SS SWAMP THING ES AND THE POWER OF THE FACEBOOK COMMUNITIES

I intended to buy SS Swamp Thing statue but the price became very prohibitive for my present reality. Plus I think I would need to ship it directly to Brazil since Brazilian’s airports don’t accept oversized luggage (what I think is precisely the case) and shipping to Brazil, paying all the taxes here would more than double the value of the statue. I don’t mind it being PVC at all (since is my all-time favorite character) but most of the members from the Facebook’s communities thought otherwise and despised the figure. I went to check the statue just now and discovered that the Limited Edition size to be of only 250 pieces! Astonished, this led me to some conclusions. First, the immense majority of the collectors are members of said communities. Second, we have the power to simply shake the market with our words and actions (or, in the case of Swamp Thing, lack of action). I think I’m not overestimating things here. As another example, I could mention that former custom sculptors highly praised by the community are now working for the big companies, as is the case of Daniel Bel and Kucharek Brothers (to name the ones I’m aware of). I believe they would not come to the eyes of the big guns if it wasn’t for us, collectors who religiously build these communities. Most of us decided not to buy SS Swamp Thing and since most of us are the majority of their buyers, we flopped the statue. We clearly stated that we don’t like our statues to be all PVC. For some reason the community understands that PVC is a worst, cheap material to build a so expensive figure and this common sense of hundreds or thousands of people hit heavy on Sideshow. We, even without organizing any movement, were able to achieve those things. I can only imagine what we could achieve if we organized ourselves. I believe every major company has the eyes upon us. They know we are their core public, the ones that really love collecting figures and the ones that drive the sales of their products. We, members of the main statues communities are the ones who spend hundreds and commonly thousands of dollars in their products per year. We are their public, the target they have to hit. We have a power, a saying, that I don’t know how to measure. Or better yet, I know. I will launch a little experiment and see what happens. Wait and see. If I’m correct about our latent power we will achieve something most of us desire. And I will gladly wait Sideshow give a fat discount and free global shipping to Swamp Thing to see if I can gather the means to acquire it. Swimming against the tide I’m not a PVC hater and I just happen to love the character and the sculpture (and the EX). Being said that, I felt fooled because my most expensive piece, SS Hulk LSB (is the fourth time I mention this statue today, utterly curious) is made out of fiberglass. I asked Sideshow the material and they never answered. That got me pissed but I love the piece so much that decided to accept the facts.

In resume, you and me and everybody from the Facebook communities have (Sideshow at least) in our hands. We’re just not aware of that and don’t know what to do with such power. Well, this is my conclusion. I know that many of you don’t believe that. Wait for my experiment and the next SDCC and we’ll see. I may be proven wrong but I really believe I won’t.

Finally, I would like to thank each and every one of you that makes these communities so lively and fun. It’s a pleasure to be part of them with you. It’s a thing made by collectors to collectors that only who’s in and love figures can truly grasp. I’m sure that at least all of us share this sentiment. J       

P.S.: you may be asking why I don’t think the communities affect Prime 1 and XM as much as Sideshow. Well, first XM has lower ESes, is from a different market and everything they do sells out. As for Prime 1, their community feels like 1984 or a Disney cartoon, one cannot criticize, everything is always wonderful there, always flowers and smiles (a too alienated place for my liking). It’s like the fans lack the personality that Prime 1 figures also do. That’s why.

P.S. 2: anyone got scammed by Project Triforce too? Lost 750 bucks ordering a never to be seen Goliath from the Evolve game.

P.S. 3: I will run the experiment on Statue Collector community. Hope you participate on it.