InArt: The Lord of the Rings - Gandalf 1:6

Damn.... I'm 97xxx :'( guess I gotta wait a couple more months.

DRTHV8R said:

Appreciate the input. So your approach is to repair the figure myself or have them do it and let it go that I paid full price for what I expected to be a brand new figure.
I can understand that approach if I can get past my expectation of quality and reconcile the expense of a figure against my expected level of Customer Service for such expense. At this time I am not sure I can.

I had planned on purchasing every fellowship figure they were planning to make, and possibly expanding into other franchises they cover, but with the risk that I might have to go through something like this with each figure (based on collector comments it seems quality is diminishing as production goes on) the idea is souring. I guess I probably have a “Karen” attitude right now after just receiving the InArt response, based upon your objective comments. Maybe that will lesson for me, but I think I feel this way because the cost of this figure was very impactful to me.

Anyway, I really do appreciate your take on the situation and it gives me something to think about regarding my expectations.

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The high cost and disappointment is understandable. If I were in your position, I would have attempted to fix the eyes myself without even reaching out to Inart. Realigning the PERS isn't that complicated from my experience in doing the same for some Hot Toys PERS mechanism.

I really think Inart doesn't have that much extras for headsculpts especially I'm assuming the reason for the very slow batch releases are due to the headsculpts themselves.

Even with a HT, if such an issue were to occur, it would be Sideshow's (or any retailer's) call on how to handle it. Sideshow will either take a replacement from the extra pieces they have, if there is any, or ask you to return the whole thing for a refund.

Klornamafern said:

Damn.... I'm 97xxx :'( guess I gotta wait a couple more months.

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113XXX here...

Guess that means ill be getting an invoice soon lol, cant say Im excited for that number

rivera2171 said:

113XXX here...

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Me too...

Bleah said:

The high cost and disappointment is understandable. If I were in your position, I would have attempted to fix the eyes myself without even reaching out to Inart. Realigning the PERS isn't that complicated from my experience in doing the same for some Hot Toys PERS mechanism.

I really think Inart doesn't have that much extras for headsculpts especially I'm assuming the reason for the very slow batch releases are due to the headsculpts themselves.

Even with a HT, if such an issue were to occur, it would be Sideshow's (or any retailer's) call on how to handle it. Sideshow will either take a replacement from the extra pieces they have, if there is any, or ask you to return the whole thing for a refund.

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Thank you for commenting. This is my first experience with an “artisan” figure and I guess I lose sight of how limited and time consuming the headsculpt truly is.

With regards to fixing the PERS myself, unfortunately I do not trust my self to do it right without marking/damaging something else along the way. I just lack the confidence.

Pretty sure I’m going to be dead before I get my Gandalf

DRTHV8R said:

Thank you for commenting. This is my first experience with an “artisan” figure and I guess I lose sight of how limited and time consuming the headsculpt truly is.

With regards to fixing the PERS myself, unfortunately I do not trust my self to do it right without marking/damaging something else along the way. I just lack the confidence.

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I don’t blame you being a bit perturbed by those issues; for $500, one shouldn’t have to “fix” anything themselves.
This isn’t an inexpensive toy.

I ALMOST,ALMOST,ALMOST ordered from Toyswonderland right now.
$1400AUD shipped.

Thank F sanity prevailed.

I was ALMOST ready to take the risk.
Kicking myself for not ordering at Sugo in Australia and naive to think the figure would have still been around.
Bah!!!

I am more concerned with the possible downgrade in quality and QA with InArt getting more workforce to churn the figures quicker. Since I will be getting that fat invoice from Kit by the end of the week, I will be preparing to take a full unpacking video to have a record in case I need to prove I was not the one causing Gandalf harm

What do you know... just paid it off. Should be shipping by tomorrow

Invoiced received and paid as well. Only a few days from getting my hands on my first Inart figure

ObiGlennKenobi said:

I ALMOST,ALMOST,ALMOST ordered from Toyswonderland right now.
$1400AUD shipped.

Thank F sanity prevailed.

I was ALMOST ready to take the risk.
Kicking myself for not ordering at Sugo in Australia and naive to think the figure would have still been around.
Bah!!!

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I ordered from Sugo, and like I said still waiting lol

Invoice received and paid first thing this morning, thanks again @Kit Chen! @Wor-Gar, my GTG is finally on the way!

warlock664 said:

I don’t blame you being a bit perturbed by those issues; for $500, one shouldn’t have to “fix” anything themselves.
This isn’t an inexpensive toy.

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Thank you for sharing that your thoughts aligned with my initial thoughts. I don’t feel like such a selfish jack-ass as much. .

Like all things I guess expectations can be relative to the cost you are used to spending on a figure and how easily you are able to fund it. This is my first really expensive figure, expensive to me anyway, so my quality and Customer Service expectations were very high. However, to those that are used to spending in that price range, they have more experience of what the normal quality reality is for these type of figures and have set their expectations accordingly.

Even though I still feel frustrated and disappointed in my buying experience with InArt, the kind feedback from the community here has opened my eyes to the production challenges such a figure can face due to its artisan/hand produced method, and has at least helped me understand why InArt responded the way they did. That does take the edge off some.

I still plan to petition InArt for a better remedy, such as providing a replacement head and the missing hand without delay so I can start to finally enjoy my figure. They may acquiesce, or just stand firm on their initial offer, so I will decide my course of action based on their response.

Long winded response to an appreciated comment, but I wanted to show the community that I value the feedback to my rant.

I have 967...still no invoice,is that nomrmal ?

agonistes86 said:

Update by kit:
View attachment 693966

So we're still in January 2023 orders.
I was hoping the next wave would already include 11xxxx orders. Unfortunately it looks like these might continue to trickle out slowly.

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conni said:

I have 967...still no invoice,is that nomrmal ?

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Yes it is, see my previous post quoting the latest message from kit.
You're most likely in the next batch (whenever that will be).

I was curious about my order number for Aragorn and I’m at 132000. Oh man seeing the Gandalf number really puts it in perspective

agonistes86 said:

Yes it is, see my previous post quoting the latest message from kit.
You're most likely in the next batch (whenever that will be).

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Yes,you are right,i got my invoice today and paid,so excited.

Invoice: Received!

Payment: Sent!

Emotion: Excited!