Sideshow 1/6 C-3PO

[Asta]

Yeah, it was - and they very nearly pulled it off. This figure does seem to be getting a ton of flack over some issues that are (to me) quite minor in-hand. For such a complex engineered figure, QC was bound to be an issue, and I had a couple.

I gotta say - I got this and HT Luke on the same day and I didn't open Luke for a while (3PO opened immediately,) and even after opening, Luke just got put on display whereas 3PO is on the desk, constantly being examined and reposed. I was deeply skeptical SSC could pull this off and said so all along (and I own the Tama 3PO) but this has been a great surprise that I'm so happy I kept the PO on.

The only lingering issues I have center on the face sculpt (the face is a little vertically squashed, chin prominent) but I've done some very subtle tweaks (with a couple more to come) that have helped minimize the issues to the point where I'm okay with it.

The fingers - well, I have pretty decent custom skills, so I'll fix them when I have time, but posed in the right way, it's not this grotesque horror that some people seem to be making it out to be (again - to me.) It isn't the thumbed equivalent of the Drake headsculpt, or even of Tan Solo.

Overall, this is an amazingly engineered figure with a great metallic finish (another doubt I had) that's a ton of fun to handle/play with and display. It's the last figure I thought I'd love, but that's how it turned out.

The fingers and thumb on the only arm I'm using don't bother me. Once they're all folded in a bit the thumb looks natural, and you don't really notice that the ridge on the back is facing the wrong direction.

The Tamashii's fingers look bland and featureless by comparison.

After the X-Wing Luke fiasco I was expecting the worst regarding quality control on C-3PO.

But I got lucky as nothing was broken, and the weathering is light and neatly applied. I've seen some, for example, with a big solid drip above the circle in his abdomen.

The colour's great and the one-armed bandit option makes him more unique on display.

 

[jedibear]

Burly escort...

 

[galactiboy]

Great shot jedibear

The size of the hands have not bothered me in person, they might be a bit large but nothing that seems glaring.

I wouldn't expect any sort of replacement on the hands from Sideshow. At this point we either have to fix it ourselves or just accept them lol

 

[ScruffyNerfHerder]

I wouldn't call this "bait and switch," that implies deceptive intent.

This is obviously a production error at the factories.

The question is what Sideshow is going to do about it.

Seeing as the Catwoman and Harley Quinn figures I have literally melted away at the hip due to the type of adhesive they used, and they did absolutely nothing about that, I'm not expecting them to address this at all.

It really is a shame that so many things go wrong with these expensive collectibles, and SS will do nothing to attempt to fix it. I guess they're making money regardless, as their figures still sell out.

I think I got lucky in getting a good C3PO, as my weathering is nice and the thumbs look good. It's a shame that you have to see your $200+ purchase as a gamble though.

 

[Jme_c]

Is he worth the price mark? I am still not sure on this one, kinda hoping Hot Toys will release a 3P0.

 

[cel3027]

Is he worth the price mark? I am still not sure on this one, kinda hoping Hot Toys will release a 3P0.

Not for me,this is my only purchase that i regret so far.
Personally dont think it's worth more than $170 shipped.

 

[TaliBane]

Is he worth the price mark? I am still not sure on this one, kinda hoping Hot Toys will release a 3P0.

Not for me,this is my only purchase that i regret so far.
Personally dont think it's worth more than $170 shipped.

Hot Toys will not help you in regards to the pricepoint. My guess is they won't get to 3PO for a while (there are too many TFA and OT heroes/outfits to do for the foreseeable future) and when they do, it will be closer to $300. I was surprised to see the HT Vader priced at $300, given people had been a bit stunned by the SSC Vader being $250 only a year or two earlier (due to SSC's previous Vader being $125.)

Also, 3PO is not one of the top-drawer heroes - he's the fussy, weaponless comic relief to some degree that plays little to no role in the new trilogy so far, so I can't see HT being in a huge hurry to do him.

But as I keep saying, the HT Vader looked like a miss (prototype was insect + McQ Vader) for nearly a year that fortunately turned out good in the end. And ALL the SW heroes have had at least some likeness issues (some - to me - badly so,) so I really roll my eyes when I see people say "eh, I'll wait for HT." Judging by their spotty record on SW sculpt/likeness so far - and the presumed price of a HT 3PO - it's honestly only blind HT fanboy-ism that makes the statement have any weight at all.

 

[The Green Goblin]

I'm really hoping this sticks around long enough to get a nice discount during Spooktacular 2016.

 

[galactiboy]

Is he worth the price mark? I am still not sure on this one, kinda hoping Hot Toys will release a 3P0.

I honk he's worth it, light on accessories but still well done.

 

[TonTon]

With all that said, Tali, which HT figures have you passed on?

 

[TaliBane]

With all that said, Tali, which HT figures have you passed on?

Not many actually. In OT, passed on Vader (too many issues and need for mods to me, still prefer the Hurricane/Kaiyodo sculpt, but will likely grab the next HT Vader where the kinks will be ironed out) and Luke Stormtrooper (only because I have farmboy Luke and the stormie.)

Did buy two Chewies and two stormies. Still mulling the sandie (looks better than stormie) and will probably grab it, but I have the Marmit and it's pretty close to as nice as the HT. Didn't buy the full Ben, got parts because I didn't like the inner bathrobe. Resold my Han to a buddy because I thought in-hand it would be better than pics and wasn't to me (even though I got it fairly cheap, I should have hung onto it as an investment) and know there'll be a HT Han Bespin shown by middle of this year, which I'd prefer.

Have Leia on PO and really like the look of that.

Haven't been blown away by any of the HT figs so far except Chewy (which yes, has its issues too) and the most recent, farmboy Luke, I was "lukewarm" on. Even the HT stormie helmet looked to me more Don Post than ANH stunt as it should have. I was expecting HT to totally nail each SW likeness and on that basis, I've been somewhat disappointed over and over, even though we've certainly gotten some gorgeously hyper-realistic heads/helmets and some incredibly well done outfits/weapons.

 

[hokietwo]

Thanks, glad to hear it. I do think it was brave of them to try articulated fingers.

Not slighting at your comment, but articulated fingers are not a overly complex engineering process. I'm staring at 30+ Iron man figures each with differently sculpted sets of hands and moulds going into them and they are absolutely perfect in function and execution. (with light up functionality as well)

The big issue I have with 3po's mits are the top of the hands. The rake effect is because there is no arc on the top of the hands. Had they been bent the hands with a curve inwards it could have concealed much of the thumb misalignment. Luckily we have some crack modders (Glactiboy) that showed how to fix the thumb.

If you want an example of brave, check out the paint job on the HT Copper Stormrooper. It is an art piece in hand and stunningly beautiful. That could have been a holy mess with scratches and poor paint application.

 

[TaliBane]

Not slighting at your comment, but articulated fingers are not a overly complex engineering process. I'm staring at 30+ Iron man figures each with differently sculpted sets of hands and moulds going into them and they are absolutely perfect in function and execution. (with light up functionality as well)

The big issue I have with 3po's mits are the top of the hands. The rake effect is because there is no arc on the top of the hands. Had they been bent the hands with a curve inwards it could have concealed much of the thumb misalignment. Luckily we have some crack modders (Glactiboy) that showed how to fix the thumb.

If you want an example of brave, check out the paint job on the HT Copper Stormrooper. It is an art piece in hand and stunningly beautiful. That could have been a holy mess with scratches and poor paint application.

True - I really don't think it's the size of the hands as people seem to think, it's also the fact that the fingers are a bit too long and they are all the same finger parts (i.e. pinky same as others) whereas the ring and pinky fingers should be a bit shorter like a normal human hand. That's the defining feature of a rake - all the teeth/fingers the same length, and here it's made worse by the thumb being in the same plane.

It would have been really hard/expensive to make different fingers though, so the articulated fingers thing was bound to have issues. I have a HT terminator endo arm somewhere - not sure how they handled the different finger lengths.

Here's the 3PO hand next to an eBay HT knock-off's hand (yes, they are hideous in color - only one I had nearby) showing it's not really that oversized:

I really don't think the hands are a major issue "in hand" though - at least for me.

 

[SpaceCrawler]

The problem isn't necessarily with the size of the entire hand but the size and spacing of the digits. The thumb is all wrong according to human anatomy (which is of course what was under the 3PO costume hand), being a bit wonkey in the thumb area (too long), and of course the thumb bending like a finger rather than being opposable, like all other human thumbs on Earth. So it makes the hands look like paddles rather than hands because you can't really distinguish a thumb- it just looks like he has 5 fingers, no thumb.

Sean

 

[WWEJedi]

I'm really hoping this sticks around long enough to get a nice discount during Spooktacular 2016.

Hmm.... I don't think so. With the price of the Tama and the want to complete the ANH cast.... I think people will settle for this.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Hot Toys will not help you in regards to the pricepoint. My guess is they won't get to 3PO for a while (there are too many TFA and OT heroes/outfits to do for the foreseeable future) and when they do, it will be closer to $300. I was surprised to see the HT Vader priced at $300, given people had been a bit stunned by the SSC Vader being $250 only a year or two earlier (due to SSC's previous Vader being $125.)

Also, 3PO is not one of the top-drawer heroes - he's the fussy, weaponless comic relief to some degree that plays little to no role in the new trilogy so far, so I can't see HT being in a huge hurry to do him.

But as I keep saying, the HT Vader looked like a miss (prototype was insect + McQ Vader) for nearly a year that fortunately turned out good in the end. And ALL the SW heroes have had at least some likeness issues (some - to me - badly so,) so I really roll my eyes when I see people say "eh, I'll wait for HT." Judging by their spotty record on SW sculpt/likeness so far - and the presumed price of a HT 3PO - it's honestly only blind HT fanboy-ism that makes the statement have any weight at all.

I wouldn't necessarily quarrel with any of this but I would add that I am almost always more satisfied with hot toys purchases than sideshow for several reasons. The hot toys figures come with far superior bodies, far superior paintwork, generally more and better accessories(weapons, bases, etc), and now are usually priced about the same. I don't think ssc has ever made a production head sculpt that I would be too proud of and most look silly next to hot toys but they have made a couple of my favorite pieces(probe droid and speeder bike to name a couple). I don't think I own a single figure that is perfect, but the stuff being produced now is generally close enough to put a big smile on my face.

 

[FlyAndFight]

I honk he's worth it, light on accessories but still well done.

 

[PJB-1138]

The big issue I have with 3po's mits are the top of the hands. The rake effect is because there is no arc on the top of the hands. Had they been bent the hands with a curve inwards it could have concealed much of the thumb misalignment. Luckily we have some crack modders (Glactiboy) that showed how to fix the thumb.

This issue is worsened by how the unusual wrist pegs don't allow the hands to bend backwards or forwards, just a little side-to-side. It makes the hands look fixed straight to the forearm and hinders their expressiveness.

 

[TaliBane]

I wouldn't necessarily quarrel with any of this but I would add that I am almost always more satisfied with hot toys purchases than sideshow for several reasons. The hot toys figures come with far superior bodies, far superior paintwork, generally more and better accessories(weapons, bases, etc), and now are usually priced about the same. I don't think ssc has ever made a production head sculpt that I would be too proud of and most look silly next to hot toys but they have made a couple of my favorite pieces(probe droid and speeder bike to name a couple). I don't think I own a single figure that is perfect, but the stuff being produced now is generally close enough to put a big smile on my face.

And I wouldn't disagree with any of that - most obviously on headsculpts. I've gotten a beating with the SSC ugly-head stick over and over - I have Tan Solo and Luke Skinwalker. I didn't buy the whole Luke X-Wing (just the outfit) for that reason, and I'm waiting for in-hand pics before jumping on TOD Indy. And yeah, the HT bodies are definitely better, though I'd argue SSC and HT outfits/accessories/weapons are pretty much on-par side-by-side.

I'm just saying that very few - if any - of the HT SW figs are home-runs to me. No, no figure is perfect. But I draw the line on likeness - it's the number one criteria to me (especially with the fairly plain/simple ANH outfits,) and HT has fallen short over and over in actual likeness to the character. Their ultra-real paint apps and incredible "wrinkles and pores" sculpt detail soften the blow and win you over, but I still feel it. HT Ben looks like Ben in the way white-bearded biker dudes sometimes look like Santa - yes, that's too harsh (under the right light and with hood up HT Ben can look pretty decent) but that head alone doesn't really capture Alec Guiness to me much at all. Han was a bit better, but not to the likeness level I wanted.

And SSC 3PO did put a big smile on my face - despite the fact I expected to hate/resell it (I really just wanted to see it in-hand) and that there are certainly minor things I don't like about it.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

And I wouldn't disagree with any of that - most obviously on headsculpts. I've gotten a beating with the SSC ugly-head stick over and over - I have Tan Solo and Luke Skinwalker. I didn't buy the whole Luke X-Wing (just the outfit) for that reason, and I'm waiting for in-hand pics before jumping on TOD Indy. And yeah, the HT bodies are definitely better, though I'd argue SSC and HT outfits/accessories/weapons are pretty much on-par side-by-side.

I'm just saying that very few - if any - of the HT SW figs are home-runs to me. No, no figure is perfect. But I draw the line on likeness - it's the number one criteria to me (especially with the fairly plain/simple ANH outfits,) and HT has fallen short over and over in actual likeness to the character. Their ultra-real paint apps and incredible "wrinkles and pores" sculpt detail soften the blow and win you over, but I still feel it. HT Ben looks like Ben in the way white-bearded biker dudes sometimes look like Santa - yes, that's too harsh (under the right light and with hood up HT Ben can look pretty decent) but that head alone doesn't really capture Alec Guiness to me much at all. Han was a bit better, but not to the likeness level I wanted.

And SSC 3PO did put a big smile on my face - despite the fact I expected to hate/resell it (I really just wanted to see it in-hand) and that there are certainly minor things I don't like about it.

. You have the Tama too right? If so are you keeping both?