SS cracking down on customs and “advertisers” of.

[crimsinwing1989]

I haven’t watched the entire video but an interesting discussion, a few key points:

Radd titans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqeyrMcrlGM

Starts at around 7:30 SS sending emails regarding customs.
9:10 SS cutting ties (affiliate links) with those who show anything to do with customs.
17:30 Things happening behind the scenes will possibly be causing certain social media platforms to be shut down reported/shutdown for ip breach’s etc

The jest of it from what i've gathered is it goes without saying that the selling of custom pieces is illegal but also it would seem that if a collector has a custom piece on video or in a photo he isn't permitted to mention the sculptors name or how to acquire it, my guess is this would result in a flagging or a strike of some kind.

[NorthernLadMSP]

Good, it's about time Sideshow (and other companies) do something about it.

[Philintheblank]

Yeah, this happened a couple of weeks ago. Companies were bound to take notice.

[Legion564]

Damn forums are slow compared to Facebook

[slickrick]

I have mixed feelings about it this. Yeah I know there's a principle/law of licensing. But most customs don't even mass produce and only have edition sizes of like 40 pieces or so? And most of the time their only fan boys who are hard core collectors that buy and request them. It's not like these are affecting the business sales of Sideshow statues? And most of the time, those same fanboys buy from Sideshow as well!

[built2shred]

I think the real threat is custom statues are at the point now that they look just as good or even in some cases better then what SS is offering....

I imagine they're targeting some smaller stores that actually sell custom statues.... So basically if you keep selling custom statues were not doing business with you anymore... I wonder if that applies to selling legit statues that don't have a license for North America...

It's a good business move from SS.... With the market being flooded by legit companies it's tough to have to compete with non-legit companies too..

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by slickrick

I have mixed feelings about it this. Yeah I know there's a principle/law of licensing. But most customs don't even mass produce and only have edition sizes of like 40 pieces or so? And most of the time their only fan boys who are hard core collectors that buy and request them. It's not like these are affecting the business sales of Sideshow statues? And most of the time, those same fanboys buy from Sideshow as well!

Most of these custom guys were starting to sell them in the 100-200 sizes... they were basically running a business without licenses... Although, this is only affects people who do business with SS like advertising or selling their statues... SS can't do anything against the actual people who are making the custom statues the only one's who can legally go after custom shops are the IP owners and as far as I know they have pretty much ignored the custom guys...

[risingstar]

Originally Posted by Legion564

Damn forums are slow compared to Facebook

True - but at least on forums, you can find a topic as it can get lost in your FB feed after 5 minutes.

[crimsinwing1989]

Originally Posted by slickrick

I have mixed feelings about it this. Yeah I know there's a principle/law of licensing. But most customs don't even mass produce and only have edition sizes of like 40 pieces or so? And most of the time their only fan boys who are hard core collectors that buy and request them. It's not like these are affecting the business sales of Sideshow statues? And most of the time, those same fanboys buy from Sideshow as well!

I suppose this is easier said than done but the way i’ve always looked at it is if SS wants to cut down on custom sales simply make better statues, more switch outs better QC etc. Customs will always be made and SS has every right to cut down on their creation but to start going after media platforms leads me to believe customs may be cutting into their sales.

[VindictvePotato]

Originally Posted by crimsinwing1989

I suppose this is easier said than done but the way i’ve always looked at it is if SS wants to cut down on custom sales simply make better statues, more switch outs better QC etc. Customs will always be made and SS has every right to cut down on their creation but to start going after media platforms leads me to believe customs may be cutting into their sales.

The tough part for sideshow is that they have to pay a large sum of money to IP holders to make statues legitimately. And on top of that, they don't have the freedom to make the statues as they want since they have to go through rounds of approvals by the IP holders.

I personally think Customs are necessary since creativity is not stifled by commercialism to try and appeal to the largest denominator. and we don't have to deal with the monopolization that sideshow has over the quarter scale market. That being said, I fully agree and support cracking down on the custom designers who are pumping out statues on a week-to-week basis at high edition sizes and larger profit margins.