Where the heck is bbi?

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Sun May 15, 2005 5:40 pm

Gunner wrote:You know, I'm surprised BBI didn't try the repaint gig on the Littlebird.

21C did it with the "big" Littlebird with reasonable success.

Or, did the 1/18 SWAT line fail so spectacularly that BBI decided to keep the helo out?

Well, there was the change from the black "CIA" version to the more traditional "Army" Green version...

Quixote511 · Post by **Quixote511** » Tue May 17, 2005 7:00 am

The Pacific Theater has been neglected by 21st until of late. Sure we have Marines now and IJA forces comming, but what about the long awaited carrier fighters. I am hoping that bbi goes through with plans for a proposed Hellcat---very cool plane.
Aaron

digger · Post by **digger** » Tue May 17, 2005 9:55 am

Quixote511 wrote:The Pacific Theater has been neglected by 21st until of late. Sure we have Marines now and IJA forces comming, but what about the long awaited carrier fighters. I am hoping that bbi goes through with plans for a proposed Hellcat---very cool plane.
Aaron

What about the Corsair, the 475th P-38 and the P-40? There have been Pacific planes aplenty.

We're just a greedy bunch that always wants more, MORE!

...myself included of course

Quixote511 · Post by **Quixote511** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:45 am

Well, those have slipped my mind a bit. Thanks for the refresher. I must admit my greed for more.
Aaron

MightyMustang · Post by **MightyMustang** » Sun May 22, 2005 8:54 am

Where the heck is BBI? Re-doing the paint scheme on their 1/18th P-51 Mustang. It will an exclusive for Bad Cat coming Sept 05'. So I guess BBI is alive after all.

OnWu · Post by **OnWu** » Sun May 22, 2005 5:43 pm

I get the feeling BBI has moved on to other markets and changing its product mix toward children's toys, unfortunately.

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 9:30 am

I have been sending e-mails to BBI through their customer relations e-mail on a regular basis. I sent an e-mail to them yesterday and the response I got back amazed me. I wish that I knew how to copy or post the e-mail here so that you could see the actual e-mail. Anyway here it goes....I enquired as to why they have been so quite on the 1/18 scale line and if they were going to release a 1/18 scale A-10. The reply was that they will have the A-10 available in Target stores in July!!!! NO LIE, I PROMISE!!! Now I don't know if that is July 2005 or July 2006. I sent another e-mail to them requesting the time and to clarify that the A-10 is 1/18 scale. I'm still waiting for the response on that one. It looks like they are going to try and market their products through Target as well as TRU (as long as TRU is still open I guess). If someone can tell me how to copy the e-mail so that everyone can see it (because seeing is believeing) please let me know. Or I would be happy to forward it to you. Anyhow, at least they are still alive and kicking. I guess in a few months we will see if the A-10 is true and Target is a new place to shop for BBI products.

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 23, 2005 9:37 am

to copy the email just hi-lite it, right click, choose 'copy' and then when posting it on this board just right click again, choose 'paste'.

Interesting news indeed..

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon May 23, 2005 9:55 am

Very Cool news - thanks for sharing

I posted earlier in this thread that an A-10 was coming but I had no idea so soon

Very cool.

I wonder what else they have up their sleeve....hopefully those WWII figures due in August will have something new to ride on

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 11:52 am

Thanks for the help Aferg.

Here is the response along with the original e-mail I sent yesterday.

Hope this is all true.

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your message. We will have the A10 to be available in the Target Stores in July.
Please keep updated with us at www.blueboxtoys.com for our latest news and products.

Best Regards,
bbi Customer Relations - CL

(Please enclose previous dialogues for enhancing future reference)

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: bbi

> Country : United States
> Name : Ryan Mason
> E-mail : [email protected]
>
> Subject : bbi
> Enquiry : Are you still producing 1/18 scale military products and coming
> up with new 1/18 scale military products? If so, are you going to produce
> a 1/18 scale A-10? Myself and many fans of your products are wondering if
> you are still producing 1/18 scale products. No one has heard anything or
> seen anything from you at conventions or on your website. Any information
> you can give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you and I hope all is well.
>
> Ryan

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 11:56 am

I wonder if Bad Cat is going to get these and if they will have the "Roll Your Own" options with different squadrons?

Morian Miner · Post by **Morian Miner** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:01 pm

Holy Sh@#$! An A-10. That would be awesome. Especially if BBi starts landing their stuff at Target. BBi at Target could turn out to be even bigger news than the A-10

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:12 pm

Watching their website wont' be of much help. New product is usually on the shelves (and sometimes on MY shelves) before they update their website.

Regardless, this is exciting news and it's much like BBI to release something shortly after they start talking about it (sort of the bizzaro version of 21c....heh).

I'm sure this is all ligit because, as everyone on the board is aware, knowingly posting falsified area/new product reports is punishable by death. Right Birddog?

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Mon May 23, 2005 12:32 pm

Thanks for the info! I will, however, believe it when I see it. Dealings with 21c for these past few years have taught me that. July should be very interesting and can't wait to see BBI at Target!

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:12 pm

Ha ha...Aferg.

This is no false report as far as I'm concerned. The e-mail came straight from BBI as you can see. I hope that they aren't feeding false information to their customers. I take this very seriously (the A-10 is a serious 1/18 scale subject to me) and don't want to mislead anyone here. I expressed the interests of their fans in wanting to know what has been going on. I'm posting the first response they sent me, which I believe came from their overseas department, you will notice that they identify me as a United States customer. They also say a representative will be contacting me shortly. A short time later I received the second e-mail that I have already posted telling about the A-10 in specific. Both e-mails came from the same address at BBI, so I don't know if they use the same address for all customer relations inquiries from around the world. I think we should get others that have BBI connections to find out what they can. Even others here on the board can e-mail them and ask about the Target distribution and the A-10 to see if they get the same response. With it being this close to a possible release date, I would think someone at Bad Cat would know about the A-10. Anyway, here is the first e-mail that came before the second. As soon as I get a response from the the third e-mail I sent about verifying the scale size and release time, I'll post it here.

Customer Relations - CL" <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: bbi
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 14:36:45 +0800

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your message. We will update our membership database with
your
revised email address accordingly.

We notified that you are located in the US. We shall pass your message
to
our relevant department, and our corresponding business officer will
soon
contact you.

Meanwhile, please visit our site at www.blueboxtoys.com for our latest
news
and products.

Best Regards,
bbi Customer Relations - CL

(Please enclose previous dialogues for enhancing future reference)

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: bbi

> Country : United States
> Name : Ryan Mason
> E-mail : [email protected]
>
> Subject : bbi
> Enquiry : Are you still producing 1/18 scale military products and
coming
> up with new 1/18 scale military products? If so, are you going to
produce
> a 1/18 scale A-10? Myself and many fans of your products are
wondering if
> you are still producing 1/18 scale products. No one has heard
anything or
> seen anything from you at conventions or on your website. Any
information
> you can give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you and I hope all is well.
>
> Ryan

Here again is the second e-mail (the one I posted earlier today):

"Customer Relations - CL" <[email protected]> Add to Address Book
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: bbi
Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 14:44:05 +0800

Dear Ryan,

Thank you for your message. We will have the A10 to be available in the Target Stores in July.
Please keep updated with us at www.blueboxtoys.com for our latest news and products.

Best Regards,
bbi Customer Relations - CL

(Please enclose previous dialogues for enhancing future reference)

----- Original Message -----
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: bbi

> Country : United States
> Name : Ryan Mason
> E-mail : [email protected]
>
> Subject : bbi
> Enquiry : Are you still producing 1/18 scale military products and coming
> up with new 1/18 scale military products? If so, are you going to produce
> a 1/18 scale A-10? Myself and many fans of your products are wondering if
> you are still producing 1/18 scale products. No one has heard anything or
> seen anything from you at conventions or on your website. Any information
> you can give would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you and I hope all is well.
>
> Ryan

I feel this is ligit since BBI themselves sent this, but seeing is believeing. I know I will be one p o'ed person if they are feeding me (and in turn you) false information about producing an A-10 in 1/18 scale. Anyways, lets cross our fingers and hope this all pans out.

Birddog

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:25 pm

If BCA isn't getting first dibs on it I wouldn't expect them to talk it up. It was mentioned on a foreign website that was pointed out a couple of weeks ago.
My only fear is that a Target exclusive will be more elusive than a TRU or WM exclusive

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:46 pm

I hope not. If the production costs are as astonomical as told to be, it would be to their advantage to make it as available as possible through other selling outlets. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll bet they sold the majority of their F-18's and F-16's through online retail outlets rather than brick and mortar (TRU to be precise) outlets. If things do pan out like the information they sent me says, they may just be moving their products to an outlet that is more stable and shopped by more people such as Target. Sounds like they're siding with a retailer that has the same public exposure as Wal-Mart.

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:47 pm

HOPEFULLY WITH MUCH BETTER DISTRIBUTION!!!!!!!

digger · Post by **digger** » Mon May 23, 2005 3:42 pm

WM distributions is fine by me - ranging from never in stock to piled to the ceiling, WM goods are BOUND to be clearanced SOMEWHERE and in turn are on ebay for about retail price. TRU & Target have product that immediately demands a premium and sometimes never levels out - look at new FOV or older XD at tru. Triple on ebay months after release....

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:12 pm

Dosen't matter to me whether Target, WM, or TRU carries it. As long as it is out there. I'll purchase it online (not e-bay) more than likely if it becomes available there. Heck, I'll find it where ever it may be. My work requires me to travel from upstate NY to south Texas and all in between. I can't even begin to tell you how many Targets, TRU's, and Wal-Marts across the nation I've been to looking for different items. It is certainly fair to say that when it comes to collecting 1/18, the hunt will never be boring.

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:42 pm

I doubt this will be a Target exclusive any more than the F-18 et al was a TRU exclusive. It's probably just BBI switching from an unstable TRU to a more stable Target or TRU saying they didn't want any more BBI offerings, forcing BBI to approach Target....which may also explain the huge delay we've seen in new product coming out, since BBI would be reluctant to make anything new until they had a large brick und mortar retailer lined up to sell them.

I'd be surprised if these weren't available from online retailers at some point; though Target may get first dibs.

As there are no Targets in Canada i will be in a state of panic

when these are released, until i secure one...

Birddog · Post by **Birddog** » Mon May 23, 2005 4:56 pm

Aferg,

When and if they do appear (hopefully very soon) just give me the word and I'll grab one for you.

Oh, has anyone checked with Bad Cat or Dirk to see if they have any knowledge of the A-10 and if they are going to be able to secure some for retail?

OnWu · Post by **OnWu** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:11 pm

This surprised me so I called my cousin who has a close working relationship with BBI, here's the skinny:

1. This is, in fact, a Target exclusive.

2. The A-10 is to be "Toy Quality" and will not even remotely approach the detail of the F-18 or F16. The A-10 will not even be marketed under the Elite Force name, it will get its own branding.

3. The A-10 will most likely come with a "realistic sound" button(s).

4. The 1:18 scale is only approximate. It will be labeled 1:18 but due to various considerations the actual scale will be closer to 1:21 or so.

5. It will probably be impossible to upgrade the tooling to make it acceptable for collectors.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, it doesn't appear that this one is aimed at us.

Post by **aferguson** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:13 pm

this is crushing news...

Small Scale Military Headquarters

Where the heck is bbi?

Pacific

Re: Pacific

Alternatives

Cool!

BCA & A-10

Distribution

Bursting the Bubble