My Knockoff Red/Gold Excl. Iron Man Arrived!

[Blackthornone]

How long have you been collecting this stuff? Because some of your comments seem to be coming from a newbie perspective; several of your recent posts I completely and wholeheartedly disagree with.

Most of us like the fact that these are limited collectibles and not many want to see them mass produced so everyone and their dog can have one. Collect GG if that's your game. That practice can kill a line quickly, it takes the collectibility out of the game.

SS sells out quickly because it's good product. Either accept that and be there at the newsletter release so you can get yours, or decide you have better stuff to do and miss the oportunity. Either way, choice is yours. But don't suggest SS flood the market and cheapen the line by increasing edition size to 5000+ pieces so there are no hurt feelings.

If you are an artist as you state, you're telling me you wouldn't have a problem with someone copying your works and selling them at a profit as long as it was after you decided to stop your initial printing? That makes no sense to me.

I haven't been collecting very long. You are right. I just think that ten minutes is a bit quick to sell out. How about two weeks? I wouldn't want the market flooded, but maybe a few more would be better.


To me, the value of a line is determined by the greatness of the workmanship, and the materials, period. That is how I've always felt about everything I've ever bought. Sure, some limited editions of things are nice, that are gold plated or perhaps some other change, but as someone who can make things, I've always understood that anything can be reproduced, and it is all about the cost to produce something versus the quality. I've never recast, and probably never would. I really would like to emphasize this point.

As far as me being an artist and how I would feel if it were done to me,this is how I would feel.

Since these are Marvel characters, it really is their work, being licensed to be represented in sculpture and sold by another company. If I was the company, I would simply make more of something when the cost of re releasing was justified, so long as I could. If I was the artist who made the character, I'd be very pissed at the re casters. If I was the company licensed to make them, I'd say, well, they are making inferior copies, and so now I'll make a second edition, marked as such, on the bottom of the pieces, so no collector will confuse them with the first edition. I might change something about the second edition like the type of paint, or some other thing.

 

[The Josh]

We're not dense enough to pretend we don't know the difference.

I think you give some too much credit.
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There is a difference between recasting and having a figure that will or would not ever get made.

 

[Mesa]

I haven't been collecting very long. You are right. I just think that ten minutes is a bit quick to sell out. How about two weeks? I wouldn't want the market flooded, but maybe a few more would be better.


To me, the value of a line is determined by the greatness of the workmanship, and the materials, period. That is how I've always felt about everything I've ever bought. Sure, some limited editions of things are nice, that are gold plated or perhaps some other change, but as someone who can make things, I've always understood that anything can be reproduced, and it is all about the cost to produce something versus the quality. I've never recast, and probably never would. I really would like to emphasize this point.

As far as me being an artist and how I would feel if it were done to me,this is how I would feel.

Since these are Marvel characters, it really is their work, being licensed to be represented in sculpture and sold by another company. If I was the company, I would simply make more of something when the cost of re releasing was justified, so long as I could. If I was the artist who made the character, I'd be very pissed at the re casters. If I was the company licensed to make them, I'd say, well, they are making inferior copies, and so now I'll make a second edition, marked as such, on the bottom of the pieces, so no collector will confuse them with the first edition. I might change something about the second edition like the type of paint, or some other thing.

But see, that's what your missing. These are limited collectibles. These limited edition sizes are exactly why SS is able to charge $300-$400 a piece. If they were mass produced, the aftermarket value would be crap, interest would wane, and sideshow's warehouse would be filled with stuff they couldn't sell. Sideshow understands this extremely well and has balanced the supply and demand accordingly, slightly increasing edition sizes on us as more people are brought to the hobby.

Now before anyone gets all, "you should only collect cause you admire the piece", trust me I do, but the aftermarket value allows me to keep purchasing these pieces as I know they will retain most of their value and possibly increase. It helps me justify dropping $300 on a statue of a guy in spandex.


And you still didn't answer the question about how you would feel personally if something you made was copied and sold for profit. Put it in your perspective, nothing to do with SS or comic characters, but what you create.