Fantastic Exclusive Archives - Page 3 of 15

Four Horsemen Announce Delay to Kickstarter Gothitropolis Ravens – But Looks to be Worth It

We’d heard from the Four Horsemen that there were some issues with the sizing of the Gothitropolis Ravens and were expecting some delays to come from that. They’ve just announced that they expect it to be about a 2 month delay. Originally targeted at March, this would mean May at the soonest.

I continue to be very bullish on this project – the 4H have always striven to deliver quality products, and when they’ve had missteps they’ve corrected them. While I’d love to have my ravens now, I’m happy to wait for them to get it right. They’ve shared a ton of pics – it looks like they’re making great progress.

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Truth by Combat – a Seventh Kingdom Epic by Superdadd2 and Izdawiz – PowerLords.com

I just love fan-created stories depicted by action figures. Sure, the Four Horseman have said that Superdadd2 and Izdawiz’s epic isn’t Seventh Kingdom canon, but that doesn’t stop it from being a hell of a lot of fun. Check it out!

Superdadd2 is the kind of collector who believes that action figures should see tons of play. Over the years, Superdadd2 and his sons have used action figures to create both comic strips and stop-motion movies. His sons have gotten good enough at this that one of their stop-motion movies won a $10,000 prize.

The Never-before-seen “Truth By Combat” comic photo strip featured below is classic Superdadd2. He delights in mixing and matching various figures from numerous unrelated lines to tell a story. It’s important to note that the story in the photo strip below (written by fellow Four Horsemen Fan Izdawiz) is in no way Seventh Kingdom canon and has not being approved by the folks at Four Horsemen Toy Design.

via The First Fantastic “Fan Fare” Figure Feature: Focusing on Fan-Created Fun For Fans, by Fans! « Power Lords Return.

Four Horsemen Share Updates for Gothitropolis Ravens Add-Ons

The Four Horsemen may be busy with Power Lords and Outer Space Men exclusives, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been neglecting their Gothitropolis Ravens Kickstarter project for the Fantastic Exclusive. They recently posted a few updates with the latest on items that were still works in progress when the Kickstarter project completed its funding drive.

The wings and bone wings / skull add-ons were part of the original set of stretch goals that were present when the project launched. The Flamingo was an add-on figure that got added to the mix late in the game, after the Screaming Eagle was unlocked. And the action figure stands were put in as a $3 add-on (yes, just three dollars) close to the end of the funding.

If you’re a backer, please take note – the fulfillment surveys for the project close out this Friday.

Last Day – Four Horsemen’s Gothitropolis Ravens Kickstarter Campaign Ends Tonight

As I mentioned in my little Soapbox Sunday rant yesterday, the Four Horsemen’s Kickstarter campaign for the Gothitropolis Ravens has been an unmitigated success. When I talked to them in San Diego, less than a week into the campaign, they were surprised they had hit the $65K target for funding (Kickstarter works on an all or nothing model for funding projects – if you don’t hit the target, you get nothing.) With just about 12 hours to go, they’ve already signed up around thirteen hundred backers who have pledged over a quarter of a million dollars.

If you’re already a backer, now’s the time to adjust your pledges. In the final days of the campaign, the Four Horsemen have been adding extra goodies. The secret figure that was revealed as a stretch goal, the Screaming Eagle, may come with an American flag cape – if they can source a quality one. An additional figure, the Pink Flamingo, was added when the funding totals blew past the regular and bone wings. And stands for the figures (including foot pegs and adjustable clip for flying poses) are now available as add-ons for $3 each.

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Soapbox Sunday: Five Lessons Mattel Can Learn from the Four Horsemen

It’s like a Tale of Two Cities – the Four Horsemen are involved in a couple of product pre-order campaigns running in parallel. On one side, they’re the design shop behind Mattel’s Mattycollector Club Eternia and Club Infinite Earths subscriptions for Masters of the Universe Classics and DC Universe Classics. On the other, they’re taking pre-orders for their own Gothitropolis Ravens line through the crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter.

As we’ve seen over the past week, folks from Mattel and the Four Horsemen are tearing their hair out over whether the Club Eternia and Club Infinite Earths subscriptions will hit the minimums needed to survive. Meanwhile, the Four Horsemen’s Ravens are flying high. Their Kickstarter campaign hit the funding target during its first week, and proceeded to blast through every stretch goal they started with and even a few more they had to put together along the way.

You might think it easy to dismiss the stark differences in the success of the campaigns as coming from collectors’ growing dislike of Mattel and their service partner Digital River. And while I see a fair amount of anecdotal evidence for Mattel-hate, I believe there are some clear differences in how they run their campaigns that is causing the Mattycollector subscription fallout. If the Mattycollector subs live to fill in product silhouettes again next year, here’s some things Mattel can learn from the Four Horsemen, to make the sign-up period less traumatic and uncertain.

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