Gaming Heads 1/4 Lara Croft

[FriendlySamurai]

I've got a lot of anime figures and while they're incredibly detailed, they still look like toys compared to the polystone statues. To be honest, if anything, the figures are way overpriced in comparison. I paid about $200 for my Celty figure, next to my 1/5 scale Gwen Stacy for $80 more its kind of a rip off.

Just sayin... I still love my anime figures

Lara will be my first 1/4 scale. fingers crossed, I'm still getting over the JSC Spidey QC/paint change production fiasco

 

[epitaph04]

Yeah I paid about $180 for my good smile Kurisu fig. I hated having to spend that much for it but I loves me some Steins;Gate!

1/4 is a beautiful thing when it's done right.

 

[sarakawa]

Here's an album. I have shaky hands, but hopefully they're not so horrible. https://plus.google.com/photos/118127005109965798595/albums/6042452374374031361

Thanks for the pics man! I still think this looks pretty damn good. The only issue I have is the red bleeding into the eyes. Yes the proto has more detail but even still, there is A LOT of detail painted into this piece. Nice pics!

 

[FriendlySamurai]

Yeah I paid about $180 for my good smile Kurisu fig. I hated having to spend that much for it but I loves me some Steins;Gate!

1/4 is a beautiful thing when it's done right.

nice! I got my Kurisu for a steal while I was in Japan, not sure which company made her- she was my first lol. Really wanna get Part-Time Warrior on her bike by Alter but just so many things on my plate at the moment haha

 

[epitaph04]

Ah i've been wanting that one too! Nearly got her but other stuff got in the way. Once someone makes a good Mayushii fig I'll be all over it. Dont like any of the ones I've seen so far.

 

[Fritz]

Here's an album. I have shaky hands, but hopefully they're not so horrible. https://plus.google.com/photos/118127005109965798595/albums/6042452374374031361

Nice pics!

Thanks for the pics man! I still think this looks pretty damn good. The only issue I have is the red bleeding into the eyes. Yes the proto has more detail but even still, there is A LOT of detail painted into this piece. Nice pics!

Agreed, this isn't nearly as bad as some are making it out to be.

 

[WOLF PRDEDATOR]

Thanks for the other better pictures, and I must say that I am pleased you have rescinded my preorder, bloodshot eyes seem to have a cold poor Lara, the texture of the shirt and the pants are going to hell, the spots of mud now seem to be the slapping of a child who touches the statue after eating chocolate, tit merged with the arm up no more support, his left hand on his arm seems to be sinking further sculpt the face seems to me even with a different more elongated nose! I am very disappointed, it is true that you may never come out as the prototype, but here we are just on different planets light years, seem to be two statues made by different companies!

 

[I and I]

seriously? why would you cancel it? Just wait to judge it when you have it in-hand? It's not like you've got anything to lose since, if you don't like it afterwards, you can ask a full refund. Since you don't need to pay import fees, you lose absolutely nothing over this.

 

[Darck]

You lose postage fees to send it back, and have the pain to deal with the refund process, no?

 

[WOLF PRDEDATOR]

I am Italian and import costs to pay and how, honestly I did not want to risk it, the pictures speak for themselves!

 

[sarakawa]

Thanks for the other better pictures, and I must say that I am pleased you have rescinded my preorder, bloodshot eyes seem to have a cold poor Lara, the texture of the shirt and the pants are going to hell, the spots of mud now seem to be the slapping of a child who touches the statue after eating chocolate, tit merged with the arm up no more support, his left hand on his arm seems to be sinking further sculpt the face seems to me even with a different more elongated nose! I am very disappointed, it is true that you may never come out as the prototype, but here we are just on different planets light years, seem to be two statues made by different companies!

holy run on sentence batman!

 

[FriendlySamurai]

Ah i've been wanting that one too! Nearly got her but other stuff got in the way. Once someone makes a good Mayushii fig I'll be all over it. Dont like any of the ones I've seen so far.

Found Mayushii in a Japanese discount store for $15... not the greatest but I'm glad I got her cuz she compliments Okarin and Kurisu nicely anyway. I'd say go for it anyway if you can find her for cheap. Those 3 are definite musts.

As for Lara, I think Gaming Heads might have shot themselves in the foot a little. If they know quality will never match the prototype, they probably shouldn't have taken all those uber closeup pics. lol, maybe in the future 1/4 companies should take all their promo shots from a good 20 ft away.

 

[electroshock]

I am Italian and import costs to pay and how, honestly I did not want to risk it, the pictures speak for themselves!

I was thinking that gaming heads have warehouse un UK

 

[I and I]

You lose postage fees to send it back, and have the pain to deal with the refund process, no?

They ask you to destroy it if I'm not mistaken. Although, I don't know what they do when you don't like it....

I am Italian and import costs to pay and how, honestly I did not want to risk it, the pictures speak for themselves!

They have an EU warehouse so no import fees... But hey, if you want to cancel it, go right ahead. It's your money and your choice. I just wouldn't cancel it for just one persons pictures but wait till you have it in hand or someone who can take HR pictures does

 

[Darck]

They ask you to destroy it if I'm not mistaken. Although, I don't know what they do when you don't like it....

For defects, probably, because they won't do anything with it if you return them a defective one, that's why they ask you ro destroy it...

I highly doubt they will ask you to do that for a simple return Also, don't forget they do not compensate for any differences in rates and fees related to the conversion.

 

[I and I]

For defects, probably, because they won't do anything with it if you return them a defective one, that's why they ask you ro destroy it...

I highly doubt they will ask you to do that for a simple return Also, don't forget they do not compensate for any differences in rates and fees related to the conversion.

Which is normal, nobody does that or is obliged to. Besides, the exchange rates have been fairly regular the last year so that isn't that much of a concern. And returning a GH statue is more interesting than returning a SSC one. Since we've started collecting SSC statues, about 4-5 years ago, we've lost out on almost 1k due to them not going to replace our statues. That's 1k on import fees alone! I don't know how much on conversion rates since we also collected in the time that they weren't that stable. I'm just glad that I've always been satisfied with GH statues and that if there was a problem, they're always willing to help. And best of all, when I order something from them, I know it's going to be the price they're asking and nothing more

 

[spartan031792]

Sadly, I canceled my pre-order and it was the exclusive edition. Here are my reasons why. From the beginning, I never liked the pose they gave Lara. Yes its true that the statue captures all the hardships that she encountered on the island, but its just too static. I feel like they had an opportunity to make this statue dynamic and epic(making the statue bigger), but they chose to have Lara be static and small. For example, if the statue would have been her aiming an arrow or her climbing a cliff, if would have been more appealing. Now thats just my opinion and regardless of all this I still pre-ordered the statue. But now that some production pictures of her have been posted, it convinced me to cancel this statue. When the first production pictures were posted on facebook I could see the difference right away from the prototype.


Now when the unboxing video and pictures were made available, you could clearly see that the paint apps were way too different from the prototype. It doesnt matter if the video is ****** or not. If it looks like ****, its going to look like **** in HD OR SD. The reason why I'm upset is because these larger statues that have been coming out recently have alot of QC issues. And its because WE COLLECTORS let this **** happen. We brush it off and take the bullet. We are paying close to $400, if not more, for these statues. Alot of us are still in school/barely graduated so $400 is alot especially when you have other things that you need to spend your money on. So I expect the statue to be flawless and as close to the prototype as possible. Sideshow is the worst with QC issues and it seems that this has become the standard and now every company thinks they can sell us a low quality statue. This is why I canceled it, everyone is entiltled to their own opinion. If you like the statue get it, but if you think you deserve better as a collector then think about it. Because if you don't, we are just going backwards in receiving better quality statues. Thank you for reading.

 

[sarakawa]

Sadly, I canceled my pre-order and it was the exclusive edition. Here are my reasons why. From the beginning, I never liked the pose they gave Lara. Yes its true that the statue captures all the hardships that she encountered on the island, but its just too static. I feel like they had an opportunity to make this statue dynamic and epic(making the statue bigger), but they chose to have Lara be static and small. For example, if the statue would have been her aiming an arrow or her climbing a cliff, if would have been more appealing. Now thats just my opinion and regardless of all this I still pre-ordered the statue. But now that some production pictures of her have been posted, it convinced me to cancel this statue. When the first production pictures were posted on facebook I could see the difference right away from the prototype.
View attachment 125383

Now when the unboxing video and pictures were made available, you could clearly see that the paint apps were way too different from the prototype. It doesnt matter if the video is ****** or not. If it looks like ****, its going to look like **** in HD OR SD. The reason why I'm upset is because these larger statues that have been coming out recently have alot of QC issues. And its because WE COLLECTORS let this **** happen. We brush it off and take the bullet. We are paying close to $400, if not more, for these statues. Alot of us are still in school/barely graduated so $400 is alot especially when you have other things that you need to spend your money on. So I expect the statue to be flawless and as close to the prototype as possible. Sideshow is the worst with QC issues and it seems that this has become the standard and now every company thinks they can sell us a low quality statue. This is why I canceled it, everyone is entiltled to their own opinion. If you like the statue get it, but if you think you deserve better as a collector then think about it. Because if you don't, we are just going backwards in receiving better quality statues. Thank you for reading.

A lot of what you said makes sense. Here is my take. If $400 is making your financial situation hurt, you should not be buying statues in the first place. These are high end collectibles and are certainly not for everyone. That being said, ideally the production piece should match the prototype as close as possible. It sucks to see one thing and get another. However, I think people need to understand what goes into making these statues though. Especially if you have never had first hand experience with artistic practices. I guess since I'm sort of in that industry, I have a decent idea of what goes into making these and how expensive it would be were it not for companies like Sideshow or Gaming Heads. This is not an excuse for them to put out low quality products but I guess it softens my stance a bit. For example, lets say you were to buy the prototype Lara that they made for this...that would probably run you in the range of 2-3k as a one off. Get my picture? What they are making on the production line is certainly worth the price they are selling these for. In any case, I think moving forward these companies need to create the prototypes to match what they can achieve in production as opposed to just making immaculate one offs that they have no way of creating on an assembly line making 2000 pieces.

 

[spartan031792]

A lot of what you said makes sense. Here is my take. If $400 is making your financial situation hurt, you should not be buying statues in the first place. These are high end collectibles and are certainly not for everyone. That being said, ideally the production piece should match the prototype as close as possible. It sucks to see one thing and get another. However, I think people need to understand what goes into making these statues though. Especially if you have never had first hand experience with artistic practices. I guess since I'm sort of in that industry, I have a decent idea of what goes into making these and how expensive it would be were it not for companies like Sideshow or Gaming Heads. This is not an excuse for them to put out low quality products but I guess it softens my stance a bit. For example, lets say you were to buy the prototype Lara that they made for this...that would probably run you in the range of 2-3k as a one off. Get my picture? What they are making on the production line is certainly worth the price they are selling these for. In any case, I think moving forward these companies need to create the prototypes to match what they can achieve in production as opposed to just making immaculate one offs that they have no way of creating on an assembly line making 2000 pieces.

My financial situation does not hurt by buying 1 of these statues. But having pre-ordered a couple like you have does ( as seen on your banner). And this isn't really high end, High end would be having someone commission a piece for you which would be 1-3k(or sideshow's LSF). And just because you can only afford 1 statue doesn't mean you should not be buying collectibles. This hobby isn't just for the rich ( like you I presume), its for everyone. And I'm speaking for everyone when I say that $400 is alot especially when you have other things that you want to buy. Those $400 could be spent on something else, but we choose to spend it on collectibles making it possible for the statue/collectible industry to keep on moving forward. But if its going to move forward the pieces need to be close to the prototype. Like you said they should have a production piece as the prototype. I canceled my Lara because it wasn't at the quality that I deserve for my hard earned money, I rather put that towards Batgirl or the SAMUS by F4F. But hey to each their own.

 

[MostStrange]

Do I think my statue is worth the $350 I paid for it? Definitely. It looks fantastic. It does look different from the prototype. The skin looks better. The hair (despite the footage) actually looks exactly like the prototype. The dirt on her face is hit and miss. But this is a statue that is worth the money I paid. Mass production in a factory will always look different from one sculpt and paint for a prototype.