Did I miss something in the fluff or elsewhere or do they write his name wrong three times in the same text? New Hacking device on OOP Haidao KHD .... may its also capable of carbonite?
Looking at the first sentence of the Onyx bundle, it feels like the beginning of the official end for the Onyx.
I can say, that for now it looks mostly like discontinuation chaos from the point of customer. I’ve found proper words about what I’m feeling at last. I could be more calm about all of this if it would not be discontinuation of random things from here and there, that is leaving holes in some sectorial model lines. It feels like each sectorial is in danger to be not full now. Why not to announce about “this army would go because onyx is force of the first contact and etc.” And mark it all. Not like “this single model, and this single model, aaaand this one”... what about usual Tunguska or Invincibles starters? What about USARF? When would it be their last-last chance?.. Of course I am not waiting for answers. For now I am going to make a rest and just wait, where this destabilized things are going next. Plus I’ve opened my board games and invited friends to play them instead of buying something (except one thing) Still waiting for the Rem Racers. This thing is what I really want to get. Good completed product. And I am still waiting, what would happen in the Endsong. So, despite Time of Troubles there are some sparks of light)
It looks to me like they're just radically weeding out anything that doesn't sell. There are a bunch of models in there that people have been vocal about disliking (Mukhtar doctor), so it might just have never sold enough. Bostria said in a recent interview that the reason Spiral Corps was axed even though it's a relatively new model line was because it simply never sold well. Yet, as much as I understand it from a business perspective, it still sucks from a customer perspective. What I still don't get is why they don't simply do big repacks. Put all of Spiral Corps into a big collectors box and sell it on demand only. Put all of the single blisters from RTF or IA or whatever sectorial has a few duds into an Action Pack. Reduce SKU bloat. Give people who want to start that army the chance to get all the models they want. Spend minimal resources on repackaging. Make everyone happy.
The other option is to make things that have crap rules have good rules, then people would buy them. If they fixed spiral and made them good to run, people would buy and run them for sure
The language is not a big problem. My Spanish is bad, but enough to understand the interview. It also contains some other interesting things like, for example a hint at JoyToy Geckos. As for the Spiral corps - Bostria actually gave a ballpark estimation of the box's sales, around 3000 copies. Which was, apparently extremely mediocre, especially compared to Tunguska. He also said, that according to him, without having the numbers, Makauls were the most successful Tohaa design. It is interesting, however, should we assume that other significant OOP waves (i.e. Onyx) is due to similarly poor performance, or reworks/restructuring? I'm inclined this might be the case for the NA2, but USARF should have sold well, no?
It would be nice if they'd just communicate clearly if they either discontinue a sectorial or if they plan to replace/repack the miniatures eventually. I'm not interested in Onyx at all but if I were I clearly would be confused as how to proceed right now as a lot of the miniatures of the sectorial are not last chance atm, including the starter pack.
To be fair, Tunguska was a 6-model box that had been anticipated for years, while Spiral was seen as some sort of Tohaa consolation that came nearly unnanounced in a big box between 2 and 3 times the price of the Tunguska box. for the cost, linkable in all Triads, Eclipse smoke (whole threads were devoted to eclipse smoke advancement tactics), carrying a heavy flamethrower... and sold in boxes of 4 but having an AVA of 6. No surprise there XD Usually, OOP comes from rotation due to lack of production capacity, Tohaa and Spiral would be the only "factions" that were retired due to poor sales (old Exrah were retired, but old Exrah were like 3-4 models and the S3 remotes being more insect like than Starship Troopers' bugs) They always claim the sectorial will come back... eventually. Corregidor was "hot-swapped" (never OOP, but nowadays very few old sculps remain... if at all, I think all are 3D now), same as Bakunin that was in waves. Qapu for example are not being brought back, instead pushing some of their units as Reinforcements. Aleph was also Hot-Swapped, but for example there has been no Dasyus model since the beginnings of N4, and I bet one will come with the Reinforcements box (same as Sophotect, only it was sometime before the Dactyls new box was released that we lost the Sophie from the store).
yeah, from a consumer viewpoint (well, mine) it is too many models all over the place and gives a feeling of "should I be concerned about Corvus Belli?" They should communicate more what's going on, I think, but their choice.