How SideShow could do it next

[B Electronic]

Last year's lottery was a stinker. This year's 'first-come-first-serve' was hectic. Cant complain myself how things went along this year, but lots of other people didnt like it one bit. So how about you tell us how SideShow should do it next year? Seems its easier to complain than it is to come up with ideas so put your money where your mouth is and tell us what we should expect next year.

My idea would be to do it the same way it went this year, just maybe move it to the weekend. And another idea that would help, is have the item come by 2 times on the same day. Maybe one in the morning and one in the evening. That way people from other time-zones or day/night time jobs will also have a fair chance of trying to get a piece.

 

[MiskatonicNick]

How about an announcement along the lines of 'out of respect for our global fan base and in light of blatant profiteering by some on ebay, we won't be making anymore SDCC exclusive figures for the foreseeable future'?

I know, I know - I'm living in Cloud Cuckoo Land

Nick

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

This year's approach was the best I've ever seen. I doubt they'll be able to get much better at it.

The only way you'll make some people happy is to not have show exclusives. Of course, how many of these 7 would have ever gotten made if they weren't a show exclusive? In other words, if there weren't SDCC exclusives this year, there'd be 7 less figures/items for you to even consider buying.

Of course, I recommend people find a way to go to SDCC. You'll enjoy it immensely, even if you hate crowds - I sure do.

Michael
MWC

 

[Moebius9]

I think it was handled pretty well and there were no server crashes as I suspected. My only change would be for some more pieces available for non-attendees, or just up the overall run. of course this may pan out after the show when there are some left over.....if?

As for not making them at all and them not seeing the light of day, I dont think so on several of them. The Thor and Patient Zero look like marketing research to me so I think those would have shown up anyways. And Oz, would have come along as well. There's just too much support for the Buffy line for it not to sell, even as a web exclusive to cut down the numbers. Luke and the Lawgiver I would agree with though. If those 2 were not Con exclusives then they wouldn't have seen the light of day. But, that goes back to what I "think" a Con exclusive should be. Those 2 are perfect examples of what should be a Con exclusive. But that's just IMHO

 

[ironman1188]

How could they do it? I'm sure we could all come up with our own idea of what would suit our own tastes best.
The lottery seemed to leave some people cold while "extras" turned up in stores and on ebay. And you had to wait to see if you were one of the "lucky" few.
This year was definitely hectic. You had to be at the computer at a certain time to try for the items of your choice. Some successful, some not [right Creech? ]
But, you did know right away if you were able to get one or if you were destined to suffer thru the waitlist [no guarantee there] or be overcharged on ebay. As there is no way for Sideshow to know whether the person buying the item is a scalper or not, I don't see a way they can avoid it happening. And bottom line, as much as they may want to take care of the customer/fan, they're still in it to make money and a sales a sale.
No SDCC exclusives? Would that mean we don't see certain figures? I don't think so. I think that the fury which hit the server yesterday to order these items show they were wanted anyway and may very well have sold as regular releases.
A better system.....?
How about sending out notice that [insert item] will be released starting [insert date] at [insert price] for only [insert number] days.
Or, perhaps, sending out a notice in the newsletter. These items are our exclusives this year. They will be made available at SDCC on [insert date]. If you are unable to go, but are interested in any of them fill out the form [you'd have to make one up] on the Sideshow site. Then a production run could be made to accomodate the response, again, giving only until a certain date to answer. It would still be exclusive to SDCC and newsletter members, but not to the general public.
Might not be the best way but they may be worth considering.

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

I think people are over estimating again, but it's not uncommon. Sideshow knows things we don't, and have access to information they use for setting the edition sizes - and whether something would get made or not - so it's often tough to say. Let's pretend for a minute that we're Sideshow though, and that our paychecks depend on our decisions.

I think we can all agree that the Lawgiver and Luke would probably never see the light of day without SDCC. Interestingly enough, the Lawgiver is the only one of the seven to sell out, and did so in just 40 minutes. I think that the fact it was coming got leaked so early, has kept POTA collectors from picking up the regular version, and they waited for this one.

What about Oz? He's fairly iconic I suppose, but both Vamp Buffy and Origins Angel are pretty cool variants, set at 750, available for anyone to buy, and they aren't selling. The exclusive version of Oz sold through, but how well is the regular version selling? Sideshow knows - we don't. But I would hazard a guess that how well (or not) he's selling directly effected the edition size of 750.

Patient Zero is a variant of a figure we haven't gotten yet, so in reality, he's just like Luke and Lawgiver. Will we see a Patient Zero? Yes, but we'll see another version of him anyway. This way we end up with two - the limited SDCC exclusive, and a larger run version later. Without SDCC, there would only be the larger run version later. I also suspect that there is some concern at Sideshow over how well an in house Zombie line can do, and this exclusive is a great chance to quell any fears. Without it, perhaps...just perhaps...they'd decide not to take the chance on the larger line. They can be pretty sure that they'll sell through these 300, but without testing the waters, they might be a lot less likely to jump on the band wagon with a larger run.

Hellboy is one I think we'd see anyway, and the run of 2000 pretty much proves that. I also think it will be one that nobody has a problem getting, and with 1000 of them earmarked for some sort of international distribution, it's clear they know the demand is there.

I can't really speak to the Rohirrim soldier, as I don't follow the busts.

And then there's Thor's helm and hammer. This one could go either way. I'm betting it's a fairly expensive item to make (much more so than the 1/4 scale Samaritan, since they already had the 1:1 version they could simply scale down), and I'm also betting that the margins on these aren't all that great. It is the only one though (other than Hellboy) that I can see them possibly doing without SDCC.

So out of 7, I think 4 are figures we wouldn't be getting otherwise, 1 I don't know, 1 we'd get for sure, and 1 is up in the air.

Michael
MWC

 

[Buttmunch]

Sideshow should have higher limited edition sizes -around a 1000 like last year seemed about right- and then put it up for pre-order with the option of picking it up at the con or staying home. That way attendees and non-attendees have the same chance of getting one. Nobody is excluded -unless you are not near a computer like poor FrankenFan

MWC, where did you here Patient Zero (SDCC) is a variant? Do you know what is the difference?

 

[ChrisfromSideshow]

Great feedback!

We appreciate reading well thought out opinions and reactions.

Thanks!

 

[ironman1188]

All recovered now, Chris???

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

I'm making an educated guess on PZ, Buttmunch. Think of it this way - obviously Sideshow has plans for an in house line called The Dead. Patient Zero is their first release (patient zero, har har), but they do a very limited 300 first to test the market.

They sell well, the market seems up for it, so they now do the actual line. It makes pretty good sense to re-issue Patient Zero, this time in greater numbers, but in some way different than the one they released at SDCC. Either you can count the SDCC as the variant because there's fewer of them, or the regular release Zero as the variant because he came second - either way, fit they didn't do the SDCC version, you'd only get one. With the SDCC version, I think it's a pretty safe bet we'll get two versions of Patient Zero.

Maybe not, but like I said - just an educated guess.

Michael
MWC

 

[Buttmunch]

Okay, thanks for the clearification MWC. You are very wise when it comes to toys, so I bet you are right.

Chris, any comment?

 

[DetroitSportsFan]

Re

If they are going to do it like this year, the only things I would change is moving it to the weekend (Sunday would be best) and making more available (like 50%) to non-attendees. Judging from the attendee preorders so far, I think this would be a great move for both Sideshow and their loyal customers.

Of course, the BEST thing for the customers (as stated above) would be to announce "item x" is going up for presale on "x day" for a certain number of days. Then how ever many preorders Sideshow has for "item x" in that number of days is how many Sideshow will produce, and maybe add a few to make an even number.

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

Re: Re

While I like the idea of setting up a preorder in advance to help set the edition number, I had one question - wouldn't that require them to do the pre-order months before the show?

Then again, if they had a rough idea of how many they thought they'd need, and then using the pre-order as a confirming tool, I suspect they could up the order quantity at the last minute if necessary. Still, getting the figures manufactured and then shipped would require at least an additional month or two lead time over the current situation. Couldn't the fact that people still wouldn't have their heads around SDCC - and their plans finalized - seriously impact the quantity Sideshow would produce?

Hmmm - it's worth considering, but I can see where it could cause issues as well.

Michael
MWC

 

[Oxbeard]

In all seriousness, I think this years method worked well and yes I did miss out on the Luke I really wanted, but I'm on the waitlist with very high expectations.

I would have like to see a larger amount of items devoted to the non-attendee sales, but like was mentioned before this may all average out through the waitlist. And on this detail too we should keep in mind that on most items SS did increase the allotment above the posted 10%.

The biggest thing I would like to have seen changed is preventing the links from being post on the various news/fan sites across the web. We at the SS board have respected SS's request not to post links from the newsletter, but you go to many numerous other popular sites most of whom appear to be SS affiliates and the links were published openly.

Even if SS was planning on the more widespread advertising for the pick-up in person allotments, Then maybe the non-attending sales should occur a week prior to attending sales going live and allow only the posting of attending links. Of course I know if this were even considered, there would be the whole policing and enforcing part of it, but you asked for ideas.

 

[dstephan]

There's a great tool that SS could use to prevent the times being posted. I'd imagine that all the sites that did have the times up were affiliates. Just tell them they jeopardize their affiliate status if they post the times.

I'd also like to see the orders from anyone with an ebay auction pre-sale cancelled. But perhaps they'd have to put that in the newsletter prior to purchase.

They wouldn't have any trouble enforcing that, I'm sure we'd be happy to report any and all ebay pre-sales...

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

Well, you're getting into iffy territory. SS wanted the links unpublished prior to Wednesday, but once Wednesday was here I don't think there's much you're going to do to avoid it. Do you really think affilliates want to miss out on the biggest day of sales?

Sideshow provided their affilliates with links on Wednesday morning. I put them on my page, without the times, and I only used the direct links to the attending items, not the non-attending. But I don't think there should be any sort of restrictions on what the affilliates can do with that information, since it's intended (by SS) as a big selling day for them (the affilliates). If they want to give their readers the heads up, that's really their call.

I was thinking about something else on the idea of the earlier pre-orders. And yes, it's another issue. Notice how the Lawgiver is the only one that is sold out? And yet the regular version of the Lawgiver is still readily available from the website?

Now, part of that is due to the smaller run size, but not all of it. The price tag is second only to Luke, the thing is going to be a PITA to get home, and it's a pretty basic variant. No, something else is going on here...and this is what I think it is.

This version of the Lawgiver leaked early. We've known this variant was coming for a couple months now. We weren't sure where it was going to be, but we knew it was coming. Now, I know if I had known about this variant's existence - even if I didn't know when I'd be able to get it - I would have held off on buying the regular one. And I think that's what a lot of people did, at least enough that the variant sold quickly while the regular version is still in stock.

So if the Werewolf Oz had been put up for pre-order back in early May or even late April, how do you think that might have effected regular Oz's sales? Some, a lot, not at all? And would that be a concern for Sideshow with the more traditional type SDCC exclusives, like Luke or the Lawgiver?

Michael
MWC

 

[screamingmetal]

Great Idea B! I was planing on making the same topic today.

There is a major problem experienced by collectors over seas in this First come/serve event.
Even with very fast computers they had a very hard time trying to get the order pages to load. some had to wait up to 6 minutes for the page to finally load and for the page to tell them the item sold out.
I'll re-post what I posted in the LOTR side of the forum.

To solve the European pre-ordering problem, how about Sideshow setting aside half of the Non-attendees exclusives specially for Europe?
Where people in the US can't order from that page, that it's held a few days later or before the US Non-attendees ordering day, and at a better time for them to order? I think that would solve some of the problems for Europeans.

I like both the ideas for either not doing SDCC exclusives, or to do a pre-production preorder.
I don't think the pre production one is possible, these items have to be in production for quite some time in order to make the deadline. If it could be done, I'd say Sideshow should prevent people from canceling orders. They should bill customers a short time before the items ship to cover themselves from loss due to cancellations. I'm not sure if there is a limit of time from billing to delivery of product but it does seem fair.

Edit: I was typing this while someone was posting about the samething.
One Major problem for this years exclusives is is the fact that the preorder times and pages leaked out early.
By far the worst was Rebel Scum.com. They not only put up the links to the Luke Excl. but they also put up the links to ALL the exclusives! They also posted Sideshow's newsletter verbatim, with times and links for all.
Why would they inform their Star Wars viewers about a pre-order for a Zombie figure?

And I thought Sideshow doesn't like us posting the newsletter links here! >:
I don't know what these people where thinking, If someone was interested in buying the exclusives because they collect Sideshow products, then they already knew about the excl. pre-orders for non-attendees form the Sideshow newsletter. There where some who didn't get the newsletter at all that were supposed to receive it, but they didn't go to the news services for that information, they came here or they could have contacted Sideshow about it. Who where these news services informing of the Non-attendee order?
People who don't receive the confidential newsletter because they are not Sideshow's customers.
Ugh. >:

I thought the Sideshow newsletter was confidential? I thought we are not allowed to post information, or links from these newsletters?
That whole situation just makes me feel sick.

The solution would be for Sideshow to inform the news services that the newsletter was confidential to their customers and not for all to see. Which I thought was already their policy.

 

[Michael Crawford MWC]

"I thought the Sideshow newsletter was confidential? I thought we are not allowed to post information, or links from these newsletters?"

Say what? When did you ever get that idea?

And just so you understand, there's a separate affilliate newsletter that goes out weekly, with all the same info plus some. Affilliates were told to get out there and sell, sell, sell - this is a business, remember.

[EDIT - there are times that Sideshow includes information in BOTH newsletters that they wish to keep quiet for some period. They always point that out when they do. My point is that there isn't an assumption the information isn't to be shared unless told - the assumption is the information is free to be shared unless told not to.]

SS didn't want the times leaked before Wednesday, and they gave their newsletter folks a nice heads up so you could have a little more prep time. But I never saw anything - nor did I assume - that the times the exclusives would be on sale was a permanent secret.

Like I said, I didn't post times, and I only used the attending links, but affilliates were given this stuff Wednesday morning so they could make money (and so SS could make as much money as possible). I'm certainly not going to start blaming them for using the info they had to generate sales.

Michael
MWC

 

[LOTR Fan]

Great system, I have no complaints, and I appreciate reading everyone's comments! I for one value the limited nature of exclusives, and I also managed to get those that I was after. But for those not fortunate enough, again this is the jagged edge of collecting. The ed sizes were noticeably smaller in most cases, and I suppose I prefer that; but with that being true the number of those shut out inevitably grows (go figure eh? ) So I suppose the only thing I may change (not really too sure I would want to) would be to up the ed sizes just a hair (for example from 1000 to 1500) to open the door for a few more collectors.

 

[screamingmetal]

[EDIT - there are times that Sideshow includes information in BOTH newsletters that they wish to keep quiet for some period. They always point that out when they do. My point is that there isn't an assumption the information isn't to be shared unless told - the assumption is the information is free to be shared unless told not to.]

Just to inform you but Sideshow has stated to Dave that all the Links in the Newsletters we receive from Sideshow should NOT to be posted in the Sideshow Freaks forum.
So the opposite of what you stated is true at least for the links, that the links in the newsletter are confidential.

How should I know what information is put out by Sideshow to their affiliates?, I'm not an affiliate. And if Sideshow thought it was a good Idea to post the times and links to the Non-attendee order pages in affiliate websites, then they made a big mistake.