XM Studios 1/4 Classic Iron Man
- Thread starter MagnumOpus
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I find it funny a small company like XM which has a very limited Edition Sizes can make a big company like SSC shake in their boots
"Big things have small beginnings."
-prometheus
nemenforcer
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If SS messes with XM and kills them with licensing laws I will never buy ss again. Their walking a fine line with a sensitive niche base
SurlyJ
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you condemn SS for enforcing the terms of a license, but give XM a free pass for skirting it?
interesting discussion. But there will continue to be relatively easy ways to get these smuggled into NA : )
I see a great business opportunity for anyone who lives in the right place if this all turns out to be true.
I see a great business opportunity for anyone who lives in the right place if this all turns out to be true.
nemenforcer
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I dont give a f... about licensing. I just want the best product and representation of a character in my collection. I have 31 ss pfs and 5 XM pieces. I dont know about you but none of my 5 were bought from XM. All mine were bought with great difficulty from a secondary source at a markup and in foreign denominations.
For me ss was losing my business for a while and xm filled that high quality space for those of us who could afford it. Now I know a higher standard can be made, the standard I expect. So if XM dies im not running back to SS.
You would think XM would release some kind of a statement to collectors about this (via social media, email, etc.) if it was indeed happening.
Yet nothing....hmmm
Yet nothing....hmmm
Exactly.
Pretty good post by a member on SF covered this:
I honestly don't think Disney would care, judging by the way Disney does business to maximize their profits and nobody else. For example:
Sideshow Exec: Mr. Disney/Marvel exec. A company called XM studios is selling their products within their agreeable location, but those retailers are in turn selling to the United States, and its cutting in on our profits.
Disney Exec: They aren't breaking the terms. Its retailers, not XM themselves. By the way, aren't you putting a lot of work into your Court of the Dead series as well as our direct competition, DC comics? And aren't those typically turning out better than the Marvel counterparts on a large scale?
Sideshow Exec: So, where would you like to go to lunch?
Basically, Sideshow I would imagine isn't carrying enough weight with Disney to dictate how they operate with other companies. As long as XM themselves aren't breaking the terms, there is no reason for Disney to intervene. Especially on behalf of a company that isn't treating the Disney/Marvel license itself very well. I could see it if Sideshow was in the business of solely distributing Marvel and Star Wars products, but they are pushing DC and CoTD as well. My guess is if Disney was going to crack down on Simply Toys being a secondhand distributor, we would have heard about it long ago.
nemenforcer
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Heck if anything.give XM the marvel global license. If I was the disney exec I wpuld see XM products and think wow, lets make more of those since people want them so bad and they look hella cool. I would then tell ss whats the problem, why are you complaining after you have been given everything
I dont know how many of you know, but a while asian resellers/retailers prob went complaining to Hot toys about how Sideshow is taking up their market by selling HT worldwide, now SS cant sell HT to people in Asia, (im from India) and they also have restriction on Prime 1 products, they cant sell to people in Asia, so no wonder Sideshow is returning the favour,
SurlyJ
Super Freak
Well that's a hypothetically misinformed and irrelevant conversation. It should be redone but using some logic.
Redo it then.
SurlyJ
Super Freak
That's fine. You are allowed to not give a **** about licensing. Unfortunately it exists and it matters, A LOT.
Besides, this isn't about (if it's even true) Simply Toys, it's about the resellers who are essentially extensions of XM deliberately placed to facilitate the sale of XM pieces at retail price outside the licensing area. If they didn't exist I doubt this conversation even comes up. Again, assuming it is a conversation. This "rebel scum" person claiming to be a reseller is an unknown to me and most everyone it seems, so this could also be a bunch of misplaced jargon and possibly even trolling.
SurlyJ
Super Freak
Sure. First of all this conversation doesn't happen between executives. It happens between people in the licensing department on both sides. Executives may hear about this, but people think it's small fry because an executive wouldn't be bothered dealing with it, which is true because both companies have teams dedicated to handling the minutiae of things like this. Anyway...
Sideshow licensing manager: Hi, we believe a company who is licensed to sell your products in a restricted asian market is attempting to sidestep that agreement by using separate entities to sell outside the agreed upon license. We'd like to remind you that we are the largest licensor of Marvel products in the high end statue sector.
Disney licensing: we'll look into.
Tha'ts it. Sideshow pays more for the license than XM does, guaranteed, and in their agreement is most likely an exclusivity deal for many regions, ergo they mean more to disney/marvel. Marvel/Disney doesn't give a crap that they make DC products and have their own original line. If sideshow asks disney to look into and presents their findings, if disney is in agreement they will act on it. Depends how much of a fuss sideshow kicks up. However if the person paying $$$$ complains about the person paying $, those complaints will not be abjectly dismissed if they have even the smallest foundation in reality. And again, XM has been from day one playing fast and loose with the license via resellers who are not proper retailers, do not offer other products and for anyone who bothered to read the forums, which you bet your ass sideshow does, can see their existence is closely tied to XM with the sole purpose of selling outside the contracted regions.
Personally I'm glad those resellers exist and it's up to a couple teams of lawyers and a judge to decide whether they violate the licensing agreement, but if certainly seems enough to warrant a case being heard if both parties wanted to take it that far. So it will ultimately be on XM to decide whether they are willing to acquiesce and not fight the battle, or tell disney and sideshow to piss off as they don't believe they are violating the terms of their contract.
But once again, this may all be made up from the git go. An interesting discussion either way.
I agree about the resellers part, I always used to wonder how XM could get away with that as they were the ones pointing the direction and vouching for these resellers, I havent seen any other company publicly doing that
as for retailers, I think a Sideshow rep once said they could not ship HT anywhere in Asia, as HT distributors in Asia(simply toys for eg) had complained because they were losing their market to Sideshow, which effectively ended my chance of getting any HT exclusives at retail
so I guess, this is just tit for tat by Sideshow
as I said earlier, SS cant sell Prime 1 products as well to collectors in Asia
as for retailers, I think a Sideshow rep once said they could not ship HT anywhere in Asia, as HT distributors in Asia(simply toys for eg) had complained because they were losing their market to Sideshow, which effectively ended my chance of getting any HT exclusives at retail
so I guess, this is just tit for tat by Sideshow
as I said earlier, SS cant sell Prime 1 products as well to collectors in Asia
Sounds like more speculation to me.
XM posted photos of a possible Sandman statue 1 hour ago and didn't mention a single thing about distribution/licensing changes coming our way, at all. You would think that if it's going to be that big of a change it would have been a priority to, at least, partially addressed the issue. It could all just be a rumor. Just saying, until you hear it from the horses mouth you might not want to take it literally.
SurlyJ
Super Freak
Of course. This is all hypothetical. Not taking anything seriously at the moment.
One thing to take into account is how the Marvel/Disney license will come out looking from something like that.
Meaning, what's the message they'd deliver? "Buy our license, spend a crapload of money upfront, then see us hindering your business because we're killing a piece of our franchise and then also crippling you a little more by making your distribution a nightmare!".
I know Disney licenses are money-makers, but there are SO many untapped spots in this market, if I was a company I'd just say "f--k that, I'll stick with some other license".
Meaning, what's the message they'd deliver? "Buy our license, spend a crapload of money upfront, then see us hindering your business because we're killing a piece of our franchise and then also crippling you a little more by making your distribution a nightmare!".
I know Disney licenses are money-makers, but there are SO many untapped spots in this market, if I was a company I'd just say "f--k that, I'll stick with some other license".
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