I’m a
Sideshow fanboy and I’m not ashamed of that (maybe I was just lucky to get all my
statues in perfect condition until now). Even so, I must admit that one thing
that XM, which I see as the main competitor to Sideshow, excels is
in the variety of characters offered. Sideshow is lacking badly in this
department. Ok, we’ve got Swamp Thing and Green Arrow and X23 what was kind of
a miracle, but this year, once again, we see Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Joker,
Harley Quinn, Green Lantern, Spider-man, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Red
Sonja, Darth Maul, Darth Vader etc. and etc. I don’t know if they choose the
characters based on some kind of marketing research but I don’t believe so. If
they heard the Facebook communities (the right place to watch because the
majority of the hardcore collectors clusters there), they would know that many,
many of us want Nightcrawler, Flash, Beast and many others that XM addressed in
their line-up. And XM excels even further not being afraid to approach the
villains with the same ratio they address the heroes, another thing Sideshow
lacks too. It’s always Venom and Joker. I believe they would make the same
money if they give attention to other, more low profile, characters. Even more,
perhaps. If they were able to simply revolutionize the quality of their sculpts
to the level achieved in this SDDC, why don’t revolutionize the choice of
characters made as well?
By the way,
my greatest concern is regarding the production pieces of these more
sophisticated new figures. Once it goes to mass production. The painting jobs
of the prototypes were top notch as ever. I’m not paranoid yet because they
delivered with Red Sonja and with Wolverine, the two first pieces of that new
generation of Sideshow sculpts.
Two things
I would rethink on Sideshow are their 1/6 articulated dolls and the obsession
with Court of the Dead. They really have to had some classes with partner Hot
Toys to learn how to sew clothes that fit well in the character, they’re definitely
are lacking on this. Court of the Dead, on the other hand, looks to me as a big
effort that appeals only to a few.
0h31. I
went to smoke, I never smoke in here where my figures are. Am drinking
Coca-Cola Zero with lots of Ice. I live in Brazil and thought while smoking
that I am a completely failure in every aspect of my life. First, the law
considers me as an invalid citizen. In other words, one that cannot even vote,
work, drive, marry, that have to have a tutor, a person to take care of me and
control my pension (money). This tutor as for now – and I hope for a great
while for sure – is my mother. She is very tight handed regarding money, so to
acquire the statues is a complicated process, especially because she thinks I
have too many already. I don’t know if I’ll be able to acquire another statue
even though I have some money on PayPal because it is an Brazilian account and they
do not accept transactions with Sideshow. I’m in a dead end here. Worst I’m in
dire straits because I didn’t resist the offer of Blanka (the Brazilian Street
Fighter) Player Two Version discount at the time PCS distribution went to
Sideshow and bought the figure. My mother already said that if I buy something
without talking to her first she would cancel my credit card. I’ll try to lie saying
that the Red Sonja (that she knows about and should be my last statue) launched
early and the remaining installments came at once. I hope this works. PCS
Blanka already arrived at my brother’s in the US. I want badly to acquire The
Little Mermaid (me and J Scott Campbell think she is perfect! Lol) and one of
the new SS DC or Marvel girls (probably Harley Quinn since her expression is so
hard to sculpt and the overall piece from body to base is extremely detailed). However,
then again, I don’t believe my mother will believe in my Red Sonja excuse and
will cancel my credit card. Let’s see what life will bring me. Apart that, I
bought a PS3 game called Persona 5 during Amazon’s Prime Day and to that I have
no excuse at all. And I’m not even playing my systems anymore (PS3, Wii U and
Nintendo Switch), I’ve got saturated of games, Persona 5 would be my last try.
Call me a heretic but although a huge Zelda fan I didn’t dig Breath Of The Wild
at all. It’s an artistic masterpiece but there are too much stressful variables
that push me away from playing it. I can see the grandiose about it but is not
my alley. I don’t believe that at 41 I will get into a JRPG like Persona 5 but
the critical and public appraisal was so high that I felt impelled to buy it (an
it also went to my brother’s) and give it a try when it eventually come to my
hands. Hey, but this post should be about statues. I got carried away.
 |
| Here is where a spend the most part of my life and I dream to transform into a collectors room with all my figures on display. |
-x-x-x-x-
13h54.
Waked up and saw I told a bit of my personal drama as a collector and as a
gamer. And as a human being. Well, maybe I have to give up collecting after Red
Sonja. I don’t even know if all my statues fit in my room, since it will be
remodeled to accommodate them all and it’s not a big room. It’s my bedroom and
office and will become my man cave as well (maybe I’m expecting too much of my
room but everything will have to fit, the games, the CDs, the DVDs, the books,
the clothes, my statues and figures not to mention my stereo and my bed! The
architect will have a hard time to figure this mess out! Lol). In other words,
I don’t know if I can accommodate two more pieces. I think there’s space for a
smaller figure like the Little Mermaid but maybe there’s no space to Harley, or
maybe Rogue, or Psylocke. And I happen to have a bad taste regarding statues,
since I only choose underrated pieces which are sold on eBay for prices below
the one I paid (Ralph McQuarrie Boba Fett EX, The Thing Maquette – the one
based on the movie – or Three A Iron Man anyone?). Well, I’m starting to feel
that the new bunch of fabulous pieces Sideshow unveiled in SDCC 18 will not
find a way into my collection. What is a pitty. And it’s not. I believe it’s
better for me for one side, because this hobby is too expensive to my reality
and the display of the statues I dream of is one that is not crowded, I think
the visual pollution of some displays too overwhelming and ugly. The display I
dream to my room is each PF put side by side. For the smaller figures (Batman
Black & White pieces and PVC anime figures) I don’t mind that much if it
turns to be a more convoluted display and cannot be any other way since I have
about a dozen PF (max) and around 50 smaller figures so there is no way I can
display them all side by side.
Returning
to the initial debate of this post, I think competition, especially between XM
and Sideshow to be very positive for us collectors because one is always trying
to surpass the other. Including in quality control. I sincerely think Sideshow
is taking more care regarding the mass production of their pieces than they
used to do. I remember to hear a lot more complaints from the community about
this subject a couple of years ago. Talking about production pieces, I just
don’t know what happened to the eyes of the SS Wonder Woman based on the movie,
they differ completely from the prototype version. I think they intended to
make it resemble more Gal Gadot and changed the blue eyes for smaller black
eyes, which didn’t help the figure at all, the result was ridiculous. If I have
ordered the piece based on the prototype pictures, I would feel myself fooled
and scammed. Thank god I didn’t. But other examples as the new Wolverine and
the new Red Sonja proves that their quality control evolved. If I happen to buy
Harley Quinn though, I will wait for production pieces pictures before buying,
the figure has a very complex and detailed paint scheme and I’m still
uncomfortable with Sideshow QC (even though, as I said before, I have no issues
with my SS orders so far). In this regard, XM excels Sideshow largely. Their
quality control is second to none and you know that what you see is exactly
what you get. Same must be said of Prime 1. I believe the big complaint
collectors have with Sideshow is quality control of their production pieces, as
the prices seem to be stabilized around 500 – 600 for a Premium Format Figure.
It’s not a small amount by any means, but collectors are already used to it.
Hope pricing stays like this for the time come.
As though I
am a Sideshow fanboy and only have Sideshow 1/4 and 1/5 pieces, I greatly
admire the work of XM. It just not fit my tastes. If I have to choose between a
Prime 1 or a XM piece, I would definitely grab an XM. I’m not too fond of Prime
1 sculpting I think they produce soulless figures, there’s something strange
about their pieces, a lack of humanity, personality that bothers me. Not to
mention the sizes, 1/3 (most of it) is definitely not for me due to the lack of
space issue and because is so big it freaks me. I hate the gargantuan bases as
well. And there’s the issue of my brother bringing the pieces to Brazil. My
country does not allow oversized luggage to be dispatched and the taxes and
shipping costs to Brazil are astronomical. I had to pay twice the original
price to have the Hulk LSB to be delivered directly to Brazil (since it could
not come by plane with my brother due to oversize).
In resume,
I think XM has the creativity, the quality and the variety of characters. It is
a company more akin to take risks, sometimes big risks as the Sentinel vs. X-Men
diorama. I appreciate that. Their characters have personality and soul. I like
that too. Sideshow does not have the same quality control of their pieces and
like to play it safe most of the time (albeit they launched the Fairytale
Collection, The Court of the Dead line and the Gotham Nightmare duo which are
big departures from the more of the same they usually do). That being said,
Sideshow has the most beautiful and well-rounded sculptures to my taste. Prime
1 figures look big lifeless museum pieces and I truly dislike them with some
notable exceptions like Poison Ivy that I think is magnificent even though is
such a massive piece I can’t even imagine the price. Nevertheless everything
about the figure is quite perfect, the SS Ivy pales down by comparison, even
being a beautiful piece with its own merits it is no match to Prime one
offering. For some irrational thing on me, the statue I really wanted from
Prime one is perhaps the most lifeless statuesque of them all: Batman Beyond
Gold Version. But is an unreachable dream so I don’t care with this
contradiction. The only massive statue allowed in my room is Hulk LSB and that’s
enough for me.
On a final
note, I don’t mind edition sizes if they don’t compromise the final product. Be
one among 2k people to have the statue is still pretty exclusive to my taste,
considering the planet to have around 7 billion people. Lol. Oh, and I’m having
fun with customs being called now “fan art” as if it justified the legal infringements
of producing and especially selling these pieces. I cannot complain at all
since I’m a proud owner of a “fan art” Wolverine. I also think that the big
companies follow the customs market closely as they have used the works of
Daniel Bel and Kuchareck Brothers on recent pieces. That surprised me a lot and
I thought was an excellent move from the big companies. May this trend thrive,
we collectors win with it because we don’t have to pay extortive “fan art”
prices for their works and, better yet, the figures come already professionally
painted so one don’t have to pay for that either. I know the exclusivists may
not agree with me but I’m not rich to pay 1k plus for a statue, so I love these
talented artists being contracted by the big guns.
Well, I
touched many different subjects on this post. Maybe one too many. But when I
start to write I like to put it all out. Would love to hear some opinions.
Thank you for reading and sorry for my broken and poor English. See ya! I hope…
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