$900 OF TROUBLE FOR THE INDUSTRY

Prime 1 1:4 figures: a bless or a curse?

I know, I know, XM asks higher than average prices for their 1:4 statues all the time and they sell. Sell it all. All the time. No news here. But XM is in a league of their own. They are a myth created by the collectors due to the difficulty to acquire and scarcity of their figures in the West. The hype about XM is only this. Of course the statues have an outstanding quality control and a few of them are really creative and daring, but their sculpts, IMHO, left much to be desired in comparison to Prime 1 and Sideshow figures. Especially regarding the figures’ head sculpts (specifically female characters). But, as I said before, XM is a myth and plays their own game. If they sculpt a fart and price it $800 people will buy it just because it is XM and find it revolutionary. One can do nothing about this. XM is a lost case to me. They become flippers’ paradise because of the inaccessibility of their figures in the US and due to the deep pocket guys all think every single one of their figures (even the new uninspired Venom) is a grail and buy them no matter the cost. I never saw so much undeserved hype about any other company in the collectibles industry. So let’s put them out of the equation for one moment especially because they’re not even distributed in the US. Legally, I mean. Remember, flippers.

What I’m really concerned about is the Prime 1 and its new 1:4 (please, pay attention: 1:4 scale) Anti-Venom statue’s price: shocking $900! In Japan! The same price of a 1:3 scale figure of the very same Prime 1 in the US. I’m very much afraid that it becomes a hit and, what’s worse, send the other companies the message that “if they can push the prices so far and sell, why can’t we?” Soon enough Sideshow 1:4 figures that are already around stellar $500 will cost in between $700-750 and the next “complex statues”, as the new Deadpool PF, will hit around $900-1k. The same can happen to Pop Culture Shock (although I believe it’s a bit harder due to Macaluso’s personality and respect for his costumers but, if everyone raises their prices, I doubt if he won’t follow the trend). Even First 4 Figures is slowly but steadily raising their prices already. Just to name a few of the major players. All of them can be deeply impacted by the Anti-Venom price depending on how well the figure sells when it’s out in the market.

The worst thing, and that is what scares me the most, is that this irreversible path might have already been taken by Prime 1 making a videogame franchise of 1:4 statues costing over $700 apiece a hit. Please note again: nor a Marvel or DC or Star Wars franchise but an inexpensive, by comparison, videogame franchise, sold by over $700.

Trouble came before Anti-Venom, in fact.

We’re on a very dangerous moment in this market’s history. Somebody said Prime 1 would enter the 1:4 arena to be a game changer. Whoever said that is probably damn right but in a totally different way: Prime 1 entered to spoil the market to practice even higher prices than they are already doing. Make no mistake; I know the quality of Prime 1 pieces is unparalleled. Not even XM can match them on that (even though XM is more creative and daring on some of their projects, as I’ve previously mentioned). However, nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies Anti-Venom’s price. No matter how complex it is. No matter incresing factory production costs in China. If things continue like this, with Prime 1 releasing 1:4 figures for this prices, within 5 years – being optimistic! – everyone will be practicing the prices XM flippers does today. And who the hell knows how much XM flippers will ask for their figures then?! Lately, the industry has grown a lot and enough rich people has entered the game, which will enable the market to continue asking for higher prices as the ones from Prime 1 new 1:4 figures.

What will happen to the average collector, the ones who struggle to buy one or two Sideshow Collectibles or even two Prime 1 figures per year? Obviously, they’ll – we’ll – all be obliged to quit this hobby…

Again, make no mistake; this is an alarm call. Notice that probably the Anti-Venom statue will cost $900 in Japan alone without counting shipping and distribution costs to US or shipping, distribution plus import taxes to Europe.

I see dark times arriving for collectors. Many of us will be pushed out of our beloved hobby because we will simply no longer be able to afford the figures we desire so much. Times are changing. For the worse. This is my welcome to Prime 1 entrance in the 1:4 collectibles realm. Thank you for showing all the market they can raise their prices to an unbearable plateau. Thank you for turning this hobby into a club only rich people are allowed to enter. Thank you for destroying my dreams as a collector. In one word, $900 Anti-Venom figure my @$$!

Addendum: one more proof provide by fellow Robert Raschal (published on Statue Collectors group) that darker times are indeed coming: 

We got to prepare ourselves. Prices will increase. Even more.

PLEASE, SIGN THE PETITION

In search for a way to alleviate the increasing market prices over the average consumer, we came up with this petition. If you could sign and, if possible, share among your collector friends this certainly won’t be a great game changer but it certainly will be a more affordable way to get our figures. Please read.

Below is the link for a petition requesting Sideshow to begin their payment plans as soon as the figures are out for pre-order, giving us more months to pay with smaller monthly fees, making it easier to acquire a figure overall. If you like this idea, just click the link below and sign the petition. It only takes a minute but can bring long-term facilities to all of us collectors of Sideshow (and Prime 1 and Hot Toy and all other companies Sideshow represents). Please, make a difference: take action. We gathered 71 signatures already; 29 for 100 signatures benchmark. The next can be yours.

https://www.change.org/p/sidewhow-collectibles-sideshow-we-want-payment-plans-with-more-and-lower-monthly-fees