IT HURTS (dealing with not getting the one you want)

[Blasterkid]

have you guys seen this Batman media room/

I'd love to do an HR Giger twist on this....wow talk about a movie room

for Batman fans...I think you will really dig this:

https://www.elitehometheaterseating.com/the-ultimate-batcave-home-theater-revisited/

 

[SAB]

First world problems I know...but as collectors and completests...the pain and frustration of missing out on a piece you wanted, not being able to afford it, or not having the space sucks!

I am really only getting into the hobby. I have kind of an interesting background. I am a comic artist (Richard Friend), I worked at Wildstorm for basically my entire career and that slowly morphed into DC comics. The first person who I ever knew who had VERY cool maquettes in his house was none other than J Scott Campbell. (Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane, Spider Man line for sideshow now) I was originally hired to work on Gen 13 with Jeff...since then I've done a lot of different things..

The one hobby and collectible I'd never pulled the trigger on (but knew one day I would) was Statues. I got my first one which was a really nice Cloud Final Fantasy cycle piece in about 1998 or so....it was literally the only one I had besides a few Wild Cats character ones I picked up along the way.

I finally got into really collecting the Sideshow stuff about 2 years back. I saw the Dark Knight and Poison Ivy pieces and was like..."OH MY GOD. I have to have these" I pre-ordered the exclusives and got them a short while back....here's where the addiction started...and trust me...I KNOW I don't have it nearly as bad as other guys here....but it's only because of a lack of spare funds and space!!

I just ordered the Batman and Robin 1966 Hot Toys...and then last night ordered a Gwen Stacy....but I am watching this SNOWBALL and fast

I don't even have these last 3 here and I am like "I want this one, and that one...ah crap that one is sold out...that one is 3 times the original price...that one is a pre-order and is 3 feet tall and costs 2.5 grand!!!!)

so I know this is more of a rhetorical question....BUT how do you "manage" your habit and specifically the loss of not being able to get one you really loved. I am already planning to completely remodel my office for these things...it's a very small studio space...but I am not really using it well anyway....so I am glad I am doing this.

But for the sold out pieces that have sky rocketed in value...how do you kind of "deal" with it...there's always another statue, they might do a re-issue or new version...I'd assume anything that sold out so fast even if the original run was a low number would some day circle back.

I am finding myself online...searching and searching...trying to figure out how to get them.

getting into the hobby so recently....there's great pieces that are gone now for a year or two...and I am like GAH! Why didn't I get into this sooner.

this is more of a fun post...so don't take this thread too seriously...I know we've all dealt with this...so I thought it would be fun to share stories and how we tried to make it right in our heads!

Hi there,
Love your comic work.
Very cool your intro to statues was at J Scott Campbell's house !


I manage this hobby with a few different rules:

1) 1 format only and 1 scale only: For me that means statues only (not figures) nothing under 1/4 scale and must be full figure
2) Very limited licenses: For me this means 3 licenses. Indiana Jones, Conan, Bruce Lee
3) Limited representations of each license. ie They must be quite different to justify a purchase. Can't be more than one with the same look/scene etc....
4) Remember that 'everything is eventual'. EVERYTHING gets remade since there are only so many major licenses/icons. Don't worry about something from 5 years ago because a better version will definitely be announced in say, 2 years time. GUARANTEED (unless you're talking some REALLY obscure niche license)

5) And this is the most difficult one - Remember, you can appreciate a collectible just fine by looking at cool pics on this site of it sitting at someone else's house. Just because the pictures are awesome don't mean you need to own it.

This keeps it extremely limited. and I've sold off 90% of what I own down to 3 statues at the moment, one of each license.
Do I stick to it 100% of the time? Noooo ....couldn't help myself and ordered the 1/6 Sherlock/Watson signed combo ...which breaks every rule
But I do stick to it 90% of the time and it definitely helps.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Hi there,
Love your comic work.
Very cool your intro to statues was at J Scott Campbell's house !
I manage this hobby with a few different rules:

1) 1 format only and 1 scale only: For me that means statues only (not figures) nothing under 1/4 scale and must be full figure
2) Very limited licenses: For me this means 3 licenses. Indiana Jones, Conan, Bruce Lee
3) Limited representations of each license. ie They must be quite different to justify a purchase. Can't be more than one with the same look/scene etc....
4) Remember that 'everything is eventual'. EVERYTHING gets remade since there are only so many major licenses/icons. Don't worry about something from 5 years ago because a better version will definitely be announced in say, 2 years time. GUARANTEED (unless you're talking some REALLY obscure niche license)

5) And this is the most difficult one - Remember, you can appreciate a collectible just fine by looking at cool pics on this site of it sitting at someone else's house. Just because the pictures are awesome don't mean you need to own it.

This keeps it extremely limited. and I've sold off 90% of what I own down to 3 statues at the moment, one of each license.
Do I stick to it 100% of the time? Noooo ....couldn't help myself and ordered the 1/6 Sherlock/Watson signed combo ...which breaks every rule
But I do stick to it 90% of the time and it definitely helps.

That's great advice SAB!

Limiting yourself to one piece per character is probably easier for Conan, Indy and Bruce than say a Star Wars, DC and Marvel fan though

 

[SAB]

That's great advice SAB!

Limiting yourself to one piece per character is probably easier for Conan, Indy and Bruce than say a Star Wars, DC and Marvel fan though

haha yeah ..this one comes up a lot. "But I choose Marvel as a theme"

To that I say, 'well you're not trying very hard, then are you'

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

haha yeah ..this one comes up a lot. "But I choose Marvel as a theme"

To that I say, 'well you're not trying very hard, then are you'

 

[karamazov80]

So be careful when a freak wakes up a thread and posts about how "rare" an item is and how a ridiculous price is such a bargain, or magically post pics of his "grail" for "fun", guaranteed that he will be putting his item up for sale. Unfortunately propaganda posting is a new trend on the board.

L-O-L

 

[Blasterkid]

Hi there,
Love your comic work.
Very cool your intro to statues was at J Scott Campbell's house !


I manage this hobby with a few different rules:

1) 1 format only and 1 scale only: For me that means statues only (not figures) nothing under 1/4 scale and must be full figure
2) Very limited licenses: For me this means 3 licenses. Indiana Jones, Conan, Bruce Lee
3) Limited representations of each license. ie They must be quite different to justify a purchase. Can't be more than one with the same look/scene etc....
4) Remember that 'everything is eventual'. EVERYTHING gets remade since there are only so many major licenses/icons. Don't worry about something from 5 years ago because a better version will definitely be announced in say, 2 years time. GUARANTEED (unless you're talking some REALLY obscure niche license)

5) And this is the most difficult one - Remember, you can appreciate a collectible just fine by looking at cool pics on this site of it sitting at someone else's house. Just because the pictures are awesome don't mean you need to own it.

This keeps it extremely limited. and I've sold off 90% of what I own down to 3 statues at the moment, one of each license.
Do I stick to it 100% of the time? Noooo ....couldn't help myself and ordered the 1/6 Sherlock/Watson signed combo ...which breaks every rule
But I do stick to it 90% of the time and it definitely helps.

Hey cool thank you.

I think what you said was spot on. I am really trying to focus right now...was interesting because although I am a comic artist and work for DC...me getting the Batman stuff is honestly pretty random. I think Marvel has amazing characters but I can't picture myself with tons of Marvel stuff (that said I did get the Gwen Stacy....I love the pose so that sold me plus I do love Jeff's work...so it's a very cool piece for me because it's a friend of mine's work as well)

The Batman PF and Ivy PF just floored me at San Diego comic con when they debuted. I was like..."I have to get those!!"...and that's not like me really...I am not too much of an impulse buyer...but they were just so impressive in person I was like WHOA/ Getting the Batman and Robin 1966 reminds me of being a kid...so there's a nostalgia factor big time for those characters...but it's as much the actors as it is this one is Batman and this one is Robin. so those are my first 5 Sideshows.

what's funny is besides the 1966 line...I don't see myself going further with the DC statues, and I also don't see myself getting a ton of the Marvel comiquettes.

I really like the SS Horror stuff...but not all of them appeal to me...I am eyeing a couple...and the one that sold out (Reaper) I really hope they do another piece with him at some future point because his armor is amazing.

I love Alien...but it's very one note....I could see myself kind of getting over that quick....that said....I really love the new Big Chap Bust.

gah/

the Pirates of the Carribean stuff is pretty cool...not sure how many Johnny Depp statues I would ever need though...one really nice one would be cool....Staw Wars was huge for me as a kid...the rub is I've had Star Wars toys etc...my entire life...they are great, but I've been there.

Indiana Jones is really neat....I saw for the first time last night the one in the temple where he is placing the staff over the city...man that thing was COOL.

but like you said...do I need it in my house...or will it work with my room.

fun decisions to make though.

I am going to completely re-do my office/studio...so I will document the process and hopefully at the end...I will have a very cool work space and a cool place to show my figures.


I love the Sideshow studio funny enough...I may sort of try and go in that direction...although something a little more dark might be cool too.

hmmmmmm

 

[FriendlySamurai]

I'm just starting also, been at it for a couple months. I totally agree its maddening trying to catch up on all the statues you like that have been out a while and disappeared- all while not filing chapter 7. I started with the pvc anime figures then ran into JSC Mary Jane on ebay by accident which led me to Sideshow and the world of polystone haha.

I've been collecting all my favorite anime figures, starting with the ones that are disappearing the quickest regardless if I like em the best... there's just so many I've had to stop! And I gotta say I'm kinda now gravitating more toward the better quality larger statues, its crazy some of the anime figures cost just as much or more.

So I've kinda found my niche and that is not to collect the mainstream stuff unless important from when I was a kid like Spider-man or Hulk. I'm trying to stick to more cult stuff that maybe not everyone would recognize or something with a high nostalgia factor. That said, I know I'll probably get sucked into buying a statue or few based on nothing more that the rad factor

 

[batfan08]

Managing how to not go overboard with this stuff...hmmmm. Well, being broke most of the time is a good start. Honestly, though, I've always been a quality over quantity guy. Sleep, food, whatever; less can be more. It's part of the reason I stopped collecting 6" figures and gradually moved into 1/6th and higher. With that in mind, it's the same with 1/6th figures. I'd rather have less characters that I really want than more characters that I kind of want. That's part of the reason why customs aren't as scary, to me, as they are to some.

$500-600 is a lot of money for one 1/6th scale figure, no doubt, but $500-600 for two to three 1/6th scale figures is a lot of money, too. I see a new Hot Toys promo one week and I think "I want it," even if it isn't necessarily something I would generally collect, if it looks cool, there's always that impulse of "man, that'd look great on a shelf." The important thing to remember is that feeling will pass. Generally, by the time the next promo is released. So, if you think you can do without it, don't act on it for one to two weeks, and something else will catch your interest, and so on, and so forth. As far as that goes, though, I'd rather put more effort into getting the things that I truly love than building up a mass of, what are, essentially, novelty items.

 

[Blasterkid]

money is for sure a huge factor for me

I found the flex pay quite honestly a NIGHTMARE for the batman statue...as an artist, I get paid a little more randomly so my bank account goes from having enough to pay the bills and a little "mad" money to be tapped and having nothing in my account....if I knew ok...the charges are going to always be made on these dates....I could prepare...they will say they can't charge because the statue isn't done and that's fine..but...I called and complained to be honest. I said "look you guys send me a note and tell me on the 23rd of June I am going to be charged. I transfer money or deposit the funds to cover this payment..." then a few days before the charge you write and say...
"nope sorry we are going to wait 6 weeks" I found it very frustrating.

I would almost always prefer to pay with paypal and I think when a statue is spread out over say a 12-16 month period waiting..the customers should be taken into consideration more and maybe we could set up our own payments and as long as we hit the finish line when the statue is done and their charge "goals" for payments have been made...then we can wrap things up.

so for now I don't buy from Sideshow and have been going to retailers and secondary market...that said...it's not like I am 50 statues deep into a collection either.

I am MORE than happy to pay them...but their system I think has issues.