up for order! Can’t watch the stream at home but want all the details? I’ve got you covered live…

Notices & The Weeks in Review:

• There was no Friday Q&A with Alex & Chocks last week for the first time in 2018, as Alex was out of the country for business. Alex says that’s a good excuse.
• Alex says he’s still jetlagged, and we’ll see him putter out later on in the stream
• The final version of Solaire SD will be shown at the end of the Q&A, which is a few hours from now.
• Two weeks of undiluted Dark Souls hype polls will commence after the livestream (although certain words may still be banned)!
• No “Who Dat Who Dat” game this week, as the show is jam-packed and they need to get to the Solaire pre-order details; double contestants for the game next week
• Mini-Chocks sadly died during the two weeks since the last livestream. RIP Mini-Chocks.
• Shiranui Exclusive pre-orders are now closed–thanks to the OCC Members for reminding F4F to actually close the pre-orders
• True Form Midna Exclusive & Definitive Edition Pre-Orders are still open for another two weeks (close on June 12th)
• Would collectors like 1:4 and 1:6 statues to be up for sale at the same time? Alex believes the era of completists has ended.
• Randy Bowen era was the era of completism when mini-bust were $50 and statues were $100 [My first love! Bowen Designs!]; but Alex believes the time for collectors being able to collect every version of every statue released has ended now
• The biggest issue Alex has difficulty with as far as offering both 1/4 and 1/6 statues goes: What if both scales are offered, but after the first several releases, it’s impossible to offer a character who’s too big to do in 1/4 scale?
• Artorias would be “holy shit-balls” gigantic in true 1/4 scale; how would those buying the true-to-scale 1/4 line feel if Artorias couldn’t be offered in the appropriate size?
• Also, what if after a few statues, one of the scales sells really badly and F4F can’t continue to offer both scales?
• Crash Bandicoot resin has had some tweaks to the eyes and Wumba fruit done; some slight tweaks being made to Alucard as well; both statues going well
• Mega Man Zero–it would be a disservice to not change the face, so he’s being pushed back and tweaked; he would have been up for order soon, but now he’s being revised–there’s no point in doing a statue and not doing it right
• 619 Guts EX statues sold so far

On Las Vegas Licensing Expo:

• Alex got to hang out with his boy, Bang H Le during the show
• Much research in shooting guns and flying across a zipline was done by Alex during the trip
• This was Alex’s third trip to Las Vegas, and it was great to have an extra day on each side of the trip to see the sights in Vegas
• It’s sobering for Alex to meet club members in real life and know that real people are actually out there who follow along in the club and know and care about the company
• Licenses First 4 Figures hasn’t talked about! Secret meetings! License acquisitions! The Drama of the world’s largest Licensing Expo!
• One of the main things that kills businesses is trying to expand too quickly when things are going well, and then being bankrupted when the good times don’t continue
• First4Figures is in a really fortunate place right now because the wages of the month of May 2018 were actually paid for by money generated by the pre-orders in the month of 2017; the money generated a year ago pays for now, meaning that if F4F expands now, they have a history of being able to pay their wages
• The problem would come if there were month after month of bad months with low pre-orders (or many more cases like Sif and Fighter Kirby where things go astray), then a year form now there would be big problems
• In order to throw the resources at all the development stuff that needs to be done because of Vegas, F4F can handle it because they have so much money built up from last year; F4F can expand now in a safe and calm and collected way
• It’s really powerful and amazing to show licensors how fast and rabid F4F OCC members are in responding to polls instantaneously during meetings at the Licensing Expo
• Licensors have their own research and numbers into what characters are popular, whereas the F4FOCC club polls show the fan interests of the specific members within the group
• It was very interesting to see what fared well in the Funimation and Aniplex polls during the show, as opposed to what the licensors expected to do well in those polls
• Exciting to see if Silent Hill could possibly become an option; seemingly much more interest now than there was last year and the year before
• Alex’s Adventures in Vegas: Shooting Guns; Heart Attack Grill; Zip-Line; First time seeing random F4Fs (Crash Bandicoot PVC at Best Buy); Visiting the Pawn Shop from “Pawn Stars”; Visiting the Bangsion (Bang has a lovely home and family!); Alex Annihilating Bang 8-0 in Soul Calibur with a variety of different characters (Alex is on a whole other level and didn’t lose a single round, but also didn’t get any Perfects–“It’s a long walk if Bang didn’t take me back”)
• Met up with Sarah Arrington from the club; Sarah was at work and thus didn’t have her pet dog with her; Sarah requested Trinity Blood as a future license–rally the fans!

On Temptation Thursdays (TT Polls) & King of the Ring:

• Animal Crossing  Villagers TT #102: 421 Votes; 246 ‘Yes’, 175 ‘No’;
• Ness TT #103: Vote Here for Ness! 334 Votes; 199 ‘Yes’, 135 ‘No’; These are low numbers. It’s pretty quiet, which Alex is quite surprised about for a Nintendo classic.
• Vagrant Story TT #104: 202 Votes, 67 ‘Yes’; ‘135’ No; RTF (“Riot the Fans!”)
• Zone of the Enders TT #105: Next Week!
• Rocket Knight Adventures TT #106: In Two Weeks! “It’s the bee’s knees!”
• Sailor Moon TT #107: In Three Weeks! “The gold standard for the classic-ness!”
• This week’s hashtag for a chance to win Rewards Points next week is #F4FPRAISE
• King of the Ring: Zora Tunic Link Defeated Monkey King Last Week; Shadow the Hedgehog vs. Artorias the Abysswalker this Week; You can view the current standings for the tournament on the F4F Blog
• Next Week’s King of the Ring match will be Ryo Hazuki EX vs. Lucky Cat Mario

The Q&A:

• Meta-Ridley is looking amazing; Alex saw him at the workshop today looking tight
• Nothing to say about Yu-Gi-Oh
• Psycho Mantis PO will be this year; Metal Gear Rex: “We’ll see.”
• Kamina–Alex believes he’s been submitted
• We’ll see Skull Knight once he reaches physical
• First Cowboy Bebop statue PO soon
• Mario on Yoshi is coming to physical–should be toward the back end of the summer
• You should receive your SD Artorias before the deadline to authenticate to keep your number for Solaire SD
• SD Ornstein PO later on this year
• Alex would like to see the Earthbound (Mother) franchise return at E3 so F4F can rally the fans for the TT
• Alex can’t give any information on the Vegas conferences he hasn’t already given away online
• Mini-Chocks was supposed to meet up with Chocks last week but stood him up (because he was dead)
• Robotech and Resident Evil did not come home with Alex from Vegas
• Yu-Gi-Oh: “It’s complicated. If it happens, it happens.”
• Alex literally had a blast with bang
• Can’t go into any specifics about Nintendo meeting at Licensing Expo
• As always, lots of stuff already locked down with Nintendo–new things like Majora’s Mask poll need to be part of a deeper conversation later on
• Zelda News: Midna will be available for another two weeks
• A 1:1 Imp Midna would be about up to someone’s waist
• Gamescom: Won’t repeat the huge mistake of showing 7 months’ worth of pre-orders as was done at NYCC 2017
• Solaire resin is deep in production and coming along nicely
• Solaire SD should be shipped in 3-4 months (Q3/Q4 2018)
• Amaterasu LSB is as the factory doing 25th Sonic; as soon as Sonic is done it’ll be full speed ahead on Amaterasu Life Size Bust production
• Kingdom Hearts is a “not right now”–F4F just doesn’t have the resources right now; not a “never”
• Alex watches every single conference for every E3 and is always excited for it; is especially interested in what is shown by First 4 Figures’ current licensors
• Banjo Kazooie pre-orders will probably open in late June 2018
• Textures and size of Rider Link: “It’s a beast. Absolutely stunning.”
• Nier: Automata — “It’s complicated.”
• No revisions have been done yet for Shiranui’s facial markings
• Next Dark Souls resin statue pre-order will be Mimic
• Alex is looking forward to jumping into the Switch version of Dark Souls Remastered
• Thank you to anyone spreading the word on Guts
• Resin version of the upcoming Amaterasu PVC will definitely happen: still not sure if it will be 1/3 or 1/4
• Fullmetal Alchemist Alphonse: Haven’t gotten final approval on him yet; need to follow-up
• It would take a lot of support to have something taken out of the Vault
• Can’t give specifics about the future direction of the Zelda line
• F4F OOT would only continue in the original scale as PVCs, not resin; could be resin if at a larger scale
• F4F always tries to do die-cast metal swords for Zelda resin statues
• Keep pushing for Darksiders if you want First 4 Figures to try again
• Yoshimitsu: “We shall see.”
• Did not try to meet up with Nickelodeon this year at Licensing Expo
• Alex lost $100 very quickly at Blackjack;  John and Alex played $20 each and finished with $28 and $29 playing electronic games in Las Vegas
• Chocks has to think about the royalty rate he’d want for Mini Chocks figures (standard rates are 12.5% to 20%)
• Low sales for Metal Sonic 2.0 could definitely affect sales for the in-development Amy Rose–they’re all related
• Alex is definitely considering plush of white tiger cubs with red markings and a zodiac symbol on their hind-quarters
• Alex showed Sarah something; pre-order probably toward the end of the year for this mystery product
• Yoshi being 3-D Printed
• Darkstalkers Morrigan possibly around the end of the year
• Phoenix Wright looks really, really good–Alex saw it today; there will be a Definitive Edition Phoenix Wright
• Yakuza–No Updates; but there would be a Definitive Edition Kiryu if he is made
• Alex hasn’t researched if there would be a large difference in price between 1:4 and 1:6 statues if both were to be offered; the main selling-point here is to save space with smaller statues, not necessarily money–there won’t be a huge monetary savings if 1/6 versions are available
• If the factories First4Figures uses also make unlicensed/garage kits, Alex hasn’t seen it: “If so, very, very rarely.”
• Will not pursue One Piece or Naruto for now–“no for now, not for forever”; both would be beasts in themselves that would require a lot of research; lots of competition and unlicensed products in the market for these
• No sneaks of Sheikah Slate until it’s been fully approved
• 50K Reveal is a “Future Alex Problem”
• Alex doesn’t know when we’ll find out the next Metroid item after Meta-Ridley
• You go to the Licensing Expo to meet with all licensors for short meetings; can have longer meetings with Nintendo at a different time
• Sheikah Slate is part of the Zelda Prop Line (like Majora’s Mask)
• Sometimes statues come defective because of warping or temperature changes during shipping; statues are never put into the box without being assembled first
• Attack on Titan: “RTF”; the TT didn’t do very well
• No updates on Aika
• Best part of Vegas: “Bang, the meetings, all of it–it was great”
• The Bangsion is as grandiose as the name suggests–Alex has some videos he’ll post if Bang allows
• No meetings about Persona 5 at the Licensing Expo
• Some tweaks being made to Sonic and Tails diorama
• Alex is under the strictest of NDAs and cannot talk about anything to do with the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie; saw something about the movie in Vegas and is quite honored to have seen it
• There’s no automated way of getting TT voters’ information to reach out to them about Aika
• Spike PO will probably be before Alphonse
• Fate/Stay Night: “RTF”
• No plans for Berserk dioramas at this moment
• Berserk polls: Will talk about that around the time of Skull Knight launch
• Hollow Knight: RTF; Would make a good F4Funday post
• Alex denies all knowledge of a mysterious Mario Kart-looking trophy seen in a previous Q&A
• Nothing to report on Pokemon
• Authenticated owners of the winning King of the Ring statues will not get a little crown to put on the statue’s head
• Dracula: Need to work on the head
• Fierce Deity Link 1/4 statue may only happen because the fans rallied for it; not planning to redo all previous characters in 1/4 (Skull Knight,
• White Royal Steed variant for Rider Link is very likely; Rider Link will have Traveler’s Sword, which Nintendo feels is more representative of Breath of the Wild; No Master Sword will be included
  
• Gray Fox will most likely be Q1 2019
• There were quite a lot of product suggestions rejected at the Licensing Expo
• Edgeworth would be considered next in the Phoenix Wright series if Phoenix does well
• Those with Fighter Kirby leaning issues will be taken care of, regardless of the 30 Days limit on the warranty
• If you don’t finish your meal at Heart Attack Grill, the nurses literally spank you–sounds like a loud “WHACK!” Did Alex finish his meal? “You better fucking believe it.”

On The Dark Souls Solaire SD PVC Figure:

• [The Exclusive SD Solaire Dark Souls PVC statue will go up for order after being revealed during the last hour of the live stream today. I’ll update this section with all the pre-order details and the specifics regarding the Exclusive Solaire SD figure as soon as they’re revealed]
• It’s a low turnout this week, so please screenshot and share out photos and information regarding the Solaire SD figure
• The details of a resin in a PVC–that is the purpose of this Dark Souls SD line; has textures for days and the correct number of rivets on Solaire’s helmet
• Documentary will be posted after the stream that will go into detail about the piece

SD Solaire and Artorias:

• Artorias and Solaire look great next to each other

SD Solaire Packaging:

• Solaire is 9″ tall because he’s praising, whereas Artorias is crouched and only 8″ tall; as a result, Solaire’s box is slightly larger; packaging is consistent so you can definitely tell that they’re part of the same range; Sandy did a great job developing the boxes for these

Solaire Dark Souls SD Exclusive Version:

• Exclusive will have extra sticky pads on the bottom; thicker base; an extra, fancier outer box; number on the bottom of the base; and light-up summoning energy on the base.
• There’s an animated/pulsing mode for the lights in addition to an “always-on” mode (and an “off” mode, obviously).
• Pre-orders for the exclusive will be open for an entire month–until Tuesday, July 3rd
• You must order on or by Tuesday, June 5th and validate your order in order to receive the Day One edition with extra Rewards Points and an extra Artist Card signed by Alex Davis
• Pricing: 20% NRD because this is a PVC; Flexipay plans available up to 9 months — Shorter payment plans because F4F doesn’t want to be storing statues in warehouses for another 7 months
• $99.99 MSRP for the Exclusive; with a $20 Non-Refundable Deposit due today (And a two-week grace period if you decide to cancel your order)
• Want to get this out the door quickly; could arrive by the end of Q3 2018 or the start of Q4

Praise the Sun Edition Solaire SD:

• Will come with all the same stuff as the normal Exclusive Version
• Some slight tweaks need to be done for this version
• Revisions being done to the electronics on this: The ring will light up first and then after 4-5 seconds, the lights will start to rise from the feet of Solaire, with the ring turning off first once PTSE Solaire is fully lit
• The box for the Solaire SD Praise the Sun Edition will of course be orange; his numbering will be 003 in both the F4F SD line and also the Dark Souls SD line, even though he’s a recolor of the other Solaire
• The leaflet that comes with Praise the Sun Solaire will also be a different color
• Alex wants to go deep with this Dark Souls SD line–he thinks it’s quite uniquely F4F
• Same price and payment plans available as the exclusive: $99.99 and 9-month payment plans
• The Praise the Sun Edition is exclusive to the First 4 Figures website and will not be available at retail
• A Combo Pack of the Exclusive and Praise the Sun Editions will be available for $184.99–a $15 savings
• The Solaire SD Combo Pack will come in two separate boxes
• Numbers will be shared across the Solaire Exclusive, Praise the Sun Solaire SD and Combo Pack, so you don’t have to buy both versions to retain your number
• You’ll be able to authenticate whatever number your Solaire has in order to retain your number when the Ornstein SD PVC statue goes up for order later in the year
• Shipping Prices for 1 Statue: United States $18 USD; EU $26 USD; Canada $26 USD; Australia $35 USD; Asia $35 USD; Other Countries like Bahamas, Saudi, Aradbia, etc. $65 USD
• Shipping Prices for Combo Pack: Multiply the Above Numbers by 2 (since you’re getting two separately-packaged statues)

Bandai-Namco is generously going to give away 10 copies of Dark Souls Remastered (split between PS4 and XBox One versions) to First 4 Figures collectors! Chocks is still figuring out how to give these away. You could even get your copy signed by Alex?! Stay tuned!

The F4F Q&A #72 Recap is now complete! being updated live throughout the next 3-4 hours! If you’re reading this and there’s not much content here yet, please stand by and refresh in a few minutes, as new content will be added to each section of this article as it happens.

…And that’s it for this week! Did you learn anything that gets you pumped up this week, F4Fans? Will you be ordering an SD Solaire, and if so, which version (if not both)?