some news…
MMP › Mithril in Middle-Earth › The Secret Vaults of Angrenost › some news…
- This topic has 247 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 2 months ago by Gildor.
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May 24, 2011 at 10:49 pm #594
I just wrote a big important and alarmist email to Michael, Lars and Chris altogether (flagged important)
in this mail i spoke out the fact I was very worried because I recently received, from some people some feedback on how they feel about mithril (after my last posts on the dorwinion lady… I did not think it would generate such a thing)
I proposed on my own a dramatical suggestion, to be submittted to the whole community… both GF and not… to make mithril survive… have “ranges”… besides GF… etc etc
I hope the mithril staff will answer positively as I think this time it is a “win-win” solution altogether…
the main idea is that…
Gold Fellowhip has become “the regularity”… there are no more regulars as they used to be in the past, such methods of casting/distribution/sales is not viable anymore in any soon or far future…GF being the regularity …. ok.. make one month per year…. a RANGE SUGGESTION vote… and one month per year will be suggested/voted/produced a range of figurine … among the Gold Fellowship (whose name is not relevant anymore actually)
Helm’s Deep could be released this way…
the sole benefit of GF is “controlled” production as mithril knows how many potential customers it will touch… it also means a complete stop of any worldwide distribution via retailers, and e-business solution only… but that was ALREADY what Lars Edman wanted to do…. no more retail no more physical distribution… no more REGULARS as they used to be, no more M range, MS range only BUT with ranges released…(if you see what I mean) and this could bring new customers to the GF… and if not, no matter for the time being, as there would be no need for more casting batch that the number of members… this has an artificial function of rarity too… the less members there are in the GF, the rarer the references will be due to low casting numbers… but at least, mithril would be totally alive (singles… and ranges alike)
so well, I assume this means the figurines for a GF range would be more expensive than the regular…. but not so much
because 1) casting a whole range of 10 figurines+accessories on spinning moulds cost FAR less to produce than casting SINGLES on SINGLE moulds or DUAL moulds (when they release two MS in a month this is to save production cost by having two MS on the same mould…)
2) the loss of money generated by UNSOLD regular releases must currently be pharaonic for mithril who tries to sell, again and again their unsold stocks on ebay and this means lots and lots of money lost producing things that will be very hard to sell again… not to mention logistic costs when it comes to forwarding “batches” of regulars to several retailers worldwide…I may have my eyes quite hurt… I am still a mithril activist… and I do hope they do hear the wisdom of my proposition as much as I hope you agree with these ideas too…
May 24, 2011 at 10:49 pm #17568I just wrote a big important and alarmist email to Michael, Lars and Chris altogether (flagged important)
in this mail i spoke out the fact I was very worried because I recently received, from some people some feedback on how they feel about mithril (after my last posts on the dorwinion lady… I did not think it would generate such a thing)
I proposed on my own a dramatical suggestion, to be submittted to the whole community… both GF and not… to make mithril survive… have “ranges”… besides GF… etc etc
I hope the mithril staff will answer positively as I think this time it is a “win-win” solution altogether…
the main idea is that…
Gold Fellowhip has become “the regularity”… there are no more regulars as they used to be in the past, such methods of casting/distribution/sales is not viable anymore in any soon or far future…GF being the regularity …. ok.. make one month per year…. a RANGE SUGGESTION vote… and one month per year will be suggested/voted/produced a range of figurine … among the Gold Fellowship (whose name is not relevant anymore actually)
Helm’s Deep could be released this way…
the sole benefit of GF is “controlled” production as mithril knows how many potential customers it will touch… it also means a complete stop of any worldwide distribution via retailers, and e-business solution only… but that was ALREADY what Lars Edman wanted to do…. no more retail no more physical distribution… no more REGULARS as they used to be, no more M range, MS range only BUT with ranges released…(if you see what I mean) and this could bring new customers to the GF… and if not, no matter for the time being, as there would be no need for more casting batch that the number of members… this has an artificial function of rarity too… the less members there are in the GF, the rarer the references will be due to low casting numbers… but at least, mithril would be totally alive (singles… and ranges alike)
so well, I assume this means the figurines for a GF range would be more expensive than the regular…. but not so much
because 1) casting a whole range of 10 figurines+accessories on spinning moulds cost FAR less to produce than casting SINGLES on SINGLE moulds or DUAL moulds (when they release two MS in a month this is to save production cost by having two MS on the same mould…)
2) the loss of money generated by UNSOLD regular releases must currently be pharaonic for mithril who tries to sell, again and again their unsold stocks on ebay and this means lots and lots of money lost producing things that will be very hard to sell again… not to mention logistic costs when it comes to forwarding “batches” of regulars to several retailers worldwide…I may have my eyes quite hurt… I am still a mithril activist… and I do hope they do hear the wisdom of my proposition as much as I hope you agree with these ideas too…
May 24, 2011 at 10:58 pm #17569It is very honourable what you are doing, Gildor. Without your energy I don´t know where we are going to . . .
May 24, 2011 at 11:05 pm #17570still master Turambar, what do you think of my idea? please I need feedback to begin strengthen my position asap towards Lars to at least convince michael and him to SUBMIT the idea on the official boards… nothing is won yet
I have Chris ear… but Lars has always been another story, as even Chris does not have “his ear”
May 25, 2011 at 7:19 am #17573…you have my support Gildor ! This is a good idea. The only unanswered question always is:
Is Lars considers this as a job or as love !?!?!?!?!?
By this, it looks like they do not care about the money….
May 25, 2011 at 7:36 am #17578For instance, I still have not bought yet regular minis I miss above M420 because I am spending my money on out of production mithrils.
Soon or later, this status will evolve and I will order many regular ones (I am waiting for next big sales).
But if a future range costs twice the price of current ones because being GF ones, not many people will buy it, even GF members…I am not sure this is the better solution but at least, your proposal would allow everyone to see ranges again !
To my point of view, mithril shall try to find new young customers: Some teenagers still discover RPG & WG every year but do not know mithril, or very few of them…May 25, 2011 at 8:18 am #17581You definitely have all my support, Gildor. – Thank you very much for all your activities.
May 25, 2011 at 9:32 am #17583one has to consider what mithril (lars) is ready to do or not for mithril…
one thing is sure : no investment on any kind of marketing, retail distribution, advertising outside of the internet sphere or e-business will be done in the forthcoming years (at least 4 or 5)… so, releases of “regulars” if any, will be done quite exclusively through the mithril website…
as an example, i’d like to know… has any of you seen any box of the council of elrond at any retailers? well, though considered regular, it has never hit the shelves at all…
the only thing unknown of yet is the price these figurines would cost, but Milo, having new customers requires advertising promoting, and I was clearly said it was out of the question at the current time due to mithril status…
so this cannot be the “first step”… (I had submitted promotion ideas in the past but they all were rejected…)
If Mithril tends to become more collector related or professional… like Andrea or Pegaso, so be it…. but these brands are not for youngsters… they are expensive, few releases, but healthy…
Besides, advertising to teenagers, even with the current price of regulars of mithril would be pointless… 9€ is the best mithril can propose for regular… and still 9€ is too much for a single figurine for a teenager… at this price they buy full sets..well that was just to share some information about what is reasonable and what mithril won’t even try to do…
I’m sure that if having an idea on how much range figures on a GF basis would cost that would solve the problem
May 25, 2011 at 9:49 am #17584Gildor, you have exposed very clearly where’s the problem, and proposed (IMHO) a fantastic solution. You have my complete support. Now at job, I’ll try to give a few more feedback this evening
May 25, 2011 at 10:47 am #17586got news from Michael, not about my suggestions but about my worries of lack of hope and motivation…
he said he could not understand the worries as mithril is far from dead…
regular double MS release are a proof of that AND
they are currently investing money on total site rebuilding… Warzone (which is not a very important brand) is used as cobaye/prototype to test the new dynamic functionnalities and should be ready by July. Once fixes, it will go VERY fast to adapt mithril and create new website, he is currently building up the database for mithril and paintings at the moment…from then on, things should go better in terms of communications, web presence etc… indeed that does not solve the problem of release in the first place, but it’s a first step…
just wanted to inform you that actions are CURRENTLY taken to “rebuild” mithril online and investments are made from mithril side, SO they are not giving up, and only ask for a little more patience… they jsut don’t want to “fuck up with mithril”…
well that’s a beginning, quite positive..
May 25, 2011 at 11:15 am #17587Well, I must say that this rythm of miniatures at 22 Euros (or plus) each, I won’t be able to follow too long.
May 25, 2011 at 11:46 am #17588well for the MS release I don’t see any price reduction alas… as for whatever can be considered “not special”/regular, mithril is not crazy and perfectly knows such prices are not realistic for “common releases”… whatever the form of release
May 25, 2011 at 11:54 am #17590Well of course you have my support, Gildor.
I remember our discussion last year. Is there really something changed?!
There were sooo many brilliant ideas from our community of MMP. Is there anything been realized yet?
Don´ t misunderstand me Gildor, You have absolutely my support and that is what I meant telling that your energy in doing this is honourable.
May 25, 2011 at 12:37 pm #17593Gildor Inglorion wrote:If Mithril tends to become more collector related or professional… like Andrea or Pegaso, so be it…. but these brands are not for youngsters… they are expensive, few releases, but healthy…
Besides, advertising to teenagers, even with the current price of regulars of mithril would be pointless… 9€ is the best mithril can propose for regular… and still 9€ is too much for a single figurine for a teenager… at this price they buy full sets..I agree with your statements. It’s all a matter of targeted customers. OK as Mithril tends to be a collectors brand why not.
In such case,regarding your proposal on GF ranges, you also have all my support.Thanks again for being so involved and for telling us what’s going on so often.
May 25, 2011 at 12:42 pm #17595I know PA is slow in motions but I assure you there are two persons that are quite active… Michael but he is totally overbooked due to all his missions for all PA subbrands and his specter of activities (both as webmaster and others…) and he is alone to do everything which is the MAIN reason why things take so much time… lack of personnel…
and also Chris, but there is no need to bring proof again of Chris support of our ideas and his motivation on the promotion ways…
that leaves only Lars, who is busy.. and slow to address and answeer mails, but as the only one able to take decisions, these take time….
I sometimes wonder if the problems are not systemic…
May 25, 2011 at 1:34 pm #17603Is there someone for a game of ping – pong…. ( table tennis )
I hope Gildor after all those marketing repositioning of PA, our small community will finaly have enhanced brand in the market and a more peaceful sleep at home…. and miniatures in a glass cabinets…. !
May 25, 2011 at 4:41 pm #17613Gildor, I agree completely and have brought similar ideas to Chris last fall.
I suggested that we have a double-month in June and July of each year (like the year-end double month voting) where instead of a MS we suggest and vote on a Regular M range. Chris said he would tell Lars about the idea and that Lars never really said anything back to him about it.
Then at the end of last year when I talked to Chris during another conversation, I suggested that maybe they could make 5-figure box sets of regular release (we used to have MB’s from time to time). Again, Chris passed the idea to Lars but we had no response yet.
Perhaps 5-figure sets that could all be sold as one group (relieving the problem with regular releases where some figures sell well and others sit in inventory for a long time, or forever).
So any help in pushing for these ideas is welcome and if we have enough people willing to commit to buy a release ahead of time by voting on a regular M series, even of five figures at a time, perhaps Lars will agree to it.
What do you all think about asking Mithril to do this for June/July?
May 25, 2011 at 6:37 pm #17614twrich wrote:Gildor, I agree completely and have brought similar ideas to Chris last fall.I suggested that we have a double-month in June and July of each year (like the year-end double month voting) where instead of a MS we suggest and vote on a Regular M range. Chris said he would tell Lars about the idea and that Lars never really said anything back to him about it.
Then at the end of last year when I talked to Chris during another conversation, I suggested that maybe they could make 5-figure box sets of regular release (we used to have MB’s from time to time). Again, Chris passed the idea to Lars but we had no response yet.
Perhaps 5-figure sets that could all be sold as one group (relieving the problem with regular releases where some figures sell well and others sit in inventory for a long time, or forever).
So any help in pushing for these ideas is welcome and if we have enough people willing to commit to buy a release ahead of time by voting on a regular M series, even of five figures at a time, perhaps Lars will agree to it.
What do you all think about asking Mithril to do this for June/July?
I think that this is also great idea !
May 25, 2011 at 7:33 pm #17616for the time being I think Mithril with hold and postpone any project concerning RANGES until their new website and ebusiness platform is operational… then many ideas and suggestions may be taken into consideration…
always a matter of time…
May 25, 2011 at 7:37 pm #17617Perhaps you are right, Gildor. I have sent a pm to ask Michael to make a poll on the idea of supporting an M release in the future during a two month vote. Perhaps even over the Christmas holidays. If enough of us declare we will participate perhaps we get at least one M series each year–even one that has already been made like HD II. It sounds like the website for Mithril will be upgraded by yearend.
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MMP › Mithril in Middle-Earth › The Secret Vaults of Angrenost › some news…
