Oh that feeling when you pre-ordered something that has been delayed for months, and when it has finally arrived you can only greet it with disappointment due to the defects it comes with. Such is the case with Nendoroid Snow Miku Fluffy Coat version, or I'd called it the 2012 version as there has been one every year since 2010.
Pictures of the defects from 2chan after the jump.
Two Snow Miku Fluffy Coat version in the picture. The one on the left is the web order version which is released very recently (after 3 months of delay from original scheduled release date), whereas the one on the right was released as an early release item in Wonder Festival (shortened as "WF") event back in February. Face expressions aside, one may actually see some of the differences in colours already.
One of the most reported problems was the weak joint for the twin tails on the head, of which some were easily snapped, or even broken in the first place
Another shot of a broken twin tail joint
Some report that their joints have a very visible cut. On the other hand, the microphone's stand shares the same part as the shovel handle, but it won't fit into the mounting for the microphone.
Jewel on the ribbon is cloudy compared to the WF version.
Hair parting at the back of the head is not straight.
This particular person has one of the face parts' neck joint already shattered upon opening the box.
Chipped paint is seen on the square hair band
Small debris and stains are seen inside the LED base
Uneven colouring on dark blue hair band
Fibre and dark spots on the twin tail (click image for larger view)
Other problems also reported include but not limited to glue residue on figure, uneven surface finish, and loosely glued parts on the ear phone.
Seeing the defects in the pictures makes me feel very worried, as I also ordered one as well. It turns out that mine was also not without flaws, namely the microphone stand and the hair parting being the main problems (and also universal to all those who have or will have it soon), along with minor issues like dark spots and chipped paint on a couple of areas.
Good Smile Company is aware of the problem and has made a statement on its website that it will send out replacement parts for the newly made twin tail joints as well as the shovel / microphone parts to all those who pre-ordered Snow Miku later in the month. The statement however does not mention about replacement on other defective parts.
Though in a twitter conversation between a twitter user and the president of Good Smile Company as quoted on 2chan it appears that full replacement of the nendoroid figure is not possible, but if one does not accept the replacement parts he can request for refund instead.
One way or the other, it is a pity to see an expensive limited order figure to end up like this. There are rumours flying around about the web order version having come from a different factory to those for Wonder Festival earlier this year. While I do not know the reasons behind the problems, the numerous defects can damage the confidence of collectors. To be honest, this does make me a little wavered whether to get Nendoroid Sakura Miku or not. At least Good Smile Company is addressing the problem to some extent, though it's difficult to say whether their current solution will really satisfy the collectors and Nendoroid or Miku fans.
Images are from 2chan
At first, I was regretting not pre-ordering this Miku, but now...err. :/
ReplyDelete"This does make me a little wavered whether to get Nendoroid Sakura Miku or not."
I mean, that quote really sums up my feeling right now.
I pondered whether to get this Miku or not back then, but I went ahead at the end. However the number of defects do catch me a bit by surprise. I really hope Sakura Miku will be completely unrelated to this particular case.
DeleteIt is just nuts that they have such poor QA controls and are not keeping up with what is expected for these figures.
ReplyDeleteI guess Good Smile has gotten so big now that they no longer care about the fans that built them.
Not sure what happened to quality assessment this time round, but it looks like that GSC knew about the problem too late.
DeleteIt's tempting to jump into conclusion, but there could be a lot of things that contributed to this issue. While GSC does look like they have become big and ambitious these days, at least they do try to do something for the customers, which is better than nothing.
This is so bad (；´Д`) I hope they can get things straighten out with the factory... the problem of "made in China" is becoming more and more problems.
ReplyDeleteFor the "made in China" issue I feel that the good stuff are often taken for granted (because one expects them to be good in teh first place), but the bad ones are always sticking out like a sore thumb as if they are "making sample" of what Chinese manufactured goods are. One way or the other, I do hope that things will get straightened out, as it's doing no good for both GSC and the hobbyists/fans/collectors.
DeleteI bought this nendroid one month ago, and it came with some spare parts to fix some of the problems you mention.
ReplyDeleteFrom the problems "fixed" by the replacement parts, I only found the one of the non-shiny jewel, but I also found a bigger problem with a neck joint which seems to be about to break.
I wonder if you know where can I send the report, so they can also make a replacement for this part, if they get enough reports on this issue.
Here is a link for the web page regarding on the defects for the Snow Miku:
Deletehttp://www.goodsmile.info/post/en/3510/Regarding+Customer+Support+for+Nendoroid+Snow+Miku+Fluffy+Coat+Ver+Defects.html
You can send an email to support at goodsmile dot co dot jp and see what they can do for you. Writing in English is fine; just be sure to describe your problem clearly and attach photos for pictorial evidence.
I recently bought her and I am seeing other defects as well. For instance the stand will not fit into the hole on her back. Also, on here right earmuff, the mic fell out extremely easily and now must be superglued back in. There's a few others but I'm not very experienced with Nendroids or figurines in general.
ReplyDelete*the jewel on mine isl
cloudy, which I'm now dissapointed that there is one with a non-cloudy jewel..
Sorry to hear that your Nendoroid has quite a few defects. Did you get your nendoroid directly from shop, or it's via second hand? If it's the former, you should have replacement parts for the gem, as well as ponytail joints and extra microphone / shovel set.
DeleteI do agree that it can be disappointing to learn that there can be such a huge discrepancy in quality beween the early event ones and the web order versions. It makes the ones receiving the latter feel very undeserved for such order.