The Future of Collecting Sideshow & You.

Sideshow over the past year announced BIG news. Starting with the 1/4 Scale Star Wars Statues, then the 1:1 Star Wars bust, and now the return of LOTR at 1/4 scale. They have also released 1:1 Scale Marvel bust to. And lets not forget about the other big collectibles like the 1:1 predator, 1/4 scale Predator, 1/4 Alien bust etc. It seems all the lines combined will interest the common collector. My problem is I want everything. Already owning most of the WETA LOTR stuff, the new Starwars stuff, marvel, X-files etc.

I have now reached the breaking point. The prices are rising and the items are growing. I have no more room. Everything coming out looks excellent but I feel I really can't continue with the big stuff.

The money and the Room and the 2 biggest problems. And I wonder am I the only one with this problem? Where is everybody putting this stuff? Can this continue? I'm just about to give up on all the big stuff. I sold alot of stuff on ebay, I didn't want to but I have no room, and it feels better buying stuff with ebay money then money from a paycheck.

And I also feel its all going to backfire. I dont see a solution. Yes, only collect certain items etc. Theres too much good stuff, and I feel its going to be a chain reaction and the prices will drop, alot. It has to end. 12 inch figures is a different story, but all the new "big" stuff competing against the little stuff. The 12 inch Star Wars is going to Hurt the 1/4 scale line.

Yes, there are many different kinds of collectors, but whatever you collect room and money will be a problem. The first 5 1/4 Star Wars figures is equal to one closet. It cant be done. The new LOTR figures, wish it never happened. I'm going to try and continue with Sideshow but I just dont see it working out. I already tasted Gentle Giant's Harry Potter bust and their awesome. And I also like their Clone Wars Statues but I'm too late there. I like all the Sideshow stuff but the prices are getting out of hand, I just have a feeling, I dont see it working out, for me, anyone, and the company. Somethings gotta give, if its me I dont think I'll be alone. Too much good stuff, to much money, no more room = ?????????????.

Lack of room and money are also becoming a problem for me. Collecting is a double-edged sword for me, it brings me pleasure but it also causes a bit of buyer's remorse. I love Sideshow's stuff and collecting in general, but I'm not really sure how much longer I'm gonna be sticking with it.

Even though I'm running out of room, I know that I'll someday be moving to a larger house where I'll have room to display my statues. My wife and I are planning on building a movie theater in the basement of whichever house we'll buy, and the statues will be on display there. Until then, I'll keep as many as I can out on display, and store the ones I need to. Fortunately there is enough room in the attic.

Up till now I've only been collecting LOTR. Although I'm interested in other lines, I can't see giving up LOTR any time soon, and I can't affoard to collect multiple lines. I'm looking forward to seeing the LOTR 1/4 scale, and am very happy that Sideshow is planning on only releasing 2 pieces per year in that line.

You have to limit yourself, get only the things you really want.

Its somewhat easy for me, I limit myself to 12" figures from SS. I have zero interest in statues (though they do look very nice).

I am so glad Sideshow decided to release more high end pieces.

I have limited myself to only 1/4 Sideshow PF and 1/3 Cinemaquette pieces.
(and of course some amazing custom pieces that I should have early next year).

I would like to collect the 1:1 busts as well but have to draw the line somewhere.

It's like anything that can become an addiction - don't overdo it. If finances and room are limited, prioritize what you're going to get. Sideshow's cancellation policy makes it easy.

I'd love to have the Alien Queen, but she's a bit pricey and I'd have to store her until such time as I move someplace where I have more room.

Some things I don't have room for but I buy them anyway. I display some and store some and occasionally rotate.

Like many collecting lines, Sideshow's pace seems to be increasing all the time. I just can't keep up with my purchases - something has to give.

In the UK, I've really been clobbered recently by postage and taxes. When I bought my Crystal Lake book, the overall cost was around £70! I could have purchased an unsigned book for around the £20 mark. Same with the Exclusive figures - I'm paying a lot extra for token accessories. In terms of residual values, if I ever come to sell, I'm going to make a loss. As a last blow, I've had a few crushed boxes and even a replacement box came crushed inside a prestine outer box!

At this moment in time, I'm genuinely thinking about cancelling all my orders, including Han Rebel Hero and the Pred Marquette. I'm just feeling overwhelmed. It's a little sad.

Yeah, we as collectors just have to make sure we don't go overboard with what we buy and how much we buy no matter if it's more High End items or not. As far as it backfiring well that remains to be seen but we've seen bigger companies push things to far to the high end and it burn them. From having the chance to really get to know the SS folks over the last couple years I don't think they will let this happen. They are still keeping in touch as good as ever with their fan base that can't always get pieces like the Predator Maquette.

Edit: With SS announcing they will be doing LOTR 1/4 they will be getting my money for sure on the 9 Fellowship members plus several others which will limit what I buy from other lines.

If it's not 1/6th I don't care about it, and even then I only pick and choose what I like from a line, I'm not a completist. Eery time SS makes an announcement that's not 1/6 all it does is save me money.

Yeah, I'm definitely having to reevaluate things in order to survive. Most recently I've deciding I don't need all of the Marvel pieces and cancelled Punisher, Elektra, and the latest diorama. I also cancelled exclusive Doom but purely as a money saving measure by picking up the regular version cheaper elsewhere.

Also decided I wasn't going to be able to swing both the exlusive and regular Han, so canceled the exclusive. I actually like the regular better.

Figure this is only the beginning of my changes, but definitely going to have to get stricter on what I buy.

I'm sorry monster, did I miss the point? It seems that you want sideshow to curtail its products because you can't limit yourself to one line or a few particular items or something.

Personally I think it is great that sideshow has such a wide variety of items available. Yes, if you collect them all you are going to have problems. Personally my line is Star Wars and James Bond. I buy the 1/6 because the PF's are too expensive and too big. I did get the Luke PF because its a great item, but no interest in the others. I just don't think its right for me to say Sideshow shouldn't make 1/4 scale because it doesn't work for me. There are alot of people who only do those. Yet cutting out the 1/6 cuts out alot of people too.

As for your point about value, Bum and I were discussing this the other day. Value is in the eye of the beholder. The item is only worth what someone else is willing to pay, and if you are willing to sell it. How much are my PF vintage monsters worth? One life saving surgery. That's the only way I am parting with them. Sideshow is caught between a rock and a hard place with value, too many and price goes down and collectors whine, too few and people are upset they didn't get one. IMO Sideshow tries to make everyone happy and that is alot more than other companies. I'm sure Gentle Giant will welcome you, I hope they don't overproduce for your palette.

We all have a similar dilemma. Even multimillionaires would go through the same thing. Of course, they're probably buying screen used stuff in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Anyway, I've chosen to deal with it in the following manner:

1. If I don't have room to display a piece, I sell it on Ebay. I only have 1 piece undisplayed at the moment, and it will be sold eventually (SDCC Luke).

2. I'm only going to collect the absolute best products in my own personal opinion of quality. Anything else can be put on the auction block at anytime should a better product come along. (MR AT-AT, RWOS, GOSF, Barad-Dur Giclee, Rivendell Giclee, are my only pieces that currently meet that criteria). I'm sure the Grievous 1/4, Predator 1/4, and Rex v. Kong statue will make that list.

3. Putting money into the best quality REALLY saves on space, but it can get expensive. That's where the Ebay auctions are key to raise funds for new products.

4. If there is an item in my collection that really begins to skyrocket in value, then it makes me more likely to sell it. My GG Dewback and SS/W Watcher in the Water may get sold if they ever hit the really big bucks.

5. I flip a few rare preorder items.

So basically, many pieces in my collection are just there temporarily. My collection is constantly in flux, but it's cool because I've owned just about everything at some point.

elwood49 said:

So basically, many pieces in my collection are just there temporarily. My collection is constantly in flux, but it's cool because I've owned just about everything at some point.

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I actually somewhat admire those that can do this. Once I have a piece, it is almost impossible for me to give it up. As a matter of fact I have only ever sold 6 pieces from my collection and it took me a very long time to decide to do that. I make my cuts up front or it's all over but the payin'

In 2006, Sideshow Collectibles will announce that they will join / merge with Lay's Potato Chips.

You can't eat just one, you can't collect just one (item, line, type, etc).

My 2 cents just cuz i need a study break, and upfront, we all have our own opinions so I respect all of what i've read so far, and pretty much whatever, if any, will come after this post.

We're collectors. Otherwise we wouldn't be here. We are our own breed, if you will. Some of us only collect 12" figures, some of us collect statues, and some of us will collect anything that looks cool, while others are line-based, whether Star Wars, James Bond, LOTR, whatever. Although others make the collectibles, we make the collections. Sure, the market determines supply and demand, one to please the collector's "bragging rights" to exlusivity, but at the same time, enough to have enough that the die-hards who were there get theirs. Because of this fact, you answer the question of cost.

Where I work, if you want I refer to as 4 units... the prototype, the 'testing' unit, and two actual production units, you take the cost to produce that, say $10,000, each unit assumes the cost of $2,500. Very limited edition. You extend that to a bigger size, the unit cost goes down. You extend it too much, you take your item from Sideshow Collectible status to Toys R Us Bound-For-Clearance shelves. But look at the quality you get. I'm not saying "hot d@mn, SSC is the best there is", but they produce some pretty good stuff. We get what we generally pay for....or at least, want to pay for.

Space. Ya know, I wish I started doing collectibles earlier, but money is an issue. I commend and envy those who may have a lot of what SSC has offered. I can only dream that I can have a collection close to yours. Going back to space, I'm running low on space as well. But then, I personally re-evaluate what I really want and put a lot of value on, and if needed, and collectors' heaven forgive me, but i offload what i would rather not have for the collectible I would rather have. Not enough space, either make it, or take it as it is. Can't blame anyone else but ourselves for our own hobby.

I'm sure it's just blah, talking in the wind or venting nicely how we love our hobby and what we do collect and that there are factors against us (space, and money), but we really can't blame an entity that has provided us what we have asked for. We want quality, they give us quality.
We want a line, they try and listen and meet our requests. They can always charge more and make it an even MORE exclusive line by making fewer items. Cost is relative. I've seen folks (companies, not eBay sellers) sell items with what i consider lesser quality at higher or comparable prices. *shrug*

Boils down to this. Saying it again, "they make the collectibles, we make our collections". If we have no space and want the stuff out there, we have to make it.

Me? I collect autographs, 12" figures, regular action figures, statues, 1:18 scale diecast cars and Dale Jr stuff, jerseys, etc. I'm running out of space, so i'm making space by offloading some stuff. i wanted an item at a store that took trade-ins, so... i made some trade-ins. that's the way it should be, at least for me in my own little world.

elwood49 said:

4. If there is an item in my collection that really begins to skyrocket in value, then it makes me more likely to sell it. My GG Dewback and SS/W Watcher in the Water may get sold if they ever hit the really big bucks.

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If they are great items though why sell them just because they are rising in value. Isn't the knowledge you own one worth more to you than the intrinsic value they have? I have several items I could sell right now for lots of $$$ but knowing that I have them and the fact the mean something to me as a fan of the story is worth way way way more than what I could get for them on the open market. In the end don't they make your collection even cooler because of those factors?

elwood49 said:

So basically, many pieces in my collection are just there temporarily. My collection is constantly in flux, but it's cool because I've owned just about everything at some point.

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Why buy something if you know there is a good chance of selling it? For me when I buy something it's something I really really want and I plan on keeping it unless I just have to sell it. For example I really really wanted the entire 9 members of the Fellowship from the SSW line. Well, I got that and now SS is going to do the LOTR in 1/4 so I'll get the 9 in that as wel but I won't sell my SSW stuff just because of that. Why? Well, because I can have two great versions of these guys. It will show fantastic qualities of both types of items and show diversity in my collection as well. Not to mention for me you can't have enough LOTR pieces


However, everyone is different and I'm not saying Elwood is wrong for doing it his way. That's his business and I'm not trying to step on his toes about it either. I'm just using his quotes as a way to toss my two cents out there.

You know, it all boils down to different strokes for different folks:

On the one hand you've got the completists who just can't stand knowing there are other items in their chosen line out there that they don't yet own and who therefore get upset if there are too many OR not enough in the line. On the opposite end, you've got those who care mostly about the monetary value of the piece and if they can or cannot make money on it in the future. And of course there are plenty who fall somewhere in the middle!

Sideshow tries very hard to please both ends of the spectrum (and those in the middle!), but of course no one can please everyone all the time! The best a company/person can do it try to please the majority *most* of the time!

SideshowDusty said:

You know, it all boils down to different strokes for different folks:

On the one hand you've got the completists who just can't stand knowing there are other items in their chosen line out there that they don't yet own and who therefore get upset if there are too many OR not enough in the line. On the opposite end, you've got the "collectors" who care mostly about the monetary value of the piece and if they can or cannot make money on it in the future.

Sideshow tries very hard to please both ends of the spectrum, but of course no one can please everyone all the time! The best a company/person can do it try to please the majority *most* of the time!

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Yup

jlcmsu said:

If they are great items though why sell them just because they are rising in value. Isn't the knowledge you own one worth more to you than the intrinsic value they have?

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I understand what you are getting at, but it doesn't always work that way for me. I agree that rareness does add a lot of intrinsic value to my personal collection. However, there are pieces I own that are cool, but aren't $800 cool if that makes sense.

Part of the reason I never bought the Morgul Lord is simply because it is almost cliche to be a SS/W collector and have that statue. It seems like almost everyone has one. It seems that many collections are made up of Sauron, GOSF, Morgul Lord, KOTD, etc. and from that point of view I totally understand wanting the rare pieces. It makes your collection stand out from the rest.

jlcmsu said:

Why buy something if you know there is a good chance of selling it?

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That's exactly the point, I don't know what I'll end up keeping. There are several pieces that absolutely blew me away when I first got them, but now they don't really do anything for me. When I bought them, I intended of keeping them for a very long time, if not forever.

For example, I LOVED the GG Clone Wars maquettes when I first got them, but now they really don't fit in with the rest of my collection. They aren't based on any of the films, and are really EU (plus SS says Padme is EU ). My collection is only movie based outside of them, so I'm thinking they need to go.

I really don't buy stuff with the intentions of selling it later, but better products come along. For example, when I bought the GG maquettes, the General Grievous and Predator 1/4's hadn't even been announced yet. Now they will occupy the space in the cabinets where the maquettes were. It's natural selection at work in the collecting world. The superior replaces the inferior.

elwood49 said:

I understand what you are getting at, but it doesn't always work that way for me. I agree that rareness does add a lot of intrinsic value to my personal collection. However, there are pieces I own that are cool, but aren't $800 cool if that makes sense.

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That makes sense.

elwood49 said:

For example, when I bought the GG maquettes, the General Grievous and Predator 1/4's hadn't even been announced yet. Now they will occupy the space in the cabinets where the maquettes were. It's natural selection at work in the collecting world. The superior replaces the inferior.

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I understand wanting those twp pieces over the GG maquettes because to me they are cooler pieces. However, others might/will disagree that's why I wouldn't go as far as saying the superior replacing the inferior since that can be different from person 2 person.

Monster said:

Sideshow over the past year announced BIG news. Starting with the 1/4 Scale Star Wars Statues, then the 1:1 Star Wars bust, and now the return of LOTR at 1/4 scale. They have also released 1:1 Scale Marvel bust to. And lets not forget about the other big collectibles like the 1:1 predator, 1/4 scale Predator, 1/4 Alien bust etc. It seems all the lines combined will interest the common collector. My problem is I want everything. Already owning most of the WETA LOTR stuff, the new Starwars stuff, marvel, X-files etc.

I have now reached the breaking point. The prices are rising and the items are growing. I have no more room. Everything coming out looks excellent but I feel I really can't continue with the big stuff.

The money and the Room and the 2 biggest problems. And I wonder am I the only one with this problem? Where is everybody putting this stuff? Can this continue? I'm just about to give up on all the big stuff. I sold alot of stuff on ebay, I didn't want to but I have no room, and it feels better buying stuff with ebay money then money from a paycheck.

And I also feel its all going to backfire. I dont see a solution. Yes, only collect certain items etc. Theres too much good stuff, and I feel its going to be a chain reaction and the prices will drop, alot. It has to end. 12 inch figures is a different story, but all the new "big" stuff competing against the little stuff. The 12 inch Star Wars is going to Hurt the 1/4 scale line.

Yes, there are many different kinds of collectors, but whatever you collect room and money will be a problem. The first 5 1/4 Star Wars figures is equal to one closet. It cant be done. The new LOTR figures, wish it never happened. I'm going to try and continue with Sideshow but I just dont see it working out. I already tasted Gentle Giant's Harry Potter bust and their awesome. And I also like their Clone Wars Statues but I'm too late there. I like all the Sideshow stuff but the prices are getting out of hand, I just have a feeling, I dont see it working out, for me, anyone, and the company. Somethings gotta give, if its me I dont think I'll be alone. Too much good stuff, to much money, no more room = ?????????????.

Click to expand...

I'm lucky.
I only really collect Modern Horror (Star Wars is tempting me though...)
After Jason X there is really only 3 more Jasons that can be done (Part 5 "Roy" Jason, Jason goes to NY and Part 4) Unless they start Hellraiser, or the Zombie line really takes off I"m doing ok, as for space? I have a hobby room and a basement so I still have a bit of room left.