State of XM?

[yeek]

Jerry's question in his section about the state of the statue hobby got me thinking about others as well. What does everyone think about XM's present status and its future? I'm just curious because it seems a lot of its shiny newness has diminished. Most of their stuff in terms of collectibility has tapered off as evident in their prices. Is it because there were too many "flippers" trying to cash in? I see Phoenix and Thanos barely fetching 1K when before they would get 1.5k easily. Their QC and ES will always be very good so I was just curious.

I'll always think the Magneto will be one of the top 5 statues ever produced so it definitely warrants a 3k plus price tag just like the original SS grails such as Doom, Cap and Hulk.

[supermetroid]

I think the limited license and the expense to get a statue to the homes outside their region will continue to put off potential buyers. I think they could improve some of the portraits but overall they have great poses and most importantly listen to customers. I think they will remain successful if they continue to focus on quality and keep the ES low. I kind of wish the Spider-man line would slow down as it's very hard to keep up with so many characters coming at once. There's also much more competition with the Marvel license now which could be affecting the aftermarket. But I do agree, Magneto is brilliant and my favorite statue.

I have to say personally, while I love what XM did with Batman, since P1 has started the Arkham line I've lost interest in most other companies efforts in the Batman universe.

[Bmutha]

XM is still the # 1 company on my radar because they are tackling the characters that I like best (Daredevil, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Mysterio, Electro...)...no other company seems willing to give these characters some love.

[yipkusing]

Don't forget Venom and possibly Carnage too. They cover 90% of the Spidey gang. However, the concept of Spidey himself and MJ swinging around building is terrible for my taste =.=

[StringKeyRhythm]

I think the XM demand has calmed down for sure as evidenced by the asking price of most of their stuff in the aftermarket. I definitely think they could've rolled out the spidey villains better from a business perspective. Right now, we're getting too many all too soon out of one hero line which I believe is too much for people to handle. With all that, I do believe this is the calming before the storm. XM will have a lot of new stuff to show very soon.

[yeek]

I definitely agree that their strongest asset is that they are doing characters that others aren't doing. I honestly am getting sick of all the same ppl getting done over and over. There should be a minimum of 5 years between character revisits.

[risingstar]

This is a good question. Speaking as an owner of 5 different XM pieces, imo, XM is the champagne of the statue market. From an overall perspective, imo, they're producing the best 1/4 scale statues out today. Are they expensive? Sure, they are. However, if you want the best, you can't expect bargain brand Wal-Mart prices. That wouldn't make much sense. With XM, I think you get your money's worth.

Are they perfect? No, nor do they claim to be. However, there's no denying the remarkable evolution of its creative design team in barely just one year. The best way to enjoy this hobby is to buy within your budget. You will ALWAYS want more than you need. As much as I love XM statues, I certainly won't buy everything they produce. I have my favorites and I stick to a budget. Works for me.

As for the flippers... well, they have just as much right to live in this world as we do. Thankfully, the fanbase has all but booted them out of the XM marketplace. Fans can now buy these pieces at more reasonable prices, which is great. Also, times have changed, you can't buy statues with the idea of selling them for twice what you paid. Those days are long gone, it seems. Thankfully, with XM, for now anyway, you can at least get back what you paid and perhaps a bit more. In today's world of collecting, beauty and sellability is a win win.

[Comicbookguy]

XM is still the most exciting in the market place for 1/4 by far imo. Love the 999 cap ES. But really hate the high shipping cost and not having these global. I see many of these B or C characters coming down in price after release when the hype dies out to around the 650.00 to 700.00 range shipped once released after a few good months with the exception of the few hot characters. XM also needs to improve the female head sculpts which is a major problem that lingers with XM. I hate to buy a statue and then having to look for a custom head for it. This happens way too often for xm. It actually deter me from 3 female statues I would have PO otherwise.
I can see XM doing ok in the future only if they keep the ES at 999 or less. Much lower ES for certain characters. If not I can see with the insane high prices for the global customers many will drop 50% to 70% of their PO with them. the lower ES keeps them alive with those high prices imo. Of course they do excellent statues and great switch outs which help a ton.

[yeek]

Originally Posted by risingstar

As for the flippers... well, they have just as much right to live in this world as we do. Thankfully, the fanbase has all but booted them out of the XM marketplace. Fans can now buy these pieces at more reasonable prices, which is great. Also, times have changed, you can't buy statues with the idea of selling them for twice what you paid. Those days are long gone, it seems. Thankfully, with XM, for now anyway, you can at least get back what you paid and perhaps a bit more. In today's world of collecting, beauty and sellability is a win win.

This is a good point. Once they couldn't get 2x retail they have all seemed to disappear.

[yeek]

Yeah B list characters have dropped in price dramatically, almost to SS levels for US buyers. That's a good thing for sure. For minor ones they should lower the ES since the demand isn't there and it'll retain its collectibility.