Sideshow 1/6 R2-D2

[Wor-Gar]

Ever think the delays are more due to getting these on a boat to the US. Remember bigger companies need lots of stock of things coming from China in order to keep their customers shelves full of product for people to buy for the holidays.

It seems to me that things get delayed around this time of year every year.

This is very true. But booking your boat should have happened many months ago. Maybe there's just shipping problems (like with the boats themselves). LA and Long Beach Harbor are often backlogged -- crane problem, etc -- and you can literally see ship after ship just sitting in line at sea waiting to dock, sometimes for days or a week or more.

But something like that just delays shipment for a couple weeks at worst. To delay for months -- like Hoth Luke -- that's a QC issue possibly. Maybe Hoth Luke doesn't measure up.

 

[Invictus Sol]

Even though I'm no longer getting R2, Hoth Luke or Han, I hope the delays are to tighten things up and that the figures are considered a success on release. I'm assuming it will be pretty catastrophic for Sideshow's line if Luke and Han are "Drake'd". They've got to be worried, I think.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Drake'd...

I think it would take extra effort to foul R2... but I can totally see Luke (delayed) and Han (also delayed) having issues.

My finger's on the button and I just need the slightest excuse...

 

[Invictus Sol]

Drake'd...

Lol, figured you'd like that term, Wor!

 

[TaliBane]

So.... does SSC know months ahead that a figure has been drake'd - like they get updates from the factory - or does a shipping container arrive on the back of a truck up at SSC's office and they all hold their breath, wade into those couple of thousand unopened boxes and open one.... and let out the Wilhelm scream?

 

[TonTon]

So.... does SSC know months ahead that a figure has been drake'd - like they get updates from the factory - or does a shipping container arrive on the back of a truck up at SSC's office and they all hold their breath, wade into those couple of thousand unopened boxes and open one.... and let out the Wilhelm scream?

Maybe the person who came up with the Drake method was working on behalf of HT--corporate espionage.

 

[Jun A]

Strange. R2-D2 is scheduled to be shipped on January 2015. But why I received a noticed that my last payment will be charged this week? Anybody received there flexpay noticed on this item? My mistake. I didn't see further down the email. It says last payment will be on January 5th 2015.

 

[Wor-Gar]

That's how flex-pay rolls. Their delivery schedule is flexible... not your payments.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Or, wait to see if Sideshow's is as horrible as the little chicken hopes it will be.

I'm keeping my PO along with 3PO.

 

[Chakaman]

Im keeping it as well. With the discount and all the extras, its a good deal. I will be displaying him with the drinking tray on, so the seam won't bother me.

 

[Eapo_q42]

So.... does SSC know months ahead that a figure has been drake'd - like they get updates from the factory - or does a shipping container arrive on the back of a truck up at SSC's office and they all hold their breath, wade into those couple of thousand unopened boxes and open one.... and let out the Wilhelm scream?

I work in manufacturing. We do not make toys (or anything remotely related) but I can tell you with some certainty that no company in the world simply goes forward with mass production without doing a manufacturing test run first.

Once you have all the systems in place to go ahead with full scale manufacturing, you run a production line trial. This could be anywhere from 5 units to 10 or 20, or 100 or even a 1000 units depending on the type of product you are manufacturing.

This trial gives you the opportunity to see the mass production techniques in use without wasting all your materials on a potentially faulty system of manufacturing. In short, there's no way Sideshow or any other high-end company would give the go ahead to mass production until they had seen evidence that the production line will provide a suitable result.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Sideshow used to share its production samples with us here many, many years ago.

Yes, of course they get production samples way in advance. Based on that, the decision is made internally whether to continue or make changes depending on what the cost of making changes is.

So they either said "hell with it" and let Drake be Drake'd.... OR the uneven nature of the Drake-age means a faulty issue happening at time of mass production. But this hobby doesn't do recalls.

 

[TaliBane]

Sideshow used to share its production samples with us here many, many years ago.

Yes, of course they get production samples way in advance. Based on that, the decision is made internally whether to continue or make changes depending on what the cost of making changes is.

So they either said "hell with it" and let Drake be Drake'd.... OR the uneven nature of the Drake-age means a faulty issue happening at time of mass production. But this hobby doesn't do recalls.

Hot Toys did with the TS John Connor - though that's years ago.

And then there's attempts to get a recall going...

https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/...ot-toys-mms-220-wolverine-headsculpt-ssc.html

 

[K1NG J0RDAN]

Trying not to let the seam take away my excitement for this. Hopefully it just doesn't have it at all. Who knows how long it'll be before HT does the droids.

 

[TaliBane]

Trying not to let the seam take away my excitement for this. Hopefully it just doesn't have it at all. Who knows how long it'll be before HT does the droids.

Could just have been harsh light at exactly the right angle. Maybe the seam isn't all that prominent at all.

 

[TonTon]

Could just have been harsh light at exactly the right angle. Maybe the seam isn't all that prominent at all.

It doesn't bother me at all on the prototype photos on Sideshow. Did seem more prominent in the secret base video but that lighting seemed really bright. Definitely keeping my pre-order.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Hot Toys did with the TS John Connor - though that's years ago.

Yep, HT at one time was very user-friendly when it was first getting going: lots of fan support, things like replacement parts, even gave everyone a free Ripley to go with the Powerloader (which was originally figureless).

But times change... and almost every company gets to a size where direct contact with "fans" becomes more trouble then its worth.

 

[K1NG J0RDAN]

Could just have been harsh light at exactly the right angle. Maybe the seam isn't all that prominent at all.

That's probably it. We'll know soon enough.

Would like to at least have a decent Star Wars display (Luke & R2) until the HT onslaught begins.

 

[TaliBane]

Yep, HT at one time was very user-friendly when it was first getting going: lots of fan support, things like replacement parts, even gave everyone a free Ripley to go with the Powerloader (which was originally figureless).

But times change... and almost every company gets to a size where direct contact with "fans" becomes more trouble then its worth.

It's interesting what I saw in looking up that HT John Connor. That fig is from 2009, and even then HT was 3/4's of the way toward where they are now in head sculpt and paint apps, yet you look at Sideshow's AOTC Ben from the same year...

Versus the HT John Connor...

Yes, the HT fig was DOUBLE the cost, but Sideshow caught up price-wise within a couple of years. These figs are before my time in 1/6, but you can sort of see the HT/SSC headsculpt "gap" problem was brewing years ago - Sideshow's sculpts should have been as good as Luke X-Wing's at least 2-3 years ago.

Sorry, off topic...

 

[devilof76]

Sideshow's prices didn't start getting high until the first Darth Vader, which was $125. The first figures over $150 were Fett, IG-88 and Bossk. Even TPM Kenobi was only $150, and that shipped last year.

Hot Toys basic figures crossed $200 somewhere around Anne Hathaway Catwoman.