SSC drops ES on 2 Marvel PFs...more to come?

[Collectorcol]

Lobo...

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Lobo...

Ahh true, Lobo, forgot about him. Okay so there you go, Hulk Sized character and about $30 more than the new hulks. They've been pretty close across the board up until Thor and Pinhead. I still don't know why those two are more.

 

[filip629]

Meh, I think your just cherry picking to support your own justifications for purchasing.

But it's not my money, knock yourself out.

I don't think it's anything to do with competition, they have raised there own prices knocking out a segment of their buying public. The percentage of folks willing to drop 400-500 shipped is small as it is. Too many products canabalizing each other.

LOL! I don't have to justify any purchase I make. If I like something and I can afford it, I'll buy it. No justification needed. The points I brought up are facts. There's no cherry picking involved. If peeps don't like XM merch, that's not a problem. However, all the points I brought up in my post are valid. From the solid casts all the way down to the stellar paint apps/QC. XM does business differently than SSC.

 

[Kibishii]

From the solid casts all the way down to the stellar paint apps/QC. XM does business differently than SSC.

I agree with what you are saying, but to be fair, comparing SSC to XM is comparing apples to oranges. XM is a very small company that is licensed only to release Marvel statues in Asia (as far as I know). SSC is a giant distributor that has been around for a long time and produces many different lines in many different scales/mediums for a worldwide market.

I am not excusing Sideshow's consistency issues or their apparent apathy for collector opinions, but I don't think it is a fair comparison. Sideshow has stellar customer service; I just keep hoping they can go back to creating amazing, high-quality products and connecting with their fans like they used to.

 

[Asdf]

I agree with what you are saying, but to be fair, comparing SSC to XM is comparing apples to oranges. XM is a very small company that is licensed only to release Marvel statues in Asia (as far as I know). SSC is a giant distributor that has been around for a long time and produces many different lines in many different scales/mediums for a worldwide market.

I am not excusing Sideshow's consistency issues or their apparent apathy for collector opinions, but I don't think it is a fair comparison. Sideshow has stellar customer service; I just keep hoping they can go back to creating amazing, high-quality products and connecting with their fans like they used to.

Xm is more comparable to PCS

 

[fishmilkshake]

I find it a little odd that people are complaining about $400+ for a SS Premium Format statue. What's the alternative, XM Studios? There's no way I'd be paying US$750 for something like Phoenix or Ant-Man (both beautiful pieces tho')

 

[Jericho]

I find it a little odd that people are complaining about $400+ for a SS Premium Format statue. What's the alternative, XM Studios? There's no way I'd be paying US$750 for something like Phoenix or Ant-Man (both beautiful pieces tho')

Well, to be fair, XM statues don't cost that much. I think Phoenix was higher than most, but something around $550 has been the typical price. The difference is in shipping. If you live in the US, shipping of XM stuff will cost you. And that's where you're getting your total price. If you live in Australia, the total price may not look that different between XM and Sideshow.

 

[fishmilkshake]

Well, to be fair, XM statues don't cost that much. I think Phoenix was higher than most, but something around $550 has been the typical price. The difference is in shipping. If you live in the US, shipping of XM stuff will cost you. And that's where you're getting your total price. If you live in Australia, the total price may not look that different between XM and Sideshow.

Well I certainly didn't pre-order Phoenix off Big Bad Toystore for US$1100. Wolverine is $800.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Well, to be fair, XM statues don't cost that much. I think Phoenix was higher than most, but something around $550 has been the typical price. The difference is in shipping. If you live in the US, shipping of XM stuff will cost you. And that's where you're getting your total price. If you live in Australia, the total price may not look that different between XM and Sideshow.

If you do the conversion to USD its mire like $650+shipping, unless you can find it discounted, which some places do. Thats still a hefty increase compared to what PCS and SSC customers have been used to for 1/4 scale statues.

 

[sarakawa]

I find it a little odd that people are complaining about $400+ for a SS Premium Format statue. What's the alternative, XM Studios? There's no way I'd be paying US$750 for something like Phoenix or Ant-Man (both beautiful pieces tho')

well, at least for me, I complain about SSC because of what they give us for $400. I used to be a huge SSC fan when the prices were $300-$350 and they gave us solid statues with proper QC, nice exclusives, reasonable ESs, and creative products. Now, it's $400 minimum with lazy EXs, ridiculous ES numbers, low bar creativity, and terrible QC. When I look at XM, the prices are high but they give you amazing statues with tons of details, elaborate bases, multiple swap out pieces, low ES, and rock solid QC...the price is justified IMO. If ordering one XM piece means I don't order 2 SSC pieces I would have in the past, so be it.

 

[dan350zr]

If you do the conversion to USD its mire like $650+shipping, unless you can find it discounted, which some places do. Thats still a hefty increase compared to what PCS and SSC customers have been used to for 1/4 scale statues.

Depends on which statue your talking about, once you buy a couple statues you automatically get Membership pricing from Simple Toys which makes the statues a bit cheaper ...

These are all converted to USD

Captain America - $575
Hulk - $575
Iron Man 42 - $575
Black Widow - $575
Hawkeye - $575
Wolverine - $597
Ant-Man - $575
Magneto - $647
Phoenix - $683

Makes me wish XM Studios was here in the states, we would save so much on shipping....

 

[nemenforcer]

Im glad to see ss dropping the es. I don't think its bad at all. Makes them more competitive and keeps collectors interested. I think the mkt of people who are willing to consistently spend this much on a regular basis is actually very small.

 

[Motuxmen]

The only problem with being happy they are feeling a "hit", and cutting production on items is that it may force them to cut the license period.

Gotta remember that say five years ago or maybe ten, marvel and statues where very underground and kinda nerdy/geeky. Marvel was just a comic company. Now it's an entertainment powerhouse with no equal. It's part of Disney. Which owns ESPN and abc and cnn and a boat load of other companies. Marvel is now a front runner. It drives mainstream pop culture. The licensing has gone up. And the number of companies competing for sales has quadrupled. It's not just ssc and Bowen anymore.

Yes quality has taken a hit. On some. But there are still plenty of statues from Ssc that are as good or better then any time in the past. I too would like to see improvements in some areas. But for them to publicly announce lower production numbers is not a good sign, imo. It shows an unhealthy market. Maybe it's saturated. Maybe it's cost or QC. But it's not a good sign of things to come. These are very low (even at 5k) production items that are not cheap to make, so profit margin isn't high. When you cut a significant number of those produced that means profit takes a massive hit. And when a Business loses like that it has to reassess viability of the products. Would it be more profitable to make only iron man and Thor in museum poses or cut marvel altogether. And I think those are outcomes that do not sound good.

So I am not happy to see production take a hit.

 

[SolidLiquidFox]

We have given Sideshow plenty of feedback but they feel that they are recession proof and continue to expand and expand. Perhaps the market is telling them to reasses the way they handle the Marvel license.

 

[Motuxmen]

I don't think its that they think they are recession proof. But when the cost of production rises, weather that be in shipping costs (which have increased 1600% in 10 years) or materials cost(most of the materials used have a start chemically with oil..which has increased in cost significantly also) or licenses or competition...to compensate for those increases you can increase the per unit price or amount produced significantly..or both by smaller amounts.

Say a statue in 1998 was 150 bucks with a run of 750. If that same statue was done today to get the same profit margin (these are not exact numbers, just average based on inflation, and increase in artist pay, and increase in salary of support staff (you wouldn't expect to make the same amount in 2014 you did in 1998 would you?)and increases in cost and licensing and those things..I'm using info I have been privey to over the years with myself and family working in the industry..but these numbers are examples to demonstrate the effect and generalities not specific statue production costs and numbers) they would either have to bump the cost up to over 650 bucks or increase production to over 2500.

And that's for a lower end(not premium format type) entry level statues. And back in 1998 shipping was easy and straightforward. Now all these companies (pop culture and Bowen and sideshow and xm ect) all fight for the same shipping containers. And may end up paying a premium to get it here. Or wait 3 or 4 months extra. Which costs sales, ads storage costs, risks damage to merch.

I agree that QC seems to have slipped a bit. But overall I think they do a much better job. The market as a whole is much more diversified on types of product (1:1 scale props, 1:2 scale busts, 1:4 scale statues and so on)....much more so then in the past. And I understand busineess wise, to stay solvent, they need to increase price and production.

I just can't see the upside of being happy that one of the largest companies in the industry has run into problems moving product. If someone like sideshow gets into trouble the whole industry is in trouble.

Being a motu fan and going thru huge chunks of time where there was zero merch made I know what it's like to long for even crappy made over priced stuff sold by an idiot company. That's better then nothing.

I saw a post where someone said they where canceling orders because the production run numbers changed. No idea if they where serious. But if they where I do not get that. At all.

 

[marker2037]

I agree on the point where they actually make some better statues overall these days. Yes, there are some QC issues, but overall I've been pretty blessed with the pieces I've picked up.

 

[nemenforcer]

I want ss to succeed and love several products that i have bought from them. All im saying is this was always a small niche mkt. The large es on high priced statues was never tested. They pushed it and are now moving into a more appropriate space. Nothing wrong with that

 

[Motuxmen]

I want ss to succeed and love several products that i have bought from them. All im saying is this was always a small niche mkt. The large es on high priced statues was never tested. They pushed it and are now moving into a more appropriate space. Nothing wrong with that

I agree that this is a very small market.

But the higher numbers where not just done on one or two statues that just where up for preorder. They have been trending up for years. And if they see that the market can not support (at least on some characters) higher production numbers then that cost has to be made up elsewhere. Only other place is in the cost per. So prices will end up jumping. And I would not be surprised to see with some statues that they go up for preorder with the stipulation that if they don't reach the required predetermined number of orders that the statue will be cancelled. And that available day of sales or non preorder numbers drop drastically.

 

[sarakawa]

Yea, they definitely need to scale back a bit. Cost of production going up makes sense sure but we're not talking about 1998 to now, we're talking about 2 years ago the prices being like $100 cheaper. Anyways, the increased competition is a GREAT thing. I am all for companies like XM having an effect on SSC's bottom line. Bring down the ESs, apply better quality and we are all in for good time ahead again with SSC.

 

[SolidLiquidFox]

Their woes start at the moment they conceptualize a Jean Grey PF caliber statue, approve it and put it up for sale. Everything that happens after that is a product of that. Art direction and execution are key. The problem is that Sideshow has a vision and they will stick to it no matter what. Rarely asks for input from fans. The only one they need approval from is the licensor after they are done. They live and die by that process.

Why can't they execute an XM Magneto or XM Phoenix? The answer is that they are able to do it with the vast talent they have...but they won't. I think Sideshow is more focused in volume than creativity. What is easier to replicate with minimal amounts of QC complications? The answer to the dilemma comes back to having too many licenses and too many projects on their plate. Make fewer but better projects and people would not be so cynical around forums.