TOPIC: Adaptive Saber Parts Kickstarter Campaign

jbeem wrote:
EXACTLY. I'm not complaining but I'm going to say what JBeem said again:
"Someone has to have gotten their ASP saber by now, I wish they would come out and show us! "

You got the parts in? Great! Take pictures of that. You're sorting parts? Take 5 seconds, take a pic or video of the sorting...and post it somewhere. Anywhere. Even if it's just here.

Y'all said the Kickstarter sabers are being shipped, but no one is posting about it here on the forums or on the Custom Lightsabers Page on Facebook. I just don't get why it's so hard for y'all to give us some easy updates...based on the statements y'all are making.

I'm gonna borrow something I put on Reddit a couple-three weeks ago when someone was asking why ASP (and orders in general) were taking so long.

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I haven't checked Etsy as closely as I was, because I was trying to make sure they didn't run out of a certain hilt before I got paid, BUT, I think it's fair to bet the volume is about the same, plus they were getting the ASP facility OSHA certified and up.

Keep in mind that while all of this is going on...the company is still 40 people. At best. (In fact, pretty sure it's less since it was mentioned in a couple places that people performing less than acceptable work were politely asked to leave.)

I would LOVE more videos, some photos, and more information on how much has shipped out. (For that matter, they may very well be getting stuff ready so it can ship by pledge tier, in which case we may see a massive wave show up all at once!)

But the company is 40 people. And most of them are up to their neck trying to get everything built, answering emails, doing the shipping, and trying to keep up with the orders coming in through conventional means. On top of that, Justin and Daniel, who mentioned they are ALSO working on helping to get ASP ready to go out the door, are teaching classes at the academy AND got enough commissions through the customs shop that they had to close orders for the time being.

Taking pictures, doing KS updates, or putting videos together are neat, but they're probably at the very bottom of the priority chain right now.

Remember that everyone at SF is a human being, and there's only 24 hours in a day for all of them, too.

(Oh, and not to put too fine a point on it, but also remember that Phil and Stephanie became first time parents right in the middle of all this, too. That's enough to exhaust ANYONE.)

I know it's frustrating, especially since we've seen some examples posted of early hilts to whet our appetites. But we have to try to keep in mind that none of this is happening in a vacuum.

I get your point, but taking a picture or two and posting it doesn't take that long. I know because I have a VERY involved day job (attorney) AND I make props and costumes. People want pics and it took me a long time to get that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Hell, it would MAKE SF more money to have a few promotional photos.

We still have ZERO proof that these things are actually going out. Like the haters say "Wouldn't we be seeing people online posting about getting their sabers?" And that's a really great point. People post their sabers on Elite Saber Guild and the Custom Lightsaber Owner's Facebook page about 50 times a day. And that's conservative. I haven't seen ONE person post that they've gotten their ASP saber. All we've seen is SF post that the first one went out with a stock photo.

It's really demoralizing to have paid for something and have a company not follow up. Media is just as important as customer service and production. Without it, people lose faith that they're going to get their product.

Here are a few possible photos that could be done in one hour (or less) that would quiet all the concerns:

1. Photo of the pieces that came in.
2. Photo of the sorted pieces.
3. Photo of the work being done on the new building. (Are you telling me with all this talk of fixing things for OSHA you can't take one picture of what's being fixed?)
4. Photo of a redacted label of an ASP order. (This could be faked, but as an overall picture it would help)
5. Photos of people having gotten their sabers. This would take an email to the people that you've shipped ASP's to...asking them to shoot you a pic. 10 minutes tops.

Those are just a few examples. And it would mean people would have a lot more faith in your company.

Just as a point of order, they HAVE posted pictures of SF staff working in the new facility, bins of parts, and the new machining setups in some of the more recent KS updates.

And I suspect the wall to wall Fedex boxes in several of the pictures that have shown up on the SF facebook page are going SOMEWHERE.

I can't make any claim that I know what exactly is going on, because I most definitely do not. However, there is one thing I am pretty confident about. They are aware of all of the things you mentioned, and are doing their level best to accommodate. They want us to know what is going on, to the extent possible, and they are working on the mechanisms for doing just that.

I know there are folks out there who take all of this as a sign, or use it as proof, that SF is not dealing in good faith with its customers. Don't let them get to you. They have given us no reason to lose faith, and I for one have not. We would all like to know things sooner than later. Sometimes it is just not possible for reasons we will seldom ever know. That is where the faith comes in.

Hang in there, and I am sure your patience will be rewarded, and the detractors will end up eating their words.

BZArcher wrote:
Where? I'm not doubting you, just wanting to see them. Point me in that direction.

Who cares what people randomly say at Facebook? They could be anyone, and more likely than not, majority probably don't even own a saber by SF. That's why I prefer to stay here at SaberforgeForum where we know folks own SF sabers, have experienced the purchasing experience and know what we're talking about. It's the inner sanctum for true believers ....

ANorris wrote:
Here's the post with the some of the first ASP hilts to be assembled and given fancy photos: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621134222/adaptive-saber-parts-make-your-dream-lightsaber-a/posts/1482619

Here's pictures of the factory, machining, and parts:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621134222/adaptive-saber-parts-make-your-dream-lightsaber-a/posts/1444051

I'm trying to find the post on the Custom Sabers group on Facebook where Phil showed off the battle blades / axe prototypes for the first time, which also showed a wall stacked up with Fedex shipping boxes, but I'm afraid I am having trouble finding it because FB's search algorithm sucks goats. I believe he posted it somewhere about the last week of January / first week of February.

Hey after reading the last few posts I wanted to clarify what I was saying earlier.

When I was remarking that there haven't been any pictures/videos/posts etc from the first ASP sabers yet, I was referring to the actual customers who are supposedly "receiving" those sabers so far.

I did not mean that I wished Saberforge would post pictures or videos of the ASP sabers going out. I understand they are busy as heck and they should just keep at it and get their good work done and caught up.

It confuses me that its 2/19 more than halfway through the month and not one person (that we've been able to find yet) has posted up a "Hey I just got my ASP saber!!!" video or post anywhere that we can see. I know that on this forum we are a very small minority of SF customers, but you would think someone would throw up a youtube video or something at least by now. This is what I was talking about earlier.

So yeah, I don't expect SF to take time out to take pictures or videos right now, they have much better things to do. I just can't figure out why no one has popped up showing off their kickstarter ASP saber yet when supposedly SF was hoping to get all the kickstarter orders out by the end of this month. Again I call on people to keep an eye out for the rest of us for any mention of these arriving anywhere. I'm dying to see these awesome new sabers and I'm sure the rest of us all feel the same!

Hey, jbeem.

There's a big assumption there - and I don't think anyone can answer it except someone at SF: That hilts are getting shipped as they're finished.

My suspicion is that they'll be doing mass shipments - finish all the empty hilts, send them out. Finish all the hilts with no sound, send them out. Finish all the hilts with sound, etx.

With luck we'll know more soon, but I suspect we're going to see ASP hit in waves pretty soon.