Aurra Sing Premium Format

[ProgMatinee]

It's funny how you don't comment about major releases like Jedi Luke per say, but every release with a smaller ES is a chicken-little exercise in how they're trying to cut corners and gip collectors because they're afraid to lose money.

admittedly i find it more interesting and entertaining to talk about the seedier and controversial side of the collecting scene. i don't usually find the love fests to be very stimulating conversations.

i'm not bashing SSC full bore here, i think there is a niche that likes this figure or maybe its just a collection of individual tastes. I respect that. I don't fully agree with it, but I admit its there.

personally I think there are a lot of characters that fit into both niches AND mainstream, such as Padme fits mainstream AND sex appeal. Greedo fits mainstream AND side characters AND bounty hunters AND aliens AND OT elitists.

In any event, my comments are of course my own personal opinion just like everyone elses. I don't necessarily HAVE to abide by the thoughts of everyone else, but I find my tastes to often be among a general majority.

 

[thenammagazine]

admittedly i find it more interesting and entertaining to talk about the seedier and controversial side of the collecting scene. i don't usually find the love fests to be very stimulating conversations.

i'm not bashing SSC full bore here, i think there is a niche that likes this figure or maybe its just a collection of individual tastes. I respect that. I don't fully agree with it, but I admit its there.

personally I think there are a lot of characters that fit into both niches AND mainstream, such as Padme fits mainstream AND sex appeal. Greedo fits mainstream AND side characters.

In any event, my comments are of course my own personal opinion just like everyone elses. I don't necessarily HAVE to abide by the thoughts of teveryone else, but I find my tastes to be among a general majority.

mmmkay? Anyway, you get the gist of what I'm saying.

 

[ProgMatinee]

mmmkay? Anyway, you get the gist of what I'm saying.

of course, do you get what I'm saying because your response doesn't indicate that.

there isn't a lot of traditional business logic to releasing an admittedly low demand odd ball character, so SSC obviously has motives that are untraditional. IMO those motives include but not limited to: purposely selling an item with relative low demand so they can lay claim to producing "rare" items and purposely selling a low demand item to avoid massive cancellations because there QC has recently got to pot. I don't buy the excuse that they are bored with Darth Vader and Han Solo and other main characters from a design perspective...lol. Are they bored of Chewie or Greedo or Tarkin or Jango or a probe droid or snowtrooper or xwing pilot or zam wessel or sebulba or Padme Ep I or EI Obi-Wan or Naboo soldiers or countless other characters? Or are they just horny dorks looking to produce as many women in spandex as possible and they are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrell there?

I guess that was the down fall of the LOTR and Indy 1/6th lines. Not enough spandex.

 

[thenammagazine]

of course, do you get what I'm saying because your response doesn't indicate that.

there isn't a lot of traditional business logic to releasing an admittedly low demand odd ball character, so SSC obviously has motives that are untraditional. IMO those motives include but not limited to: purposely selling an item with relative low demand so they can lay claim to producing "rare" items and purposely selling a low demand item to avoid massive cancellations. I don't buy the excuse that they are bored with Darth Vader and Han Solo and other main characters from a design perspective...lol. Are they bored of Chewie or Greedo or Tarkin or Jango or a probe droid or snowtrooper or xwing pilot or zam wessel or sebulba or Padme Ep I or EI Obi-Wan or Naboo soldiers or countless other characters? Or are they just horny dorks looking to produce as many women in spandex as possible?

I see what you're saying, I just don't see how producing a "WHO?!" from the Star Wars universe as a high-end PF equates to cost cutting or playing it safe. If they wanted to avoid cancellations, they could just as easily trim 3PO's ES by 3/4 and release him. That would guarantee that nobody would cancel. Believe it or not, while maybe not to the masses Aurra Sing does have market appeal and I think making a PF of her speaks more to Sideshow taking a risk to appeal to a broader spectrum of Star Wars fans.

 

[ProgMatinee]

SSC is smarter than that to undersell a major character. however they are also smart enough to not compete 2 huge sellers back to back and force people to make a decision with knowledge that they can pick up huge sellers on the aftermarket easier than rare characters.

SSC is a smart company.

I'm not really saying they SHOULDN'T do this character. I understand the business sense to it. I just don't like it all the time.

 

[thenammagazine]

SSC is smarter than that to undersell a major character. however they are also smart enough to not compete 2 huge sellers back to back and force people to make a decision with knowledge that they can pick up huge sellers on the aftermarket easier than rare characters.

SSC is a smart company.

I'm not really saying they SHOULDN'T do this character. I understand the business sense to it. I just don't like it all the time.

But this is only the third obscure character they've done. That's hardly "all the time." The rest of the PFs, with maybe the Tusken Raider being an exception, have all been relatively mainstream.

 

[icruise]

If they wanted to avoid cancellations, they could just as easily trim 3PO's ES by 3/4 and release him. That would guarantee that nobody would cancel.

Why would they want to do that? What I'm saying is that it makes sense for them to wait until the largest possible pool of buyers for their big hitters is available. Better that they release a character with limited appeal now and save something like C-3PO for when there are more people who can afford it. I'm not sure why you're taking offense at this suggestion -- it's good business sense, even if it doesn't make me happy personally.

For the record I have absolutely no problem with them occasionally releasing a character like this. What does concern me a little bit is that 3 of the last 10 PFs will be these kind of female EU characters, which seems like rather high ratio. Maybe it's just Darth Talon followed up so quickly by this that's making some of us uneasy, but I really don't want the Star Wars line to turn into something like what they have on the Marvel side -- one "hot" girl statue after another.

 

[Kibishii]

Long replies...

I don't buy the excuse that they are bored with Darth Vader and Han Solo and other main characters from a design perspective...lol. Are they bored of Chewie or Greedo or Tarkin or Jango or a probe droid or snowtrooper or xwing pilot or zam wessel or sebulba or Padme Ep I or EI Obi-Wan or Naboo soldiers or countless other characters? Or are they just horny dorks looking to produce as many women in spandex as possible...?

I have a feeling that the Star Wars license is not cheap and if LFL is pushing Clone Wars characters, that has something to do with it. As The Mike said, there are SOOOOOOOOO many 2nd/3rd+ tier characters who would have appealed to alot more fans that Aurra Sing is just a mind boggling choice.

And, there are ALOT of "horny dorks" who will put T&A up just because they like it. Look at the popularity of AH!, Lady Demon (or whatever the hell her name), and the many other statues of near-nude comic chicks. If Sideshow can make a buck off T&A and the artists like making those type of statues, they are going to do it. Personally, I think they are stupid and I don't want my kids to see them. I think Slave Leia is about the most 'riske' statue I own. But, like it or not, Sideshow makes alot of $$$ off T&A.

I actually do believe that the artists at Sideshow want to do something different and, at times, they will do that whether or not it is what the majority of fans want that. Maybe they made Aurra Sing because there are no other statues of her? I think they tried that with Marvel for awhile and I clearly remember two different Sideshow VIPs say, "We don't want to do statues that have already been made. That is boring and bored artists make bad work." Adam Hughes girlfriend told me in an arguement over Phoenix near the same thing. Look at where it got them with Marvel: lots of character products that didn't sell well and lots of pissed off fans. Now, Sideshow is "listening to the fans" and producing Marvel stuff fans actually have requested.

The Sideshow artists may want to do their own thing, but they need to remember, this is art for production/profit and when you are talking about $300+ statues, you want to make things alot of fans want.

...I just don't see how producing a "WHO" from the Star Wars universe as a high-end PF equates to cost cutting or playing it safe...Believe it or not, while maybe not to the masses Aurra Sing does have market appeal and I think making a PF of her speaks more to Sideshow taking a risk to appeal to a broader spectrum of Star Wars fans.

I think I understand what he is saying, make characters that not alot of people will go crazy about, and characters that won't compete with Luke, and more people will keep their order. I think Sideshow knows Luke is going to be the money ticket and they want to have as little cancellations as possible. Sideshow is damned if they do, damned if they don't when it comes to ES and the only way they will fix that is to implement some sort of cancellation fee which will piss people off as well.

 

[thenammagazine]

Why would they want to do that? What I'm saying is that it makes sense for them to wait until the largest possible pool of buyers for their big hitters is available. Better that they release a character with limited appeal now and save something like C-3PO for when there are more people who can afford it. I'm not sure why you're taking offense at this suggestion -- it's good business sense, even if it doesn't make me happy personally.

For the record I have absolutely no problem with them occasionally releasing a character like this. What does concern me a little bit is that 3 of the last 10 PFs will be these kind of female EU characters, which seems like rather high ratio. Maybe it's just Darth Talon followed up so quickly by this that's making some of us uneasy, but I really don't want the Star Wars line to turn into something like what they have on the Marvel side -- one "hot" girl statue after another.

That I can agree with, though I don't really think that's the case here, just more of a coincidence.

 

[wookielovin]

I dunno I think it will be a hard sell even to replicate what they are doing for marvel. As for marvel there using well known characters. Also some of the statues are doing things that relate to either the characters persona. Example she hulk or rouge. Emma and black queen just eye candy. hahaha..

Anyways i think it just comes down to licensing i think SS has to ask LFL if they can even attempt a certain character if LFL says "NO" there inst anything thing they can do. OR i think licensing is very high in price for key characters.

 

[icruise]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they don't pay a different price depending on the character -- it's more of a "pay X amount of dollars per year (and maybe a percentage of sales?)" kind of thing. And while I could see LFL strongly suggesting that its licensees take advantage of Clone Wars characters, for example, it's not as if they just dictate what Sideshow can make. Sure, they have final approval about a lot of things, but it's not like they're going to say "sorry, you can't make a Chewbacca PF -- get to work on Aura Sing."

 

[wookielovin]

Yeah i dunno.. either. but i could see LFL say yah! or nay!..Or what i think they do sometimes post random pictures of characters on a wall, a guy ways in blind folded after spinning 10X and throws a single dart.

 

[ambasah]

Yeah i dunno.. either. but i could see LFL say yah! or nay!..Or what i think they do sometimes post random pictures of characters on a wall, a guy ways in blind folded after spinning 10X and throws a single dart.

lol! my guess is that lucas has complete control over what every company makes, from character selection to pose etc.

 

[icruise]

They almost certainly have veto power over everything, but that's not the same thing as them sitting behind the scenes dictating every move that their licensees make.

 

[wookielovin]

The next PF will be worth the wait, and its armored.. Woot!

 

[Darth Madden]

lol! my guess is that lucas has complete control over what every company makes, from character selection to pose etc.

They almost certainly have veto power over everything, but that's not the same thing as them sitting behind the scenes dictating every move that their licensees make.

My guess would be that they "strongly suggest" what characters to make at certain times but I doubt they specificly dictate each and every one. Also I am sure LFL has a say in the pose and costuming as well since I remember there being some discussion for the Mace 12" and couple others where Sideshow said they were told by Lucas to change the looks.

 

[thenammagazine]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they don't pay a different price depending on the character -- it's more of a "pay X amount of dollars per year (and maybe a percentage of sales?)" kind of thing. And while I could see LFL strongly suggesting that its licensees take advantage of Clone Wars characters, for example, it's not as if they just dictate what Sideshow can make. Sure, they have final approval about a lot of things, but it's not like they're going to say "sorry, you can't make a Chewbacca PF -- get to work on Aura Sing."

Two words: Stormtrooper Commander

I'm willing to bet that on occasion LFL does make "requests" for Sideshow to produce products. That figure was timed perfectly with the release of The Force Unleashed and as we all know from Indy, Sideshow's not very quick when it comes to capitalizing on hype from other aspects of a property.

 

[Darklord Dave]

of course, do you get what I'm saying because your response doesn't indicate that.

there isn't a lot of traditional business logic to releasing an admittedly low demand odd ball character, so SSC obviously has motives that are untraditional. IMO those motives include but not limited to: purposely selling an item with relative low demand so they can lay claim to producing "rare" items and purposely selling a low demand item to avoid massive cancellations because there QC has recently got to pot. I don't buy the excuse that they are bored with Darth Vader and Han Solo and other main characters from a design perspective...lol. Are they bored of Chewie or Greedo or Tarkin or Jango or a probe droid or snowtrooper or xwing pilot or zam wessel or sebulba or Padme Ep I or EI Obi-Wan or Naboo soldiers or countless other characters? Or are they just horny dorks looking to produce as many women in spandex as possible and they are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrell there?

I guess that was the down fall of the LOTR and Indy 1/6th lines. Not enough spandex.

You're working under false assumptions. There have not been massive cancellations because of isolated QC issues. There are a lot more SW fans than those that post here and I'm sure they'll have no problem selling this one out at whatever edition size they choose.

 

[Fetunche]

Asajj is not an obscure character, in the clone wars she is one of the major villains and is no more obscure than Grievous or Dooku. We may have grown up with the OT but to the youngsters of today growing up watching the clone wars Asajj is a core character. Aurra Sing has appeared in comics, graphic novels, the clone wars cartoon. She was featured in the Coruscant Nights series of novels where she was hired by Vader and also the Legacy of the Force series of novels where she was eventually captured by Jacen Solo/Darth Cadeus.
I have a limited edition 12" Aurra in a boxset wth a book about the character and will be happy to add the pf to my collection.

 

[OSCORP]

SS has one motive.

Taking your $, just like other company's (except they do it with the least amount of passable quality as they can)