Custom Colin Clive Thread

[actiontrooper]

Don't be discouraged about it appearing there is no interest. Having an online store, you know buzz is everything, and what sells to the masses, as far as action figures go. When you have a finished product, painted, in color and black and white, people will have a better idea of how the character likeness was captured. Also Colin Clive is not a character from a 2010 film, so is more obscure with a smaller, limited target audience. In the WIP pictures, I could definitely see that you captured the likeness, and that was before taking suggestions, doing modifications.

The white finished sculpt has a whiteout affect, where it is difficult to see features. I suspect that when you have a fully kitbashed color version of Clive on your website, after a little word of mouth, sales will start to pick up. I'm not a fan of Colin Clive or the movie, but in my opinion you did an incredible job for a first time sculpt. Hopefully this project WILL succeed, and eventually you will have nearby painters, so you can offer some custom figures on your site. That would increase traffic and sales of existing commercial products, a win win situation for you and customers. Good luck and I look forward to seeing the painted version kitbashed when scouring your store for bit parts.

 

[Toy Anxiety]

Don't be discouraged about it appearing there is no interest. Having an online store, you know buzz is everything, and what sells to the masses, as far as action figures go. When you have a finished product, painted, in color and black and white, people will have a better idea of how the character likeness was captured. Also Colin Clive is not a character from a 2010 film, so is more obscure with a smaller, limited target audience. In the WIP pictures, I could definitely see that you captured the likeness, and that was before taking suggestions, doing modifications.

The white finished sculpt has a whiteout affect, where it is difficult to see features. I suspect that when you have a fully kitbashed color version of Clive on your website, after a little word of mouth, sales will start to pick up. I'm not a fan of Colin Clive or the movie, but in my opinion you did an incredible job for a first time sculpt. Hopefully this project WILL succeed, and eventually you will have nearby painters, so you can offer some custom figures on your site. That would increase traffic and sales of existing commercial products, a win win situation for you and customers. Good luck and I look forward to seeing the painted version kitbashed when scouring your store for bit parts.

Hey Actiontrooper. Thanks for your input, and it does make me feel better that several people seem to like the sculpt, and I definitely think that there will be a bit more interest once there's painted heads (in the works) to show. However, I made this because I got many requests for it, at least 5 different people wanted me to do this. Now that it is done, there seems to be only 2 or 3 people even bothering to reply in this thread. It takes time and money to make and cast these things, and if the interest goes away by the time they're ready, then what was the point in even starting the project. It is no wonder people want payment up front for these things. It's not just this head sculpt, but nearly every one we've commissioned. It is understandable in most cases that people want the accessories to be available and buy them all at once, but in this case, the only thing needed is an affordable (on Ebay) Sideshow Young Frankenstein and do a head swap, so he doesn't really need anything, and therefore, at least 1 head should have sold by now.

Same thing happened with the Torch accessory from our 1:6 Brainstorm thread. Many people wanted a torch, so I made some. A few sold, but people wanted flames on the torch, so I sculpted a flame attachment and had it cast in a nice translucent orange resin. They are now available, look great, and no one has bought a single one since I put them on the site a month ago. It's very frustrating, and makes it feel like a waste of time and money. Sorry, venting a little here. Anyway, thanks again for your kind words and input. I do appreciate it!

 

[sunohc]

Hey Actiontrooper. Thanks for your input, and it does make me feel better that several people seem to like the sculpt, and I definitely think that there will be a bit more interest once there's painted heads (in the works) to show. However, I made this because I got many requests for it, at least 5 different people wanted me to do this. Now that it is done, there seems to be only 2 or 3 people even bothering to reply in this thread. It takes time and money to make and cast these things, and if the interest goes away by the time they're ready, then what was the point in even starting the project. It is no wonder people want payment up front for these things. It's not just this head sculpt, but nearly every one we've commissioned. It is understandable in most cases that people want the accessories to be available and buy them all at once, but in this case, the only thing needed is an affordable (on Ebay) Sideshow Young Frankenstein and do a head swap, so he doesn't really need anything, and therefore, at least 1 head should have sold by now.

Same thing happened with the Torch accessory from our 1:6 Brainstorm thread. Many people wanted a torch, so I made some. A few sold, but people wanted flames on the torch, so I sculpted a flame attachment and had it cast in a nice translucent orange resin. They are now available, look great, and no one has bought a single one since I put them on the site a month ago. It's very frustrating, and makes it feel like a waste of time and money. Sorry, venting a little here. Anyway, thanks again for your kind words and input. I do appreciate it!

Hey Dan,
totally understand the situation.
For my morpheus project, though I had more than 35 people officially signed up, I had about 16 actually orders. It was nearly what I had expected though after a few years of selling sculpts and observing the interest trend. That's why on mny public sculpts I always require at least over 30 people interested, so that I know at least 15 will be sold quickly and the rest will be sold over time. (not to mention, recently, sales in general seem a little slow )

also, putting your stuff up on eBay DOES help a lot. It takes a little more time to sell stuff, but I've noticed that about half of my sales EVENTUALLY come from eBay, (though the fees suck).
not everyone is tuned into these forums year round, but a lot of people have those impulse-ebay binge-spending sprees and saved searches.
keep rocking

 

[EVILFACE]

It sucks to buy a sculpt and then after you paint it you find out the sculpt isn't very good.

So with selling any sculpt a painted sample is always a must.

The torches? Yea, I figured those would be low sellers . .

 

[witekite]

Its ALIVE....well it seemed this thread died so I am bringing it back lol.

Here is the custom I did for TA. It is basically a head swap of the Sideshow Young Frankenstein figure. I painted the head on this one and tried to match it up as best I can to the style of the production figure. This is like my 3rd painted head so it may be a little rough but hopefully it can give people an idea of what this guy looks like completely finished. So maybe those on the fence can make the decision to pick him up. Anyway here are the pics let me know what you guys think!