3rd Party Kenner Retro-Style Toys

[Rob]

This is so ******* maddening I don’t know what to say.  That’s not an update.  It’s not my job to harass the factory.  I paid them to produce this thing, ducking produce it.

[CorranHorn]

Wow is that a load of **** right there. They didn’t get the thing made right the first time and scammed so many people. Then they convinced many to wait and now went to another factory which has scammed them? Makes you wonder if they ever went to that second factory in the first place.

[Rob]

Well they’re asking people to call the factory so that’d be a bold lie if there isn’t one… but surely they’ve spent a ton of money at this point with no Banthas to show for it.  So at what point is the jig just up…

[Matt_Fury]

Wow.  I thought Anovos got bad with excuses and blaming the factory, but they never washed their hands of it like these morons just did!  So unprofessional!

[Rob]

I just wish there was some way I could do a charge back or get my money back, but we’re way past the window.  Four years in May since I ordered this stupid thing.

[EdSolo]

It really makes you wonder what the hell is going on with these people.  I haven't received everything from them that I have paid for, but I have received some of it.  I imagine there is going to be tremendous backlash after that post.  Sure, I bet some people will call the factory out of curiosity, but I don't think that will do anything.  I'm also quite skeptical about a factory in Texas.  I didn't think that was really a thing anymore for this type of manufacturing.  I figured all this stuff was overseas.  There is reason that comments are turned off on the FB post.

As for people getting their money back, that may be possible depending on the method of ordering and if SLC are willing to give refunds.  Quite some time ago I preordered a self published book.  It was supposed to be one of those complete Star Wars line toy books that detailed everything.  It went on forever.  Excuse after excuse about delays, adding new stuff, etc.  It was only around $70 at the time so I just let it roll.  After probably close to a decade total and no updates for years, I started hunting down the guy.  Finally got ahold of him via email, and did get a refund through paypal.  Now, I doubt it will be as easy in this case.  I can almost guarantee I will get my Stan Solo Bantha from the second batch order he put up recently before seeing this one or any of the other wave of 13 figures from SLC.  I would still inquire with paypal and or credit card company to see if anything can be done at this point. It looks like all the on-line battles over making repro stuff is justified after this post from SLC.  It boggles the mind that their approach is "screw it, you do it.  You want it?  You get an answer from them".

[Rob]

Not sure if it's true, but according to Chris Smith, someone someone demanded a refund a few months ago and SLC decided to just cancel the guy's order and not refund him anyway. 

I think, that they think, that they're untouchable here.

Meanwhile, the transaction for me was so long ago I can't even look it up in my online banking.  I might give them a call on Monday to see if I have any recourse at all, but I'm pretty sure I don't.

[EdSolo]

I'm waiting for the point when someone posts his address and phone number like he did to the Texas "factory".

[Muftak]

Oh, he got doxxed in 2020 or so when some customers discovered he had bought a new house while refusing to give refunds for the preorders that he reclassified as crowdfunding donations.

[Rob]

So that’s where my money is.

[EdSolo]

I find it odd he has shipped some stuff, but not everything.  The Bantha just seems to be a debacle.  Supposedly he shipped out some from the first Chinese factory that had some problems with the item and gave people the option to keep it or get it replaced with the "new and improved" one.  For the wave of 13, I have received 2 of 13 figures.  All the "in stock" items I have ordered arrived from them, but not as quickly as anything I have ordered from Stan Solo.  Just an update on his Holiday Special Boba Fett, I preordered that from his UK site, but it was shipped from the US even though I was charged the UK shipping rate.  I didn't bother saying anything due to his volatile nature with on-line posts.  I didn't want to end up on the "no soup for you" list.

[Rob]

They have basically stopped responding to my emails but that’s what they told me the last time they did.  They said I was about 20th or 30th in line and my Bantha would ship with the next batch and then that batch never came and they did the switcheroo.  I didn’t do the replacement program mostly because I had no faith that any replacement item would arrive in the next five years, so I left it alone and am waiting.  They’ve publicly interpreted and promoted the disinterest in the replacement plan as an indication that everyone trusted them and really wanted this Bantha and that’s just not the case.  If they’d offered a cash refund I’d have taken it in a heartbeat.
 
I went ahead and bought an in-stock Thrawn because they had it on Etsy for less money a month or two ago, it arrived quickly and with no problems.  So I would consider an in-stock order if there was something I liked, but I’ll never preorder with them again.  In that sense this debacle has probably really ****** up crowdsourcing for their future projects. 

[EdSolo]

I would think so.  I had DM'ed the owner on facebook and he indicated that had plans for both an ESB and a ROTJ wave after the first 13 wave was completed.  I have my doubts at this point that any other product will come out.

[Rob]

I bit the bullet and spent way too much money on an R3-M3 this week.  I'm restoring a beat up vintage R2 to throw the Jabba's drink tray onto... and I skipped 0-0-0 because I don't care about Dr. Aphra...but I think I'm all set.  I have the Droids R5 but forgot to pull him down for the group photo...

[Muftak]

That looks so great Rob, I envy the dedication and cash it took to get there...even at $40 each I was unable to pursue that set!

But I really wish Hasbro would pay attention and figure out a way to do something like this in their Retro line. They could pull Kenner collectors who have been done for decades back in to cough up some cash that they are otherwise not receiving, I think to an exponential rate over what they are getting with straight up Retro rereleases.

It might not be as profitable per figure as a nonpainted "prototype" variant like they are doing currently, but I think they could do higher runs and get more sales overall by doing droid and trooper repaints that fill out the Kenner line a bit. (As well as the occasional variant, I know I will buy the Retro Jedi Luke again with the black cloak, but not the Mando with Darksaber in the same wave.)