XM VS. SIDESHOW

I don’t know why all this fuzz about XM Studios. I can only believe it is because their figures are harder to get though giving them a high market value and “grail” grade. Apart five or six very good figures, all other XM Studios heroes figures have better representations made by Sideshow. I cannot deny XM’s Daredevil and Black Bolt are outstanding figures and that Magneto using a Sentinel hand as his throne is a fabulous concept but sincerely comparing price and sculpture I stay with Sideshow. For a series of reasons. For sake of comparison, let’s go by topics.

1 – Prices.

Even though Sideshow has come from a straight ascendant price curve line (it seems they decide to take a break now, judging the prices of TNMT Leonardo and PF Black Canary) their statues are almost half the price of a similar XM figure. So point to Sideshow in this regard.

2 – Head sculpts.

XM are not very good in head sculpts whereas Sideshow is very good at it, especially now that they mastered women’s faces (Dark Phoenix, Captain Marvel and Black Canary were three in a roll, not to mention Batgirl) giving each character a distinctive personality and beauty. So another point to Sideshow

3 – Poses.

In this case it’s a tie, both companies are pretty good and creative in the poses of the characters enriching each character personality.  

4 – Mold and cast.

Apparently XM figures has a more sturdy casting than Sideshow, although both do hollowed figures, XM figures are more bulky, made of cold cast porcelain, and the parts of their figures fit seamlessly. So point to XM (and shame on you, Sideshow, for doing such cheap bad and casts!).

5 – Paint and finishing.

Again, in this point it’s a tie, since painting it is hit or miss to both companies, with some marvelous paintworks and others so, so. XM takes a little advantage for better quality control but Sideshow shadowing and overall painting composition are better.

6 – Packaging.

Sideshow’s boxes are nothing short of awesome. The figures, most of the time comes well protected and the artwork is top notch. On the other side, XM Studios black boxes are a lot more sturdier, with metallic protected corners, the content is are tied by Velcro stripes. The figure's parts come well packed and they came generally in two layers of foam. While Sideshow boxes vary a lot in size and shape, XM's boxes are roughly the same size (speaking of 1/4 figures). In the end the two companies deliver their product to the consumer well protected so while one is more creative and the other is more sturdy I'll consider this topic a tie.

7 – Clothes.

As far as I’m concerned, XM does not work with clothes, while Sideshow really nailed the art of dressing their figures. If there’s one part one can’t complain about Sideshow is the clothing department. They really do a great job. For the sake of justice, since XM doesn’t work this in their statues I won’t give a win to Sideshow because there isn’t a competition here.

8 – Accessibility.

A clear point to Sideshow as it is a headache to achieve a XM statue or so community says due to the company be in Singapore (or somewhere like that).

9 – Franchises.

As far as I know, XM only have Marvel’s and now Star Wars licenses while Sideshow had, besides those, DC and a plethora of others smaller franchises. So this is a no brainer point to Sideshow.

10 – Future.

Future looks incredible for XM Studios if we are to believe the renders they show will turn into actual figures with that quality. It is equally bright to Sideshow, especially if you look to the past of the company and some of its old efforts and compare to nowadays projects. Both evolved a lot and keep on evolving, so the sky is the limit to both. I’ll give this point to XM though because of the recent poor cast of Sideshows figures and inflating prices seem in the last couple of years. There are issues in Sideshow land that must be addressed what doesn’t happen with XM.

So what’s the final score? 7 points (including ties) to Sideshow against 5 (including ties) to XM. I know this is a personal score based on a subjective view, even worse, biased towards Sideshow. But I’ve tried to make the most impartial judgement as possible. Would love to hear comments! :)