Fett Undressed

[Alice Adrenochrome]

I exited the ABS discussion a loooooooong time ago. Not going into it again, although this thread makes it more than clear that the subject in not through, regardless what some people think.
Anyway, I only wanted to bring up, that Attakus has made some outstanding cold cast porcelain 1/5 scale figures, among which armored chaps like Boba Fett and Darth Vader. Hell, there's even a state of the art, yet to be topped Stormtrooper, and a (IMO to slender) Sandtrooper. Yes of course, these are no mixed media figures, but I can assure you... they are figures non the less. With a heavy, cold, statue-ish feel to them! And, all the Attakus SW figures I own, have not only maintained their value, but have become more valuable over the years... I think the fact that only 1500 of each where made (some have an extra run of 200 for the Japanese market) is part of the reason why. The other reason, the more important reason, is that these figures are real beauties - with the exception of some humans made in an earlier faze of their SW licence (Luke!). How ever, the Attakus people have improved their likenesses, which is pretty obvious on the more resent Bib Fortuna, and Oola.
Sideshow are great. They really are! Most of the items I own, come from them. But fortunately they are not the only ones out there making cool stuff. It's good to know that, in times like these!

And now, back to topic.

 

[tomandshell]

Sculpting a solid piece with an armor-looking surface is different than sculpting and mass-producing several actual thin plates/pieces of armor. I don't have anything from Attakus (if the Attakus Fett were a LOT cheaper, then I would add him to my collection), but I have the GG Fett statue and it looks great--but obviously a completely solid piece is going to be quite a bit more stable than a wafer thin standalone component that is meant to be glued onto a fabric costume.

What I like about the PF is that it has a layer of armor on top of a layer of cloth. That make it look a lot more realistic, in my opinion, and I like the mixed media approach on this and other PFs.


I am this close to ordering the Attakus Hoth Probe Droid. That one looks terrific!

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Sculpting a solid piece with an armor-looking surface is different than sculpting and mass-producing several actual thin plates/pieces of armor. I don't have anything from Attakus (if the Attakus Fett were a LOT cheaper, then I would add him to my collection), but I have the GG Fett statue and it looks great--but obviously a completely solid piece is going to be quite a bit more stable than a wafer thin standalone component that is meant to be glued onto a fabric costume.

What I like about the PF is that it has a layer of armor on top of a layer of cloth. That make it look a lot more realistic, in my opinion, and I like the mixed media approach on this and other PFs.

I perfectly understand.

I am this close to ordering the Attakus Hoth Probe Droid. That one looks terrific!

You should see their R2-D2 in person! I admit their C-3PO is not so accurate, since it's not shiny at all. Personally I'd like to have a shiny-weathered C-3PO some day. I hope SSC can pull that off.

 

[kodiak8658]

I'm not saying your wrong on that point because I don't know one way or another, so my question is, does anyone know for certain that it didn't say anything about being made of polystone from the begining as opposed to them just changing the description after they knew it was going to be ABS?

Dang, that was one heck of a run on sentence.

That was one heckuva run on! Problem was the media being used was not mentioned, and I believe if you check the Boba description, it still doesn't mention ABS. Plastic and cloth IMHO is not a mixed media PF. It's an action figure.

 

[gambit]

Darkness will rule them all​

I agree

he will probably another grail if the regular edition no will be set low.

He is so darn good looking

I must admit that I am not excited for Fett as I am excited for Darkness

 

[Sachiel]

What was the reason why they didn't do the actual body in polystone?

 

[kierbaudy]

I don't buy the argument that the body and armor had to be of one material, that makes no sense to me, especially if there's a piece of cloth separating the body and the outer armor. I think ultimately, the decision was made to avoid breakage. I don't think vader was the culprit because most people returned it because of the electronic light malfunction.

My percentage of returns have hit 75%, which is pretty high. Almost every statue I get has a problem with either broken pieces or something missing, it is a pain. I'm not even that picky. I think in the end, they probably have discovered with the rangefinder problem that even ABS has problems, although much less. I rarely worry about my 12" figures because they are usually a-okay upon arrival.

Yes, it is a dead horse. But, those pictures revealing the mannequin body underneath really hits home the question as to why polystone was not used for the body? I don't care if sideshow used plastic armour. If they used a polystone body, they could have used polystone for most of the other pieces. It is too bad.

Judging from iron man, armored figures can be done. Attakus is getting my money for now.

 

[kodiak8658]

I agree

he will probably another grail if the regular edition no will be set low.

He is so darn good looking

I must admit that I am not excited for Fett as I am excited for Darkness

I agree. I think the Darkness Exclusive will be a grail with only 500 made. Now that's what I call a PF!!!

 

[The Josh]

I don't buy the argument that the body and armor had to be of one material, that makes no sense to me, especially if there's a piece of cloth separating the body and the outer armor. I think ultimately, the decision was made to avoid breakage. I don't think vader was the culprit because most people returned it because of the electronic light malfunction.

My percentage of returns have hit 75%, which is pretty high. Almost every statue I get has a problem with either broken pieces or something missing, it is a pain. I'm not even that picky. I think in the end, they probably have discovered with the rangefinder problem that even ABS has problems, although much less. I rarely worry about my 12" figures because they are usually a-okay upon arrival.

Yes, it is a dead horse. But, those pictures revealing the mannequin body underneath really hits home the question as to why polystone was not used for the body? I don't care if sideshow used plastic armour. If they used a polystone body, they could have used polystone for most of the other pieces. It is too bad.

Judging from iron man, armored figures can be done. Attakus is getting my money for now.

Well, according to what was said in the blog the armor was done in plastic because of shrinkage rate during the molding process. The body was done to keep the same rate as the armor.

 

[gambit]

Well, according to what was said in the blog the armor was done in plastic because of shrinkage rate during the molding process. The body was done to keep the same rate as the armor.

concrete and iron has the same shrinkage ratio
that's how you can use them together in construction

I am sure the shrinkage rate is not a big problem for such a small item, I presume SS did this change only to avoid breakage problems during transportation.

 

[kierbaudy]

Why does it matter if the armor and the body shrinks at different rates, they are not attached to one another. If they were, then I would definately buy that explanation. It doesn't make sense, sorry.

 

[Darklord Dave]

The armor has to wrap around the body underneath, whether there is cloth between or not. The problem was that the ABS armor pieces did not fit with the polystone underbody because of the different rates of shrinkage. This has been the reason given from a couple of different sources.

The greater durability of the whole piece is just a happy side effect.

 

[Radagaster]

I think the point can be made that if the body were not polystone, but rather ABS, then the cost of this PF should be closer to $275. There's not much sculpting that needs to be done (compare that to how critical people can get if the face is slightly off on something like Han or Leia). This is still a PF.

Perhaps someone else can chime in on how much it costs to create a poly body and an ABS body from a manufacturing standpoint. Then we'll really know if it's all just a wash.

 

[MaulFan]

Perhaps someone else can chime in on how much it costs to create a poly body and an ABS body from a manufacturing standpoint. Then we'll really know if it's all just a wash.

Or the people that feel they're getting hosed on the cost can cancel their orders and move on with their lives, Sideshow gives you a cost, they told you the materials, make a decision and let it go.

 

[user 1190]

Or the people that feel they're getting hosed on the cost can cancel their orders and move on with their lives, Sideshow gives you a cost, they told you the materials, make a decision and let it go.

Now let this continue since we all know it just won't die.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Perhaps someone else can chime in on how much it costs to create a poly body and an ABS body from a manufacturing standpoint. Then we'll really know if it's all just a wash.

This has been reiterated in many threads but it breaks down to this -

Because they are using ABS for all the parts they have to do a steel injection mold rather than the standard silicon mold used for polystone. These steel molds are 10s of thousands of dollars, especially for something as large as a 1/4 PF body. While ABS is a slightly cheaper material than polystone, the cost savings of using ABS is more than offset by the necessity of creating steel molds.

 

[tinister]

I think people are angry because Sideshow decided to post pics of an awesome PF Fett - started taking orders, then sort of snuck in the fact that it's plastic, not polystone.

Honestly - if I had bought one before finding out it was ABS - I would be pissed.

But then who cares if the body is plastic instead of polystone? You can't see the body.

To me it matters because of the PRICING.

Would you be pissed if you bought a Mercedes from a Mercedes dealer, and then after signing the paperwork - he says "BTW - it's got a Kia engine. But it still LOOKS awesome, right?".

 

[Darren Carnall]

Or the people that feel they're getting hosed on the cost can cancel their orders and move on with their lives, Sideshow gives you a cost, they told you the materials, make a decision and let it go.

 

[kodiak8658]

Or the people that feel they're getting hosed on the cost can cancel their orders and move on with their lives, Sideshow gives you a cost, they told you the materials, make a decision and let it go.

Your quick fix doesn't help the fact that people will still feel ripped being charged PF prices for an 18" action figure with no articulation. This piece was long awaited for many. How many more long awaited characters will be a disappointment? Just because you're finished with the debate, doesn't mean all of us are. If your tired of reading or posting about it, by all means don't.

 

[kodiak8658]

This has been reiterated in many threads but it breaks down to this -

Because they are using ABS for all the parts they have to do a steel injection mold rather than the standard silicon mold used for polystone. These steel molds are 10s of thousands of dollars, especially for something as large as a 1/4 PF body. While ABS is a slightly cheaper material than polystone, the cost savings of using ABS is more than offset by the necessity of creating steel molds.

This according to Sideshow. I feel that if SS originally planned to use ABS, instead of changing from polystone, the costs would have been less to make Boba and the retail price would have been less too. Many people can't help but feel they have to pay for Sideshow's production error.