Why duplicate?

[BlindVoyeur]

Greetings Programs!!!!

 

[die]

Spenser, that sounds like a plan!

 

[Ironman1188]

If I recall correctly, Bud Spencer & Terence Hill were made by Figure hobby. They do nice work and are very reasonably priced. I'm just not sure if they were "private commissions" or not.

 

[yruh8n]

With Macfarlane laying off so many sculptors I'll bet there will be a lot more duplication, with so many freelance artist short on work. Heads can be knocked out fairly quickly, and if the artist is good they should sell nicely. I'm with ironman with wanting more heads from older tv shows and movies.

 

[William Shatners Toupee]

With McFarlane laying off so many sculptors I'll bet there will be a lot more duplication, with so many freelance artist short on work. Heads can be knocked out fairly quickly, and if the artist is good they should sell nicely. I'm with ironman with wanting more heads from older tv shows and movies.

That's an interesting point. We will need to wait and watch and see if they DO come to join us here in our 1:6 world. That would rock! We could all certainly give them the business here. :chew:chew

To comment myself on Ironmans question of duplicated heads (since I can at least speak for the same Doctor Who heads being made over again, like the
4th Doc), Adas Tom was organized by me just because I wanted a Tom.
It wasn't one of her best works. There was obvious opprtunity for another attempt to be made.

Keeping in mind the 4th Doctor is probably the most iconic of Doctors and most people are ravenous to have at least one great version of him, (especuially after Product Enterprises failure to deliver their amazingly sculpted Tom 12" figure), and keeping in mind he was on the show so long there is the obvious opprtunity for both a his first year S12 AND last year, season 18 versions, (and some fans are particular in only wanting one or the other), that sculptor Neil Sims was commissioned by somone to make a 1:6 S 12 Tom head over on Outpost Gallifrey (the same sculptor who is currently sculpting my 1:6 "Revenge of the Cybermen" kits), and then Billy B made his awesome S18 Tom right here on SSF.

Now you would be right in thinking "That's a lot of Toms right there" (laugh).
When I switched my Doctor Who head commissions from Ada to Chris Howes and we talked about making a whole line of Who because he's actually a HUGE fan of the show, we were kicking it off with his being commissioned to make Sarah Jane. Then Chris said "You know, I really want to sculpt a Tom with this too. And a K-9." Proving once again his sculpting here on SSF isn't about the money. It's stuff he just loves to sculpt. So that Tom was an artist preference (which doesn't exactly suck to hear!).

Then Mr Barlow has his Doctor Who heads he's been working on with a zillion other cool 1970's/80's horror heads that are in various stages of completion he's hinted about, (and there's a Tom in there too somewhere). None of his heads are commissions, it's all things he's wanted to sculpt himself.

But there's the TOM HEAD history there (probably woefully incomplete) of the zillion Tom heads out there (LOL).

I can at least promise once Chris and I move past phase one for Doctor Who there will be other "sets/waves" of different characters. Chris never expected his personal life/dayjob to skyrocket like it recently has which has slowed his working on customs down.

Also on duplicates, I know Morbach and I are working on getting the "Supernatural" brothers heads remade at some point, because Ada's Dean could have been better, and people would wildly prefer Sam witb another haircut, and we have enough ravenous Supernatural fans here to make that happen. So with that, it's a matter of re-making them better.

-Rick

 

[sueworld]

that sculptor Neil Sims was commissioned by somone to make a 1:6 S 12 Tom head over on Outpost Gallifrey

Oooh, what happened to that one? Any photos of how it turned out?

 

[LordAzrael]

I don't mind duplicates, as long as the sculpt can be used for different characters played by the same actor. Also as we are talking art, each sculpt is the sculpter's interpretation so capture different aspects of the character.

That said, I think another part of it is that we have two different groups of sculpters - those that are sculpting what people are asking for, and those that sculpt what they find interesting - and I'll qualify that statement by adding there is a fair degree of cross over between those groups.

I for one am very excited about the flow of custom projects, as it coincides with a withdrawal of Sideshow from the 1/6th market, leaving Hot Toys to set the standard in both quality and price - opening the door to more customs as they start to become price competitive.

Not that long ago I would have balked at a $150 figure - now we routinely have figures at that price point.

 

[Ironman1188]

In reference to sculptors being laid off and wanting them in our 1:6 world - I'd like to see them come into the limelight with knockout sculpts that we've seen asked for but not seen any product of yet. McFarlane did have some good sculptors, but I don't know that I'd be impressed to see them jump into 1:6 customs with another Arnold sculpt.
I also am intriqued to see this Neil Sims Tom Baker. Are there photos anywhere?
And yes, as LordAzrael stated, sculpts duplicating an actor who can then be used as a differnet character is one thing. I have a Connery Bond, but him as Henry Jones is completely different, as would a version of him from Zardoz. And I understand how a character as baker's Who can change over being played such a long period of time. I have one of Darkangel Dean's Baker sculpts and, yes, it is different from all the others. I am getting one of BillyB's. Is one better? No, they are different. But I did not commission it. I would not have. Adding an extra because its made is far different, to me, than commissioning another to be done. I have, and will continue to support the sale of the 1:6 sculpts throughout these forums. I love that MrBarlow and pinkertonfx are sculpting more older or obscure heads. I never dreamed I'd have a Salem's Lot sculpt in my collection. Now I do. Soon I'll be adding a Pennywise , another I never thought I'd see. And there seems to be great interest in them. Hopefully they are selling well for them. But, as far as I know, these weren't commissions. They were sculpts they wanted so they did them, shared them and now can sell them. I would love to see more sculptors sculpt from their "wish lists" and see how they sell. I know it can be expensive to get all the materials and such, but if you're making one for yourself because you wanted it anyway, why not go ahead - make it > show it > see if its sells? A lot of us seem to have fairly similar interests as far as genres and time periods go. I bet a fair amount would turn a profit. If not, they still have it in their collection, and if most of these guys aren't doing it for the money - what's the difference?
Honest question - is there more money made to be made for a sculptor "commissioning" a head he's going to make anyway or is it relatively the same as selling a sculpt that you have already made?
I mean no offense by any of my statements or questions and hope no one takes my posts in that way. I cannot sculpt and rely on you, those that can, to fill the voids in my collection.
I do know that if I had the talent I would not have started this thread, but a thread for those interested in my existing sculpts. And they would be a very eclectic bunch of sculpts for sure.

 

[William Shatners Toupee]

Oooh, what happened to that one? Any photos of how it turned out?

There was one pic I saw on OG once about...7 months ago? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to log into OG for ages to look for it for you. My repeated requests for help or password changes and help goes completely unresponded to there. (shrug).

 

[William Shatners Toupee]

I would love to see more sculptors sculpt from their "wish lists" and see how they sell. I know it can be expensive to get all the materials and such, but if you're making one for yourself because you wanted it anyway, why not go ahead - make it > show it > see if its sells? A lot of us seem to have fairly similar interests as far as genres and time periods go. I bet a fair amount would turn a profit. If not, they still have it in their collection, and if most of these guys aren't doing it for the money - what's the difference?
Honest question - is there more money made to be made for a sculptor "commissioning" a head he's going to make anyway or is it relatively the same as selling a sculpt that you have already made?

Of course it's different for all sculptors, but in Chris' case, as an example, I don't think he actually collects 1:6 things/toys (I know---hard to imagine!), so nothing he does is being done to build up his own personal "collection", he's just here getting paid to sculpt characters he loves as a fun side thing for him, where-as Mr Barlow is totally making the 1:6 heads for himself first and foremost and is being kind enough to share his goodies.

We are so spoiled, regardless! (but I'm willing to be spoiled more!)

 

[KBA]

I for one am very excited about the flow of custom projects, as it coincides with a withdrawal of Sideshow from the 1/6th market, leaving Hot Toys to set the standard in both quality and price - opening the door to more customs as they start to become price competitive.

The quality of bodies, parts, and clothes available for kit bashing is awesome. Everytime Enterbay or Hot Toys shows off a new figure the first thing I do is ask myself if I could use it for a kit bash of so-and-so. The only thing that sucks is paying parted out prices monkey2

 

[Buttmunch]

I think the simple answer here is that things continue to get improved upon. Its true even with the pros like Hot Toys. Just because something was the best of the best last year doesn't mean it still can't be improved upon. Just because someone is happy with one sculpt doesn't mean it is the end-all sculpt.

For example, Ada made a decent John Locke sculpt. Flashforward to a few weeks ago, Andy comes out with an amazing John Locke sculpt. Could Andy's be beaten? Probably. Likely? No. Not at least anytime soon. But it is certainly possible. Many didn't think the Bank Robber Joker headsculpt could be beat, but Hot Toys added the PERS eyes to give the new Joker sculpt more personalitiy. Maybe someday poseable faces might become a reality.

What is amazing today, may only be acceptable tomorrow.

 

[Ironman1188]

Maybe someday poseable faces might become a reality.

LOL, Remember the early BBi figures with "facial expressions" that could change?
Wow we have come a long way!!
And I do understand that todays great John Connor might be surpassed tomorrow or next year etc...
Thats actually a great example. Hot Toys Connor looks great. I'm quite happy with it. But now Fenix has a new Connor sculpt out. Now, while I wouldn't have commissioned it with the HT on the way, I probably won't be looking to buy it either. Custom sculpts are getting pricey nowadays too. While you still have Lonnie at $10 and Red Planet still has some at $15 and MikeTec's are about the same if memory serves, a lot of these new ones are cash up front to get a price even close to that or you're paying $35 and up for an unpainted sculpt. Who would have thought Ada would come in on the reasonably priced end? And she'll give you free versions with every so many you buy. But take these $35 - $50 dollar sculpts, add in the cost of painting and you could have just bought a new Hot Toys figure, or close to it.
But I degress. Connor exists via Hot Toys, Wright is coming, I'd be more apt to look to get a Blair or a Barnes before trying to redo Connor.