Sideshow 1/6 C-3PO

[FlyAndFight]

Thanks for those pics, WorGar. I just hope that 3PO isn't taller than the HT Luke, as they should be roughly the same height.

 

[JCFETT]

Looks good 2 me

 

[TaliBane]

Figure is looking very good, IMO. He had a broken piston which I'm sure will be addressed. Unfortunately broken pistons was also a very common trait of the Tama version.

For the life of me I don't know how both Sideshow and Bandai/Tama got the eyes upside down (the triangle made by the 3 light sources is supposed to point downward, not up)

I won't be replacing my Tama, but looking at these (and other) early photos, I'm pretty confident that if you put both of them on a shelf 3 to 5 feet away, a significant number of people (not necessarily members of this board) would pick the Sideshow version. I think the majority would probably first say they look the same (doh!)

3PO's eye bulbs vary film by film and in some cases scene by scene, so there isn't necessarily a "correct" set up.

And there wasn't a large amount of actual breakage of Tama pistons - many were simply the pin pulling out of the socket that had to be reinserted. In my experience they are fairly durable.

I've been saying this from day one - the SSC 3PO is going to have a lot of elbow joint breakage due to the combination of it being very thin size (ie. screen accurate), plastic, and covered in weathering paint. The joint is a quite a complex telescoping/sliding/pivoting movement and I'll be curious to see how well it works out of the box. The SSC IG-88 proved SSC can do complex joints, but that figure also had issues due to the weathering clogging joints.

 

[jedijim3002]

Thanks for those pics, WorGar. I just hope that 3PO isn't taller than the HT Luke, as they should be roughly the same height.

He should actually be a bit taller than Luke. In most of the shots 3PO was a hair taller than Luke. Plus Anthony Daniels is 5'9" and Mark Hamil is between 5'7" and 5'8".












It's funny I found pics that give evidence for and against my theory so it's always hard to tell what is real and what is movie magic. I've just always seen Luke as being slightly shorter than 3PO

 

[TonTon]

The joint is a quite a complex telescoping/sliding/pivoting movement and I'll be curious to see how well it works out of the box. The SSC IG-88 proved SSC can do complex joints, but that figure also had issues due to the weathering clogging joints.

I thought the SS one wasn't telescoping, but just sliding/pivoting.

 

[koolkollectibleskhai]

Wow, I hope the quality and fragility is not that bad, but this scares the **** out of me!!

 

[Wor-Gar]

I thought the SS one wasn't telescoping, but just sliding/pivoting.

Doesn't look to be telescoping at all. At least the broken one in the picture. Just slides in the "gutter" they made on his arm.

Definitely going to be a boatload of breakage on this one.

 

[TaliBane]

I thought the SS one wasn't telescoping, but just sliding/pivoting.

Sorry, yeah - the SSC is not telescoping. It doesn't have the range of elbow movement the Tama has (45 degrees instead of 90), but that range of movement isn't really necessary. It's the "push" end of the SSC pivot that worries me in terms of breakage (the end it's sliding toward.)

My guess is that piston wasn't broken right out of the box, but broken on the initial play with the fig. I think this fig really should be considered a fragile model that you repostion very slowly and carefully, not like one of those standard youtubers who immediately start casually bending and twsiting the joints during a review.

I agree this 3PO has a slight clone wars look, but it also looks pretty ROTJ as well. The head does look off in more ways than just the jaw, but 3PO's head is distorted by camera pics more than any other SW helmet so I'm hopeful it's not as bad in-hand.

This charges this week, so can't wait to get the ship notice.

 

[galactiboy]

(*Incidentally, 3P0 is TFA is oddly not chromed, either. Very odd decision. He looked way too matte and almost plastic, imho. Small nit, overall, but it definitely stuck out the first time I saw it).

I noticed that as well... he looked very odd, as you said almost like he was made out of plastic. Not sure why they chose to give him a matte finish

 

[Mike86]

The pistons being fragile is something I was worried about. I'm thinking it'll be best to choose a pose and keep it that way.

 

[Pixelpiper]

3PO's eye bulbs vary film by film and in some cases scene by scene, so there isn't necessarily a "correct" set up.

Both figures are ANH-specific, so the other films are, as they say, irrelevant. Never noticed the eyes pointing upward in any scene in ANH (actual scenes, not promos). All the iconic and most clear scenes are upside down triangle (with a small tilt). I don't trust for one second that either company put them the way they did based on movie reference - I'd believe they did it by chance and have no clue which way they should actually go.

 

[Metalsaber]

The pistons being fragile is something I was worried about. I'm thinking it'll be best to choose a pose and keep it that way.

Agreed

 

[Clutters]

I pre-ordered and paid in full some time ago but..cripes, that weathering! It's the worst. I pulled out my old Hasbro Purchase of the Droids 3PO from the pack in with Owen Lars and it's a better paint job.

 

[TaliBane]

Both figures are ANH-specific, so the other films are, as they say, irrelevant. Never noticed the eyes pointing upward in any scene in ANH (actual scenes, not promos). All the iconic and most clear scenes are upside down triangle (with a small tilt). I don't trust for one second that either company put them the way they did based on movie reference - I'd believe they did it by chance and have no clue which way they should actually go.

They do vary - more slightly - scene by scene in ANH.

It's possible it is image/shot flops that explain it (that happened a lot in the SW films.) I happened to have some 3PO eyes pics for my custom but don't want to dig further.

Right eye is rotated left, then almost straight, then more clearly rotated right:

 

[Lejuan]

I pre-ordered and paid in full some time ago but..cripes, that weathering! It's the worst. I pulled out my old Hasbro Purchase of the Droids 3PO from the pack in with Owen Lars and it's a better paint job.

Not unexpected though, given the job they did with R2. But as far as issues go, it's no doubt easily fixed if it's as glaringly poor on the shelf as it is in close-up pics.

 

[Arycon]

I'm tempted to cancel because of the poor weathering. I am confident I can remove the dripping stains with a light solvent, but I am really concerned about it taking off the gold finish. I know several people removed R2's weathering without issue, but will the same be possible here?

 

[Chakaman]

I'm tempted to cancel because of the poor weathering. I am confident I can remove the dripping stains with a light solvent, but I am really concerned about it taking off the gold finish. I know several people removed R2's weathering without issue, but will the same be possible here?

I too am curious about this.

 

[Lejuan]

I'm tempted to cancel because of the poor weathering. I am confident I can remove the dripping stains with a light solvent, but I am really concerned about it taking off the gold finish. I know several people removed R2's weathering without issue, but will the same be possible here?

I wouldn't worry about it. The weathering is applied on top of it, so it should remove pretty easily from the underlying surface. If in doubt, start out with a more highly diluted alcohol mix.

...or of course you could cancel and wait for someone else to report before reordering

 

[TaliBane]

I'm tempted to cancel because of the poor weathering. I am confident I can remove the dripping stains with a light solvent, but I am really concerned about it taking off the gold finish. I know several people removed R2's weathering without issue, but will the same be possible here?

Yeah, I was confused as to how people were able to remove R2's weathering without damaging the silver dome paint underneath. Both are paint, so it's odd that it worked.

Really not sure why SSC refuses to chrome plate/vac metalize figs like 3PO. They can do it for Hasbro 12" toys - and it lasts - so why not with SSC figs? A vac-metallized fig with great weathering would come closest to matching 3PO's look.

 

[Kamandi]

I just spoke with Sideshow. They are expecting C-3PO on Thursday and they allowed me to authorized my final Flexpay.