Hey Sideshow stop making plastic statues and taking shortcuts

[Nugchompa]

I think we are getting so upset about the use of PVC because polystone is one thing we have used to justify why these statues cost an absurd amount of money. The truth is, neither polystone of PVC costs a lot of money. If they were always made of PVC, people would be paying these prices and using some other metric to justify the statue's price. We are being gouged for hand painted hunks of resin and are using mental gymnastics to live with our spending choices. I got a hand painted dragon statue for $150. It is way bigger than most Sideshow pieces and is quite intricate. It is also polystone. I assume the company I got it from is still making a pretty hefty penny off of it. Let that sink in.

[Khev]

Threads like this will never make Sideshow stop cutting corners. However if it's true that 97% of all Wolf Predator bust buyers are sending theirs back then that WILL make them stop.

Always vote with your wallets.

[Fremen]

I'd love to know what dragon you got as I collection them (not to change the subject)

All my dragons are solid cold cast resin and this is by far my favorite material for capturing details.

[Nugchompa]

Originally Posted by Fremen

I'd love to know what dragon you got as I collection them (not to change the subject)

All my dragons are solid cold cast resin and this is by far my favorite material for capturing details.

Sent PM.

[HeavyMetalSpike]

Originally Posted by Joel

. . . Sadshow knows damn well when people see that media type we all PREVIOUSLY assumed only little bits would be PVC, not a main portion. Make no mistake THEY KNEW THIS. That's ONE of the reasons why Wolf Pred is in my opinion deception, not mistake.

No statue I ever add to my collection will have a large portion of PVC. I wouldn't call that a statue I'd call it a fancy money box and I don't collect fancy money boxes.

Originally Posted by Joel

Yeah, If this was found in the local toy store for $99-$199 we would all be going nuts over how someone did a pretty damn good plastic Predator!

Agree 100%.

Originally Posted by Khev

Threads like this will never make Sideshow stop cutting corners. However if it's true that 97% of all Wolf Predator bust buyers are sending theirs back then that WILL make them stop.

Always vote with your wallets.

Based on feedback so far (for cancellations & returns combined), that percentage won't be far out.


.

[aa909]

Originally Posted by Khev

Threads like this will never make Sideshow stop cutting corners. However if it's true that 97% of all Wolf Predator bust buyers are sending theirs back then that WILL make them stop.

Always vote with your wallets.

this is the only thing that people/companies will respond to with real action... to they'll get crushed by the competition.

[Indomitus]

Originally Posted by Khev

Threads like this will never make Sideshow stop cutting corners. However if it's true that 97% of all Wolf Predator bust buyers are sending theirs back then that WILL make them stop.

Always vote with your wallets.

With all the issues and debates about Sideshow it does boil down to this and I agree. Vote with your wallet.

What we also need is spreading information on what the competition looks like out there. What I do find interesting is there are some very talented artists doing amazing sculpts that post on Facebook that you can also find on the MCE channel (see below) which many times is more dynamic and better than what Sideshow or the other big companies put out. Some of these really need to be picked up by the bigger studios or a house cleaning needs to be done.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEdoozLQLcQ

[MeleeSparks]

In my perfect world -- the base would be polystone to give it better anchoring capabilities, but the statue itself would be PVC for paint precision and quality details.

[Chargersfan57]

Originally Posted by xpl0sive

Yeah all good man. Only reason I looked into it is because I was curious, not because I thought Jerry was lying as he doesn't make anything in PVC so I don't think he has anything to gain by saying that.

For what it's worth, my personal preference is polystone as well, but I do think PVC has its place. I believe in using the best material to achieve the best possible outcome, and I think Blitzway do this best. They use a combination polystone and/or translucent resin for the body, fabric for the clothes and PVC for the headsculpts which results in some of the best headsculpts I've ever seen.

I've owned some plastic/pvc pieces in the past and while great with nice detail I can see why someone wouldn't want their $650 dollar collectible made out of the stuff.

As far as pcs is concerned I won't go into it but things have bothered me as of late. I realize it's not the place or time for that.

But companies NEED to be transparent with us! Whether it's about materials used or changes to the production piece from proto if companies want to be respected they need to show us respect.


That's where my feelings come from.

[COI]

Originally Posted by xpl0sive

Posted by Jerry a while back in the Pop Culture Shock section:

Theres a few reasons PVC statues look better than polystone.

Two main factors are PVC can be painted by machine as its strong enough to handle the process. Polystone can break or chip.

Second is every PVC statue comes out of a steel mold EXACTLY the same as the previous one so you can use copper spray masks for paint details.

Polystone comes out of a soft rubber mold and every piece has some slight variation which means the spray masks wont fit accurately

PVC is by far the superior material and process as is shown in the Yamato pieces. Polystones 'superiority' was basically a marketing gimmick created in the late 90s by companies that couldnt afford to do PVC.

Unfortunately, as soon as you get over ~12" the cost of the steel molds for PVC goes through the roof so a 1:4 scale pvc statue is even more expensive than a comparable polystone statue, unless you are making thousands of pieces in which case the cost of PVC comes down dramatically.

So, for example. A 22" statue of Goro will cost significantly more to make in PVC UNTIL you hit about 3000 pcs at which point the costs will come down. Once you hit 7000 pcs the cost will be less than it is to make it in PVC.

If you can sell 10000 pcs of a 22" pvc Goro you could probably get the price down to about 75% of what a polystone version would cost.

I read a lot of thread talking about costs, and this should cost that blah blah blah, but unless someone is actually employed in this business they dont understand how many factors contribute to what things cost.

I would love to only make PVC but that would mean price increases of 30-40% OR I can only make characters that will sell 3000+ pcs.

Neither are obviously going to work..."

Polystone feels like an expensive material; it has weight and a certain smooth/cold to the touch texture. PVC looks/feels like plastic, and because of the range of different plastics and their common use, we associate that feel with cheap plastic that you find on cheap items.

It may in fact be the superior material as far as its properties and it may be more expensive, but it doesn't feel that way, and in a hobby like this, or anywhere in the luxury goods realm, perception is important even if it's based on faulty logic. It's like when people associate quality with a specific brand name; the perception of the brand trumps the logic of actually comparing materials and processes used.