Statue vs Action Figure what's your cake?

[Lorddrizzt]

Statue. And I mean real statue, not hybrids with ton of clothes on them. Cape OK, but the rest should be polystone (such as Mythos SW statues). I only have few barbies, I hate the visible joints, so I chose only those where joints are not that visible (Dark Toys The Mask and CC Toys Ellie + Joel). But if I start getting rid of some of my collection, barbies will be the first to go. The only advantage of barbies is that they do not take as much space as statues do.

 

[willocrew]

For me the choice depends on the license.

For lord of the rings I prefer props and statues. The 1/6 figures as nice as they are, never really made me whip out the credit card.

Star Wars is probably the most versatile. Almost everything Star Wars related is interesting. Rep Props, 1/6, 7th inch figs, statues and even the Lego sets.

But I never really saw the collectibility appeal of comic character statues. They look really nice and impressive but there are a million and one different versions of characters by different companies at different sizing scales made by different sculpters etc. Thousands of them have been made over the years and thousands more will be made in the future. I don’t see them as great storage of value particularly when They are extremely expensive and difficult to store or resell.

 

[NO.ONE]

Action figures, ruin the lines of the sculpt. No cloth on the statues either. I display, I don't play with my collection.

 

[NO.ONE]

People mention the fragility of statues... I had to laugh. Have any of you collected Spawn figures from McFarlane's golden era? I remember many of the figures were broken before you even opened the package.

 

[generalszabo]

I started with hot toys then sold them and moved to mostly 1/4 scale statues

I don't get the opinion that fabric clothes cheapen or make statues look like dolls

At the end of the day we're all buying overpriced kids toys and JND for example look amazing with mixed media. It's about how something looks on display, not how it feels

 

[willocrew]

People mention the fragility of statues... I had to laugh. Have any of you collected Spawn figures from McFarlane's golden era? I remember many of the figures were broken before you even opened the package.

They’re talking about fragility of storage. A well kept statue will not crumble to dust like the pleather of a Hot Toys leather jacket. But it is a right hassle to store and transport.
If you throw away the boxes of a statue you’re pretty much farked. Forget about resale. Moving your collection down the road to a new house will be a nightmare.

with a 1:6 figure you be can throw it into a shoe box and pack it with packing peanuts. Or even put it into a zip lock bag to prevent rubbing damage.

 

[medicomsucks]

I stick with 1/6 figures because they are generally cheaper, more posing options (obviously), and if something breaks its usually replaceable. By the way if you ever need to move, also a lot easier with figures.

I do think its a bit weird for people to buy 1/6 figures but leave them in museum poses though. Granted I basically pose them out of the box and just leave them that way so I'm not much better.

 

[generalszabo]

I stick with 1/6 figures because they are generally cheaper, more posing options (obviously), and if something breaks its usually replaceable. By the way if you ever need to move, also a lot easier with figures.

I do think its a bit weird for people to buy 1/6 figures but leave them in museum poses though. Granted I basically pose them out of the box and just leave them that way so I'm not much better.

Museum poses can look very cool though, like a miniature version of a real person

With dynamic poses the illusion is often lost as joints don't look natural and the use of stands etc

 

[medicomsucks]

Museum poses can look very cool though, like a miniature version of a real person

With dynamic poses the illusion is often lost as joints don't look natural and the use of stands etc

You are right. Figures really suffer when you place the arms up because the collarbone doesn't go up so that does limit your options. Hips are a similar problem I guess. I just feel that museum poses are boring and lack imagination.

 

[generalszabo]

You are right. Figures really suffer when you place the arms up because the collarbone doesn't go up so that does limit your options. Hips are a similar problem I guess. I just feel that museum poses are boring and lack imagination.

Yeah the whole point of joints is to pose, I see that

I guess being a statue guy I like museum poses haha

 

[Gipetto0812]

I started with hot toys then sold them and moved to mostly 1/4 scale statues

I don't get the opinion that fabric clothes cheapen or make statues look like dolls

At the end of the day we're all buying overpriced kids toys and JND for example look amazing with mixed media. It's about how something looks on display, not how it feels

Yea I started my statue collecting with the original SS LOTR Premium Format Figures so I've always loved fabric elements on larger statues. There was a time when sculpted fabric didn't look real. These days, while I still love mixed media, the advances in sculpted detail can really be stunning and almost trick the eye and/or look better than fabric, with the added bonus of not having to worry about deterioration.

I stick with 1/6 figures because they are generally cheaper, more posing options (obviously), and if something breaks its usually replaceable. By the way if you ever need to move, also a lot easier with figures.

I do think its a bit weird for people to buy 1/6 figures but leave them in museum poses though. Granted I basically pose them out of the box and just leave them that way so I'm not much better.

I think it depends on how "museum pose" is defined. There's a lot of nuance and micro adjustments that need to be made to the figure as a whole to get the look just right for a proper realistic museum pose that's accurate to the character and actor. Now if by "museum pose" you mean those collectors who just take it out of the box, plop it on the stand and call it a day, then yea, that lacks total imagination. You see that a lot on eBay listings. The main reason I don't do dynamic poses are b/c I prefer not to stress the clothing or cause wrinkles that then can never be taken out. And to be quiet honest, I'm just better at museum poses than I am at dynamic ones. I'm never usually happy with any dynamic pose. And while these are just fancy toys, I usually feel like some dynamic poses make them look more like a toy rather than a shrunken down real person.

 

[Ropen]

Most action figures nowadays are so cheaply made that even trying to pose them break on you, I’d rather collect statues at this point, hell I am sure 99% of us just open the figure and pose in their forever statue pose hahaha so might as well buy statues at this point the problem is their big scale takes up a ton of space unfortunately

 

[generalszabo]

Yea I started my statue collecting with the original SS LOTR Premium Format Figures so I've always loved fabric elements on larger statues. There was a time when sculpted fabric didn't look real. These days, while I still love mixed media, the advances in sculpted detail can really be stunning and almost trick the eye and/or look better than fabric, with the added bonus of not having to worry about deterioration.

Yeah my first was harley quinn PF, you never forget the first lol

Sculpted and fabric can look great, I have a mixture now

 

[shells075]

I only collect Action Figs, it does suck though when the figs start to deteriorate especially if they use that pleather material, a problem you dont have with statues. I doubt if any adult collector actually plays with their expensive action figures? I very occasionally repose stuff, for the most part they are behind glass in a darkened room 99.9% of the time.
Sometimes I think, I might as well collect statues as they are a lot less hassle.

 

[ebor]

I have 3 statues (1:5 Sideshow Mythos Obi, Vader and Fett) displayed with other SW Figures and my OG Kenner my collection seems varied and impressive enough. If space was not an issue I would get a few helmets and Bandai ships to put together my ultimate dream SW collection room.

I does not help that I collect other licenses too and have done since 2003.

 

[Gipetto0812]

I have 3 statues (1:5 Sideshow Mythos Obi, Vader and Fett) displayed with other SW Figures and my OG Kenner my collection seems varied and impressive enough. If space was not an issue I would get a few helmets and Bandai ships to put together my ultimate dream SW collection room.

I does not help that I collect other licenses too and have done since 2003.

That's really the problem right there If you stick with one license, you may have more display space like the guys who ONLY buy Iron Man figures or TDK Trilogy, etc. But if you're buying the entire MCU, SW plus other things you're pretty much screwed unless you have a large display room. Or you just don't mind having your figures/statues displayed just standing there all cramped together like I've seen on some collector IG pages.