Weta Aragorn!!!

[woodsy]

It was an exciting time to collect during those years. Maybe someday if The Hobbit is made by Weta we can go down the Sideshow Weta road again!

It was a fun ride back then

Very true, and that is one ride I'd love to visit again...

 

[kodiak8658]

Kodiak, you make some EXCELLENT points.

These things are certainly not too kind on those of us who bothered to sign up for the relevant waitlists back in '03 or '04, and have patiently collected SS/W for five years or more. You can't cancel virtually ALL waitlist reservations for the SS/W items -- as Sideshow did in a fell swoop, late in '05 -- and then have such long-gone pieces just pop up, and make them available to everyone who signed up for the newsletter in the meantime, with the only criterion being the agility of their POP server, and their chance of accidentally checking the e-mail at the right time.

The Maul PF exclusive was given out as a priority preorder to those of us who have previously purchased the SW PFs. Is it too much to ask that long-gone grails from the SS/W line be offered to the same kind of collectors as a second chance, at the very least?

Perhaps the people opposing this point are ones that haven't felt what it's like to wait for a long period of time on a waitlist, have it cancelled by Sideshow, and then see your item turn up; only to be given away in a manner that screams 'I don't give a crap about the longtime purchaser.'

 

[The Josh]

Yeah, the SSW ride was so much fun. I'd go on that ride again in a heartbeat.

Perhaps the people opposing this point are ones that haven't felt what it's like to wait for a long period of time on a waitlist, have it cancelled by Sideshow, and then see your item turn up; only to be given away in a manner that screams 'I don't give a crap about the longtime purchaser.'

Well, beside the fact I'm sure you or someone will try to bring up "fanboyness" I'm a long time SS buyer. Spent Thousands myself and I'm not mad at all the way they did this. The waitlists where axed and no longer exist. I'd rather have seen them put in the newsletter on the second chance but outside of that this was the best thing. First Come. First Served. I HATE lotteries! They suck and I've won a few of them.

 

[Bannister]

Perhaps the people opposing this point are ones that haven't felt what it's like to wait for a long period of time on a waitlist, have it cancelled by Sideshow, and then see your item turn up; only to be given away in a manner that screams 'I don't give a crap about the longtime purchaser.'

Actually, I was on tons of wait lists that got cancelled and I have spent thousands of dollars with Sideshow as well(Do I get a cookie?), but I don't feel that makes me any more important than someone who just discovered Sideshow yesterday.

 

[The Josh]

Actually, I was on tons of wait lists that got cancelled and I have spent thousands of dollars with Sideshow as well(Do I get a cookie?), but I don't feel that makes me any more important than someone who just discovered Sideshow yesterday.

 

[lcummins]

Actually, I was on tons of wait lists that got cancelled and I have spent thousands of dollars with Sideshow as well(Do I get a cookie?), but I don't feel that makes me any more important than someone who just discovered Sideshow yesterday.

Yeah, I was on almost every SS/W waitlist available the FOTR stuff, and just see the Reward Points threads for an idea of what I've spent. I agree that maybe just as a Second Chance in the newsletter might be the most fair, but I really don't mind the Express Update method either. It reminds of when the newsletter used to come out of Fridays and you never knew exactly when it would come out! Kind of exciting actually!

 

[Calle_Sandell]

DAMN!!!! I knew somehing like this was going to happen!!!!

I missed it big-time! I really wanna complete my LOTR WETA collection someday and this would be a great step on the way!!!!

I've been purchasing every old WETA item they've been offering in the newsletters (Got a Uglúk statue, Minas Morgul, Saruman and Galadriel busts etc.) And it's been great!!! And now when they offer something this cool, I missed it!!!!!!!!!

Gonna go and drown myself now!!

 

[Calle_Sandell]

And..

whatever if Sideshow is going to put these items in the newsletter or in the express uppdate.. My only wish is that they take us EU and international customers in mind! The newsletter comes out at approximatley 4 in the morning in Sweden so it's allomost impossible for me and other here to be awake when it arraives! since it's a work day the next day!!!

So if they just could send it out at a reasonable time I'm happy!!! I've asked SS about this and they said they was gonna look into it, but that was like 6 months ago...

 

[Vince]

Re: Wow

2 weta aragorn son of arathorn statues just became available i added it to cart but too late gone in 30 seconds

cant believe they found two

amazing

me too !

i had it in the cart, but the inventory was empty !!!
just a few seconds too late ... damn

would've been a fine addition to my collection...

 

[Mudshark]

Re: Wow

It was one of the first pieces from the SSW line. It is assumed based on what we think is a very low ES. Plus it's Strider. Sure it doesn't look like Viggo at all but it's freaking nice! I'm glad I have mine. Maybe you just have to be a LOTR fan to appreciate it.

I totally agree. This was one of the very first LOTR statues I bought from SS/W, the same time as Gimli, and it's among my favorites, even though it doesn't look like VM. It's never been a problem. Amazing that Sideshow still had two lurking around somewhere!
:chew:chew :chew

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Congrats to the lucky recipient.

I had been suggesting to Sideshow another way of making these rare warehouse finds available to interested account holders. This right place at the right time method and notification through newsletter is bull****. The lottery method which caused so much debate, in my opinion was the best method. They tried it and sure as hell, I landed a PF SSE Mummy, one of only 50. If Sideshow wanted to avoid the lottery debate, they should have held a silent internal lottery including all newsletter subscribers that had bought LOTR PF statues from them in the past. Then as they draw the name, they contact the subscriber EXACTLY like a wait list reservation. If the person doesn't respond 'yes' in 3 days, they move on to the next name drawn. ANYTHING has got to be better than the right place, right time nonsense and I haven't heard any suggestion better than a lottery. If you have one, we'd like to hear it. Until then, I will feel cheated everytime Sideshow 'finds' one of these in their warehouse. They must have morons doing their inventory.

One last point. I have on a few occassions, been notified by Sideshow that they cancelled all wait list reservations for a specific item. Then within a couple of months to a year later, a couple of the cancelled wait list reservation items surface and they are given to a first come recipient. This now makes the third item Sideshow has screwed me and all wait list reservation holders on. My wait list reservation for Aragorn was cancelled over a year ago by Sideshow. Thanks Sideshow, you've pissed off another heavy hitting customer. ********s!!!

I was against the lottery at the time.

As for items being offered anew, after the wait list for it has been closed, that happened to me also. I was on the wait list for the Gondorian Helm set. When my wait list reservation came through, I confirmed it, only four hours after their mail had reached me! The next day or so I got an other mail from SSC, telling me that the helm set was already gone! I found that very odd, since, when a wait list item comes trough, you usually get three days to confirm. I didn't even get 4 hours!!! I was very pissed because of that. That was about two years ago, I think.
And guess what? In one of the more recent newsletters SSC actually offers 2 Gondorian Helm sets (I think it was 2) European collectors only. How do you explain that? Of course the helms where gone when I tried the link...

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

... If Sideshow thinks there are no more of an item left they close the wait list, and probably delete it. ...

I wonder if they actually delete the wait lists? Every closed wait list still shows in my online account, so it's possible that these list are just put on non-active, in stead of deleted, right?

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Personally, I like it when they just add it to the newsletter on Thursday night. Everybody knows that they need to be online Thursday nights refreshing their newsletter page to be the first to read it and possibly see some in stock specials. I have picked up one or two out of stock items through the newsletter in the past and it worked fine for me! That not only encourages people to read the weekly newsletter in a timely fashion, it doesn't punish people whose e-mails are held back by their service providers. Today, I did just happen to be sitting around at home on my laptop and I didn't receive mine until it was far too late. I think that the whole debate that led to the online publication of the newsletter applies here just as much. A mass e-mail just won't reach everybody at the same time and some will get an unfair advantage. When the info is posted in the newsletter, everybody gets their shot at the same time. I much prefer that method.

Yes Tom, but belive me, it's no fun, getting up at 3AM, hitting the refresh button for an hour or more, and wait for the newsletter to pop up. Even we have to get up in the morning to go to work! so that's just a bit over the edge, in regards of the European collectors, and some of the international collectors as well. Even if SSC is an American company that operates at PT times, my money is as good as anybody else's, and I can expect an equally good service for that. So, I'm happy that SSC changed their strategy, and doesn't launch ultra rare items in newsletters anymore.
I can live with this "express update" system.

 

[kodiak8658]

Actually, I was on tons of wait lists that got cancelled and I have spent thousands of dollars with Sideshow as well(Do I get a cookie?), but I don't feel that makes me any more important than someone who just discovered Sideshow yesterday.

I guess some people aren't bothered by being passed over. Bannister..you are the anti-Fredo!

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Or they could have put them up as second chance items in the newsletter tomorrow.

That way, if anybody missed out, it would have been their own fault for not reading the newsletter fast enough, rather than being the fault of their internet service provider for not delivering the mail faster than the other guy.

Tom... some of us are sleeping. Newsletter time here is between 3 and 4 AM.
I have to get up in the morning and go to work.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Unfortunately Tom, some would still complain that there is still an unfair advantage for anyone not on dial-up or who live close to the servers. There is no method know to mankind that will be accepted as fair by every single person on Earth!

Yes, guess that is right. At least the right method hasn't been found yet. I trust SSC will keep on searching for one though.
Personally I can live with the express updates, as long as every collector get's them at the same time, of course.

 

[kodiak8658]

It reminds of when the newsletter used to come out of Fridays and you never knew exactly when it would come out! Kind of exciting actually!

So when does the newsletter exactly come out? Other than Thursdays, the times vary over several hours. Now if SS put the newsletter out at a specified time and offered the rare items as second chance at that time, maybe that would level the playing field so all can get an equal chance to secure the 'grail' items.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

... The Maul PF exclusive was given out as a priority preorder to those of us who have previously purchased the SW PFs. Is it too much to ask that long-gone grails from the SS/W line be offered to the same kind of collectors as a second chance, at the very least?

I was against the 'Maul System' also. Why? It just might happen one day that there is this one item you really like to own, but, alas, you have never bought any items from that line before, and therefore don't qualify! Tough luck! Might be easy to get your hands on a Maul exclusive afterwards if you didn't qualify, but try getting a SE Mummy if it were offered using that system.

 

[Alice Adrenochrome]

Finnaly, get off Kodiak's back!
Come on guys, don't tell me you don't want to be rewarded for being a loyal Sideshow customer! I know some of you have played that card in the past too. Think of the lottery, and more recent the way Darth Maul exclusive was offered... Some of you defended these SSC ideas as being a reward for loyal customers.

 

[King Darkness]

OMG!!!!

I just got an email from SS saying they found 4 Doom PF Exclusive!!!!

Say hello to the owner of a Doom PF Exc.!!!!

HURRY!!!