1/6 Luke Skywalker: Red Five X-Wing Pilot Sixth Scale Figure

[devilof76]

Maybe they can't afford it. Absence of knowledge is not the only possible reason why they can't perform at the same level.

 

[King Darkness]

Whatever the reason, genuine inability, lack of desire or just complacence, there is an undeniable fact that Sideshow's production does not match their prototypes. Forget if they are comparable to Hot Toys or not, that's a subject the will forever be in debate, and one based on opinion anyway. What isn't in debate is that Sideshow continues to show prototypes that are a misrepresentation of the final products. There's a general understanding that what is shown in trade shows, conventions and used to sell the product are indeed prototypes, but one thing Sideshow is more guilty of than any other contemporary sixth scale company is their dramatic drop off from proto to production. A lot of the hate that gets lobbed at Sideshow could easily be avoided if they would just present a better, or more realistic, prototype the use to sell their products. When you leave customers feeling baited by a proto that doesn't properly reflect what they are gonna receive in-hand, how can you not expect a back lash?

HT is far from perfect, their likeness' are often lacking, they sometimes have products the fall apart or deteriorate over time, or have overly fragile products that can be easily damaged if not handled properly. And likely a few other things people can point to as problematic areas that they could address. But one thing HT almost never does, is produce a proto that grossly misrepresents what customers will receive in production, often times even release a superior product to what was advertised.

I'm not defending Sideshow or Hot Toys, both are flawed in their own ways, but Sideshow shots themselves in the foot when they tease a superb prototype only to drop the ball in production.


Now I need a nap. All those words.,.....

 

[Hydeous]

That's too bad, as it'll be great for this hobby to have more companies offering this level of product.

 

[Hydeous]

Well said, KD. On point.

 

[momaw]

Which is like stepping in dog****, smearing it everywhere you step, then having someone ask what your problem is and you respond, "What? I'm just walking."

It's almost worth the $400AUD premium membership price just to rep that comment. Almost.

...but Sideshow shots themselves in the foot when they tease a superb prototype only to drop the ball in production...

They were aiming for the dog**** on their foot.

 

[Asta]

...but Sideshow shots themselves in the foot when they tease a superb prototype only to drop the ball in production.

They were aiming for the dog**** on their foot.

The dog then runs off with Lalla's ball, and buries it in a place where Sideshow will never find it.

 

[devilof76]

Whatever the reason, genuine inability, lack of desire or just complacence, there is an undeniable fact that Sideshow's production does not match their prototypes.

Yup. But that doesn't speak to how good or bad the figure is. Not matching the prototype doesn't make the figure garbage. People on these boards are excessive with their negativity when given the chance and it's just ******. All I'm saying. People don't need to be so rotten.

Or maybe they do. Ducks walk and quack.

 

[devilof76]

It's almost worth the $400AUD premium membership price just to rep that comment. Almost.

Except that I was talking about people failing to make the distinction between criticism and just being rude.

 

[Asta]

Yup. But that doesn't speak to how good or bad the figure is. Not matching the prototype doesn't make the figure garbage. People on these boards are excessive with their negativity when given the chance and it's just ******. All I'm saying. People don't need to be so rotten.

Or maybe they do. Ducks walk and quack.

I don't think that Sideshow's sculpts ever look as bad in the plastic as they do in photos - though I never got Nathan Drake to test that theory out.

Paint issues confound photos. It's not a case of point and click as it is with some HT sculpts. I know from experience that the first photos of a SS production sculpt rarely tell the real story.

It's a leap of faith, especially when SS deny access to professional production photos until the figure has shipped. That really is the worst case of damage limitation, because many will assume the worst anyway!

I've gotten away with it so far. Haven't received a SS sculpt in the past few years that didn't do the job it was designed for.

However, on my shelves the likes of Hot Toys, VTS/DAM, Art Figures, Kaustic Plastik, ACI, BBK, Pop Toys, Redman, Star Ace and Head Play have far better paintwork than Sideshow.

Sideshow can do better. Even if they don't see the need to, you'd think they'd want to do it purely out of pride.

 

[devilof76]

I agree.

Just out of curiosity, how many of those companies are based in the U.S.?

 

[Centrocal]

I think people were perfectly willing to accept that Sideshow was a lower quality product than HT. Everyone was fine with that. One of the appeals of Sideshow's figures over HT was that they were more affordable. But then the pricing structure went crazy, the price doesn't reflect the product they're selling. Thats whats pissing people off

 

[devilof76]

Leaving aside how anyone knows what factors Sideshow's prices reflect (as opposed to Hot Toys') how does that justify being obnoxious? There are a lot of discounts available, and at the end of the day, if it's not worth it to you, don't buy it. Wait for Hot Toys.

And then people can **** on Sideshow when they get their perfect Hot Toys figure.

 

[Asta]

I agree.

Just out of curiosity, how many of those companies are based in the U.S.?

Apart from Kaustic Plastik who are from Italy, the rest are Chinese/Hong Kong companies. Not sure about Redman.

 

[momaw]

Except that I was talking about people failing to make the distinction between criticism and just being rude.

Oh I got that. It was a brilliant analogy.

 

[devilof76]

Apart from Kaustic Plastik who are from Italy, the rest are Chinese/Hong Kong companies. Not sure about Redman.

Out on this limb, I'm going to guess that short of an office in China, they'll never meet the industry standard.

I'm paying $125 for this figure. If it's as good as Rook says, I'm going to be pretty happy. Wasn't particularly broken up by the pictures that are out now anyway. I did not expect a Hot Toys figure, $240 or not.

Oh I got that. It was a brilliant analogy.

Ah. Then you have impeccable taste in analogies.

 

[anwe]

What difference does the country make? Is it time for that "the evil chinese that won't make the same quality available for non-chinese companies"-spiel again?

Edit: Yes, yes that was it.

 

[Asta]

I'm paying $125 for this figure. If it's as good as Rook says, I'm going to be pretty happy. Wasn't particularly broken up by the pictures that are out now anyway. I did not expect a Hot Toys figure, $240 or not.

It's going to look better than this:

And it only costs 2.3 times more than this:

 

[Boba Ben]

I think people were perfectly willing to accept that Sideshow was a lower quality product than HT. Everyone was fine with that. One of the appeals of Sideshow's figures over HT was that they were more affordable. But then the pricing structure went crazy, the price doesn't reflect the product they're selling. Thats whats pissing people off

That's kind of my stance. I really enjoyed the Sideshow products for what they were and realized they weren't going to be at the same quality standard as something Hot Toys would put out, but the lower price made their figures more enticing to collect and display alongside the Hot Toys stuff. Now with the pricing trend on figures like this Luke and the new Darth Maul, even if they did match the protoypes shown, I'm not seeing what equates to a $240 figure in these barebones releases, and the step down in quality from the prototype to the final product adds to that sentiment. In my opinion, whether the company is based in the U.S. or Hong Kong, whether they got a bad deal with Disney, well that doesn't and shouldn't really impact the customer's perspective on whether something is worth the asking price, since we as customers really don't know all of the insides and outs of the business and the theories are really just conjecture and speculation when it all boils down. The final product in the customer's hand should speak for itself, and if it doesn't reflect the same value to the majority of Sideshow's customers as what Sideshow is asking them to pay, there may be a problem.

I like this figure, personally. Even the pictures that were shown earlier wouldn't bother me if the figure was in the $170-$180 range. If it turns out looking even nice than what those images reflected, I'll be even happier. However, I'm going to try to find a better deal on this than a $20 off code, as that is what I feel the figure is worth to me, so I'm going to be patient, and if I miss out, no big deal.

 

[Asta]

Out on this limb, I'm going to guess that short of an office in China, they'll never meet the industry standard.

QMX is another American company that was having trouble with getting the quality they wanted from Chinese factories. In producing their Mal Reynolds figure they changed factories on the recommendation of another major player in the industry. The last I heard they were still looking at commissioning someone else to produce another head sculpt because they admitted it wasn't up to standard they were happy with.

 

[Rorywan]

Whatever the reason, genuine inability, lack of desire or just complacence, there is an undeniable fact that Sideshow's production does not match their prototypes. Forget if they are comparable to Hot Toys or not, that's a subject the will forever be in debate, and one based on opinion anyway. What isn't in debate is that Sideshow continues to show prototypes that are a misrepresentation of the final products. There's a general understanding that what is shown in trade shows, conventions and used to sell the product are indeed prototypes, but one thing Sideshow is more guilty of than any other contemporary sixth scale company is their dramatic drop off from proto to production. A lot of the hate that gets lobbed at Sideshow could easily be avoided if they would just present a better, or more realistic, prototype the use to sell their products. When you leave customers feeling baited by a proto that doesn't properly reflect what they are gonna receive in-hand, how can you not expect a back lash?

HT is far from perfect, their likeness' are often lacking, they sometimes have products the fall apart or deteriorate over time, or have overly fragile products that can be easily damaged if not handled properly. And likely a few other things people can point to as problematic areas that they could address. But one thing HT almost never does, is produce a proto that grossly misrepresents what customers will receive in production, often times even release a superior product to what was advertised.

I'm not defending Sideshow or Hot Toys, both are flawed in their own ways, but Sideshow shots themselves in the foot when they tease a superb prototype only to drop the ball in production.


Now I need a nap. All those words.,.....

Wow, King gets wordy. Really great post.

Personally, I have no issue bitching about Sideshow products if I have issue with them for whatever reason, price, quality, shipping, drop in sophistication from proto. I'm the same with Hot Toys, I think they they have released some terrible product, with some serious issues. I will complain about "bad" product whoever it comes from.

What I can't stand are *brand lovers* *haters*, people who will ***** or defend one brand over another despite the shortcomings of either, that in my opinion causes the most toxicity in these boards.