Grey Hulk Poll about Price/Es 179

[Bodie The Cursed]

You are not buying the whole server overload story then

I don't.. i think there were 29 sold at the con that didn't get subtracted from the 150 before hand.. Thats my theory.. Thing is had they done that, there would be a solid chance I wouldnt have one reserved right now...


Who knows.. So be it.. 179 it is!

Just happy it wasnt as bad as last years Doom fiasco..

Bodie has spoken...

 

[LOTRFan]

Yes, but THAT would not have been fair!!! Not fair for all those that could not attend, or didn't want to attend. That's another reason for not selling PPO items at the con! SSC could have treated it like a SDCC Exclusive then. 90% for the attendees, 10% (+ the rest which was not sold on the floor) for the non-attendees!

Oh, I never said it would be fair ... but thems the way it is.

In hindsight, someone gaffed on the floor, no doubt.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Yes, I can understand your reasoning. I admit I too enjoy having rare pieces in my collection... once they are in my collection! I throughly disdain them when I have to pay outlandish prices to get them on the secondary market or miss them because the edition size is too low. And yes, this is a slight double-standard on my part, but I think many collectors feel this way; we are after all, only human. If I was sure I would never miss getting a piece no matter what the edition size was, I would be all for low edition sizes, but being realistic, and knowing this isn't going to always be the case, I would rather have the piece in my collection with a larger edition size, than not have it with a smaller edition size. I think this is really the crux of the problem for most collectors, as well as Sideshow! How do you satisfy every collector who wants an item, but keep the edition size low to encourage demand? There is no good answer!

Great discussion guys! I appreciate the very civil and courteous discourse among everyone in this thread! (And I'm sure Dave does too!)

Amen Lonnie! Amen!

 

[akamonrg]

As we have posted, we want to honor those pre-orders that were taken. While we do try to get everything perfect, sometimes it is not possible. If any collector decides to cancel their pre-order due to edition size issues or price, we will certainly offer those to the wait list for collectors who ended up in the 'Damn it, I just missed it' zone.

We apologize for any issues that we may have caused for our Grey Hulk Premium Format or Marvel collectors.

Best,
Chicky

Perhaps collectors will be happy if sideshow do a nameplate or something like that (like dr doom bust) additional to this Grey Hulk PF as a gift. Just an idea for sideshow to show customer that sideshow listen customer.
Or perhaps a hat or t-shirt, something sideshow could do to prove that finally customers are not here to accept fatality.

 

[SolidLiquidFox]

I say leave the extra name plates to Master Replicas. They are having a hard time with those all by themselves.

 

[RoboDad]

Yes, I can understand your reasoning. I admit I too enjoy having rare pieces in my collection... once they are in my collection! I throughly disdain them when I have to pay outlandish prices to get them on the secondary market or miss them because the edition size is too low. And yes, this is a slight double-standard on my part, but I think many collectors feel this way; we are after all, only human. If I was sure I would never miss getting a piece no matter what the edition size was, I would be all for low edition sizes, but being realistic, and knowing this isn't going to always be the case, I would rather have the piece in my collection with a larger edition size, than not have it with a smaller edition size. I think this is really the crux of the problem for most collectors, as well as Sideshow! How do you satisfy every collector who wants an item, but keep the edition size low to encourage demand? There is no good answer!

I see your point, but I must say that I don't agree with you. I suppose I represent the "other side" of the coin that makes Sideshow's job so difficult .

While I don't doubt that many collectors would rather have a higher ES, just to guarantee that they can obtain every piece at retail prices, I most definitely would rather have a lower ES on every piece, even if it meant that I missed out on some. I have never begrudged Sideshow for what I considered to be "too low" an ES, even when it is something like the Gray Hulk diorama. To me, when the ES for a particular piece is set so high that most everyone can easily get it, it cheapens the appeal of that piece to me, to the point where I sometimes find myself looking at it as little more than glorified Hasbro toy. And that is a feeling I don't particularly enjoy.

To those who prefer higher ES pieces, at what point would it be too high for you? 20,000? 50,000? 1,000,000? At some point, they cease to be collectibles, simply because they become too common (not in quality, but in availability). If there is no effort required to acquire something I have little desire or motivation to collect it.

 

[lcummins]

...To me, when the ES for a particular piece is set so high that most everyone can easily get it, it cheapens the appeal of that piece to me, to the point where I sometimes find myself looking at it as little more than glorified Hasbro toy. And that is a feeling I don't particularly enjoy.

To those who prefer higher ES pieces, at what point would it be too high for you? 20,000? 50,000? 1,000,000? At some point, they cease to be collectibles, simply because they become too common (not in quality, but in availability). If there is no effort required to acquire something I have little desire or motivation to collect it.

Well, that is where you lose me... Collecting began because people actually enjoyed the items they collected, whether it was for their beauty, uniqueness, history or whatever. Sometimes collections were built with no forethought; just throw every match book acquired into an old coffee can, for example; no "effort" needed at all. For many, many years, collectors did not collect for value, but for the pleasure the collection brought them, whether it was reading the adventures of their favorite superhero, completing a set of their favorite baseball team trading cards or decorating their house with figurines. In the last three to four decades, collecting has changed from people sharing the same hobby, helping each other find items and trading back and forth; now, collectibles are collected because of their "value" only, by way too many collectors. I still collect because I love what I am collecting, not because it is worth something. Yes, I am just as guilty as most collectors today, in that I will look at items in my collection and think about what they are worth, but I didn't collect it because of that! And I certainly didn't start collecting something because I thought, "Hey, these are going to be difficult to find... should be fun!".

I'm not knocking you or how you collect; there have always been collectors who have collected items because of rarity or value alone, especially in the fields of art, which are mostly one-of-a-kind items anyway. But just because something is produced in the millions, doesn't mean it can't be collectible. If that were the case, then no one would probably have ever collected most coins, stamps or even Hasbro figures in the first place.

 

[The Josh]

Bib, Leia and the Grey Hulk should have never been sold at the con.

Why? Because everyone could not go? Again, I think it's more than fair those going to the show get a little bit of advance sale treatment. There are some benefits to going to a show like this besides just getting to go to the show which is cool as hell might I say. I don't think it hurts anything to have these items sold at SDCC, C4, etc.

To me, when the ES for a particular piece is set so high that most everyone can easily get it, it cheapens the appeal of that piece to me, to the point where I sometimes find myself looking at it as little more than glorified Hasbro toy. And that is a feeling I don't particularly enjoy.

Well, while low ES are nice and add a cool appeal to a collectible. I don't see them as the end all be all. If they make a piece with a low ES fine I know I got a pretty good chance of getting one. However, if the ES is high the item doesn't lose any appeal with me I love them all the same because they represent something cool from a movie I like. IMO if the ES of a piece makes you think Hasbro well that might be a tad extreme. Again, IMO that's placing too much of an emphasis on the ES and not the detail and sculpt of a piece.

To those who prefer higher ES pieces, at what point would it be too high for you? 20,000? 50,000? 1,000,000? At some point, they cease to be collectibles, simply because they become too common (not in quality, but in availability). If there is no effort required to acquire something I have little desire or motivation to collect it.

If they reach the a level over 10k they might as well be open edition IMO. However, just because they might reach that status doesn't mean I don't look at them as collectibles either. In the case of stuff coming from SS, GG, etc. Hasbro is a whole nother story. My motivation comes from my love of the story and the item not the ES.

 

[The Josh]

Well, that is where you lose me... Collecting began because people actually enjoyed the items they collected, whether it was for their beauty, uniqueness, history or whatever. Sometimes collections were built with no forethought; just throw every match book acquired into an old coffee can, for example; no "effort" needed at all. For many, many years, collectors did not collect for value, but for the pleasure the collection brought them, whether it was reading the adventures of their favorite superhero, completing a set of their favorite baseball team trading cards or decorating their house with figurines. In the last three to four decades, collecting has changed from people sharing the same hobby, helping each other find items and trading back and forth; now, collectibles are collected because of their "value" only, by way too many collectors. I still collect because I love what I am collecting, not because it is worth something. Yes, I am just as guilty as most collectors today, in that I will look at items in my collection and think about what they are worth, but I didn't collect it because of that! And I certainly didn't start collecting something because I thought, "Hey, these are going to be difficult to find... should be fun!".

I'm not knocking you or how you collect; there have always been collectors who have collected items because of rarity or value alone, especially in the fields of art, which are mostly one-of-a-kind items anyway. But just because something is produced in the millions, doesn't mean it can't be collectible. If that were the case, then no one would probably have ever collected most coins, stamps or even Hasbro figures in the first place.

I agree with you 110% especially the part I bolded.

 

[feedme]

collect to be happy ..those of you hung up about es and rare pieces..I think you need to get into the antiques business.as you will never be happy with anything over 500 es

 

[RoboDad]

Well, that is where you lose me... Collecting began because people actually enjoyed the items they collected, whether it was for their beauty, uniqueness, history or whatever. Sometimes collections were built with no forethought; just throw every match book acquired into an old coffee can, for example; no "effort" needed at all. For many, many years, collectors did not collect for value, but for the pleasure the collection brought them, whether it was reading the adventures of their favorite superhero, completing a set of their favorite baseball team trading cards or decorating their house with figurines. In the last three to four decades, collecting has changed from people sharing the same hobby, helping each other find items and trading back and forth; now, collectibles are collected because of their "value" only, by way too many collectors. I still collect because I love what I am collecting, not because it is worth something. Yes, I am just as guilty as most collectors today, in that I will look at items in my collection and think about what they are worth, but I didn't collect it because of that! And I certainly didn't start collecting something because I thought, "Hey, these are going to be difficult to find... should be fun!".

I'm not knocking you or how you collect; there have always been collectors who have collected items because of rarity or value alone, especially in the fields of art, which are mostly one-of-a-kind items anyway. But just because something is produced in the millions, doesn't mean it can't be collectible. If that were the case, then no one would probably have ever collected most coins, stamps or even Hasbro figures in the first place.

Well, now you've lost me. I re-read my post, but I coule find anywhere where I indicated collecting for monetary value, or not collecting things I enjoy. I guess I just assumed that it was understood that the primary motivation would naturally be because we all enjoy the subject matter.

But moving past that point, I have to again disagree that collecting things based on rarity is anything new. As you said, people have been collecting rare stamps, coins, books and art for centuries. And, as far as stamps and coins go (I do collect coins, BTW), most collectors don't collect them when they are common. I've got a couple of quarters in my pocket right now, but I'm not going to "collect" them. On the other hand, The mint proof silver dollar I acquired a number of years ago is[/b] in my coin collection. The same goes for some of my rare old hardbound editions of LOTR.

Sure, there are many things that exist in the millions that people collect. Comic books, matchbooks, even things like movie ticket stubs (I have a whole box full of those, spanning almost thirty years). But generall, when people collect those really common items, it is usually because it represents a sort of time capsule for them. A matchbook from a restaurant you visited while vacationing in a foreign country, for example. It holds a specific sentimental memory for the collector, but it certainly holds little interest for anyone else, and it isn't exactly the kind of thing you would expect to see in a museum.

But these pieces are different. If all I wanted was to collecting stuff that was associated with Star Wars, I could save a lot of money by buying other things besides Sideshow pieces. The main reason I continue with Sideshow is because their pieces are works of art, and generally worth the extra expense. But when there are so many of a piece produced that not only don't they go up in value, they go down, it lessens the joy of collecting, because I realize that, had I waited, the piece still would be readily available, and even at a lower cost than what I paid for it.

Maybe I could sum it up this way. Given that I love Star Wars, and collect Star Wars "stuff," when I am presented with the choice between going after a figure that only had 200 made and one that had 200,000 made, I'll go after the more rare version every time.

And besides, part of what I enjoy is the "thrill of the hunt."

 

[lcummins]

Well, now you've lost me. I re-read my post, but I coule find anywhere where I indicated collecting for monetary value, or not collecting things I enjoy. I guess I just assumed that it was understood that the primary motivation would naturally be because we all enjoy the subject matter.

But moving past that point, I have to again disagree that collecting things based on rarity is anything new. As you said, people have been collecting rare stamps, coins, books and art for centuries. And, as far as stamps and coins go (I do collect coins, BTW), most collectors don't collect them when they are common. I've got a couple of quarters in my pocket right now, but I'm not going to "collect" them. On the other hand, The mint proof silver dollar I acquired a number of years ago is[/b] in my coin collection. The same goes for some of my rare old hardbound editions of LOTR.

Sure, there are many things that exist in the millions that people collect. Comic books, matchbooks, even things like movie ticket stubs (I have a whole box full of those, spanning almost thirty years). But generall, when people collect those really common items, it is usually because it represents a sort of time capsule for them. A matchbook from a restaurant you visited while vacationing in a foreign country, for example. It holds a specific sentimental memory for the collector, but it certainly holds little interest for anyone else, and it isn't exactly the kind of thing you would expect to see in a museum.

But these pieces are different. If all I wanted was to collecting stuff that was associated with Star Wars, I could save a lot of money by buying other things besides Sideshow pieces. The main reason I continue with Sideshow is because their pieces are works of art, and generally worth the extra expense. But when there are so many of a piece produced that not only don't they go up in value, they go down, it lessens the joy of collecting, because I realize that, had I waited, the piece still would be readily available, and even at a lower cost than what I paid for it.

Maybe I could sum it up this way. Given that I love Star Wars, and collect Star Wars "stuff," when I am presented with the choice between going after a figure that only had 200 made and one that had 200,000 made, I'll go after the more rare version every time.

And besides, part of what I enjoy is the "thrill of the hunt."

You are correct, I misunderstood you post about why you collect. You make very valid points and I do understand where you are coming from. When I collected comics, during my peak period in the 80's, my best friend and I would joke about the fact that once we had finally tracked down some hard to find comic, we would almost instantly say, "Ok, I've got that, what's next?". There is something to be said for the "thrill of the hunt"; it does add something special to a collectible you have been searching for a long time. As I stated in some earlier post, I tend to be a bit back and forth on this issue. I collect what I love, I love items in my collection that are rare, value isn't a motivating factor in my collection, but I do like to see items appreciate and I wish I didn't have to hunt down items, but get a kick out of finally finding some rare piece! Wow! I'm screwed up!

 

[The Josh]

You are correct, I misunderstood you post about why you collect. You make very valid points and I do understand where you are coming from. When I collected comics, during my peak period in the 80's, my best friend and I would joke about the fact that once we had finally tracked down some hard to find comic, we would almost instantly say, "Ok, I've got that, what's next?". There is something to be said for the "thrill of the hunt"; it does add something special to a collectible you have been searching for a long time. As I stated in some earlier post, I tend to be a bit back and forth on this issue. I collect what I love, I love items in my collection that are rare, value isn't a motivating factor in my collection, but I do like to see items appreciate and I wish I didn't have to hunt down items, but get a kick out of finally finding some rare piece! Wow! I'm screwed up!

I think we are all that way. We love the hunt. We love knowing our items are worth more than we paid. We love rare items. However, where I think some of us differ as that these all go behind collecting because we love the items or love what the items represent.

 

[lcummins]

I think we are all that way. We love the hunt. We love knowing our items are worth more than we paid. We love rare items. However, where I think some of us differ as that these all go behind collecting because we love the items or love what the items represent.

You are probably right; we are all crazy!

I think one important ingredient of collecting hasn't been mentioned at all in this thread! Every collector I have ever known, without fail, wants to share his collection with like-minded people; show it off, boast about it even, especially the rare stuff. That is the ingredient that brought us all together on this board! It is also why we have so many "Look what I just got" threads and why we don't get tired of them (well, only every once in a while!).

 

[The Josh]

You are probably right; we are all crazy!

I think one important ingredient of collecting hasn't been mentioned at all in this thread! Every collector I have ever known, without fail, wants to share his collection with like-minded people; show it off, boast about it even, especially the rare stuff. That is the ingredient that brought us all together on this board! It is also why we have so many "Look what I just got" threads and why we don't get tired of them (well, only every once in a while!).

I agree with you on both lonnie.

Exactly, we love talking about the rare items we get and showing off our stuff. I loved getting my Balrog and letting everyone know I finally landed one of my most wanted pieces. I also love sharing my CT pawn shop story. I love to read the threads of others getting their stuff or folks sharing their collections.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Simply lovable! Here's a quote from tonight's SSC newsletter:

"Hulk says puny humans should pre-order him now or he will get very angry and smash Sideshow!"

Nothing ever get's SSC down!

 

[Chicky]

Hey Gang,

Once we discovered the reps had taken orders for Grey Hulk on the floor, we shut it down pretty quickly. The pre-orders placed there were minimal and not even near what speculation has these orders at. This amount was deducted from the edition size prior to selling on the web and by phone.

The site got hammered with tons of requests a second causing some issues, which we of course are working to correct now. The phone lines also were very busy.

We are extending FREE SHIPPING to all the pre-orders placed at the Comic-con for the inconvenience of the pricing discrepancy. We have also extended the edition size slightly, to the exact amount of oversell, to cover the collectors who would have gotten screwed.

Believe me any revenue from the increase, minus normal business costs, does not cover the amount of customer service hours spent, stress, as well as the dollars invested to deal with this issue.

We hope that everyone who is involved with this edition come to feel that the situation was handled as fairly a possible. In the end, if Grey Hulk collectors are disturbed by the increased edition size that much, they can cancel their pre-order with us.

This might make some wait list members happy, whose alternative currently is a secondary market purchase for over $800.

Best,
Chicky

 

[The Josh]

Hey Gang,

Once we discovered the reps had taken orders for Grey Hulk on the floor, we shut it down pretty quickly. The pre-orders placed there were minimal and not even near what speculation has these orders at. This amount was deducted from the edition size prior to selling on the web and by phone.

The site got hammered with tons of requests a second causing some issues, which we of course are working to correct now. The phone lines also were very busy.

We are extending FREE SHIPPING to all the pre-orders placed at the Comic-con for the inconvenience of the pricing discrepancy. We have also extended the edition size slightly, to the exact amount of oversell, to cover the collectors who would have gotten screwed.

Believe me any revenue from the increase, minus normal business costs, does not cover the amount of customer service hours spent, stress, as well as the dollars invested to deal with this issue.

We hope that everyone who is involved with this edition come to feel that the situation was handled as fairly a possible. In the end, if Grey Hulk collectors are disturbed by the increased edition size that much, they can cancel their pre-order with us.

This might make some wait list members happy, whose alternative currently is a secondary market purchase for over $800.

Best,
Chicky

Good stuff thanks Chicky

 

[Bodie The Cursed]

BRAVO!!! :chew

 

[Vader AL]

Thanks Chicky. End of story, fully explained, no more room for speculation.