I dunno, CB has said that the aliens don't sell as well as human factions, so they're unlikely to do nuShas-v-Artichokes as an Operation box. The Operation boxes tend to drop every 2 years, IIRC, so IF Svalarheima/White Banner is the next Operation box it wouldn't show up until 2020. *snerk* I was trying to be polite about it, though Techbees seem to be popular for Joan lists. Well, Joan+TechBee+WarCor as 3 regular orders for ~60pts. Anyway, the only place I could come up with to stick the TechBee to reduce SKUs was in the Support Pack. Plus, sticking pilots into their TAG Boxes would remove at least one SKU per faction. More for the Nomads and Combined. Downside is that you'd need to keep the separate pilots in production (or as special order/"packing error" items) for a while until all the pre-merger TAGs worked their way out of the supply chain. And yes, the Karakota is a much cooler looking pilot-thing. I think the Crabbot is trying to be a detachable shoulder plate. While not a bad idea (and I'd really like to see a TAG without that shoulder plate as a Bootleg model, like the O-Yoroi pilot and Scarface Bootlegs), I'm not sure the mechanics really work... I know for the manned TAGs CB is actually including space for the pilot in the 3d mockup, but I don't think they did for the Crabbot.
The Techbee was popular for Joan lists because it's a 5pts (Regular) order with her. Sticking the Techbee into the support box is a reasonable idea. A superior idea is the purging of the Techbee.
While I understand that packaging pilots with their TAGs would address this "SKU issue", I would like to remind you that ability to isolate and only buy stuff you need works in your, the customer's, favor. Just remember that CA players, should they decide they want "official" minis whenever possible, have to buy an Avatar for Staldron even if they intend to only play Onyx and run Xeodrons.
That's because the Xeodrons didn't come with the Staldron like they should have...? It's fine that the Avatar came with what it should have come with. That's a Good Thing! What isn't? The fact that Xeodrons did not come with what they should have.
Uhm, I'd put Staldrons into the Xeodron and Overdron boxes, too. Just like how every PanO TAG would come with a Crabbot, and there would be two Crabbots in the Uhlan/Tikbalang box. A pair of Staldrons in the Xeodron box, and one Scindron in the Sphinx box, too. (Combined has one of the better 'Pilot' SKUs with both the Morat pilot and the Scindron, but it's lacking the Staldron) Additional cost per box would be about $5-$8. Maybe $10, just to give CB a monetary incentive to reshuffle things like that. The point is to get all the TAGs into their current armylist configuration.
$5-$8 per box would be for adding not just Staldrons but also alternate arm configs, IMO. They've been doing everything they can to cut down on the amount of pewter used in casting so the prices should be going down to reflect it.
And why would you pay for another staldron every time you buy a different TAG, considering you are unlikely to ever place more than one pilot on a table even in dual / triple* tag list anyway? * - Onyx can do that with a 10-order list, although it's probably not a good idea. I think the reason CB doesn't want to touch pilots again is in part because they barely see a table time, so I imagine pure collectors constitute a significant portion of buyers. And that's probably not enough to keep CB churning them out.
Simple Question: Are Staldrons a unit you can take by themselves or are they a part of the TAG in question? Answer is that they're part of the TAG in question. It's no different than a unit with a G: Sync--they should come together. Then why did they bother adding them in the first place? Because remember it was only with TAGLINE that we saw "pilots" added for the non-Manned TAGs. Nobody asked for them. They chose to do it.
Even simpler question, again: why should I be obliged to buy more identical minis than those 0-1 I will use at most? It's bad enough that I'm already stuck with twice as many helperbots than I will ever need, nevermind useless tinbots and associated 1+3 infantry boxes issues. Those models are a bloat to anyone but pure hobbysts and collectors.
Going from what's essentially collector's stuff straight to that seems a bit like a leap of logic to me.
So because tinbots are done poorly, they shouldn't do anything else? Yes. You might not always use the pilots/drones, but I would personally always rather get more for my dollars than have to buy multiple products.
You asked later "Why should I be obligated to buy more stuff than I absolutely want to buy?" The answer is that it's simply not economical to sell through the retail channels. If the product line isn't economical to sell through retail channels, then it won't be sold through retail channels. I, personally, have purchased through CB's website once. I've spent several hundred dollars on Infinity models at various game stores and at game conventions. I would not have made any of those purchases if I had to order all of my stuff from CB's website. If you find a miniatures company that lets you buy individual models or parts and they aren't marking up their prices for that to account for the additional labor, that business is still in the "We have to lose money on services in order to promote our product" stage of development. And you should be worried about that company.
Except you are 100% paying for that "extra" stuff, so you aren't getting more for the same price. @solkan That part about extra service expenses is true. Not sure if I agree on retail, here where I live buying from stores can be rather inconvenient - you don't know whaen what you need will be available, and if they must order something for you, you can as well do so by yourself. So that's what I do.
Difference is they shouldn't be tacking on a $15-$20 price jump(which is the price of the blister sets we have currently) to TAGs for crap like the helperbots or pilots. It's $5-$10 at most increase for their side of things. Given that TAGs are, IMO, wildly overpriced for their lack of options to begin with? They shouldn't be getting any price bump, period, if adding helperbots or pilot figures into the mix. If only you would be able to use a device to contact the store in advance of going there to either have them order the thing or inquire as to whether they have the thing! CURSE YOU MODERN TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
