1/6 Star wars 1/6 SDCC 2019 Speculation

[KingZacharyV]

And I also wouldn't go that far to say it "kept falling apart". That sounds like its arms and legs are loose.

Hahah it’s arm literally fell off at one point.


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[KingZacharyV]

Sorry I am a bit late to update but getting back from SDCC and then back to work wore me out.

So I went to the Star Wars Collectible panel and Sideshow was indeed absent. The LFL rep who runs the panel actually mentioned Hot Toys in the panel however, and that is also a first. He only mentioned two things: the new Sith Trooper (which totally sold out by mid-day Saturday) and the Solo version of Maul. He said of all the items to cross his desk that this one was one he was most excited about and in his opinion the "Most Maul" of any collectible so far.

Sideshow had ALL of their 1/6th figures in three small cases in the back, away from all of the other Star Wars, Marvel and DC offerings. One case had their classic comic look DC/Marvel characters, 1 case had Jabba by himself, and the last case had the final throws of their Star Wars offerings which was basically the two Mythos characters, Jedi Luke, and R2 done up in his waiter gear (presumably to go with Jabba and HT's does not come with those accessories I don't think).

It was a very sad offering and while the Mythos figures looked ok, the rest just looked sad and small and isolated from the greater booth.

I asked two different reps at the booth what was up with that, the panel, and where was Skiff guard Lando. Neither person would give a real answer and basically said they didn't know and to ask someone else. No one came clean on this as far as I know but the writing is on the wall. I also don't recall seeing any new Star Wars statues of any size but not entirely sure on that, they still had quite a few on display (including what I consider their worst offering Bespin Han premium format has the worst head sculpt/paint app of anything they have done in my opinion).

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What is also telling is that Sideshow's first Court of the Dead 1/6th scale figure is actually a TB League collaborative release which makes me think they are out of the 1/6th scale figure thing all together, not just Star Wars.

Overall I liked seeing Wickett, Padme, and Kit Fisto revealed. I liked the big star fighter that we will never see but at cons (which is fine for my space issues), and I thought Dooku actually looked pretty good so I will probably get him.

I did not like seeing more clones or the battle droid as I have a ton of that crap from Sideshow already but whatever. The Jawas looked subpar for HT in my opinion but I would love if they went into Cantina/Jabba's Palace/background alien/jedi characters. They are seemingly my favorite to collect and have all this mystery around them that has fueled my imagination for 30 years.

I did a little blog thing with all the photos I took if anyone is interested:
https://www.virtualnightangel.com/sdcc2019.html

Yes SSC doesn’t have the Star Wars license anymore. That was confirmed in the statue community after Celebration.


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[TaliBane]

Yes SSC doesn’t have the Star Wars license anymore. That was confirmed in the statue community after Celebration.


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Who confirmed that?

 

[KingZacharyV]

I’m not quite sure exactly who confirmed it, if anyone, but I can say that it isn’t just a rumor.


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[TaliBane]

I’m not quite sure exactly who confirmed it, if anyone, but I can say that it isn’t just a rumor.


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Yeah, it's been discussed on here for a couple of months (quite a few people said "this has often come up over the past few years but it always turned out to be not true") yet it does pretty much 100% seem true at this point, especially with the no-shows at SDCC, I'm just wondering if any Sideshow (or other official source) has confirmed it.

Who knows, maybe in situations like this nobody ever says a word and it's just an "onward and upward" stance regarding other products/licenses - confirming it I guess does them no good whatsoever. It can only really be viewed as a loss or symptom of trouble, especially given a new SW is coming up. So maybe the only "proof" will be no more SW products from them.

Very sad about the Lando Skiff figure - it looked great.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Yeah too bad about that Lando, at least now we know what the issue with his release was about. We also know why Jabba and a couple other figures like Jedi Luke and that awful Yoda were fast tracked. Too bad about Sideshow figs being completely toast. I have had many gripes over the years...human paint apps, price, loose joints, etc. But I can't imagine Hot Toys will do figures such as an updated Gamorrean Guard and Sideshow might have. It's been said here many times but it's a shame that for whatever reason they were not able work their own little niche making Star Wars creatures, aliens, and robots.

 

[TaliBane]

Yeah too bad about that Lando, at least now we know what the issue with his release was about. We also know why Jabba and a couple other figures like Jedi Luke and that awful Yoda were fast tracked. Too bad about Sideshow figs being completely toast. I have had many gripes over the years...human paint apps, price, loose joints, etc. But I can't imagine Hot Toys will do figures such as an updated Gamorrean Guard and Sideshow might have. It's been said here many times but it's a shame that for whatever reason they were not able work their own little niche making Star Wars creatures, aliens, and robots.

Yeah, good point on the rushing out Jabba - I knew something was up, and assumed it was an upcoming HT Jabba but losing the license is what it was. I guess they did the Lando with the idea they might still renew but decided against it.

More than any other thing, it was the human face paint apps that did them in. Fig after fig, year after year, they didn't focus on getting their apps up to HT level (as even 1/6 military companies like DID were able to) - and thousands of comments on dozens of figs started to clearly show to buyers they were getting a fig that's not state of the art, even as prices inched past HT.

Everything else on their figures were HT level or close - other than a few exceptions, the heads just never were and that's what created that "not as good as HT" label that stuck to the end.

But yeah the enduring head scratcher will always be why they never woke up to the idea that their strength was in creatures (and robots, also to some degree military also,) and doing the iconic creatures or military HT would never touch like Ackbar and Hoth Rebel Soldier, or updates of Gammy or Greedo. These could have sold in big numbers, yet even at the end they are focused on stuff like Luke Jedi with horrible apps and following a Ht release of the same figure.

It was a management problem as much a quality problem, perhaps more so.

 

[TurdFurgusonsHat]

Yeah, good point on the rushing out Jabba - I knew something was up, and assumed it was an upcoming HT Jabba but losing the license is what it was. I guess they did the Lando with the idea they might still renew but decided against it.

More than any other thing, it was the human face paint apps that did them in. Fig after fig, year after year, they didn't focus on getting their apps up to HT level (as even 1/6 military companies like DID were able to) - and thousands of comments on dozens of figs started to clearly show to buyers they were getting a fig that's not state of the art, even as prices inched past HT.

Everything else on their figures were HT level or close - other than a few exceptions, the heads just never were and that's what created that "not as good as HT" label that stuck to the end.

But yeah the enduring head scratcher will always be why they never woke up to the idea that their strength was in creatures (and robots, also to some degree military also,) and doing the iconic creatures or military HT would never touch like Ackbar and Hoth Rebel Soldier, or updates of Gammy or Greedo. These could have sold in big numbers, yet even at the end they are focused on stuff like Luke Jedi with horrible apps and following a Ht release of the same figure.

It was a management problem as much a quality problem, perhaps more so.

It really is a mystery why they never did one of two things, either:

A) Do anything and everything necessary to get their paint apps to a level that they could compete with Hot Toys or...

B) Forget the humans and concentrate on the creatures and aliens that they already excelled at. The sales numbers probably are not as good with this type of figure but I have to think with all the OT fans with money it would still be profitable.

 

[KingZacharyV]

Yeah, it's been discussed on here for a couple of months (quite a few people said "this has often come up over the past few years but it always turned out to be not true") yet it does pretty much 100% seem true at this point, especially with the no-shows at SDCC, I'm just wondering if any Sideshow (or other official source) has confirmed it.

Who knows, maybe in situations like this nobody ever says a word and it's just an "onward and upward" stance regarding other products/licenses - confirming it I guess does them no good whatsoever. It can only really be viewed as a loss or symptom of trouble, especially given a new SW is coming up. So maybe the only "proof" will be no more SW products from them.

Very sad about the Lando Skiff figure - it looked great.

Their licenses lapsed in December.
Unless it has been renewed in the past 2 months, which i dont think it has, then Its safe to say that they don’t have the license.
I think it is one of the major driving forces behind all of their dumb decisions lately.
Especially them trying to control their customer base by not allowing anything custom related linked to any of their affiliates because they are afraid that may cause them to lose other IPs.
Even though it doesn’t really work that way.



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[Luke_911]

Super late to this thread, but I have to say I was slightly let done by SW at SDCC this year. No major characters revealed except for a hastily cobbled together Bespin Luke, very few new figures etc.

 

[TaliBane]

Their licenses lapsed in December.
Unless it has been renewed in the past 2 months, which i dont think it has, then Its safe to say that they don’t have the license.
I think it is one of the major driving forces behind all of their dumb decisions lately.
Especially them trying to control their customer base by not allowing anything custom related linked to any of their affiliates because they are afraid that may cause them to lose other IPs.
Even though it doesn’t really work that way.



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Where did that December lapse date come from?

I'm always trying to trace these things back to a reliable source.

 

[Hoody999]

It really is a mystery why they never did one of two things, either:

A) Do anything and everything necessary to get their paint apps to a level that they could compete with Hot Toys or...

B) Forget the humans and concentrate on the creatures and aliens that they already excelled at. The sales numbers probably are not as good with this type of figure but I have to think with all the OT fans with money it would still be profitable.

In my opinion, in the end it always comes down to money.

We all know SS make the decision to earn money on their shipping. So whether it is simply greed, or that their profit margins are low on 1/6 figures it points to the fact that they just aren't cost effective enough. Perhaps they also can't afford to pay good painters for the head sculpts. Wages in China have also gone up over the last 5+ years. So you need to be on top of costs and have volume (ala Hot Toys and them sticking to the main characters generally) to get ahead in this game.

Disney no doubt takes their percentage with the SW license too of course.

So this would be my guess on the situation. Being in the US does not help them be able to keep on top of costs either.

This reads a bit like something in SS defence, but in the end some things may not be totally in their control. However business is business and if you can't make a profit then it's "close the doors".

With all that said, if I were SS I would still have tried the alien route though. Paint apps are also more forgiving on those as well.

 

[slikkerias]

In my opinion, in the end it always comes down to money.

We all know SS make the decision to earn money on their shipping. So whether it is simply greed, or that their profit margins are low on 1/6 figures it points to the fact that they just aren't cost effective enough. Perhaps they also can't afford to pay good painters for the head sculpts. Wages in China have also gone up over the last 5+ years. So you need to be on top of costs and have volume (ala Hot Toys and them sticking to the main characters generally) to get ahead in this game.

Disney no doubt takes their percentage with the SW license too of course.

So this would be my guess on the situation. Being in the US does not help them be able to keep on top of costs either.

This reads a bit like something in SS defence, but in the end some things may not be totally in their control. However business is business and if you can't make a profit then it's "close the doors".

With all that said, if I were SS I would still have tried the alien route though. Paint apps are also more forgiving on those as well.

This ^
SSC was producing figures with limited editions of 2000. That wasn’t to please collectors, it was because they didn’t sell more anyway. Many of the limited releases took a long time to sell out.
It’s not that SSC were too dumb to take the alien route, it’s because it just wasn’t cost effective. And the same is gonna be the case with HT I’m afraid. We might get a few narrow releases just to please the hardcore collectors, but that’s not where HT is gonna make their money.

 

[Smudger9]

In the end, the rise in prices did for sideshow. I remember ordering their first 5 figures in one go for about £150. At that price the figures were really good value and making background characters was profitable.

As prices have increased SS hasn’t managed to increase their quality sufficiently to match the prices, and the background aliens that they do really well just aren’t viable.

It’s really sad because they started the ball rolling with high end Star Wars figures and I have great memories of waiting online to get my order in for their exclusive figures.

 

[Sixth Scale Man]

It’s a shame they have left the 1/6 SW game. They were capable of some pretty good stuff. I love my Jabba, Taun Taun and Dewback. The X-Wing and Snowspeeder Luke’s are great (with their helmets on[emoji6]). Their troopers were pretty good too.
I didn’t get the bounty hunters but they looked like they turned out very nice as well.



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[slikkerias]

It’s a shame they have left the 1/6 SW game. They were capable of some pretty good stuff. I love my Jabba, Taun Taun and Dewback. The X-Wing and Snowspeeder Luke’s are great (with their helmets on[emoji6]). Their troopers were pretty good too.
I didn’t get the bounty hunters but they looked like they turned out very nice as well.



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Yes. The only one I still need to have is the Dewback. Still looking for that and have been for quite a while. All the others you mention I have and they’re all great or good figures.

 

[TaliBane]

Another weird warning sign was Sideshow's sudden crackdown on this site over custom projects. Dave had seemed to have a pretty close relationship or at least rapport with them, but it was clear it got bad enough for him to split with Sideshow after many years. Not sure if all this signals bigger troubles at the company than just the SW license.

 

[Hoody999]

It’s not that SSC were too dumb to take the alien route, it’s because it just wasn’t cost effective. And the same is gonna be the case with HT I’m afraid. We might get a few narrow releases just to please the hardcore collectors, but that’s not where HT is gonna make their money.

I am however hoping that HT has the momentum and pockets deep enough to justify some of these alien figures. They may not make as much profit as other figures, however figures such as Endgame Iron "Men" can for example offset the difference somewhat.

I live in hope....I'm looking at you Tusken Raider, Greedo and Hammerhead

 

[slikkerias]

I am however hoping that HT has the momentum and pockets deep enough to justify some of these alien figures. They may not make as much profit as other figures, however figures such as Endgame Iron "Men" can for example offset the difference somewhat.

I live in hope....I'm looking at you Tusken Raider, Greedo and Hammerhead

The hope is that they need to produce some less profitable figures to keep the marked up for the main characters. Because isolated I can’t see those figures making financial sense.
Now that we know that SSC is not gonna revisit the old ones I believe that we’ll see the marked prices skyrocketing for figures that we won’t see HT do. Figures like Momaw and perhaps Greedo (even if there’s a slight chance HT will do that one). Third tier characters that still hold up in quality.

 

[Hoody999]

The hope is that they need to produce some less profitable figures to keep the marked up for the main characters. Because isolated I can’t see those figures making financial sense.
Now that we know that SSC is not gonna revisit the old ones I believe that we’ll see the marked prices skyrocketing for figures that we won’t see HT do. Figures like Momaw and perhaps Greedo (even if there’s a slight chance HT will do that one). Third tier characters that still hold up in quality.

From what I've seen even those old SS aliens command a pretty high price even now. Just need to somehow bring it to HT's attention. Sometimes they do re-release or make figures which are fetching insane secondary market prices.

With a bit of luck many of the aliens from ANH will also be seen in the Mandalorian and HT will have a reason and hype to at least look at them and investigate current e-Bay prices....and make them all !!!

Again I live in hope....