The Taproom

If Mithril has economical problems… putting the GF on standby would be ONE of the solutions to SOLVE their problems actually… so by doing this action it is a way to help somehow… by making our demonstration be a strong one…

Indeed you can do as you like master Tom and I too wait for Chris answers, I warned him that I had called for a boycot so he is aware by me at least about what we are actually doing

Gildor, did Lars post his response somewhere? or was this a private message to you? I would like to know what he said. I have not seen a second newletter, only the first.

Rhruuooommmm … Master Gildor placed the “boycot” on the GF-board immediately … ahem, in that new suggestions thread … huomm … I just was second … I cannot haste everything, you know … huoomm … meanwhile I commented on that poor statement given by Master Lars Edman about this matter … rhuoommm … grrrruuooohmmmm … Master Jdbrown55, mount your horse and come charging with the Elf and the Ent … rhuoommm … hom …
NO Suggestion No Vote …. gruoomm … ey. where’s this barkeep … I’m sure he’d join this idea if he were present … gruoomm … come on, Man in the Dark, it’s time to stand up in that dark corner and become a bit more active …. gruoomm … Mistress Wendy, please … stop painting … rhuoomm … Master Zoetrop, these matters about calculating avarage prices of Mithril miniatures must drive you crazy … so, come on … rhuoomm … and of course all the others too … rrrrrrhuomm … say NO to that inacceptable things happening … gruoomm .. right you are, Master Erchamion, Ents rarely do get angry … huooommm … but there are times they do …. hom

Rhuoommm … this time a single Ent is charging to protect, not to destroy, Master Gildor … rhuommm … I do share your thoughts and concerns … huoomm … but as you might remember … after the battle at Helm’s Deep those Ents vanished before dawn … huoomm …
Do not worry, Master Gildor … don’t worry too much … rhuoomm.

I am here Master Ent, and very unhappy about this developemnt. I also am fearful. If the FG dies, I doubt Chris will be allowed to even finish the releases that have been promised so far. For some time now I have wondered about Mithril in particular and PA in general regarding their finances. It seemed strange to me that they could go on selling so few pieces and make any money, especially in the current economy. So I understand that they might need to raise prices a little, but not all at once. Another example of bad planning on their part. We could have sustained minor price increases here and there as opposed to this “shock.”

But how will this affect FG releases? Were those prices to go up also? I don’t know. We already have been paying e19.95 to e24.95 for our releases. What this says to me is that sales of the regular releases are so low that they need to raise prices towards FG levels to justify production.

Again, it all goes to marketing, or the lack of it.

I give it a >50% chance that a boycot will mean the end of the GF. I am not sure that this is what we want.

Anyway, the price increase is pretty hefty and comes at a very unlucky time. I will cancel my autoship and tell them that I will order at my own timing from now on.

Sorry to see that development, but we all knew that our group is not a sufficient customer base.

I certainly understand the frustration of many members. Mithril is a business first, they are not obligated to make pieces at the prices we want, and we are not obligated to buy them at prices we feel are too high.

I want to know, and intend to find out, how this will affect the FG prices, if at all.

I DO NOT want to kill off the FG over high priced regular “M” series. Mithril will find out that no one buys them if they are too high, or we will find out that they sell plenty and perhaps we aren’t such a big part of their sales.

Now everyone has the right to express their feelings, and to make suggestions for the next month or not; or to vote or not, if others do make suggestions.

But I’m telling you now that I agree with Axel, and seriously doubt that FG will survive a boycot–I doubt they make money selling 50 to 75 figures a month that win our votes. No FG figure has sold out in three years!!! Think about the goose and the golden egg.

So this is not to say that I don’t care about the high prices, and I hope that Mithril reconsiders and lowers the price. But if the monthly FG figures stay at the same level, and we are still able to have our suggestions created, then I don’t want to destroy the FG, I just won’t buy the “M” releases.

Just words of patience and caution from a dark corner.

We are talking here about the eventuality that Mithril itself dies… not simply GF…. I know that such a boycot could kill the FG… BUT if killing (or temporarily stopping) the GF would somehow help Mithril survive… what would you prefer in the end?

To keep having GF possibilities because Mithril will never stop them by themselves.. and have mithril close in six months or so because of production sculpting time, costs, low sales of GF that have, in the end been a commercial failure for them that suck money out of them rather than making them survive…
or to accept a hold in GF for a time, which would help Mithril focus on their regular releases, allow Chris to breathe a bit, and allow Mithril to focus their attention on finding new REGULAR customers and launch its market again while it has, since the Gold Fellowship has appeared relied almost exclusively on us, alpha customers…

If the “pause” or “end” of the GF can save Mithril from disaster… well I can accept to loose the GF at least in its current form… (Didn’t I suggest months ago that a solution, if it was “too much” for mithril, would be to make suggestions every two months or so instead of one… to release some pressure for both Mithril backlog and also to our money purses… ?)

I understand your concern master twrich, the only difference is that I am not afraid of loosing GF if that means a salvation …
I’d prefer by far, having more regulars…. known everywhere.. more often…

Gildor, why do you believe that suspending the FG would help Mithril survive? Do you get this impression from Mithril? I always felt that we did OK by Mithril at e19.95 each, or so. I fear that it is not us that is the problem, but that the general business is poor and the company said “hey, we haven’t had a price increase in years on our regular releases, lets charge more.”

Sadly, they could have told us over the past several years that their expenses were going up relative to their sales (margins decreasing), and I think we all could have lived with a little increase in price here and a little there. Instead in a clumsy act, they raise prices about 80% without communication.

So, I have often wondered how long this club could go, but never thought it would die due to regular release prices. Gildor, I think the regular Mithril will survive, with or without the FG. But I don’t want to end the FG just because of high regular “M” series prices. If all of a sudden the FG prices went up 80%, I’ll be the first to say count me out. But to kill off the FG over anger about “M: series–just don’t buy them, and in six months Mithril will have to lower the price to get them off the shelf.

the fact of not voting for this month will not prevent us from seeing if future MS figurines have a 80% increase because there are still half a dozen MS in the backlog… Let’s see how much the last troll and bard&old thrush are sold and that will be a good hint…

Besides, I would agree with you master tom, if ALL MS were sold from their production but it seems that except for Halbarad, all other MS figurines still have lots of stocks and when they produce and do not sell… even for GF…. this is a VERY bad loss of money for them, and since some of them are expensive (both for us in buying) and for them too in producing…. having unsold stocks of expensive things… can very well hurt them more than a regular release that they can afford to sell to ANY body on any support, retailers or ebay shops, and not a limited number of persons (members of the GF) who would not accept to buy… Even in Two or Three years, Mithril could not afford to sell MS figurines on ebay to empty their stocks… have you ever seen an MS figurine sold BY mithril over the years, on ebay or at retailers? no… so the loss of money for unsold MS is what we call a “dry loss” (in french at least)…

suspending GF for one month at least would have on the short term strictly NO impact (because they still have to producs 6 or 7 figurines to reach month of June) and on the long term, that would reduce a production cost to ZERO for one month, indeed along with an income of zero (but 0 sold vs 0 produced… is always better than 50 sold vs 100 produced)

the money they would Gain from this LACK of deficit (I cannot use the word benefit indeed!) could be used for advertising campaigns for example

I agree with Protozeus ideas though….
-Create Collectors bundles (complete set of One of the whole set) for collectors…
-Maybe Special Offers for GF members (since we already contribute more than others in Mithril financial health, having a little reduction on the regulars because we already spend a lot on GF could be a good gesture)
-Communicate a bit more with the community more than if we were mere customers… If there is a forum it’s for communication not only between customers together but between Mithril and us too
-have a guarantee that the price of regulars increase does not impact the MS price or MX proportionnally