ThunderCats DS Giveaway (lack of interest)

I hate to say it but there were absolutely no submissions so far for the 2nd and 3rd giveaway (details on the front page). With this said I will extend the submission time frame until next Saturday December 8th at 2PM eastern time. If we receive no submissions we will have no choice but to limit or perhaps even eliminate any giveaways sponsored by companies such as Bandai.

I would ask that if you are talented and can make submissions for either one of the giveaways that you go ahead and do so and show your support so that we may continue to have giveaways in the future. Thank you for your particpation so far. lets show Bandai how great of fans we have

I've soft deleted your above post on the forums Manny. I've only done 'soft delete' as I feel it really isn't my place to do such a thing. Feel free to reinstate it if need be. I no longer care enough to argue.

I won't mess around and bull****. I said from day 1, NOT to overcomplicate the giveaways. Foremost, we could have kids wanting to enter and kids would struggle. Second anyone with disibilities might also struggle (I'm friends with a few folks who have different problems, including Aspergers/Autism) That is why I suggested simple ideas which would work to Namco's advantage of advertising the clip.

Frankly I feel completely and utterly embarrassed by the response posted. Not just the fact nobody entered, but the fact you state we will no longer work with Bandai because nobody entered!

This situation (for me) is extremely serious. The post was suicidal for this site in my opinion! I hope Chris will see this post and chime in with his opinion, as this issue involves him as well since the site reputation is at stake!

I'm sorry but I feel like throwing the towel in at this point.

I understand where youre coming from Neil but the giveaway ideas were approved by Bandai...matter of fact the video one was even suggested by them if i remember correctly. They were not complicated

How can we continue with giveaways when people dont even participate. Look at the participation rate for something as simple as stating what you liked about the clip...ridiculous is the word.

There were 3 different giveaways for those talented enough to do them and for those who werent so really your argument is nil on those levels.

Bottom line Neil I do understand but at the same time when i have to go back and tell Bandai that we had no submissions for the other giveaways its not going to go so well. The other giveaways were approved by them and there was no response

We'll just have to fall then on plan B and give away the remaining games for those who responded on the giveaway #1

To finish...I want to say that Im done with taking charge of giveaways, etc. Too much hassle for me. I have better and more important things to take care of. If any other companies decide to come forward with giveaways I suggest some of the other folks get involved because Im not

Chris here...

Hey guys, I think we can talk about this without fireworks on either side. :) We've been together too long to let something like this spoil things IMO. :)

I must admit these days I feel awkward about jumping into TCL decision-making because I'm around so infrequently compared to the old days - which then of course compounds that problem because I'm then posting and interacting less and less! :D Hopefully you guys are cool with me giving my $0.02 here... :)

I can see both sides when it comes to the giveaway - it's good to have something that's easy and something that requires a bit of extra effort. I think part of the problem is the promo clip concept - whilst it sounds awesome in principle, it's something that would be difficult for someone to do without specialist software (both software that allows them to capture footage of the game, and / or at the very least video-editing software) and a high level of skill. I use Apple iMovie all the time and I'd be reluctant to enter because I'd be unsure of my entry being good enough. I know they've done similar things to this in MOTU fandom, but (whether we like it or not) MOTU has a much larger adult fanbase. This isn't intended as an attack on MannyC or the idea - just saying why IMO this has generated no entrants. :)

I am surprised that the custom artwork hasn't generated a couple of entrants though as I would've thought we had enough fan artists on these forums...maybe those folks don't know the giveaway is happening?? :)

I do agree that it looks bad that folks haven't entered and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to make this known on the forums in a diplomatic way (after all, it might make some folks feel they have a better chance of winning! :D) - but, if I can say without causing offence, the way MannyC's original post reads, to me it comes over as very accusatory, as though our forum members should all get off their butts and enter because it makes us look bad if they don't. (I'm NOT saying that it was intended that way - I'm talking about how it reads to me.) At the end of the day our forum members are just that, people who sign up to post on a message board, and they really have no obligation to take part in a giveaway or not - so, from that perspective I understand why Neil "soft deleted" MannyC's post... :)

In terms of the immediate future, I'm not quite sure how we recover from this situation - we could post something on the Fan Art forums to let them know about option #3, and then just leave option #2 in abeyance and see what happens, I can't really see what else to do? :confused:

Again, nothing above is intended as an attack, I for one certainly don't have the time or energy to get involved in that type of thing - I'm just trying to call things as I see them in the hope of trying to resolve this issue as best as we can. :)

Take care... :)

Im open to whatever else you guys want to do with the other items. My involvement with this giveaway is now resorted to sending items out to people. Ive sent an email to Grace at Namco bandai and cc'd Neil on it. Whatever decision Neil wants on this is up to him. He can deal directly with Grace on this matter because Im totally out of it in terms of involvement other than shipping items.

I wont try to defend my post because its pointless to do so. It came across the wrong way to some people and thats all there is. To prevent from any future instances such as what just happened I will stand on not getting invovled , matter of fact anything that involves PR or have anything do do with it I dont want any part of it.

Neil...you can go ahead and take charge of the giveaway because Im officially out of this. Once you have everything else ironed out let me know the winners and Ill send out the prizes.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, or try to take control. I was quite happy for you to do the giveaway. However I did *try* to steer you in the right direction along the lines of what the competition should be. Keeping it simple will always get more participation and generate more interest.

Speaking of interest... I see no mention of the other 2 giveaway's on the forums? :( Did you make thread encouraging folks to enter Manny? or did you only advertise them on the front page of the site? This also might been where some of the problem lies, as the forums get the most traffic (more than the front page does!)

I didn't know Bandai suggested the video idea. If I had known, I'd have advised you to shoot it down. Again using the reason that young children might not have the skills to enter such a difficult task. Afterall, this game is geared towards kids!

When I gaveaway the Season 1 boxset Warner Bros. UK sent us, I just set a simple question about the series... might have been what was the ThunderCats home planet called etc... Anyone new to the series that didn't know would have to go to the Cartoon section for the answer ;) I consider that very easy, but even then I only got around 30 entries I think.

As for what to do, I just don't know.... after telling Grace in the email you CC me on, that the competitions failed, I don't see us saving grace here (pardon the pun!)

However my suggestions would be:

1/Change the other 2 unsuccessful giveaways into a competition where you can enter ANYTHING creative that you have done with ThunderCats (art, fanfic, collection photos, custom figures etc....) It can include any existing work fans already posted on the forum. This uses the original giveaway idea, but simplifies it much more.

2/Extend the deadline. Extend it to the end of January or February 2013 if need be! What's the rush?

3/Advertise the giveaways EVERYWHERE!. Not just the front page (we can amend the front page post), forums (including the 2011 Cartoon section which gets the most views) mass forum email that all members will get, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. If Chris could whip up a quick ad banner, we could place it in the ad spaces on the forum and front page as well!

4/Explain to Grace that we have decided to extend the giveaways and simplify them a bit more, to perhaps encourage the younger audience to be able to participate.

5/Entries by email or pm. Some folks might want to enter anonymously and might not want other forum members knowing they entered. Infact for the other 2 giveaways, it would just be a simple task of pm'ing or emailing a link to their art/photo/sculpt etc.. along with their forum name, name and address...

Well that's my suggestions for now. Apologies if I was a little abrupt with my original post :( In future I'm best avoiding the forums, email etc... when I've had a few drinks, as I did go off at the deep end! :D Though I do believe the action I took last night was the right thing to do.

Neil no need to apologize...you did what you had to do in the best interest of everyone. I just wish you wouldve told me first on it regardless though Im not going to hold it against you but truthfully Im not much in the mood right now to go forward with this other than to get the items and ship them out to folks. We can still save face but you would have to communicate with Grace on that and let her know that at this time I had a few things come up with my personal life, whatever excuse to save face somehow. Take charge of it the best you can and Ill make sure the items go out to people.

Im sorry for that this has caused, Im not the best person right now to take care of this as you can clearly see from my posting on the boards

I've sent Grace an email explaining that we are extending the giveaways. Both Manny and Chris should have received a copy.

I've edited the front page post to reflect the first giveaway only and extend the entry time. I've also edited Mannys post concerning the first giveaway, reopened the thread and moved it to the Cartoon section where more folks will see it (but I've left a redirect in the Merchandise forum, so its in both forums, but all replies should be on the one thread)

We can put the other 2 giveaways up early next week. Hopefully we get a few more entries! ;)

Chris, can you advertise these on Facebook and Twitter? Manny maybe you could send out a mass email to all forum members? You could just copy the front page post for the email? ;) However it's probably best waiting to do this until we have details of all 3 giveaways posted first, especially the mass email thing, as we don't want our members to feel they are being spammed if we send an email for each giveaway...

"blackiecats, post: 87982" said:

I've sent Grace an email explaining that we are extending the giveaways. Both Manny and Chris should have received a copy.

I've edited the front page post to reflect the first giveaway only and extend the entry time. I've also edited Mannys post concerning the first giveaway, reopened the thread and moved it to the Cartoon section where more folks will see it (but I've left a redirect in the Merchandise forum, so its in both forums, but all replies should be on the one thread)

We can put the other 2 giveaways up early next week. Hopefully we get a few more entries! ;)

Chris, can you advertise these on Facebook and Twitter? Manny maybe you could send out a mass email to all forum members? You could just copy the front page post for the email? ;) However it's probably best waiting to do this until we have details of all 3 giveaways posted first, especially the mass email thing, as we don't want our members to feel they are being spammed if we send an email for each giveaway...

Oops...shouldve read about the email thing. Its been sent out but I tried to press reset so hopefully it wont go through

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 87982" said:

I've sent Grace an email explaining that we are extending the giveaways. Both Manny and Chris should have received a copy.

Yep, got it! Thanks Neil! :)

"blackiecats, post: 87982" said:

Chris, can you advertise these on Facebook and Twitter?

Just done Facebook, logging into TCL's Twitter now - LMK if I can be of any further help with anything and I'll do my best to help! :)

Take care... :)

Sorry about the lack of much-doing in these forums - saw your email, though, and came on. It's a great giveaway - although at a bad time, since ThunderCats discussion seems to have slowed down since it seems to be in limbo. If there's anything I can do to help promote the giveaway, gimmie a shout and I'll be happy to try and accomodate. The Mills abides.

I've posted details about the 2nd giveaway on the forums and the front page :) Hopefully this can also be advertised on FB/Twitter etc...

This might get a few more entries since it doesn't require having a forum account. Well fingers crossed...

Yes Nick, it has come at the worst time as I feel most folks have now moved on to the new Ninja Turtles... why I have no idea has it's terrible! :rolleyes:

Still at least it's giving folks a chance to get the game for free :) as well as some other goodies Bandai are sending. I'll laugh if one of the prizes is the 4" Slithe that is so very sought after! People will have wished they had entered then... ;)

Chris here...

"blackiecats, post: 88020" said:

I've posted details about the 2nd giveaway on the forums and the front page :) Hopefully this can also be advertised on FB/Twitter etc...

I've just linked to it on our Facebook - will get it out onto Twitter too! :)

Can I just mention, Neil, how much I love the image you've used to illustrate it?! :D It made me smile as soon as I saw it, as I knew exactly what it was! :)

"blackiecats, post: 88020" said:

Yes Nick, it has come at the worst time as I feel most folks have now moved on to the new Ninja Turtles... why I have no idea has it's terrible! :roll eyes:

I've got to confess, I love the new TMNT cartoon! I had grave reservations about it when I saw the trailer, but it's really surpassed my expectations. I don't think it's as good as the series that came out in 2003 (is that really 10 years ago? Yikes!), but I still really like it. But that's probably a discussion for another thread, LOL! :D

"blackiecats, post: 88020" said:

Still at least it's giving folks a chance to get the game for free :) as well as some other goodies Bandai are sending. I'll laugh if one of the prizes is the 4" Slithe that is so very sought after! People will have wished they had entered then... ;)

Hopefully this new variation on the competition will generate some more entries - keep us posted Neil! :)

Take care... :)

Just to update, we've had a few entries for the 2nd giveaway (probably about 6-7) so at least we can have a winner and get the prizes out to folks! :thumbsup:

I do think the problem is cartoon fans have lost interest due to the winding down of the brand :( So the original idea might have worked if we had been doing this at the height of the relaunch.

Anyway I'll upload the entries to the staff folder at the end of the month and we can choose 2 winners (one 1st prize = game + figures and a 2nd prize = the game)

Then for the 3rd copy of the game we can draw a name out from the Giveaway 1 thread :)

Once Manny has posted the prizes, I can then reimburse the shipping cost from the TCL funds, though I'd say NOT to use the most expensive shipping for them and also to value them at $0 on the customs since they are free prizes.

Chris here...

That all sounds good to me, Neil, and I think your comments are spot on - unfortunately with nothing new keeping the brand going, the forums seem to be down to just the die-hards, which probably isn't helpful to something like this. :(

So at least this way we've managed to save face, and some ThunderCats fans will get some cool stuff! :thumbsup:

Take care... :)