Protozaius said:
Well, we will see. Sideshow most recent "wave" of figures are nothing but core characters from the Buffy/Angelverse. You can't get any more CORE than Giles. Let's see how these three new figures sell. Hopefully all of the general Buffy collectors will do their part in making these releases a smashing success so the line can continue for a long time to come.
I was very glad they finally gave us a new core
Buffy chararacter, and I was elated that it was Giles in all his watchery goodness. The only figure I'd been wanting as much is OMWF Tara in that gorgeous corset-dress. But I still worry that Giles might be a capstone for the
Buffy line proper, such that we'll see no new core humans outside the
Angel line. As I and others (even on other
Buffy forums) have mentioned, an ideal way to gain new interest in Sideshow's
Buffy line would be to do an OMWF Tara, with the announcement that other new and rehashed OMWF-themed figures were planned. Most fans would have renewed interest in the line, and the outfits all the characters wore in that episode are outstanding.
I'm also quite happy that Sideshow has started the
Angel line out with a bang, giving us three huge core characters. I couldn't ask for more--it's an ideal launch line-up. I'm just hoping they don't take as long to give us Wes or Gunn, as we had to wait for Giles. Whedonverse fans don't need or want to be strung along with major releases undone, in order to make the line last longer. These are ensemble shows with lots of character development, and most of the same people who'd buy an early-season Wes today would also buy a late-season Wes a year or two from now (or vice versa). Not that 6" figures are a directly comparable product, but a
third wave of Willow figures has been announced, even though a great many different Willow variations are already out there; and the same wave also gives us new characters Kennedy and Kendra. Whedonverse collectors will gladly buy core humans repeatedly, and still get excited by minor but interesting humans or monsters. The market is there; Sideshow just needs to learn to exploit it as well as others have been doing with 6" figures, plushes, and prop replicas.
As an aside, I don't even like 6" figures very much because to me they look too small and toyish; yet I have at least one of each 6"
Buffy/
Angel character released, because the lineup is so full and complete compared to the meager 12" offerings. With recent releases like Glory and announcements like Kendra and Kennedy, DST has made collectors ecstatic by dipping into secondary human-faced characters after having released every primary human (except Gunn from
Angel), some repeatedly. Yet DST isn't worried about the line ending, because they know we'll keep buying new variations on major characters as well as new minor characters. Again, while 12" sales aren't directly comparable, I think Sideshow should take that successful attitude to heart--release core Whedonverse characters readily, because they aren't a finite resource; collectors will buy good variations of the same characters in future, and having the whole core will increase interest in minor characters to accompany them.