SSC drops ES on 2 Marvel PFs...more to come?

[sarakawa]

Wow didn't think that that many people cared about the base. I think the Doom PF base is fine for the fig. Could it be more fitting and regal? Sure. But I'm mainly getting it for Victor and he looks pretty damn good. But then again, Diana has a damn awesome looking base on hers.

There are a lot of good reasons SSC is not moving as many pieces these days. Honestly the biggest reason is they are making stuff too fast and raising prices even faster. With the ESs being large, there's less reason to order early on anything. Nothing ever sells out in the first few months...

 

[guy66657]

There are a lot of good reasons SSC is not moving as many pieces these days. Honestly the biggest reason is they are making stuff too fast and raising prices even faster. With the ESs being large, there's less reason to order early on anything. Nothing ever sells out in the first few months...

Just wondering, how much was say, the Ms. Marvel PF at the time of release? Or even the original Doctor Doom?

 

[Kibishii]

Why Sideshow is not moving as many pieces:

• Quality Control issues have spooked many collectors from preordering. This is my biggest reason I avoid preordering Sideshow.
• TBD ES. Why preorder when you know it will be easy and cheaper to get at release?
• XM Studios. People would much rather spend the extra $ on quality sculpts from a company that listens to fan feedback
• Inconsistency in lines. Sideshow says, "Scale & base consistency are not important to us." Guess what buttercup, it is important to the fans who drop $400+ on your statues.
• The Jean Grey PF was so horrible that it gave me Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Don't put canned cat food on a plate, raise the price, and call it Salmon Pâté

I honestly don't think price is an issue at all; just look at the success of XM. Anyone who buys these statues knows that it is not a 'cheap' hobby. Sideshow needs to go back to the "Ask Sideshow" days and production peak teasers where they get feedback. We also need to remember that Sideshow is expanding DC, CoD, Horror, and 1/6th lines.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Why Sideshow is not moving as many pieces:

• Quality Control issues have spooked many collectors from preordering. This is my biggest reason I avoid preordering Sideshow.
• TBD ES. Why preorder when you know it will be easy and cheaper to get at release?
• XM Studios. People would much rather spend the extra $ on quality sculpts from a company that listens to fan feedback
• Inconsistency in lines. Sideshow says, "Scale & base consistency are not important to us." Guess what buttercup, it is important to the fans who drop $400+ on your statues.
• The Jean Grey PF was so horrible that it gave me Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Don't put canned cat food on a plate, raise the price, and call it Salmon Pâté

I honestly don't think price is an issue at all; just look at the success of XM. Anyone who buys these statues knows that it is not a 'cheap' hobby. Sideshow needs to go back to the "Ask Sideshow" days and production peak teasers where they get feedback. We also need to remember that Sideshow is expanding DC, CoD, Horror, and 1/6th lines.

While I can see your points I don't really agree in total.
QC, can it be an issue, yeah, is it all the time? No. Generally speaking this is about perception. If you ordered The MOS PF, Apocalypse, and.. we'll say Red Sonja, even though I think she's stunning, you'd say, "My god, Sideshow can't ship a single piece right." But in Contrast, if you ordered Harley Quinn, Superman, Red Skull, Punisher and Hell boy, you'd swear up and down that they nail everything. I think that people, especially on this forum tend to forget just how many products this company makes, and also just how many they get right. I also think that people, again, this forum in particular, think that they are owed something beyond a full refund. If something is wrong with a product, returning for your money back is a common enough practice and is considered, "making it right", but in collectibles, the need to have an item tends to drown out the fact that you can get your money back.

As far as ES is concerned, sure that works if you want the regular edition of the statue, but if you want the exclusive, you could well be out of luck by the time it ships.

I'll get to XM in a bit.

The base of statue should fit the character that sits on it. That's what I want. It's what Sideshow is foing with their DC license and Horror license. I don't know why the Marvel license is different. As for scale in lines, I agree, get out the measuring tape and make it right.

I agree on the Jean Grey PF and I honestly don't know what they were thinking. Had I seen that come out of the Prototype shop looking like that I'd have scrapped it and started over.

As for your comments about XM, and this "hobby"(I hate that word to describe collecting). It's true, this isn't cheap to do, many things aren't. But I see no reason to further inflate the prices of these pieces than they already are. Spending more just to get what should be done right the first time or for an extra switch out that literally at the end of production run probably adds and extra $5 in cost to the company to me is ridiculous. I already fork over a few grand a year so I don't need to go doubling the amount just because someone has a few shiney baubles they've added on and packed it in a different styrofoam.

XM needs to show me better sculpts, I know, I know, you guys like them, I don't, Before I plung money down, and to be honest it's going to have to be one hell of piece for me to spend more than what I do on Life Size busts to get my money.

 

[peedi]

Funny you use Harley and Superman as an example Josh. I see where you and Kibishii are coming from.

My Harley came with slight google eye. My Superman came with a chip on the base. Small enough for me to accept a credit rather than loose my Ex, but enough to make me feel ill towards SS when I see everybody posting their awesome Superman PFs while I'm told there's no replacements (that's why I hate being in later batches for batch shipments). This is why people loose faith in SS. Things like this don't happen to everybody and don't happen on every piece, but they happen too often and we see proof of it across the boards, although I agree some reactions are overblown.

SS definitely has things to work on. Maybe they need to produce less to have less mistakes? These recent ES changes are what the ES should've been on them to begin with. Less pieces overall and a rededication to quality.

I definitely agree though, I'm not too keen on the term "hobby" for statue collecting.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Funny you use Harley and Superman as an example Josh. I see where you and Kibishii are coming from.

My Harley came with slight google eye. My Superman came with a chip on the base. Small enough for me to accept a credit rather than loose my Ex, but enough to make me feel ill towards SS when I see everybody posting their awesome Superman PFs while I'm told there's no replacements (that's why I hate being in later batches for batch shipments). This is why people loose faith in SS. Things like this don't happen to everybody and don't happen on every piece, but they happen too often and we see proof of it across the boards, although I agree some reactions are overblown.

SS definitely has things to work on. Maybe they need to produce less to have less mistakes? These recent ES changes are what the ES should've been on them to begin with. Less pieces overall and a rededication to quality.

I definitely agree though, I'm not too keen on the term "hobby" for statue collecting.

Sorry to hear about your Supes and Harley, Peedi, I only used them as examples because they really did have few issues. I know what you mean about the batches too, that I really dislike. If we order a statue first, hour/day/week our processing should be first whether we flexed it or paid in full. Anything else is just stupid.

 

[gaijin]

Agree x 2

A handful of defects on the forum vs the total edition size is only small %

I mentioned before buying from LCS gives buyers option to inspect and reject defects (if any) as well as cheaper prices than direct from SS, this applies to international too btw.

From SS long history, there had never been any quick sellouts even for grails or low es exclusives inm. Why so... its a mystery. Perhaps it was a wait and see attitude or at that time, price was an issue (its always too high). I remember buying doom pf for $300+, capt america pf, thor pf excl, joker pf excl at retail price ... there was no rush or madness at all.

With PCS and their super low es exclusives, its quite obvious for Streetfighter completists on the minutes sellouts and website crashes. Not too long ago, I even bought PCS Sagat excl without even mad-rushing (ES is 350 !!), weeks after PO release on SS website... go figure. After PCS took over from SS, things became crazier with emails PO and website PO.

With XM and their 800 and 999 ES sellouts within an hour worldwide and > $600 + heavy shipping, ... very iffy really... a bigger mystery. Didn't even show up on PO lists around asia stores/sites let alone international.

Overall, the whole scenario could be similar to a property boom or economy boom ... up to a point, everything was at slow pace and then, bam .... everything skyrocketed and snapped up fast like hotcakes!

While I can see your points I don't really agree in total.
QC, can it be an issue, yeah, is it all the time? No. Generally speaking this is about perception. If you ordered The MOS PF, Apocalypse, and.. we'll say Red Sonja, even though I think she's stunning, you'd say, "My god, Sideshow can't ship a single piece right." But in Contrast, if you ordered Harley Quinn, Superman, Red Skull, Punisher and Hell boy, you'd swear up and down that they nail everything. I think that people, especially on this forum tend to forget just how many products this company makes, and also just how many they get right. I also think that people, again, this forum in particular, think that they are owed something beyond a full refund. If something is wrong with a product, returning for your money back is a common enough practice and is considered, "making it right", but in collectibles, the need to have an item tends to drown out the fact that you can get your money back.

As far as ES is concerned, sure that works if you want the regular edition of the statue, but if you want the exclusive, you could well be out of luck by the time it ships.

I'll get to XM in a bit.

The base of statue should fit the character that sits on it. That's what I want. It's what Sideshow is foing with their DC license and Horror license. I don't know why the Marvel license is different. As for scale in lines, I agree, get out the measuring tape and make it right.

I agree on the Jean Grey PF and I honestly don't know what they were thinking. Had I seen that come out of the Prototype shop looking like that I'd have scrapped it and started over.

As for your comments about XM, and this "hobby"(I hate that word to describe collecting). It's true, this isn't cheap to do, many things aren't. But I see no reason to further inflate the prices of these pieces than they already are. Spending more just to get what should be done right the first time or for an extra switch out that literally at the end of production run probably adds and extra $5 in cost to the company to me is ridiculous. I already fork over a few grand a year so I don't need to go doubling the amount just because someone has a few shiney baubles they've added on and packed it in a different styrofoam.

XM needs to show me better sculpts, I know, I know, you guys like them, I don't, Before I plung money down, and to be honest it's going to have to be one hell of piece for me to spend more than what I do on Life Size busts to get my money.

 

[Tbolt]

While I can see your points I don't really agree in total.
QC, can it be an issue, yeah, is it all the time? No. Generally speaking this is about perception. If you ordered The MOS PF, Apocalypse, and.. we'll say Red Sonja, even though I think she's stunning, you'd say, "My god, Sideshow can't ship a single piece right." But in Contrast, if you ordered Harley Quinn, Superman, Red Skull, Punisher and Hell boy, you'd swear up and down that they nail everything. I think that people, especially on this forum tend to forget just how many products this company makes, and also just how many they get right. I also think that people, again, this forum in particular, think that they are owed something beyond a full refund. If something is wrong with a product, returning for your money back is a common enough practice and is considered, "making it right", but in collectibles, the need to have an item tends to drown out the fact that you can get your money back.

As far as ES is concerned, sure that works if you want the regular edition of the statue, but if you want the exclusive, you could well be out of luck by the time it ships.

I'll get to XM in a bit.

The base of statue should fit the character that sits on it. That's what I want. It's what Sideshow is foing with their DC license and Horror license. I don't know why the Marvel license is different. As for scale in lines, I agree, get out the measuring tape and make it right.

I agree on the Jean Grey PF and I honestly don't know what they were thinking. Had I seen that come out of the Prototype shop looking like that I'd have scrapped it and started over.

As for your comments about XM, and this "hobby"(I hate that word to describe collecting). It's true, this isn't cheap to do, many things aren't. But I see no reason to further inflate the prices of these pieces than they already are. Spending more just to get what should be done right the first time or for an extra switch out that literally at the end of production run probably adds and extra $5 in cost to the company to me is ridiculous. I already fork over a few grand a year so I don't need to go doubling the amount just because someone has a few shiney baubles they've added on and packed it in a different styrofoam.

XM needs to show me better sculpts, I know, I know, you guys like them, I don't, Before I plung money down, and to be honest it's going to have to be one hell of piece for me to spend more than what I do on Life Size busts to get my money.

Also, am I the only one who doesn't think XM ES is really not that small in comparison? Is 999 the new 250?

 

[Asdf]

3 years from now when all the prices have skyrocketed to $650-$900 for a regular museum posed PF and most of us have collections nearly complete and don't care anymore. Sure, by then it'd be a great time to get the license.

By that time. I think I better find something else to do, way too pricey hahahaha

 

[filip629]

Also, am I the only one who doesn't think XM ES is really not that small in comparison? Is 999 the new 250?

I think it is small. Keep in mind, XM doesn't make EX & REGs like SSC. If you add up both the EX and REGs on SSC merch, you usually get well over 1000 total units on a PF. Also keep in mind that if SSC releases a statue with a low ES, it's because the piece isn't selling, not because they want to keep the ES low for collectors. The DD PF isn't at a 1000 units because SSC wants to keep the ES low for collectors. It's at a 1000 units because no one wants it.

The difference beteween SSC's and XM's business strategy is huge. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. XM promises it's collectors full casts, low ES, feedback on its designs, high quality paint apps, and stellar QC. SSC gives you almost none of these things. You usually get hollow casts, high ES, and no feedback whatsoever. Paint apps (and thus QC) end up being a crap shoot as well. Sure XM charges more, but look at what you get. I never complain about their prices, it's their shipping charges that kill my wallet. However, that's the price of being an international customer. For years we've seen our international brothers struggle with ordering directly from SSC because of shipping charges and taxes. Now the shoe is simply on the other foot.

The funny part is I've never really been one to complain much about ES. The thing that gets my goat is when there is NO ES on SSC merch. I can't stand when there's no numbers on my base. It just goes against everything I believe since I began collecting. The fact that a company can go back and rerelease a piece whenever they want to bugs me to no end. That all said, it looks like bloated edition sizes are catching up to SSC. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with it moving forward.

 

[Asdf]

I think it is small. Keep in mind, XM doesn't make EX & REGs like SSC. If you add up both the EX and REGs on SSC merch, you usually get well over 1000 total units on a PF. Also keep in mind that if SSC releases a statue with a low ES, it's because the piece isn't selling, not because they want to keep the ES low for collectors. The DD PF isn't at a 1000 units because SSC wants to keep the ES low for collectors. It's at a 1000 units because no one wants it.

The difference beteween SSC's and XM's business strategy is huge. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. XM promises it's collectors full casts, low ES, feedback on its designs, high quality paint apps, and stellar QC. SSC gives you almost none of these things. You usually get hollow casts, high ES, and no feedback whatsoever. Paint apps (and thus QC) end up being a crap shoot as well. Sure XM charges more, but look at what you get. I never complain about their prices, it's their shipping charges that kill my wallet. However, that's the price of being an international customer. For years we've seen our international brothers struggle with ordering directly from SSC because of shipping charges and taxes. Now the shoe is simply on the other foot.

The funny part is I've never really been one to complain much about ES. The thing that gets my goat is when there is NO ES on SSC merch. I can't stand when there's no numbers on my base. It just goes against everything I believe since I began collecting. The fact that a company can go back and rerelease a piece whenever they want to bugs me to no end. That all said, it looks like bloated edition sizes are catching up to SSC. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with it moving forward.

Well well said brother.
SS has finally woke up and took notice now

 

[Tbolt]

I think it is small. Keep in mind, XM doesn't make EX & REGs like SSC. If you add up both the EX and REGs on SSC merch, you usually get well over 1000 total units on a PF. Also keep in mind that if SSC releases a statue with a low ES, it's because the piece isn't selling, not because they want to keep the ES low for collectors. The DD PF isn't at a 1000 units because SSC wants to keep the ES low for collectors. It's at a 1000 units because no one wants it.

The difference beteween SSC's and XM's business strategy is huge. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. XM promises it's collectors full casts, low ES, feedback on its designs, high quality paint apps, and stellar QC. SSC gives you almost none of these things. You usually get hollow casts, high ES, and no feedback whatsoever. Paint apps (and thus QC) end up being a crap shoot as well. Sure XM charges more, but look at what you get. I never complain about their prices, it's their shipping charges that kill my wallet. However, that's the price of being an international customer. For years we've seen our international brothers struggle with ordering directly from SSC because of shipping charges and taxes. Now the shoe is simply on the other foot.

The funny part is I've never really been one to complain much about ES. The thing that gets my goat is when there is NO ES on SSC merch. I can't stand when there's no numbers on my base. It just goes against everything I believe since I began collecting. The fact that a company can go back and rerelease a piece whenever they want to bugs me to no end. That all said, it looks like bloated edition sizes are catching up to SSC. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with it moving forward.

Meh, I think your just cherry picking to support your own justifications for purchasing.

But it's not my money, knock yourself out.

I don't think it's anything to do with competition, they have raised there own prices knocking out a segment of their buying public. The percentage of folks willing to drop 400-500 shipped is small as it is. Too many products canabalizing each other.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

QC, can it be an issue, yeah, is it all the time? No. Generally speaking this is about perception. If you ordered The MOS PF, Apocalypse, and.. we'll say Red Sonja, even though I think she's stunning, you'd say, "My god, Sideshow can't ship a single piece right." But in Contrast, if you ordered Harley Quinn, Superman, Red Skull, Punisher and Hell boy, you'd swear up and down that they nail everything. I think that people, especially on this forum tend to forget just how many products this company makes, and also just how many they get right. I also think that people, again, this forum in particular, think that they are owed something beyond a full refund. If something is wrong with a product, returning for your money back is a common enough practice and is considered, "making it right", but in collectibles, the need to have an item tends to drown out the fact that you can get your money back.

If you collected SS Marvel IM, you'd know almost every IM piece they've shipped has been a QC nightmare for years now. The only exceptions are WM Maquette and WM bust, everything else is horrible and you have to basically hit the lottery to get a good one. So yes, QC is an issue all the time depending on what line you collect.

I care about getting what I pay for when I place a preorder and not (1) being deceived by a bait and switch proto to end product and (2) receiving something that should never passed quality control inspection to begin with. What purpose does it serve to care about how many products SS makes other than to be used an an excuse when they deliver duds?

I think it is small. Keep in mind, XM doesn't make EX & REGs like SSC. If you add up both the EX and REGs on SSC merch, you usually get well over 1000 total units on a PF. Also keep in mind that if SSC releases a statue with a low ES, it's because the piece isn't selling, not because they want to keep the ES low for collectors. The DD PF isn't at a 1000 units because SSC wants to keep the ES low for collectors. It's at a 1000 units because no one wants it.

The difference beteween SSC's and XM's business strategy is huge. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum. XM promises it's collectors full casts, low ES, feedback on its designs, high quality paint apps, and stellar QC. SSC gives you almost none of these things. You usually get hollow casts, high ES, and no feedback whatsoever. Paint apps (and thus QC) end up being a crap shoot as well. Sure XM charges more, but look at what you get. I never complain about their prices, it's their shipping charges that kill my wallet. However, that's the price of being an international customer. For years we've seen our international brothers struggle with ordering directly from SSC because of shipping charges and taxes. Now the shoe is simply on the other foot.

The funny part is I've never really been one to complain much about ES. The thing that gets my goat is when there is NO ES on SSC merch. I can't stand when there's no numbers on my base. It just goes against everything I believe since I began collecting. The fact that a company can go back and rerelease a piece whenever they want to bugs me to no end. That all said, it looks like bloated edition sizes are catching up to SSC. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with it moving forward.

Great post.

 

[Pork Chop Express]

Even SS can get caught up in their own hype. I think in part that's why edition sizes are as large as they are, especially for A-list characters. Not all ed sizes are going to be the same, so it makes sense (to me) that DD is lower than most, pose/sculpt aside. He's not an A list character. Again, popular yes, but not like all the other money makers. SS lowering ed #'s is just a business decision, nothing more.

Most companies run into production problems at some point. Expanding to quickly is a common reason, something I think SS is also dealing with now. Stiff competition is a good them for them and the consumer. An increasing part of me just pegs this up to first world problems... if I'm not feeling it my wallet stays closed.

 

[Kibishii]

While I can see your points I don't really agree in total.
QC, can it be an issue, yeah, is it all the time? No. Generally speaking this is about perception. If you ordered The MOS PF, Apocalypse, and.. we'll say Red Sonja, even though I think she's stunning, you'd say, "My god, Sideshow can't ship a single piece right." But in Contrast, if you ordered Harley Quinn, Superman, Red Skull, Punisher and Hell boy, you'd swear up and down that they nail everything. I think that people, especially on this forum tend to forget just how many products this company makes, and also just how many they get right. I also think that people, again, this forum in particular, think that they are owed something beyond a full refund. If something is wrong with a product, returning for your money back is a common enough practice and is considered, "making it right", but in collectibles, the need to have an item tends to drown out the fact that you can get your money back.

As far as ES is concerned, sure that works if you want the regular edition of the statue, but if you want the exclusive, you could well be out of luck by the time it ships.

The base of statue should fit the character that sits on it. That's what I want. It's what Sideshow is foing with their DC license and Horror license. I don't know why the Marvel license is different. As for scale in lines, I agree, get out the measuring tape and make it right.

I agree on the Jean Grey PF and I honestly don't know what they were thinking. Had I seen that come out of the Prototype shop looking like that I'd have scrapped it and started over.

Other than CoD Kier, I only collect Marvel PFs (I gave up the Star Wars PF line years ago) so my experience with other lines is limited at best. I had four PFs in a row with serious QC issues as did many, many other board members: Rogue, Ironman, Psylocke, Apocalypse. Sure, Sideshow fixed Rogue & Ironman, but the last two I was SOL other than a refund and credit. Maybe it is just the Marvel line that has so many QC issues, but I know that it has drastically impacted my preorders. I would have preordered the Sentinel Maquette, but held out for release just because of QC fears.

Red Skull is amazing and the upcoming WWII Cap looks like it will be great as well! I will give you that. But, honestly, how many 'sold out' Marvel exclusives are that hard to get after release anymore?

We can agree to disagree about the base, but I know that the majority of collectors on the message boards like consistency in a line. Great discussion btw.

 

[Randy_S]

I love consistency in a line; like with the following companies I have had an acceptable product from a QC standpoint:

Master Replicas 100%
eFX 100%
Bowen Designs 100%
Gentle Giant 100%
Medicom 100%
ARH Studios 100%
Hasbro 99.9%

Compare that to the track record of SS products I've bought since 2005 that have had problems and there is an enormous difference. The first few years of Marvel statues were great and a pleasant surprise for me after dropping the problematic SW 1/6 figures. Now I have a problem with every other statue.

 

[Villaincollector1]

I am curious what SSC pays for licensing fees are when you compare Marvel vs DC. It seems like Marvel must charge a TON of money compared to DC. Sideshow's DC line is not only larger scale, less money, more detailed, larger edition size, and can all be posed together without looking out of place. You get way more for your money with SSC DC line. I haven't bought any of the DC line only because I am a diehard Marvel reader, but if I was a DC comics fan, I would be in Heaven right now with all the awesome DC statues from SSC. Maybe SSC can sell the DC line for less because of the large edition sizes on them. That is possible too. Thoughts?

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

I am curious what SSC pays for licensing fees are when you compare Marvel vs DC. It seems like Marvel must charge a TON of money compared to DC. Sideshow's DC line is not only larger scale, less money, more detailed, larger edition size, and can all be posed together without looking out of place. You get way more for your money with SSC DC line. I haven't bought any of the DC line only because I am a diehard Marvel reader, but if I was a DC comics fan, I would be in Heaven right now with all the awesome DC statues from SSC. Maybe SSC can sell the DC line for less because of the large edition sizes on them. That is possible too. Thoughts?

Far less? I'm not sure what you mean. Batman, Superman, Sinestro, Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Batgirl have all been priced at $400. The only "cheaper" statues in the line were Green Lantern, Ivy, Joker and Harley all priced between $350 and $360 and announced before much of the more recent price increases. Sideshow hasn't put out any of the larger "Hulk Sized" DC characters yet so we don't really have anything like that to compare price points yet.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Honestly, no statue, even said "grails", are hard to get, if I had the money I could get any of them at just about any time. Same can be said with the new exclusives. None are hard to find, question is do you want to pay $200-$300 more for them when they were just released.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

If you collected SS Marvel IM, you'd know almost every IM piece they've shipped has been a QC nightmare for years now. The only exceptions are WM Maquette and WM bust, everything else is horrible and you have to basically hit the lottery to get a good one. So yes, QC is an issue all the time depending on what line you collect.

I care about getting what I pay for when I place a preorder and not (1) being deceived by a bait and switch proto to end product and (2) receiving something that should never passed quality control inspection to begin with. What purpose does it serve to care about how many products SS makes other than to be used an an excuse when they deliver duds?



Great post.

That's my point about perception. And yet I collect the DC line and some marvel and some horror and haven't really had an issue to speak of.