1/6 NEXT Hot Toys STAR WARS Figure...?

[JMT1979]

I have a separate digital piggybank for figures I have pre-ordered. I don't pay them in full in advance, only an NRD, but I can pay them at every moment should it be necessary. If I can't do that because of other bills, I wouldn't buy the figure.

The reason I don't pay them fully in advance is because I don't like to pay something up front that most likely is 2+years away. (Especially in Europe). I don't want to run the risk in paying everything, only to have the shop go bankrupt or something. Then my money will be gone. Even creditcard insurances and everything often don't cover 2+ years, so I'm not paying full in advance.

I used to buy from Sideshow on their payment plans before I knew about other places to buy from, but now I buy locally with a $100 deposit for figures I can wait for and directly from HK for figures I don't want to wait for.

I'm not adverse to paying off over time, but generally I just put in the whole cost of a figure in my budget (my budget goes until end of 2022) for when I expect them to come out.

 

[Tee-Kay]

It does drive me nuts. We have tons of 24-hour news channels that only repeat the same 2-3 stories every hour... and barely if any world news. I've always wondered why they can dedicate at least 10 minutes every hour to world news stories. Like, I just learned that Greece is burning. Did I get it from the news? No. I learned about it on the Olympics.

Unfortunately, it seems that 24 hours news channels around the world work that way. They only scratch the surface of events taking place on the planet. For the last 18 months, it's mostly covid national status, weather forecast, sports rince and repeat.

 

[jkno]

My collecting policy is simple: I only buy the stuff I like and within my collecting focus, and the stuff I have money for. I save hard for the things that are coming or might be released/pre-ordered at some point. I never use the money intended for other things in the house. The collecting budget is completely separate from other family things, this way it won't affect the family budget. This helped me with my limited budget and limited display space as well. I never had to sell a collectible I own, because I was short on money, or because I ordered or pre-ordered too much over my budget.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

While on the topic of saving money, it appears Sideshow has destroyed the value of those $25 order coupons they email out. I just got one and it won't work on preorders anymore, now it seems they can only be applied to the usual in-stock items perpetually sitting in the bargain bin.

Well done Sideshow, you have just removed the only incentive left to order through you.

 

[RandomHero]

Sideshow has people by the balls and they know it.

They’re in charge of receiving and distributing figures from a few companies, most notably Hot Toys. As such, they’ve made the allotment to retailers such as BBTS smaller and smaller. I remember the days when I figure selling out on BBTS meant it was destined to sell out on Sideshow, better get the order in. Now, it’s far from that.

If your favorite stores that aren’t Sideshow sell out, you’ve gotta through them or try eBay, which a lot of people don’t want to do.

Sideshow used to jack their shipping prices to rake in profit. My 501st troopers were $15 to ship. A few years ago, Sideshow probably would have charged $22 or more. Now they’re hitting people with the rewards changes and discount codes on only they stuff they can’t move.

Sideshow has become incredibly company focused and not as consumer friendly as they used to be. Strange considering they probably do record business. But I guess with all of their own branded statues that had crazy levels of QC issues, they’re probably trying to make up for lost profits.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

I'm not sure when the code change was made. I used one that worked July 14th on the exclusive Boba Fett with throne so it must be pretty recent.

 

[RandomHero]

I think maybe I shouldn’t have said it’s only for stuff they can’t move - but Sideshow definitely picks and chooses what they want the codes to work on, rather than they be blanket codes like they used to be. I recently heard someone tried to pre-order Rex with one, but no dice.

 

[darth dennis]

I think maybe I shouldn’t have said it’s only for stuff they can’t move - but Sideshow definitely picks and chooses what they want the codes to work on, rather than they be blanket codes like they used to be. I recently heard someone tried to pre-order Rex with one, but no dice.

I also have stopped receiving the blanket $25 codes via email. For a long while, I was getting a code right after each pre-order and using it on the next pre-order. It basically equated to free-shipping for me, give or take. I ultimately didn't order the $400 Neon Tech Ironman because I didn't have the $25 off code. Collector logic at it's finest

 

[RandomHero]

That $25 code helped! It’s nice when it eats up tax/shipping and you’re really just paying the cost of the figure itself.

I’ve personally stopped buying from Sideshow because I just feel they aren’t worth doing business with anymore. The decisions they’ve made over the last 12 months suck. It’s annoying waiting longer for figures elsewhere. Sideshow is shipping out the ThreeZero Tormund figure for weeks now but it’s nowhere to be found at BBTS yet. But at least they’re a better company to buy from, so wait I shall.

 

[fantasticfrog]

Rogue one was trending for some reason this morning. A great week for cassian or baze reveals...
Who am I kidding, we all know it will be vampire hunter iron man or another mandalorian.

 

[hardytrash]

Anybody else seen that Ahsoka seems to be shipping from Toyswonderland already? Never seen a figure ship before the final product pics before!!

 

[chrisstbh]

Anybody else seen that Ahsoka seems to be shipping from Toyswonderland already? Never seen a figure ship before the final product pics before!!

I'm not seeing that? May have been an error.

 

[hardytrash]

From Reddit, most likely a site error yeah.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Making the coupons all but unusable is a crap move. Those coupons basically paid the shipping for Deathwatch and Bo-Katan for me. And for many other past figures.

I still use SSC because I can be pretty sure I will actually get my order, and if something goes wrong they will fix it without me having to ship a piece back to Hong Kong or wherever. But no more good coupons sucks.

 

[greygoose]

N E W S I G G R O U P C O M I N G S O O N...

 

[chrisstbh]

N E W S I G G R O U P C O M I N G S O O N...

Omeeeeeega?

 

[dukefett]

I find the idea that ‘money earns you next to nothing sitting in a bank so might as well put that money towards buying expensive toys instead’ extremely bizzare to be honest. Then again, I imagine the kind of person who thinks that is the same kind of person you see re-selling a recently released figure on FB because they just found an unexpected bill in the mail or their car broke down. Blows my mind how financially uneducated many collectors are. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t buy any of these figures if I couldn’t afford them - and by affording them I mean affording them over and above daily necessities and putting something aside for the unexpected.

I honestly don't think it's too bad for more pricier stuff, it's a store of value in a way and lets face it, a mild investment for some figures. Someone is a lot better off having a couple of Hot Toys over 100 Marvel Legends in terms of reselling if you need money IMO.

 

[MyenShi]

While on the topic of saving money, it appears Sideshow has destroyed the value of those $25 order coupons they email out. I just got one and it won't work on preorders anymore, now it seems they can only be applied to the usual in-stock items perpetually sitting in the bargain bin.

Well done Sideshow, you have just removed the only incentive left to order through you.

Sideshow still has multiple types of coupons. Some of them are only for select items that aren't selling. Some of them are good for anything.

I think if you order from them regularly, you're more likely to get the coupons that work for anything including pre-orders. At least that's been the case for me. Probably because they want you to stay in their system.

Making the coupons all but unusable is a crap move. Those coupons basically paid the shipping for Deathwatch and Bo-Katan for me. And for many other past figures.

I still use SSC because I can be pretty sure I will actually get my order, and if something goes wrong they will fix it without me having to ship a piece back to Hong Kong or wherever. But no more good coupons sucks.

You should still check the coupons. You may get the good for anything type if you've been ordering from Sideshow. I got one of those just a few days ago so it doesn't hurt to check.

 

[Kodiak3d]

Am I the only one who would like to see some more ewoks? A 2-pack of Chief Chirpa and Logray would be nice. Paploo and Teebo even better.

 

[MyenShi]

Am I the only one who would like to see some more ewoks? A 2-pack of Chief Chirpa and Logray would be nice. Paploo and Teebo even better.

I would like to see some more Ewoks, especially if a future set comes with Wicket's hood in a better color (wishful thinking).