12" lotr line on hold

[jaffakitkat]

I'm so beyond bummed about this. I desperately wanted a full Fellowship from this line, since we're so unlikely to see it in any other lines (except the diorama line, hopefully).

I think I'm just going to have to keep clinging to the faint hope that the line will start up again once things heat up around The Hobbit. I mean, if they decide to do 12" figures for The Hobbit, they'll HAVE to do dwarves, right? So maybe they could add Gimli in then once they'll be using the body for more than one character. And then Merry and Pippin just to round things off. I guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for a year or two . . .

Just three more figures to go!

 

[Darklord Dave]

they should've just lowered the edition sizes. if they are taking so long to sell out the exclusives why not go back to the 750 edition size for exclusives and lower the regular editions to 1500 or less. i thought i heard that they only need to sell 500 or so to hit a break even point. the regular editions sell out cuz retailers buy them up but the exclusives only sell off the site so if nobody buys em, they are stuck with them.

Most businesses don't stay alive if they just break even. For a 1/6th figure to be profitable it needs to sell at least 3000 total units. And that all depends on the R&D expenses that go into it, which are considerably more for LotR.

Sorry to bring the rain again, but I find it sadly ironic that Sideshow would put on the brakes just when they've hit their stride. The last three releases are outstanding examples of the promise this line holds. And with the release of Clonobi, armored LotR characters also appear to be right around the corner.

Sales have slowed as interest has waned, but this situation could yet be remedied with a new game plan. If they've been reading our posts in the most recent threads here, then I'm sure they have a pretty good idea why things have gone south from the consumer side of the issue. Therein lies the answer.

Sales may have slowed to the point where they no longer consider the line to be viable, but it's due in part to the way they decided to manage it. I don't think it's too late to give the line a long overdue kick in the pants by turning out a couple of quality villains, even now. At least they'd have a clear idea whether the line was really worth continuing or not, based on the response they get.

No matter how they manage or market it - the interest just isn't there. They attended One Ring Convention, premiered Faramir there, held 2 seperate panels, had a booth displaying the LotR stuff and many people oohed and awed over the pieces, but that obviously didn't translate into sales. It's a very targeted group that will buy this stuff - the job is to let them know about it, which they do - they just don't buy.

What they need to do is package a 12" Ringwraith with the blu-ray set of the movie in a special edition - see how that would sell.

 

[The Ween]

oooooooooooo..........

 

[The Ween]

Most businesses don't stay alive if they just break even. For a 1/6th figure to be profitable it needs to sell at least 3000 total units. And that all depends on the R&D expenses that go into it, which are considerably more for LotR.



No matter how they manage or market it - the interest just isn't there. They attended One Ring Convention, premiered Faramir there, held 2 seperate panels, had a booth displaying the LotR stuff and many people oohed and awed over the pieces, but that obviously didn't translate into sales. It's a very targeted group that will buy this stuff - the job is to let them know about it, which they do - they just don't buy.

What they need to do is package a 12" Ringwraith with the blu-ray set of the movie in a special edition - see how that would sell.

The non-exclusives are selling out, so why not just make more of them, and less of the exclusives? They could always do like they're doing with some of the PFs. Make less but charge alittle more for the exclusives. I'd be willing to pay more for one. I've never understood why they always didn't do that in the first place.

 

[LordAzrael]

The non-exclusives are selling out, so why not just make more of them, and less of the exclusives? They could always do like they're doing with some of the PFs. Make less but charge alittle more for the exclusives. I'd be willing to pay more for one. I've never understood why they always didn't do that in the first place.

Easy. The exclusive were so they could sell them at retail without competing with their distributors.

 

[Kratos]

Im going to be honest I'm not a fan of this LOTR line don't know why it just doesn't tickle my fancy, and if the plug gets pulled on this line all together in my opinion its good as SS will be able to focus on their LOTR PF and Diorama lines

 

[OSCORP]

Im going to be honest I'm not a fan of this LOTR line don't know why it just doesn't tickle my fancy, and if the plug gets pulled on this line all together in my opinion its good as SS will be able to focus on their LOTR PF and Diorama lines

 

[The Ringer]

I really don't think that the sixth scale line affected the dios or PF one bit. Both of them have quite a few offerings and enought to keep most people happy. I hated that dry spell between Frodo and GTW though. 365 painful days I think it was.

 

[Kratos]

 

[The Craw]

Most businesses don't stay alive if they just break even. For a 1/6th figure to be profitable it needs to sell at least 3000 total units. And that all depends on the R&D expenses that go into it, which are considerably more for LotR.
.

3000? thought it was much less. my bad.

 

[The Ween]

Im going to be honest I'm not a fan of this LOTR line don't know why it just doesn't tickle my fancy, and if the plug gets pulled on this line all together in my opinion its good as SS will be able to focus on their LOTR PF and Diorama lines

Them doing PFs and Dios has nothing to do with their 1/6 line, or visa versa.

Why are you reading this thread if you have no interest in it?

 

[Darklord Dave]

Them doing PFs and Dios has nothing to do with their 1/6 line, or visa versa.

Why are you reading this thread if you have no interest in it?

Actually that's not true. The same R&D has to be done and it's the same group of people working on all the things at SSC, not just LotR. And a LotR PF takes just as much R&D as a 1/6th figure, unless it's a lame Orc that's 99% sculpted.

Fully sculpted pieces take far, far, far less work - a diorama has to be art directed-what scene, the poses, etc. and a sculptor hired and when it's sculpted then it's painted. Badabing - it's done.

A PF or a 1/6 has to be art directed but it's much more involved - for a PF how much will be sculpted, how much will be mixed media, for a 1/6 - nothing but the hands and head are sculpted and the rest needs to be created from scratch. Patterns have to be made for the clothes, materials chosen that work in scale and can be sourced in China and are durable enough.

Look at 2 of the newest PFs - Uruk and slave Leia - both of them are almost exclusively sculpted - that's just easier. Of course there's licensee approval which can be difficult for something like Leia - but that doesn't necessarily use up R&D resources.

 

[Kratos]

Thank you Dave you made my point a whole lot clearer

 

[The Ween]

Actually that's not true. The same R&D has to be done and it's the same group of people working on all the things at SSC, not just LotR. And a LotR PF takes just as much R&D as a 1/6th figure, unless it's a lame Orc that's 99% sculpted.

Fully sculpted pieces take far, far, far less work - a diorama has to be art directed-what scene, the poses, etc. and a sculptor hired and when it's sculpted then it's painted. Badabing - it's done.

A PF or a 1/6 has to be art directed but it's much more involved - for a PF how much will be sculpted, how much will be mixed media, for a 1/6 - nothing but the hands and head are sculpted and the rest needs to be created from scratch. Patterns have to be made for the clothes, materials chosen that work in scale and can be sourced in China and are durable enough.

Look at 2 of the newest PFs - Uruk and slave Leia - both of them are almost exclusively sculpted - that's just easier. Of course there's licensee approval which can be difficult for something like Leia - but that doesn't necessarily use up R&D resources.

I understand all this Dave, but my point is that SS still making LotRs 1/6 wouldn't slow them down to make LotR PFs or Dios, not as slow as they have been with coming out with anything in the 1/6 line.

I mean, do you honestly think they'll be making more PFs or Dios from LotR now that they have the 1/6 line on hold? Or making them faster? I just don't think so.

 

[Darklord Dave]

I understand all this Dave, but my point is that SS still making LotRs 1/6 wouldn't slow them down to make LotR PFs or Dios, not as slow as they have been with coming out with anything in the 1/6 line.

I mean, do you honestly think they'll be making more PFs or Dios from LotR now that they have the 1/6 line on hold? Or making them faster? I just don't think so.

No, you're correct there - the lack of 1/6 won't influence the speed of release of other LotR items in the slightest.

 

[Entropy]

Sideshow's goal should've been, and I hope was, the completion of The Fellowship. Wish they hadn't taken that Faramir mistep. At least they completed most and luckily the last 3 are the easiest, relatively speaking, to customize.

 

[The Ween]

Sideshow's goal should've been, and I hope was, the completion of The Fellowship. Wish they hadn't taken that Faramir mistep. At least they completed most and luckily the last 3 are the easiest, relatively speaking, to customize.

I'm gonna start looking for clothes for Merry and Pippin. If not maybe I can shake some out. I'm going to have to try and find some good pics of them to get some idea on what to get.

 

[Mudshark]

No matter how they manage or market it - the interest just isn't there. They attended One Ring Convention, premiered Faramir there, held 2 seperate panels, had a booth displaying the LotR stuff and many people oohed and awed over the pieces, but that obviously didn't translate into sales. It's a very targeted group that will buy this stuff - the job is to let them know about it, which they do - they just don't buy.

What they need to do is package a 12" Ringwraith with the blu-ray set of the movie in a special edition - see how that would sell.

I realize interest is nowhere near what it was a few years ago. I was thinking mainly of their initial game plan when interest was still high. For one thing, character selection at the outset, and the order in which the chosen characters were to be released. No villains at all, for example, is one thing that really stands out. How hard would it have been to release a Black Rider, or even Saruman, earlier on in the line? I think most of us feel it would've made a difference. If the figures had come out a little faster, and one or two villains had been among them, there might not have been a reason to put the line on hold.

Timing is quite often a critical factor, even more so when popularity has already peaked and begun to wane, which is why I think they might've seen that coming and made other decisions regarding the order of releases, before the line started losing steam. I'm not criticizing their decisions, just pointing out that sales might've faired better had they done things a bit differently.

 

[thamesvalidude]

Most businesses don't stay alive if they just break even. For a 1/6th figure to be profitable it needs to sell at least 3000 total units. And that all depends on the R&D expenses that go into it, which are considerably more for LotR.



No matter how they manage or market it - the interest just isn't there. They attended One Ring Convention, premiered Faramir there, held 2 seperate panels, had a booth displaying the LotR stuff and many people oohed and awed over the pieces, but that obviously didn't translate into sales. It's a very targeted group that will buy this stuff - the job is to let them know about it, which they do - they just don't buy.

What they need to do is package a 12" Ringwraith with the blu-ray set of the movie in a special edition - see how that would sell.

Does this mean, Dave, that you have it "from the horse's mouth" that the line is dead? I know your Sideshow contacts are better than mine.

 

[Mesa]

A PF or a 1/6 has to be art directed but it's much more involved - for a PF how much will be sculpted, how much will be mixed media, for a 1/6 - nothing but the hands and head are sculpted and the rest needs to be created from scratch. Patterns have to be made for the clothes, materials chosen that work in scale and can be sourced in China and are durable enough.

Dave, you seem to know the process fairly well, so I have a question.

At what point does the Melamine get added?