First4Figures - Cowboy Bebop

[eternalblue02]

A little news. Not sure if anyone wanted Julia added to the line but don?t expect them to make her anytime soon. Someone asked on YT and they said they held an interest poll and no showed up for it.

[Cmac]

Originally Posted by eternalblue02

A little news. Not sure if anyone wanted Julia added to the line but don?t expect them to make her anytime soon. Someone asked on YT and they said they held an interest poll and no showed up for it.

I would've liked that statue, but after the mess Vicious has become, I'm almost relieved. The initial statue had rub marks all over the black paint and the replacement had the same issues. I had to wait for the second replacement as they had a new shipment from China. I just received that yesterday and it has the same issues as the previous two statues.

It's borderline absurd at this point. I can't be the only person having these paint issues as it looks to be caused by the wax-type paper they are wrapping the statues in. Assuming they've had a lot of returns (either that or people don't care their statue has marks all over it), you'd think they would change the paper they are wrapping the statues in for the replacement shipment.

[eternalblue02]

Originally Posted by Cmac

It's borderline absurd at this point.

Yeah, and I saw your posts and Mech's goop all over his piece. I hope Richter isn't getting shipped from those factories. I find that every time a company tries to penny pinch or think they're doing everyone a favor by changing the material there's all sorts of problems. Surprisingly enough Bowser had a ton of issues with paint scratch because of the paper they used for him.

[Cmac]

Originally Posted by eternalblue02

Yeah, and I saw your posts and Mech's goop all over his piece. I hope Richter isn't getting shipped from those factories. I find that every time a company tries to penny pinch or think they're doing everyone a favor by changing the material there's all sorts of problems. Surprisingly enough Bowser had a ton of issues with paint scratch because of the paper they used for him.

I just received a response from their customer support regarding the third defective statue. You can't make this stuff up . . .

"Based on the photos you provided, they've concluded that the marks are due to the over-application of scratch-resistant coating that we use for most figurines. We'd recommend removing these marks with some diluted alcohol."

I looked on their FB group for people with the same issue and nothing. Then I noticed that there are zero issues with anything in that group. My cynical side is thinking they clean up anything that makes them look other than perfect.

[Cmac]

This company has been a nightmare to deal with. To date, I have yet to get a decent replacement piece for Vicious. Every single piece has the outer protective paint coat rubbed off in places due to the cheap paper they wrap it in. They tried to tell me it was over spray and to wipe it off (obviously that was a lie). Finally, they inspected a piece and sent pics before shipping, but then shipped a sealed unit with all the same problems. I have a feeling they just took pics of a factory prototype as the images were titled in Chinese but the statue shipped a couple of days later within the US.

At this point I'm convinced that there are no pieces of Vicious that are received without paint damage. The fact that there is hardly any mention of this online leads me to believe that they remove all negative comments from their FB group.

[eternalblue02]

Originally Posted by Cmac

This company has been a nightmare to deal with. To date, I have yet to get a decent replacement piece for Vicious. Every single piece has the outer protective paint coat rubbed off in places due to the cheap paper they wrap it in. They tried to tell me it was over spray and to wipe it off (obviously that was a lie). Finally, they inspected a piece and sent pics before shipping, but then shipped a sealed unit with all the same problems. I have a feeling they just took pics of a factory prototype as the images were titled in Chinese but the statue shipped a couple of days later within the US.

At this point I'm convinced that there are no pieces of Vicious that are received without paint damage. The fact that there is hardly any mention of this online leads me to believe that they remove all negative comments from their FB group.

You sound like you're having issues I did years ago with Gantaku Alucard. Funny enough I'll have pictures to share of a good one hopefully later this week.

I wonder if you got your money back from F4F and ordered elsewhere like BBTS, SS etc. if their batches suffered the same problems. I've seen this issue with some their other pieces and other companies too. Either they rushed to get the paint done and didn't dry it properly, then wrapped it and called it a day or I wonder if there was a moisture outbreak in the factory after they were wrapped. I am sorry you're having this issue; I had to chuckle and shake my head about the photo though.

[Cmac]

Originally Posted by eternalblue02

You sound like you're having issues I did years ago with Gantaku Alucard. Funny enough I'll have pictures to share of a good one hopefully later this week.

I wonder if you got your money back from F4F and ordered elsewhere like BBTS, SS etc. if their batches suffered the same problems. I've seen this issue with some their other pieces and other companies too. Either they rushed to get the paint done and didn't dry it properly, then wrapped it and called it a day or I wonder if there was a moisture outbreak in the factory after they were wrapped. I am sorry you're having this issue; I had to chuckle and shake my head about the photo though.

I would love to see that somebody out there has this piece without paint issues (I really mean that). The thing with the paint - it's only the dark paint on this statue that has the problems. However, the paint issues are so "in your face", it's not like you can put it under lighting that would hide the defects.

Regarding the photos - I just did a translation on them and each one says "wechat picture". Seriously? These pics were definitely taken in China and sent over wechat. Now, I'm even more aggravated.

I think you're right as these replacement pieces (I'm on the fourth now) are all a mess. The worst part is that they ignored the issue about not sending the piece they took pics of and instead said they will send one last one and I'm just supposed to accept it. I asked them for a refund after the second statue had major problems and was ignored. I'm also sick of breaking up statues, boxes, and Styrofoam. Do you know how much of a pain it is to dispose of all that garbage?

[eternalblue02]

Originally Posted by Cmac

I would love to see that somebody out there has this piece without paint issues (I really mean that). The thing with the paint - it's only the dark paint on this statue that has the problems. However, the paint issues are so "in your face", it's not like you can put it under lighting that would hide the defects.

Regarding the photos - I just did a translation on them and each one says "wechat picture". Seriously? These pics were definitely taken in China and sent over wechat. Now, I'm even more aggravated.

I think you're right as these replacement pieces (I'm on the fourth now) are all a mess. The worst part is that they ignored the issue about not sending the piece they took pics of and instead said they will send one last one and I'm just supposed to accept it. I asked them for a refund after the second statue had major problems and was ignored. I'm also sick of breaking up statues, boxes, and Styrofoam. Do you know how much of a pain it is to dispose of all that garbage?

I know exactly how you feel with the cleanup. It's a PITA. I don't know how long your driveway is, but I have to lug the trash down a hill and a corner and pray it doesn't all blow away into the neighborhood. I can't see the street from my house and have a camera pointing down the drive lol. I recently broke down all my old husky garage shelving and switched to ULINE for my statues which I also broke down and had to shlep it piece by piece to the end of the drive for a bulk pickup.

What's worse is F4F can do black capes. I've never heard a single complaint with Alucard or Dracula and my capes came out fine. Maybe the B team was working on this piece. I've recently been working with a girl over at F4F named Charlene and she's been perfect as far as customer service goes. I don't know if that's who you got but I'd definitely demand my money back if the next ones a flop. There's always threatening a charge back or actually doing it. Sometimes there are consequences with that though.

[Cmac]

Originally Posted by eternalblue02

I know exactly how you feel with the cleanup. It's a PITA. I don't know how long your driveway is, but I have to lug the trash down a hill and a corner and pray it doesn't all blow away into the neighborhood. I can't see the street from my house and have a camera pointing down the drive lol. I recently broke down all my old husky garage shelving and switched to ULINE for my statues which I also broke down and had to shlep it piece by piece to the end of the drive for a bulk pickup.

What's worse is F4F can do black capes. I've never heard a single complaint with Alucard or Dracula and my capes came out fine. Maybe the B team was working on this piece. I've recently been working with a girl over at F4F named Charlene and she's been perfect as far as customer service goes. I don't know if that's who you got but I'd definitely demand my money back if the next ones a flop. There's always threatening a charge back or actually doing it. Sometimes there are consequences with that though.

Charlene is who I have been dealing with - though I have a feeling there is somebody else above her using her name in some of the correspondence (due to the grammar sometimes and those pics).

I think they only have one customer service person. The previous lady from last year was alright as well. I don't blame the customer service person as they are only following directions. That said, dealing with this has been aggravating to no end. I've never had so many problems over a single statue.