Hawkman - 1:3 Scale Statue

[Star-struck]

That customer service response sounds like what someone on ebay would say before I filed a return request. Hope you get it sorted out.

[Master Pizza]

I didn't order this but have gone back and forth with their customer service about other pre-orders. I'll be sticking with Sideshow for my IS statues pieces from now on.

[aa909]

Well Mine arrived yesterday and I'm very disappointed, multiple issues:

1) The peg on the right foot doesn't go all the way in the base, sticks out 1/2" which causes the boot to sit 1/2" off the base and results in a lean to the left. Very noticeable when you use the open wing setup as the lean is further exaggerated by the wide wingspan.



2) Neither the open nor closed wings will stay flush on the left side. The peg slides out of the key hole >1/2" after full insertion.





3) Left ear on the helmet was warped. The ears are PVC so can be adjusted with heat.

I Contacted Customer Service last night. I'm on the fence about a refund vs replacement. I'm not certain that the engineering of the wing keys will survive long term switch outs. Seems even the slightest variance in the keys over time could result in failure to hold the wings firmly in place. Not acceptable, especially at this price point.

[pdenham]

Sorry to see that aa909.

The security of the wings is most concerning.

I opened the second box last night and didn't find any obvious breakage. It must have been the abundance of silica packs rolling around that I heard.

Everything is wrapped up so well, that I really don't want to disturb it since I'd only have to disassemble and box it back up in a week anyway- but hearing of fit issues means I probably shouldn't wait to check it.

Would museum putty on the key (not the peg) be an option for helping to keep the wing flush? I've never used the stuff, but from what I hear it's used often in earthquake prone locales, so I assume it works.

I also noticed the material used for the wings on the helmet was not a hard, rigid plastic. or polystone. I didn't take the figure out so I didn't eyeball it for any distortion, but I can see how that might occur.

One of the concession I had to make to find a spot for this is that it is going to sit adjacent to a window and get a direct hit of early morning-late morning sun for a good part of the year. I was going to keep the curtain perpetually drawn on that side to block most of the direct light, but that might not be enough. I may need to set up a vertical flap to fully block it.

[aa909]

pdenham, you've got 30 days from delivery to return or exchange if there is an issue.

Today, I decided to return this statue for a full refund and IS customer service sent me the return labels this morning. It's a great looking piece but I am definitely concerned about the engineering of the wing peg/key design in terms of long term ownership.

To answer your question, earthquake putty works great at firmly holding statues on flat horizontal surfaces. I live in CA and use it on various statues. I would guess they may help hold the pegs in place, however the wings are exerting a vertical force on the putty so not sure how that holds up over time.

In any case I'm going to monitor collector feedback as more of these Hawkman statues are shipped and see if these hold up over time. I may considering picking another one up down the road if there are no more issues reported on the forums and on FB.

Let us know how your unboxing and assembly goes. Hopefully you got a good one!!

[Vader]

do they refund full amount, including shipping??

[ComicJesus]

Really disheartening to see problems with this. Iron Studios, though capable of creating beautiful statues does seem to have some issues with quality control in their intricate statues. I remember their Spider-Man looked so good but it had issues. I think I remember they got those issues sorted out to some extent. Hopefully they can for this.

[pdenham]

It's odd that the person in the unboxing video commented on how snug and secure his wings were- both sets- yet aa's were distressingly loose.
Usually the factory matches up the parts that fit properly for each statue and keeps those identified together for final packaging.

Not having looked at it yet, I would be surprised if IS didn't engineer the wing & keys to let gravity do part of the job in keeping them in place- like having a downward angle for the keys so they are less likely to slip out. Or even having the peg at a slightly oblique angle out of the key so that the whole attatchment acts like a curved hook to really lock it in place.

Then again, I can't believe they chose to make the wings out of resin and not PVC.

aa909's experience reminds me a little of the Wolverine LSF I had briefly. Mine arrived with QC issues that I expected to degrade over time. They couldn't just ship me a replacement part- it would have had to have been a whole new statue.
I loved the statue- it fully blew me away- but I'd spent over $2K on it, and was in no mood to settle for something that had issues right out-of-the-box. It was a major PITA re-packing and then lugging it back to UPS to ship back as it was housed in one big box that was very close to the size of these two Hawkman boxes put together. It barely fit in the back of my Rav.

Once it was returned I breathed easier and was more than a little relieved to have that money back in pocket. I seriously loved the piece while I had it, and did want to order a replacement at some point (they were made to order in batches so I couldn't just return it and get a replacement then and there). However the money went immediately to other bills or assorted pursuits, and I never did get around to replacing it.

It was far and away my favorite statue when I had it, but I was certain at the time I'd made the right choice. However in the years since I've kind of regretted not having immediately replaced it instead of giving it up completely. Despite having been fortunate enough to get a few very cool pieces since then, there is still nothing else that has come close to having the kind of presence that had. Hawkman might be the first that does come close. We'll see.

It sounds like aa's might have been more of an impulse buy, but in any case I know the sense of relief he'll feel when the matter is finally closed and he's freed up to move on to other things.

[Phoenixblazes]

Originally Posted by pdenham

Sorry to see that aa909.

The security of the wings is most concerning.

I opened the second box last night and didn't find any obvious breakage. It must have been the abundance of silica packs rolling around that I heard.

Everything is wrapped up so well, that I really don't want to disturb it since I'd only have to disassemble and box it back up in a week anyway- but hearing of fit issues means I probably shouldn't wait to check it.

Would museum putty on the key (not the peg) be an option for helping to keep the wing flush? I've never used the stuff, but from what I hear it's used often in earthquake prone locales, so I assume it works.

I also noticed the material used for the wings on the helmet was not a hard, rigid plastic. or polystone. I didn't take the figure out so I didn't eyeball it for any distortion, but I can see how that might occur.

One of the concession I had to make to find a spot for this is that it is going to sit adjacent to a window and get a direct hit of early morning-late morning sun for a good part of the year. I was going to keep the curtain perpetually drawn on that side to block most of the direct light, but that might not be enough. I may need to set up a vertical flap to fully block it.

How many days has it been since you received the piece and not put it together?

Even if you have to pack it back up for whatever reason, I recommend that you should still put it all together to check it over.

[pdenham]

It came in two days ago.

I need to lug a large 80 lb laser printer down a narrow flight of stairs to be able to get the cabinet into a new position to set this.
And before I do that I have to ready the new space where the printer will go...and before I do that...etc.
It's one of those situations.

I'm hoping everything will be in place by Monday morning,
I hit the road for several weeks about a week later, so there isn't much time for back and forth'ing with SS if there is a problem and then having to haul it to a Fed Ex.