Brock Otterbacher, Creative Director of Toys & Collectibles
It’s been a long, long road for Leonardo, but the blue-masked leader (or red-masked, depending on your preference) is finally landing in homes! I want to thank everybody for your patience and enthusiasm for the line, which is just getting started! Mousers should be arriving just after the first of the year, with Don, Mikey, and Raph following.
With everyone starting to get Leo, I think now’s a good time to reset things a bit, and talk about a few changes we’re working on. Hopefully these will make pre-ordering from us a bit easier.
TIME
One of the big discussion points has been the time it’s taken between the initial pre-order and delivery. For figures we’ve already pre-ordered (like the other Turtles, Ramona Flowers, etc), this won’t change since production is already running on them. For future items, however, we’re working on some internal changes to reduce the time from when you pre-order, to when you get your hands on the goods. This may mean a longer time from when we first preview and item (like at a convention), to when we put it up for order, but in the long run we’re hoping there will be significantly less time from when you pay to when we deliver.
For statues, and similar items, nothing much will change, as they have a different life cycle than a plastic articulated figure. For items like Batman: TAS 1/6 scale, He-Man & Skeletor, etc. we’re asking for a bit of patience as we prep our productions schedules to accommodate this reduced delivery time.
EXCLUSIVES
Short run exclusives can be fun, but we also know they can be frustrating for those that aren’t able to get them. When we first put up the TMNT figures, we offered a subscription that many felt was too exclusive, and left many out. And I think it’s safe to say the same for the non-subscription exclusives.
We addressed this with Ramona Flowers, and offered a timed exclusive (something we learned worked great with select posters) to great success, so expect that more and more with future figure offerings. This includes potential subscription programs, as well.
WAITLISTS
One thing we’re hoping to offer in the upcoming months are waitlists. When we place an order with a factory, we tend to order extras to cover replacements and the like, and often we don’t need to use those. Our hope is that if someone misses out on an exclusive, they will be able to sign-up for the wait list, and when the product comes in, if there are a few extra pieces left, they will be offered to those on the list on a first come, first served basis. While this won’t be able to cover everyone, the hope is it will help out some. Full details to come at a later date, but we’re working on it!
And finally - with it being the holidays and all - let’s get to some presents! Keep in mind these are works in progress, but please enjoy these sneaky sneak peeks at upcoming figures and statues.
