SSC 1/6 ROTJ Emperor and Throne

[jkno]

Polystone is used for statues and you can find more about it HERE. Since I collect both statues and figures I know the polystone is nice, heavy and resistant to heat. But polystone is also very fragile and not very good in handling it.

I also think this throne could have been made of plastic with lights, we have to understand the throne is not a statue on itself, it will be displayed with the Emperor figure. If you play too much with the throne and posing Palps on it you might have a few "nice" surprises if you are not too careful, and I don't mean this about the figure.

See how polystone looks when damaged:

 

[dedguy]

Well then Get.......Out

Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

 

[DinoLast]

This Throne weighs 6.00 lbs
Thrawn's weighs 17 lbs and Cobra's weighs only 5 lbs.
Are these all made of Polystone?

If so why does Thrawn's weigh so much more?

 

[shocktrooper_au]

I'm wondering why Cobra's weigh's that much less it's huge!!

 

[Customikey]

This Throne weighs 6.00 lbs
Thrawn's weighs 17 lbs and Cobra's weighs only 5 lbs.
Are these all made of Polystone?

If so why does Thrawn's weigh so much more?

Just look at the design! Thrawn's Command Chair is a gargantuan piece in comparison to the other two.

 

[Puay]

Has anyone mentioned this? The Emperor does come with a cane after all.

Edit:https://www.rebelscum.com/story/fro..._Whats_An_Emperor_Without_His_Cane_128322.asp

 

[Darth Madden]

Not me. I think it's worth every penny. And the reason I would choose polystone over plastic - plastic is vulnerable to temperature fluxes while polystone (to the best of my knowledge) is not. Also you get the weight which makes it feel sturdier. I'd rather pay $130 for something that looks, feels and matches my idea of a "collectible" than pay $60 bucks for something that feels like Hasbro or any other "toy" company has made.

The Hasbro Ark is plastic but it looks pretty dang good to me.

 

[Billy Ray]

Has anyone mentioned this? The Emperor does come with a cane after all.

Edit:https://www.rebelscum.com/story/fro..._Whats_An_Emperor_Without_His_Cane_128322.asp

Yes, and it also lists it as an accesory on his product page on Sidheshow's site:

https://www.sideshowtoy.com/?page_id=4489&sku=1000051//

 

[thenammagazine]

This Throne weighs 6.00 lbs
Thrawn's weighs 17 lbs and Cobra's weighs only 5 lbs.
Are these all made of Polystone?

If so why does Thrawn's weigh so much more?

Those weights may change when the items ship. Thrawn's is closer to shipping. Someone said Thrawn's is gargantuan but CC's is bigger. I think they'll be adjusted when the items are closer to release, like Ex Thrawn is.

 

[SpaceCrawler]

You ever notice that Star Wars collectors have more issues with prices than other collectors? Weird, isn't it...

I posted about a plastic throne vs polystone, and price, because the stuff we're collecting are simple action figures, on par with Power Team stuff you can buy for $9 in Big Lots. Seriously.

I do like the Sideshow stuff (though I wish they'd do better head sculpts- some are truly awful). But there is no reason for each figure to be $100, with $150-$200 accessories, like chairs. (Armored guys I can see being a bit more due to tooling costs).

If they are doing very small runs, then I can see why things are more pricey. But the polystone stuff is just a cheap way to make something seem more substantial than it is, and charge big bucks for it.

Regarding figures themselves- if these things were AMAZING likenesses, like some of Hot Toys releases, then I could see paying a bit more. I think the Emperor sculpt is pretty good, but $100 good? Not so sure.

Anyway- just my humble thoughts on price.

Sean

 

[thenammagazine]

I posted about a plastic throne vs polystone, and price, because the stuff we're collecting are simple action figures, on par with Power Team stuff you can buy for $9 in Big Lots. Seriously.

I do like the Sideshow stuff (though I wish they'd do better head sculpts- some are truly awful). But there is no reason for each figure to be $100, with $150-$200 accessories, like chairs. (Armored guys I can see being a bit more due to tooling costs).

If they are doing very small runs, then I can see why things are more pricey. But the polystone stuff is just a cheap way to make something seem more substantial than it is, and charge big bucks for it.

Regarding figures themselves- if these things were AMAZING likenesses, like some of Hot Toys releases, then I could see paying a bit more. I think the Emperor sculpt is pretty good, but $100 good? Not so sure.

Anyway- just my humble thoughts on price.

Sean

Welcome to the world of high-end collectibles. HotToys produce products at a significantly higher price than Sideshow so more quality is expected. On average though, while there is generally a 60% price difference between Sideshow and HT product, the margin in quality is considerably narrower.

Using the clones as an example, the only area HT could really improve would be the bodies and they'd likely just use a modified version of the body they already helped SS design. However, that minor improvement with the HT brand name would bump the figure from the $90 Sideshow's charging to the $180 HT would be charging with the LFL licensing. And the customer base, being generous, just got halved. I won't even talk about how shallow HT would delve into the lines.

 

[The Craw]

all i can say about HT is V1 Joker, Kane, Billy, 90% of the aliens marines etc. they seem to sculpt bale quite well. given that they've had about 10 shots at him.

 

[JacktheRipper]

all i can say about HT is V1 Joker, Kane, Billy, 90% of the aliens marines etc. they seem to sculpt bale quite well. given that they've had about 10 shots at him.

I'm not sure what you are getting at, but the marines were ages ago and at least $20 under $100. I believe Kane and Billy were licensing issues. V1 Joker although not an exact Ledger likeness is a great sculpt.

 

[dedguy]

I love me some HT but I wouldn't say they have amazing likenesses. They have amazingly realistic paint work. More and more so all the time. Likeness wise I think they're about as successful as Sideshow... so very roughly... about 1/3 of the sculpts are really great, 1/3 you can see the likeness there, and 1/3 totally off.

Sideshow's heads just suffer many times from outdated and/or sloppy paint application.

 

[SpaceCrawler]

I love me some HT but I wouldn't say they have amazing likenesses. They have amazingly realistic paint work. More and more so all the time. Likeness wise I think they're about as successful as Sideshow... so very roughly... about 1/3 of the sculpts are really great, 1/3 you can see the likeness there, and 1/3 totally off.

Sideshow's heads just suffer many times from outdated and/or sloppy paint application.

I said "some" of Hot Toys have amazing liknesses (which you said too - so I'm not sure where we disagree). Though I do think Hot Toys quality, generally, is superior to Sideshow. I'm no expert by any means, in that I don't have a great knowledge of these toys yet as I'm just starting out as a collector.

Yeah, paint is a factor, and Sideshow fails more often than not in that regard. But for characters as iconic as Han Solo, Luke, Leia, etc, you'd think it'd be fairly important for Sideshow to nail the likeness. Especially at the prices they are charging now. Hopefully they are getting better and are being forced to improve from companies like Hot Toys.

I started collecting Dragon stuff years ago, and that was high end at $40-$45 a pop. Soon prices started to rise as more collectors started buying and now $100 is common for a basic figure from any company.

My point was that whatever is defined as a "high end collectable" is determined by the company selling the product, not by the actual quality of the product.

I just think Sideshow needs to step up quality to justify the price. Their quality has remained the same since they started doing the Civil War figures so many years ago.

Sean

 

[dedguy]

Yeah but paint aside I'd say SSC has some pretty amazing Likenesses as well. The first Indy is super spot on for example and while older their Spike is crazy good.

I agree with you about their quality not really moving forward. I have a silver screen edition Vampyre and I actually find the quality on it to be better than some more recent figures... although I must admit to having not bought anything from Sideshow in the last year and a half or so. I'd totally buy a Vader from them (as the ANH Vader looks pretty good) if he wasn't like... comedy over scaled. Might be over stating it but some of the pics of him with Storm Troopers and especially standing next to Palpatine in the throne literally made me laugh. He's sooo big.

 

[Deak Starkiller]

I love me some HT but I wouldn't say they have amazing likenesses. They have amazingly realistic paint work. More and more so all the time. Likeness wise I think they're about as successful as Sideshow... so very roughly... about 1/3 of the sculpts are really great, 1/3 you can see the likeness there, and 1/3 totally off.

Sideshow's heads just suffer many times from outdated and/or sloppy paint application.

"Get the f_ck outta here!" Really?

 

[MaulFan]

Yeah but paint aside I'd say SSC has some pretty amazing Likenesses as well. The first Indy is super spot on for example and while older their Spike is crazy good.

Yup, there are a number of sculpts that I'd match to any HT sculpt, though HT has a realism edge with the texturing, it's not for everyone but I think it helps. The key is, Hot Toys paint apps carry the likeness of the sculpt and capture the quality that define the character, where a number of Sideshow portraits will almost have generic paint jobs, sometimes even worse with incorrect hair colors or whatever, but even simple things like the size and placement of the iris of the eye will be wrong and it throws things off, it's not enough just to have a perfect circle in there, the size and position really help to define the person also and if you fail in that, it won't look right.

 

[DCFett]

This is turning out to be a good conversation (some might add "for a SW thread"), but nice and constructive.
Innovation seems to lag behind price escalation on the SS product at times, but I dont think Palpy suffers from this. I think it's a great product at a good price.
My latest HT figs are the Terminator sets and MMX or DX or whatever PEERS Joker, and I've bought every SS SW figure since they started, so I am constantly comparing what I'm getting vs. what I'm paying. I think both are good products, but SS tends to have more stinkers in thier line in a year than HT, and way more nits throughout a year than HT. Now HT does produce less 1/6th than SS, so it's not an apples to apples comparision, but when I look at figures like Piett, all I can say is pee-eew (prays for someone to offer a resculpt), while I dont seem to have as many issues with the HT stuff. Yes, ver. 1 Joker was not up to thier standards and I should have got more for my money on that one, so no excuse there. But what I can say is that I did appreciate them making another attempt and offering it again "new & improved!" I did have to buy a whole friggin new figure, which set me back another yard, but I still am happy to have it. Conversely, I would
L O V E if SS revisited some of thier biggest missus as I'd be one of their biggest supporters. I'd like:
A new body for my Jedi Luke
A new arm for my ROTS Anakin
A new slightly taller body for Lando
Not sure how they'd ever fix snow bunny Padme ???
A new hope Leia's hood could have been MUCH better (any ideas on a fix?)
Re-engineered ankles and wrist for my clones (need wide and forward stance!!!)
maaayyybe Vader could be smaller???
Oh, I'd like a new Mace portrait too!

Thanks for reading

 

[dedguy]

I'm sure we'll get ESB and ROTJ Vaders and possibly even ROTS Vader. Hopefully those will see Vader a bit more in scale with normal 1/6 stuff and less in DCD 13" scale.