Thanks for the feedback on that. There have definitely been a lot of folks asking for a traditional mods kit. It’s something I’m going to be working on this weekend. I completely understand that from the Taiwanese perspective it seems jarring. However, from a thematic standpoint (my own experiences and ideas translated into design), and ultimately from a cost standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to include traditional mods in the base kit.
However, what I can tell you is that when we release the WoB set (working title GMK Chine Noire), I will definitely design it to include a traditional mod kit, and as long as there is sufficient interest it will get made. What’s more, I have a generous offer from a vendor to fund the molds, so I will explore the possibility of getting the trad molds made ahead of GMK Houhai so that with enough interest buyers can get a traditional character mods kit. I’m gonna try to make it work.
I hope that many of the traditional character users didn’t get the wrong impression that my earlier unwillingness to use traditional characters came from hostility to the idea or the political background of the question. That was not where I was coming from on this. To be totally honest, I have been told by influential folks in the community who would know that this is probably the most complex set design they’ve ever seen. Therefore, expensive. The name of the game was simplify by any means necessary. The idea of adding a very expensive and complex kit to satisfy a minority of users was completely out of the question when the goal was to simplify and eliminate kits that may not perform as well. Now that we already have another set design that looks to use the molds, and may not be under such a tight constraint of the mold costs affecting the cost of this set alone, it looks more possible. I do not know how things are going to turn out, but I will do my best! All I can say is: stay tuned.