DORK OPS at SHOT Show 2005(?)

Quiet Storm

Quiet Storm

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May 17, 2002
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SEE US AT BOOTH 3573 AT THE 2005 SHOT SHOW! January 28-31, 2005 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Live SEAL Knife Techniques Demonstration with Paul Basal at 1:00PM & 3:00PM, Free Beer at 3:30PM! Come join us for Shot Show deals!
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That's what they put on their website.

So...any forumites at the show about to get a free beer tonight?
 
Of course the knives will be there! But so stealthy is the technique of Paul "The Shadow" Basal, you will never see the blade go in ... :eek:
 
Please post photos of the knives if they show up at the show. This would help to create some repsectability to the company.

These would be great passaround blades, know a few guys here in the sandbox that would like to find and test one.
 
This show will present Dark-Ops with a real conundrum. If someone actually sees these knives they will have to be killed.
 
Since we're on the subject again, has anyone seen the 'new' dark ops knife ad in this month's Blade? First of all, it really annoys me that they apparently have "911-we will never forget" etched on the blade of this ridiculous knife. Nothing like using a sad and disasterous moment in history as a marketing device. Then again, they have to have some way of marketing that terratoid of a knife. It is truly the silliest looking thing I've seen in a long time. It looks like one of those pakistan fantasy knives. Mix the rambo knife with the MOD stinger and the Gerber Trident, and then make it as ugly as possible.
 
will62 said:
Please post photos of the knives if they show up at the show. This would help to create some repsectability to the company.

These would be great passaround blades, know a few guys here in the sandbox that would like to find and test one.
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You gotta be kidding me.
 
J.Davey said:
Then again, they have to have some way of marketing that terratoid of a knife. It is truly the silliest looking thing I've seen in a long time. It looks like one of those pakistan fantasy knives.
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Dark Ops -- the NEW BudK?
 
Esav, this thing is more hideously gimmick-loaded than anything I've seen in a Bud-K catalog. I'm surprised a fork, spoon, and corkscrew don't fold out of the handle. Oh sh*t! I probably just gave them an idea for their next monstrosity!
 
J.Davey said:
Esav, this thing is more hideously gimmick-loaded than anything I've seen in a Bud-K catalog. I'm surprised a fork, spoon, and corkscrew don't fold out of the handle. Oh sh*t! I probably just gave them an idea for their next monstrosity!
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I don't know any Extrema Ratio knives like that... so I'd bet there will be no DarkOps designs like that either.

Will62, you are a model of cheery positive feeling... but if you really need a fixed blade in the desert, wouldn't it be better to get an American knife rather than something stolen from Italy, of all places?
 
Gollnick, who ever thought FedEx would be the savior of the knife buying community? Surely, it is divine intervention.
 
I just re-read the title to this thread. "Dork Ops", I should pay more attention. This company is never going to live this image down.

The owner/investors of Dark Ops must have a large amount of cash. They have spent a fortune advertising these knives that don't yet exist. I wonder how much of the price of each knife will be to cover the massive advertising campaign?
 
According to Frank, who I spoke to on the phone. He claimed he spent over $500K dollars on the redesign of handle improvements alone. ( that is if I recall our conversation correctly).

I offer that at face value only. My opinion is that is not true.
 
DaveH said:
...he spent over $500K dollars on the redesign of handle improvements alone...
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Either this is catastrophically run business or his claim is complete nonsense.

I'd expect that Ford didn't spend that much for the redesign of the Mustang!

Factoring in R&D, consulting time, machine re-tooling, legal/patent fees (although I'm starting to feel they didn't spend a lot on this!), etc., etc., he'd have to sell about 2,000 units of this particular knife at $500 each to make a profit after costs. This is guesswork based on some quick math and gut business formulas, but even with a big margin of error on my part, only a fool would spend more than $50K on a minor redesign of a knife handle! At least, before your investors and partners said "screw the changes and get that thing made."

I'd be interested to hear from the knife makers on this forum on this claim.
 
Dark ops knives are made with the newest stealth technologies making them invisible unless you have been given special glasses. Only those with the correct lenses can see them at the show.
 
STR:

That must be my problem! I didn't have the special glasses to see how all that cash got plausibly invested on a handle redesign. :)

And so the guy is sitting there on a chaise lounge outside a private cabana, holding a yard-long margarita in his right hand, scooping and sifting white sand through his left hand, as a DarkOps Covert Operative giggles and rubs tanning oil into his shoulders. He takes a sip of the 'rita, turns to another DarkOps Covert Operative filing her nails in the lounge next to him, and says "Yep. My handle redesign paid for all this right here."

The Cover Operative sighs appreciatively "Ah, Meester Frank, you ees SO clever."
 
Mr. Watchful's simple math is simple but unavoidably correct.

How large is the market for $500+/each fixed-blade knives? 2000 pieces? Maybe. Let's be generous and say 5000 pieces. A $500,000 investment is then $100 per knife just for the redesign.

I'd estimate that Dark Ops has already poured $500,000 into advertising, full-page, premium-placement ads in a half-dozen magazines for six months, a huge booth with all the trimmings (expect, of course, for knives) at Bladeshow, eight or ten people at Bladeshow, a large booth with all the trimmings (except, of course, for knives) at Blade West, staff at Blade West, Ditto for Shot Show (and Shot show is NOT cheap), the design of the ads, posters, banners, a very glossy catalog, a very slick website, etc., etc., etc. You've gotta sell a lot of knives to recoupe that sort of investment.

It's no wonder there are no knives. There's no money left to make any!


Dork Ops is cute, but I think I'm gonna start calling them Global Crossings Knives.
 
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