SSC Ponda Baba 1/6 Scum and Villainy

[Asta]

 

[jaztermareal]

Prices will be high for 3 main reasons:

1: more limited due to niche subject (fixed costs spread over fewer units)


2: US based company so extra costs involved most steps of the way that Asian companies won't have


3: because they have a monopoly on this specific niche subject. Basically they know the few folk who want them will pay as no one else will make them.



I think given those factors these are overpriced yes but not by as much as folk assume. If you want to send message, do not order and tell SS why (price to product ratio) but do keep in mind it may result in line cancellation if sales are poor rather than lowered prices, so maybe if you plan to buy 2 buy 1 instead and tell SS you would have bought 2 if prices were better. If they get enough feedback about pricing they may seek ways to lower price in future.

 

[Asta]

Prices will be high for 3 main reasons:

1: more limited due to niche subject (fixed costs spread over multiple units)


2: US based company so extra costs involved most steps of the way that Asian companies won't have


3: because they have a monopoly on this specific niche subject. Basically they know the few folk who want them will pay as no one else will make them.



I think given those factors these are overpriced yes but not by as much as folk assume. If you want to send message, do nit order and tell SS why (price to product ratio) but do keep in mind it may result in line cancellation if sales are poor rather than lowered prices, so maybe if you plan to buy 2 buy 1 instead and tell SS you would have bought 2 if prices were better. If they get enough feedback about pricing they may seek ways to lower price in future.

If they're anything like their original Greedo from the original Scum & Villainy line then the value of them should rise.


I just Googled Sideshow Greedo, and there were prices ranging from £436-£700 ($570-$916) !

Those prices should be plummeting now, but the new Scum & Villainy series should be holding value for the foreseeable future, some more valued than others.

Not that I ever sell anything any more, so resale prices don't mean much to me.

 

[Creighton]

Im ok with it- as long as the quality doesn't go down for final release. Thats never happened with SS releases, right?

 

[karamazov80]

"Cool, it looks like a simple figure, I can see they tried to keep the price down" ... and I visit the product page and see the price, and I'm flabbergasted.

Pretty much my thoughts, as well, when I first saw what these were going for. If they were under $150 I might even consider one or two just for funny displays, but nah.

 

[wormlander]

I'm REALLY surprised to see Sideshow announcing this many figures at the same time. It makes each of them seem less special in my mind. Similar to when a tv series allows viewers to binge the whole thing instead of savouring each episode. I'm glad though they're releasing the Mos Eisley aliens first. This way I can hopefully assess the current level of quality control at Sideshow before deciding which Jabba Goons to preorder...

 

[Mike86]

I still think it’s such a missed opportunity to not have an interchangeable cut off arm for Ponda. I mean that scene is largely why he stands out.

Instead we get.. relaxed flipper hands? Like wtf is that? Just lazy and feels like they don’t want to put in the extra effort, but yet still want to charge top dollar.

 

[Buttmunch]

Prices will be high for 3 main reasons:

1: more limited due to niche subject (fixed costs spread over fewer units)


2: US based company so extra costs involved most steps of the way that Asian companies won't have


3: because they have a monopoly on this specific niche subject. Basically they know the few folk who want them will pay as no one else will make them.



I think given those factors these are overpriced yes but not by as much as folk assume. If you want to send message, do not order and tell SS why (price to product ratio) but do keep in mind it may result in line cancellation if sales are poor rather than lowered prices, so maybe if you plan to buy 2 buy 1 instead and tell SS you would have bought 2 if prices were better. If they get enough feedback about pricing they may seek ways to lower price in future.

Lucasfilm royalties are 30% per item sold plus the absorbent licensing fee. On a $280 figure, Sideshow isn’t even clearing $200 on each figure before any development and production costs, which would be higher than HT’s. As ridiculous as the prices are, a huge part of that is Disney’s cut. They have to be at a certain level just for there to be some profit in it for Sideshow. What that profit margin is exactly I have no idea but I bet they’ve priced these as low as they can and still sell well enough to make a few bucks. Not making excuses, but it’s just the reality. Hasbro struggles with their costs too and pumps out way too many repaints and kit bashes now to balance the costs out with new tooling and it raising the prices even more than they are. Disney is going to run their licensing into the ground if they don’t ease up on the fees.

 

[shull24]

So both the above clips show the "regular" hands, where do the flippers come from?

 

[Asta]

So both the above clips show the "regular" hands, where do the flippers come from?

When you first see him sitting down he has flipper hands.

It's at 20 seconds in the clip.

 

[MACLUNKEY]

I would like to have Greedo, Evazan and Ponda Baba but the quality of the body worries me. I don't know what the current Sideshow body is like but the old body (I have a 212th clone trooper and I had a 501st clone trooper) was crap.
Considering that HT is releasing a Dewback it would be interesting to start a Tatooine collection.

 

[Asta]

The only time in the cantina he's shown to have a normal hand is on the dismembered arm.

Up until then it was flippers:

 

[LoveMinusZero]

I think the reason Sideshow isn't including the severed hand is that they'd have to actually give you an entire second jacket. Or at least create a jacket where the entire right sleeve is removable or sectioned, as well as a specialized arm. The arm is cut off in an awkward place, just below the elbow, not conveniently at the wrist like so many other lopped off hands in Star Wars. He may be memorable, even iconic, but Sideshow just isn't going to do all that for a cantina alien. Plus, would anyone really display the guy with a severed arm?

Also, Dr. Evazen gets his arm cut off too, it just doesn't get that classic money shot.

 

[Asta]

The original cut...

The “Walrus Man” originally had flippers, and make-up artist Nick Maley crafted this arm for Obi-Wan to cut off during their cantina scuffle. George Lucas later decided the pinball machine was inadequate for holding a gun, and re-shot the scene in the United States with a different arm.

The pinball machine was replaced by a wolfman hand for the wolfman that was owned by Rick Baker, and coming from a previous movie he worked on.

http://www.sciencefictionarchives.com/en/collections/650/ponda-baba-s-original-cut-arm

 

[LoveMinusZero]

The weird hoof shaped flipper has always been cooler to me, in that weirdo alien wtf feeling, but I could easily see how they may have been concerned that the severed hand shot might not read or make sense to an audience first seeing the film. Giving people a "what the hell am I looking at?" reaction to the weird hoof/flipper.

 

[Felinx]

In looking closer at the SSC pics it's unfortunate and slightly strange that they basically went with short sculpted tentacles instead of actual fur on the lower face. In the movie it's clearly just regular black fur on the mask's face but I assume that for Sideshow in making the figure it adds cost as fur has to be hand-applied so they went with sculpted.

It just looks a little odd as it's like they sculpted a lot of individual thin hanging "worms" versus for example how companies might sculpt a dog's fur.

And I know no company's ever done it, but technically Walrusman's ANH costume has reddish-brown (Captain Antilles style) boots, not black boots as every company seems to want to give him. Just like with how we see Snaggletooth, it's the influence of the SW Holiday Special, where Walrusman's boots were swapped to black.

 

[Felinx]

I think the reason Sideshow isn't including the severed hand is that they'd have to actually give you an entire second jacket. Or at least create a jacket where the entire right sleeve is removable or sectioned, as well as a specialized arm. The arm is cut off in an awkward place, just below the elbow, not conveniently at the wrist like so many other lopped off hands in Star Wars. He may be memorable, even iconic, but Sideshow just isn't going to do all that for a cantina alien. Plus, would anyone really display the guy with a severed arm?

Also, Dr. Evazen gets his arm cut off too, it just doesn't get that classic money shot.

Yeah it's a good point - even though for $280 you'd hope a second "severed arm" jacket should have been a possibility.

 

[asgardianboy]

In looking closer at the SSC pics it's unfortunate and slightly strange that they basically went with short sculpted tentacles instead of actual fur on the lower face. In the movie it's clearly just regular black fur on the mask's face but I assume that for Sideshow in making the figure it adds cost as fur has to be hand-applied so they went with sculpted.

It just looks a little odd as it's like they sculpted a lot of individual thin hanging "worms" versus for example how companies might sculpt a dog's fur.

And I know no company's ever done it, but technically Walrusman's ANH costume has reddish-brown (Captain Antilles style) boots, not black boots as every company seems to want to give him. Just like with how we see Snaggletooth, it's the influence of the SW Holiday Special, where Walrusman's boots were swapped to black.

Brown? You sure? Any sources to prove that?
Thx.

 

[xipotec]

Did this figure already get released?

 

[Felinx]

Brown? You sure? Any sources to prove that?
Thx.