Any chance on raising the ES for R2 and 3PO?

I know....Shot in the dark. ...and the answer is undoubtably 'No'.

But, I am surprised, dismayed and simply upset about the lifesize R2 and 3PO being essential shut down now due to this extremely low ES.

The T-800 Veteran is still available and no ES that I can see listed and he has be out for a while.

Why two of the most famous characters in the world are getting such a low ES is beyond me.
I had a plan....and yes, a dream of owning these and my finances were just gearing up for the Flex-Pay onslaught for one and then when that was completed, I was going to order the other. I thought that they would be around for another year or at least until after XMAS.

But, alas the dream is over.

Way back when these were announced, I asked SSC if they would make more in a clean version...I asked privately and publicly and the answer was a stern 'No'. ....Well, if that is indeed the case, then why the extra low edition size? I thought these were made to order, anyway?

Please reconsider making another set of these in a clean version...there are lots of people that have simply been trying to gather the funds to fork over to you, Sideshow. You just pulled the carpet out from under our feet.

For such an incredible company, that does care about their image, their licenses and their fans, this decision is poor and uncharacteristic.
What prompted it?
Even the Don Post versions had higher ES's than these....they are already so high-end and extremely sought after, most collectors would not care if there were 1,000 or 10,000 of these. They would still be hugely desirable and sought after.

Well, I know this is not falling on dear ears, but I fear it is arriving DOA.

Please Sideshow. Please reconsider and alternative for those loyal customers and Star Wars enthusiasts that are not ultra rich, but have some meager means to acquire these when simply granted more time!!!

For those who's misery loves company, you can come and commiserate with others who have lost their dream of owning these wonderful collectibles, at Rebelscum in the Sideshow section of the forum for 1:1 scale pieces.

It's just shame...a sad shame, indeed.

is this for real. dude how many people here can lay down close to 10 thousands dollars each to have a dirty version and a clean version of lifesize. starwars characters.

turtlepower73 said:

is this for real. dude how many people here can lay down close to 10 thousands dollars each to have a dirty version and a clean version of lifesize. starwars characters.

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I would think they wouldn't have to. How about one set. Not two.
What are you talking about?

And btw, with SSC's flex-pay plan of six months....a lot of people can manage.

So, what's so unreal about this unfortunate situation?

Do you think these would hold their value? Particularly if the ES were bumped way up?

Master Monkey said:

Do you think these would hold their value? Particularly if the ES were bumped way up?

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Um...Yes. They are so expensive and sought after.

They would hold and most likely increase in value even of the ES was set at 2500.

No way do these hold their value. Who can afford such a thing, and if they can, where would you put it. This is geared towards a very limited group of customers. Once owned, can you imagine how you would resell such a piece. How would you arrange for shipping. You would have to be lucky listing on Ebay for the right person to come along and find this product during the week you were listing. I would think SSF would be the only place to sell such an item, to someone like yexel, Amin Ko, or squider.

Sir Tristram said:

Um...Yes. They are so expensive and sought after.

They would hold and most likely increase in value even of the ES was set at 2500.

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Well... I could swing a few-- I'd just have to stop lighting my cigars with those hundred dollar bills.

What type of contests will they have when they've got over 2400 of these lifesize droids (to give away) taking up space in the warehouse???

250 seems like a good number for two items that'll be over $10,000... and they've been up for awhile so there's been plenty of opportunity for collectors to make their move financially.

Mesa said:

No way do these hold their value. Who can afford such a thing, and if they can, where would you put it. This is geared towards a very limited group of customers. Once owned, can you imagine how you would resell such a piece. How would you arrange for shipping. You would have to be lucky listing on Ebay for the right person to come along and find this product during the week you were listing. I would think SSF would be the only place to sell such an item, to someone like yexel, Amin Ko, or squider.

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You are sadly mistaken. The Don Post versions, which are far inferior to the Sideshow versions, not only cost more, by sell for the same cost or more than they did 11 years ago. They also had a higher ES.

The Vader, Stormtrooper and Fett also sell for more as well as the Illusive Concepts Han Solo in Carbonite which sod for anwhere between $900 and $1400 11 years ago now goes for $2500 and has an ES of 2500.

With the ES now set so low, these will undoubtably retain their value. However, as you eluded to, people who bought these are select and most likely fall into a category of lifelong collectors and will not sell them.

DarthNeil said:

250 seems like a good number for two items that'll be over $10,000... and they've been up for awhile so there's been plenty of opportunity for collectors to make their move financially.

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I was waiting for the inevitable response like this....noting that they have been up for a while.
Well, they have NOT been up as long as the T-800 was and the second edition still IS...and they also have been been up as long with final product pictures. Those only came recently. Customers need that information to make an informed and responsible high-end purchase.

Well actually I do think these would retain their value, simply because almost nobody is going to sell them. The original "clean" T2 Endoskeleton has fetched prices that were several times the original retail, ant that's despite the fact that the battle damaged one is still available from Sideshow.

But yes, I don't think these are like normal pieces when it comes to issues like edition size or value. I think what Sir Tristram is trying to say is that he expected these to be available over the long term like the Endoskeletons. I did too. Maybe it's something to do with Sideshow's Star Wars license.

DarthNeil said:

What type of contests will they have when they've got over 2400 of these lifesize droids (to give away) taking up space in the warehouse???
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What warehouse do you speak of?
These are 'Made to order'.....they're not sitting in a warehouse.

Open-ended sounds good to me.

There's 10 left of each... what's the problem?

What's the problem? They cost $10,000+ and Sideshow never indicated that they would be a very small edition size, or even that they would have an edition size at all. The life-sized Terminator and Cylons don't have any edition size (at least a public one) and are made to order. I think it was reasonable to assume these would be the same. I'm sure quite a number of people were hoping to get one of the droids first and then get the other later when they had saved up. It just seems very sudden to say "oh by the way there's only 10 left."

icruise said:

What's the problem? They cost $10,000+ and Sideshow never indicated that they would be a very small edition size, or even that they would have an edition size at all. The life-sized Terminator and Cylons don't have any edition size (at least a public one) and are made to order. I think it was reasonable to assume these would be the same. I'm sure quite a number of people were hoping to get one of the droids first and then get the other later when they had saved up. It just seems very sudden to say "oh by the way there's only 10 left."

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The R2 is under $5500 and the C3PO is under $6000. The low quantity alert is only on the non-flexpay pages... maybe there are still plenty of the flexpay available, since that is how most people are buying them.

The Terminator is made by a different company and the Cylon and Robbie the Robot are "hand-made" by Barton himself with far fewer being made, so these two don't really relate to those as far as time to manufacture, edition size, etc., so I'm not sure it was reasonable to assume they would be open-ended.

As far as "very sudden", do we know when the low quantity alert went up? Was it with the edition size announcement? If so, then yes, kind of sudden, but then again, they've been up for pre-order for almost a year, if not over that.

icruise said:

What's the problem? They cost $10,000+ and Sideshow never indicated that they would be a very small edition size, or even that they would have an edition size at all. The life-sized Terminator and Cylons don't have any edition size (at least a public one) and are made to order. I think it was reasonable to assume these would be the same. I'm sure quite a number of people were hoping to get one of the droids first and then get the other later when they had saved up. It just seems very sudden to say "oh by the way there's only 10 left."

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Yes, yep, and absolutely! What he just said!

lcummins said:

The R2 is under $5500 and the C3PO is under $6000. The low quantity alert is only on the non-flexpay pages... maybe there are still plenty of the flexpay available, since that is how most people are buying them.

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I actually called and asked them about that a few minutes ago. They said that the flex-pay and non-flex-pay come from the same pool. They don't reserve a certain number for flex-pay, at least according to the person I spoke to. So when they sell out, they both sell out. I don't know why they don't display the low-quantity notice on the flex-pay pages, but it's probably some issue with the way their system works. Kind of like how they don't display it for in-stock items, as I recall.

As far as "very sudden", do we know when the low quantity alert went up? Was it with the edition size announcement? If so, then yes, kind of sudden, but then again, they've been up for pre-order for almost a year, if not over that.

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I'm not absolutely sure, but I don't recall seeing the low quantity notice on the page before.

There was no low quantity alert before yesterdays announcement of 250. I've been checking...

lcummins said:

then again, they've been up for pre-order for almost a year, if not over that.

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Yeah, but the actual production photos only really surfaced in the summer of this year....a few months ago.

icruise said:

Well actually I do think these would retain their value, simply because almost nobody is going to sell them. The original "clean" T2 Endoskeleton has fetched prices that were several times the original retail, ant that's despite the fact that the battle damaged one is still available from Sideshow.

But yes, I don't think these are like normal pieces when it comes to issues like edition size or value. I think what Sir Tristram is trying to say is that he expected these to be available over the long term like the Endoskeletons. I did too. Maybe it's something to do with Sideshow's Star Wars license.

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That's what I was thinking also, I was upset to see the edition size of only 250, really I am planning to buy the artoo lifesize by selling part of my collection but I can't afford them both right now and was expecting to buy artoo and then starting to save like 200 to 300 dollars per month to buy the threepio... this is very bad news, I might even reconsider buying artoo as they must be together IMO.
Please Sideshow increase the edition size, you are our only hope!