What is stopping Sideshow from making certain figures?

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JustinLuck

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The title bar doesn't give me enough room. But what I'm trying to ask is, what is stopping Sideshow from making a Wampa, Taun Taun, or Speederbike, etc?

People have been saying how Hasbro is superior in some ways because they have the means and ability to produce things that require custom molding like a Taun Taun and Speederbike for instance. Well, why can't Sideshow make these types of products? The demand for Star Wars products is as high as ever. Sideshow easily sold out it's first two 1/6 figures, each within 2 weeks time (sure, you can find them in some online stores, but they are getting rare fast).

At this point in the game, I think as long as Sideshow produces quality products, there will be customers waiting in lines to buy one...or two.

So with this ever growing customer base of Star Wars fans (many of whom had never heard of Sideshow before the line was announced), what is stopping them from expanding outward from their strictly standard Sideshow bodies?

What is stopping them from making a Gammorean guard? What about a Wampa? Why do people say that this is not possible? It costs more than a standard Sideshow body? Well of course it does. As long as there is superior resemblance to the character, quality materials and fabrics used, and above average articulation, then those extra costs can be justified.

If Sideshow explains to the public a breakdown of why a high quality, custom molded figure costs the amount that it does, then I see no reason why it wouldn't be flying off the shelves--especially when there are only 6,000 or less to go around.
 
I think the main reason is the price. If done properly some of those pieces would be a lot of $$$. The Wampa could possibly be possible with a larger body/limbs. The others would not be as easily made. Of course the problem of fur comes to play with the Wampa and Chewie.
 
Yeah, I would go for that.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the podcast it was stated that when it came to character selection they didn't put any restrictions on themselves. They thought about what characters are cool and then started looking at it from an engineering stand point.

So we may very well get a Gammorean, Hammerhead or even Max Rebo. Just don't expect anything like that in the first year. And Tauntauns or Speeders probably even further down the line.
 
If they did have any self-imposed restrictions, I'm sure the resounding success of the first two releases has made them reconsider. I'm not sure they were prepared for just how rabid the Star Wars fans were gonna be for this stuff. We'll probably see a more elaborate, test the waters type of product down the road to see just how willing the fans are to shell out the really big bucks for 1/6 stuff.
 
Edition size is the main obstacle. If they could sell 50,000 Wampa it would be worthwhile tooling a new body, working out the hair problem, etc. But at the current level of release size I don't see it happening.
 
Darklord Dave said:
Edition size is the main obstacle. If they could sell 50,000 Wampa it would be worthwhile tooling a new body, working out the hair problem, etc. But at the current level of release size I don't see it happening.

Exactly. The only self-imposed restriction that I believe they have is the low ES number, in trying to keep the line as a "collectible".
 
Considering the exclusive versions of the first two pieces sold out in under 3 hours, and the regular versions in under a week, the edition sizes so far might be a bit too "collectible."
 
It think the main thing would be the economics of individual figures. Short figures for instance would not be economical unless they have a system of bodies that correspond to the various sizes of characters.

This is not insurmountable however! If figure development was clustered, there could be a variety of figures produced at one time.

For instance; Yoda, Jawa, Ewoks and similar sized characters could all be produced using one basic body. Chewbaca and other similar sized figures could all be developed using the same system but larger body.

Considering the new body plans; it looks like they are finally taking some of our suggestions seriously!

:D
 
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Except that yoda is a little shorter than a jawa. but i really want to see a jawa, and a Yoda. Ewoks.... meh. i'd get a wicket, but he'd be it.
 
I wonder will the PF Speeder Bike sell better than the 1/6 scale version?..

My guess - its the opposite. If its true, then there ought not be any reasons why SSC should not take on the 1/6 scale version.
 
Whats with all the threads bumping....:confused:
 
The title bar doesn't give me enough room. But what I'm trying to ask is, what is stopping Sideshow from making a Wampa, Taun Taun, or Speederbike, etc?

People have been saying how Hasbro is superior in some ways because they have the means and ability to produce things that require custom molding like a Taun Taun and Speederbike for instance. Well, why can't Sideshow make these types of products? The demand for Star Wars products is as high as ever. Sideshow easily sold out it's first two 1/6 figures, each within 2 weeks time (sure, you can find them in some online stores, but they are getting rare fast).

At this point in the game, I think as long as Sideshow produces quality products, there will be customers waiting in lines to buy one...or two.

So with this ever growing customer base of Star Wars fans (many of whom had never heard of Sideshow before the line was announced), what is stopping them from expanding outward from their strictly standard Sideshow bodies?

What is stopping them from making a Gammorean guard? What about a Wampa? Why do people say that this is not possible? It costs more than a standard Sideshow body? Well of course it does. As long as there is superior resemblance to the character, quality materials and fabrics used, and above average articulation, then those extra costs can be justified.

If Sideshow explains to the public a breakdown of why a high quality, custom molded figure costs the amount that it does, then I see no reason why it wouldn't be flying off the shelves--especially when there are only 6,000 or less to go around.

What's stopping Sideshow from making a Wampa,Taun Taun or a Speeder Bike?Marketing would be my answer.Knowing SS they'll probably make a 1/4 scale Wampa,Taun Taun and of course they've already done the Speeder Bike before they make 12" versions:lol.I mean more people would buy the 12" versions of those characters before the buy the into the huge PF format.

You could just look at the derection SS's 12" line has been going,less desirable first and more desirable later.Even the 1/4 PF line,they made Luke and Han first before they made Vader.Who the hell would have bought Luke if they released Vader first,no body,but they did even I did because there were was nothing else there to quench my StarWars thirst.They could have even made Bespin Luke before they made Tatooine Luke.So, I bought Tatooine Luke and sold it when Vader came out and lost about $150 because $100 was all I could get off EBay for it.:google


I really think it think it's a marketing strategy they have.They pump out the less desirable first so people will buy them just because theirs nothing else to choose from,I mean why else would they not make the more desirable first,to make more money ofcourse.They know what people want and they know what people don't want,but they also know that people will buy from a certain collectible line even if it's not the more Desirable or MAIN characters that they necessarily would buy,because there's nothing else to buy.Then later on down the road they'll make the same thing in a different format or some other company will be given the chance to make it and profit from it as well.
 
Come on! they are not making the cool characters like the Wampa cause we haven't had our fill of humanoid characters in which they have to make just a new head and accessories!!!:monkey5
 
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