New Partnership With Estudio Proteus

[ShadowX81]

honestly sculpts have not been $35 for a long time now, people have been paying rocco and others 60--75 a pop , add a skiman paint wich he is cheap compared and your at $135-150.

Fine then, charge $135. $65 seems like a pretty huge savings to me.

for somebody to suggest $35 for a unpainted sculpt is just, when rocco gets on the low end $60.. why waste your breath arguing with a guy like that. its obvious he just wants to stir up trouble. .

Uh, no. Im not. Its not like im doing this because im bored.

I just genuinely believe that regardless of quality something should be sold for a lower price if it can be. And right now, im pretty sure that there are better options out there that haven't been looked at. And unless any of you enjoy burning $20 bills, those options are worth exploring.

As happy as we all are (myself included) to be able to get these sculpts again legitimatly and to have Trevor back, wouldn't it be even better if we have both of those things plus a more reasonably priced product? Honestly im surprised not everyone wants it.

 

[batfan08]

Please don't leave again, Trevor.

 

[ShadowX81]

And why would he leave again?

 

[batfan08]

No offense, but he comes back thinking he's doing people a favor when they're complaining about not being able to get his sculpts, and they switch gears to complain about the price of those sculpts he's making available.

 

[Peteskywalker]

No offense, but he comes back thinking he's doing people a favor when they're complaining about not being able to get his sculpts, and they switch gears to complain about the price of those sculpts he's making available.

People have voiced there opinions and Trev has told us that he will look in to this so there is no need for all the drama.

The first thread he starts in 2 years and we have 7 pages worth of complaining so I can see why he might be put off

 

[thainer]

I see both sides of this issue pretty clearly. At least in my head I do.

On the one side we have the fanboy. People who love Trevor. They love his work. They love him as a contributor to this hobby. They probably even love him in a bro-mance, man hug kind of way. They saw him produce some cool stuff, get ripped off, abused and then chased away. They are glad he's back and are willing to support him anyway they can. That's cool. Artists have always had patrons. People who pay the way so artists can do their art. Again, nothing wrong with that. It is a system going back centuries.

But you also have people without the emotional attachment to Trevor. Whose pockets aren't as deep. Whose eyes don't go all misty when someone says the name Trevor Grove. And those people are concerned about the rising costs of bits and bobs to put on our toys. The first heads I bought to put on figures (not all that many years ago) I got for $10 from Lonnie Hale. Now I am expected to pay 8 times that much? What if someone told you that 10 years from now bread was going to cost $12 a loaf and if you didn't like the price or couldn't pay it then you just didn't need to eat.

Now I get that these are luxury items that we spend our disposable income on and not dietary staples and, as such, if we can't or won't pay the asking price we can always "do without". But I find it disturbing that the guys who constantly sling around the word "entitlement" are also the guys who have the wherewithal to drop $80 to $200 on a head, just the head-no body, clothes, etc. And there is some sort of automatic dismissal of the person who sees that as a lot of money to spend on a head.

And don't even get me started on the business model some of these artists are using.
Say you're going to build a deck. You get 2 quotes. First guy (single, no kids) quotes you $1000 because that is what he can afford to do it for. Second guy (8 kids, pregnant wife, 2 dogs) quotes you $2500 because of all the mouths he has to feed at home. Who's gonna build your deck?

 

[Mr.E]

I think Iminime "owns" that sculpt now, in the same way Sideshow would own a sculpt it commissioned from Trevor.

To Shadow, Considering that this is Trevor's product, I would say that it is the only reason that matters. From what I've seen, finding good, reliable casters is apparently not an easy task. And for Trevor there is an extra dimension of needing to be someone he trusts and feels comfortable working with. There's only so much you can really expect here. This isn't a charity, and I'm sure there are factors at play here that we're not all privy to.

But Iminime isn't releasing licensed products (this argument will never end). They're artists, I sure they could share the love.

 

[karamazov80]

It's not really a legal issue I'm talking about here, but an agreement between Trevor and Iminime, since Trevor was commissioned to produce the sculpt for the purpose of Iminime selling their Blondie figure. I'm pretty sure axecutioner or MarfMaster mentioned that this was the case. But I don't have direct knowledge of this.

 

[galactiboy]

That would be my assumption too... that project was for a company/group doing a limited run of figures so would not be appropriate for them to be offered separately.

 

[MarfMaster]

That would be my assumption too... that project was for a company/group doing a limited run of figures so would not be appropriate for them to be offered separately.

That's correct, iminime "owns" the Blondie sculpts, and has control over their sanctioned reproduction. They already offered painted casts of the regular, and as far as I know, have no plans to release unpainted casts.

 

[PROTEUS360]

Probably for the same reasons than me.

 

[Raymond F.]

Supply, demand, quality. That's it.

There's some pretty bad heads castings alone unpainted that are being sold for 60 bucks from artists on these boards, not only is the quality lacking but the work clearly rushed, the name(s) were dropped already on this thread so I'm not going to bother reiterating. People seem to eat it up. Trevor's sculpts are worth it. How much is your time worth when you're more talented than everyone else? When you don't really need the work, it's about your time. It's clear he puts the time into his sculpts if you break it down hourly how much is it really in the end? The leg up sculptors have is that they can copy the sculpts but if you think that casts don't cost money for materials and time for proper clean up think again.

I don't care if the guy has 10 kids or none. if its 1000 bucks or 2500 bucks either way I don't want a ****ty deck. Chances are the guy who makes the better deck is gonna be able to charge more for his work. Chances are not only are you paying for his talent his work is good because he puts more time, effort and skill into it anyways and that's why it costs more.

Also btw having Trevor back is a GODSEND!!!!!!

 

[Commtech]

I see both sides of this issue pretty clearly. At least in my head I do.

On the one side we have the fanboy. People who love Trevor. They love his work. They love him as a contributor to this hobby. They probably even love him in a bro-mance, man hug kind of way. They saw him produce some cool stuff, get ripped off, abused and then chased away. They are glad he's back and are willing to support him anyway they can. That's cool. Artists have always had patrons. People who pay the way so artists can do their art. Again, nothing wrong with that. It is a system going back centuries.

But you also have people without the emotional attachment to Trevor. Whose pockets aren't as deep. Whose eyes don't go all misty when someone says the name Trevor Grove. And those people are concerned about the rising costs of bits and bobs to put on our toys. The first heads I bought to put on figures (not all that many years ago) I got for $10 from Lonnie Hale. Now I am expected to pay 8 times that much? What if someone told you that 10 years from now bread was going to cost $12 a loaf and if you didn't like the price or couldn't pay it then you just didn't need to eat.

Now I get that these are luxury items that we spend our disposable income on and not dietary staples and, as such, if we can't or won't pay the asking price we can always "do without". But I find it disturbing that the guys who constantly sling around the word "entitlement" are also the guys who have the wherewithal to drop $80 to $200 on a head, just the head-no body, clothes, etc. And there is some sort of automatic dismissal of the person who sees that as a lot of money to spend on a head.

And don't even get me started on the business model some of these artists are using.
Say you're going to build a deck. You get 2 quotes. First guy (single, no kids) quotes you $1000 because that is what he can afford to do it for. Second guy (8 kids, pregnant wife, 2 dogs) quotes you $2500 because of all the mouths he has to feed at home. Who's gonna build your deck?

This ^^^



Bravo.

 

[Mr.E]

You get what you pay for.

 

[noisetrigger]

I think USD 130 is about the maximum I am willing to pay for a great painted sculpt. I bought a Trevor sculpt back then for USD35 and got it painted for around 55USD. That's 90USD.

I am taking into account the fact that cost has risen and profit sharing are involved (I am in business myself) hence a fifty percent increase from 90usd to about 135usd seems reasonable.

Regardless, I am a big fan of Trevor's work and I desperately need another Miami blood specialist sculpt cause despite the sea of offering of that sculpt over here, not a single one is close to Trevor. He really nailed that one.

Even at 200USD I will bite but that will be the only time and never again.

 

[Lee in MI]

While I think the price is probably $30-$40 on the high side, I have no works by Sal. So I don't know if his quality is worth the additional cost or not.

On the over hand, I do have Trev's work and its totally worth it! He's the Kato of sculpting. His detail is very exacting and I'm willing to pay for quality. I just don't know if Sal's casting, clean up and painting justifies the additional cost. In hand pics of the first offerings and time will tell the story.

Would I buy the heads for $200 bucks...yeah, but reluctantly and my budget would force me to be very selective. Only because $200 for the head is barely half way there to completing the bash.

I don't think it's reached the stratosphere of Kato's prices so I would still be in for some must haves. But if the price ever pushes to heights that are around $300-$400 bucks, well I'd just be sol.

It's really a question of economics and what it's worth to you the individual. I applaud Trev for making these available. Here's hoping this marriage works for the optimum number of members and works out for these guys too.

 

[Dr. Odd]

As someone who joined probably about right after Trevor left, I gotta say I'm super excited to see him around, and hopefully putting out some new pieces. Even if I can't or don't want to buy it, it's just great seeing his stuff, a lot of it is simply unrivaled.

 

[PROTEUS360]

you can check my work here:
https://www.estudioproteus.com/home/

 

[batfan08]

you can check my work here:
https://www.estudioproteus.com/home/

Salvador, this is nothing against your work, but, just out of curiosity, how would it work if someone did have another approved painter lined up for a sculpt? Would they just pay $80 to you for an unpainted sculpt?

 

[galactiboy]

I think USD 130 is about the maximum I am willing to pay for a great painted sculpt. I bought a Trevor sculpt back then for USD35 and got it painted for around 55USD. That's 90USD.

I am taking into account the fact that cost has risen and profit sharing are involved (I am in business myself) hence a fifty percent increase from 90usd to about 135usd seems reasonable.

Regardless, I am a big fan of Trevor's work and I desperately need another Miami blood specialist sculpt cause despite the sea of offering of that sculpt over here, not a single one is close to Trevor. He really nailed that one.

Even at 200USD I will bite but that will be the only time and never again.

The days of $55 paint jobs are mostly gone as well... a few still charge less, but seems that is the low end with the high being around $150. But again, you get what you pay for in these cases as well.

I recall when I joined the board the average was more like $35 and the most expensive (FiguremasterLes) was $60. And at the same time I don't think any cast cost over $50, usually more like $30.

We are in a very different market now and the prices tend to reflect that. Also I have to agree with Raymond in that Trevor is as good as it gets when it comes to sculpts and few at his calibre even offer unpainted heads for sale.