Genghis just hit my PoL

of course I also just shipped last week and received today my PoL 

Well, I shipped them. Hopefully they're not terrible. I guess I'll know in a week or so.

Woops, BBTS charged me for the wave.  I was working so I didn't even see the "processing soon" email.  I was kinda tempted to cancel and check reviews first.  Guess I just bit the bullet.

Meh, kind of lost my excitement for these between the long wait and seemingly different direction they are taking the line.

I think I am only have 2 or 3 left on pre-order, so a good time to exit altogether.

Posted by: @handsome

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People always talk about YouTube reviewers getting free figures.. but if they're a big enough channel where YouTube is their primary source of income, can't they just write off the toys as a business expenses? 

Probably, but a business expense is still an expense. A "write off" doesn't make them free, it means they don't have to pay taxes on that amount of income. 

It may mean nothing, but I find it interesting that this wave has been in stock at BBTS for a little bit now - long enough that regular folks should have them in hand as early as the beginning of the week here, meaning anyone getting them earlier (like a Pixel Dan or a ToyBro or whomever) should have had them for several days at least.

And no reviews. No pictures. Absolutely nothing.

Again, it could be a pointless observation that amounts to nothing. It's hard to imagine a good reason why anyone that makes money reviewing toys early would choose not to do so. Which leads me to believe Super7 opted not to even send out any early samples this time. And that's... potentially troubling.

I was kind of thinking about that today, actually. I wasn't planning on shipping my POL yet but was wondering why I hadn't seen someone post pics already. 

@theknightdamien I've been noticing this too, wave 2 of The Worst Ultimates came out not long ago and so did the Metaluna Mutant Ultimate but none of the "big" channels who normally cover Super7 like Toybro have reviewed them, only the smaller guys who go theirs the same time as everyone else.

Does make me wonder if something is going on.

Could be any number of reasons. BBTS appears to have received their stock before Super7, so it makes me think they just send their review stock out of their regular stock - no air mailing a batch for review samples, apparently. At any rate, my Raph and Rocksteady are out for delivery so I should be finding out if they're good, fine, mediocre, or a steaming pile of rhino excrement. I guess the not-knowing is the excitement in collecting from this company. If my favorite Raph variant turns out as poor as my favorite Leo then it will mean it's time to cancel the other preorders and wait for sales.

Can I ask what the general quality of this line is like now?

The only one I ever got was the regular Mikey, and I moved him on pretty soon after getting him. 

On paper, these seem almost perfect. They look great, have great proportions, they're well accessorised. The price point certainly suggests they're backing themselves as a premium player. 

But my experience was extremely disappointing. For all the moving parts and articulation, these really don't move or pose anywhere near the way I would want a $100AUD action figure to move. I know the Turtles bodies and builds perhaps don't lend themselves to a practical agility at this scale, but even so I expected a lot more. 

Has this improved at all? I'm pretty happy to be out of these completely, but Genghis Frog was always one of my favourite figures, and they look to have really gone all out with him. Is it worth dipping back in for him?

@saintmacgowan That's a loaded question but I guess the answer to the quality of the line is that there's a huge variation. PURELY speaking of quality (not articulation or number of paint apps, but just the quality of construction), there are some really atrocious figures (Samurai Leo, Krang) and some very solid figures (Slash, Mutagen Man) and many figures that are somewhere in the middle.

If your experience with Super7 has been 'extremely disappointing' then you're probably right in line with most of us. That's consistently been the best way to describe the experience of buying S7 figures.

It's important to remember that S7 Ultimates are not -really- designed as super-articulated figures. They have articulation, but the majority of it is not good or well-engineered for a lot of ROM. That's right down to the design level, rather than a 'mistake' of construction. It's intentional. If you want something with loads of really USEFUL articulation, Ultimates figures will -never- make you happy. And you've got to be fair in assessing the figures for what they're actually trying to do rather than what they're not trying to do.

Don't look for ROM to ever really improve with Ultimates figures. Super7 is notably disinterested in the function of their articulation beyond a certain point. But Ghengis looks cool, as many S7 figures do. If he looks good to you and you're not too fussed about how much ROM he has, the only question is whether or not he falls apart in your hands and can stand on his own. Gotta wait for someone to get him in hand to know that because of how unreliable S7's quality control is.

I enjoy this line even with its faults, but that’s only because I’ve been able to get everything on sale. If I had to pay full price, there’s no way I’d be getting them. And even with the sale prices, I still pick and choose what I get. Is it my favorite TMNT line? Absolutely. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot.

@saintmacgowan basically what KnightDamien said, but I would add that if articulation is a priority for you, and you were so disappointed with the articulation of Michelangelo that it was a deal breaker, there's a good chance you won't like anything from this line. I think the turtles are the line's high point when it comes to articulation. I don't think any of the other characters are as good. The new wave could certainly change that, and I personally do not have every figure in the line, but that's been my experience so far.

The reality is that if you only or primarily want recreations of the original toys, this is going to be your favorite line regardless of quality because it's really the only line doing what you want. So that's not really a point in any direction, I think. Are other TMNT products superior to S7's? Yes. Probably all of them. But spending thousands of dollars on NECA TMNT product is never going to turn your NECA 'Toon Turtles into NECA Toy Turtles. So...

I'm in that camp a bit as well because updated vintage toys is really what I wanted most. To the point where I sold my 'toon collection and kept way back on just a few things from the movie line, and nothing from the comic lines (except the original comic turtles, which I sold). If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I kind of wish I'd never bought anything S7 and instead had focused all that money on sticking with the NECA 'Toon stuff. It's not my favorite Turtle stuff, but damn it's SO much nicer, and the line itself is so, so much more robust.

Preternia has some pictures of Genghis Frog

https://twitter.com/preterniadotcom/status/1716515198473818575?s=20