Clint Eastwood Legacy Collection - Blondie / The Man With No Name PF (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

[Gipetto0812]

The sculpt appears to resemble Clint more in your pics @PizzaCake , just the paint job and softness of the sculpt doing it in. At this scale, the hair stranding on the eyebrows and sides should be finer as well as the stubble. The amount of detail in this sculpt is like that of a 6” Hasbro figure instead of 1/4 scale piece. A repaint would really help it out though, for sure.

 

[greatlakes6]

How close is the holster to the real deal? All versions over the years have not come close enough.

 

[PizzaCake]

The sculpt appears to resemble Clint more in your pics @PizzaCake , just the paint job and softness of the sculpt doing it in. At this scale, the hair stranding on the eyebrows and sides should be finer as well as the stubble. The amount of detail in this sculpt is like that of a 6” Hasbro figure instead of 1/4 scale piece. A repaint would really help it out though, for sure.

I might try some touch-ups, I don’t have the confidence for a full repaint, though maybe somewhere down the road I guess I could find a custom artist willing to do it. I don’t know that I’d put the in-hand product at the level of a 6” Hasbro myself haha, but fair enough! Definitely agree some extra work would bring it to another level.

Due to pricing and the real estate they require, I’m not really a big statue collector (the three PF’s in my comparison photo are the only larger format statues I have, in addition to a few NECA 1/4). I really only have an interest in a large format piece if it’s a character I adore, so this one was initially a no-brainer, and I’m likely going to put down the NRD soon on the Prime 1 x Blitzway T-800 for the same reason. Indy would be another, but that recent JND didn’t do it for me.

I find the spectrum of pricing, quality, style, and expectations on the statue side of collecting very interesting and a little confusing tbh; I’m still learning. I do think that Sideshow is in a tough spot with their market positioning. They certainly earn their criticism and - regardless of the universal hobby acceptance of some proto-to-production downgrade - need to be called out for selling preorders with images they know they’ll never be able to remotely replicate, but I’m also not sure that they can ever produce to the level people are hoping at the more inclusive price point they seem to target. That prototype almost looks Prime 1/Blitzway level to me (as far as paint detail, the sculpt style being larger than life is obviously more of an inherent Sideshow thing), but a Prime 1 or Blitzway statue would cost double for the same scale. And the clothes on this are solid, so you’re really talking double for the 1/4 head with better paint/less idealized sculpt. Getting up into the 1/3 scale and JND products, looking at another 1-2 grand.

Meanwhile, at the “cheap” end, Gentle Giant is selling this goofy 1/7 statue for $300:

Mezco is doing this 1/6 Conan statue at $380:

Perhaps it’s the 10-20% caricature remarks or the repeat practice of overpromising on prototype that has rubbed collectors the wrong way when it comes to Sideshow, but is there an example of a company producing paint apps at the level of the Sideshow prototype at 1/4 scale and a $600-700 price point?

 

[PizzaCake]

How close is the holster to the real deal? All versions over the years have not come close enough.

 

[Gipetto0812]

I might try some touch-ups, I don’t have the confidence for a full repaint, though maybe somewhere down the road I guess I could find a custom artist willing to do it. I don’t know that I’d put the in-hand product at the level of a 6” Hasbro myself haha, but fair enough! Definitely agree some extra work would bring it to another level.

just for clarification, I didn’t mean the quality of the headsculpt or the piece overall, what I’m referring to is the level of detail in the headsculpt, meaning the depth of detail in areas like the hair and skin textures. HT and InArt headsculpts are way more detailed in the raw sculpts themselves, not including paint apps, than this larger format 1/4 scale piece. I think the headsculpt ended up capturing the likeness of Clint pretty well based on your pics, but lacks any sort of realism that we see from other companies due to its lack of finer detailing.

 

[PizzaCake]

just for clarification, I didn’t mean the quality of the headsculpt or the piece overall, what I’m referring to is the level of detail in the headsculpt, meaning the depth of detail in areas like the hair and skin textures. HT and InArt headsculpts are way more detailed in the raw sculpts themselves, not including paint apps, than this larger format 1/4 scale piece. I think the headsculpt ended up capturing the likeness of Clint pretty well based on your pics, but lacks any sort of realism that we see from other companies due to its lack of finer detailing.

Definitely agree there, anytime Hot Toys or InArt want to put out a 1/4 articulated Blondie that’s a Day One for sure!

Honestly, I do a lot more double takes on photos of 1/6 companies’ products (and their 1/4 too when they dip their toe in) when it comes to a piece “fooling me” into thinking it could be real than I have with any “statue” company in the price range. I think that’s a big part of why I spend more time and money in that space as well.

Even something like the recent Ripley 1/4 statue, while the workmanship is certainly more impressive than a Sideshow piece (which is reflected in the price difference), it still looks unquestionably like a sculpted art piece to me. I don’t know.

JND achieves it when they get the sculpt right, but that makes sense since they’re doing the silicone and rooted hair.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Due to pricing and the real estate they require, I’m not really a big statue collector (the three PF’s in my comparison photo are the only larger format statues I have, in addition to a few NECA 1/4). I really only have an interest in a large format piece if it’s a character I adore, so this one was initially a no-brainer, and I’m likely going to put down the NRD soon on the Prime 1 x Blitzway T-800 for the same reason. Indy would be another, but that recent JND didn’t do it for me.

Definitely agree with you there. I still haven't placed my order for the T800 either but need to. It's definitely a piece I want. I would just hate if JND all of sudden made one that I would potentially want more.

I find the spectrum of pricing, quality, style, and expectations on the statue side of collecting very interesting and a little confusing tbh; I’m still learning. I do think that Sideshow is in a tough spot with their market positioning. They certainly earn their criticism and - regardless of the universal hobby acceptance of some proto-to-production downgrade - need to be called out for selling preorders with images they know they’ll never be able to remotely replicate, but I’m also not sure that they can ever produce to the level people are hoping at the more inclusive price point they seem to target. That prototype almost looks Prime 1/Blitzway level to me (as far as paint detail, the sculpt style being larger than life is obviously more of an inherent Sideshow thing), but a Prime 1 or Blitzway statue would cost double for the same scale. And the clothes on this are solid, so you’re really talking double for the 1/4 head with better paint/less idealized sculpt. Getting up into the 1/3 scale and JND products, looking at another 1-2 grand.

Meanwhile, at the “cheap” end, Gentle Giant is selling this goofy 1/7 statue for $300:
[TOD Indy pic]
Mezco is doing this 1/6 Conan statue at $380:
[pic]
Perhaps it’s the 10-20% caricature remarks or the repeat practice of overpromising on prototype that has rubbed collectors the wrong way when it comes to Sideshow, but is there an example of a company producing paint apps at the level of the Sideshow prototype at 1/4 scale and a $600-700 price point?

you're definitely right. Pricing is all over the place in the statue world and just b/c some of these statues have a high price (even in a price to scale ratio), it doesn't always equate to a better looking product much like the examples you gave. I'd say the same with Iron Studios who's 1/10 scale statues are nice, but they're so small yet so expensive that I can't find them to be worth the cost.

You make a good point about sideshow and their price point. My main beef with them has always been their paint apps followed by the lack of better sculpt detailing. With their rising prices, I don't understand how they can still be so far behind in those cateogries. They're most recent Punisher PF, that I believe won an award for best statue or something like that the year it released, shows the level of sculpting detail they're capable of delivering with their pieces; so, it baffles me that they don't strive for that with each one since.

Definitely agree there, anytime Hot Toys or InArt want to put out a 1/4 articulated Blondie that’s a Day One for sure!

Honestly, I do a lot more double takes on photos of 1/6 companies’ products (and their 1/4 too when they dip their toe in) when it comes to a piece “fooling me” into thinking it could be real than I have with any “statue” company in the price range. I think that’s a big part of why I spend more time and money in that space as well.

Even something like the recent Ripley 1/4 statue, while the workmanship is certainly more impressive than a Sideshow piece (which is reflected in the price difference), it still looks unquestionably like a sculpted art piece to me. I don’t know.

JND achieves it when they get the sculpt right, but that makes sense since their doing the silicone and rooted hair.

I 100% agree with you and I think aside from space and price, the realism that we get from these 1/6 companies is outpacing the realism from these larger format statue makers, aside from JND. Regardless of likeness, the realism JND provides is up there as one of the best.

Speaking on the part I bolded in your post, I know exactly what you mean. My comments rubbed some ppl the wrong way in the Prime1 Geralt thread when I said it that the it looked like a statue of Henry Cavil as Geralt where as the JND looks like it could pass as the real thing. Maybe the way I said it didn't come through accurately enough as I'm admittedly not the best with typing out what I'm trying to say in the way I'm trying to say it