XM Studios Interview - Co-founder Bryan Tan Speaks

[Lotus000]

Originally Posted by DingleDangle

My favorite part of XM is that they prioritize people who spend more money than others, once you buy four statues you get early access to PO's before others and with such low ES, seems like bull----.

I'm a "Premier member" that is officially not allowed to buy the statues direct with the 10% discount, or early access.

As a loyal customer I actually pay a "premium" buying through a middle man seller how ironic is that ?

Awesome interview

[lucifixion]

Me too, Lotus. And rhy summed up what I meant exactly. They could just have no loyalty program at all. I guess that would be more "fair". I don't get it.

[DingleDangle]

Originally Posted by rhy

My man, generally speaking if you end your opinion like this:

That's a complaint.

You're correct, but I removed it and now it's just a statement. Moving forward, using other companies practices as an excuse for your own is a horrible means of justification, unless you're one of those people who would jump off a bridge because others are. Also they don't have to encourage repeat sales, with their ES and popularity atm, it's not necessary, so that whole "small company" argument is baseless. Lastly- there are more neutral reward systems, which give fair access to the product (no early PO's) and encourage repeat sales. Reward points after purchasing a product or just having it give you a small percent discount, minus the early PO's, that's a much more customer neutral system.

[loricstone]

Originally Posted by MrJones

See despite having more statues from other companies (I only have one XM piece) this is an example of why they are my favourite company. I absolutely love behind the scenes stuff and they are always willing to discuss the goings on and be as transparent as legally possible. Bryan also seems to have the same sense of humour as I do which is refreshing. loricstone, I had to think of you as the super fan LOL

I was thinking of myself too...minus the bashing of other company's products. I appreciate art in all its forms...some more than others though I admit.

[loricstone]

Originally Posted by DingleDangle

You're correct, but I removed it and now it's just a statement. Moving forward, using other companies practices as an excuse for your own is a horrible means of justification, unless you're one of those people who would jump off a bridge because others are. Also they don't have to encourage repeat sales, with their ES and popularity atm, it's not necessary, so that whole "small company" argument is baseless. Lastly- there are more neutral reward systems, which give fair access to the product (no early PO's) and encourage repeat sales. Reward points after purchasing a product or just having it give you a small percent discount, minus the early PO's, that's a much more customer neutral system.

Don't you have to buy at least 5 - 6 SS (just as an example) statues to just get the equivalent of a 10% discount off a $500 statue? It all works out relatively the same IMO. I don't see any difference here.

KIM, these statues (most XM lines currently) are meant for certain territories where shipping isn't astronomical like it is to ship to US. If I was a resident, I could literally pick up any statue in store for about $50 - $100 more than a SS statue of relative size. Now consider wanting a Darkness statue and being able to PO it early and getting an extra 10% off the $1500 price. You actually save much more after just buying 5 statues from XM than you would getting rewards points to use from SS.

PCS is decent with saving money from total price...but the catch is for the best savings, you need to pay in total...hundreds of dollars in someone's hands which usually takes 1 1/2 years to get to you.

There is no better rewards system IMO. Just different ways companies go about it.

[DingleDangle]

Originally Posted by loricstone

Don't you have to buy at least 5 - 6 SS (just as an example) statues to just get the equivalent of a 10% discount off a $500 statue? It all works out relatively the same IMO. I don't see any difference here.

KIM, these statues (most XM lines currently) are meant for certain territories where shipping isn't astronomical like it is to ship to US. If I was a resident, I could literally pick up any statue in store for about $50 - $100 more than a SS statue of relative size. Now consider wanting a Darkness statue and being able to PO it early and getting an extra 10% off the $1500 price. You actually save much more after just buying 5 statues from XM than you would getting rewards points to use from SS.

PCS is decent with saving money from total price...but the catch is for the best savings, you need to pay in total...hundreds of dollars in someone's hands which usually takes 1 1/2 years to get to you.

There is no better rewards system IMO. Just different ways companies go about it.

I'm speaking to the fairness of the system itself, not the specific amount of rewards they entail. I think SS should offer around 10% of a statues worth in rewards, especially if you've purchased several products, but I really dislike the idea of early PO's. It isn't just rewarding loyalty, it's outright favoritism. Also the SS reward system as is, offers 5% of a statues value in rewards, so 5-6 would be around 20-30% of a $500 statue, depending on price of said purchased statues.

[loricstone]

Originally Posted by DingleDangle

I'm speaking to the fairness of the system itself, not the specific amount of rewards they entail. I think SS should offer around 10% of a statues worth in rewards, especially if you've purchased several products, but I really dislike the idea of early PO's. It isn't just rewarding loyalty, it's outright favoritism. Also the SS reward system as is, offers 5% of a statues value in rewards, so 5-6 would be around 20-30% of a $500 statue, depending on price of said purchased statues.

I see. I understand what you are referring to...but put yourself in XM shoes:

Say if you were selling products in an expensive market, and had about 40 or 50 people that bought just about everything you made / sold helping you and your company grow, would you suddenly tell those who were with you from the beginning that "what you helped me build no longer matter because there are some others that want this select product?" It's kind of a damned if you do...damned if you don't thing...because while you may gain new fans of your product, you also risk losing those who helped you get to where you are today. In an ideal world, those fans who were with you from the beginning would be willing to forego a guaranteed PO for the sake of hopefully helping you gain more notoriety, but the real world is different and most people do not operate like that...even though I think we should.

KIM, XM only allocates to themselves maybe 50 or 60 of maybe 999 total statues to those who are premium members should they feel the need to PO directly with XM if they can. POs are only for a very, very small percentage of the overall ES...so much so that is rather insignificant relatively speaking.

I understand your logic...as it sucks for those that want to acquire a hard to obtain item without having to get economically raped by the aftermarket. If XM's licensing predicament changes with their license restrictions in the near future and they can then sell worldwide, then I will be more inclined to agree with you.

[Guilty]

11 – What piece(s) you are most proud of?

Every piece, man! Every piece is blood, sweat and tears. I know most people expect us to say Magneto but for us, we put in the same amount of love and attention to all our creations. They are like our children… you don’t choose to love one more than the other.

This feels very contradicting to me. If I were to compare some of their products to each other, there's a key difference in the amount of "love and attention" to them. If all products were given the same level of care, they would all be "Magnetos" no? That doesn't mean that all should have the same pose as Magneto, but one would think they should all be at that same standard. Some of the pieces aren't.

For example, it's like comparing Batman Samurai to Kraven, Sandman to Ghost Rider, Elektra to The Darkness. If you were to put these statues side by side, the statue that received more attention is very clear in my opinion.

[loricstone]

Originally Posted by Guilty

11 – What piece(s) you are most proud of?

Every piece, man! Every piece is blood, sweat and tears. I know most people expect us to say Magneto but for us, we put in the same amount of love and attention to all our creations. They are like our children… you don’t choose to love one more than the other.

This feels very contradicting to me. If I were to compare some of their products to each other, there's a key difference in the amount of "love and attention" to them. If all products were given the same level of care, they would all be "Magnetos" no? That doesn't mean that all should have the same pose as Magneto, but one would think they should all be at that same standard. Some of the pieces aren't.

For example, it's like comparing Batman Samurai to Kraven, Sandman to Ghost Rider, Elektra to The Darkness. If you were to put these statues side by side, the statue that received more attention is very clear in my opinion.

You couldn't be further from the truth. Bryan was not saying that he thought every piece was as good as Magneto (concept, details, etc.), but that every statue these guys produce is a labor of love and ultimate commitment and constant QC checking and rechecking...and I think that is what he was referring to in that comment.

If the question was..."which statue do you think is the best XM has ever done?"...and he proceeded to answer as you noted, THEN you could call phoney cheesy baloney on that. Magneto just had a slam bam concept. But if you think for a moment Sandman is not as detailed or if less care was put into it than say Ghost Rider, that is very, very wrong statement. Same thing with Elektra. The amount of head reworks, etc. shows a level of commitment and care put into it. Darkness was such a perfect concept that it may seem that more care was given to it...that is simply not the case.

[Guilty]

Originally Posted by loricstone

You couldn't be further from the truth. Bryan was not saying that he thought every piece was as good as Magneto (concept, details, etc.), but that every statue these guys produce is a labor of love and ultimate commitment and constant QC checking and rechecking...and I think that is what he was referring to in that comment.

If the question was..."which statue do you think is the best XM has ever done?"...and he proceeded to answer as you noted, THEN you could call phoney cheesy baloney on that. Magneto just had a slam bam concept. But if you think for a moment Sandman is not as detailed or if less care was put into it than say Ghost Rider, that is very, very wrong statement. Same thing with Elektra. The amount of head reworks, etc. shows a level of commitment and care put into it. Darkness was such a perfect concept that it may seem that more care was given to it...that is simply not the case.

You know more than I do, so maybe you're right.

I might be reading far too much into it.