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The fit before and after baking (at least in the MLX) is a night and day difference. In regards to the Aesthetics, thats just what hand laid carbon fiber looks like. CCM and Bauer covers these up with exterior graphics, True/VH just have a more "raw" look to them. Nothing of concern imo

going through true directly could never hurt as they'd be able to give you a direct explanation and avoiding any type of communication miscues by going through HM. I was a little shocked about the tongue and lace issue. The shop I'm at has done almost 50 pairs to date, and having fit numerous people personally, I will call the person and see when they can come, but not before doing a "prep" of the skate to make sure everything is lined up properly and ready to go, including tongue laces and holder/steel if it was installed in house. a little lack of care on their part IMO. True has told us, as mentioned above that the imperfection can happen when overlapping occurs during the build process and we have never had any issues with it.

Considering how much time elapsed between the skates coming out of the oven and finally getting them on and tied, it is no wonder that the fit doesn't feel right yet.

I hope it works out but I know I wouldn't accept that issue with the carbon fiber on a skate at that price point. Hopefully they are able to make things right for you.

That doesn't look good at all, even if it is just cosmetic. Not sure what the deal with True/VH regarding their QC and attention to detail. It's quite disappointing to receive that after waiting weeks and spending 1000+ on them. Hopefully the fit issue will be resolved with baking them properly.

For the amount of money they cost, and the whole experience they are selling, custom skates made specifically for your foot - I don't think you are being unreasonable at all. Some of it may be cosmetic issues and that's up to you to decide how much you care about it. Keep in mind after a few pucks to the holders and opponents stepping on your toe caps, you probably won't care so much about a misaligned rivet cap (or whatever that is) or sloppy glue work. Just my layman's opinion but the carbon fiber issue on the back of the left boot concerns me. It almost looks like there's either no carbon fiber there, or it was an end piece and it's unwoven? Either way I would be concerned that it would be a weak point there, unless an engineer tells me that it's fine. My (uneducated) guess is it's not. Ultimately True is selling a high end, custom product, and they need to understand that comes with high expectations that they deliver on what they're promising.

For those Mako lovers in the Greater Toronto Area, I spotted some clearance Makos at the Pickering Sport Chek that's closing in mid-December. Everything is currently 30% off lowest ticketed prices - the discount may increase as the closing date approaches (I believe the final day is Dec 17). They had 8EE OG Makos in the box for $399.88, 8.5EE OG Makos in the box marked at $469.88 (may scan at the same price as the other OG Makos) and 8D Mako II skates out of the box on a rack for $469.88. These are the prices before the 30% discount. If the Mako II's were 8EE I would've grabbed them myself. The did have the OG Makos in my size, but I already have several Mako II's so left them all. I did open the OG Mako boxes to check that they were in fact the originals - they were.

I wanna thank @JR Boucicaut and Pure Hockey for helping me get these done.

Going to have to disagree with you on this. Mainly for the women in hockey (or guys with smaller feet such as my son). There was a very large improvement with both ladies on my team last year. They were both decent skaters. But one had gone from a 6.5 to a 5.5 and the other from a 5.5 to a 4 in skate size. Both were used to the longer blade on the boots they were in although they didnt fit. After finding the best holder size for both they both maintained the speed they had with the old skates but were much more maneuverable. (Both Players were on Team Canada Captain and Asst) In my son's case it just made him much more sturdy at 4'10" and 100lbs at 10 years old in a 1.5 skate and regular 212 holder. When he went to a 2.5 I went to a 230 and he doesn't fall near as much with a stock radius on step. The one I did the largest change was for a US National Team player that was 5'0" and 140 wearing a 1.5 skate. She was ranked 4th fastet on the team at the time and US beat Canada that year in the Worlds. She wore a 230 Tuuk old style on the 1.5. My experiences.