Creator Set | SerialBuilder | Pre-order update #12
Hot off the heels of visiting our partners in China
Hey everyone! It’s already been a month since our last update, which felt like only 2 weeks ago, but a lot has happened, as Sean and I visited our partners in China last week and we have a lot to share, so let me jump right in!
Run #01
Final batch of shipment to Australia is nearly there
We’ve effectively completed the campaign and are just waiting on a strange Australia customs issue that’s affecting a handful of our Australian customers - Sean is constantly trying to get information, but we passed the customs inspection a while ago and the packages are just waiting to proceed to the last mile delivery. I know it’s been ages since we shipped, but it’s nearly there - thank you for all your patience!
For everyone else, we hope you’re enjoying building your sets. The reviews are steadily coming in and we’re still reading every one of them and taking note on what can be better. The updates to certain builds will come in waves as there’s still just one person making the fixes and updates (that’s me!) but they will keep coming as I’m unable to rest until the builds are the best that they can be.
Replacement sets are in production
On the replacement sets - we’ve finally found a supplier and have tested the hoses in-person whilst we were there and can confirm that it will be going into production soon. Apologies for the delay, but they should be ready to ship out in the next few weeks!
We have a small request
We’re trying to increase visibility on the latest pre-order run so that we can close the campaign faster and focus more energy on building new beasts - so we need your help to share your finished builds on social media and even on our subreddit. This is to help others see that we are delivering and to help convince them that these sets are of a much higher quality as well as the fact that the original creator is actually being paid for them - which is not true if you buy older versions of these sets anywhere else. If you’re posting your collection, just be sure to tag us and we’ll feature your build on our stories :)
Thank you all for your support - I’m still grateful for all the conversations we’re able to have and for all the feedback you’re providing through our support channels and hope to continue serving you all the best we can!
Run #02
Our visit to China last week was a necessary one as we needed to check-in with production as well as with our shipping partners, and potential new partners. As always, there’s a bit of good news and a bit of bad news, but I’ll try to lay it out as simply as I can.
Packaging samples reviewed
We’ve checked samples of the packaging to ensure they’re all good - a few tweaks here and there, but we were mostly satisfied with them given the amount of time we had to get it all done.
Production is getting slightly delayed for the Specter
We discovered that our factory has been completely busy with their largest partner in a 3 month production run. We shan’t name who it is, but they’re massive and very well-known and quite frankly, we’re surprised that the factory reserved some production capacity specifically for little EB in the middle of it all. So the SerialBuilder sets are still on track, but the Specter which was a later edition is getting pushed to the end of August, so will only be ready to be shipped in September. If you’ve not order a Specter, then there’s nothing to worry about and we’re still on track for your order.
If, however, you have ordered a Specter, there are a few scenarios we’ve been considering, but we need your input to decide on which option to go with.
Option 1 - we deliver in 2 tranches and ship out your non-Specter orders first and then the Specters when they’re ready.
Option 2 - We wait until the Specters are ready and then ship out your complete order in one batch but offer $20 in credit (credit system yet to be built out).
Both of the options are painful for us, but we think it’s important to show our commitment to giving our customers the best experience we can, even if that means we need to take a hit. We also want you all to know that we’re never withholding information and try our best to keep you as informed as we possibly can.
For your input, we’d like for all our Specter customers to vote on which option you prefer as we need to pick one and go with that. So it’ll be a majority vote based on the poll. I’ll leave 2 comments in the comments section as the different options and I just need you to ‘like’ the one that you want to vote for. I know this isn’t the most sophisticated poll, but I trust you guys to only vote if you’re a Specter customer and only vote on one option. Hopefully there’s a clear favourite and the tallies aren’t too close.
Updates to the Specter
Since we’re on the subject of the Specter, I thought I’d share the updates we made and hopefully lessen the sting as the final product will be better off for it.
With all the changes, we’ve ended up underpricing the Specter set, but that’s OK. We’re just excited for everyone to get a build designed by us from scratch! :D
General Updates
Identifying Parts Issues
I mentioned in the previous update about some customers having to hammer parts of the build together and we couldn’t quite understand why since we we’re facing the same issue. Thank you to all of you who reached out to run some tests for us - much appreciated! What we discovered was that the pins used for the production run were slightly different moulds.
The right pin has a bit more give that allows for the bar to slide through. We will be addressing that in the future by providing the pins with slots so that you can more easily slide them onto the bars - no more hammers, unless you’re an anarchist and want to smash and build again.
That probably doesn’t explain the discrepancy for why we didn’t feel the issue on our end, so my only explanation is that I’m drinking the right amount of teh tarik to give me superhuman strength or my testing team forgot to inform me that they also used hammers during their tests with the parts from their respective packs. I’ll ignorantly continue to drink my sweet milky drinks!
Other outcomes from our visit to China
Shipping partner updates
We met our shipping partner to figure out what issues resulted in delayed shipments and why our shipping tracker was not so accurate. Meeting face-to-face definitely helped uncover a few issues that were hampering our previous implementation so that should hopefully be cleared up and we can have a better shipping tracker in the future.
Closer integration and automation with our factory
We explored an integration opportunity to be able to source bricks more effectively. This probably requires it’s own post, so I’ll share more once we’ve made some progress here, but we’re quite excited for it.
A Foreigner Friendlier China
Another observation is that China in general has been opening up a lot more than in the past. As a Brit, I no longer needed a visa to enter the country, which was nice. Our partners were also very keen to share their love of coffee, which I believe seems to have replaced the older going-and-getting-drunk-together way of doing business in the past. I’m sure that’s still a thing, but now it finally feels like something I can partake in - too bad Sean’s body is a temple to which caffeine is strictly forbidden.
If anyone is curious about anything else to do with our trip, ask away in the comments section and I’ll be sure to answer.
Neo Bikes launch pushed back a little
As you know, we’re gearing up to launch Neo Bikes - our newest Creator Set for sci-fi enthusiasts who also love bikes, but we need to push the launch back a little so that we can properly test everything before committing to the set and the production run. For now, I can leave you with these teasers that we put together.
That’s quite a lot for one update, so I’ll end it here, but we’re all still very busy with what’s coming next, so do stay tuned for announcements!
Option 1 - we deliver in 2 tranches and ship out your non-Specter orders first and then the Specters when they’re ready.
Option 2 - We wait until the Specters are ready and then ship out your complete order in one batch but offer $20 in credit.