Kitz Concept Toy Thread 2.0

[Big s]

Even the KC website says it doesn’t include the pilot now.

[PNW_Sweetie]

What I received from BBTS today:

 

 

Edited December 17 by PNW_Sweetie

[Mechapilot77]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

I guarantee tat it’s a KC thing. They’ve been shipping the regult without a pilot already and may provide retailers with the figures to fulfill the preorders at a later date, but it’s not really certain. I think bbts just had to put that in the description since the regult will come into stock before the pilot is even finalized.

They haven't t said that they are just giving up on the pilots though for those that ordered a regult with a pilot, right?  I got mine second hand from a guy who ordered it and he said he'd send me the pilot when it came so long as I paid shipping .... If it's not coming to those who already ordered them and paid for them WITH THE PILOT, that is a new level of suckiness for KC.  Truth be told I ALSO have a bbts preorder because I want more than one regult but if it's no pilot now from KC and same price I'm thinking it's a No, despite being the best regult to ever exist....based on principle. 

[grundee]

Guess I'll keep my order open, it's still cheaper than buying direct from KC. I'd really rather get the weathered pod they've teased since I placed this order, but at this point I'd rather have the sure thing. I can always sell it later, I guess, if the weathered version does actually get made.

[tekering]

KC's 1:72 Battlepod is virtually identical in size to Hasegawa's 1:72 Regult (which is identical in size to Imai's 1:72 Regult), so the included pilot figure was the only appeal of this expensive toy to me.  I'd already canceled my pre-order long before they admitted the figure would be downsized to 1:88th scale (4.5 inches), meaning it wouldn't scale with MEP or Moscato's 1:72 Zentraedi figures... or even the vintage Matchbox offerings. 😒

The final nail in the coffin, however, was the Kickstarter:

Cyrus hopes to sell us the same figure TEN times, pretending that all Zentraedi are exactly the same height, simply swapping heads and color schemes.

These figures won't even scale with each other, much less anything else in our collections. 🤨

[jvmacross]

10 hours ago, Mechapilot77 said:

They haven't t said that they are just giving up on the pilots though for those that ordered a regult with a pilot, right?  

Right....they said they would be shipped with no additional shipping charges...maybe this only applies to folks that purchased straight from KC?

Edited December 17 by jvmacross

[rsvictor1976]

Does this mean that those who help fund the Kickstarter will not be getting any figures as well? 

[MKT]

At this point I think BBTS likely does not want to deal with bearing additional shipping & logistics of the pilot figures.

If I'm not wrong, even after KC updated their own listing some time back for the Battle Pod to NOT include the pilot, BBTS still had the old listing with pilot up, and likely received quite some additional orders between then and now when reviews of the Battle Pod started making its rounds. Is it because KC did not inform of BBTS of the change for new orders then?
Whatever it is, it certainly makes it a headache for BBTS to determine which customers were eligible for pilot and which weren't, potentially facing with claims / refunds / returns down the road from customers who receive Battlepods and not the pilot figures.

I think those who PO'ed early from BBTS with the pilot figure to also contact KC/Cyrus directly and see what he says.

 

 

 

[Big s]

58 minutes ago, tekering said:

KC's 1:72 Battlepod is virtually identical in size to Hasegawa's 1:72 Regult (which is identical in size to Imai's 1:72 Regult),

My favorite and cheapest and easiest to obtain is the Hasegawa. Love that kit. Definitely no reason to buy this overpriced toy

[Big s]

1 minute ago, MKT said:

At this point I think BBTS likely does not want to deal with bearing additional shipping & logistics of the pilot figures.

If I'm not wrong, even after KC updated their own listing some time back for the Battle Pod to NOT include the pilot, BBTS still had the old listing with pilot up, and likely received quite some additional orders between then and now when reviews of the Battle Pod started making its rounds. Is it because KC did not inform of BBTS of the change for new orders then?
Whatever it is, it certainly makes it a headache for BBTS to determine which customers were eligible for pilot and which weren't, potentially facing with claims / refunds / returns down the road from customers who receive Battlepods and not the pilot figures.

I think those who PO'ed early from BBTS with the pilot figure to also contact KC/Cyrus directly and see what he says.

 

 

 

I posted about their own website not including it earlier in the day. As far as the wording with bbts, it seems there will be no pilot since KC didn’t include one and more than likely will charge extra when it possibly gets made

[jenius]

22 minutes ago, Big s said:

My favorite and cheapest and easiest to obtain is the Hasegawa. Love that kit. Definitely no reason to buy this overpriced toy

Uh... "no reason"? I can list lots of reasons but if you're good with a model, that's good for you.

For KC, the Gluu Ger was a preorder bonus. Any current listing on the KC site won't have a Gluu Ger because it's not a preorder any more. They took down the "with Gluu Ger" listing around the time they started shipping the Battlepod. I noticed it when I did my review because I couldn't find any listing at all at that time to confirm they didn't jack up the price. 

25 minutes ago, MKT said:

At this point I think BBTS likely does not want to deal with bearing additional shipping & logistics of the pilot figures.

I 100% think this is it. KC can't even say when the Gluu Ger is going to ship so BBTS is in a very uncomfortable position. What if KC NEVER ships a pilot? BBTS would have angry customers hounding them. So, as much as I would have hoped they would have added a "Gluu Ger preorder" to everyone's private warehouse, it is much simpler for them to update the listing and give people the chance to bail. If KC was already shipping a Gluu Ger, things could easily be different. 

 

1 hour ago, tekering said:

KC's 1:72 Battlepod is virtually identical in size to Hasegawa's 1:72 Regult (which is identical in size to Imai's 1:72 Regult), so the included pilot figure was the only appeal of this expensive toy to me.  I'd already canceled my pre-order long before they admitted the figure would be downsized to 1:88th scale (4.5 inches), meaning it wouldn't scale with MEP or Moscato's 1:72 Zentraedi figures... or even the vintage Matchbox offerings. 😒

The final nail in the coffin, however, was the Kickstarter:

Cyrus hopes to sell us the same figure TEN times, pretending that all Zentraedi are exactly the same height, simply swapping heads and color schemes.

These figures won't even scale with each other, much less anything else in our collections. 🤨

On the plus side, a single generic pilot will scale very well with Hi-Metal R toys.

[Radioguy]

All said, if you buy from KC and don't screencap the listing and cart before paying, you shouldn't even consider it.

[varitechs]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

Definitely no reason to buy this overpriced toy

Overpriced? This is the best version ever released. If you had it in your hands, you wouldn't say that...

[Big s]

11 minutes ago, varitechs said:

Overpriced? This is the best version ever released. If you had it in your hands, you wouldn't say that...

I like the look of the Hasegawa much more. It’s kinda the little things on it that look amazing and it’s usually $20 bucks or less

[jvmacross]

8 hours ago, Big s said:

My favorite and cheapest and easiest to obtain is the Hasegawa. Love that kit. Definitely no reason to buy this overpriced toy

Can't really compare a kit with a toy....I personally do not have time to waste building kits....plus it would take more money to build it to match the exterior details of the KC.....it's not just the price of the kit.....guessing most collectors of toys place a higher value on a finished product than something that requires a lot of time to build correctly....and as they say...time is money

[jvmacross]

8 hours ago, jenius said:

On the plus side, a single generic pilot will scale very well with Hi-Metal R toys.

Good point....it would be nice for KC to release a "deluxe" 6" version someday.....

[Big s]

41 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

Can't really compare a kit with a toy.

Sure you can. The only thing with the kit is that it doesn’t have the the out of scale interior or the lighting gimmicks, but those are also the things that raise the price and the lighting gimmicks are always a bit silly.

 

47 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

plus it would take more money to build it to match the exterior details of the KC

The hasegawa kit is actually externally detailed and has better looking joints in the knees.

 

49 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

guessing most collectors of toys place a higher value on a finished product than something that requires a lot of time to build correctly....and as they say...time is money

The time of the build is actually an additional value to the builder of a kit. It makes the end product more personal, even on a simple model. It’s also the fun part of the hobby. It’s definitely a different perspective than a person that only collects and there’s nothing wrong with that. But in the case of KC, I’ve already got a few great looking 1/72 Regults , so why buy their more expensive toy if the only gimmick that I was interested in is not going to be included.

I may as well just buy the pilot separately if it ever gets released. It probably would scale better with 1/100 kits anyway, although I still think it would be a little short

[jvmacross]

Can't compare a kit to a toy....someone in the market for a completed ready to play toy is not the same as someone in the market for a need to assemble and build kit....completely different markets and customers...

Everything you stated as being an additional "value" is valueless to me....I have no time to waste on kit building and more importantly, I collect macross TOYS not kits...so again, no value whatsoever in kits for me....

For you, it's different, you apparently have the time for kit building...so good for you...not my thing, even if I did have the time or was willing to spend any of it on building a kit...

[varitechs]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

Sure you can. The only thing with the kit is that it doesn’t have the the out of scale interior or the lighting gimmicks, but those are also the things that raise the price and the lighting gimmicks are always a bit silly.

I agree with @jvmacross, you can't really compare a kit with a toy...
I also build kits and it's not the same thing, and it's not a bit "stupid", it's an added value that pleases a lot of people, it's very cool but for take pictures, diorama, etc...... but you don't have to like it 😉

And you can add led in kits too, look my VF-17S Custom 😁

[sh9000]

Coming soon.

[MKT]

I just checked the current Battle Pod listing again on KC's site. It says USD132.90, a 20% discount off the USD166.60 list price.

I'm curious, what was the price for those who PO-ed when it came with the soldier? I don't think it was USD166.60 or thereabouts?

[varitechs]

yes it was less but it was a long time ago.
It's been 166 for several months

[Big s]

7 hours ago, varitechs said:

I agree with @jvmacross, you can't really compare a kit with a toy...
I also build kits and it's not the same thing, and it's not a bit "stupid", it's an added value that pleases a lot of people, it's very cool but for take pictures, diorama, etc...... but you don't have to like it 😉

And you can add led in kits too, look my VF-17S Custom 😁

For me , I always love seeing the led thing when people put the time and work to add them in, but I guess it’s one of those things that for macross, I don’t remember the eyes ever lighting up. I do however remember things like landing and signal lights being very bright. I know Gundam likes having the eyes light up when things power on and such though, so I think that’s the main reason for me not to care if the sensors on the regult light up. Although, don’t let my opinion ever stop your personal creativity in your builds. If you think it looks cool artistically, then keep up the good work and have fun doing things your way.

And as far as the kits versus toys thing, it’s fairly easy to compare the two, but as I stated earlier it’s a different perspective for a builder and a collector, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. To me the comparison is because both are basically the same subject in the same scale. But I think the Hasegawa kit, just looks better since it has a few details that are more in line with the anime. Both have very similar articulation and seem to be able to do similar poses, but I do understand that some people don’t want to go through the process of building it.

I think the only thing that truly sets the toy apart though are the gimmicks and the opening cockpit for the non existent pilot. It’s kinda overstuffed looking and forces a reduction in the size of the pilot that was promised. Personally, I don’t need thruster lights or light up guns , so I’d just choose the one that looks more like the anime.

 

[sh9000]

I just saved a pdf file of my order page from KC's site just in case.

[MKT]

Cyrus has made several replies regarding the Battle Pod situation at BBTS. Best go to the comments here.

Essentially, those who had PO’ed before it coming into stock at BBTS (& other stores) should get the pilot figure.

But he wasn’t aware how BBTS was going implement it, so he will communicate with BBTS to sort it out.

[PNW_Sweetie]

I’m not part of that group, anyway to screenshot or paste his replies here? 

[varitechs]

[PNW_Sweetie]

If this is indeed the case, and those of us who pre-ordered the BP thru BBTS, I take it they (BBTS) have someway of knowing who pre-ordered this thing prior to Dec. 17, 2024, and that those orders will have pilots shipped free to them?

I’m not at all confident that this will happen because I’m sure it’ll turn into a “they said / we can’t” deal. 

[Big s]

1 hour ago, PNW_Sweetie said:

If this is indeed the case, and those of us who pre-ordered the BP thru BBTS, I take it they (BBTS) have someway of knowing who pre-ordered this thing prior to Dec. 17, 2024, and that those orders will have pilots shipped free to them?

I’m not at all confident that this will happen because I’m sure it’ll turn into a “they said / we can’t” deal. 

I kinda think it means that people who preordered through them early get the pilot and if you preordered from somewhere else, then no pilot 

[jenius]

KC started shipping the battlepod in July, and it sounds like Cyrus is saying he told bbts back then that the listing should change. If so, then only orders before some July date sounds include the pilot figure... But this gets back to it being better for bbts to simply state there is no pilot figure and it's up to you if you still want the pre-order so they don't have to deal with the headache. It definitely sucks and is a good way for KC to ruin their relationship with toy shops. They need to stick to promises they can deliver on.

[Big s]

56 minutes ago, jenius said:

KC started shipping the battlepod in July, and it sounds like Cyrus is saying he told bbts back then that the listing should change. If so, then only orders before some July date sounds include the pilot figure... But this gets back to it being better for bbts to simply state there is no pilot figure and it's up to you if you still want the pre-order so they don't have to deal with the headache. It definitely sucks and is a good way for KC to ruin their relationship with toy shops. They need to stick to promises they can deliver on.

I kinda doubt it’s really that much of a headache for other sites to hand out a pilot for those that already ordered. It’s probably just as simple as looking up who needed the warning about the product in the first place no longer including the pilot.

there have been cases of defective parts that weren’t caught right away that have had info given out to those that ordered and if the company they weren’t the ones doing the part replacement, then at least gave info to the company to get a replacement part.

Honestly, if KC isn’t giving the pilot to the store, then there’s not much the store itself can do to fix the issue. 

[jvmacross]

Not sure why BBTS can't just check on their system to see who ordered the Regult w/fig before the cutoff date that KC seems to be requesting....pretty sure KC did not tell them no one will get a Regult w/fig who place an order for one....perhaps what we have here is failure to communicate bilingually!....

[jvmacross]

3 minutes ago, Big s said:

I kinda doubt it’s really that much of a headache for other sites to hand out a pilot for those that already ordered. It’s probably just as simple as looking up who needed the warning about the product in the first place no longer including the pilot.

there have been cases of defective parts that weren’t caught right away that have had info given out to those that ordered and if the company they weren’t the ones doing the part replacement, then at least gave info to the company to get a replacement part.

Honestly, if KC isn’t giving the pilot to the store, then there’s not much the store itself can do to fix the issue. 

Maybe BBTS doesn't want to deal with separating who ordered Regults w/figs vs Regults with no figs.....or BBTS f'd up and did make the change as soon as they were notified of the change by KC....in either case, if you ordered from BBTS before KC removed the 'free' fig with a Regult PO and was listed as such on the BBTS, pretty sure KC will honor your order if you can show your BBTS order date...I seriously doubt KC sold that many to BBTS in the first place so it shouldn't be that many figs KC will need to account for...

[MKT]

9 hours ago, PNW_Sweetie said:

I’m not part of that group, anyway to screenshot or paste his replies here? 

Oops didn’t realise the group settings are now private. Here’s the full conversation for better context:

Spoiler

 

[jvmacross]

Sounds like a BBTS screw-up to me....or like I said...a failure to communicate bilingually...lol