The Mike's Comics Presence On LiveJournal

After some small lag in the schedule, we're finally getting the Seeds of Doom figure sets sent out to us today, for estimated arrival around May 8th.

We're also getting a special offering of the River Song & Pandorica Chair. We're keeping to our original pricing, which nobody else even touched upon original release, and, again, we're not going to try to force you to buy anything else with it if you don't want more. We should also have these available around May 8.



For all of you who have already contacted Underground Toys and posted in FaceBook with comments and questions, THANK YOU!! For all you others who want more releases, and specific ones, they're the manufacturer...let them hear from you directly before they make their next decisions!

And, on that same note, tell them you want to have access to the 2012 SDCC figures without a year's delay! There's no reason for them to make items hard for you to get, and they tell us they will listen to your feedback. Let's give them the chance to put their promises into action!

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael & Patty
Mike's Comics
http://www.mikescomics.com

Spring is here in New England, and brings with it some new DOCTOR WHO toy releases!

* The action figure two-pack of Peri and the Rogue Cyberman from "Attack of the Cybermen", a Colin Baker tale.



* The TARDIS Safe bank, which lights up and makes the dematerialization sound when activated by the key.



More items like this can be found on our website at http://www.mikescomics.com/TOYS2.html, and on the shelves at Annie's Book Stop of Worcester.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael & Patty
Mike's Comics
http://www.mikescomics.com

Often enough, we find situations where we struggle to get satisfaction for our customers.

However, we think we've just won one...for you customers and for us.

For some time, Underground Toys has given us all some strong concerns about how they treat the American market for Doctor Who toys and action figures. Exclusives that exclude us, selection that bewilders us, solicitations that just aren't accurate sometimes, and rarely give us enough advance notice to order properly, for you or for us.

And, today, we were given what seems like a way to address it.

Kelvin at Underground Toys USA just told me he is now in charge of handling "social media" for the company, and invites all customers to write him with comments and questions on FaceBook & Twitter! And, he recommends you mention that we sent you!

So, maybe a FaceBook post to the Underground Toys page might be something like this:
"Hey, Kelvin, Mike's Comics said to ask you here if we're ever going to see the Pyramids of Mars 4th Doctor, Straightjacketed 11th Doctor, or the Idris with 5 Psychic Cubes in the US...so, are we?"

A lot of you have talked to us...a lot!...asking when Underground Toys will address customer concerns. Or, will do it better. Or, will stop playing games with exclusives. And so on. Here, we've got an invitation for ALL customers to be heard. So, um, what are you waiting for?

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

Well, they've finally done it. The spammers have caused us to block anonymous comments to our blog. While we want to leave choices open for people, it seems all anonymous comments in the last year belong to spammers, and there are simply too many of them.

So, please accept our apologies for removing that bit of flexibility, but we finally needed to react, and, hopefully, get off some spam lists here, too. As we say on our main web site, we don't really give a hoot about your walrus-polishing kits, you spammers. We have other things to discuss worth our focus, and we're just not playing your game.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

We've just been on the phone to our suppliers for Doctor Who action figures again.

First, we've been told in the past we're usually the only ones now going to bat for our customers regarding exclusives and the like with the suppliers of action figures. That's a shame. What used to be a truly good crop of competitors among Doctor Who merchandise specialists seems to be going full-bore toward the web site model of business, and we now frequently get customers saying they found us because they can't be loyal anymore to stores who refuse to give them customer service, even to the point of telling one customer it "annoyed" them now to deal with customer phone calls. I shake my head at that attitude. How else do you get a sense of what your customers want if you refuse to deal with them directly? How can you stand up for what customers want if you don't even want to listen to them? The answer is you can't. And, that's why the other traditional stalwarts in standing with customers to get us all what we deserve are seeing slack sales, and less of a voice in driving the market. I can only hope that changes, and hope our competitors will start listening again, so they can give suppliers the feedback they need to help us please all our customers.

For our part, we still want relationships with customers to last decades, not 30 seconds while they generate a web site order that charges boutique prices, isn't what they want or need, and has no human interaction.

But, this time, the supplier gave us some good news. On the direct basis of information Mike's Comics supplied them, they've apparently taken issues to the parent companies of the manufacturer and distributor, and are trying to work through them. The initial result is their decision to revisit three assortments of action figures released only in Britain in December. Of these, they are putting together at least one assortment to try to create a release for the US and North America that hadn't seen release here earlier. Stay tuned, but this is promising for the many collectors who told us they wanted figures they couldn't get recently, and it goes some way toward fixing the sad state of distribution that penalizes all customers with exclusives heaped one on another.

We care enough to try to get our customers the items they want, through licensed channels, at the right price. That never changes here. We're still grateful for your trust and the opportunities to continue doing that for all of you.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

There are some days where you wake up and find, somewhat unexpectedly, you have another blessing to count when you count them up.

We've always said we are lucky for the customers we've had and have, and it's our high privilege simply to be allowed to be on this end of the phone and work with so many wonderful people.

As we approach the half-way point of our 36th year in this business, we surely have the good fortune to know very many such people, to whom we owe everything.

Today, one of those wonderful people sent e-mail explaining we'd helped her make this Christmas special, and we can only say we are humbled by her kind and generous words. In the spirit of the holidays, it seems we should share the happy story she sent us, given in the following link.

http://www.thecolumbiastar.com/news/2011-12-30/Opinion|Crime/Customer_service_includes_real_humans.html

We feel very lucky to know so many good people. And lucky to have a chance to do a small part. Thank you to everyone for all your time and trust and for the privilege to work with you. We hope to continue in 2012 in the same spirit, and wish you all the best for the New Year!

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

We continue to get asked why there are so many "exclusive" figures now in the Doctor Who lines, not making it to the US market.

What we've heard this week past is the figures the North American market isn't seeing aren't exclusives by intent, but are not (yet?) making their way here because of financial decisions on the part of the licensed US distributor not to bring them over...essentially because they must not expect to make a profit on them, or they'd cost them somewhere else in a way to make such choices necessary.

As a result, we've asked the distributor to give us "Advice Notices" to let us know when we will NOT be getting items, so we can deal more informatively with our customers.

In times past, I know we were better off without certain assortments reaching our shores, especially when those assortments contained one or two new figures out of a case of twelve...leaving ten or eleven per case we wouldn't have needed and couldn't sell. In a world of imperfect choices, I'd prefer if the assortments were reconfigured to get us each what we want. But, since the license holders aren't willing to be flexible enough to do that in most situations, there are times it works out for the best if we don't get certain assortments.

Still, communications is a key issue. We certainly press for more and better information, so we can inform our customers promptly. We're hoping our suggestions get action this time.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

Due to technical issues with LiveJournal, we were unable to post some updates here for a few days. So, it's time to mention some recent releases and items just re-supplied....

Toys & Action Figures
=====================

5" Leela
4th Doctor & K-9 (re-supplied)
2010 SDCC 11th Doctor & Scientist Dalek
Time Warrior Set (re-supplied)
The Doctor's Nano-Recorder
Character Building Time of Angels Set
Character Building TARDIS Mini Set
Time Lord Psychic Container

Audios
======

Dark Shadows #'s 19 & 20
Doctor Who (Monthly 2CD) #149 - Robophobia
Companion Chronicles #6.1 - Tales From The Vault (Subscriptions Available)
Lost Stores #2.6 - Earth Aid

Magazines
=========

Doctor Who Magazine #436 (Nicholas Courtney tribute)
Doctor Who Insider #4

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics

Hi!

Yes, there was another post here.

And, as of 28 July 2011, it's visible again just below this one.

I've taken it down at the moment, in an abundance of caution, as some content is suddenly a matter of secrecy in a fashion I wasn't made aware of earlier.

I'll remove hidden status from that post at an appropriate time, hopefully sometime soon.

As we try to respect our customers, we also try to respect the wishes of our suppliers. Simply, we posted something that was already common knowledge to many, and now we're being asked to make it a secret again. So, SHHHHHH! We'll make the post available again when able.

Yes, again, being respectful here, it's also not available to friended viewers. Sorry about that, but it's always best to work with people in a friendly fashion. It's what I promised to do until "everyone" is allowed to post publicly on the topic...at which time I'll have more to say anyway. Then, perhaps, you'll ALSO have some things to say, as I sincerely hope you will.

-Michael

Since earlier posting this item, the 2011 SDCC RIVER SONG & PANDORICA CHAIR has sold out.

The first of the long-overdue 2011 SDCC Exclusives has been announced, and we have made special arrangement to guarantee a solid supply even in advance of the solicitation this year, in spite of allocations we expect for this extremely popular item!

So, without further adieu....

We are actively taking Advance Orders for the RIVER SONG & PANDORICA CHAIR as the first announced 2011 SDCC Exclusive in the Doctor Who line of toys and action figures.

Price will not exceed the retail price at the convention, and we expect to offer the same aggressive kinds of discounting as we have done in past years. We also expect to see our pricing where it has always been when comparing to our competition...below their price.

We are also going to look at our costs carefully, and may offer enhanced discounts for Advance Orders placed in the next few days, so we strongly recommend you call in or e-mail your Advance Orders for this item soon, if you want one at all. We feel orders received by the end of this coming weekend in e-mail or by phone have an excellent chance of being filled.

For those of you who are curious, and whom I know will ask about this, what little I was told is the late release of information on this item is owing to very sensitive conversations between the BBC & manufacturers, largely regarding rights issues. Beyond that, we have no specifics, but I'm in agreement with my many customers who have been quite vocal in proclaiming we should have had firm solicitation on this and all the other SDCC releases in this line, say, 2-3 months ago, as they certainly were well into the production process by that point. Even if pics are an issue, telling us what we would be ordering just to let us take orders and let our customers budget their spending would have been a nice show of respect for all our customers.

While we don't currently have additional information to share on other exclusives coming, just about everyone seems to be expecting more, and we're firmly of the same opinion. Whether and when we can get those...well, stay tuned to our web site.

Thank you, as always, for your support.

---Michael and Patty
Mike's Comics