Nice vid lotus, thanks for the heating tip. 2 more days for me.
Thank you
Even though my excitement was through the roof, I decided to open him on Camera to show my reaction as I put each piece into place.
When it came to the chain around his shoulder I figured it would be good to just go for it and heat it up live to show how careful you should be with the heat by placing your hand behind the area you are heating up to feel how much heat is being produced from your heat gun, or hair dryer. The piece heats up very quickly so continuing to move the heat gun, or hair dryer in circular motions help disperse the heat evenly.
How does one even go about obtaining this statue? Do you have to know someone who knows someone who knows someone? I assume that's the case. I've asked people on the forums before where they got theirs and they get really pissy. Maybe it's just XM collectors.
I was once a new XM collector, and was mystified on how to obtain their art work.
The facts are as follows straight from their site:
WHICH COUNTRIES DO YOU SELL & SHIP YOUR PRODUCTS TO?
For MARVEL licensed products
ASIA China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam. South Korea and Brunei, EUROPE
As you can see if you are from the U.S. ,or Canada, then XM will not be able to sell Marvel to you. I would guess Sideshow has this 1/4 scale license locked up for now.
The only way to obtain is by using a third party which is like a Private sale from someone in Singapore.
Search Buy sell Trade groups on Social media like FB
Open up a communication channel with the seller.
These sellers are not stores they are people like you and I who collect the same.
These sellers need to spend time waiting in line at conventions like STGCC to lock in POs.
For their time normally you pay them 100-150SGD above retail
There is a maximum of 999 Edition size for each piece created.
For Ghost Rider he was an XM Exclusive feature for September 2015 STGCC. This means to buy him at retail price of 990SGD you would have needed to pre pay the deposit of 350SGD and have a friend in Singapore wait in line at the convention. If you were willing to pre pay then XM gave you 100SGD off the price for 890SGD. I heard there was a limit of 2 per person in line.
The reality is like you I was late to the party by 5 months and started asking around in beginning February of 2016. The market prices were already rising on him. I paid market value back then, and essentially purchased the sellers PO that received from STGCC. The seller asked for a deposit of 300SGD and I sent via PP. Please note deposits are non refundable. Even if you pay as Goods and services there is no protection because most likely it will be more than 6 months before the release date. I have found that out of the four different people in Singapore I have completed deals with, I find Singaporeans to be very honest people. I would actually trust a person from Singapore more than someone from the U.S. at this point just from my personal experiences throughout the years of collecting.
The seller I locked in my PO with for Ghost Rider could have sold for much more money than we original agreed upon back in February of 2016. The Seller honored our deal and shipped within one week of my payment which I trusted him so much to pay as a gift which I dont condone at all unless you have a good feeling with the seller. Meaning you have had conversations about collecting or whatever outside of just the sale.
The Shipping was the most I have paid for any of the 6 XM pieces I own. Sellers will only ship using Express Air which means you will pay a lot more than if they would ship SAL which is Surface Air Land. SAL is cheap , but offers no tracking until it hits the U.S. This makes both parties feel unconformable about where their Statue is. Because of this most sellers I find will use DHL Express, or Fedex. DHL seems to be the cheapest, but they did just go through a 5% rate hike for 2017. If the seller ships a lot of Statues then they may have a Corporate rate DHL or Fedex account which they will pass those savings on to you. IN my case the seller did not have a corporate account and the fee for shipping was 650SGD. That is technically a third of the retail price of the statue itself. These boxes are LARGE and heavy. We are talking about using a Dolly cart to carry, think of lugging around a Mini fridge. This is also why sellers charge the 100-150SGD fee because they have to drive to XM Studios office and pickup these large boxes then take to DHL to ship. Truthfully this is a lot of work the sellers are doing.
Luckily the Exchange rate was good so I paid about 450USD for shipping. That is a lot of money to me, and the price of a Sideshow PF so think about that too. These shipping prices get amalgamated into the Final price of a Statue if it is already in the U.S., or Canada. So please consider that when making a purchase.
I also wanted to clarify some things about U.S. online retailers like BBTS, Spec fiction, Secret Compass. They are the same as buying from a seller in Singapore. XM does NOT sell to them directly. These stores have a contact in Singapore who places the POs at XM store for them. They are paying the Singapore seller a fee, plus paying Express shipping. I have nothing against any of these stores, but in my personal experience its better to just buy direct from a Singapore seller.
Keep in mind that whether you buy from an online store, or a direct Singapore seller that technically if you have a problem with the piece you received, XM customer service will not be able to help you direct. You must go back to the "middle man" seller and they will ask XM on your behalf. I personally now own 6 XM statues, I'm considered a Premium Member on XM's site, but if I have a problem I would still not be able to contact XM's customer service because they are not allowed to sell Marvel to the U.S. or Canada.
I hope I have answered all your questions. I own statues from many companies, but the Experience and quality I have been receiving from XM has won me over as my drug of choice for collecting Marvel.
/
