Harvinger Studios, Savage Crucible

Damien said:
You wouldn't even think it would be difficult. I bet there's some people in their community already that fit the bill and would work for a few free action figures per month.
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Oh definitely - and if they were able to just apply basic emotional regulation and not let things get to them on social media, a small company like SC might be able to get by without an official PR person. But recently at least that seems to be a problem for them.
 
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Poe Ghostal said:
Oh definitely - and if they were able to just apply basic emotional regulation and not let things get to them on social media, a small company like SC might be able to get by without an official PR person. But recently at least that seems to be a problem for them.
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I feel like we could just copy-paste this into a number of small toy company threads.

Hasbro's general stance of responding to almost nothing in their comment sections is one of the better policies.
 
JakeEkiss said:
Hasbro's general stance of responding to almost nothing in their comment sections is one of the better policies.
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I can’t believe I’m praising a corporate policy but YES. And I’m sure that policy allows them to move forward with stuff like “King Cobra Commander” without even addressing any manufactured controversy. Just . . . don’t engage. “Here’s our cool stuff! Here’s what’s cool about it! Here’s how and when to get it! Have fun!” Done.
 
Hasbro has its issues but dealing with… the unpleasantness of vocal collectors is one of the things they handle really well, and better than most. The Legends team are like the patron saints of addressing that kind of behavior.

I get it. If you’ve ever had to work professionally in a nerdosphere you will, at some point, see the comment that breaks you, stare into the middle distance, and look for a tall building to jump off of. But that’s why you either ignore it or hire someone whose job is to be professionally patient. (Which you can find cheap, though my god that job is underpaid and under-appreciated.)
 
JakeEkiss said:
I feel like we could just copy-paste this into a number of small toy company threads.
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I was going to say exactly this.

I think the real issue is that the creative people that are emotionally invested in something shouldn't be the ones responding to criticisms about that thing. John from CFT is notorious for how utter shit he is at talking to customers. I think he's worked on it over the last several years. But it was at the point where people that loved the product weren't buying it because the owner was a cunt. And I don't think he -IS- a cunt so much as he comes off as one because of how he handles criticism about his toys and his company.

It seems very natural that people are defensive about the stuff that matters to them the most. The best PR person you can get for your company is probably one that genuinely doesn't even really give a shit. Because they are, at least, objective and dispassionate.
 
Action figures (and comics, and games) are like the perfect mashup of creatives who pour their hearts into the work but don’t have the budget to shield themselves from negative interactions and a customer base that is both perpetually miserable and lack the social graces to voice that misery appropriately.
 
It's incredibly tone deaf of Harvinger to even advertise that they will be selling Elric at JoeFest, after people had him in their carts but were still unable to purchase him. Never mind the fact that they apparently still haven't fulfilled all their orders over at BBTS. I get that they probably had stock set aside for conventions or replacements, but it comes across as screwing over both your direct customers and your retail partners. Just really bad business, all around.
 
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TheGillMan said:
Just really bad business, all around.
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It's not even necessarily bad business, it's just amateur marketing and communication. Like, If they'd said up front "after the sale we will only have con stock left" then fine, but they keep implying their stuff is gone gone gone, and then whoops, we got a *little* more.
I do think they want to imply every sale could be the last to goose numbers, and it does make a customer feel really jerked around.
 
docsilence said:
That language feels like it’s being churned out with AI with the prompt “be as passive aggressive and dismissive as possible.”
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You don't even need The prompt anymore with chat. Updates over the past turned year have turned it into an argumentative passive-aggressive contrarium a******.

You could type in anything and it will say " I'm going to push back..." And then it attempts to make you feel like s***.
 
JakeEkiss said:
@docsilence @Damien @AceofKnaves

I'm going to have to drop it on a different thread someplace because I think it'd derail this one, but I think Colville's video on community was just a whole lot of great advice that most small toy companies should onboard quickly.

Edit, I put it over here in case anyone is interested: https://articulatedthoughts.com/threads/the-chatty-pointless-thread.351/post-145372
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Actually I was thinking of Colville as the anti-Vala when that video was being discussed the other day, right down to the ups and downs to selling at retail.


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