April 28, 2024, 11:35:36 AM
41
Help Us Build the Database / Re: Battle Beasts
Last post by bjallen2880 - December 14, 2023, 03:54:35 PMThank you for this reply, I found it to be quite helpful and informative. I hadn't realized that the Beastformers are listed, so I'm fine utilizing that list instead for my own tracking needs. I wouldn't be looking for any packaged or sealed ones, so this suits me just fine!
Keep up the great work and a smoothly functioning database!
Keep up the great work and a smoothly functioning database!
42
Help Us Build the Database / Re: Battle Beasts
Last post by engledogg - December 13, 2023, 06:54:52 AMBattle Beasts are not currently included in the database, mostly due to the randomness of how they were packaged.
For example, Rocky Rhino could be packaged with Sly Fox or Grizzly Bear (or who knows who else, could be others?). On the surface, that wouldn't be all that bad as we'd have a Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record, a Rocky Rhino Grizzly Bear product record, and so on, but the fact that each figure could be either fire, water, or wood, really complicates things. And, on top of that, you have no way of knowing until you open the package.
So, "one" Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record would technically be:
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Wood
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Wood
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Wood
Total of nine records.
Repeat with Rocky Rhino and Grizzly Bear:
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Wood
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Wood
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Wood
Total of nine records.
Plus, I'm not sure if Rocky Rhino is always on the left in packaged samples. If he's not, that opens up a whole new package combo set of nine combinations.
The reason we are able to include the Beastformers, the Transformers Japanese Headmasters equivalent of Battle Beasts, is that they are individually packaged, so the randomness aspect is reduced to only fire, water, wood. Still, you don't know what you've got until you open it, but for our purposes, that's something we can currently tolerate.
The way the database is currently set up, we'd have to treat each combo of Battle Beasts, taking into consideration figure combinations and fire-water-wood, combinations, etc. as a separate product. So, you get nine (maybe 18?) products records for the Rocky Rhino Sly Fox pairing, which bloats the database, so that's not a viable option.
The alternative to that would be to create a single base Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product and then, for the contents, have every combination of figures you could get and have people remove/add whatever figures they own (let's say they have a Rocky Rhino fire and a Sly Fox water, they'd have to remove the other figures from the record to show ownership). The problem with this is we'd end up with one product record with 18 figures in it, instead of two, which is not at all accurate as to how the item was actually sold. Internally, it would would lead to incorrect product contents completion percentages as 16 figures are being removed from each product record, so that's out.
Another possibility would be to create a base Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record and have users, for their own use, indicate which combo they own in the notes section of the collection UI. But, if we do this, we can't add any figures to the product record, so we'd have a product record with no contents, and technically, NO Battle Beast figure records in the database, only product records, so that's a no-go, too.
At some point, we'll be able to more gracefully handle stuff like this (Battle Beasts, Mini-Spy Pack-Ins, Decoy Pack-Ins), but until then, we don't include them.
MIKE
engledogg
For example, Rocky Rhino could be packaged with Sly Fox or Grizzly Bear (or who knows who else, could be others?). On the surface, that wouldn't be all that bad as we'd have a Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record, a Rocky Rhino Grizzly Bear product record, and so on, but the fact that each figure could be either fire, water, or wood, really complicates things. And, on top of that, you have no way of knowing until you open the package.
So, "one" Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record would technically be:
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Fire Sly Fox Wood
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Water Sly Fox Wood
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Fire
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Water
Rocky Rhino Wood Sly Fox Wood
Total of nine records.
Repeat with Rocky Rhino and Grizzly Bear:
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Fire Grizzly Bear Wood
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Water Grizzly Bear Wood
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Fire
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Water
Rocky Rhino Wood Grizzly Bear Wood
Total of nine records.
Plus, I'm not sure if Rocky Rhino is always on the left in packaged samples. If he's not, that opens up a whole new package combo set of nine combinations.
The reason we are able to include the Beastformers, the Transformers Japanese Headmasters equivalent of Battle Beasts, is that they are individually packaged, so the randomness aspect is reduced to only fire, water, wood. Still, you don't know what you've got until you open it, but for our purposes, that's something we can currently tolerate.
The way the database is currently set up, we'd have to treat each combo of Battle Beasts, taking into consideration figure combinations and fire-water-wood, combinations, etc. as a separate product. So, you get nine (maybe 18?) products records for the Rocky Rhino Sly Fox pairing, which bloats the database, so that's not a viable option.
The alternative to that would be to create a single base Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product and then, for the contents, have every combination of figures you could get and have people remove/add whatever figures they own (let's say they have a Rocky Rhino fire and a Sly Fox water, they'd have to remove the other figures from the record to show ownership). The problem with this is we'd end up with one product record with 18 figures in it, instead of two, which is not at all accurate as to how the item was actually sold. Internally, it would would lead to incorrect product contents completion percentages as 16 figures are being removed from each product record, so that's out.
Another possibility would be to create a base Rocky Rhino Sly Fox product record and have users, for their own use, indicate which combo they own in the notes section of the collection UI. But, if we do this, we can't add any figures to the product record, so we'd have a product record with no contents, and technically, NO Battle Beast figure records in the database, only product records, so that's a no-go, too.
At some point, we'll be able to more gracefully handle stuff like this (Battle Beasts, Mini-Spy Pack-Ins, Decoy Pack-Ins), but until then, we don't include them.
MIKE
engledogg
43
Help Us Build the Database / Battle Beasts
Last post by bjallen2880 - December 11, 2023, 11:45:24 AMAm I overlooking it, or are Battle Beasts not currently listed?
If it is missing and can be added, I'm not interested in debating whether it's considered a subline of Transformers though...
If it is missing and can be added, I'm not interested in debating whether it's considered a subline of Transformers though...
44
Photo of the Day / Re: Hallmark Keepsake Castle G...
Last post by shmax - December 02, 2023, 08:28:49 PMJust what I never wanted!
45
Photo of the Day / Re: Hallmark Keepsake Castle G...
Last post by triKlops - December 02, 2023, 03:16:57 PMHa, that is pretty awesome.
Seeing as Hallmark's TF offering this year is not so hot, this may be a good alternative.
Seeing as Hallmark's TF offering this year is not so hot, this may be a good alternative.
46
Photo of the Day / Hallmark Keepsake Castle Grays...
Last post by KidTDragon - December 02, 2023, 08:18:07 AM...What? Why's everyone looking at me like I had the weird childhood? (Ho-ho-horrifying photo courtesy of Hallmark.)
47
Bugs? On www.shmax.com? Ha ha, you kill me... / Re: [RESOLVED]Download Wishlis...
Last post by shmax - November 29, 2023, 03:13:12 PMI've fixed the bug, so it should be safe to once again remove items from your wishlist. As for data recovery, I'll be sending out an email shortly to describe the situation, but in short I have backups from the last 10 days, as well as the first of the month, and I believe this issue was introduced on October 1. So, if you want me to restore your wishlist data, you can choose a backup point:
Oct 1, 2023
Nov 1, 2023
Nov 19, 2023
Nov 20, 2023
Nov 21, 2023
Nov 22, 2023
Nov 23, 2023
Nov 24, 2023
Nov 25, 2023
Nov 26, 2023
Nov 27, 2023
Nov 28, 2023
Nov 29, 2023
Oct 1, 2023
Nov 1, 2023
Nov 19, 2023
Nov 20, 2023
Nov 21, 2023
Nov 22, 2023
Nov 23, 2023
Nov 24, 2023
Nov 25, 2023
Nov 26, 2023
Nov 27, 2023
Nov 28, 2023
Nov 29, 2023
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Bugs? On www.shmax.com? Ha ha, you kill me... / Re: [RESOLVED]Download Wishlis...
Last post by shmax - November 29, 2023, 08:22:11 AMIt turns out there's a bug around removing items from your wishlist. I don't have time to fix it now, so in the meantime I've disabled the point in the code that does the actual remove as an emergency measure. Hopefully, sometime later today I'll be able to fix the bug, and then after that we'll have to try to figure out how much data recovery is possible.
49
Bugs? On www.shmax.com? Ha ha, you kill me... / Re: [RESOLVED]Download Wishlis...
Last post by shmax - November 29, 2023, 08:07:17 AMI'm glad you're happy, but if your data is being nuked it's a big deal and we have to investigate it. I was able to verify the behavior you describe, but I don't think it has anything to do with downloading the data. I'm troubleshooting now...
50
Bugs? On www.shmax.com? Ha ha, you kill me... / Re: [RESOLVED]Download Wishlis...
Last post by bjallen2880 - November 28, 2023, 04:28:09 PMGood news - it works again. Thank you!
Bad news- something in the process must have wiped out my previously checked wishlist items. Not a big deal, just gives me an excuse to go back thru and find new things!
Thank you for all of your hard work on this site. It's a great site and very much appreciated!
Bad news- something in the process must have wiped out my previously checked wishlist items. Not a big deal, just gives me an excuse to go back thru and find new things!
Thank you for all of your hard work on this site. It's a great site and very much appreciated!