The new Marvel Green Goblin Marvel Premium Format(TM) Figure went up for sale and the price being set at $519.99 with no exclusive (coincidently there was not an ex on the original and cost $300 back in 2004). Along with a new Marvel The Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Premium Format(TM) Figure, Marvel Wolverine – Brown Costume Marvel Premium Format(TM) Figure, Marvel Captain America Marvel Premium Format(TM) Figure… Again will all the new pieces being considerably more in price.
These are still cheaper than we can get the original for and I do think all of the original is a great piece, but is it better than the new one?
Most of the new Sideshow prices are still cheaper than what people pay on the secondary market for a lot of pieces and for products from other companies.
I feel that I have seen a large number of pieces Sideshow have made and I do not agree that Sideshow used to be better or are getting worse. Some of their old pieces are a lot worse than the pieces they are producing today. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of really nice classics, but not all of their older pieces are great like not all of their new pieces are bad.
Same as the pieces they have produced in the last five years are better than the pieces produced in their first five. Remember there are 10 years in the middle of both of those 5 year blocks.
Sideshow is still the market leader in this area and the scale they deliver to the scale of issues is a very small percentage. With the increase of social media I feel that more people will see what other people complain about and jump on the bandwagon, where in the past may have just settled for a dark face (common complaint on Batman Keaton PF). Also if there is an issue Sideshow will send replacements or credit you with a partial refund. I have seen some other companies not respond for months with complaints or even tell the customer to pay for expensive shipping out of their pocket when there are clear flaws.
Sideshow has a decent website where you can view all of your orders and receive alerts when payments are due to come out of your account, save discount codes and save loyalty points. Where other companies have terrible websites that crash during pre order day, really hard to follow payment plans or others where you can’t place direct orders through a company and you need a “buddy” to order through.
Another factor is their $40 Non Refundable Deposit (NRD) this is a very reasonable deposit and I think it is fair that if you cancel Sideshow keep this for the cancelation and for the admin side of things. Sideshow will also move this deposit to another product at times if you contact them, even if the small print says they are to keep it alone with 20% of each payment (that they never enforce, but people have agreed to those terms. Some other companies will charge $90 or up to $150 (on the buddy scheme) that you will never see again.
Sideshow also get a lot of its business from its distribution of Hot Toys, Prime one and other companies.
People need to remember that Sideshow is a business not your friend. As long as people pay insane prices on the secondary market and for other companies why wouldn’t a company see this as an opportunity to increase their prices and their edition sizes?
I am not a Sideshow “Fan boy” and I do think there are thing they need to do better, but I feel they are still the clear market leader for the overall experience and continually great customer service and their prices are still at the lower end of the scale. Even for me after the shipping to UK and 20% tax.
Since writing this article Sideshow Collectibles has re-released a few more characters from the Star Wars universe. A new Star Wars Star Wars R2-D2 Star Wars Premium Format(TM) Figure Star Wars Premium Format(TM) Figure and R2-D2 now sold separately, when they originally came together. Also a new New Darth Vader Bustthat does not look too different from the old version(Star Wars Darth Vader Star Wars Life-Size Bust). Actually has less options as the old one you could display the original with an unmasked portrait and place the helmet on a stand provided. I do feel is very sneaky, driving down the values of the originals and alienating people who brought on the secondary market. I would continue with this discussion, but Geo and I wrote articles at the same time and they were very similar so this will be touched upon more in the near future in his article.
