Since I've started collecting 1/6, I've felt that SS should just give up on their 1/6 figures and instead create 1/6 scale dioramas and accessories that people can use with their HT figs. That way they're not in direct competition with another company that they're already selling on their site lol...
And as some of the 1/4 statue bases have been pretty cool, I'm sure SS could do a decent job with dioramas and whatnot if they wanted. Hell, take more of an OSK approach and sell pieces of clothing, backpacks, etc.. the biggest issues with their figures anyway are usually the heads and bodies.
I read somewhere SSC had all but quit 1/6 and were concentrating on 1/4 and bigger because work was more fun and margins were more better. They downscaled their 1/6 output to a minimum, and as far as I have read, they subcontract the art work to China (product design of course still happens in-house). I don't know exactly which artist works for which company, but if you look at production credits of SSC's figures, I'd daresay it is HT regulars that are behind Jack Burton and all those half-assed, comic-like figs like Plissken and now this clearly disappointing Mythos release. They of course obbey product design from Conejo Spectrum, of course, but the sculpting/painting/outfit talent might as well be HT's!
I am then wondering: if it is HT who really makes SSC's 1/6 stuff, how come it is so disappointing especially in the price range they are moving in? Does the problem lie with SSC asking the Chinese factory (3rd party involved, btw) to simplify production steps to increase profits beyond measure?
You have also made a very interesting point right there: we need some 1/6 company(s) that listens to fans (like Asmus does), holds the needed licences, and has the skilled people that it takes to create those clever accessories we would like to use in our dioramas to complement and enrich our displays, and that nobody makes. Accessories from the Sulaco dock bay, the map table from Hadley's Hope, the holo-table from Home One in Return of the Jedi, the bacta tank from The Empire Strikes Back, Bag End's façade, Gandalf's chariot... Wouldn't that be great? It doesn't look like anybody will be doing that any time soon...
They're successful for one of the the same reasons Amazon has been so successful. They've become ubiquitous.
They're synonymous with 'geek'. They supply so many stores with product. They are a huge part of the supply chain. They have a giant booth at SDCC, they are a major attraction. As far as I'm aware, they're in the 'too big to fail' echelon, as far as this segment of the industry goes.
This **** is getting expensive...lol
exactly. I am legitimately happy with their dengar, and feel it's as close to a home run as they are gonna give us. But, production pics for Mythos Obi-wan shows that they are not consistently hitting the level they need to for the money they ask. And that was Medicom's problem: inconsistent
What is keeping SSC afloat? Seriously.
SSC succeeds because they make merch that sells well. Distributing HT doesn't hurt either. But if SSC keeps cheating on people with their protos that are worlds away from what their production stuff turns out to be... man they are going to hurt themselves. Also, figures like their Plissken and Jack Burton are very weak hommages to such iconic elements of fandom. They deserve much better, and SSC doesn't cut it. They do from time to time (e.g. I think bounty hunters were OKish for the most part), so there is hope. I, for one, don't want SSC out of the 1/6 business, but fully in, which they are not. Not in value nor in price.
Prices have gone sky-high in the past five years but even in that context this is a figure that should be close to $200.
There's nothing exceptionally complex about it, and the head is fine enough but not the quality you'd expect on a $260 figure.
This is not something to dance around - if SSC wants to charge $260, which is over the market standard for this type of figure, they should deliver the goods.
This is shipping at the same time HT puts up a PO for a new-sculpt stormtrooper that's priced at $189. Yeah, no human headsculpt, but still a pretty complex figure that doesn't have much in the way of shared parts from older releases.
This major disconnect between Sideshow's quality, particularly in regard to human headsculpts (a serious issue that repeats over and over, year after year,) and Sideshow over-the market pricing is something to discuss openly and often, not something to be dismissed as if it doesn't exist. Because - you know, something might actually change for the better if its discussed.
With this post, you have inspired me to write this one. Thanks buddy.
"Hello there. Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid"
Okay...I gotta say...I got a little worried about Mythos Obi Wan after final pictures came out, like many others...but I'm really glad I stuck in there. This one redeems Sideshow in my eyes after the lack luster Jack Burton. He looks amazing in person. The portrait looks like a great Ewan/Alec hybrid and the paintwork is really very nice. Pictures soften the sculpt up, even mine are soft as hell...but he looks great in person. He has tons of accessories, most weathered very nicely. The belts and the rope on his back are dry, dry and look like they are cracking under the hot desert suns like they should. If I had a "longevity concern, it would be here.
The body is very nice and tight and the tunic is nicely dirtied, not the horrible urine yellow in the SS photos. The boots arent quite as nicely weathered as the proto, but still look good. The outer cloak is a weird felt material, but looks like it's taken a beating.
The hands are a little gummyier then I would like...but they are still holding shape with the accessories so not a huge nit. Makes swapping out gear easier.
Also getting pack on was slightly annoying, no magnant. Had to unto straps and thread over the shoulder and rebuckle. Oh well.
I'm so glad I held out on this figure...this is a huge hit from Sideshow in my opinion after a couple recent misses.
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Vonhahn, thanks for your pics, but I can't judge them so positively as you do, for a number of reasons:
1) Maybe because pics are blurry and lighting temperature is misleading, the white tunic seems to me terribly plain. Almost no weathering to be found anywhere, even if I have seen in other pics that this is not so. They don't help me determine whether the yellowness seen on some parts is evenly applied to all of the tunic. One thing that is sure is that the simulated damages to it are so few and look so simple that the end result feels just too silly.
2) The head is TOOOOOO BIIIIIIIIG and sits too high. Those hair strands emerging from the front are clearly cheap. Whitish finish of paint apps could be possible but I am undecided.
3) The upper part of the robe looks brand new, and it is supposed to be standing the most wear. Same applies to pants.
4) Paint apps on the sculpt, if nice and subtle, are completely washed away if picture quality is not good enough. So I just can't say for sure about them.
5) Boots and lower end of the robe seem to look as I hoped they would when I POed.
We still need good quality pics, but this doesn't look well at all dudez......
On top of this, there is what I deem to be terrible product design mistakes:
1) That face doesn't make any sense to me. It is none of the 2 Mythos heads, where at least you could choose to go older Ewan or younger Alec. It is not even in between. It doesn't remember me any of them two!!! This is not artistical licence, this is plain dumb. Come on......!! Maybe they were trying to approximate HT's Ben Kenobi sculpt, which is of course terribly off.
2) Even if it looks cool, carrying those 2 precious lightsaber the way Obi is carrying them, is plain silly (you just stick them safely into somewhere in your backpack, let them stick out enough so that we fans are satisfied and every lifeform around can assume you are a Jedi, and that's it). It was cool but silly on the statue, and they should have fixed it when going 1/6, just for logic's sake.
3) Singly articulated neck for a fig that walks around clothed up to his adam's apple? Oh man...
4) Cheap unpainted neck.
Finally some questions for those of you guys already with the figure in hand:
1) Do you think guys I will be able to substitute the 2-part boots for HT Ben Kenobi's pleather boots? Is this fig's body HT-compatible in that respect?
2) Any idea anybody of any figures that sport a detailed, doubly articulated neck that I could use here?
4) Can the head be lowered somehow, or replacements are needed?
5) Rifle just too terribly small, at least the butt, when compared with the hands and with the statue counterpart? Can it be taken off and used?
6) What about hands being able to reach for the backpack straps? Is it really necessary to almost remove the wrist connectors for the hands to grab the straps, as seen in some pics posted before?
Thanks people,
m.
