Thanks, MarfMaster, for getting the word out here on the board for me while I was indisposed 
So Marf pretty much summed it up, but here's a few more details on what's up with Mal:
We have two factories working on Mal – one that's just doing the body and one that's doing the finish work – clothes, accessories, hands, boots, etc. The good news is everything is going great at the body factory and they are pretty much done with their part. The issue has been with the second factory: After several attempts, we were just not happy with the consistency of quality we saw. It's really important that every Mal is at least as good and the reference sample and what we were finding was while some samples were good, some weren't. We weren't comfortable with what we considered a high scrap rate, and so after much debate, we decided to move to another factory for finish work.
The factory we left is actually someone who does work for a number of other high-end figure companies, so we had every reason to believe they could do the work satisfactorily. But whether it was the detail in the Mal pattern (lots of photo-etched bits) or they're just having a bad season, we couldn't take the chance that Mal would be anything less than awesome.
We spent the last several weeks looking at other factories, and got some timely advice from another high-end figure developer whose work we consider the gold standard in the business (you probably do, too). With that bit of extra help we were able to get into a factory that is producing excellent work – even better than the reference sample, in fact. So we have high hopes that with this partner in place, we will be delivering a Mal that is worthy of Captain Tightpants.
It is true this new factory is much more expensive. And that might force our prices up a bit on future figures. But for Mal, the price will remain unchanged. We made a promise to you all, and we will keep it.
The only reason I wasn't here earlier tell you what was up was I was waiting for a final sample so I could show you the finished product. Also, this board doesn't notify me when you guys post like some other boards do, so wasn't aware you were asking for an update until Marf pinged me last week. Sorry about that!
So Marf pretty much summed it up, but here's a few more details on what's up with Mal:
We have two factories working on Mal – one that's just doing the body and one that's doing the finish work – clothes, accessories, hands, boots, etc. The good news is everything is going great at the body factory and they are pretty much done with their part. The issue has been with the second factory: After several attempts, we were just not happy with the consistency of quality we saw. It's really important that every Mal is at least as good and the reference sample and what we were finding was while some samples were good, some weren't. We weren't comfortable with what we considered a high scrap rate, and so after much debate, we decided to move to another factory for finish work.
The factory we left is actually someone who does work for a number of other high-end figure companies, so we had every reason to believe they could do the work satisfactorily. But whether it was the detail in the Mal pattern (lots of photo-etched bits) or they're just having a bad season, we couldn't take the chance that Mal would be anything less than awesome.
We spent the last several weeks looking at other factories, and got some timely advice from another high-end figure developer whose work we consider the gold standard in the business (you probably do, too). With that bit of extra help we were able to get into a factory that is producing excellent work – even better than the reference sample, in fact. So we have high hopes that with this partner in place, we will be delivering a Mal that is worthy of Captain Tightpants.
It is true this new factory is much more expensive. And that might force our prices up a bit on future figures. But for Mal, the price will remain unchanged. We made a promise to you all, and we will keep it.
The only reason I wasn't here earlier tell you what was up was I was waiting for a final sample so I could show you the finished product. Also, this board doesn't notify me when you guys post like some other boards do, so wasn't aware you were asking for an update until Marf pinged me last week. Sorry about that!
It won't be much of a mystery who that company that helped out is when you see them selling Mal 
