Tomb Raider Anniversary 1/4 Lara Croft vs Raptor

[Shayfen]

I pre-ordered this statue right from day one. I'm a huge Tomb Raider fan, and when Weta initially showed it off, this thing looked amazing. I've been doing payments through Spec Fiction, and my final payment is in a week, and then it will probably get shipped out. I've been tossing around the idea of whether I should cancel or not since actually seeing the production statue over the past month.

The quality of this thing has drastically gone down. There is the obvious stuff that everyone has been talking about. The face is absolutely terrible. Did they bring in some wannabe art student to paint these things? The eyes and mouth are completely screwed. It doesn't matter what kind of excuses you want to tell yourself about it being the lighting or whatever, it's complete garbage. I've got statues that are less than half the price of this thing with far better quality.

Then there is all the dirt and blood. None of that was on the original. Why did they feel the need to slap it on the finished product? It looks terrible. Every single body part has some form of filth on it. It's completely unnecessary, and just makes everything look worse.

But the part I haven't seen anyone talk about is the fingers. They have no details, and they're a completely different color from the rest of the body. It's like they put a primer coat on them, but then never came back to finish. Whatever flat colored paint they did slap on them is also all over the gloves. Every statue I've seen pictures or video of is the same thing.

I live in Canada, so this thing is coming out to around $2000. That's the same price I paid for the Red Sonja statue that just came out from Prime 1. The difference in quality is night and day. Some people are trying to use the excuse that you get so much for what you're paying. It doesn't matter how much content there might be, it doesn't mean you can slack off with the quality. The Red Sonja statue has a huge snake wrapping around the whole thing, and is probably even more detailed than what Sonja herself is. The quality is there no matter what.

For that price, I'm finding it extremely difficult to continue with the order of this thing. This is the kind of quality I would expect around maybe a $400-$600 piece. Talk about a bait and switch. It's like going to Mcdonald's and ordering a burger, because it looks so perfect and good in the advertising. Then when you open up the package, it looks like someone stepped on it, and you have to search for the patty because it's so small.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by Shayfen

I pre-ordered this statue right from day one. etc etc

But the part I haven't seen anyone talk about is the fingers. They have no details, and they're a completely different color from the rest of the body. It's like they put a primer coat on them, but then never came back to finish. Whatever flat colored paint they did slap on them is also all over the gloves. Every statue I've seen pictures or video of is the same thing.

etc etc

Fingers are diff color bcs they have DIRT on it !!

Just kidding.
But yes you have solid arguments. I also don't like the clear patches of extra dirt. You mentioned multiple concerns, so canceling is good option. There will be enough other statues for this money.

[Lugnuts]

I messaged spec fiction last week and they said they ship it out soon. They created a shipping label Monday. Tracking on UPS website says label created Monday. Nothing since. I?m never getting this am I?
Now with sideshow, if you buy an item that says in stock, they ship it out next day. This statue has said in stock on spec fiction since last Thursday. And I paid for it 2 weeks ago. I wish I didn?t have 5 preorders with this company. I feel scammed.

[RPG_FAN128]

To chime in, with that many concerns I'd probably recommend canceling. I'm OK with mine because ultimately I guess I'm rarely closer than 10 feet to it, so the god-awful ugly hands fade away into obscurity.

[jonylin]

Originally Posted by Shayfen

The quality of this thing has drastically gone down. There is the obvious stuff that everyone has been talking about. The face is absolutely terrible. Did they bring in some wannabe art student to paint these things? The eyes and mouth are completely screwed. It doesn't matter what kind of excuses you want to tell yourself about it being the lighting or whatever, it's complete garbage. I've got statues that are less than half the price of this thing with far better quality.

Every single Weta statue I've seen videos or photos of has pretty sub-par paint. They need to drop whichever factory is producing their pieces and find a much better one.

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by jonylin

Every single Weta statue I've seen videos or photos of has pretty sub-par paint. They need to drop whichever factory is producing their pieces and find a much better one.

Indeed, overall paint quality of older pieces still prevent me from buying something from Weta (even the black friday sales).
In their advertisement, they make it look like the in house artist paint the products themselves..

[Lugnuts]

Finally shipped out from spec fiction. I could have had it this weekend if they shipped it same day as they made the label but oh well. Next week it is. If it sucks I?ll sell it on eBay. I don?t know if spec fiction has a return refund policy if you don?t like a statue but even after StefanCo?s amazing photos I?m still hesitant on this. I haven?t regretted anything I?ve collected in either figures or statues, but I?m hoping this isn?t a regret.

[Jon_Boston_83]

Originally Posted by jonylin

Every single Weta statue I've seen videos or photos of has pretty sub-par paint. They need to drop whichever factory is producing their pieces and find a much better one.

You've clearly not seen their master collection line then, or even their premium statues like Bilbo in Bag End.

So many collectors ----- about so many different companies paint jobs, but I think Weta are one of the best.

Add to my list statues such as Eomer or the mouth of Sauron. Most things are really good quality. Some misses for sure but I've always been happy with what I've bought.

[Shayfen]

It was my first time dealing with Weta. I saw how crappy their other stuff was, but this Lara statue looked great. Clearly they have serious issues with quality control. Probably won't be dealing with them again, or at least not until seeing a finished product first.

[Silas Loki]

Originally Posted by Jon_Boston_83

You've clearly not seen their master collection line then, or even their premium statues like Bilbo in Bag End.

So many collectors ----- about so many different companies paint jobs, but I think Weta are one of the best.

Add to my list statues such as Eomer or the mouth of Sauron. Most things are really good quality. Some misses for sure but I've always been happy with what I've bought.

I watched a YouTube video from "Haunt of the Collector" - (highly recommend this channel by the way) - he has the Weta Escape off the Road, and Bilbo in Bag End. He was delighted by the products, and from the video it didn't look bad at all.

Which proves Weta can produce quality products. I guess the issue is, we never know what will be "good" or "bad" until the unboxing. That said, this is a general problem with most, if not all, the statue makers.....it makes the hobby risky and stressful - in my opinion.