SANDTROOPER 12" Figure

[toystales]

There was a time in the not too distant past, around 2 years ago, when HT 1/6 figures cost $120 each. Well, that price is close to what SSC is billing us for the Sandtrooper. And none of my HT 1/6 figures bought during that time comes with loose swinging limbs like what we see in today's SSC's armored bodies. 2 years on and after multiple playings, my HT 1/6 figures still do not have loose joints.

So, if we were to justify price point vs quality, then SSC's armored body is below acceptable quality.

 

[thenammagazine]

There was a time in the not too distant past, around 2 years ago, when HT 1/6 figures cost $120 each. Well, that price is close to what SSC is billing us for the Sandtrooper. And none of my HT 1/6 figures bought during that time comes with loose swinging limbs like what we see in today's SSC's armored bodies. 2 years on and after multiple playings, my HT 1/6 figures still do not have loose joints.

So, if we were to justify price point vs quality, then SSC's armored body is below acceptable quality.

You can't compare to what a company was charging two years ago. That's absurd. You have to look at what HT is charging now, add in the LFL licensing fees and compare that straight across. Likely these figures wouldn't be $90, but closer to double the price if HT were producing them. And let's not forget that HT did have their hands in that "loose" body you're complaining about.

 

[Blu Falcon]

Look for the pauldron under the base. mine was there.

I had another closer look and guess what? I'm such a friggin' blind retard. It was well camouflaged.

It's going back up for 24 hours starting this evening at 9:00 pm eastern standard time.

 

[thenammagazine]

I had another closer look and guess what? I'm such a friggin' blind retard. It was well camouflaged.

It's going back up for 24 hours starting this evening at 9:00 pm eastern standard time.

I can only imagine how many angry customer service calls must be being placed by mibbers expecting to see it on the figure!

 

[Vonhahn]

Did anyone receive a Sandtrooper with a missing shoulder pauldron? This is the third time I've received defective or missing pieces from a figure from Sideshow and its starting to piss me off.

I had another closer look and guess what? I'm such a friggin' blind retard. It was well camouflaged.

It's going back up for 24 hours starting this evening at 9:00 pm eastern standard time.

Maybe this is a good lesson for you not to put things onto Ebay before you actually have them in hand. I'm sorry but I have zero simpathy...

 

[Vonhahn]

There was a time in the not too distant past, around 2 years ago, when HT 1/6 figures cost $120 each. Well, that price is close to what SSC is billing us for the Sandtrooper. And none of my HT 1/6 figures bought during that time comes with loose swinging limbs like what we see in today's SSC's armored bodies. 2 years on and after multiple playings, my HT 1/6 figures still do not have loose joints.

So, if we were to justify price point vs quality, then SSC's armored body is below acceptable quality.

Well since it seems to be a consistent issue for you...why don't you stop buying from Sideshow alltogether and quit crying about it here? Personally my figs joints are fine...

 

[Vonhahn]

I think SS owes me more for my money than a "dewback diarrea" paint job. Maybe some guys are good with waht they get, but I'm not. My money is worth more than this. Plus the fact that they cant get this new friggin body right and tight in any scale is really disheartening. I appreciate them for what they are going, but the QC is lacking. To each his/her own, but I'd like to see a bit more for $108 bucks. Hell, I'd pay more for better QC, which is why I also buy HT. I just wish my SS collection was the definitive SW collection.

Sideshow dosen't "owe" you anything unless you choose to send your toy back to them for a refend which is what I suggest you do if you are this unhappy with thier product. I wish everything in life was flawless, and I do hope SS does learn from past mistakes like we all need to, but thinking you are "owed" some sort of consideration just because of your personal taste makes for a slightly more scary world.

 

[Vonhahn]

Yeah, I think it's pretty strange the pack isnt weathered. I could understand the EX gun that came with the Stormtrooper, it was small and an EX item, but a giant backpack? wtf?

I do think you have a really good point here and I hope Sideshow takes this as an opportunity to make the next Sandtrooper even better then this one (which I still think is fantastic).

I know I'm full of rancor this morning (I don't even have one under my dias, maybe I should complain to Sideshow about that) but it just really frustrates me so many people that hop on the boards to do nothing but tear down Sideshow's products rather then appreciate them for their strengths. For me, the price point is better than Hot Toys and the detail is better than Medicom, but I know that's my own opinion so I keep buying Sideshow's products. I have had examples of things I asked them to fix (and they always have), but I don't needlessly moan and complain about how awful they are and keep buying from them. I love every one of my 12" figures because they are overall well done by people who you can tell really do love their craft. The art then has to be mass produced and that's when some of the issues come up, but I expect that as a consumer. Has anyone else noticed that the dark smears of dirt on the trooper are made up of little dots? (look under a magnifying glass). This tells me the armor is digitally stamped at a factory and the "sand" wash is probably sprayed by a machine that doesn't know what art is. This is the age of mass production and this will NEVER be as good as a hand painted prototype, so I encourage everyone out there in T.V. land to remember this when you are looking at a pre-order.

Give Sideshow constructive feedback on things you would like to see in the future, enjoy the things you have from them in the present, kindly request their help to remedy issues you may have and DON'T BUY FROM THEM IF YOU GENUINLY HATE THIER STUFF!

Now that I have ranted, I shall go away now for a time. I now return you to your regularly scheduled program of whining, moaning and complaining.

:emperor

 

[Darth Mitchell]

I do think you have a really good point here and I hope Sideshow takes this as an opportunity to make the next Sandtrooper even better then this one (which I still think is fantastic).

I know I'm full of rancor this morning (I don't even have one under my dias, maybe I should complain to Sideshow about that) but it just really frustrates me so many people that hop on the boards to do nothing but tear down Sideshow's products rather then appreciate them for their strengths. For me, the price point is better than Hot Toys and the detail is better than Medicom, but I know that's my own opinion so I keep buying Sideshow's products. I have had examples of things I asked them to fix (and they always have), but I don't needlessly moan and complain about how awful they are and keep buying from them. I love every one of my 12" figures because they are overall well done by people who you can tell really do love their craft. The art then has to be mass produced and that's when some of the issues come up, but I expect that as a consumer. Has anyone else noticed that the dark smears of dirt on the trooper are made up of little dots? (look under a magnifying glass). This tells me the armor is digitally stamped at a factory and the "sand" wash is probably sprayed by a machine that doesn't know what art is. This is the age of mass production and this will NEVER be as good as a hand painted prototype, so I encourage everyone out there in T.V. land to remember this when you are looking at a pre-order.

Give Sideshow constructive feedback on things you would like to see in the future, enjoy the things you have from them in the present, kindly request their help to remedy issues you may have and DON'T BUY FROM THEM IF YOU GENUINLY HATE THIER STUFF!

Now that I have ranted, I shall go away now for a time. I now return you to your regularly scheduled program of whining, moaning and complaining.

:emperor

Wow... That really opend my eyes... You're so right about what you said. I to don't have problems with Sideshow figures. And about Hot Toys... I saw some figures of them but I don't think they could be better then the Sideshow versions, and they are way more expensive

I'll stick with the Sideshow figures , and maybe there are some things they could have done better, like the tusk of the Darth Vader figure or the beltbuckel of the "Diplomatic Mission" Diorama... But if the overall figure looks good, I don't have a problem with it

 

[fantasymaker]

Razor's shipped mine

 

[thenammagazine]

Wow... That really opend my eyes... You're so right about what you said. I to don't have problems with Sideshow figures. And about Hot Toys... I saw some figures of them but I don't think they could be better then the Sideshow versions, and they are way more expensive

I'll stick with the Sideshow figures , and maybe there are some things they could have done better, like the tusk of the Darth Vader figure or the beltbuckel of the "Diplomatic Mission" Diorama... But if the overall figure looks good, I don't have a problem with it

What the hell was wrong with the tusks?!

 

[jkno]

And about Hot Toys... I saw some figures of them but I don't think they could be better then the Sideshow versions, and they are way more expensive

Of course HT are not better than Sideshow. Come on. They are more expensive of course, but let's remember who helped SS have a body for armored figures. Why it is not the best body? Because if I was HT I'd keep some secrets of my own, thinking that maybe some day I will have my own slice of the 1:6 SW license and will make my own 12" figures and become SS competitor...

 

[thenammagazine]

Hey guys? The HotToys pole-squatting session is getting kinda lame. Maybe move your undying HT lust/Sideshow bashing to another forum without "Sideshow" in the name, or at least make your own HotToys Love-in thread and let us get back to enjoying the Sideshow Sandtrooper?

 

[Lee in MI]

They're not comparable. There's a 60% price difference between the two. 60% price increase = 60% increase in quality. Luckily, Sideshow's closed that gap with their quality. I can forgive missing paint on a Sandy if I don't have to fork out $180 for the HT version.

Did you even read what I wrote

You often tend to jump on things without carefully reading it first. So for those with quick draw set on automatic, I'll repeat. They are comparable as COMPANIES but not with the 1/6th product they produce.

That means that if the product isn't comparable, of course the prices should not be and, news flash!, they aren't. As well, they shouldn't be with the types of things that SSCs just lets go.

My point is, IN MY OPINION, SSCs product is going up in price but I don't think they are "closing" that gap all that much. Maybe on a figure here and there but not really. Its cool if you think so, but I don't. I would be MORE than willing to pay them even more if they could match HTs level of detail and attention to it and I think they can. They just don't and I really wish they would cause I don't understand why they haven't. They have the talent. They have the customer loyalty and they have argurably the dream license in SW in which to pull it off but they just won't pull the trigger.

 

[Lee in MI]

It can, but at some point the mass numbers get a greenlight to be done, and if the factory workers are doing subpar work to the approved final sample, nothing can stop it, where if the factory were here, the painters could go into the factory first day of production painting, see what the masses are doing, and then go hold up hold up, this isn't what you should be doing and stop it early. Also, because of the situation, I'm sure in some instances, Sideshow's a bit of a hostage to the factory that if they press for something and the factory doesn't feel like cooperating or wants more money for the job, they may have to concede. A product line like Sideshow makes can't be easy outsourcing, it's not like clothing or other goods where there's a math almost to the production designs, Sideshow's trying to mass produce art. If you try to mass produce figures in a basic manner, you get a Hasbro level figure, basic eyes, single tone hair paints, when you try to take it to the next level with more detailed paint, weathering and things of that sort, I'm sure it's complicated to try and do that using foreign production facilities.

I can get on board with some of what you are saying but this is becoming a great big excuse. Business is business. If you are outsourcing a product to one company and over and over again they continue to get it wrong or just not right, you move on. And there is no shortage of companies and factories offering this service to American manufacturers in the States.

And to your point about the product sample, you of all people know that they recieve product samples that are not quite right and the production moves along anyway. The Vader helmet was not the same as the proto and your production sample had the same mass produced helmet as the rest of us got. It was clearly wrong and SSC green lighted it anyway. What's the point of ordering production samples if it isn't used for QC-ing the final product?

 

[Lee in MI]

Nope, that was before I was born

Yeah, MF is a little wet behind the ears...only about 25 right?

 

[Lee in MI]

I think we should stop justifying sub par quality. If the factory can't supply, you find another. I know I do in my business.

Amen to that!!!!!!!!:chew

 

[Darth Mitchell]

What the hell was wrong with the tusks?!

The right Tusk of the Darth Vader 12" was black, and not white, as it was supose to be... Sorry if I'm sometimes a bit unclear with what I want to say

 

[MaulFan]

The right Tusk of the Darth Vader 12" was black, and not white, as it was supose to be... Sorry if I'm sometimes a bit unclear with what I want to say

It's supposed to be black. In A New Hope, the material used for the tusks wasn't the best, low budget, and it had worn away on the right tusk making it look black in many of the scenes. It looks strange, but for that film, which the figure is specific to, it is accurrate.

 

[Lee in MI]

Sideshow dosen't "owe" you anything unless you choose to send your toy back to them for a refend which is what I suggest you do if you are this unhappy with thier product. I wish everything in life was flawless, and I do hope SS does learn from past mistakes like we all need to, but thinking you are "owed" some sort of consideration just because of your personal taste makes for a slightly more scary world.

Maybe you could careless about your cash...maybe it comes that easy to you. But holding SSC accountable for their mistakes is what constructive critisism is all about. If you are content, then just say so...as a matter of fact, tell SSC. But the same goes if you aren't. Its a customers right to let em know that while you love their product, they have issues that need to be corrected so they can do better and risk losing no customers. Afterall, if folks start dropping off, that wont be good for anyone...not the folks with constructive critisism or SSC apologist