[IC] GMK SERIKA

[Hutch]

I would prefer the alphas to be Latin only, but I supposed I could use Latin alphas from another kit.

Interested.

[Wilba]

I'll try to clarify step by step why the update was done this way and breakdown all my decissions.

Thanks, Zambumon... my criticism was a bit misdirected, it's good to now know the reasoning.

[Draic]

Laser's base set did well, despite also offering alpha and micon sets extra. There is no indication that extra alpha sets crippled sells of the base set

[lac29]

This is like the most hyped set in awhile so I'm not sure why there is so much concern about sets not selling?

[Vadurr]

Really interested in this .... Can't wait to see color samples!

[kaiwwww]

for micons I'll buy it


通过我的 H8296 上的 Tapatalk发言

[Vigrith]

Serika's name is a reference to a manga (Space Brothers). So there has always been a thematic pretext to have those Hiragana legends added to the set since the very first moment I publicaly released the set. In fact, some of my early sketches for this set back in 2016 when the set was unnamed, had either Hiragana or Hangul sublegends. However, back in 2016 having those sublegends on a GMK set wasn't possible, and that's why I initially sticked to the more "standard" look.

Now it makes sense.

[zappysnap]

I'll try to clarify step by step why the update was done this way and breakdown all my decissions.

Let's talk about NORDE and Colemak & Dvorak first: those two kits were too far to reach MOQ. Given how the poll, the GH thread, and Massdrop talk have gone, I can't justify having these two kits. There has only been one time when these two kits have reached MOQ, and that was Nautilus, which had objectively way more hype than Serika. As the designer of the set, I don't think it is reasonable from my side to keep this going on for every set that is run through Massdrop just for the sake of it when there's clearly not enough interest for those two kits. Otherwise we end up with unsustainable situations.

Now, let's talk about the base kit changes and removing the Hiragana kit. First of all, I'm perfectly aware of how polarizing this changes are. For some people, this is a deal breaker, and for some others a the set is now a must have. I've been always interested in sublegends and I like them a lot as they make sets very appealing, and as some of you already know, Serika's name is a reference to a manga (Space Brothers). So there has always been a thematic pretext to have those Hiragana legends added to the set since the very first moment I publicaly released the set. In fact, some of my early sketches for this set back in 2016 when the set was unnamed, had either Hiragana or Hangul sublegends. However, back in 2016 having those sublegends on a GMK set wasn't possible, and that's why I initially sticked to the more "standard" look.

Soon after update #1 was released, which added Hiragana and Micons, I started to become more and more uncomfortable with the set and its kits. For every single set, and specially for the GMK ones, the base kit is the core of the set, and everyone should get it. All base kits should be as affordable as possible, which can be achieved by having the right amount of keycaps and also reaching higher order quantities. By adding those two kits I was achieving the exact opposite of what I wanted, splitting the orders between 2 options in detriment of the core kit.

I've thought a lot about this decission, and as I've said before, I'm completely aware that for some of you is a dealbreaker, so I apologize to those of you.  However, I do believe that these changes are for good.

Just to make things clear: there won't be any other major update. I don't plan to add any kits, or remove any of the present ones. I do not plan to add yellow spacebars, latin alphas, or NORDE.

Yeah, I still think it's an insane move.  Sorry.  I'm still upset about the change.  I still think it's the massively wrong way to go, and I think that not even offering a latin only alpha set after having it as the core for the last several months is a huge middle finger to a wide swath of those of us who were interested in the set.  I'm actively angry because it feels like a bait and switch, even if I haven't put money down on it yet.  It's just the total wrong way to go about things.  I honestly think you'll end up with about 40% lower sales numbers as a result of this change, if not even worse.  It's an absolutely terrible decision.

I mean, looking at the Massdrop poll, you have 1,066 people voting for the Core kit and only 66...SIXTY SIX voting for Hiragana...and your solution is to make the whole core Hiragana?  How do you even possibly think that's a good idea? Only 6% of people who voted in the poll wanted Hiragana legends in addition to the core kit.  Honestly, I think that you personally want Hiragana, and were worried you wouldn't meet MOQ if you didn't put it in the core, so now you get your legends and what the community wants doesn't matter.

[xondat]

I can understand your reasoning, however, I'm left with one question: why can't Latin alphas be a kit?

[frostbyte-gaming]

Just here to counter some of the negativity in the thread.

I for one still love the colorway and am hyped for when this finally releases.

In the end this is Zambumon's colorway he came up with the design and I hope that he sticks to what he had envisioned for this set and not just appeal to the masses. Obviously this can be a hard thing to do when you are trying to achieve a moq but if you are creating a set just to hit a moq then can you really call that creativity.

Definitely loved your previous designs and hope you keep up the good work Zambumon. 

[Vadurr]

I can understand your reasoning, however, I'm left with one question: why can't Latin alphas be a kit?

This would at least be a good solution!

[zappysnap]

Just here to counter some of the negativity in the thread.

I for one still love the colorway and am hyped for when this finally releases.

In the end this is Zambumon's colorway he came up with the design and I hope that he sticks to what he had envisioned for this set and not just appeal to the masses. Obviously this can be a hard thing to do when you are trying to achieve a moq but if you are creating a set just to hit a moq then can you really call that creativity.

Definitely loved your previous designs and hope you keep up the good work Zambumon. 

If it had been designed this way from the beginning, I don't think those of us who are upset would be so upset.  I'd have looked at the hiraganas (which I personally think look incredibly cluttered compared to the rest of the keys), said "that's not for me" and moved on. 

But to build interest, get people excited, get people allocating funds for an upcoming group buy, and then totally pull the rug out from under us at the last second?  Yeah, that's a huge slap in the face.

And I love the colorway as well.  Like, really, really love the colorway....which is why I'm so upset.

[chuckdee]

I mean, looking at the Massdrop poll, you have 1,066 people voting for the Core kit and only 66...SIXTY SIX voting for Hiragana...and your solution is to make the whole core Hiragana?  How do you even possibly think that's a good idea? Only 6% of people who voted in the poll wanted Hiragana legends in addition to the core kit.  Honestly, I think that you personally want Hiragana, and were worried you wouldn't meet MOQ if you didn't put it in the core, so now you get your legends and what the community wants doesn't matter.

You do realize that everyone that voted for Hiragana voted for the main kit, right?  And because of limitations in MD polls, there were people that wanted Hiragana, but put their votes to other kits.  And he did explain his reasoning- that this was what he originally intended, but didn't know if he'd be able to get it.

As someone else said, in the end, it's his set, and his design, and should reflect that.  And the community can make its will known by not purchasing.

[lemur]

This move is bad. It will surely get enough of the anime obsessed/whatever people to get a MOQ..

but it will lose lots of other folks in the process..

big let down on this one... it feels like functionally a totally different IC at this point..

[zappysnap]

I mean, looking at the Massdrop poll, you have 1,066 people voting for the Core kit and only 66...SIXTY SIX voting for Hiragana...and your solution is to make the whole core Hiragana?  How do you even possibly think that's a good idea? Only 6% of people who voted in the poll wanted Hiragana legends in addition to the core kit.  Honestly, I think that you personally want Hiragana, and were worried you wouldn't meet MOQ if you didn't put it in the core, so now you get your legends and what the community wants doesn't matter.

You do realize that everyone that voted for Hiragana voted for the main kit, right?  And because of limitations in MD polls, there were people that wanted Hiragana, but put their votes to other kits.  And he did explain his reasoning- that this was what he originally intended, but didn't know if he'd be able to get it.

As someone else said, in the end, it's his set, and his design, and should reflect that.  And the community can make its will known by not purchasing.

Sure I understand that...but still, only 6% of those who voted voted for hiragana. 66 people total.

And of course, he can do what he wants...but the point of an interest check is to get feedback, so I'm providing feedback. And the biggest issue with this is that it came so late after getting a lot of people excited for the set, and then eliminated the option for normal alphas entirely.....not moved it to an add on set, just eliminated it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

[Out_of_diplomacy]

Love the set. Love Space Brothers. But I am not really interested in Hiragana. Hopefully in the future you'll release an option without it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[Zambumon]

Yeah, I still think it's an insane move.  Sorry.  I'm still upset about the change.  I still think it's the massively wrong way to go, and I think that not even offering a latin only alpha set after having it as the core for the last several months is a huge middle finger to a wide swath of those of us who were interested in the set.  I'm actively angry because it feels like a bait and switch, even if I haven't put money down on it yet.  It's just the total wrong way to go about things.  I honestly think you'll end up with about 40% lower sales numbers as a result of this change, if not even worse.  It's an absolutely terrible decision.

As I have said on my previous post, I apologize for those that have been let down but, with all due respect, there's nobody that has allocated more time and resources and that wants the keyset to happen than I am and in no way I'd do them to disrespect anybody. I've been working on this set for a very long time, and there isn't anybody that wants to have the set done more than me. This is why GMK and I have been working even before a group buy was scheduled with color charts and keycap samples,  (Serika - Update #1), that's why I've remake the renders multiple times, or that I've designed myself some custom packaging because I wanted to have something unique for the set.

I take full responsability of my actions, and if the set flops it is absolutely my fault. But, as I've said before, I've done these changes with good faith and I truly think they are for the best and what it's more important, I feel more comfortable with the current kit dispossition.

I mean, looking at the Massdrop poll, you have 1,066 people voting for the Core kit and only 66...SIXTY SIX voting for Hiragana...and your solution is to make the whole core Hiragana?  How do you even possibly think that's a good idea? Only 6% of people who voted in the poll wanted Hiragana legends in addition to the core kit. 

Addressing Massdrop's poll. This is what usually happens when you add kits after the IC is launched. At the moment I added those two kits, 800 people had already voted for the set.

Honestly, I think that you personally want Hiragana, and were worried you wouldn't meet MOQ if you didn't put it in the core, so now you get your legends and what the community wants doesn't matter.

I think I left that clear with my previous response that I actually want Hiragana. I wasn't worried about meeting MOQ, I was worried about splitting MOQ (again, I think I explained that on my previous reply). What the community wants does matter, but ultimately I have the last word about this set.

I can understand your reasoning, however, I'm left with one question: why can't Latin alphas be a kit?

This would at least be a good solution!

Then we would return to the previous state, which I have explained why I'm not comfortable with.

[Wetherbee]

needs more jamón

[tex_live_utility]

How about a yellow accent kit so I can pair with some other Latin-only base kit like Hydro?

I guess I can live with a 40s kit. No thanks to Micons.

Edit: I find it really hard to believe that a Micons kit makes sense but a Latin alpha kit doesn't.

[xondat]

I can understand your reasoning, however, I'm left with one question: why can't Latin alphas be a kit?

This would at least be a good solution!

Then we would return to the previous state, which I have explained why I'm not comfortable with.

Massive, massive shame. Good luck.

[Photoelectric]

I realize not everyone has those keycaps, but it seems to me like any version of Classic two-tone Beige (vintage Cherry or more recent GMK) alphas would fill in well for the cream alphas in this set, if one wants something more simple.  The legends won't be the same color, but close enough for small letters on light background.

[lemur]

I realize not everyone has those keycaps, but it seems to me like any version of Classic two-tone Beige (vintage Cherry or more recent GMK) alphas would fill in well for the cream alphas in this set, if one wants something more simple.  The legends won't be the same color, but close enough for small letters on light background.

Many don't have any of those kinds of sets..

This would have been my 'classic two tone beige' set, with which mixing and matching is possible.. anyways.. I will reiterate how I think this is a bad move and move on and hopefully something else comes by that looks like it will hit MOQ!

[fardream]

I am one of those who voted for the Hiragana and Micons kit on massdrop, but not for core set. Now this change makes it even better.

I do hope to have a Black R3 1.75 control though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marvellion]

An unfortunate decision for me personally, but it's your set so you know the best for it's future, good luck!

[mkarlsson]

Question, OP states that the CORE kit covers uk iso. Am I missing something? Cause I don’t see the necesary keycaps to cover it. Maybe the uk part should be removed and leave as ISO or generic ISO? If it really had full uk iso support I would be in.

[Draic]

I still would like to know why you think offering extra alphas would hurt sales. Yes some people might skip the core, but not a massive amount. Others on the other hand will buy both core and extra alphas. I would argue those people would offset the problem of a few cores skipped by other people. AND then there are those who would never buy the core anyways but would get alpha+micons as a budget set, which again means extra sales you now miss. I fully understand that the core set needs to be the main focus, but with how popular massdrop sets are overall I do not find any reason to remove extra options, that would otherwise generate more interest in the set as a whole. From my perspective it makes zero sense, so some explanation would help a lot

And then there are those you now alienated with not offering latin-only anymore...

[Solotov]

Chill guys. I think Zambumon already explained almost everything regarding the change from his perspective. I do believe the hype on Serika was not that much originally, but it keeps getting better after adding hiragana and micons kits. Zambumon may have gotten worried at this state now that the interests have been split up on two sides: 1) Core kit 2) Hiragana + Micons + Spacebar kits.

Which is minority and which is majority? We don't know exactly. That's why he said he had felt comfortable running the GB with all these kits available. (And for those who pointed to Massdrop's poll that the core kit clearly outnumbers hiragana kit, as Zambumon said, this may be due to the fact that the latter kit was announced after the poll started. So, we can't guarantee that the poll result will be 100% accurate anymore. I, for one, voted for core, hiragana, and micons kits, but I actually would buy just hiragana, micons, and spacebar kits. There may be more people did the same like mine. How many? We can't really know.

That could be why Zambumon felt comfortable with this. Imagine running a keyset and the core kit didn't make moq, while add-on kits made it. That would really be a bummer. But again.. we don't really know the exact number. I believe Zambumon also made a gamble on this decision too, but if he said that it makes him comfortable this way, we can only just go along with the flow.

[zappysnap]

Addressing Massdrop's poll. This is what usually happens when you add kits after the IC is launched. At the moment I added those two kits, 800 people had already voted for the set.

...

Then we would return to the previous state, which I have explained why I'm not comfortable with.

So, 66 out of 266 voted for Hiragana, or roughly 24%.  So 76% who wanted Latin alphas are now out.  The thing I don't think you may realize has happened is that you still split MOQ....you just made it split between 'getting Hiragana' and 'getting nothing.'   

I also don't understand the 'splitting MOQ' argument at all.  Do you honestly think that enough people would have bought ONLY Hiragana and, say Micons, without getting the Core that it would massively affect final core pricing?  Because, that's a massive leap in logic that doesn't appear to be supported by any empirical evidence at all.

In the end, it is your set, but what you've done is alienate a very large group of people that had been hyped up by the original IC and renders for a long time, and it's very hard not to feel personally affronted by the switch.

[RSC]

Mate, it has been said countless times now that the Hiragana set was only added to the MD poll long after the poll was put in place, so the results do not accurately reflect the community's interest.

And honestly, if you feel "personally affronted" by a change in a keycaps set, you should really reconsider a few things regarding life.

[zappysnap]

Mate, it has been said countless times now that the Hiragana set was only added to the MD poll long after the poll was put in place, so the results do not accurately reflect the community's interest.

Yes, and he said the votes for core were at 800 when he added the Hiragana option....it's now at 1029 with 68 votes on Hiragana....(I could have sworn yesterday it was at 1066, but perhaps many (like myself) removed their vote from the core).  So, 229 vs 68 (again, the numbers I used in the second one were 266 vs 66, as it was yesterday).  Again, nowhere near overwhelming desire for only Hiragana. 

And votes for Micons and spacebars are at 16 total and 11 total...so the leap to say that having Hiragana as a separate kit would split MOQ on the core is not supported by data in any way.  The vast majority of those who would have bought the Hiragana separately would have also purchased the core kit.  The reasoning that having it as a child kit would hurt core MOQ is ludicrous, especially since he has hurt core sales FAR more by eliminating the option for latin only alphas than would have been hurt by having Hiragana as a separate kit. 

It's not only that the core was changed so late, after building interest for a long time, but that the switch came by COMPLETELY ELIMINATING the original core alphas.  And it makes NO sense. 

[zappysnap]

And honestly, if you feel "personally affronted" by a change in a keycaps set, you should really reconsider a few things regarding life.

It's not ruining my week or anything, but I'm hoping being vocal helps change his mind to at least offer the latin set as a child kit. This was literally the only set this year I had planned on buying.  It was different from all of my existing sets, had a great colorway, and was simply beautiful.  And then, late in the game, we get this change for what seems like completely arbitrary reasons that make no sense.

Over on r/mechanicalkeyboards, the reaction is overwhelmingly negative.

[KaosJ]

Laser's base set did well, despite also offering alpha and micon sets extra. There is no indication that extra alpha sets crippled sells of the base set

This, not sure why weeb is standard now.  This update killed the set for me. 
Was pretty easy to do like Laser, with Massdrop involved that's not a big deal to split these kits, making base normal and extra for weebs. 

UPDATE #3
Ultimately my goal is to have an affordable set, and I was feeling that with so many kits and splitting all the orders, the set would end up costing much more. So I've decided to keep things as simple as possible and have Latin+Hiragana alphas as a part of the Core.

Apart the fact that we are talking about small drops, i guess you are not considering all the people who will totally pass this set because of this update. 
I mean, for sure you saw many people excited for Hiragana, but most of the users + anonymous Massdrop users will still prefer normal legends and might totally pass this set for that. 

I think the final price of the base kit will be the same or even higher with this update. It will be just cheaper for who was planning to buy the Hiragana.   

Sad

[RSC]

Mate, it has been said countless times now that the Hiragana set was only added to the MD poll long after the poll was put in place, so the results do not accurately reflect the community's interest.

Yes, and he said the votes for core were at 800 when he added the Hiragana option....it's now at 1029 with 68 votes on Hiragana....(I could have sworn yesterday it was at 1066, but perhaps many (like myself) removed their vote from the core).  So, 229 vs 68 (again, the numbers I used in the second one were 266 vs 66, as it was yesterday).  Again, nowhere near overwhelming desire for only Hiragana. 

(...)

That's comparing apples to oranges. The choice on Massdrop was never Core with latin alphas or Core with Hiragana alphas. At that point, Hiragana was merely a possibility as an add-on kit.

[zappysnap]

Mate, it has been said countless times now that the Hiragana set was only added to the MD poll long after the poll was put in place, so the results do not accurately reflect the community's interest.

Yes, and he said the votes for core were at 800 when he added the Hiragana option....it's now at 1029 with 68 votes on Hiragana....(I could have sworn yesterday it was at 1066, but perhaps many (like myself) removed their vote from the core).  So, 229 vs 68 (again, the numbers I used in the second one were 266 vs 66, as it was yesterday).  Again, nowhere near overwhelming desire for only Hiragana. 

(...)

That's comparing apples to oranges. The choice on Massdrop was never Core with latin alphas or Core with Hiragana alphas. At that point, Hiragana was merely a possibility as an add-on kit.

It's not just the switch to Hiragana...if somehow he thinks Hiragana would be more popular than latin only alphas (I highly, highly doubt it, but whatever), then offer latin alphas as a child kit.  But now it's hiragana or nothing, and that is going to dramatically lower the number of people who buy the set. 

In any case, I'm done here...I've laid my case and will leave it at that....I'll hope that Zambumon changes his mind and offers latin alphas, and if he doesn't, then I guess I get to save some money. 

[KaosJ]

Imagine running a keyset and the core kit didn't make moq, while add-on kits made it.

WAT

[Zambumon]

Question, OP states that the CORE kit covers uk iso. Am I missing something? Cause I don’t see the necesary keycaps to cover it. Maybe the uk part should be removed and leave as ISO or generic ISO? If it really had full uk iso support I would be in.

That was a typo, it should say just ISO. OP has been updated.

Chill guys. I think Zambumon already explained almost everything regarding the change from his perspective. I do believe the hype on Serika was not that much originally, but it keeps getting better after adding hiragana and micons kits. Zambumon may have gotten worried at this state now that the interests have been split up on two sides: 1) Core kit 2) Hiragana + Micons + Spacebar kits.

Which is minority and which is majority? We don't know exactly. That's why he said he had felt comfortable running the GB with all these kits available. (And for those who pointed to Massdrop's poll that the core kit clearly outnumbers hiragana kit, as Zambumon said, this may be due to the fact that the latter kit was announced after the poll started. So, we can't guarantee that the poll result will be 100% accurate anymore. I, for one, voted for core, hiragana, and micons kits, but I actually would buy just hiragana, micons, and spacebar kits. There may be more people did the same like mine. How many? We can't really know.

That could be why Zambumon felt comfortable with this. Imagine running a keyset and the core kit didn't make moq, while add-on kits made it. That would really be a bummer. But again.. we don't really know the exact number. I believe Zambumon also made a gamble on this decision too, but if he said that it makes him comfortable this way, we can only just go along with the flow.

Those were exactly my thoughts.

Apart the fact that we are talking about small drops, i guess you are not considering all the people who will totally pass this set because of this update.
Sad

I've mentioned before, and I will repeat it again: I didn't take this decission in the heat of the moment,  I've thought a lot about it and I've been perfectly aware that for some people the set isn't for them anymore. Serika reached a point that I wasn't happy at all with the set, where an add-on kit makes more sense thematically than the base set, and where a base kit was no longer a base kit for many. And I wasn't comfortable with it.

[Draic]

I still think the decision is wrong and will hurt Serika more than help, but looks like I will not get any answers. Good luck with Serika. I am sure, reaching MOQ at this stage will not be a problem, no matter what.

[KaosJ]

... and where a base kit was no longer a base kit for many.

We give two different meanings to that "many", where hirigana was just a plus for the most (an add-on) and only 15% or so were superhyped and wanted just Hirigana.
"Many" is more applicable to the people that are out from the GB now. 

This set was hyped af and you will surely understand why many people are butthurt right now, this decision killed the set for most of them. 

Anyway GL with the gb Zambumon, i doubt at this point you will change your mind again.   

[KaosJ]

I still think the decision is wrong and will hurt Serika more than help...

I agree, base set will be for sure more expensive.  It will sell well but still not the high numbers we expected with all the hype behind it. 

[Vigrith]

I agree, base set will be for sure more expensive.

I have no horse in this race so I'm entirely unbiased here - however, I don't see why this would be the case. Why would the base set be more expensive with Hiragana subs when the moulds already exist thanks to Laser? I might be missing something but I feel like the price should remain pretty much exactly the same.

[Zambumon]

I agree, base set will be for sure more expensive.

I have no horse in this race so I'm entirely unbiased here - however, I don't see why this would be the case. Why would the base set be more expensive with Hiragana subs when the moulds already exist thanks to Laser? I might be missing something but I feel like the price should remain pretty much exactly the same.

It won't.

[KaosJ]

I agree, base set will be for sure more expensive.

I have no horse in this race so I'm entirely unbiased here - however, I don't see why this would be the case. Why would the base set be more expensive with Hiragana subs when the moulds already exist thanks to Laser? I might be missing something but I feel like the price should remain pretty much exactly the same.

It won't.

Less people interested if only Hirigana = Less purchases = smaller MOQ reachable = more expensive   

Btw the main point is not that, that was just to reply to the "cost-discussion", the point is cutting out the biggest part of the crowd from the GB.

[zappysnap]

It won't.

You're dreaming.  Your core is going to sell at half what it would have under the previous kits. 

[Vigrith]

Less people interested if only Hirigana = Less purchases = smaller MOQ reachable = more expensive   

Btw the main point is not that, that was just to reply to the "cost-discussion", the point is cutting out the biggest part of the crowd from the GB.

I think the set will remain in the same MOQ/price tier as it otherwise would. I understand the sentiment though I don't personally share the concern.

It's all conjecture though, I suppose we'll see.

[chuckdee]

A more constructive reply to the situation, especially as it appears that Zambumon has his own vision (and it's not for the Latin Alphas), is to ask to partner with him, and run a set of Latin Alphas off of MD.  Many people have done the same when sets appealed to them, but the designer wasn't willing to do what they wanted, 9009 being the latest example.  That could help both parties.

[KaosJ]

Less people interested if only Hirigana = Less purchases = smaller MOQ reachable = more expensive   

Btw the main point is not that, that was just to reply to the "cost-discussion", the point is cutting out the biggest part of the crowd from the GB.

I think the set will remain in the same MOQ/price tier as it otherwise would. I understand the sentiment though I don't personally share the concern.

It's all conjecture though, I suppose we'll see.

 

MOQs are usually 250/500/1000/1500, so it's impossible (normal alphas removed, you can expect half of the set sold if not less)

[Vigrith]

MOQs are usually 250/500/1000/1500, so it's impossible (normal alphas removed, you can expect half of the set sold if not less)

I disagree, I think you can expect a 15 to 20% variance on either side at most (erring mostly toward less sets sold with Hiragana base, of course). For example if the set were to end up at 1350 with Latin alphas, I think 1100 is realistic for Hiragana. I'm generally not a big fan of yellow and I've been allocating funds elsewhere of late so I've not really followed the discussion on Serika very closely (here and/or elsewhere) so those numbers are basically aleatory.

[KaosJ]

MOQs are usually 250/500/1000/1500, so it's impossible (normal alphas removed, you can expect half of the set sold if not less)

I disagree, I think you can expect a 15 to 20% variance on either side at most (erring mostly toward less sets sold with Hiragana base, of course). For example if the set were to end up at 1350 with Latin alphas, I think 1100 is realistic for Hiragana. I'm generally not a big fan of yellow and I've been allocating funds elsewhere of late so I've not really followed the discussion on Serika very closely (here and/or elsewhere) so those numbers are basically aleatory.

Well you will never know this since the normal one isn't happening.
But the massdrop vote for Hirigana could give you a good idea. Today was like 1000+ vs 70 (on a large scale is not hard to imagine that most of the people prefer normal). 

The set might still sell well since people are forced to take Hirigana or nothing, but still weeb-style is definetely less popular, a lot less popular

[zappysnap]

MOQs are usually 250/500/1000/1500, so it's impossible (normal alphas removed, you can expect half of the set sold if not less)

I disagree, I think you can expect a 15 to 20% variance on either side at most (erring mostly toward less sets sold with Hiragana base, of course). For example if the set were to end up at 1350 with Latin alphas, I think 1100 is realistic for Hiragana. I'm generally not a big fan of yellow and I've been allocating funds elsewhere of late so I've not really followed the discussion on Serika very closely (here and/or elsewhere) so those numbers are basically aleatory.

No way it will be 15%. A drop of half is generous...I honestly think it'll be even worse than half. If they offered a Latin alpha child set, your 15% variance might be correct, but with no Latin alphas even as an add on kit, half is the minimum drop I'd expect, if not worse.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

[chuckdee]

Well you will never know this since the normal one isn't happening.
But the massdrop vote for Hirigana could give you a good idea. Today was like 1000+ vs 70 (on a large scale is not hard to imagine that most of the people prefer normal). 

The set might still sell well since people are forced to take Hirigana or nothing, but still weeb-style is definetely less popular, a lot less popular

As Zambumon said (rightly IMO) since he added it late (as in post 800+ votes), people didn't revisit the poll.  I know I didn't, and when I looked, realized I didn't have hiragana, though I was definitely onboard with it- just would have had to miss the novelties like with Red Samurai.