Statue BLITZWAY- Enter the Dragon- Bruce Lee Tribute 1/3 scale Statue Ver. 2 spec

[xpl0sive]

I have a feeling that the seam not being flush with the neck could be more the norm than the exception. Sounds like SAB lucked out with his piece.
It would need to be watched pretty closely in production to make sure each face meets each neck perfectly.

The great shots had me pretty close to pulling the trigger on this, even despite the abysmal cuts.
These QC issues are making me go a little cool on it again.

And I wonder what the policy at PC is - whether returns are repacked, put back into the pool of stock and potentially sent out again to fill some other order?

Yeah understand how you feel mate, it's a bit of a shame, but every company has QC issues really. I've bought a lot of stuff from Sideshow, and I don't think I've had any figure that arrived without a single flaw lol. Some very minor, some not so much. We really don't know how many of these are faulty really, since there isn't many people who own this yet. Unfortunately I seem to have a lot of badluck with this stuff.

You're right though, it could be that an ill-fitting head sculpt may be the norm rather than the exception, for the reasons you mentioned.

I don't think PC would repack it and send it out as new. These come sealed, both the shipping box is sealed (with Blitzway branded tape), and the art box is also sealed, and then the styrofoam inside is also sealed. The seal would be broken, so there's no way they'd be able to pass it off as new. I'd imagine what they would do is swap out a customer's statue, then send the faulty one back to Blitzway for a replacement.

I really hope mine has a decent seam,there's no way I'd ship back to Italy due to the cost,looks like the possibility of having to do several mods on this to get it right.
this maybe cheap compared to other companies statues,but blitzway set their prices and should deliver a better/accurate statue,or if indeed they undercost this,then re-think the whole thing.
GOD was not perfect but as the head/body seam was under the suit(and could be filled/painted easy)then that looks a better value statue with the extra's supplied.
I'm sure the ETD head to body join could have been done in a similar way,it could have been blended in with the muscle structure prior to painting.
let's hope this issue is not prominent on most of these(the lean also)

Yeah it's a bit of a risk for you mate, given you have to get yours from Italy. Cheap for the scale or not, it's still a lot of money, and there really shouldn't be flaws like this at this price point really. Blending the head into the muscle structure prior to painting just wouldn't happen though. It would take way too much time, finesse and skill to do, and I'd imagine the factories are trying to pump these out as quickly as possible to move onto the next project.

Honestly though, the seam solution is fine, provided the head is perfectly joined to the neck. I believe that if the head was perfectly fitted on mine, then you wouldn't even see the seam unless you were shining a light from the side and looking at it up close.

I've always thought GoD was the better value statue as this is pretty bare bones whereas with the GOD you have the awesome diorama base, the accessories and the cat suit, however, I prefer the sculpt on this and cuts aside, I think the paint job on this is pretty damn nice and the whole statue has a fairly realistic look to it. Very life-like. The fact that this is EtD though meant it will always get my preference, provided the quality of the statue turned out OK, and I think for the most part it has.

 

[mrchris]

I'm just the type that will pick up on the flaws/issues so to speak and as this is my most expensive (well kind of) bruce lee collectible,i wanted to unpack and display in the custom made case.
but it looks like a few things will need to be done to get it right(for me anyway)if the seam is as it should be and not off then ok I'd put up with it..
but unless you don't mind the niggles(yes they are small) then that's fine (i think ETD being a few's favourite movie helps a little) .but there was really no excuse to mess up in the first place.
i'll be glad when mine gets here getting kinda corncerned to see if I get a good or bad one.
losing the feel/buzz on this a the moment like I was a few weeks ago....(need some more quality photos from all angles)

 

[Tyderium]

I don't think PC would repack it and send it out as new. These come sealed, both the shipping box is sealed (with Blitzway branded tape), and the art box is also sealed, and then the styrofoam inside is also sealed. The seal would be broken, so there's no way they'd be able to pass it off as new. I'd imagine what they would do is swap out a customer's statue, then send the faulty one back to Blitzway for a replacement.

Good to know.

I've always thought GoD was the better value statue as this is pretty bare bones whereas with the GOD you have the awesome diorama base, the accessories and the cat suit, however, I prefer the sculpt on this and cuts aside, I think the paint job on this is pretty damn nice and the whole statue has a fairly realistic look to it. Very life-like. The fact that this is EtD though meant it will always get my preference, provided the quality of the statue turned out OK, and I think for the most part it has.

Agree with all this.
Having a strong bias for the iconography of ETD I've been skimming over some of the faults with this piece, that, and knowing I will be able to improve upon certain things, otherwise I may have really discounted it fairly quick.
This base flesh tone in your photos looks really pretty good to me in terms of colour. There is not the intricate shading that would really elevate it to something else but, being realistic, you are not going to get that level on a mass produced statue. The flesh apps feel not bad for the price point. Obviously the cuts and sweat are abysmal, but whether you should have to or not, they are things that can be improved.
The concerning thing is the flushness of the neck seam will no doubt be pot luck and you could exchange a couple of times only to keep getting the same fault without being able to inspect each statue prior to an exchange to get a perfect seam. That is not something we should have to just accept but I imagine it will be the case. The leaning peg issue is another unexpected thing to be thrown into the mix it looks now too. At the end of the day a $1000 is a lot to throw at this and then sit back with fingers crossed hoping that you get a good one.

 

[SAB]

I have a feeling that the seam not being flush with the neck could be more the norm than the exception. Sounds like SAB lucked out with his piece.
It would need to be watched pretty closely in production to make sure each face meets each neck perfectly.

Have no idea if I was lucky or not ...but I definitely wouldn't say it takes any sort of skill to get right.
If they were trying to match up and blend paint then yes ....but they didn't even attempt that at all.
I think for near $1000 they should be able to glue ALL the heads on correctly !

Hopefully Popcultcha sort yours out ASAP !

 

[xpl0sive]

OK, Pop got back to me today and they opened another one of their statues for me to check if it has the same problem and it was fine. They showed me pics and offered to send me that one, or to keep mine as is and take a $100 credit. I chose to return my statue and accept their replacement Great service from Pop Cultcha, hopefully the replacement doesn't have the lean or any other issues lol.

 

[Tyderium]

Nice work. Good of them.
I wonder if they'd check one for me prior to actually ordering?
I'd have to post it back from Perth if there was something wrong.

 

[xpl0sive]

You can request them to open it up for you to check prior to shipping, but if you got it delivered and there was a problem, you ship it back to them at their expense (they send you a prepaid label, you print it out, stick it on the box and post it back).

 

[SAB]

Great to hear they are fixing for you, xpl0sive!
Tyderium - you can definitely ask them to check. I just ordered Enterbay Rambo3 from them and asked them to check before shipping....since you know ....Enterbay....

Anyway, I took some photos to show what I believe it should look like:





Based on how they've chosen to make this, I don't believe it is possible to get this any 'flusher'. It is really only the paint work that makes the join obvious.

 

[mrchris]

nice pics sab(the correct way next time please).i wonder why the chose to put a little bit of chin on the neck? if they had done say a normal 1/6 1/4 type neck then the head may well have fitted cleaner.there would still be a seam but at least the head would fit smoother.
Roberto@toy heroes check GOD for me prior to shipping,this is a must for this also.

 

[xpl0sive]

Thanks for the pics SAB. I think yours has a very slight difference in height between neck and chin as well, or am I just seeing things? Just looks like there is a bit of a step, just not as bad as mine.

I contacted Pop Cultcha again and asked them to confirm there definitely isn't a step between neck and chin, as I noticed the pics they showed me were taken at an angle that hides it well, as when I view my own statue from that angle it looks fine, but if you view from the side it becomes noticeable. I asked them to have a look from the other side of the head and let me know. Don't want to go through the hassle of swapping if it ends up looking the same.

I think most of these are going to have the problem of the chin sitting flush with the neck, due to the design as SAB said.

 

[Tyderium]

Great to hear they are fixing for you, xpl0sive!
Tyderium - you can definitely ask them to check. I just ordered Enterbay Rambo3 from them and asked them to check before shipping....since you know ....Enterbay....

Ok, thanks mate. Will keep it in mind.

 

[Tyderium]

Back to the cuts:

Teaming up with xplOsive's pics again, this is a visual outlining what I feel is the best way to approach redoing the cuts.
I think pulling the pants up to hide the bottom cut will make them too high.
So I've painted the bottom cut out and tried to simulate how it might look once match painted to the base flesh tone.
The raised part of that cut will remain visible as indicated in the visual but I think it is a much better result than leaving the cut as is and will more or less be indistinguishable from a distance and will hopefully blend into the ab muscle just above the pants.

The other cuts are then painted over in a better red and thickened or touched up to your liking.
In between these touched up factory cuts you would paint the new middle cut.
The resulting spacing is pretty bang on.
Having the bottom cut a little fatter and with a bit of run or smudging is specific to a few of the mirror scenes.
And having that cut fatter will fit in with the way they have curved the end of that middle factory cut.

Have also touched up the chest cuts.

If you are going to the trouble of painting the cuts, I would also paint the nipples the correct size. This makes a big difference to the realism of this piece, even being a seemingly small detail.
I have also just added a couple of sweat plastered hair strands coming from the sides near his eyes and darkened the eyebrows, this feels good to me but is obviously very fine tuning and comes under optional extras

 

[mrchris]

very nice.i'd be tempted to do something with the fringe also like the GOD hair.dunno why blitzway didn't continue with that style on this.i wonder if the sash could be put higher to cover the bottom cut,it's not going to have to be pulled up much?

 

[Tyderium]

With pants pulled up to just cover that cut. Feels too high IMO.

 

[mrchris]

not sure.to me the sash looks more level rather than on an angle so at the max height there's not a great deal of difference.it was just a thought though.

Roberto@toy heroes asked me to send some photos regarding the seam issues.
his reply was ''really fugly seam'' he will check mine prior to shipping.(I think he will no doubt check all of them)

 

[FriendlySamurai]

With pants pulled up to just cover that cut. Feels too high IMO.

maaaaybe not... Brucey wore them high some times- heres a couple of "four-pack" pics, the one is even in the statue's pose:





may just depend on what floats your boat

 

[mrchris]

a statue with no issues would float mine......if only.

 

[FriendlySamurai]

couple more 4pack shots fwiw-

 

[mrchris]

interesting photo the last one,i wonder if that was an alternate take,as the blood/gashes in bruce's pants don't appear in the movie,and no AB cuts..mind you han's claw seems to have grown again,maybe blitzway got the gaps right after all

 

[FriendlySamurai]

interesting photo the last one,i wonder if that was an alternate take,as the blood/gashes in bruce's pants don't appear in the movie,and no AB cuts..mind you han's claw seems to have grown again,maybe blitzway got the gaps right after all

lol yeah figures Blitzway would look at the one pic with wide grizzly bear slash marks. Yeah I don't know where that pic is from. I think the ab cuts are there its just the pic is so grainy. Scene must've been reshot cuz doh! Bruce! You're wearing gray pants!

lol grey pants were probably from some other movie with an actual grizzly bear