Ask XM Studios **Q&A ONLY** *FAQs post #2*

[Thor57]

I asked him the same question some time ago. He did confirm they'd do it again in the future, but didn't know when. I look forward to the next one, mainly cause it will probably have to be with some lesser known characters seeming as how they've pretty much gone through most of the top tier Marvelites.

[Comicbookguy]

Any hopes for these:

Super skrull ( tons of switch outs)

The thor horse face guy beta Ray!

The villian from the Fantasic four ( he's bald, purple color and hold a huge axe weapon. He also has a red stripe going around on his uniform. Sorry never knew his name.

Silver sable

[loricstone]

CBG means to ask if Terrax the Tamer....one of Galactus's Heralds will ever be made. Is he a character that could be done? or is he part of the FF not touchable list?

[Comicbookguy]

Originally Posted by loricstone

CBG means to ask if Terrax the Tamer....one of Galactus's Heralds will ever be made. Is he a character that could be done? or is he part of the FF not touchable list?

Oh yes that's the guy thanks for the name. I always like him just never knew his name. Crap so no FF stuff? even cooler that he's related to galactus universe. That guy is so awesome in the comics.

[MuppetMad]

Bryan, I have a question in regards to XM process of putting products up for preorder.

When a product goes up for preorder we get the prototype of the piece. This is what we base buying the piece on. Yet for some reason XM seems to continue to tweaks things on a piece. I understand that you do that do improve the piece. No problem there.

I believe that because your products sell out so fast people are starting to feel obligated to order just so they don't miss out. They have come to expect these tweaks after the preorder sells out as normal now, hoping for the best.

My questions are these :

1) What happens when you tweak something too far and it makes the piece worse. Can your clients cancel the order even though a deposit was placed either in store or online?

2) Is there a reason why you can't make these tweaks and changes BEFORE they go up for preorder?
If you feel that you need to fix some things thats great, but I don't understand why this can't be done as a FINAL prototype before it goes up with no more tweaks. That way we have complete confidence that what we see is what we get.

You guys do amazing work and not having a go in any way, but just wondering why this can or cannot happen in future products, as I noticed you did it again with Elektra even after saying you would put up the final prototype before preorder date.

Thanks!!!

[shorudan]

Originally Posted by MuppetMad

Bryan, I have a question in regards to XM process of putting products up for preorder.

When a product goes up for preorder we get the prototype of the piece. This is what we base buying the piece on. Yet for some reason XM seems to continue to tweaks things on a piece. I understand that you do that do improve the piece. No problem there.

I believe that because your products sell out so fast people are starting to feel obligated to order just so they don't miss out. They have come to expect these tweaks after the preorder sells out as normal now, hoping for the best.

My questions are these :

1) What happens when you tweak something too far and it makes the piece worse. Can your clients cancel the order even though a deposit was placed either in store or online?

2) Is there a reason why you can't make these tweaks and changes BEFORE they go up for preorder?
If you feel that you need to fix some things thats great, but I don't understand why this can't be done as a FINAL prototype before it goes up with no more tweaks. That way we have complete confidence that what we see is what we get.

You guys do amazing work and not having a go in any way, but just wondering why this can or cannot happen in future products, as I noticed you did it again with Elektra even after saying you would put up the final prototype before preorder date.

Thanks!!!

I agree with you, Muppet. I think we are a victim of being our own perfectionists, and keep trying to improve things all the way till the production stage. We are learning so much more about this and you will start to see some cool stuff with the upcoming statues... We are and will continue to improve on this with future releases and on behalf of the XM team, I thank you and appreciate your feedback.

Certain things like Thor's spinning hammer however, are not tweaks but potential issues found along the production process, which we will unfortunately have to come up with alternatives. I think these are reasonable tweaks because it's no longer about cosmetics preference but integrity of the statue structure - i.e. protecting our customers with a durable statue comes first over original concepts.

[Guilty]

Was Witch Blade pushed back again?

[MuppetMad]

Originally Posted by shorudan

I agree with you, Muppet. I think we are a victim of being our own perfectionists, and keep trying to improve things all the way till the production stage. We are learning so much more about this and you will start to see some cool stuff with the upcoming statues... We are and will continue to improve on this with future releases and on behalf of the XM team, I thank you and appreciate your feedback.

Certain things like Thor's spinning hammer however, are not tweaks but potential issues found along the production process, which we will unfortunately have to come up with alternatives. I think these are reasonable tweaks because it's no longer about cosmetics preference but integrity of the statue structure - i.e. protecting our customers with a durable statue comes first over original concepts.

Thanks Bryan for such a fast reply. I agree completely with things like Thors hammer. That makes perfect sense for structural fixes. I am more referring to things like tweaking Elektras head again after po went up, which is more cosmetic.

Also, I appreciate the answer but I don't think you actually answered any of the questions I asked?

ie.
1) if tweaks make worse can we cancel order and get money back?

2) is there a reason why you can't do the cosmetic changes BEFORE the PO and leave it there?

I really appreciate that you guys are perfectionists and strive to do so well.

Thanks!!

[epitaph04]

Any new info on the Mark VII?

[shorudan]

Originally Posted by MuppetMad

Thanks Bryan for such a fast reply. I agree completely with things like Thors hammer. That makes perfect sense for structural fixes. I am more referring to things like tweaking Elektras head again after po went up, which is more cosmetic.

Also, I appreciate the answer but I don't think you actually answered any of the questions I asked?

ie.
1) if tweaks make worse can we cancel order and get money back?

2) is there a reason why you can't do the cosmetic changes BEFORE the PO and leave it there?

I really appreciate that you guys are perfectionists and strive to do so well.

Thanks!!

Oops sorry about it! I hope below answers your question.

1) For tweaks, it is difficult to define "worse" or "better" because preferences are so subjective. Take She-hulk for example, we received lots of PMs and feedback post PO to improve her portrait and we did but nothing's 100% though, some will like it, some won't and that's the way it is (we target for majority's satisfaction). We can't accept cancellations and refunds for subjective preferences, this would be hard to manage and define. We kinda think it's a give and take situation, we put in extra efforts/costs to improve; you win some and you lose some. Bottom line is if we said yes, this would be opening up a whoop ass can of business and logistic problems, so I'm afraid the answer is no. The better solution as you said would be to avoid changes after PO which leads to the next point.

2) We can stop all tweaks after PO - but I think the issue here is we put up final prototypes on the same date as PO day - which leaves very little time for folks to provide final feedback. Hence, we receive more PMs and feedback AFTER PO and we try to listen and then make changes to please most. So I'm going to try this next - we will be putting up our 'final' prototypes earlier say 2 weeks to allow for everyone to have their inputs. After the 2 weeks we will try to consolidate the feedbacks, decide on the best balance (since many inputs will differ) and then put up a final version on PO which we won't change anymore. (cuz otherwise there will always be feedbacks and the statue will never get rolled out). In my previous reply, this is what I meant in my earlier reply we are looking into improving the process to avoid tweaks after PO date.