Now that the clocks have turned back an hour, I’m regularly sleeping through the first hour of the weekly First 4 Figures Q&A once again. So my apologies on this being delayed, as I had to cycle back and watch the first hour of the show. But I digress! It’s the 93rd episode of the F4F Q&A, in which Warm & Fuzzy Alex Davis and Lieutenant Chockles will answer all these questions and more:

WHO might be the next entry in the Crash Bandicoot PVC series?
WHAT is the likelihood of color variants for the Mega Man PVC?
WHEN will the long-awaited Phoenix Wright Pre-Order open up?
WHERE will Alex & Chock find room on the Q&A set to fit Peggy?
HOW could True Form Mega Man PVC help the resin Zero be a success?
WHY was the PO for Castlevania Dracula pushed back?
CAN Alex finally earn his first-ever victory over Chockles in Rock-Paper-Scissors?

Announcements and The Week in Review:

• So much has happened this week; Alex doesn’t know where to begin
• It’s gone from a week of frustration last week to a week of hope this week
• Alex is drinking a diet Red Bull! (0 Calories, so it fits into his diet!)
• Wolf Link PVC: “No doubt in my mind, that would do very, very well.” –Alex Davis
• F4F wants to do PAX East, but there’s a complication that may not allow them to exhibit there–PAX may not allow non-game developers to exhibit at the show anymore (besides the merchandisers that have been attending for years already)
• Jake Meyer almost shat his pants where he saw the first sneak peek of the Mega Man TF PVC, thinking that it was something else
• After doing GamesCom and MCM, Alex almost feels like First 4 Figures should go back to New York Comic Con for vindication
• Developing PVCs and resins is the absolute key to the future for F4F; the difference between the PVC and the resin is night-to-day–it’s the same jump in quality and scale from Amiibo to TF PVC as from TF PVC to resin statue (ie Amiibo Archer Link vs. BOTW Link PVC)
• As F4F gets more and more licenses that allow PVCs, co-development will become more and more a mainstay of the company
• HMO did a great job with their Mega Man Zero, so Alex put Zero on the back-burner for now, not seeing the need to do one. However, once more Mega Man fans discover F4F because of the TF Mega Man PVC, there will be an expanded Mega Man fanbase within the club that will give Zero a better chance to sell well. If Mega Man PVC does really well,
• If something does quite badly below expectations, First4Figures tends to put followup pieces from that line on the back-burner to give time for more potential buyers to come into the club who will be fans of those properties. The longer F4F waits, the buying base and potential for pieces in underperforming lines will come naturally. However, First 4 Figures can also try to force the base to grow much faster by creating PVCs for a franchise, as is the intent with Mega Man TF!
• Alex makes quite rash decisions–thought-out, but quickly; he’d rather have true transparency with fast-changing policies than not have transparency; the market changes rapidly, and First4Figures needs to be able to change alongside it
• Alex loves planning and seeing and testing
• Fullmetal Alchemist Alphonse EX and DE Editions are open for pre-order until at least next Friday 11/16
• Alex needs to look back and see if an edition size was ever announced for Tekken Law prior to his being cancelled [It wasn’t–Alex’s exact words were something like “The edition size is….. he’s cancelled.”]
• Spyro PVC EX, Cowboy Bebop Spike, Berserk Guts, Warp Star Kirby and Psycho Mantis EX are all still up for order; although Spyro is fast-approaching the target 3,000 edition size and will likely have a Last Chance Week soon
• Secret meeting last week right after the Q&A was an interesting conversation
• Last week was a depressing week, but Alex didn’t want to talk about it then because it was too fresh
• Alex was running this company since 2003–literally from his bedroom–until he got a small office in 2012; First4Figures never really had much of anything as a company until they got their current office in March 2016 and began swiftly expanding and hiring people
• What was weird last week was that Alex had hired someone and it basically didn’t work out–Alex literally had zero interaction with this person because they were part of a team, so it was surreal to find out from other team members that this person wasn’t working out and then having to let this person go
• It became clear to Alex after this that the team members should have some involvement in the hiring process when the new hire will be working closely with a team (“That’s why I have to get an HR manager so I don’t have to deal with that shit”)
• First4Figures isn’t at war with anyone–they love everyone (“Does anyone even know who we are?”)
• When you’re going from super-teeny-tiny potatoes to small potatoes, it comes with these growing pains that are quite surreal where you’re patching over leaks
• “I love this industry that allows us to do this job, because for me it’s infinitely interesting every time we do a new launch… I came to every work motivated, absolutely motivated” — Alex Davis
• Over that last week there was a resignation that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. So Alex just sat and brainstormed and did 5-7 3D designs and fleshed out the plan moving forwards in terms of what’s coming up and the plan going forward; hyper-focused on Mega Man, Morrigan, making work more efficient, etc.; everything is coming along really nice now
• Morrigan will almost definitely get a TF PVC now as well as the planned resin, with a more intricate base for the resin
• Mega Man True Form PVC is confirmed and in the works
• Spyro PVC regular production piece is in the office now
• Should the Spyro PVC box be more yellow or more gold…?
• Guts smiling with gritted teeth for the Berserker armor looks great so far–head will be slightly tilted to make it look more dynamic; the magical suit of armor isn’t necessarily bound by conventional physics
• Faye may go back to the drawing board
• The First4Figures Pinterest Page launched this week! Looking to create specific boards there like “Setups/Displays”, “Collector’s Images”, etc.; “How can we make Pinterest more interesting?”
• Soliare SD EX may ship a little bit sooner than the Praise the Sun version
• Had a meeting with Warp Star, the licensors of Kirby, who wanted to know more about the Western audience for Kirby such as age/location/what Kirby statues they bought [I wish they had asked if ours hearts were broken when they rejected Blue Kirby! *cries*]
• Hopefully Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will entice more people to take notice of Kirby, who is the primary hero of the game’s story
• Oki Wolf Form sneak peek “Tee Hee” shown this week, as well as Neo-Cortex physical sneak peek
• Alex can confirm that the Phoenix Wright teaser trailer is the best one that Ting has ever made for F4F

Temptation Thursdays and The King of the Ring:

• Contra TT #125: 164 Votes, 149 ‘No’ and ’15’ Yes
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons TT #126: 197 Votes, 183 ‘No’ and ’14’ Yes
• Hoping for something a little better result-wise for next week’s TT, as it’s been 9 straight weeks of weak Temptation Thursday Polls; 15 out of last 16 TTs haven’t hit 200 ‘Yes’ votes
• Seven Deadly Sin TT #127 Next Week! An anime! Is this a big one?
• #F4FMM is this week’s hashtag for a chance to win Rewards Points next week
• King of the Ring II Match #2 – 20th Anniversary Sonic vs. Amaterasu: Amaterasu is annihilating 20th Anniversary Sonic, as expected–worth noting that Ammy is faring better than Sif in Round 2

Chock’s Snack Review:

• Packaging is appealing
• Lemon-flavored
• Moon-shaped container looks like Pac-Man!
• Alex rejects the snack because of the carbs
• “Tastes a bit like Tic-Tacs.” — Chock
• Chock rates it a 6 out of 10
• But wait… there’s more!
• Soft; chewy; not too sweet; not too heavy
• Chock gives the Pomegranate Jellydays a 6 out of 10 as well

The Q&A!:

• 100% Guarantee, No Bullshit, that Phoenix Wright is on a plain black base; managing expectations
• About 150 Wait Lists have converted since the Wait List function was
• The difficulty of the Yakuza DE is the lights, and it’s a nightmare trying to get them right
• The team is supposed to be coming back to Alex on the mini-figures; he wants to get the mini Crystal Dragons rocking and rolling
• No more Crash figures before the end of the year, but Neo-Cortex looks amazing
• No development on a Spyro SD right now
• At the stage where 93 Q&As have taken place with Alex and Chock in front of a screen, but is there room for Peggy on the set right now…? As part of the expansion, it may be time to upgrade the Q&A set to include more space and a lovely studio setting (a la Sideshow)!
• “As much as you guys love listening to us talk about random shit week in and week out, it might be nice to spice things up a little bit from time to time.” — Alex Davis
• Still don’t have the Crystal Dragon numbers
• The future is expansion and different product types, so there could be F4F jewelry as well someday
• Christmas fever has not yet hit the F4F office
• Alex would like to hear Chock’s review of the company lunch; “Not worth the price upgrade”
• Castlevania Death is almost done at the 3-D stage
• Zero is not forgotten; working on Mega Man TF PVC right now, but will start working on Zero in a completely new pose next month
• Not much to say on Midna yet–not in production just yet
• Can add an option to pay 100% at the time of pre-order for those who want to
• The biggest, deepest F4F ever will likely always be Ornstein
• SD Alucard is where Alex’s head is at regarding Castlevania PVCs
• Skull Knight is taking ages to duplicate–couple months before we see him
• Hard to say whether True Form Sonic PVC or Sonic & Tails Diorama will be up for order first
• Player 2 Shovel Knight & Mail of Momentum Shovel Knight have been approved
• Working on the videos for Mini Aku Aku Masks
• What happened before with the Wait List was that WLs didn’t convert until done manually–now it’s automatic and happens much quicker; Wait List conversions should happen once a week now automatically
• Alex’s most memorable moment so far with Clementine? “She needs mommy. I come back from work, kiss her. She’ll come down when she’s crying. But there’s not much interaction yet.”
• Next pre-order? “Objection.”
• Lots of of Wait List conversions for Solaire SD this week.
• Dark Souls line coming along slowly, but Alex actually had to write a line plan because there’s so much coming that’s at different stages right now; the pace is the pace that the licensor allows it to be–F4F works at the licensor’s pace
• 9 F4F Dark Souls items in the pipeline!
• Alex would hope Ivy’s whip would be flexible like Simon Belmont’s, but development isn’t there yet
• Still working on Shadow Kirby–designs worked on so far “look crap”
• Color variants are absolute key for PVCs; Mega Man would be perfect for offering exclusives for distributors and for cons
• I thought today might be the day that Alex beat Chock in Rock-Paper-Scissors, but I was wrong. Alex loses 1-3 against Chock again.
• “You play me like a bloody piano.” — Alex on losing Rock-Paper-Scissors
• No Life-Size Kyubey (Madoka Magica) in the works
• Don’t think about Christmas sneaks until the week beforehand
• Wait List Payment Plans could be ready in the next week or so!
• Alex’s Egg-Fried Rice Recipe
• No statue for Hellsing Alucard right now: “No need to right now.”
• Alex doesn’t drink beer, wine or liquor. But his favorite would be Malibu (liquor). Chocks picks Bailey’s.
• No news on Midna right now
• What country does Chocks want to try snacks from? “Anywhere, really. If you don’t know what snacks there are, you don’t know what you’re missing.”
• Alex met his wife at a bar when she was in the UK studying English; Kanako thought the best was to learn English was to marry an English guy because it would be much cheaper; yesterday was Alex’s 10 year wedding anniversary! “The best is yet to come.”
• Alex isn’t sure how long he’s going to live, but he’s hoping he’s got a bit of time before he hits half his life; thinks it would be good to try the other side for half his life, so he would choose to be Taki or True Form Midna to live the rest of his life as if he had to live as one of his statues
• Will show Banjo changes when they’re ready
• Nothing to report on Persona
• Maybe next time he comes to America, Alex will check out how it is at Mental Health America
• Solaire SD won’t ship to the US for a while
• 25%-30% of upcoming statues will get PVC versions
• Will not go back and redo the same resin statue in PVC for Legacy statues in the same pose–wouldn’t do that unless there’s nothing Alex can do about that
• How would Shantae benefit from a character poll?
• Spyro Reignited Launch Day next week can be a rally day for Spyro characters
• Varia Suit Samus can’t be rushed–very difficult to produce
• Darksiders–nothing to report right now
• Was just discussing Fan Expo Canada the other day
• Mega Man TF PVC is far off–only at the 3-D stage
• Multiple color variants of Mega Man PVC planned
• Zero resin will be reworked; no new X at this stage
• Dracula was pushed back because the head wasn’t approved–nothing to do with the PVC push; Dracula will not be having a PVC as he was developed before the idea of developing PVCs alongside resins
• Alex is gonna do what Alex is gonna do based on what he knows. Won’t put Gabriel Belmont on the backburner now in favor of Richter.
• No hints for 4th Berserk statue
• TF Mega Man PVC is Classic Mega Man to Alex and not specifically Mega Man 11; could do a 10-pack of all the colors from Mega Man 11 if Capcom would allow it
• Mega Man True Form PVC literally started in 3-D just last week
• Spyro OG PVC would be based on Ripto’s Rage/Spyro 2
• Dante is still a thing
• F4F was denied for Jo-Jo, but could do a TT sometime for it
• OG Crash PVC maybe as the next in the Crash Bandicoot PVC line? “What do you think, guys?”
• Alex is thinking of N-Sane Trilogy Crash Resin, the same as Reignited Spyro Resin coming up. Would be the holy quartet of Activision Resins. Would not be the same pose as the PVC. Alex wouldn’t just after-the-fact make the PVC pose bigger for a resin. OG Spyro PVC would be completely different from the OG Spyro resin; Reignited Spyro resin is completely different from the Reignited PVC.
• Coco didn’t do well at all in the character poll
• TF Mega Man PVC and Mega Man Resin using the same mold are in the works; possibly Morrigan as well; Alex loves the idea of doing different colors of Morrigan to take to cons
• Final Fantasy VII and Pokemon are grail licenses that Alex would live the most
• Next Friday will be Preview Friday for Phoenix Wright; Reservation Friday will be November 23rd
• Chock is looking forward to
• Hopefully something a little special will happen next week, but it’s on the line right now

…And that’s it for this week! Come back next week, when the Preview Friday Phoenix Wright teaser trailer is expected to debut! Any objections, F4Fans?