Quote:
Originally Posted by COI
I think it's bad when any company does this, and I also think it's becoming frequent enough with Prime 1 to be an issue.
This is my subjective feeling on the matter, but variants cheapen statues, and after-the-fact variants where collectors don't know/choose upfront makes it much worse.
Prime 1's brand of variant is particularly odious to me because they're just bog standard paint variants with nothing changed/added. At least with Sideshow, as an example, they tend to put a little more effort into their variants.
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I understand your points and agree that variants shouldn't be an "after-the-fact" decision; they should be announced at the time that the original piece goes up for pre-order.
At the same time, I do not think that variants cheapen the original pieces at all. My first experience with this was with the 1/5 scale Electra (by Sideshow) several years ago. I really wanted the red with the two head sculpts but I liked the black colour better so I went for the much more limited ES black version that only had one head sculpt; it was a matter of preference but I ended up missing out on the second head sculpt because I had to make a choice.
Sideshow did the same thing with the Diablo 3 piece. The red one came out first and since I was buying literally almost EVERYTHING at that point in time, I bought it. Then a few months later, they released the blue "Nightmare" version (with a much lower ES than the red) which I liked better than the red one so I bought that one as well. Then, a few months after that, Blizzard started soliciting the same piece by Sideshow but as an unpainted prototype or artist AP version (I don’t recall what they decided to call them) with a super low ES. I almost bought that one as well but ultimately didn't bother to because I already had both of the others and liked them better; everything about those was the same other than the paint job but the unpainted one didn’t light up (if I remember correctly). If all 3 had been announced at the same time, I'd have chosen the blue one (and put the other money towards a different piece).
How about the Sideshow Batman PF? I love the original one and I have it but when they changed it slightly and offered it as a blue and yellow modern version, I thought that it was a cool change and I wanted that one also but I would have preferred to have had a choice up-front; yes, they changed the headsculpt and left out the EX switchout (I think), but it sold very well. Did that cheapen the original release? I don’t think it did but I do recall some people being upset because they’d have chosen the second version over the first. Personally, I like the first one better (other than the logo on the chest) so I didn’t bother but if I’d have liked the Modern variant better, I’d have been somewhat disappointed that it hadn’t been announced at the same time as the original one.
Variants typically have a lower ES and that is great for those that like them but a lot of the time (with the Batman PF being an exception), they will also appeal to lower number of collectors as well.
In this case, the black EX edition is a beautiful piece and has two head sculpts plus five switchout arms and a batarang; it was the star piece from that year's show and really should have had a bigger ES. The Collector edition didn't have the batarang but still had the all the switchouts. Then the gold one came out with a lower ES and the same switchouts as the black collector edition (personally, I don't like the gold version so passed on that one easily). Then this new white version came out with a very limited ES but only the two head sculpts and the two clenched fist arms - no extra switchout pieces. If I had one of the original black versions, I wouldn't have cared at all that the gold version came out because it didn't detract from the black at all (in my view, it made the black more sought after). When the white one went up, I'd have likely been a little bit perturbed if I had the black because I like the white one better overall (including the transparent mouth piece on the second head sculpt) and these are huge and expensive pieces BUT if I could pull it off, I'd have bought both the black and the white. All I am saying is that if you have one of the other colours of this piece, then your piece has not lost value at all (both black and gold are still available directly through Prime 1 and Sideshow still has gold available in low quantities right now). The white loses the majority of swithouts (which annoys me in this case as I really think the open handed sculpts should have been included) but has a very low ES and a unique cool factor.
Since the white beyond suit is being used in other DC games, this was a cool choice even though they opted not to use the blue accents for some reason (but that is okay because it really looks great the way it is). Then, with the suggestion that this one could be displayed with a blacklight instead of with a regular light, it is going in a new direction. If the black is still available in a few months, I may also pick one of those up as I like the Black with Red accents and would love to have the switch-out options. The white, to me, doesn’t detract from the other versions as each piece has their own strong points.
Sorry for the ridiculously LONG post; I probably should not post this early in the morning.
