JULY 15, 2022 - It’s a sad day for fans of the Part Works publisher Eaglemoss. As we reported yesterday, something was clearly afoot, as they had filed a “Notice of Intention,” to appoint an administrator. While a move like that isn’t always the death knell of a company, it’s certainly a sign that the organization is in trouble. Well, now we have confirmation that the little ships people have come to love (and in some cases, hoard,) will no longer be produced.

According to website downthetubes, “the company’s large debts finally caught up with them.” Eaglemoss’ operating loss by the end of 2020 was £10,504,086, up from £857,379 the year before. Their Gross Profit decrease of 72% was reportedly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the 2020 lockdown, the company’s products couldn’t be released in traditional newsagents, in addition to the impact on suppliers, logistics, and distributors, not to mention the decrease in customers, many of whom found themselves jobless that year.

One cautionary note to add here. Eaglemoss themselves have so far remained mute on the subject of whether they have truly gone out of business. Ben Robinson, who has worked for the company for over 11 years and is currently their Director of Licensed Products, shared a link to the downthetubes on LinkedIn via Sandy Resnick, Head of Rights over at WEBTOON. It seems unlikely that Robinson would do that if the news was false but until Eaglemoss posts an official announcement, we should be ready for anything.

Eaglemoss, which also goes by the name “Hero Collector” when referring to their direct-to-consumer channel, doesn’t only make a tiny fleet of ships. They also have a line of books, graphic novel reprints, and a recently-released USS Enterprise-D replica build-up, complete with working lights. If the news is true, customers who subscribed to this last item will be left with a partially-constructed model, with no way to finish it. In essence, they may now have a replica of Picard’s Enterprise in its first year of construction at Mars’ Utopia Planitia Shipyards.

You can check out the story for yourself at downthetubes.net.