Should Sideshow Focus on 1/6 Star Wars Aliens?

Even before HT got the Star Wars license, I always though the best way to divvy things up would be for Hot Toys to handle the humans, humanoid aliens and main characters (such as Yoda and C3P0) and for Sideshow, to handle aliens, droids, troopers and secondary human(oid) characters. This would both play to both company's strengths and result in more diverse character selection. Instead SS seems hellbent on going head to head with HT, both in character selection and pricing and, other than finishing off the bounty hunter line, abandoning aliens. Hot Toys doesn't seem to have much interest in putting in the resources to develop aliens or secondary or generic droids, although they will churn out troopers. While it's possible we may still get figures like Greedo and Jabba from Hot Toys, it's doubtful they will ever come close to producing the plethora of aliens SS produced back in the heyday--cantina aliens, palace aliens, bounty hunters, Jedi, etc. -- not to mention creature packs, environments, mounts, and vehicles. Sure the tailoring and sculpt and paint quality could sometimes be so-so, but at sub $70-$80 per, these were a bargain. It would be most welcome to see Sideshow go back to that product strategy--and raise the level of sculpting, painting, and tailoring quality to match the $200+ pricetag they would no doubt charge.

My top 10 Star Wars Aliens from SS:
1. Admr. Ackbar
2. Xizor
3. Greedo (redo to HT scale, new tailoring)
4. Oola (HT scale, seamless green body)
5. Aaya Secura (redo HT scale, seamless blue body)
6. Darth Talon (HT scale, seamless red body)
7. Grand Admr. Thrawn (redo with new sculpt and tailoring, HT scale)
8. Shaak-Ti (HT scale, seamless red body)
9. Jabba the Hut (I have the first one but would like to see an update)
10. Rancor (1/6 scale)

After getting the recent Zuckuss- I 100% agree!

I would love to see...
Ackbar
Ponda Baba (walrusman)
Silver Death Star Droid
2-1B
Ugnaught 2-pack
Weequay
Tessek (squid head)

Regarding Jabba I have the original and LOVE the sculpt! I think a re-release with a stronger paint job and maybe multible hands would be a great idea - throw in Crumb and a free-standing hookah/bowl. I would buy the hutt again.

I would love Sideshow to do this! Their recent bounty hunters are really cool and there is definitely a niche to be had here if they wanted it. Half the characters I want are the aliens. Off the top of my head some of my most wanted are (1) Greedo (2) Xizor (3) Admiral 'It's a Trap' Ackbar (4) Thrawn (5) Nien Nunb (6) Aaya Secura (7) Kit Fisto ... [(8) Jar Jar ... there I said it, I enjoy quoting the crazy gungun ... don't judge me].

If they want to hit up the lesser known / EU human characters I would love Mara Jade, Dash Rendar, Starkiller and even Wedge (who I am dubious about Hot Toys getting to despite you know being instrumental in blowing up the second death star).

When I think of how much time and resources they spent on clones it breaks my heart. We could have had SO many cool aliens, droids and other interesting characters instead!

TwelveInchFigures said:

It’s all about the money. Humans and Stormtroopers have more recyclable parts. Jabba, IG-88, etc. don’t. Add to that they aren’t as well known and it doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint. Still I’d love to see HT do all the characters.

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I highly doubt that HT will take on anything beyond the most iconic Star Wars aliens--Yoda, Chewbacca, and maybe Greedo. They'll produce Darth Maul at some point but he's a humanoid. On the other hand you have to figure that Sideshow must have made pretty decent margins beforehand, otherwise they would not have been producing so many alien characters. Considering that they can start the alien machine back up and charge 3X as much per figure, I can't see why they wouldn't do it. In some cases they would be tweaking existing sculpts and reusing patterns. I'm sure they could produce a highly popular and profitable line if they weren't so intent on trying to compete with Hot Toys.

Bravomite said:

I would love Sideshow to do this! Their recent bounty hunters are really cool and there is definitely a niche to be had here if they wanted it. Half the characters I want are the aliens. Off the top of my head some of my most wanted are (1) Greedo (2) Xizor (3) Admiral 'It's a Trap' Ackbar (4) Thrawn (5) Nien Nunb (6) Aaya Secura (7) Kit Fisto ... [(8) Jar Jar ... there I said it, I enjoy quoting the crazy gungun ... don't judge me].

If they want to hit up the lesser known / EU human characters I would love Mara Jade, Dash Rendar, Starkiller and even Wedge (who I am dubious about Hot Toys getting to despite you know being instrumental in blowing up the second death star).

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I'd imagine they'd start with OT characters. But once they got around to the prequels, sequels, and sidequels I'd pick up Kit Fisto (ex. could be a smiling portrait), Jar-Jar, Nute Gunray, Lama Su, Raddus, Maz Kanada, etc. I'd like Mara Jade as well, but it will probably be tough or impossible to get approvals on non-canon characters.

I have customs of the skiff guards even if they did make them I probable just upgrade parts like hands and weapons. but would love too get more cantina aliens that`s for sure.

I think they should most definitely focus on aliens. It’s what they’re good at (not so much human sculpts). Now that the Bounty Hunter line is done, which by the way I think are mostly well done, they could do a Cantina line, or a Jabba’s Palace line. Sideshow has also been rereleasing some of their figures as well, Jawas and now Scout Trooper come to mind; so why not rerelease Greedo, Tusken Raider, Gam Guard... All of which were solid figures that were released years ago. In my opinion, they clearly don’t understand their consumers. I mean releasing a Jedi Luke months after HT revealed theirs was just crazy. They’d be smart to coordinate their releases with HT. I’m not going to buy a Scout Trooper from them now when I know HT is almost guaranteed to release one in the near future.

I think it would be great if they started to focus on aliens and droids that aren't likely coming from Hot Toys. I would really like to see the Max Rebo band and some more aliens for Jabba's palace. I think the biggest issue though would be if they can bring them in a decent cost. If they can keep them under $225, I think they will do well.

here is some of my jabba`s goons

Wow GG, those are awesome aliens!

I'm getting a little tired of the Hero's only club, and would love the oppertunity to add this type of diversity to my collection.

Yes. Honestly back in SSC's hey day the Aliens were the crown jewels of the entire license. Given that HT is being a little dodgy they should totally capitalize. I would love to see them really find a niche, get into the conceptuals, McQuarries, Expanded Universe (whatever Disney will allow) and really do it right. They should stop trying to compete with HT - A Jedi Luke for a Jedi Luke and really put themselves separate.

I wish they would. I would buy every character from jabba’s Palace or the Cantina. Also, Ewoks!!

generalgrevious said:

here is some of my jabba`s goons View attachment 394597

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Wow! Those looks awesome. Cool that you have Prune Face too!

Of course they should, but I think the Luke Jedi release shows how spectacularly out-of-touch SSC are. The only thing I like better that HT's is the expression they chose.

Their Scout Trooper release without a corrected helmet also shows their limitations as a company.

xequae said:

Wow! Those looks awesome. Cool that you have Prune Face too!

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good old prune face yes I do.

I've been saying this for years. Look how well kit fisto and plo kloon looked compared to the humans they made years ago, night and day difference. Besides, they really don't compete with hot toys now. If they just did aliens and maybe 1/6 clothing sets, even better if they added accessory packs separately, they would be much better off.

I think they should not, as long as there are people willing to give them 230+ for their human figures.
Also, I'm baffled to know that there is someone willing to pay 230+ for a JarJar Binks. To each his own I guess.

They should. And heavily. Their Momaw Nadon is super nice even after all those years. Greedo isn't quite Greedo, but cool Rodian for sure.

I think SS should abandon the SW line and leave it with HT. IMO majority of the SW stuff they have released has been subpar

generalgrevious said:

good old prune face yes I do.

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