I AM A FANBOY. IS THIS A BAD THING?

I even have their t-shirt and the printing and the fabric are not that great
but I'm feel pretty comfortable with it. Lol.

I came to an obvious conclusion watching the Wonderfest: I am a fanboy. A Sideshow fanboy. Though I hear, read, see and know the faults of Sideshow, something in me that grew I don’t know how makes me prefer their statues over the others. Not by far but from a safe distance Prime 1 and XM can’t touch. I won’t mention ECC because I’m not into movie pieces (except for their Gizmo) and they are a selected niche company in an already niche market. So I’ll focus on the big three. I know and I see that XM and Prime 1 have undeniable strengths. XM packaging, the weight of their statues, the creative bases, the attention to detail, the quality of the production and finishing, the daring projects (X-Men vs. Sentinel diorama or Hulkbuster, for instance) the variety of characters offered all adds up to the legacy the company has built and that they deserve. Almost the same can be said of Prime 1 gargantuan figures and bases (minus the creativity). The two of them offer some major works and in some regards their pieces surpass Sideshow’s. It’s a fact I cannot deny. The flaming Ghost Rider in his devilish motorcycle it’s a sight to behold, the beautiful contrast of black and vibrant shades of orange really grabs the eye. But assembling it is almost as puzzle solving. And I don’t like that (I gave up my P.O. on Malavestros for the same reason). To me it breaks the magic of the statue even though these several-pieces figures are done that way to minimize breakage. The intention is the best I just don’t happen to like it. The less parts the better. I start collecting Bowen figures. And yes I know the hobby evolved in complexity and keeps evolving in unbelievable ways since I started collecting, so measures like that are the guarantee to deliver the most astonishing pieces possible. One can give me all the reasons in the world to buy a statue with dozens of pieces to assemble, I don’t care I just won’t get the statue. But enough of this subject.

The one thing I care the most about a statue is the portrait. And Sideshow is simply the king of portraits. They amped the game to extremely high standards this last SDCC (as long as they don’t try to do portraits based on actual people, they completely suck in this category, they’re extremely bad on that. If you want a figure of a celebrity, go for Hot Toys or Blitzway). I was completely blown away by most of the SS portraits shown in 2018, all of them with different facial features, each of them with unique personalities. For this reason alone – my main decision factor to choose whether to buy a figure or not – Sideshow owns me. Completely. I think Prime 1 statues to have lifeless uninspiring portraits while XM have them too generic (apart from Kingpin, Vulture and that old screaming Inhuman’s guy, the name escapes me now). This is the main reason I am a Sideshow fanboy. Added to the fact they tend to do bases that are good in size and don’t distract the attention from the character. I really don’t like convoluted bases with dozens of elements or big ones that overshadow the statue. Prime 1 is notorious to do that and XM in some cases does the same (though with much more finesse, in my opinion).

As a fanboy – what I certainly am – I have the bad side of it, in other words, I have prejudice against other companies. I don’t like this side of mine and try to keep it to myself as best as I can. I try not to go on criticizing other companies on the communities, I think it leads nowhere; it’s impolite and irrational, as I believe any fandom is. It’s quite an emotional thing. And I can’t criticize what I don’t have, what I just saw in the pictures posted by the community or on sites. However, here is my space and I feel free to be more outspoken regarding my tastes.

If I had to choose one figure from Prime 1 and one figure of XM to have which I would choose? As for Prime 1 I would contradictorily go for one of the most lifeless museum-esque figures of their catalogue: Batman Beyond Golden Version. A golden 1/3 Batman would really add up to my collection it would look like a gigantic trophy of sorts and would complement my SS Hulk LSB as the center of my collection. Unfortunately, I don’t have money for it right now. Would have to sell some pieces in order to get him. It’s a case to think. A gigantic golden Batman appeals highly to me. As for XM I know the obvious answers would be Magneto on Throne or Ghost Rider but I don’t like the head sculpt of Magneto, as much as I like the overall design, concept and execution of the piece. It’s the one throne figure to rule them all because it makes sense to me he's seating on a Sentinel’s hand. It tells a story others figures on throne don’t. Unfortunately, I don’t like the portrait and don’t like those mandatory grails every great collector must have in order to prove themselves so. And I don’t like figures on thrones either! Lol. About Ghost Rider I don’t like it because it’s awkward shape turns him a pain to display and I think the main character on this piece is the bike not Ghost Rider. It’s a pretty cool piece beautifully executed but not my alley. I think I would get the Inhuman’s guy, I guess his name is Blackbolt. The screaming portrait is phenomenal and makes one wonder what would happen if the guy did that in the comics.

To finally close this post I will enumerate some pros and cons of Sideshow. Please, keep in mind that despite being a longtime collector (since the Bowen era) I don’t know much about the market as you guys do.

CONS OF SIDESHOW

- Their figures seem poorly or cheaply casted in comparison to XM and Prime 1, hence they’re lighter (or so you say). I love my Hulk LSB but I bet I would love it even more if it was casted in polystone instead o fiberglass. It doesn’t really make a difference while on display but it bothers me I don’t know why. That being said, if I had the means I would buy SS PVC Swamp Thing simply because he is my all-time favorite character and I think the sculpture is just fabulous. (Yes he comes first Batman Beyond Golden Version on my list).

- Sideshow still have quality control issues, though I think this have becoming to be addressed more seriously and I hear less complaints in this regard on the communities than a couple of years ago. I’m optimistic about it but, hey, I’m a fanboy and never got any defective piece. Maybe I’m just lucky.

- It’s a pain to get replacement parts or figures that came defective. Or so I heard.

- Bases can be very simplistic to many collectors.

- Not much variety in characters released. Which I think changed a bit this last SDCC but it’s far from what XM has to offer.

- This is a polemic one, but I really don’t see the point in the Court of the Dead line. I know that to launch a new IP is a tremendously bold step that leads to a lot of creative freedom and the sculptures are just fabulous but I believe it’s a thing that exists more in the mind of Tom Gilliland than outside of it. I ended up ordering Malavestros and canceled it not because I disliked the statue but because (as I mentioned) I disliked it came like a puzzle to assemble what I truly hate.

- Not akin to take much risk regarding characters but then again they launched a PVC statue and have an IP of their own.  

- They suck when trying to replicate real life portraits.

- Head seams. They just turn me off of a figure completely. Sideshow should learn from XM and Prime 1 in this respect. They nailed it. Sideshow is beginning to learn. I'm all over Rebel Terminator because she happen to look like Natalie Portman to me but I don't know how the interchangeable heads will work. The pictures don't show any seam but I believe the production piece will have an ugly seam since there's no necklace or something to hide it.

- They’re capitalist as hell.

PROS OF SIDEHOSW COLLECTIBLES

- The portraits of fictional characters are unmatched. Period.

- The price of the delivered product is the best when comparing to XM and especially Prime 1. Not saying it is cheap but it’s the most affordable high-end collectibles company I’m aware of. (Apart F4F!)

- They still have some artists who hand sculpt which I believe is a dying art and most of my statues are hand sculpted.

- The figures are generally designed to be display-friendly which is a great plus to a collector that have only his own room to show the figures (like me).

- They’ve made me a believer of digital sculpting with what they achieved in this last SDCC. It far surpasses the competition. The portraits and poses and the level of detail are just amazing and could not be achieved by hand sculpting alone.

 - They have the best distribution service on the market.

- They congregate almost all of the great brands, they’re site it’s a joy to navigate.

- The customer service is second to none. (I know many will disagree with that. Lol. But they always solved my little issues).

- There aren’t many substantial delays on their schedules.

I can’t think of anything else. All I know is that I prefer Sideshow style of sculpting above all other companies. And they keeping getting better. I know they’re maybe more money thirsty than other companies but I believe this leads them to stay always on top of the competition which is not a bad thing for collectors. Answering the question of the title, I don’t think it is bad to be a fanboy, it’s limiting in more ways than it needed to be, but so is my money. And I like to spend it in what I truly love and the company that hits my sweet spot is Sideshow. Again I don’t know why. It’s like a favorite band I guess. I consider myself lucky from the financial standpoint though. If I was a Prime 1 or XM fan I would be in real trouble (with all due respect for the companies). I just wonder why there’s so much hate towards Sideshow and only praises about the others. Maybe being at the top attracts this type of hate. I don’t know. You, that is not a Sideshow fanboy, could explain it to me?

P.S.: the experiment testing the power of the Facebook communities mentioned in the last post will take place on Wednesday, one hour after Sideshow Live on Statue Collectors community. Let’s unite our forces and try to make a difference regarding Sideshow line of PFs. I believe dreams may come true. Do you? Be ready. :)

ADENDUM

GOOD NEWS ABOUT REBEL TERMINATOR - If you read my post, you know I hate Sideshow’s figures head seams. I’m very interested in acquiring (if I can) the Rebel Terminator figure since she resembles my dear Natalie Portman (to me at least). My only concern was that it had an awful head seam since the EX is an alternative portrait. Therefore, I asked Sideshow about it and here’s the answer: “As you can see (pun intended), you cannot see any seam anywhere - the break comes all down to the shirt. As such you should have no issue with ordering the item.”

Indeed the only issue I have now is to arrange the money. Someone has to leave in order to her come into my collection. Sideshow is learning from its previous mistakes and seems to have realized that crude head seams are not tolerable by today (high) standards. I’m more fanboy then ever! I have to move things around fast, as the ES of exclusive version is only 350 pieces.