Star Trek: Starships Model/Magazine Subscription

The mixed scales didn't bother me that much. Star Trek has a LONG history of spacecraft of different sizes with the same dimensions (Starbase 74, Br'el and K'Vort class, Centaur parts etc.) It's more the composition. One top and bottom nacelle doesn't really look very good. Given that these ships were hastily prepared for a 2-second-long shot on non-HD TV's in the days before quality screen caps, and mostly burned beyond recognition to boot, I doubt TOO much concern for aesthetics was given.

 

Agreed. They were all supposed to be shown in the distance as post-war flotsam, and built to suffice for old-school NTSC TV screens, with minimal detail to be seen. It wasn't until the original filming miniatures started popping up at the Christie's auction and other outlets on the web where people started scratching their heads and saying, "why?"

I'm just psyched about it because it's a big chunk of Fed starship history that has been lacking in the details department. To have a starship collection without them, to quite Maj. Winchester from M*A*S*H, "the set would have all the charm of a smile with a missing tooth."

 

It's worth noting that Ben Robinson explicitly just said that none of the fleet is confirmed, other than the Kyushu/New Orleans. Other than that one and the Cheyenne/Ahwahnee, it'd be just fine with me, if it stayed that way.

Actually, of the Fed ships that have yet to be covered or confirmed, the only remaining one I'd like to see is the Jenolan. I actually posted a bit of a collage/wish list on their Facebook page that included those two plus the following:

-Groumall
-Xindi Reptilian ship
-Klingon D5 (the last Klingon ship yet to be confirmed, I believe)
-Xhosa (or Batris. I'm flexible)
-Tellarite ship
-23rd century Tholian ship (the remastered one)
-Bajoran interceptor (from "The Siege" and "Shadows and Symbols")
-Merchantman
-Jem'Hadar battleship
-Degra's ship

 

So, in other news, when I called up Eaglemoss to change the email address on my account, I asked on the status of the next shipment, as it usually arrives by the first or second week of each month. The lady I talked to said that there was a hold-up with this month's shipment because apparently the Borg Tactical Cube was out of stock.

Now, I find this odd, because I've seen hundreds of these things on eBay and Amazon and elsewhere online through small comic and collectibles stores. I'm wondering if they had a run on these things through the online store and ran out before they got a chance to set aside the requisite amount for the subscriptions. If true, then this seems very unintuitive to me, as I thought it would make more sense for the subs to take priority over one-off sales. That is, unless they think they're generating more revenue from one-off's than subs, in which case we'll always get the shaft.

Anyways, I didn't ask for extra details. She was a very nice person and probably didn't know the logistics behind it all. But if anyone's wondering, that's what's going on.

Another interesting side-note. The online store apparently runs off a different database than local subscription outlets. It's almost like a completely different company now. So if you change your email in one place, it doesn't filter down any where else. You'll have to call the local/online stores separately. Kind of a pain in the ass, but not entirely unusual for small decentralized, yet loosely tied companies.

 

Any subscribers in the US hear anything about the Kelvin yet ? It's been available in the Eaglemoss web store since at least early December I think but I haven't heard anything about it through my subscription.

 

Not yet. I'm assuming it's suffering from a similar lack of supply that the Borg Tactical Cube is experiencing at the moment. Again, another potential clue that single individual online sales are being given precedence over subscription membership.

 

I cannot understand the logic of running too low on inventory to take care of the subscribers. That is a known number, maybe add some for new subscribers, but they already know how many people are expecting their ships. Increase the order from the factory for the additional ships you want to sell to other distributors or in your online store.
It is all straight forward math...

 

Yes, I 100% agree, and yet we see these things readily available on the online store, eBay, Amazon and other small comic and collectible stores without nary a peep from any subscriber having gotten these things on time.

The only logical answer remains - they're shorting the subs in favor of higher-priced one-off retail sales. When they see a run on something they reallocate sub stock to cover the demand online. They probably think that the subscribers are loyal enough (hence being subscribers) that they can wait a little bit extra time while they restock. They're probably right.

 

OMG, I just love this quote!

 

I just got the email for the Kelvin.

 

I just got the Kelvin email as well. Also, it looks like my January payment is pending on my credit card which for me would be the Borg Tactical Cube and the Relativity I believe.

 

Interesting. I have not received a Kelvin email. Can someone post its contents?

Just got my Voyager plaque, but the invoice says that the ISS Enterprise is on back-order. Again.

 

"As a subscriber to Star Trek Starships: The Official Starships Collection, we are writing to you to tell you about the exciting U.S.S. Kelvin special issue coming up!

The U.S.S. Kelvin is the first ship to appear in the 2009 Star Trek movie, and it plays a vital role in history as Kirk's father uses it to sacrifice himself and save his crew. This hand-painted, die-cast model is closely based on ILM's own 3D assets and the accompanying magazine reveals how it was designed and built.

As a thank you for your loyalty, we are offering you this fantastic special issue for just $39.95! It will be delivered to your door at no extra cost!

When you subscribed, you opted to receive the special issues automatically, so you will receive this exciting special edition of the U.S.S. Kelvin with your next delivery.

The payment of $39.95 will be debited from your account around the 29th of January 2016. If you do not wish to receive the U.S.S. Kelvin please let us know before the 28th of January 2016!"

 

Thanks for posting that. Really hoping I didn't get left out on this one, not having gotten the email.

 

According to the site it should ship on or about today, the Jan 15th. Last time the side said something like that, I got it on that day. Here is to hoping!

 

You are making a lot of assumptions on this. You are kind of making it sound like if someone places an online order a big pop up comes up that says "you now have x amount to give to online orders to leave x amount to subscribers." I can promise you that while the math is simple, nothing like this happens. Most likely there is a big pallet with each ship and both subscribers and online orders are pulled from this. What invariably happens is by the time everything is processed and the guy in the warehouse gets the order there are probably more orders than available stock. I think it probably has to do more with the way orders are processed than giving specific precedence to one side or the other.

 

Which sounds about right to be fair.

 

The bolded text above basically proves the point of my original post. The number of subscribers is a relatively known quantity, which likely doesn't vary much (although, if this keeps happening, it will likely decrease over time). If there are more orders online than expected on any given month because of the popularity of one item, they then dig into that more constant number of ships that would normally be allocated to subs. Ergo, they favor the online customers over the subscription customers, instead of setting the fixed number of sub ships aside off the pallet so they don't get shorted. The one-off customers should get a nice little email saying they're thing is on back-order and will be available soon. Whether it is intentional or not is irrelevant (although I admit that perhaps there was a tinge of conspiracy theory in my original post). The fact that it is actually coming out this way (and with increasing frequency) is relevant and the subs always seem to get the shaft because of it. The fact that their communications have been dodgy at best doesn't help matters any (this has always been my biggest gripe).

In the past, when others have complained about bad business practices or shoddy communication on the part of Eaglemoss, I've always tried to provide a reasonable explanation about why possibly something would be this way. Their latest decentralization away from the UK parent company and subsequent data migration headaches that ensued back in September-October of last year is the most recent example. I've even had to self-evaluate whether or not I'm coming off as an apologist for Eaglemoss. This thing, however, is different. I'm always willing to give the benefit of the doubt for an honest mistake or when IT-related weirdness occurs. But when I see a pattern of behavior causing problems amongst loyal customers, that's when a company starts to lose me. I'll still keep getting the models, of course, but my irritation level is growing and I'm not as likely to give them the benefit of the doubt quite so readily in the future.

 

Sort of in the same boat, I used to think Eaglemoss' customer service was great, but now I think it sucks. I still haven't received the three-nacelle 1701-D after several emails; so I'm pretty sure I will never see it.

I also received a shipment that the post-office pretty much destroyed, but they never bothered to respond to that either. With the database shift, I missed out on a couple of shipments, but at this point I'm just "fuck it" since I didn't get charged.

 

I love the replicas, but Eaglemoss is a bit of a mess. The ships are available elsewhere and that is where I am buying mine. The only problem I had was when I tried to buy directly from them.