Couple thoughts came to mind as I considered just how far to buy in for Brave and the Bold...

1) What is the CURSR breakdown?

With only 55 figures in the set, it will require a smaller purchase to complete the set. But the question is how much smaller, which leads to...

2) What will the rarity structure be?

From Avengers through Arkham Asylum, SRs have been roughly one per three boosters. (HoT had the "God Pack" issue, though the overall rarity seemed to bear out when considered in large numbers.) If there are fewer SRs but they remain one per three, then it will require a smaller overall investment to complete a set.

3) How many Brick figures may be ordered at a single address?

The previous limit was four, but still resulted in frustrated customers. However, other customers may cut their initial purchase if this limit changes.

4) Will WK go back to press on the Brick figures if orders merit?

The Topps decision scuttled the Secret Invasion and Arkham Asylum reprints, apparently, but the program itself had strong merit. Customers may feel more confident pre-ordering if they feel they have a shot without hitting the Post Office on Day One, or may be encouraged to make additional purchases after Day One.

5) Does the "Brick" figure require purchasing a full brick, or will cumulative purchases suffice?

The announcement wording brings this into question. For customers who can't afford a large Day One purchase, this can be huge as they play through Sealed events. Even some customers who make a large Day One purchase make incremental purchases over time, particularly with Sealed events coming. This would encourage Retailers to keep stock on hand for such future purchases.

Of course, this may be a moot point depending on the answer to #4.

Corollary: If incremental purchases are allowed, do those purchases all need to come form the same retailer?

That's just what's rattling around my head as I try to make decisions and recommendations before 27 January. Your thoughts?

-J

It's Batman + Catwoman + #'d cool sculpt + a mail-in race against time.
Add in the key phrases of : "Limited Availability" & "While Supplies Last".
Compound this by sellers who recieve the product prior to street date & can start the mail-in proccess before the rest of us ever see a booster.
You do the math.

But remember WF?? Let's play that scenario again. Thus if you don't make plans to have your box bottoms in the mail on day one, maybe day two, you're SoL. So I'm pretty sure cumulative purchases - over more than a few hours - will not suffice....


You'd better;
A) Make plans to send in your forms etc as close to day #1/moment #1 as possible,
B) Save some extra $ for when you have to go the EBay route.
C) Start beating on Necas door now demanding additional print runs as warrented.
And when come about April 4th or so when we learn that the B&B brick fig has sold out? Well, I told you so.....

I would like to add to this

Will there be a reserve set aside for non US customers? (Canada, Europe, ROW)

If NECA!WK does plan to reprint, then the question remains valid.

-J

Are you referring to the products in general or just the Brick figure?

-J

As a store who does not order them because we do not buy at retail, I really hope they minimize this in several ways.

1) No order with a cancellation prior to March 31 should be accepted.
2) Limit per person and household (between 2 and 4).
3) Receipt from brick and mortar store (self-serving, I know, but I really think it's best)
4) Print more for unnumbered delivery if order over-run (like the did with Secret Invasion).

Well, here in Denmark HoT hasn't officially hit the streets, but a few retailers has ordered some directly from the States, and has been selling - we just got ours a couple of weeks later.
If the same thing happens with BatB, I guess that means we can kiss our chances of the BibtB-figures farewell, right?

That depends on whether they set aside an allowance for players outside the US/Canada, and whether they will have a reprint policy.
If they have a reprint policy then you will probably not get a numbered one. If they don't set any aside, then I wouldn't expect them to last more than a couple of weeks.

Yeah.. Won't hold my breath though, seein' as they kinda dropped the ball on HoT and overseas customers. Which, coincidentally, is pretty much the ONLY bad thing I have to say about NECA and HoT. Well, that and Thor's face on Thor/Loki.

Well, we've got an answer on #4.

"If demand exceeds supply, there will be a limited time period during when customers can mail away for an un-numbered version of the Batman and Catwoman' figure."

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16644.html

With two weeks remaining on pre-orders, I'm hoping to learn the other answers.

-J

That doesn't tell us much of anything. How long is the limited time period? Does there have to be a number above and beyond the initial 5000 before un-numbered versions are sent out?


I'd also like to add a question about distribution/collation within bricks and cases to the list. What will it be? Do they think that they have the issues that cropped up with HoT worked out?

Really? I'd say that it answers at least a couple of questions. Granted it doesn't tell us how long we have after the initial 5000 coupons are received, but it really makes little sense to me that they would either print more than the initial 5k before they even receive any orders for the BibtB fig, or get an idea of how many un-numbered figs to print up.

You'll probably counter with: Well, we have precedent that WK has a tendency to do things that don't seem to make sense in the past.

My counter to that would be: You're logic has no place on an internet forum!



But, in any case, we should at least all hope that NECA can get some of the things right that Topps couldn't/wouldn't. I mean there's little sense in kicking NECA in the face before they have done anything wrong right? So let's at the very least reserve judgment* till we know all the facts.

*http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/judgement.html I learned something new today

I'd love to be able to give WizNECA the benefit of the doubt but there are too many old faces in the new WK to think that much will be changing. And just to prove my point, I'd like to point out that we are talking about mail-away limited-edition figs again.

1) What is the CURSR breakdown?
With only 5 figs difference they'll probably take the difference out of the SRs (so 16C, 16U, 16R, 7SRs). I'm personally hoping for a more rounded decrease of 15C, 15U, 15R, 10SRs.

2) What will the rarity structure be?
I imagine collation will be identical to post-Avengers. 1C, 1U, 1R, 2 random spots for either C/U/SR/Chase. No God Packs. It should still take roughly 1 case or 2 bricks to complete a set barring any dupes.

3) How many Brick figures may be ordered at a single address?
Don't know. I've never ordered online because I don't want to take a chance at not getting them day1. Shipping of any kind always has it's hiccups and the vendors take priority over us. If anyone is going to get them first its them.

4) Will WK go back to press on the Brick figures if orders merit?
Why take the chance? Ever since BibtB became a staple I've always made it a day1 priority to send out my order express mail. If you can get your clix day1 then you should be able to send the UPCs away just as easily.

5) Does the "Brick" figure require purchasing a full brick, or will cumulative purchases suffice?
In the past you had to submit a sales receipt proving you'd bought a full brick. Whether or not that has changed is unclear. In any case, cumulative purchases would almost certainly mean you won't be making day1 send off for the LE fig so why even bother? If previous BibtB figs have been any indication you've got probably a week tops to get your affairs in order and out the door before everything is gone.

Well, I'd also like to point out that perhaps the higher ups at Topps weren't very caring or proactive in helping WK/HC grow. Perhaps they had the "let them sort out the details" mentality whereas the higher ups at NECA might have a "let me run this idea by them and see what they think" mentality? A proactive boss could do wonders for helping a line of product grow/flourish.

As far as the mail away part is concerned, I've never had a problem with that. Mail aways are probably the most common way for manufacturers to get 'free' stuff to their consumers. Its been like that since the 'x-ray' glasses in 5 cent comics and it will continue to be like that for the forseeable future, imo. It's not the perfect way of doing things, and there will always be problems with it, but it's still practical. The only thing NECA has done wrong, imo, is that they sent the Surtur fig with the bricks and allowed a false sense of entitlement to grow in their consumer base. We got the Surtur free, not even s&h costs, once and now we want it to stay that way forever. And only the numbered ones, we know are absolutely limited. As far as the reprints go, we have no idea how many they will do. Unless, you have some sort of inside information (not the feat card) that you would care to share? So again, I'd suggest no face kicking till we get facts. Perhaps they'll even put in place some sort of x amount of numbered figs per address and unlimited amount of un-numbered ones?