Has wbritains lost its way (1 Viewer)

[zulucollector]

Hello all,

We have all been very busy and my apologies if it seems like I do not post as often as I used to.

As I have assured everyone since I took this post, we have a very dedicated creative team researching, developing, sculpting, duplicating and painting our new products.
I must also mention that I appreciate the hard work and skill of all of the other people involved in any new product development, from administrative staff here to the craftsman at the manufacturing facilities.

We have all made a commitment to do our very best to bring accurate renderings of uniforms, equipment and accessories to the range and to maintain a brand look to the work in style and proportions.
I believe we all work very well together and the end result shows it.

Alan, Graham, Trevor, Doug, Russ and I appreciate constructive criticism about the sculptures, and when possible consider the feedback in our new designs.
In addition to your comments we often make improvements based on suggestions from Chris, Dave Chip, Ted or Wendy when they see the sculpts for duplication or painting. Even with all of us looking at each sculpt, we occasionally miss something, but make every effort to make a note to improve the products that follow.

In the end I must take responsibility for whatever might be missed in the process, so I will apologize in advance as I am sure we will some make mistakes in the future.

I hope this helps clear up a few things and please understand that I really do appreciate the feedback.
All the best,
Kenneth Osen
General Manager & Creative Director
W. Britain

While I certainly appreciate Ken insight as Creative Director, love the new AZW ambulance and especially efforts to keep prices in check... could we get more insight from a general manager perspective on the issues with out of stock items, all these limited production runs, interest in re-entering ww2 genre, and of course significant delays in actual releases (if K&C had delays like wbritains it would cause civil unrest on the forum lol)

 

[jomartvr]

While I certainly appreciate Ken insight as Creative Director, love the new AZW ambulance and especially efforts to keep prices in check... could we get more insight from a general manager perspective on the issues with out of stock items, all these limited production runs, interest in re-entering ww2 genre, and of course significant delays in actual releases (if K&C had delays like wbritains it would cause civil unrest on the forum lol)

Another question for Ken is has the emphasis on the Civil War paid off in terms of attracting new collectors? I collected the War on the Nile series, however, the few recent offers are unappealing to me, so I have focused on TG's FFL and some of Openfire's Marines. I realize that the Civil War series can be lucrative, however, when I see information about new releases from Britains I automatically think, more Civil War, and move on. Sorry to be negative Ken, however, your putting most of your eggs in one basket. By the way what happened to the Marine from the Chosin reservoir, they disappeared quickly, will they be restocked?

Benjamin

 

[zulucollector]

Another question for Ken is has the emphasis on the Civil War paid off in terms of attracting new collectors? I collected the War on the Nile series, however, the few recent offers are unappealing to me, so I have focused on TG's FFL and some of Openfire's Marines. I realize that the Civil War series can be lucrative, however, when I see information about new releases from Britains I automatically think, more Civil War, and move on. Sorry to be negative Ken, however, your putting most of your eggs in one basket. By the way what happened to the Marine from the Chosin reservoir, they disappeared quickly, will they be restocked?

Benjamin

I think there must have been some shakeout when the co-founder of K&C noted a recent event about the competition for the civil war collectors and that they would focus more on the global market and not just the US market like some... personally I think wbritains alienated many of their existing customers by postponing releases in other lines but time will tell....

 

[jomartvr]

I think there must have been some shakeout when the co-founder of K&C noted a recent event about the competition for the civil war collectors and that they would focus more on the global market and not just the US market like some... personally I think wbritains alienated many of their existing customers by postponing releases in other lines but time will tell....

I think that you are right about the shakeout. From my point of view, and as a collector, this is a mistake. At a certain point I tend to associate particular manufacturers with specific conflicts, such KC being WWII western Europe, even though they produce figures from other conflicts. When I think of Britains it is now the Civil War, perhaps this is just me. That said I have also wondered about the wisdom of their upcoming British Marine Officer which does not look that different than the one issued by Del Prado, and the latter can be had for less. I have the Del Prado marine and will purchase the Britains one, however, what are they thinking. As for the product delays, I think many people will move on as there are no shortages of figures to purchase.

 

[jazzeum]

As the Sesquicentennial starts to wind down, I don't see how you could fault Britain's from frocusing on the Civil War as it is a big market and no one does it as much and as well as they do. I'm sure that if they had not focused on it, they would have received complaints from Civil War collectors.

However, I do agree that collectors are an impatient lot, no different than consumers in general, and that if they can't timely get the releases they want, they will move on to another manufacturer.

Brad

 

[braddinpa]

I was curious and checked the upcoming releases and saw about 12 were Civil War of the approximately 60. They are producing other things like the RAF line, Zulu line, Indian War and of course ww1. I do agree with Brad when the 150th CW is over. Their will probably be less of a focus (unless it is selling of course). But at the end of the day. They will produce what sells.

 

[zulucollector]

I was curious and checked the upcoming releases and saw about 12 were Civil War of the approximately 60. They are producing other things like the RAF line, Zulu line, Indian War and of course ww1. I do agree with Brad when the 150th CW is over. Their will probably be less of a focus (unless it is selling of course). But at the end of the day. They will produce what sells.

It will be interesting to see how wbritains handles the dual anniversaries of both CW and WWI key battles. I think the CW will do better as they already have a built in following before key anniversaries ...You don't hear much about Great War collectors for the most part on the forum. I am also curious how wbritains will respond to First Legion entering the matte AZW space; I am guessing similar to Conte that wbritains has the first mover advantage and either current FL customers or those who missed the boat on wbrtiains will be the major buyers. I was curious so I have stated a poll in another thread... I know I am tough on wbritains at times but they clearly have the best AZW line on the market today plus some of the best pricing among TSCs....

 

[jazzeum]

Regarding the Great War, it seems to me that John Jenkins has a keg up on this market as this is something that, in my opinion, was a long range plan. This is not to say others can't do well but I'm surprised that Britains hasn't announced more items. They also don't seem to get things out to the market as quickly as others. Maybe that is the way they do things, I don't know. However, it seems other companies have quicker response times. Collectors are a fickle lot and can change minds quickly.

 

[gk5717]

I,m starting to go along with this thread. At OTSN Ken talked about a lot of upcoming WW1, now 6 months later not really anything.
You bring up Jenkins and WW1. About 4 or 5 years ago Jenkins always broke my budget at OTSN because I would walk into his room and there was a new set of WW1 Germans that I had no idea was coming out. I bought them. Then a few years back when I entered his room there was nothing new for WW1 I would ask and he more or less said he was done with WW1. Now he is back at it, great.
Gary

 

[Tiger]

I am quite new to the forum so I am catching up on some older posts so apologies.

Been a Britains collector myself for several years and I have noticed the drop off of new items and late delivery issue too. This year JJD have had around £600 or so off me but Britains have had only about £250 and I cannot be alone in this so one would think this would be recognised? I spoke with the team at the stand in December and I think it was Ken himself who told me things were going to get better with pieces being in our hands within weeks / months of releases?? Not sure what has gone wrong there. I have also just reserved some new stuff from JJD, who keep on getting new releases out, as do King & Country.

I collect WW1, WW2, Napoleonic, Zulu and some of the Nile items. I have seen nothing new for WW1 that stirs me, I didn't fancy the Brunswick pieces (the 44th were stunning though), have not seen anything new for WW2 (although it was hinted at last year) and the Zulu sets are, to me, becoming boring. This is why I have spent with JJD. I do not collect the civil war, have no interest in the indians so really, the last catalogue had nothing for me bar the zulu ambulance.

Come on Britain's, oldest and best toy soldier company around, you can do better than this, please?

By the way, does anyone know why Hamleys stock is so poor? Chap I spoke to said they were waiting on some delivery when I was last in there but the Guards shop had stock? (Guess who got my business?).

Sorry to be negative.

 

[Charlie Brown]

As the Sesquicentennial starts to wind down, I don't see how you could fault Britain's from frocusing on the Civil War as it is a big market and no one does it as much and as well as they do. I'm sure that if they had not focused on it, they would have received complaints from Civil War collectors.

May have more to do with commercial reasons than anything else. Zulu Wars has been a big seller for some years. There comes a point when fatigue sets in though.

 

[zulucollector]

I came away from my meeting with Ken Osen at the Toronto toy solider show more positive than I have been in the past.. there seems to be a lot of interesting new items in the pipeline with more exclusives and a possible new range where he has sculpted figures already. The drawback remains production as it appears some teething issues with the ambulance horse team but ken explained this is going to be a very complex set and I believe just like everything else they will get it right before they ship.

 

[Davout71]

Cost has largely kept me out of this hobby for the last year or so but I still log on to sites periodically to view what's being released. I must say I think Britains new matte AWI Indians look fantastic and if I was not going through a house renovation and mortgage top up they would certainly tempt me.

 

[Peiper007]

HELLO

Been watching this thread and think there needs to be some definition of 'lost it's way'. For me the issue is not the quality, the new CoE series is excellent, as are the new Zulus and the war of the Nile. However where the problem for me is in the delivery and promises of the company, we have been promised time and time again the delivery problems have been sorted, but there are too many last delivered or yet to be released items to list. This is the problem for many collectors like myself, we all have a budget and are in many ways spoilt with all the manufacturers out there, others I collect are K & C, T Gunn and F Legion. Like many collector money 'burning a hole my pocket' when I visit the London show or UK shops such as Magpies in Evesham I will buy what is available..... therefore I do not buy Britains as often as I would.................... I think the management of Britains have to realise they are just losing sales with the poor service and when they have a 'dump' of new releases such as we are expecting in the Guards Shop London next week then there are only limited amounts we can buy.

Come on Britains sort this out and release in a more consistent pattern then us poor collectors can plan and budget.

Just one example - where is the FIRST Sierra Zulu set, there was a guy I met at the London show in March 14 who paid for this item way back in February 14 and we were told by Sierra soldiers we might be lucky and see an example at the JUNE 14 SHOW.............................

 

[thebritfarmer]

I do agree it would be nice to see more consistent releases instead of a one big dump of a specific range. It is what it is and I doubt will change anytime soon. Currently I am only collecting the WB Zulu range so not tempted away by anything else.

With regard to the Sierra products their website states April/May so they are not behind schedule as of yet. Regarding payment their site also states credit cards will not be charged until the item is shipped. My card has not been charged so I doubt your friends has either.

 

[Toy Soldier Brigade]

I am going to contradict a thread I posted earlier on this subject. I have been rearranging and down sizing by civil war collection. After looking at my figures it came to me that if I were to ever suffer some king of disaster and lost my collection the figures I would miss the most would be my Britain's ACW figures. As well as any figures from other manufactures that were sculpted by Ken Osen.

No one seems to mind when other company's release their new figures all at one time like First Legion just to name one. FL is also guilty of not making announced release dates by the way. Before people jump all over me I am also a FL collector. Also why is it that Britain's seems to be the only manufacturer who has a handle on their price increases ? I remember paying 19.98 for the first Britain's matte releases back in 1998. It's 2014 and single figure prices have only increased to 32.00. Only a 12.00 increase in 15 years while steadily increasing the quality is pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Other manufactures who I will not name have more then doubled their prices during the same period of time. Also Britain's hands down has the best customer service and best company management in the hobby. Please keep up the good work.

 

[thebritfarmer]

You make some very valid points TSB. My only explanation is that FL release the, for example Zulu figures all at once and that is it. K7C are known for release certain periods at certain times of the year.

Britains had a major release of Zulu figures (still waiting for a few) then along comes another release (Field ambulance and two more hand to hand sets). Just seems overwhelming when that last release isn't even finished yet.

 

[Dragoon]

My biggest gripe with W.Britains is some of the rather small numbers made for each release. For example, a great number of the Zulu warriors on their website are ''temporarily out of stock'' - and these are new releases, not figures that have been around for awhile. ( ''Temporarily'' in this case being a bit of a misnomer. )

Also would like to see the end of quickly marking figures as SOLD OUT. Why are all of the Zulu War ( and ACW ) casualty figures ''sold out'' after such a limited run...... These are extremely useful figures which current and future collectors can always use in setting up battle scenes. It would be very helpful to keep these type of figures ongoing and well stocked. - Thanks.

 

[Charlie Brown]

My biggest gripe with W.Britains is some of the rather small numbers made for each release. For example, a great number of the Zulu warriors on their website are ''temporarily out of stock'' - and these are new releases, not figures that have been around for awhile. ( ''Temporarily'' in this case being a bit of a misnomer. )

Also would like to see the end of quickly marking figures as SOLD OUT. Why are all of the Zulu War ( and ACW ) casualty figures ''sold out'' after such a limited run...... These are extremely useful figures which current and future collectors can always use in setting up battle scenes. It would be very helpful to keep these type of figures ongoing and well stocked. - Thanks.

A real bone of contention of mine is the variable quantity produced. Why a limited run i.e. Sierra Toy of 300 sets of 2 figures. While the planned run for the ambulance is 500 pieces. There's no commercial logic. As surely the 2 figure set would outsell a vastly more expensive set. Besides which only selling what is the most popular range in the UK only Stateside a complete nonsense. The only beneficaries appear to the US Postal Service along with the UK Treasury.

Do customers actually matter any more?

 

[Leo The Gaul]

I'm not in the collectors club so i can't comment on that but in terms of quality i'm still pretty happy with Britains. The napoleonic Brunswickers for example look amazing!