Schylling X-27 And Astroscout

[Robotnut]

Well I picked up my $14.50 X-27 and Astro Scout and here's my two cents...

I was quite surprised by the quality, the fit, finish and paint

are great. The heads didn't fall off and the windup motors

are smooth and long running. The boxes were well made,

but the the graphics are like a bad photocopy of a real bad

photocopy. Eventhough the box tops are cruddy, Schylling

didn't need to plaster their huge "Not for children" sticker

right on the front. There was no TTT logo on the box or

toy, but there is a company logo. It's a flower with a face

and the letters QSN. For the price, these are real nice toys

and I'm glad I didn't pay $60 each the first time around.

Now this is my personal opinion and we all know what

that is worth... :P

www.robotnut.com

[mr. x]

well, they should be good. they are TTT's molds. it is a shame that these chinese factories can hi-jack these toys and sell them at any price and they still make a profit. they did not invest a dime in the production of these, they did not have any insight into collectors wants or desires, they are thieves and buying these toys will only encourage further theft.

[Robotnut]

I guess I can agree with your second statement only if

your first statement is true ! The whole idea of stealing

molds and hijacking a toy factory still sounds kind of

fishy to me. Not including Thunder, which is a different

toy made from different parts than TTT, the rest of these

robots seem to be the same. To think that all the molds,

mechanical parts, print dies and machinery for a dozen

different toys have been hijacked or stolen is really hard

to believe. Apparently these new toys are not made by

Joytoys, so I guess there is another thief in the Shanghai

toy district. The other thing that is hard to believe, is that

all these parts would be used only to make a few hundred

toys and then discarded. When considering two posibilities,

the simplest one is usually true. :huh:

But then stranger things have happened...

[Zesko]

The whole idea of stealing molds and hijacking a toy factory still sounds kind of fishy to me.

Sounds like the plot of a really bad movie starring Robin Williams... A vast, tin-plated conspiracy to seize control of the world's repro robot production, driving prices down and sending the market into a deathspin from which it will never recover.

:lol:

I went ahead and bought the X-27, the Explorer and the Trooper, all three for under $50, including shipping... I liked what I got for the price, but I know I would have been deeply disappointed (especially with the boxes) if I had paid $180 for all three.

[robert]

I

Sounds like the plot of a really bad movie starring Robin Williams... A vast, tin-plated conspiracy to seize control of the world's repro robot production, driving prices down and sending the market into a deathspin from which it will never recover. 

But wait...up in the sky! It's a bird!......no, it's a plane! No, it's...... :huh:

[Zesko]

BICENTENNIAL MAN!

(reigning king of junky robots)

:lol:

[mr. x]

let's say i want to do business in china and i bring them a robot to "reverse engineer " let's then say everything goes smoothly and they produce molds for me. i pay them, and we start to make robots. i make a limited amount because i want them to be desireable, and i don't want to have to front them 30, 40, even 50 thousand bucks for a huge run. let's then say the factory people get wise to the fact that these cheap toys are being sold outside of china for alot of money. maybe the factory boss and i have a disagreement, maybe they aren't making the toys to my standard, taking to long ? anyway, let's say i then want my molds back, sorry can't find 'em. what can i do ? go to the police ? ain't going to help, go to the u.s. embassy ? got bigger fish to fry. even if i do get my molds back, who is to say they haven't run off a few hundred or thousand extra robots while they have locked me out of the factory ? there is no plot to ruin the repro toy robot market, only pure greed. let's all put our hands together and welcome china to the wto.

[Jeff W]

Can anyone confirm these molds are stolen? I thought that was the deal! You go to a toy factory and have them make the mold. They give you a lower price because it is part of the deal. You get to produce the first 500 under your name, future pressings can be sold by the factory under anyone else's name. This helps keep the cost down when having the mold made. Why are we so certain that they are stolen?

Jeff W

[Alain]

I thought that was the deal!  You go to a toy factory and have them make the mold.  They give you a lower price because it is part of the deal.  You get to produce the first 500 under your name, future pressings can be sold by the factory under anyone else's name.

Because logic dictates that no serious manufacturer in their right minds would do such a deal as it amounts to business suicide.

Let's see now, TTT have been around for some 5 years? Do they sound like they're not serious? Hijacking factories and other alien abduction theories aside, I doubt they're trying to kill off their very own market. And they seem aware of this probem too, hence all those announcements on their website.

But on the other hand, what you suggest curiously fits the "JT company" profile exactly. How much are "their" Thunders selling for lately? Do I even see a JT name and logo on those toys? Even the first few that sold for $169 didn't carry a JT name. Do they even exist? Now that was a nice scam, how many of us got caught paying good money for that one?

[Jeff W]

That is my point. The big bucks are made up front in the original run. Later, probably an agreed upon date, later cheaper models are released at very cheap rate. It is a win win. No harm no foul. I am suspicious weather or not any molds were ever stolen. As I understand it, there is one small area in Shanghai with a few old toy factories. You just walk down the street with an old robot getting bids on reproduction. If you give rights for later production to the factory, you get your robot made for a much lower rate thus increasing your profit.

[mr. x]

first of all, there is NOT some little area in shanghai where toy makers are merrily making toys. these are industrial, stinky, unsafe factories situated in one of the largest cities in the world. it is not a pretty picture. next, when one gives these people your hard earned money to make a toy, YOU pay for the molds. they should belong to YOU. they are big and heavy and sometimes the factory will just "store" them at the factory for you. by the way, the molds cost alot more money than alot of people think. this is a long process and it is the most important process. as i mentioned before. what most likey happens is, YOU are locked out of the factory, your molds are held hostage, the police will not retrieve them, because the factory boss is their big pal, they can do whatever they like with YOUR molds. i think alain is probably pretty close with his theory about j-t.