Oct. 30th "Ask Sideshow" LOTR Q&A

[DarthHippie]

I'm not saying who....but somebody's got some issues.

 

[Fritz]

I don't think the PF line is dying. It's never been a high energy fast paced line since it's beginning. I'm sure we'll get the usual 1 or 2 PF's a year until the license is over and that suits me just fine.

I didn't really collect the 1:6 line personally so I wasn't sad when it stopped. My hope was that the resources spent on it would have been shifted to PFs.

 

[pixletwin]

I'm not saying who....but somebody's got some issues.

Your point was.......

 

[The Ringer]

I don't think the PF line is dying. It's never been a high energy fast paced line since it's beginning. I'm sure we'll get the usual 1 or 2 PF's a year until the license is over and that suits me just fine.

One to two per year is fine with me. LOTR will most likely never have the momentum that the SW PF line has but I am perfectly content. As long as they keep dishing out quality I'm not gonna complain.

 

[Radagaster]

I think SS is in a quandary regarding what line would lure the LOTR fan in us. Right now, the dio line is so-so, more miss than hit (see how many of them are in the giftcard category), and the PF line has been more hit than miss. Still, it's not as solid a dunk as the SS/W days, where the completist in us were tickled pink. I for one would have wanted to complete the 12" line.

If you want an idea of what things are getting people excited, look no further than what Weta is doing to jumpstart the LOTR interest. More enviros, a shield line, and a John Howe sculpt line. The LOTR fan has certainly gotten a bit more sophisticated for sure.

 

[mikkipog]

I think SS is in a quandary regarding what line would lure the LOTR fan in us. Right now, the dio line is so-so, more miss than hit (see how many of them are in the giftcard category), and the PF line has been more hit than miss. Still, it's not as solid a dunk as the SS/W days, where the completist in us were tickled pink. I for one would have wanted to complete the 12" line.

If you want an idea of what things are getting people excited, look no further than what Weta is doing to jumpstart the LOTR interest. More enviros, a shield line, and a John Howe sculpt line. The LOTR fan has certainly gotten a bit more sophisticated for sure.

now i'm looking forward to what woodsy has to say about this!

but personally. i couldn't disagree with you more. i can say that LOTR fans became more sophisticated when sideshow made the turn towards the pf line, certainly several notches higher than the earlier SS/W pieces, and about weta's current product line, for the shields, i still prefer united cutlery's, for the enviros, well, it's theirs to claim, no other company's doing them, and for the john howe sculpt, no appeal to me personally, not movie accurate (and some say it's weta that has designed LOTR, so why divert to not applying the design from the movie ... i'm talking about the morgul-lord vs eowyn thing.)

 

[thenammagazine]

Your point was.......

He's right. That psycho ex girlfriend dude who keeps asking Sideshow when they'll complete the 12" line.

 

[DaveMac]

O.k....I jumped the gun and vented a bit of spleen regarding Gimli

My own impatience at waiting for a definate answer to the Fellowship line (hope that's not becoming a dirty word!)


But it still leaves the point of why SSC, with license secured, has to be so cagey about what characters it IS going to make and in which format.

Q: Will we see (add character name) in (add media) any time soon?

A: Wow, great sugestion. We would love to do that character and (he/she/it) is certainly one we would love to tackle or even a (add reference to secondary character probably in production). We will pass that one on to our design team!

Conclusion:



Made up question by the way and still love the stuff SSC put out

 

[pixletwin]

DaveMac made me giggle with his truthifying.

 

[woodsy]

Like Pix said, several PF collectors bailed on the 12" line, or turned their snotty noses up at it. So again, deservedly so. Maybe I should buy stock in Kleenex...

Well I for one can safely say, as a PF collector, never bailed balied on SS's LOTR 12" line, I never collected them in the first place.....call me snotty if you will, I don't collect doll's.

Who? Me?

I just think it's funny and a bit ironic how most didn't seem to care when SS started nailing the coffin shut on the 12" line not seeming to realize that as with previous lines, it's a telltale sign (Bond, Buffy, Universal Monsters) that they've already got the coffins prepped for the other aspects of the license as well. You watch a creature long enough, you'll recognize it's patterns.

Obviously you haven't watched the creature long enough then, or you're simply delusional. You're actually comparing licences like Buffy and Bond to LOTR! Unless someone's been hiding out in a cave somewhere, or just plain out to lunch, there no way anyone would make that kind of ridiculous comparison/statement.
Last time I looked LOTR was still SS's #3 licence...when was the last time you could say that about Buffy or Bond? Thats right.....never. Last time I looked SS was consistantly producing 2 PF's/year, which they have since the very beginning four years ago. The LSB's and dio's are also still going strong with 3-4 pieces /yr being produced for each line. These may no be Marvel or SW's type numbers, but they are good enough to entrench LOTR in 3rd place amongst all of SS's licences. And while you may be hoping for the day LOTR goes the way of Buffy and Bond, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you waiting for that to happen.

 

[pixletwin]

Pretty sure you actually missed the point of everything nam said. Oh well.

 

[thenammagazine]

Obviously you haven't watched the creature long enough then, or you're simply delusional. You're actually comparing licences like Buffy and Bond to LOTR! Unless someone's been hiding out in a cave somewhere, or just plain out to lunch, there no way anyone would make that kind of ridiculous comparison/statement.
Last time I looked LOTR was still SS's #3 licence...when was the last time you could say that about Buffy or Bond? Thats right.....never. Last time I looked SS was consistantly producing 2 PF's/year, which they have since the very beginning four years ago. The LSB's and dio's are also still going strong with 3-4 pieces /yr being produced for each line. These may no be Marvel or SW's type numbers, but they are good enough to entrench LOTR in 3rd place amongst all of SS's licences. And while you may be hoping for the day LOTR goes the way of Buffy and Bond, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you waiting for that to happen.

Clearly you need to brush up on your reading comprehension because I wasn't comparing LOTR to Bond or Buffy (re-read what I wrote ). I used those as examples of Sideshow's behavior. First they cancel the 1:6 line in favor of PFs. Then, as I think the case will be with LOTR, they either leave the PF line in limbo as they did with Bond, or ditch it entirely in favor of dioramas as they did with Universal and are doing with Buffy. As I said before, watch a creature long enough, and you'll be able to identify it's habits. Another "jab" at your reading comprehension skills.... Do you pay close attention to what's up there on Sideshow's website? I don't theeeeeeenk sooooooooooooo. There was a time when Indy was before LOTR. Hell, even Terminator made that list. LOTR used to be 2nd place, right after Star Wars. Guess what? It isn't in 3rd place, as you stated, and hasn't been for a while. Like other licenses, it's slowly crawling to it's death having been usurped by Disney and of all things, Marvel.

 

[woodsy]

I think SS is in a quandary regarding what line would lure the LOTR fan in us. Right now, the dio line is so-so, more miss than hit (see how many of them are in the giftcard category), and the PF line has been more hit than miss. Still, it's not as solid a dunk as the SS/W days, where the completist in us were tickled pink. I for one would have wanted to complete the 12" line.

I have no idea why people keep comparing the popularity of LOTR today with LOTR 5 years ago and use this as an indication that SS is in some kind of a quandry. And did you actually bother to check out the dio's available for giftcard? All 3 available [ Treachery, Helm's Deep, and Black Gates] are in Low Quantity Alert status with between 5 -10 pieces of each dio. left


1]. The LOTR craze is over. It ended 4 years ago when the movie phenomenon drifted into the sunset. All the fair weather LOTR fans/collectors are also gone....as are all the flippers who artificially sustained interest and the secondary market. You don't believe it, take a good hard look at the vast majority of SSW stuff selling on Ebay these days. I just can't imagine anyone being happy these days paying even $125 for alot of these statues which are now worth 1/2 or less the value they once were. rolleyes:

2]. Do the SS lines sell as well as the previous SSW lines....no. Again, see point #1. And do I really have to mention there is a huge difference between paying $125 for a statue and $300 for a PF or dio?

3]. Back in the "good ole days" the economy was booming. Anyone care to make that statement today? Is is possible that people who are worried whether or not they'll have a job tomorrow might be holding back on shelling out $300 for a LOTR PF or dio?

If you want an idea of what things are getting people excited, look no further than what Weta is doing to jumpstart the LOTR interest. More enviros, a shield line, and a John Howe sculpt line. The LOTR fan has certainly gotten a bit more sophisticated for sure.

Personally, I don't think Weta is trying to jumpstart anything. I think they are simply filling in some time until they announce their Hobbit licence. The John Howe stuff looks great, but is overpriced and it will not survive once Weta starts producing it's 1/12 scale LOTR mini-statues, and Hobbit statues/busts. Some of the environments are nice and I'll pick up a few, but the mini-shields/lapel pins are nothing more than trinkets as far as I'm concerned. I simply cannot believe people being excited about something like this, but to each his own. But you are kidding yourself if you think this is a LOTR thing...it's not. It is a Weta thing. No one would be excited if SS produced min-shields or 2" Sauron lapel pins. No one would be excited if SS announced a line of mini-statues. This excitement has nothing to do with LOTR, it has everything to do with Weta. And I don't have to tell you this because you already know it. You don't have to look any further than the S&F board and all the LOTR "fans" who have now thrown SS under the bus since Weta jumped back into the mix to know this is true.

 

[pixletwin]

Woodsy really wants the LOTR PF line to continue... I hereby predict and coin the knickname Woodsy the Whiner when SS announces the PF line "on hold".

 

[woodsy]

Do you pay close attention to what's up there on Sideshow's website? I don't theeeeeeenk sooooooooooooo. There was a time when Indy was before LOTR. Hell, even Terminator made that list. Clearly you need to brush up on your reading comprehension because I wasn't comparing LOTR to Bond or Buffy (re-read what I wrote ). I used those as examples of Sideshow's behavior. First they cancel the 1:6 line in favor of PFs. Then, as I think the case will be with LOTR, they either leave the PF line in limbo as they did with Bond, or ditch it entirely in favor of dioramas as they did with Universal and are doing with Buffy. As I said before, watch a creature long enough, and you'll be able to identify it's habits. Another "jab" at your reading comprehension skills.... LOTR used to be 2nd place, right after Star Wars. Guess what? It isn't in 3rd place, as you stated, and hasn't been for a while. Like other licenses, it's slowly crawling to it's death having been usurped by Disney and of all things, Marvel.

Really , why don't you dazzle me with the name of the licence other than Marvel or SW's, that carries more lines and produces more product. You would do well to stick with the licence's you are familiar with, 'cause you don't have a clue what you're talking about concerning LOTR. Like I said, don't hold or breath, or do, waiting for the demise of LOTR....it's not happening.

 

[woodsy]

Woodsy really wants the LOTR PF line to continue... I hereby predict and coin the knickname Woodsy the Whiner when SS announces the PF line "on hold".

Good grief, with only 2 PF's/year you could already make that claim.

 

[pixletwin]

 

[thenammagazine]

Woodsy really wants the LOTR PF line to continue... I hereby predict and coin the knickname Woodsy the Whiner when SS announces the PF line "on hold".

I can see him now: "WHY SIDESHOW ...sob... WHY-HY-HY-HY?!?!?!

Really , why don't you dazzle me with the name of the licence other than Marvel or SW's, that carries more lines and produces more product. You would do well to stick with the licence's you are familiar with, 'cause you don't have a clue what you're talking about concerning LOTR. Like I said, don't hold or breath, or do, waiting for the demise of LOTR....it's not happening.

Really. Because LOTR sells so well, right? What else do they currently produce besides dios and PFs?! Um..... crickets? The overpriced framed paintings and film frames don't even sell. Hence why they gave away a fat chunk at Spook. Outside of that, NADA. You keep praying that The Hobbit will rekindle interest. There's so much lag on that movie, it's like trying to fly a cement boat. Disney (since it already has) for starters. Once they get the ball rolling, the Joe license will make its way up and trump LOTR. Why? More interest and less fickle fans. They've already announced dios and PFs for it. Hell, they sold out a dumb corner of a house, just because it was licensed! There's also the DC license that was hinted at during spook. Should they develop the Twilight license (see yesterday's Q&A), while I think all things Twilight should be flushed down a bedazzled toilet bowl, it'll easily usurp the LOTR license.

Additionally, the fact that nobody's seen the likes of Merry or Pippin or even the much demanded Gimli speaks volumes of the failing license. ToyBiz bailed before going belly up (lotta support there), even DiD who jumped ship before the second wave. Where are all the 1:1 and 1:4 props now? Newline had to liquidate the LOTR product in their store. That's everything from GG busts and 1:1 props to finely crafted jewelry boxes at 75% off and up, JUST TO GET RID OF IT! To be honest, the only thing I think keeping this license afloat is Sideshow's love for all things Tolkien. So you keep praying to all the little dragon statues that riddle your home and huddle with your D&D friends on Friday nights thinking you know what you're talking about. In the end, Pixeltwin's prediction will come to light.... and to think you called me delusional.

 

[DaveMac]

FRODO LIVES!!!

















(Doesn't he?)

 

[Adoptedscot]

FRODO LIVES!!!

(Doesn't he?)

.....wait, I thought you said Sam (I don't care about Frodo)
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