My complaint, and response from SST

[Wetanut]

And no I didnt take my ball and go home, well actually I did, but just because my workday is up. Now I am home. I stand by me e-mail to SST. I also didnt mean to imply that I wasn't going to post because people weren't agreeing with me, I meant just this post cause I had a feeling it wouldn't be well recieved. My name is Scott D Elliott, and I am a 1/6th scale addict, and I need a fix.

Patience Scott D Elliott. If there was a word to describe we LOTR fanatics is ... Patience. And in the meantime, keep up with this board for developments. Believe me, if they even thought about abandoning LOTR stuff without at least mentioning it as a warning to us, we on this board be the first to get the pitchforks and tar and feathers.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Patience Scott D Elliott. If there was a word to describe we LOTR fanatics is ... Patience. And in the meantime, keep up with this board for developments. Believe me, if they even thought about abandoning LOTR stuff without at least mentioning it as a warning to us, we on this board be the first to get the pitchforks and tar and feathers.

Listen to Wetanut. You should have been here back at the end of the SS/Weta line. At the Battle of Sideshow's Deep. We got through the first wall of defense but our torches fizzled out and our pitchforks rusted in the rain. The final straw was when Brant picked up and tossed a fiesty Chris within our midsts. Needless to say, we turned around and went home, heads down and teary-eyed...

 

[RoboDad]

The final straw was when Brant picked up and tossed a fiesty Chris within our midsts.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't Chris, but his, ahem, alter ego, Charwen.

 

[Lembas Eater]

You should have been here back at the end of the SS/Weta line. At the Battle of Sideshow's Deep. We got through the first wall of defense but our torches fizzled out and our pitchforks rusted in the rain. The final straw was when Brant picked up and tossed a fiesty Chris within our midsts. Needless to say, we turned around and went home, heads down and teary-eyed...

Ah, the Old Days: The Smell of the Polystone, the Rustling of the Boxes, that familiar Burning Stench from my credit card and bank account... God Help Me, I Love It So!

 

[Kookie]

I only read the first few posts and I saw that Jennifer responded to the 1/6 scale question. I don't know what's been said on pages 2-5 of this thread but I just wanted to saw Jennifer is awesome and she has always been nice and helpful to me!

 

[Kookie]

Ah, the Old Days: The Smell of the Polystone, the Rustling of the Boxes, that familiar Burning Stench from my credit card and bank account... God Help Me, I Love It So!

Lembas...don't loose heart....there is always The Hobbit to reignite that burning your credit card longs for!

 

[BadMoon]

I dunno who is worse...the person who complains to Sideshow...OR the person who complains about the person complaining to Sideshow..

Or the person that makes comments like that. Your part of the cycle too my friend.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Sideshow is one of the better companies about actually caring what their customers want to see. (But please don't call them SST - isn't that a super sonic transport?).

So I think emails like this are actually a positive thing. It would probably take about 10,000 of them to make a difference in the LotR 12" line - but every different avenue through which they get information about what the fans want is good.

This board does carry some weight - but probably less than 5% of their customer base are here. So emails and posting on their feedback threads on their site gets the message out there one more time. It's a drop in the ocean, but a lot of drops could add up to a deluge of Ringwraiths.

 

[Mesa]

Maybe posting your concerns about the speed of LOTR 12" releases within the "comments" section of some LOTR item (i.e. Aragorn PF) on the SSC site itself would have been more effective and seen by a larger audience, provided it made it through first line of monitoring.

I agree with the others that have supported a slower release due to wallet concerns. I'm just glad my waitlist for Frodo and Sam finally converted.

 

[LOTRFan]

I knew I should have followed my instinct and not posted.

Follow your instinct and don't email next time. The simple fact is that LOTR is a slower francise, we are not in the heyday we once were. Beyond that, Sideshow can't win in most cases: a) they either release them too close together and are accused of being money-grubbing, and disrespectful to fans and their budgets; b) rushing figures with lackluster details; c) not releasing thing fast enough.

What always strikes me as odd whenever these types of questions are asked is how little many people seem to understand about business. Does anyone think for a minute that Sideshow DOESN'T want their product out there? As if Sideshow would deliberately delay a product, or allow it to be mired in setbacks to the detriment of their profits! There exists a huge push to release an item in a timely manner, but one that will also maximize profits, and the bottom line is - a LOT of this stuff is still on second-chance; Star Wars is more of a cash cow.

 

[dwing]

T.O. Says Mo Lord of the Rings please.

He wants his GTG and his Hobbitz.

 

[Randy_S]

I dunno who is worse...the person who complains to Sideshow..

what's wrong with complaining to sideshow? last i heard they are a private business putting forth product in a free market economy, not a communist regime


automakers love this type of free market research to improve their multi-billion dollar businesses

 

[darth dypshyt]

what's wrong with complaining to sideshow?

Nothing....If you are a sook.

By the way..for those easily offended on this site....that's a joke.

 

[darth dypshyt]

Or the person that makes comments like that. Your part of the cycle too my friend.

And by replying to me..you have completed the cycle.

 

[thamesvalidude]

I only read the first few posts and I saw that Jennifer responded to the 1/6 scale question. I don't know what's been said on pages 2-5 of this thread but I just wanted to saw Jennifer is awesome and she has always been nice and helpful to me!

I will totally agree with that. Big shout for Jennifer Bigham and her colleagues. They've always been brilliant and indeed sorted out a POTC problem for me last night. And Destiny Sobel has the coolest name I've ever come across.
Anyway I can understand the frustration with the 12" line. I will be sooo relieved when (if???) I have the full fellowship standing on my shelf. Anything else will be a huge bonus!
We just have to learn not to be hasty, hooo rah rum!

 

[crazytrain]

What always strikes me as odd whenever these types of questions are asked is how little many people seem to understand about business. Does anyone think for a minute that Sideshow DOESN'T want their product out there? As if Sideshow would deliberately delay a product, or allow it to be mired in setbacks to the detriment of their profits! There exists a huge push to release an item in a timely manner, but one that will also maximize profits, and the bottom line is - a LOT of this stuff is still on second-chance; Star Wars is more of a cash cow.

But is that not actually the point that the e-mail was effectively getting at?? The lines are selling slowly so is SS going to keep producing them?? It does appear that the LotR lines are not as popular now as they used to be - whilst we could discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of releasing a "limited" edition of 9000, which the later Weta offerings came in at, the simple fact is that they probably couldn't sell half or even a third of that number now. So we can all accept the business case for getting as much out as possible to generate profit, but if the numbers are so low, then they might not offset the R&D costs etc to make it worth their while. I think the e-mail was perfectly fair. Whilst I agree that SS is much better than many companies, the one thing that always runs true in any business is to keep the customer happy. What I would find really helpful is if they were to come out and say something along the lines of "we're still 100% behind the 12" (substitute whatever line you want) line of LotR and assuming things go to plan we will be releasing X figures over the next 12 months". I don't need to know the details, just some idea of what I can vaguely expect, and I accept that sometimes there are problems that take time to rectify. As it happens I also collect the PF line and that is the one that really pains me - the gaps between announcements have been excruciatingly long so just a little reassurance from SS would help. I contacted SS on a different matter before the release of GtW PF and asked Dusty about their plans and she very kindly let me know that the next figure or two would be outstanding - I've still to receive GtW so I'll reserve judgement, but it does seem like the Aragorn PF will be amazing. It would be nice to have just some idea of how regularly we can expect these to come through. I personally feel that 2 or 3 PFs and 4 or 5 12" a year would be about right - some people might think that is too many (financially at least) some too little, but at least if they gave us some indication we could start saving up...

 

[hoodonit00]

crazytrains entire post quoted

Thank you crazytrain for putting into words what I could not.

 

[Anzik]

For those that are impatient:

You can grab these guys.

These figures are costly and putting out too many would make it impossible to collect them all. They are highly detailed and being sold to a picky consumer base that wants them as close to perfect as possible. If they didn't care the Toybiz line would have done better.

Also now that the Hobbit films have been confirmed, I wouldn't worry about the line being canceled.

 

[Boba Fett]

Good thing I collect other lines beside LOTR so I don't have to worry about waiting around for the next 1/6 figure.

I got Spooktacular zombies coming in the mail to help my fix.

 

[BadMoon]

And by replying to me..you have completed the cycle.

I know.

Just making it clear that people who complain (or call out if you will) the people who complain about the people that complain about Sideshow are just as bad as the people complaining.