Where's the customizers have been

[Dark Passenger]

remember the agreement i want mantis

LOL, I remember! I get Vamp.

 

[toylion]

Maybe there should be a 'professional custom section' and a 'amateur custom section'. So those that aren't selling their figure aren't competing with those that do. To tell you the true I didn't know were to post my bashes at first because the 'Customs & Orignal Art Discussion" section was all stuff that was being sold. Just a thought.

 

[ProgMatinee]

the $$ being exchanged over custom figures on this site is starting to get astronomical as well. it wouldn't surprise me if some of the bigger sellers on the site have sold $20k+ worth of stuff. thats a lot of business being conducted on someone elses dime.

 

[twik25]

You know, what inspired me to start collecting and customizing was all of the amazing work on this forum. My 9-5 is spent designing graphics for bicycles, and I love spending any free moment I have on here seeing what people are doing, and trying to figure out how they did it. I never started off without the intention of selling things, and that is not my intention in the future. I am going to make figures I want to make, and if people are interested... I will gladly make them for them. It is not about the money, it is about the creating. Honestly, I have been turning down freelance gigs paying $60 an hour so I can work on my hobby, and now make a few for my friends on here. So what happens when a WIP becomes a pre-order? Maybe separating this into 2 forums would be the best solution.

 

[YoNoSe]

I would love to see the commissions and sale threads moved to another section. I think the custom section should be for personal customs.
I don't consider a figure put together by two or three borderline professionals (or actually professionals) to be a custom. It's a small-run figure. It's just a small number of people producing it instead of a large company. It really is more relevant to the Commerce section than the Custom section. And that's not any kind of insult or dig at those guys - they're brilliant. But what they are doing is Commerce.
But as other have pointed out, the tone of the board has changed. It used to be that someone could post a cool bash or original piece and people would post encouragement or ask how it was accomplished. Now you usually can't go five posts without seeing "put me on the list" or "how much" even when there's no indication that it's for sale.

To everyone that's still doing it for themselves -

 

[marker2037]

My 2 cents here is that....yes, I enjoy building custom figures. But I just don't have the talent that Seb or the other guys have and most of the time I need their help in making my customs come true. Whether it be a sculpt, paint, outfit, or whatever custom commissioned piece....I just don't have the talent in most cases to do these things.

Can I kitbash and put a figure together from parts on ebay, TA, war toys? Yes. I am in fact doing 4 such figures at the moment.

Could I still kitbash these figures without the help of the Sebs, hanoumans, velvetmornings, sunohcs, betomatalis, and all the other amazingly talented individuals on this board? ....No probably not. I probably wouldn't even attempt most of the projects I'm doing without everyone's help.

Sure I could grab some cheap, horrible, old headsculpt off ebay that might, kind of look like the actor I'm trying to portray. Sure I could grab a pair of boots that kind of, maybe look sort of like the on screen equivalent.

Would I rather commission a piece that is EXACTLY screen accurate and looks EXACTLY like the actor? ABSOLUTELY. It's why I'm here, doing this hobby.

One last thing you have to remember. Do I personally believe I am a so-called "customizer" enough that I deserve my own personal thread?...No. Definitely not. Mainly because most of the stuff I do is with the KEY help of someone else. Someone who really made it happen. I just put it together and bought the rest of the pieces from here and there. I'll just post what I'm doing in each individual topic thread. I'll post my Wolverine in the WOLVERINE thread. I'll post my lobby Neo in the LOBBY NEO thread. I'll post my Deadpool in the DEADPOOL thread. Etc.

I think this is why you don't see more individual threads in this section. It's more topic specific. And I'm ok with that.

Now back to checking out the awesomeness of this section...

 

[toylion]

I would love to see the commissions and sale threads moved to another section. I think the custom section should be for personal customs.
I don't consider a figure put together by two or three borderline professionals (or actually professionals) to be a custom. It's a small-run figure. It's just a small number of people producing it instead of a large company. It really is more relevant to the Commerce section than the Custom section. And that's not any kind of insult or dig at those guys - they're brilliant. But what they are doing is Commerce.
But as other have pointed out, the tone of the board has changed. It used to be that someone could post a cool bash or original piece and people would post encouragement or ask how it was accomplished. Now you usually can't go five posts without seeing "put me on the list" or "how much" even when there's no indication that it's for sale.

To everyone that's still doing it for themselves -

Totally agree. I've bought some of this custom pieces myself to complete a bash. So there's is a place for it.
And I use to get PM for some of my bashes asking if they were for sale. But I bash figures because I want a figure you can't buy 'off the rack'. And put a lot of my heart and soul into it. And sometimes you want to share it with people of like mind as family and friends don't have the same appreciation. They just look and say 'cool' or 'it's nice'.

 

[Commtech]

I honestly don't see a problem.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

This isn't an us against them situation. There's nothing wrong with getting help on a bash/custom, there's nothing wrong with buying/selling full customs. I've had some custom tailoring done myself. Obviously the majority of us can't sculpt, so of course, we need the services of skilled sculptors. I think some folks are maybe mistakenly getting defensive, feeling like they're being challenged or singled out for buying customs or having some work done for them. I don't think that's what this thread was meant for at all. I believe it was just a plea for more variety and to see more personalized work from the non-pros.

As for seperating the customs forum, that was done once before and wasn't terribly successful. In fact, it damn near got the whole customs section shut down.

 

[YoNoSe]

Yeah, I didn't mean to come off as anti-commission threads. And truth be told I can find the stuff I'm looking for okay. Just seems like there are so many pre-order threads that it's not really a "custom" section.

I'm foggy about the section being divided once before. If it was a disaster then maybe there's another option.

But if it stays the same not a huge deal. Just ruminating.

 

[Cheungkinmen]

This isn't an us against them situation. There's nothing wrong with getting help on a bash/custom, there's nothing wrong with buying/selling full customs. I've had some custom tailoring done myself. Obviously the majority of us can't sculpt, so of course, we need the services of skilled sculptors. I think some folks are maybe mistakenly getting defensive, feeling like they're being challenged or singled out for buying customs or having some work done for them. I don't think that's what this thread was meant for at all. I believe it was just a plea for more variety and to see more personalized work from the non-pros.

As for seperating the customs forum, that was done once before and wasn't terribly successful. In fact, it damn near got the whole customs section shut down.

The problem with most folks (myself included) is that they fear that once their customs/sculpts/paint jobs are posted in this forum, people would bash them to hell because they are not "high quality" enough, or do not get a reply whatsoever. I've seen it happen.

I personally wouldn't show my car design on a Ferrari forum. But, I post what I do with the "what the hell, who cares" attitude, haha.

 

[YoNoSe]

I post gigantic pics of my weak paint jobs regularly in the LOST custom thread. But the five people who visit that thread are always enthusiastic to see them, and I love to see theirs. I posted a pic of a LOST cake I made. Someone else made awesome earrings.

That's the kind of ____ I want to see in the custom section. Not Joker Pants v.5 pre-order threads. But I understand that people need pants.

 

[menlojames]

The problem with most folks (myself included) is that they fear that once their customs/sculpts/paint jobs are posted in this forum, people would bash them to hell because they are not "high quality" enough, or do not get a reply whatsoever. I've seen it happen.

I personally wouldn't show my car design on a Ferrari forum. But, I post what I do with the "what the hell, who cares" attitude, haha.

I agree 100%. I see passionate new members excited posting their stuff and all of a sudden people from this form feel the entitlement to bash them so they don't post here anymore they find another forum like OSW where the members are genuinely nice and give good constructive help not offensive criticism like a lot of people give here. everyone starts somewhere and giving negative comments to someone that is excited or passionate about something can leave a bad taste about this forum. Now this isn't an everyday thing as there are also some very helpful and positive members on this form just a lot more negativity from what I have seen.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

The problem with most folks (myself included) is that they fear that once their customs/sculpts/paint jobs are posted in this forum, people would bash them to hell because they are not "high quality" enough, or do not get a reply whatsoever. I've seen it happen.

I personally wouldn't show my car design on a Ferrari forum. But, I post what I do with the "what the hell, who cares" attitude, haha.

Yeah, that's definitely part of the problem right now, and why this section has changed so much. I think it happened when the big influx of HT collectors came on-board. That was the intro to 1/6 for most of them so I think they have a hard time accepting anything that isn't on par with that. Back in the old days guys like Les, DA, Darren Carnall, elvis1976 and others were doing amazing work, but those of us less skilled still weren't afraid to show off our work because the other members were generally supportive and the critiques helpful. Also, a lot of those HT collectors had no real experience with 1/6 customs before coming here, so I think they're just more comfortable buying than making and aren't particualrly interested in supporting non-sellers.

 

[Darklord Dave]

I think that was discussed a few times but never saw the light of the day.

At one point the custom section was split with "interest" threads in one section and everything else in another. Then we had some problems with artists being unable to deliver - not just Howes but others as well and that is an ongoing issue. More bad will has been created due to customizers not following through then any flame war on the site. After Howes I pretty much outlawed selling custom stuff that wasn't in hand and ready to ship.

I think you pretty much nailed it man on the pricing.
This is one of the the first thread I check everytime I come to this
board cause there's so many amazing stuff and most of the talent here is unbelievable.
But I think some of the issues people are having are some of these figures are now unattainable due to their high prices.
I think you see the pattern of people selling stuff to allocate funds to buy a certain custom piece.

The thing is, you cant really blame the customizer's since they're not a company like Hot Toy where they have more resources. Most of them do it while working a regular 9 to 5 so the prices are justifiable.
But I also think the bar has been raised on custom pieces. Basically, if they are not in the same league or better than Hot Toys, most people pass and just hope that Hot Toys eventually pick up the license for that figure.

Like art in a museum - you can enjoy looking at it without having to have it. Even though I'm not going to buy everything Rainman puts out, I really enjoy seeing them.

The problem with most folks (myself included) is that they fear that once their customs/sculpts/paint jobs are posted in this forum, people would bash them to hell because they are not "high quality" enough, or do not get a reply whatsoever. I've seen it happen.

I personally wouldn't show my car design on a Ferrari forum. But, I post what I do with the "what the hell, who cares" attitude, haha.

This is an issue and I think it's non-customizers that just got into 1/6 with Hot Toys that are the most critical and need to learn some manners. They have no sense of where the hobby has come from and just how lucky we are to be living in the Hot Toys era. I used to sell customs on ebay that fetched upwards of $600 - but those same figures would be laughed at today.

Customs and the 1/6 hobby was one of the main reasons this forum was created and I'm open to suggestions on how to restructure to make it more friendly to customizers. What Dorgmal Snow and others have created in the Star Wars customs section is a great model - and I'd love to see something like that happen for all customs.

The forum will be upgrading soon to vBulletin 4.0 which will require a complete redesign - it would be a good time to make a change like this.

I've also started promoting the forum on facebook - facebook.com/sideshowcollectors - and I'm going to try to post the "Custom of the Day" on a regular basis on there with links back to the thread it originated from.

I'd really like to see this be THE place to come for 1/6 customs - but we'll have to figure out how we deal with the commerce aspect of it.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

Seems to me it's not about how the forum is structured. It seems it's about how it has become common to take shots at custom efforts. We have grown ourselves some trolls.

Splitting the forum would make my own personal browsing more difficult and probably make me miss something I'd like. Cracking down on bashing might be more helpful.

Edit: Dave, we were posting at the same time, and this comment wasn't in response to you. I'm going to have to check out the SW customs section.

 

[galactiboy]

This is an issue and I think it's non-customizers that just got into 1/6 with Hot Toys that are the most critical and need to learn some manners. They have no sense of where the hobby has come from and just how lucky we are to be living in the Hot Toys era. I used to sell customs on ebay that fetched upwards of $600 - but those same figures would be laughed at today.

I have to agree... not a dig a new collectors, but a lot of people seem to be unaware of the quantum leap in quality that has occurred over the last couple of years. Even comparing figures from 5 years ago to ones coming out now is just painful.

I think the theme bashes that were done a few years back were a lot of fun and would go a long way to encouraging more people to show their work.

But again, if 90% of the threads are commissions its hard to see any other work. If I'm not mistaken OSW doesn't allow commissions in their general section, people still buy and sell but it doesn't overwhelm the main 1/6 discussion area.

 

[Darklord Dave]

But again, if 90% of the threads are commissions its hard to see any other work. If I'm not mistaken OSW doesn't allow commissions in their general section, people still buy and sell but it doesn't overwhelm the main 1/6 discussion area.

Yes, I definitely think new rules or new structure is called for. theRPF has an interesting way of doing it - just showing what you've done goes in the appropriate section. An "Interest" thread and "FS" go in the Marketplace. Maybe add a "Customs" section to the Marketplace and this forum would be just to show stuff.

 

[kgrhoad]

I think that adding a custom section to the commerce section would be a great idea.

 

[toylion]

Yes, I definitely think new rules or new structure is called for. theRPF has an interesting way of doing it - just showing what you've done goes in the appropriate section. An "Interest" thread and "FS" go in the Marketplace. Maybe add a "Customs" section to the Marketplace and this forum would be just to show stuff.

Sounds perfect. Here's an example.
https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92500