State of Sideshow: Edition Sizes, Market, Future concerns

[supermetroid]

^I'm honestly shocked that magazines are still in business, seems like a lot of waste of paper.

[Augen]

Originally Posted by chronos1919

Comics are much harder to market now that we have so many venues for entertainment. I heard about a recent X-Men run that I wanted to read and went to a comic store to purchase it. The issues were $5 each, and it would have been $60 for complete run. Which wouldn't have been possible anyways, as they were missing key issues yet had stacks and stacks of those that were available. Not to mention that every book now seems to have 12 variant covers to further muddy the waters. I even checked online to see if I could buy them digitally. They were priced the same as the physical copies and didn't have the latter six issues available.

My wife found a comic she was interested in and showed me what she thought was a complete set of issues. I looked through them and showed her that she had a mixture of actually three different mini series and some variant cover duplicates mixed in. It's too confusing for people that aren't invested in comics. Add to that the creators constantly rebooting and retconning the series or universe and them generally being a departure from the movie universe that's popular right now and it's easy to see why they're in decline.

I won't argue that at all. I've said for years how it should be streamlined and made easier to engage new readers. I know people that saw every MCU movie and haven't bought a comic in fifteen years because they don't know where to start. Hence, i hope Fiege can show a new model to emphasizes quality and engagement over constant events, variants, and reboots to keep temporarily goosing sales.

[Rav]

Originally Posted by chronos1919

Comics are much harder to market now that we have so many venues for entertainment. I heard about a recent X-Men run that I wanted to read and went to a comic store to purchase it. The issues were $5 each, and it would have been $60 for complete run. Which wouldn't have been possible anyways, as they were missing key issues yet had stacks and stacks of those that were available. Not to mention that every book now seems to have 12 variant covers to further muddy the waters. I even checked online to see if I could buy them digitally. They were priced the same as the physical copies and didn't have the latter six issues available.

My wife found a comic she was interested in and showed me what she thought was a complete set of issues. I looked through them and showed her that she had a mixture of actually three different mini series and some variant cover duplicates mixed in. It's too confusing for people that aren't invested in comics. Add to that the creators constantly rebooting and retconning the series or universe and them generally being a departure from the movie universe that's popular right now and it's easy to see why they're in decline.

Non-collectors and casuals just buy the cheaper trades (main covers) or wait for the trade paperbacks (TPBs). Variant explosions have been out of control and are just getting silly.

Did you ask the store assistant or owner for help? They can normally set you up or preorder/reorder books you need. If you missed a series they can order the TPB for you or recommend the next step.

[chronos1919]

Originally Posted by Rav

Did you ask the store assistant or owner for help? They can normally set you up or preorder/reorder books you need. If you missed a series they can order the TPB for you or recommend the next step.

I'm familiar with the process but didn't want to go through the hassle. It should be more simple than it is. Trades are a decent way to go but are still pricey for what they offer and I'll hardly ever re-read them. Unless it's something incredible like The Dark Knight Returns, which is quite rare.

[Rav]

Originally Posted by chronos1919

I'm familiar with the process but didn't want to go through the hassle. It should be more simple than it is. Trades are a decent way to go but are still pricey for what they offer and I'll hardly ever re-read them. Unless it's something incredible like The Dark Knight Returns, which is quite rare.

Easiest way is just set up a pull list, and they will just keep any future issues for you, then you can pick it up in bulk once a month or even less often if you so desire.

I know readers who just come down once in 2-3 months to pick up their books and you can just get them to send it to you as well.

[haljordan99]

I'm honestly surprised the market hasn't imploded already. There are so many companies now and prices have gotten out of control. I mean who is willing to pay $800 for 1/6 scale statues from XM?

I was a big fan of customs at first because I wanted different characters and Sideshow seems content on making the same main characters over and over. However, there are tons of custom groups and I now know they use the same paint factories as the main companies so they are just adding to the ridiculous wait times.

Between prices and extreme wait times (Prime 1 will have a statue at a convention, not put it up for PO for 2 years then make you wait another 2 years to get it), I am quickly losing interest. I've actually went back to collecting action figures lately.

[moyiori]

Originally Posted by craigcliff1

statues, shipping, taxes are just too much now. Yes many, many more collectors from when I started, but so much money each collectors has to put out now. With say shipping for say 5 years I have spent many, many more thousands then I did 10 years ago, then with statues I had to get repaired, and cheated on ebay I am out another $4,000.. Then to get 1/2 what I paid when I sell a piece. Its not enough to just get 1/2 what I paid its the dollar amount, when I would get a PF for $200.00 and say get $100.00 on resell that stunk, but the pay $550.00 on up and get 1/2 that it super stinks.

I figure not including statues I am out an extra $7,000 this decade

Damn this is to close to home, I sold most of my bowen statues to upgrade to the new sideshow ones. I'm pretty sure i lost money on every statue, maybe a few handful got me what i paid for and only less than a handful got me above what i paid.

The only old SS that i had that were valuable are the spiderman comiquetts and i sold them to get the new x-men line up.

Biggest mistake was buying Wonder Woman PF the original, when i went to resell it i only got 200 off ugh.

[Rav]

Originally Posted by haljordan99

I'm honestly surprised the market hasn't imploded already. There are so many companies now and prices have gotten out of control. I mean who is willing to pay $800 for 1/6 scale statues from XM?

so true, no way I am paying that much for a 1/6 scale statue, would rather get a 1/4 scale for that price. Those are so overpriced.

[chronos1919]

Originally Posted by Rav

Easiest way is just set up a pull list, and they will just keep any future issues for you, then you can pick it up in bulk once a month or even less often if you so desire.

I know readers who just come down once in 2-3 months to pick up their books and you can just get them to send it to you as well.

Again, I'm familiar with how it works. I had a regular comic shop back when I used to collect. I was trying to describe the process from the perspective of someone who isn't familiar and doesn't care to be. Most people expect to be able to purchase something that interests them without the hassle. Your average MCU viewer isn't going to travel to their local comic shop and set up a list of ongoing or upcoming series that they'd like to have delivered every month for $5 a pop.

The problem with a pull list is that I would have to know what I want to read ahead of time. I've tried that before and got burnt out on buying series that ended up being uninteresting.

[BlackestNight]

All of these questions are looking at buying a statue of a character, you love, to be not only displayed but as a "collectible" or even more over an "investment."

Should Sideshow have to change their business practices b/c a select amount of customers choose to view their pieces as "investments."

Comic books are seen as investments to some.. When Marvel saw the new Hulk comic was being "Speced" and heavily sought after they increased the print of future issues as much as 3 fold. Simple business, supply and demand. No company is looking to produce a super rare collectible. They want to sell as many as people are willing to buy.

Marvel could care less that in the aftermarket a number 2 sells for 6 times as much as a number 14. Marvel made their money already.