Yesterday, Transformers "Third Party" manufacturer Mech Ideas announced the Techno Toon Titans Bluster and Trench, a pair of figures based on TF Animated Huffer and Pipes:
Today, they announced they were cancelled, because there weren't enough preorders.
Allow us to say: WTF?!
Pulling a product like that is asinine. The excuse is that "day one" preorders are a significant part of all the orders there will ever be, which may be fair, but you also can't expect people to immediately throw money at a project they'd never heard of before. Even with some prior teasers on Transfan fansites (Transfansites?), this was a new item. Give it a week, or a month, see how much demand is really there. And before you pull the listing, maybe tell people that preorders are low? Mattel does that all the time, and the MotU fans seem to love it. Spread the word that preorders are essential, rather than making it a total surprise.
That's poor business, and poor customer relations.
Wow, I love Animated; I probably would have bought those in an instant, even though this is literally the first time I'm even hearing about them.
But what I wouldn't have done is preorder. I'd assume that most fans would wait until the toys were actually produced and in-stock before ordering. Heck, a lot of the time I wait until BBTS lists them on Amazon, rather than even ordering from their site directly. What a loss!
I, admittedly, wouldn't have gotten them solely because I'd be waiting for a Mario and Luigi repaint.
But yeah, cancelling so fast is insane.
Called it: http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/3rd-party-unlicensed-41/auto-assembly-tfcon-2014-exclusive-mech-ideas-buster-trench-180568/
Sadly, it's an exclusive so I won't be able to get them, so... sadface.
The pair is back on! They're now an exclusive to Planet Steel Express, but at least they're coming. I think I'll preorder, just in case...
Oh, duh, you HAVE to preorder. It cuts off June 1, so it sounds like these may be made-to-order, with no leftovers?
Reminder: time to order! In fact, the price goes up $10 on the 15th, so get in on them now...