Sideshow's Mount Rushmore...and the Rise of the Phoenix...and Jordan vs LeBron!

[ZenLogikos]

Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

I just love, "if you don't like it, don't buy it." That's my favorite. Not only is it super helpful, but it's also insightful, well-thought-out and original.

Originally Posted by PCS_Sagat_Buyer

I love you Ant. But the fans aren't on your payroll. I'm not going to help you build a better statue for free. We criticize statues not because we want you and other companies to produce better ones but because statues cost a lot of money. If i'm on a Mustang forum and I say 'the new mustang is ugly' I don't want Ford to listen to me and fix it. I want it to look good at the reveal and then I buy it. I don't see the statue game as some interactive hobby between non-qualified neck beards and master scultpers. Hire experienced sculpters, hire great art directors and dont reveal anything that isn't an amazing protoype. I'd hate to love a statue and then Ben, some 45 year old guy who lives in his moms basement says "Akuma needs a kanji on his back" and then it happens. You guys are the experts. You guys are the qualified professionals. If you try to please everyone you will end up pleasing no one. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work. Ignore the noise.

Only took one reply...

[qz33]

Originally Posted by PCS_Sagat_Buyer

I love you Ant. But the fans aren't on your payroll. I'm not going to help you build a better statue for free. We criticize statues not because we want you and other companies to produce better ones but because statues cost a lot of money. If i'm on a Mustang forum and I say 'the new mustang is ugly' I don't want Ford to listen to me and fix it. I want it to look good at the reveal and then I buy it. I don't see the statue game as some interactive hobby between non-qualified neck beards and master scultpers. Hire experienced sculpters, hire great art directors and dont reveal anything that isn't an amazing protoype. I'd hate to love a statue and then Ben, some 45 year old guy who lives in his moms basement says "Akuma needs a kanji on his back" and then it happens. You guys are the experts. You guys are the qualified professionals. If you try to please everyone you will end up pleasing no one. Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work. Ignore the noise.

The overwhelming majority of this whole forum is about products for sale, at considerable cost to customers, not someone's personal work, toil, and sweat. That is why all these sculptors are here making the same characters: to sell. Sure sure beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all but if you want to sell something you sure better give a damn about who all is beholding.
A company's customers, both past AND potential, are here. Guess who pays all these wonderful sculptor artists, art directors, licensors, and CEO profits? It ain't the great Wizard of Art.

Forps possibly withstanding I cannot recall ever seeing anyone on the forum diss an artist. Does anyone have any examples or quotes of a sculptor being insulted here? A product definitely but an artist no.
So I don't really get this whole defend/insult the artist narrative. That to me is trying to construe dissatisfaction to promote an agenda: selling.

I do not expect a company to change product A into product B because of individual comments. I do expect a company to learn from their customers for products they want to sell. If a company is putting out products for sale that its customers express dissatisfaction with regarding the design or final delivered product, the company can't legitimately blame customers, fans, or critics for not buying.

Like anything in life the bad comes with the good. Regardless of demeanor people don't come on this forum just to degrade anyone's work. We all come here to be sold something that excites us that we can't help but buy. Collectors' preferences are FAR more universal than different. We all really like the new Ivy, we're not thrilled with Ghostrider. You can't disprove a general consensus with whatever few exceptions may be. See any "nasty" comments in the MaxxFactory Chun-Li thread?
If a company is hearing more negative than they would like positive should they look at themselves and what they are doing or should they complain to discredit those dissatisfied with their offerings?

[Forps is back]

Originally Posted by red_ant

Well since I have a little time today let me go ahead and response to Forps.

I'll start on the posts personally coming after me and then I'll hit on the original point of this post. Which by the way is full of contradictions. I worked in banking for over 21 years. I didn't get a severance package, I retired. I don't ever have to work again if I don't want to. That's not bragging. That's responding to Forps saying I'm going to run out of money in 1.5 - 2 years. I don't live a lavish lifestyle and I saved and investment properly instead of kicking it.

Saying I'm a braggart. If you actually paid attention to the live stream, I was backing up a statement with facts/details. Public speaking 101. I SAID that I can connect with just about anybody because I have a lot of hobbies and not afraid to try different things. Which is why I brought up that I grow koi, weightlift, golf, etc. Means I can usually find something in common with different types of people. BTW, I never said I restored cars. I said I would like to and did the research. Sorry that doesn't fit your twisted narrative.

YouTubers sometimes come to us asking if I mind joining a live stream. When I have time, I don't mind doing it. They always ask if there is anything I would like to cover and my answer is always we can talk about what ever you guys want to talk about. I don't dictate these live streams. I just go with the flow.

Now I said I originally bought PCS so I could sculpt instead of being in finance. NOT ONCE did I say I was a great sculptor. NOT ONCE did I say I was an ART DIRECTOR. I wanted to sculpt and have fun doing it. I will be one of the first to say I will never be on Jerry's level from a sculpting perspective. I also won't be on his level art direction wise which is why I'm not an Art Director. But, I am way better of a business man and boss than he will ever be. I treat my employees with respect and I don't yell or belittle them, I give them credit when I do interviews or live stream, etc. If you actually listened to the live streams I've done or the interviews during SDCC I give my TEAM the credit for helping turn PCS around. I didn't do any of this on my own and I am EXTREMELY grateful to both my TEAM and Sideshow for both their help and hardwork.

Now for Forps contradictions. "PCS puts our crap and has crap Art Directors". "But, the Kucharek Bros are awesome." Brian Kucharek has been our Art Director for almost 18 months and has done AMAZING Work. And I look forward to even more work from him. "Carnage is messing and looks horrible." "But, Raf Grassetti is an amazing sculptor." Guess what, K Bros were the art directors and Raf was the sculptor on that piece. Guess your "Art Eye" isn't working so well.

And I'll just leave off at this. I have never claimed to be an amazing sculptor and I will never hit the levels of the greats. I am not an Art Director. But, I will work with the artists on what statues we do and concept designs. But, I leave art direction and production up to the professionals. But, with all that said I do find this thread extremely disrespectful to artists. Yes, people are entitled to their opinion. But, to say everyone else sucks is extremely disrepectful, entitled, and sad.

Well, saying how much money you made for a former employer vs your other coworkers sounded braggard. Or saying that you are good in 400 things. Check again your whole demeanour. I bet that in next interviews, you are going to be more "grounded". Ok, you may have made milllions or billions but it is never good to brag about it or especially belittle former coworkers. You know you made a mistake, Ant. And if you are smart, next time you are going to be more "grounded" and cool.

But let's move to the things that interest us.

Kucharek Bros are good at sculpting but i never said that they have also an "EYE" for "market-"street" success or that Raf can't miss. MJ was 1 of the 2 GOATs (yep, the other being LBJ, another contoversial thing Forps wrote, lol) but as an owner of Hornets, he was probably the worst. Jordan did not have an "eye" for talent in the draft. Check his draft picks. 1 of the 2 best ball players of all time could not "smell" true talent. The same happened with Magic and Lakers. He chose Ball as the 1st pick, for God's sake. So good sculptor does NOT equal a good "eye', a "Forps' eye", lol.

Sorry, but that Carnage Diorama is a mess, it is too busy. Get down with your guys and make it more elegant, more "simple". Listen to me and you can sell more pieces. My "eye" never faults (lol, time for a bit of Forps bragging or better said, trolling).

Your/my eyes don't know where to look at. It is toooooo busy. Also at 1500 bucks, this is not going to sell. Sorry, it isnt. Especially in this climate.

You may need a guy with an eye for "market"-"street" success. A good sculptor does not equal a good predictor for success.

Akuma. A nice try but you or your director or someone should have told the sculptor that the face is a bit of "fat" looking "strange", the musculature is exaggerated (well, it is ok to exaggerate Akuma's musculature) but in this case it is gone berserk, the sculpt looks a caricature now. The base not connecting is also a problem. As for Jerry as a sculptor, he was a MASTER in sculpting beefed up men, second only to the GRANDMASTER, Martin Canale. You know it and i know it. As a businessman, well we all know how bad Jerry was, but as a sculptor he could have sculpted a 100 times better Akuma 1/2 than this, even without any art direction.

Ghostbusters. You can improve the headsculpts, but the line needs MIXED MEDIA. A character wearing a suit or baggy clothes, ALWAYS needs mixed media or else your product is going to look like a cheap toy, oozing a plasticky vibe. Follow this simple rule in the future cause i don't know if it is late for usch drastic changes for this line.

I can write many things for various products.

For an example, PCS Rocky, Ivan Drago, Jean Claude Van Damme are all looking like caricatures of the actual actors. I dont know if it is a problem of the sculptor, the direction or the production but anyone that is not blind, can easily see it.

We are not in this forum to praise companies or to sugarcoat things. I LOVE SIDESHOW (and ECC, Infinity Studios and Prime1/Blitzway) but i was the first mocking and trolling her about that joke of a new line, the unpainted, white garage Star Wars kits and that abomination, the new Ghost Rider.

I LOVE SIDESHOW and all the forum knows it but i am not going to sugarcoat things.

I bet that this criticism will make Sideshow better in the future.

Living in an echo chamber (your Facebook group or Tubers talking to you as if you are a president/prime minister) or having guys worship you if you are Sideshow or PCS, is simply not going to make Sideshow or you better.

Sit down with your sculptors, check why PCS actor sculpts are looking like caricatures of the actual actors, check if you can make that Carnage Diorama more "simple", more elegant, not toooooo busy and search for a guy who has a good eye for "market"-"street" success. There are a handful of them.

A hint? A sculptor is not good at predicting "market" success (the reasons are many. As i wrote above, MJ was an atrocious basketball owner and all the draft choices he made, were ludicrous).

[Forps is back]

Now back to Sideshow, guys. I made a comment regarding PCS and if they lost their minds (8 POs a month??? It is a recp for disaster) and then the thread got carried away. Ant took the answers he wanted from Forps, if he is smart, he is going to sit down and adjust many things. It was time to hear a guy not sugarcoating things and not fangirling. PCS is not at a level to get eg a Star Wars license. qz3 tried to "tell" you all that in PCS' thread, but with a polite way. Check PCS' Star Wars thread, cause Forps NEVER goes into threads of companies that does not love (Sideshow, ECC, Infinity, Prime1/Blitzway). qz33 tried to tell you that, but he did it with a "polite" way, lol.

Before we close this thing, Ant's best move was having Mark Newman sculpting some pieces. Mark Newman is along with Harbottle a master at sculpting female faces and PCS had huge success with him.

Back to Sideshow now and what things must change in order to survive the hurricane next 1.5-2y and then rise again cause Sideshow was, is and will always be the BEST in sculpting western comic-related stuff. PERIOD. END OF DISCUSSION.

[saberhagen]

Originally Posted by red_ant

Now for Forps contradictions. "PCS puts our crap and has crap Art Directors". "But, the Kucharek Bros are awesome." Brian Kucharek has been our Art Director for almost 18 months and has done AMAZING Work. And I look forward to even more work from him. "Carnage is messing and looks horrible." "But, Raf Grassetti is an amazing sculptor." Guess what, K Bros were the art directors and Raf was the sculptor on that piece. Guess your "Art Eye" isn't working so well.

Ha! Forps isn't worth responding to but this is pretty good.

Why he would want to dispense odd business advice and stir up company/sculptor rivalries, I have no idea.

[IronLungs31]

As I've said before this thread has become legendary. It has brought some heavy hitters in the game to respond good or bad.

My guy Forps came out the gate swinging with this thread and ruffled all types of feathers for better or worse.

This thread is a great online statue soap opera!

[ZenLogikos]

That reply. Man, forps just can't help it. Reminds me of a certain famous figure...

Double down, then double down some more.

Now, there's some points in there, but damn, the condescension is epic!

[IceDog]

Originally Posted by IronLungs31

This thread is a great online statue soap opera!

[qz33]

I'm so glad Forps returned. He's like litmus sandpaper.

[Straken-SWE]

Originally Posted by ZenLogikos

That reply. Man, forps just can't help it. Reminds me of a certain famous figure...

Double down, then double down some more.

Now, there's some points in there, but damn, the condescension is epic!

Its great Forps is back, I often find myself agreeing at the very least appreciate what he is writing