Re: Sideshow PF Jack Sparrow In Progress
(imagine my tone, being calm rather that confrontational for this one. sometimes it's hard to tell in text)
Got this for my wife for Christmas. I had to open it to make sure nothing was damaged. My only complaint, which may be unrealistic from a mass production point of view, is how much less detail there is in the skin (face/arms) than we're led to believe in the shots of the artist proofs.
Sideshow likes to pride themselves in producing product nearly identical to the proof, claiming nobody can tell the difference in person. They even did an article about it. But, I can say there would be no difficulty at all in me telling which one was the proof if you set the Sparrow I have here at home next to the one they shot on the Sideshow site. I feel like we pay prices that warrant what we see on the site, and the paint job quality (while still nice if not "wow") should reflect it.
Frankly, I'd rather Sideshow get a prototype back from whatever overseas producer paints these, and use that for the photo shoot, even if they don't change the pricing. It would seem far less misleading in the end, from my consumer point of view. It never fails, I'm always a bit let down when I get a Sideshow piece because of how much less impressive the production piece looks than the prototype. But, in time I'm typically happy once I've forgotten about the proof. I just wish I didn't have to go through the initial disappointment to get there. If they shot pictures of what I have here at home, when I got it I would feel better about the deal rather than drooling over what inevitably becomes a pipe dream on their website.
Yet, we all keep coming back. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the JS PF. I look at the pictures all of you took of the piece and think it's very nice. But, looking back and forth between those shots, my own purchase, and the proof they sold us on over at the web site, and I can't help but feel kind of taken. I also bought a B&W Mort, that was also well done, except the blood drippings on his shirt look more like painted on chest hair than drool because the vendor didn't paint dots but did strokes. Some of these are simple details that shouldn't add to the cost of production. Again, maybe I'm unrealistic on expectations. I don't know.