We’re one week away from the hotly-anticipated First4Figures Spyro PVC Exclusive statue going up for sale, but that doesn’t mean that Warm & Fuzzy Alex Davis and Second-in-Command Chock don’t have loads of great content for us in the F4F Q&A #87, including:

WHO is the subject of next week’s TT poll? (Hint: It’s Afro Samurai!)
WHAT rating does Chock give his bag of orange peels in this week’s Snack Review?
WHEN are we likely to see the Edward Elric pre-order after Alphonse’s?
WHERE on the pre-order schedule might we see Conker appear?
HOW well did Jake Meyer fare in his Birthday Battle Rap with Alex?
WHY isn’t F4F looking into the Dead Space license until 2019?

Announcements & The Week in Review:

• Pre-orders are ongoing on the F4F website for Guts, Spike, Warp Star Kirby and Psycho Mantis EX
• There was a diplomatic reason to announce the Spyro PVC pre-order on Thursday instead of during the Friday Q&A as usual
• Spyro PVC will be the first F4F statue pre-order in over a month–since Psycho Mantis went up for pre-order over a month ago
• Made the Spyro True Form PVC documentary yesterday–the box is apparently really cool
• Validation for Spyro will be on Friday, October 5th at 11AM EST
• Minor Morrigan sneak peek shown earlier this week to show that she’s coming along (not Palutena)
• Faye Valentine sneak peek of revised face; spending a lot of time working on the pose for her
• “Kickstarter” is just a term being used to give collectors an understanding–the “Kickstarter”-based pre-sales won’t actually be called “Kickstarters” or be on the Kickstarter website
• Alex was thinking maybe the F4F Crowdfunding could be called #F4Fart [an unfortunate name]–let Alex know if you have other ideas
• Yakuza DE Red Gate sneak peek shown this week; not tons of comments on this/not much buzz–the reason that these Kickstarter-like pre-orders are going to be done
• Alucard movement coming along nicely at the factory–pre-production samples are being prepared; Alex hasn’t gone to the factory to see them just yet in person
• F4F has QC guys going into the factories all the time; when you get to the packing stage, 2-3 people are on the line every day before a statue gets packed; Alex goes himself to see the 10 pre-production samples on the table and give feedback; then Alex checks again before packing to make sure all revisions have been made before statues are allowed to be packed; Majora’s Mask took 2 inspections before it was ready to pack
• Solaire SD is deep in production and at the painting stage right now
• Spyro passed final inspection this week at the factory and can be packed now–Solaire resin did not pass inspection, so Alex will go back next week to check him again
• Alex got his visa renewed for another 3 years, so he can stay in Hong Kong
• Spyro EX gem box takes a lot of time to produce; look great
• The club has been an amazing window for Alex to meet a lot of different people from a lot of different places
• When will the first OCC dating occur? Followed by OCC engagements and marriages! Alex would love to see that. The first two OCC members to get married get 1000 reward points… each!!
• Ornstein is taking precedence over Guts production right now, since Ornstein has been moved from the factory it was at where Bowser and Varia Suit Samus were being produced
• Alex is expecting to see the counter sample for the revised Guts statue in about a month
• Got approval on the box for Snake last week, so it’s possible that Snake will be ready to be packed in about 3 weeks (but don’t quote Alex on that)
• Okami Life-Size Bust (LSB)–The factory is sooooooo slow, and they’re having government inspections there so they can’t get work done during the day and have to work on Ammy LSB at night
• Does F4F need a new logo, or is the 15-year old logo timeless?
• Alphonse is in the house at F4F HQ
• Alex got a very nice super-secret E-Mail this week
• Alex wants to have a conversation about “How soon is too soon?”
• “How soon do you want to know that something’s coming?”; F4F doesn’t want to tell collectors something is coming too far in advance and then have people start bitching about it that it’s taking too long
• F4F has an advertising budget that they use, and the old two-week pre-order window was really, really inefficient; you can overspend on a focus group that doesn’t work really quickly without realizing it because the data period is too short
• Did collectors need to know Bowser was coming over a year ago? Did they need to know Alphonse was coming over a year ago? Now that there’s not merely a two-week order period, Alex doesn’t think that collectors really needed to know that far in advance.
• First 4 Figures doesn’t want people to get pissed off because of how long they’re waiting for announced projects (a la Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy VII Remake); this discussion came about because of members complaining that the Kickstarter-style pre-orders would increase development time on statues that fans have been waiting for
• Snack in Review: Chocks’ first snack this week is a bag of preserved orange peels–contains zero grams of sugar! Even Alex can eat these! The orange peels are crispier than expected! Chock gives it a 7 out of 10!

Temptation Thursdays (TT Polls):

• Perfect Dark TT: 249 ‘No’, 63 ‘Yes’
• Splinter Cell TT: 249 ‘No’, 43 ‘Yes’; Alex is surprised to see Sam Fisher
• Afro Samurai TT Next Week!
• The Binding of Isaac TT in 2 Weeks!
• Alex would get kicked off of Soul Calibur online because he’s so good that people would think he was cheating; “Ask Bang”–Alex destroyed Bang H Le in 16 straight rounds
• Alex owned Jake Meyer in the Battle Rap-off last weekend
• Next week’s hashtag for a chance to win 500 Reward Points is #F4FJakeCantRap
• Monster Hunter needs to hit 1200 ‘Yes’ votes and then have a successful character poll

The Q&A!:

• Grayfox is going to the physical stage, but there is some backlog
• Chock actually puts his feet up on the toilet to squat when taking a #2 in a public bathroom
• Chock doesn’t have to change his contacts very often because he’s very moist and cries a lot at night
• Warning regarding hotel bathtubs from Chock: “If you really want to take a bath–just take a shower instead.”
• No chance for special GamesCom Authenticity cards because there were so few orders
• No damage to the F4F Office from the major storm
• Edward Elric is still at 3-D and has been tweaked and will be up for PO about 8 months after Alphonse–“You’ll need some time to recover after Alphonse.”
• Alex is “horny as hell” wanting to tell the club things sometimes, but doesn’t want to have people complain that something is taking too long after announcement
• The next TF PVC after Spyro will be Amaterasu; nothing in the plans for another PVC in the Spyro series right now, but Alex is thinking a Spyro OG PVC someday
• Next Berserk statue pre-order–Skull Knight–will be in early 2019; needs to be duplicated and painted
• No updates on Roy Mustang right now–let’s concentrate on Alphonse
• “Let’s get all the Mugen’s out there first, and then maybe Jin is a ‘put your money where your mouth is’.”
• Ornstein is at the counter sample stage at the new factory
• No idea if Bowser’s shipping box will be bigger than KORL
• No idea when the first Kickstarter-style pre-order will be; probably 2019
• Faye’s pose has not been finalized–“Alex is deep, deep into Faye” right now
• “Bandwidth” = The amount of resources F4F has to deal with something; Dead Space will be looked at in June 2019 when F4F has more bandwidth available–it doesn’t make sense to look at the license right now when First 4 Figures doesn’t have enough people to utilize the license; can look at Dead Space when projects wrap up and more team members could focus on it
• Can see a poll for Genos before One Punch Man Season 2
• Concentrating on Metal Gear Solid SD and Dark Souls SD for now for the SD line
• Alex will talk to the IT Team about GamesCom orders getting the full amount of F4F Reward Points that they’re entitled to including the voucher
• Zero is with Alex, who is allowing other companies to launch their Zero into the marketplace first
• Alucard Wolf Form is giving F4F troubles in development
• Will reveal Sheikah Slate and Rider Link next year
• Unlikely to make many moving statues; things like the Snake ammo box and 25th Sonic pole are really tough
• Unlikely for resins statues to be remade as PVCs
• Alphonse has hit the office today
• First 4 Figures won’t crowdfund statues that F4F doesn’t have the license for; there has to be interest
• Xenoblade Character poll: “Sure. Why not?”
• Still working on obtaining Darksiders license
• No pre-order packs at London MCM; this con is more like a “side-quest” where PVCs will be available for super-, super-cheap; would love to go to more small cons and sell lots of PVCs
• Don’t worry about bringing Chockles Red Bulls in London–he can’t drink ’em all, and he can’t take them home; just being there and saying ‘hi’ and shaking hands is fine
• There will be a Nito sneak peek in the next 24 months.
• F4F employees did not come into the office and work Monday after the typhoon
• License acquisitions can take a long time
• No updates on Yakuza beyond the gate’s height being raised
• Capcom has to send back the Phoenix Wright sample
• Not sure on Crystal Dragon numbers yet; starting production soon
• Trying to get the Mini Crystal Dragons into metal ASAP
• Boom8 PVCs–Not quite sure which figures will be next
• Alex would consider selling posters of their statues; was impressed to see the GamesCom banners selling well on ebay; would love to see hand-painted oil paintings of First 4 Figures statues
• If the One Punch Man line continues, the statues will follow the sketch-mark style on Mugen
• Over 100 Sonic vs. Chopper Partnerships statues have been sold
• Licensors may not appreciate Kickstarter-style pre-orders since it doesn’t show a lot of faith in the license
• Approximate price of crowdfunded pieces will be known at PO; could change somewhat before the final pre-order
• The goal is 600 total sales, but at least 300 Kickstarter pre-orders
• Alex doesn’t have a lot of confidence in Modern Amy Rose having strong pre-order sales because she has about the same number of votes as Warp Star Kirby (who bombed)
• Rider Link Link himself is 100% exactly the same size as Link on Epona Link, but the horses in BOTW are HUGE, so the Rider Link statue overall is much larger than Link on Epona, true to the game
• Donkey Kong will hopefully be made–not sure yet; would be to-scale with Bowser
• Still on the fence about Sniper Wolf
• Can add a new Trello board detailing what statues are being produced at what factories
• One of Alex’s pet peeves: customers opening the statues upside down–there’s a reason that one side says “This side up” on it!
• Conker “is sitting over there looking sweet” and PO will be toward the end of the year
• You can’t add a payment plan after already ordering a statue–will have to figure out how to make that work with Kickstarter-based pre-orders
• Day One bonuses are only for those who validate their order or place an order on Validation Day
• True Form Midna production should start in about 3 months time
• Sif production run was completed alongside the replacements being made–those on the Wait List should have a good chance of being fulfilled
• There are Metroid things in the works Alex isn’t ready to reveal yet: “Very NICE!” [<– Said in creepy voice]
• Miguel Galvez from the F4F Blog is getting married in less than 24 hours–“if you’re going to tell him to run for his life, tell him now”
• Tekken Law will definitely reopen for preorders
• Alphonse will be at Anime NYC in November and not at NYCC
• The mystery-something-something Alex sent Dabid did arrive [Mystery!!]
• Alucard Companion Pieces will be the next companion series statues released after Mini Aku Aku Masks (unless you consider the alternate-colored Shovel Knights to be Companion Series since they exist outside of the normal numbering sequence for that line)
• Neo-Cortex is on the list of things to go from 3-D to physical form, but not priority #1 or #2
• Alphonse will be up for pre-order before Mimic
• What’s next for the Spyro resin line after Crystal Dragon? “Watch the documentary.”
• Alex will be going to see Varia Suit Samus in the next few weeks
• Chibiterasu is still at the 3-D stage
• Alphonse is in the office right now and still on schedule
• Alex loves dem double deez
• Special sneak peek: Fullmetal Alchemist Alphonse Elric’s arm! He’s a chunky boy, with an arm that’s a… little bit thicker… than Cowboy Bebop Spike’s…!
• Will push for 1/4 scale FMA Alphonse to launch whenever he can, but it’s not in F4F’s control–up to the licensor

…And that’s it for this week! Tune in next week, when the first official First 4 Figures True Form PVC goes up for order: Spyro the Dragon & Sparx! Will you be getting your funds ready to send over to F4F for the Spyro PVC next week?