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Post by distantsmoke on Jul 13, 2016 19:13:41 GMT -5
I have noticed that the website now gives buyers a much better idea of what will be received if you choose to look. Perhaps this is a response to some of the disappointment experienced by some folks. For me personally, The Century Beast was always too rich for my wallet even before knowing what would be included. I can not spend $400 plus shipping lightly. But there ARE people who do consider that a good price for an entertainment experience of at minimum several hours. Whether they also consider this particular entertainment experience a good deal for the money is another matter entirely. I can not fault MPC for trying to tap a wealthier market. I can only hope they do not forget that many folks like myself cannot afford such rich fair and would appreciate more alternatives such as The Weeping Book. Of course if any of the folks on this forum are interested in being my sugar daddy, with absolutely nothing except thanks given in return feel free to pm me. I love expensive gifts.
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Post by helenahandbasket on Jul 13, 2016 20:00:33 GMT -5
It doesn't have any real justification of expense. Extra postage. I wonder if anyone has tallied the # of print items to compare with the standard experiences. I listed the items included in each mailing here.
Now that you said it, I find it curious that the description of the fourth mailing on the website does not mention the online part of that particular Chapter at all - after all, they had an original song recorded for this.
One could argue that the multimedia content - the audio file on the USB drive, the GNARLSPUTRESCENT website and song, and possibly the yet-to-be-revealed academic website - justify some of the additional cost, but that is a difficult argument to make. As I said before, I find the roughly 270 USD of the Diamond level Kickstarter pledge much more justifiable for the Experience so far.
I understand your support of the company and I understand your putting the perspective of whether it was worth it or not depends on what you're willing to pay for what level of fun. Diamond KS was $349CDN PLUS $50CDN for shipping, $340USD at the time. Your 'roughly' $270USD is in today's USD (stronger than a year ago) and excludes the cost of shipping in its entirety. It's not quite sporting to quote a price of $270USD to make your point when it was actually $340USD at the time of purchase. PS, it seems like we used to be able to trim quotes, but I tried twice before and it didn't work. So, I'm sorry for quoting serial posts and replies when I just wanted to comment on the quite large understatement in price. It's considered to be bad form in many fora.
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Post by thegenii on Jul 13, 2016 20:38:17 GMT -5
Sir Gallant: "I wonder if anyone has tallied the # of print items to compare with the standard experiences."
The other experiences (The Weeping Book excepted) have only two mailings before the crate. The Century Beast has 7 mailings (at my level) before the crate. The other experiences also have additional printed items included with the crate as does The Century Beast.
And the special issue of Curios & Conundrums is yet to come.
So, there's no question that we've received many more mailings, only a question of what those mailing were worth (in one's opinion) in relation to the price. I would guess that the charm with the runic symbol cost more to produce than the flash drive. Flash drives are mass produced, can be bought cheaply, and loaded for almost nothing. The charm had to be custom sculpted, cast, hand painted, and so on. Those two items are more elaborate than anything which has appeared in the mailings for the other experiences.
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Post by Beckett on Jul 14, 2016 0:54:03 GMT -5
Diamond KS was $349CDN PLUS $50CDN for shipping, $340USD at the time. Your 'roughly' $270USD is in today's USD (stronger than a year ago) and excludes the cost of shipping in its entirety. It's not quite sporting to quote a price of $270USD to make your point when it was actually $340USD at the time of purchase. Apologies, I must admit that I never even considered the possibility that backers from the States or Canada had to pay shipping at all. Shipping costs are usually my main gripe when considering an Experience, since they raise the price by around fifty percent and are included in the item's value when calculating VAT and duties upon import, but I had honestly believed the kickstarter Experiences were a much better deal that the Black Friday or Retail versions. I would guess that the charm with the runic symbol cost more to produce than the flash drive. Flash drives are mass produced, can be bought cheaply, and loaded for almost nothing. Ironically, with the cost of hiring Mr. Meer behind it, this may have been more expensive to produce after all. Now that should be paid for by the kickstarter campaign, but still, it might have found its way into the Experience's price after all. If it was the best decision to use Mr. Meer for this is an entirely different matter. For my brother it was a fun little moment of recognition, but he had at that point already figured out he was receiving The Century Beast. I would love to know which real band, if any, is behind GNARLSPUTRESCENT, too...
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Post by thegallant on Jul 14, 2016 6:36:06 GMT -5
Sir Gallant: "I wonder if anyone has tallied the # of print items to compare with the standard experiences." The other experiences (The Weeping Book excepted) have only two mailings before the crate. The Century Beast has 7 mailings (at my level) before the crate. The other experiences also have additional printed items included with the crate as does The Century Beast. And the special issue of Curios & Conundrums is yet to come. So, there's no question that we've received many more mailings, only a question of what those mailing were worth (in one's opinion) in relation to the price. I would guess that the charm with the runic symbol cost more to produce than the flash drive. Flash drives are mass produced, can be bought cheaply, and loaded for almost nothing. The charm had to be custom sculpted, cast, hand painted, and so on. Those two items are more elaborate than anything which has appeared in the mailings for the other experiences. Genii -- Having not received the King in Yellow Experience, I assumed that the runic amulet from CB was roughly as elaborate as the yellow sign necklace. Since the curator made such a point that each piece of paper is an artifact lovingly crafted, I was just musing about the tally of paper 'artifacts.' Comparing the King in Yellow mailings to the CB mailings: (I'm using the reveal descriptions under the KiY experience from the MPC site) Century Beast | King in Yellow | Comic Book Page | Screed against Censorship | Post-it Note | Excerpt from KiY Play | 3 Page Cave | Playbill | Post-it note | Newspaper Article | Receipt | Necklace | Newspaper Cutout | Variety of newspaper cutouts | 10% la playa coupon | postcard | Diary excerpt | Photograph | note on ruled notebook | letter | norwegian fairy tale | Prestige Effigy | article about fairy tale | - | runic amulet | - | note on ruled paper | - | evidence bag | - | usb stick w/ track | - | letter with ruled paper/logo | - | apocalyptic heresies | - | cassette jacket | - | fan letter | - | letter on ruled notebook | - | Hille collection invite | - | tore halfbeard | - | dig site permit (not in BF or retail) | - | archaelogical photo (not in BF or retail) | - | letter on ruled paper | - | prestige item | - | reveal | reveal |
I would say plain ruled notebook letters and post-it notes were trivia in terms of production costs (which is to say creative costs were still a factor) I would say the USB drive was trivia in production costs but that talent costs were a high factor I wouldn't count the KS exclusives Based on the photos from KiY I am going to assume the screed against censorship and letter are in the same category Discounting the above as trivial for paper items we have 12 higher cost paper items for CB 6 higher cost paper items for KiY 8 lower cost notes for CB 2 lower cost notes for KiY 1 necklace for CB 1 necklace for KiY 1 evidence bag & usb drive for CB No analogue for KiY 1 Prestige 1 King Effigy (does anyone know the build material for the effigy?) So taking these into consideration it appears we have double the high cost print items, 250% lower cost print items (two of those being post it notes), the addition of the USB drive/evidence bag/sound file, the addition of the internet GNARLPUTRESCENT track. The question is the quality of this prestige vs. the Effigy. When I signed up for double the price, I expected a mini-prestige in the middle, or a prestige that was amazingly awesome. I found this one to be nice, but not amazing. I did not find the audio recording to be on the level of mini-prestige. I wonder what the Bronze backers got in their crate? The evidence bag? I don't have a conclusion to draw from this thought process, but I wanted to lay out a comparison. If anyone here has the KiY experience and want to make corrections/clarifications/comments, please do so. also re:resin, yeah most likely. I was just feeling moody and was denigrating it more than I should have. Plaster would have been much worse the Gallant edit: corrected numerical typo
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Post by helenahandbasket on Jul 14, 2016 6:56:12 GMT -5
Did Black Friday get the Gnarlputrescent Chapter? I thought that was the KS stretch bonus chapter. Or is the KS bonus chapter part of the regular experience now and two of the thinner mailings are combined and sent together? I've totally lost track.
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Post by Beckett on Jul 14, 2016 8:27:15 GMT -5
According to the spoiler pictures, the retail version now combines The Prologue and the Playa del Carmen chapter into Mailing 1, and the GNARLSPUTRESCENT chapter is its regular Mailing 4. The only thing missing is the Doomed Expedition mailing; note that the archeological side of things is no longer mentioned in the description of the experience, while it was a prominent selling point during the Kickstarter campaign. Regarding the post-it and ruled notebook paper notes: I think the Company got rid of the post-its some time during the Experience as people were reporting them to be a major issue with their recipients - apparently faux-handwritten post-it notes are being used for especially tacky adverts in the states. Which, by the way, I liked a lot since they show a lot more attention to detail. I talked about this with thegenii in an earlier discussion - the new notes look to be printed from both sides to give the impression of the ink soaking through the back of the paper.
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Post by distantsmoke on Jul 14, 2016 8:31:35 GMT -5
Beckett"Shipping costs are usually my main gripe when considering an Experience, since they raise the price by around fifty percent and are included in the item's value when calculating VAT and duties upon import, but I had honestly believed the kickstarter Experiences were a much better deal that the Black Friday or Retail versions." I think I can safely say I understand your pain. I was lucky enough to live in Japan for many years, and learned to love many food items available only on the islands. Once returning to the states I felt their loss tremendously. I once paid $250 for a $20 case of lemon water. This is an entirely true statement. I did so knowing I was paying someone to essentially ship me bottled water from the Asia Pacific to the Americas, and that it would be outrageously expensive. I loved every drop I drank. And plan, one day, to make the purchase again. The fact that I am willing to make such a payment should be a loud and clear message to American manufacturers. But apparently, not so much. I would like to believe that if there is enough interest in The MPC on your continent, they would take the hint and open an operation closer to a new (for them) and emerging market. We can only hope, and send gentle missives to those who make such decisions.
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Post by Beckett on Jul 14, 2016 8:46:32 GMT -5
I would like to believe that if there is enough interest in The MPC on your continent, they would take the hint and open an operation closer to a new (for them) and emerging market. We can only hope, and send gentle missives to those who make such decisions. I believe the most prevalent issue in Europe is the lack of a common language - while it is certainly exciting to receive the occasional document in a foreign language, at the end of the day most recipients would probably like the story to be told in a language they understand. In Germany, it is actually hard to find a movie theatre that will show an english-language movie once a week for more than two weeks after its release! I would love for them to open a shipping facility in Europe - if only to stop customs from prying open my crates -, but I do not see that coming anytime soon. ... And now I want to try that Japanese Lemon Water.
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Post by distantsmoke on Jul 14, 2016 8:51:47 GMT -5
True nectar of the gods.
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Post by thegenii on Jul 15, 2016 1:09:13 GMT -5
I've been to Japan about 80 times, distantsmoke. It's my favorite country in the world. I would kill for a good Shabu-Shabu or Yakiniku restaurant in the Washington DC area. "Good" being the important word: I've never had good Wagyu beef outside Japan.
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Post by distantsmoke on Jul 15, 2016 16:53:55 GMT -5
I've been to Japan about 80 times, distantsmoke. It's my favorite country in the world. I would kill for a good Shabu-Shabu or Yakiniku restaurant in the Washington DC area. "Good" being the important word: I've never had good Wagyu beef outside Japan. I'm a fan of yakisoba. I even learned how to make my favorite recipe. Feel free to bring me cases of Kirin milk tea, afternoon tea, or lemon water on your return from Japan (assuming you make future trips).
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Post by thegenii on Jul 16, 2016 14:22:17 GMT -5
Yeah, I like Yakisoba, too. I love it grilled fresh from the vendors at temples and street fairs. I'm going in October. Can't wait!
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Post by professor on Jul 17, 2016 22:07:29 GMT -5
I received my crate earlier this week. I thought the artifact was rather well done, and very clear as to the subject matter it represented (it was a very strongly HPL influenced scenario, so it wasn't surprising what the artifact would be) From what I can tell, being a Cursed Heritage pledge, it appears that I did receive an extra item that no one else did (because it hasn't been mentioned). Included in an 8.5x11 white envelope was a page of newsprint written in what I assume to be Norwegian. No one clear article is intact, and I'm not sure any of those article bits are part of the narrative. Over top however, is a charcoal sketch of my likeness. I think it would be amusing if it was meant to be a police sketch of the person who stole the artifact from the museum.
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Post by thegenii on Jul 18, 2016 8:40:20 GMT -5
Ah, I also received the same white envelope, but it never occurred to me that the charcoal drawing was a portrait of me. My wife thought it looked like Steve Martin! Regardless, I greatly appreciate the inclusion of that item and that certainly accounts for some of the higher price.
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