No sooner than MFX's replica business hit the skids than the BBC have lined up a brave new (and dare I say, foolhardy) player to take over the licence for the Eccleston/Tennant era sonic and these guys apparently want to manufacture them here in China!
Doesn't bother me too much as I know I have the better product but what irks is the fact the silly cunts at BBC Licensing continue to reject my overtures.
Whoever does inherit the Sonic licence from MFX is guaranteed to inherit a poisoned chalice - I will make sure of it. Firstly, making a screen accurate sonic is not easy. Secondly, with my head start and the various tricks I have up my sleeve, they will find themselves flogging a dead horse. Despite what they think, the market for high quality sonic screwdrivers is pretty small and what with MFX and myself playing in the same sandbox the market has become pretty saturated.
However, the biggest issue against the new boys is timescales and complexity. Let's look at it from an objective perspective: The new series sonics are complex bits of engineering and design. I am the best at what I do and even for me, with direct access to an original prop, it took the best part of five years, three years of which was solid R&D: tooling, materials and CAD models had to be developed and researched. The electronics for sound had to be developed and miniaturized from scratch. It may seem like an inconsequential thing but developing a 6mm sound chip is incredibly difficult. It's 40% smaller than a CO toy chip!!!!
The new guys haven't even got the licence yet. They are still thrashing out a deal so a prototype is not even in the offing. To make a screen accurate prototype requires prop access, detailed measurements and they will need to design out some of the inherent flaws of the prop. This all takes time, money and skill. I've already done it all. I've got tooling, I've got 3D models and blueprints and I've got a finished product. Even if they were to start now and work their balls off, they will have missed this year's window for sales as retailers would have already planned their sales inventory for the next year so unless they sell directly, they can already write off this year for a release. So we look to 2011.....by which time Matt Smith and a whole new sonic will be on the scene and the new sonic will be the 'old' sonic and sales will be nowhere in the same league as a new sonic which will be seen onscreen from April...
So what can they do? They can take advantage of the work I have done cut a deal to purchase my sonic from me, off the shelf and I go legit. Or if they are going to be total cunts, they can do an Ian Crichton and buy one of mine and copy it like Iconic did with the TLP sonic. However if they do that I will obliterate them in a hail of fire, brimstone and Chinese steel, muhahahahaha :-)
So if anyone from my would-be competition is reading this and wants to go up against me, good luck, you're going to need it. However, I'm going to make the same offer to you that I made to Gorton and MFX. Work with me and everyone wins. Decline the offer and someone has to lose.
However, the biggest issue against the new boys is timescales and complexity. Let's look at it from an objective perspective: The new series sonics are complex bits of engineering and design. I am the best at what I do and even for me, with direct access to an original prop, it took the best part of five years, three years of which was solid R&D: tooling, materials and CAD models had to be developed and researched. The electronics for sound had to be developed and miniaturized from scratch. It may seem like an inconsequential thing but developing a 6mm sound chip is incredibly difficult. It's 40% smaller than a CO toy chip!!!!
The new guys haven't even got the licence yet. They are still thrashing out a deal so a prototype is not even in the offing. To make a screen accurate prototype requires prop access, detailed measurements and they will need to design out some of the inherent flaws of the prop. This all takes time, money and skill. I've already done it all. I've got tooling, I've got 3D models and blueprints and I've got a finished product. Even if they were to start now and work their balls off, they will have missed this year's window for sales as retailers would have already planned their sales inventory for the next year so unless they sell directly, they can already write off this year for a release. So we look to 2011.....by which time Matt Smith and a whole new sonic will be on the scene and the new sonic will be the 'old' sonic and sales will be nowhere in the same league as a new sonic which will be seen onscreen from April...
So what can they do? They can take advantage of the work I have done cut a deal to purchase my sonic from me, off the shelf and I go legit. Or if they are going to be total cunts, they can do an Ian Crichton and buy one of mine and copy it like Iconic did with the TLP sonic. However if they do that I will obliterate them in a hail of fire, brimstone and Chinese steel, muhahahahaha :-)
So if anyone from my would-be competition is reading this and wants to go up against me, good luck, you're going to need it. However, I'm going to make the same offer to you that I made to Gorton and MFX. Work with me and everyone wins. Decline the offer and someone has to lose.
If anyone knows any more about this or who the new licensee is, email me
I'm sure you get this question every day, and for that I apologize, but I haven't been able to find any mention of this on the blog (I always look before asking)... Do you have an ETA on the series 3-4 sonic? Your work on the Eccleston Sonic looks AMAZING and I will definitely be purchasing one soon, but I do look forward to the newer model.
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