Sideshow 1/6 R2-D2

[qbomb71]

Now post some photos before you get rid of it.

Exactly. Now, get to taking some pictures...

 

[Captain Britain]

That's a fair, criticism, albeit subjective conclusion. I'm also glad you didn't mention waiting for a release from another company, because chances are it wouldn't be any better with regards to the specific items you mentioned.

With respect to not handling it, as some might say, I think it just depends on how dexterous your fingers are. Some folks have said the Probe Droid is ultra fragile and complained about its weight and thin plastics. That's what you get when you scale something down to 1/6. I didn't find that product fragile for its size at all, and when handled carefully it's pretty robust. I can insert and remove every leg quite easily 10 times a minute if I wanted to without issue. I don't expect any different from R2.

One way to make him ultra robust would have been to forgo any opening panels. But having those panels, they have to be thin to appear in scale, you can't get around that. At the end of the day, you're complaining about things that many long-time collectors take for granted - we know how these things are built, we know what to expect. I'm not going to suggest that you have to like them - like I said, totally fair criticisms. Just that they're not necessarily reasons for anyone else, let alone the majority of other collectors, to run.

Now post some photos before you get rid of it.

I agree with all of that, it's my subjective view, and I'm happy to make it clear that nothing actually broke and this thing may be much more durable than it appeared to me. I've got no evidence to show that it's fragile beyond how it 'felt' to me and the Sideshow instruction leaflet that called it fragile (but then, they would say that about any high-end figure). Your experience with the Probe droid suggests that maybe my fears were groundless, and of course, time will tell - any QC problems will show up after everyone else gets theirs, and if there aren't any, then I had nothing to worry about.

Maybe in six months time I'll be scrabbling around trying to buy one on the secondary market.

 

[Captain Britain]

Exactly. Now, get to taking some pictures...

Oh, sorry, I won't have time to do that before I hand it over and anyway I feel someone who loves it should be doing that.

 

[pixletwin]

Got my last flex pay moved to Monday. Really excited for this guy.

Bugger. I just called them and she wouldn't move mine.

 

[ZE_501]

The customs charges are exactly the same as you'd pay here as far as CBSA goes. 5% GST plus provincial tax (combined HST in provinces that have that). If it was sent UPS you'll get charged exorbitant brokerage. If it was sent DHL, good luck, there's no telling ahead of time what charges they will invent and you can't actually predict what will be charged for tax, nor can you verify anything with the documentation they provide. If it was sent FedEx you may or may not have to pay a brokerage fee depending on the service level. I never order anything to Canada from the US unless it's super low value. Now with the high exchange rate it's really not worth it for most people.

I was all set to buy a pair of headphones in the US for their SRP, $129, but last night decided to do more digging. Found them at London Drugs (of all places) for $99 Canadian. Even $129 Canadian would have been cheaper as the US to Canadian rate is now over 1.23.

Yeah...I got suckered because I figured, may as well get all the droid parts. Will I use them? Outside of the odd photo-shoot, probably not....LOL...it's coming FedEx. And DHL is just plain evil.

With the exchange rate and having figured a few things out over time, it's generally too punishing to get anything pricey from the US but sometimes I bite the bullet.

 

[Tee-Kay]

Got my notice as well. I wish R2 were available before Euro crached against Dollar but still a good news.

 

[davejames]

I could really go to town on this figure but there's two reasons I'm getting rid of it. First, the build quality; nothing went wrong with it in the half hour that I examined it, but I always felt I was one unwise application of pressure away from breaking something. The thing feels in your hand like plastic crap, flimsier than any 'high end' figure I've ever bought. Sure it has an unbelievable amount of compartments and doors and moveable parts but the plastic is so thin and the mechanisms feel so fragile that there's just no pleasure in handling it. The note that comes with it warns you how fragile it is. If you could x-ray it you'd see it was full of springs and these springs govern the movement of many different shards of plastic that feel like eggshell; and if just one malfunctioned you'd be left with a figure that would sadly accuse you forever of doing a dumb thing in buying it.

I have to admit, as cool as I think it looks overall, it does really give off that slightly cheap, toylike vibe for some reason. Like it's basically just a more accurate version of the old Hasbro toy in the end, and not something as premium and high-end as, say, the HT Robocop. Or some other robotic figure or piece of machinery we've seen made before by these companies.

But then it's also half the price of those premium HT figures, so I guess the cheaper look and feel is to be expected.

I haven't decided if I want to get this or not, but I have a feeling if I did I'd need to do a bit of modding and repainting first to be completely satisfied with it.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I haven't decided if I want to get this or not, but I have a feeling if I did I'd need to do a bit of modding and repainting first to be completely satisfied with it.

I'll get it for the same reason I got the probe droid - R&D. I'll take it apart, figure out how to offer a module to replace the batteries in him and the table, and with luck also squeeze in some sound effects. Then I'll sell that stuff to make back the price of the figure and then some.

 

[GeneralZodLives]

Does everyone remember that this is a toy and not a shrunken down R2-D2 droid? A lot of the 1/6 figures, from both HT and SS, have fragile bodies and accessories. Each toy from both companies has a decent probably of something breaking is handled roughly or incorrectly. I don't know if I've seen a thread on this forum about a figure in which someone one wasn't complaining about breaking something or being afraid to pose it. Unfortunately, these collectible toys are fragile and that's just a fact of the hobby. Some people will love the figure and some people will regret buying it. For the price, I'm not expecting a heavy-duty figure--it's 1/6 scale, made of plastic, and has very small moving parts.

 

[VASith]

You know what... I wasn't going to post anything about this figure in case people thought I was trolling, but I can't really let your comment pass without explaining to you why it's a waste of money. But first, here's some words of wisdom from The Gambler:

You gotta know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run...

This is a figure to run from. I bought it, even though I know how bad Sideshow stuff is because I thought, 'how can they **** up a droid'? It's not like there's a human face to capture in a sculpt or paint job.

Got it this week, and thank God a friend of mine who collects R2 and C3PO stuff (but doesn't really know that much about 1/6 figures) has agreed to buy it from me (and yeah, I did tell him why I was selling it).

I could really go to town on this figure but there's two reasons I'm getting rid of it. First, the build quality; nothing went wrong with it in the half hour that I examined it, but I always felt I was one unwise application of pressure away from breaking something. The thing feels in your hand like plastic crap, flimsier than any 'high end' figure I've ever bought. Sure it has an unbelievable amount of compartments and doors and moveable parts but the plastic is so thin and the mechanisms feel so fragile that there's just no pleasure in handling it. The note that comes with it warns you how fragile it is. If you could x-ray it you'd see it was full of springs and these springs govern the movement of many different shards of plastic that feel like eggshell; and if just one malfunctioned you'd be left with a figure that would sadly accuse you forever of doing a dumb thing in buying it.

I realise half the people who are reading this will be saying 'but I don't handle my figures I plan to stick this in a detolf and never touch it' and indeed that's more or less what my mate will be doing (next to a Tamashi 3PO) and it probably will look okay. But I have a big problem with the paint job on this. It's way too muted, too grey, and the 'realistic dirt' applications were overambitious. They should have done a sparkling white and blue R2. What they've produced is a kind of 1/6 scale POTF2 paint job.

I'm not being intentionally rude about this figure, I paid to get it shipped from China and I really wanted to like it, but this is the figure that has taught me never, ever to buy Sideshow again. Even at the price they've produced it for it just feels like such an inferior product in hand.

Oh yeah, the seams are hardly noticeable

Well since you are never buying another sideshow product again I'll assume you won't be posting in any of the SS product threads.

And given your previous posts I'm not surprised at all by your comments. If you have to deny you are a troll in your first sentence, odds are you are trolling.

Go sit on a log and wait for a hawt toyz version you can ***** all over.

 

[Wor-Gar]

$13 and change shipping to Tx

$13 here too, to ship about 15 miles away.

 

[VASith]

Does everyone remember that this is a toy and not a shrunken down R2-D2 droid? A lot of the 1/6 figures, from both HT and SS, have fragile bodies and accessories. Each toy from both companies has a decent probably of something breaking is handled roughly or incorrectly. I don't know if I've seen a thread on this forum about a figure in which someone one wasn't complaining about breaking something or being afraid to pose it. Unfortunately, these collectible toys are fragile and that's just a fact of the hobby. Some people will love the figure and some people will regret buying it. For the price, I'm not expecting a heavy-duty figure--it's 1/6 scale, made of plastic, and has very small moving parts.

No, people don't get it. They are tittle babies as The Nam used to call them. If they hate sideshow products so much why are they on the forum? Trolling?

 

[Wor-Gar]

Oh yeah, the seams are hardly noticeable

 

[inked]

Bugger. I just called them and she wouldn't move mine.

Wouldn't change mine either

 

[VASith]

Oh, sorry, I won't have time to do that before I hand it over and anyway I feel someone who loves it should be doing that.

Hmmm. Part of me wonders if you are lying and just looking for an excuse to complain about a Sideshow toy.

But then I realized no one can be that pathetic can they?

 

[pjam]

$14.03 shipping for me. Not too bad.

Mine is $12.58 and I live about 10 miles from SSC.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

$14.63 shipping to NJ.

 

[qbomb71]

Oh, sorry, I won't have time to do that before I hand it over and anyway I feel someone who loves it should be doing that.

You don't have to love a figure to take its picture. An iPhone pic will suffice. Just a general idea of the retail version since all others have been of the white box distributor variety.

I'll throw you some rep too. 1st pics of retail version will probably get you more from others.

 

[VASith]

You don't have to love a figure to take its picture. An iPhone pic will suffice. Just a general idea of the retail version since all others have been of the white box distributor variety.

You can't take a picture of something you don't possess.

 

[barryo]

$14.63 shipping to NJ.

Same to the florida panhandle........