RC/ERTL buys Polar Lights - Announcement

WOW!!
I guess my bad customer experience with Ertl wasn't the only one.
They suck.
Anyway, some folks on here mentioned Monogram and their sci-fi series. Those were FABULOUS kits! What are the odds of them bringing back their sc-fi line? How about just taking it over? It'd be a shame for sci-fi to be wiped out by this.
The upside is that there is always Hobby Link Japan!

Carlos

I know i'm a bit late with this but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Polar lights/playing M were at least taking the desires of modelers into consideration and i've always loved building their kits (tho they're a bit thin on the ground here in the uk). My only hope is that their kits don't go the way of ertl's, ie infinite rereleases that are IMPOSSIBLE to get in the uk.

A dark day indeed.

Well, back to the institution i go.

QUOTE: Originally posted by roosterfish I had to learn this on Memorial Day? Can it really be true? Are there any official notices of the sale?

It is officially listed on racing champions web site

I'll go along with everyone and say its bad news.

Ertl kits were a pain in my experience, the only plastic kits you see from them now are cars, cars and more cars (I'm sure thats an RC decision there) the planes are gone, the Sci-Fi is gone. Its like if it aint cars it don't count.

I've no taste for die cast and I was never fond of the engineering behind Ertl's Sci-Fi kits, but they were the only game in town if you wanted affordable injection molded kits of Star Trek and Star Wars Stuff, with the exception of Monogram who held licences for Star Trek Voyager, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica and I wish they had done much more with those licenses.

Ertl always seems to have put customer service dead last, I had to get a replacement part from them once and they gave me some sort of run around that they couldn't replace parts from kits that had been opened, only ones with the shrink wrap still on them. They said they used that as proof that the parts were trully missing and not just misplaced by the modeler. Like I can see through the shrink wrap and cardboard to see a part is missing or damaged before opening it up, if I could do that, I would'nt have bought a kit with a missing part, would I?! }:-(

Welcome to Ertl customer service: the service is the joke and the customer is the punch line.

Well atleast i was able to pick up the NX-01 today

Oh Keptin!, I don't think I canna take any more.

I find it hard to believe that ertl would even have enough money to buy PM considering all of their models are crap their CJ5 Jeep was a nightmare some parts were off by allmost half a centimeter, their molds allways have dimples and in my opinion they aren't worthy of any title accept pure crap.

Oh bugger !

"It's over Johnny....it's over!" ertl's attitude toward sci-fi genre is similar to the rest of the industry.we are the bunch of freaks in the corner at the dance.real modelers build planes,cars or boats.if they do decide to continue the line they'll probably go to die cast like they attempted with the phantom menace models.they have a whole generation of possible future modelers thinking that modeling is putting tiny screws into pre-drilled holes found on a piece of pre-painted metal.this is evidenced at every contest i, ve judged in the last 5 years including the ipms nationals where juniors enter pre -painted and or die cast models as if they built an actual model.granted they are children and don't know any better but unfortunately i do.immediate gratification and do whatever you have to to have the rules bent in your favor. an unfortunate reflection of our evolving society.Very disappointing developement

I've lived through a couple of buyouts before. You know, the bank mergers in the late 1980s. Seriously, the banks were merging so fast I didn't know what bank I was working for. The name changed about every eight months. And I should have known since I was printing the bank forms. Let's see...State Savings and Loan...no...American Savings and Loan...no...American Savings Bank F.A....no...New West Federal...YES...nooooo...Washington Mutual.....YES! Please tell me who I'm printing forms for now...Oh,...I'm out now ("displaced", it was not called terminated back then).

Two merged companies both quickly announce they are now buddies with much fanfare, then add in casually which CEO (the more powerful of the two) will run the merged company (with a new with a new company name) then internally start destroying the smaller duplicate departments. The eliminated departments are usually the smaller but more efficient ones.

I'm really trying to be an optimist but it is hard. Maybe we will get more, better quality and better distribution of models in the future?

PL is owned by Playing Mantis, which is a big diecast company producing lines such as the Johnny LIghtning line of cars. When RC/ERTL bought Playing Mantis, they got PL as well.

I didn't think Polar Lights dealt in die-cast products. I hope that the powers that be at RC/ERTL don't have a bad case of cranial/anal syndrome. How big of a conglomerate is Polar Lights? I would think that if they could afford the Paramount license that RC/ERTL would have no problem affording it. Ugh, my head hurts.

Sounds like the a bad deal all around...sorry to hear about it.

Dan

No "official announcement yet, but on the PL forum, Dave Metzner, who works at PL has shared the info with us.

I had to learn this on Memorial Day? Can it really be true? Are there any official notices of the sale?

Here is the thread that is discussing this over at Starshipmodeler.com.

http://www.starshipmodeler.net/cgi-bin/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16765

Sob...tell me it is a nightmare and not true! Tell me it is a rumor and everything will really be OK. But don't tell me ERTL.

The customer service will suck any way you look at it.
Lee

but what if RC/Ertl does get the licence again and cash in on PL's success.

This is indeed bad news.

Well, there goes the neighborhood.

Now why doesn't that surprise me. They get you going with a whole new line and leave you hanging. And I'm sure money had something to do with it. The old greed issue. That's what's feuling most of America's problems. Better go out and hoard those while you can. I'm glad I never got into any of the PL Trek stuff. Still sorry to hear it.