How can Prime 1 possibly plan to sustain itself at this rate?!

[solidgadium]

What I find interesting with them is they have some of the lowest ES runs on certain characters that other companies would cancel altogether if faced with that issue (except Spiral to name a couple). Their Green Lantern, which is an incredible statue, only has an ES of 250 between regular and EX...I can't imagine that would cover the license cost. Gotta be a front like some say, lol.

[MPCanes]

Don't forget they are Japanese company and the Yen is in the dumps at the moment - they may have surprisingly low overhead with massive margins.

That said, I don't doubt every single producer is hurting/lurching along at the moment. Way too much competition for money and space these days.

[azurepred]

Originally Posted by solidgadium

What I find interesting with them is they have some of the lowest ES runs on certain characters that other companies would cancel altogether if faced with that issue (except Spiral to name a couple). Their Green Lantern, which is an incredible statue, only has an ES of 250 between regular and EX...I can't imagine that would cover the license cost. Gotta be a front like some say, lol.

Even though ECC posts their max ES and not actual, you would be surprised how limited some of the past products actually are and they are a tiny company. Sometimes, these companies just want to make an item that they want for themselves, so ES doesn't really matter. I believe this will be the case with some of those Prime AVP Predators.

[God]

Originally Posted by bdlovelace

What?s their long-term plan? I mean, you?re God man, so If you have insider information, let us know!

But in all seriousness, what I have seen over the last several years is that their plans have included the following:

1. An endless stream of new prototype reveals (with rare a delivery, and if delivered, it is years after the fact).
2. Lead times between 2 and 5 years (insanity - the spread really is that much)
3. Old product still available from years past.
4. Customer service that is below average if not in some cases, non-existent.

If I were to research writing a book about building a long-term, successful business, I?m pretty sure I wouldn?t run across any literature suggesting any of those things.

Here, I am speaking strictly of their 1/3 scale lines. I?m not really including their newer children?s toy lines in my analysis.

In my humble opinion, Prime1 is over-extending themselves. They are trying to grow too much, too fast which can also wreck a company, not just slumps in sales. We see evidence of this in the fact that their lead times have just become abysmal and downright ridiculous for their 1/3 statues.

I want Prime1 to succeed and grow as it?s good for collecting, but something needs to change regarding lead times.

I believe that the current Prime 1 closely resembles another Japanese producer - Good Smile Company. They both have premium lines of polystone statues, PVC figures, and small chibi style figures. There are a few things that Prime 1 hasn't done yet, such as action figures, but I could see them eventually trying it.

I believe their long term plan is what they've done over the past years. They've set up a division purely dedicated to PVC figures. They've continued to expand their Cutie1 lineup with new characters and licenses. For Japan they're selling apparel as well.

I think when evaluating a company, you have to evaluate them as a whole, as their premium lines are just one piece of it.

I don't think that they're perfect in terms of turnaround times or initial reveals to preorder dates, but I've seen quite a number of pieces get released in a fair time. Even if we're just evaluating their premier statues, I think they'll survive for quite a long time.

[gagaliya]

Originally Posted by clockwork463

Am I uhh misreading the room here?? The amount of statues this company is releasing combined with the absolutely ridiculously inflated prices seems like it's creating a situation that will make it nearly impossible to completely sell a majority of their stock overall in the future.

Their page on bbts is like ten straight pages of statues 1k to 4k that is just sitting there, and they just announced like 20 new statues that are inevitably going to be even more expensive. What are these people smoking?? Who tf is going to buy all these overstocked statues? Wtf is going on with this company???!! Is this like a ponzi scheme or something?

People don?t seem to understand their cost basis for those statues are extremely low, their gross margins are close to 80%, all those statues are made in Chinese factories in significant volumes.

They don?t need to sell everything, even only part of the ES are sold at retail price they already highly profitable, and on popular licenses like predator where it sells out at 3k a pop, the profits are staggering. All the unsold pieces they can always dump at a discount and still make money or break even at worst.

It?s also a total myth been marketed since the sideshow days that bigger 1/2 or 1/3 statues somehow are significantly more expensive, in reality it?s only marginally more expensive vs 1/4, all the same to the factory?.only shipping is notably more expensive but those cost are absorbed by the buyer not prime1.

So I wouldn?t worry too much about prime1, they are rolling in the $$. The only mystery to me is why they still haven’t worked out a deal with sideshow and got the Marvel license

[Forps is back]

Originally Posted by gagaliya

.... The only mystery to me is why they still haven?t worked out a deal with sideshow and got the Marvel license

Thank God, Sideshow did not allow this. Then we would have a gazillion PLASTICKY looking, full of GLOSSY paint, atrocious looking Marvel 1/3.

That lack any soul, that are lifeless and that could be created by a software.

I know that casuals get excited with Prime 1 because they correlate size to quality.

Nevertheless, just compare Prime1's 1/3 Batman Who Laughs vs Sideshow's BWL PFF.

Or OG Lobo PFF vs Prime1's Lobo 1/3.

Or Sideshow's Penguin PFF vs Prime1's Penguin 1/3.

I know, i know. "But, but, but Forps. Prime1 sculpts are better"

No, my friends. They are simply BIGGER and your eye is not trained to distinguish between art and size.

If you ever see Mona Lia live, you would come to the forum or Facebook and cry about "that painting is sooooo small. I wonder why people love it. Give us a Prime 1 behemoth. Mona Lika is tooo small, it looks like cr.p".

Forps is here to educate you. To help you "train" your eyes to not only watch or see but to observe, to analyze and to go deeper than "Prime1 Joker is bigger than Sideshow's = so it is better"

[VILE GUILE]

Originally Posted by Forps is back

Thank God, Sideshow did not allow this. Then we would have a gazillion PLASTICKY looking, full of GLOSSY paint, atrocious looking Marvel 1/3.

That lack any soul, that are lifeless and that could be created by a software.

I know that casuals get excited with Prime 1 because they correlate size to quality.

Nevertheless, just compare Prime1's 1/3 Batman Who Laughs vs Sideshow's BWL PFF.

Or OG Lobo PFF vs Prime1's Lobo 1/3.

Or Sideshow's Penguin PFF vs Prime1's Penguin 1/3.

I know, i know. "But, but, but Forps. Prime1 sculpts are better"

No, my friends. They are simply BIGGER and your eye is not trained to distinguish between art and size.

If you ever see Mona Lia live, you would come to the forum or Facebook and cry about "that painting and is sooooo small. I wonder why people love it. Give us a Prime 1 behemoth. Mona Lika is tooo small, it looks like cr.p".

Forps is here to educate you. To help you "train" your eyes to not only watch or see but to observe, to analyze and to go deeper than "Prime1 Joker is bigger than Sideshow's = so it is better"

Mona Lia? (*Lisa) You must work for Sideshow, because while they've recently gotten a little better, they're still behind Prime 1 in every category except price.

One of the reasons they're cheaper is because their statues are hollow light eggshells. That's one way to save a buck, while Prime 1's are mostly solid with actual weight. Also their scaling is undersized with their premium formats and they lack small intricate details. Just look at the Sideshow Predator & Alien statues VS Prime 1 Predators & Alien statues. There's no contest!

Take for example SS new big bad sized Berserker Rage Wolverine. It's a fair price, but it'll be hollow and his claws aren't even metal. It's all smoke & mirror's, where as if Prime 1 did it, you know his claws would be metal.

I'm not trying to bash Sideshow, but I'm not going to defend them either when it comes to being better than P1. Either way, I think ALL companies are going to have trouble sustaining themselves once Artificial Intelligence takes half the jobs away from humans & everybody's broke anyways.

[Forps is back]

Originally Posted by VILE GUILE

Mona Lia? (*Lisa) You must work for Sideshow, because while they've recently gotten a little better, they're still behind Prime 1 in every category except price.

One of the reasons they're cheaper is because their statues are hollow light eggshells. That's one way to save a buck, while Prime 1's are mostly solid with actual weight. Also their scaling is undersized with their premium formats and they lack small intricate details. Just look at the Sideshow Predator & Alien statues VS Prime 1 Predators & Alien statues. There's no contest!

Take for example SS new big bad sized Berserker Rage Wolverine. It's a fair price, but it'll be hollow and his claws aren't even metal. It's all smoke & mirror's, where as if Prime 1 did it, you know his claws would be metal.

I'm not trying to bash Sideshow, but I'm not going to defend them either when it comes to being better than P1. Either way, I think ALL companies are going to have trouble sustaining themselves once Artificial Intelligence takes half the jobs away from humans & everybody's broke anyways.

Chill, my friend.

Prime1 is going to be in a good position granted that she does not try to compete with Sideshow in Marvel/DC. Sideshow is clearly showing to the market that she is coming for her throne regarding Marvel/DC and noone can stop her.

Prime1, if she is smart, can still find her niche in anime/manga and video games statues and also in movie statues (along with Blitzway and as long as their partnership stays intact).

[B]It is futile to try and still compete with Sideshow, if Sideshow enters the 1/3 DC market.

Prime 1 is going to get obliterated if she insists trying to directly compete with Sideshow. Her sculpts lack compared to Sideshow's one. PERIOD.

I know that Prime1's sculpts are BIGGER and that they impress you or 100% of the guys in this hobby (at least at the beginning) but Prime1 stands 0 chance if she tries to compete with Sideshow in the latter's expertise (Marvel/DC).

Anime/manga and video statues should be Prime1's focus now on.

[Straken-SWE]

Originally Posted by Forps is back

Chill, my friend.

Prime1 is going to be in a good position granted that she does not try to compete with Sideshow in Marvel/DC. Sideshow is clearly showing to the market that she is coming for her throne regarding Marvel/DC and noone can stop her.

Prime1, if she is smart, can still find her niche in anime/manga and video games statues and also in movie statues (along with Blitzway and as long as their partnership stays intact).

[B]It is futile to try and still compete with Sideshow, if Sideshow enters the 1/3 DC market.

Prime 1 is going to get obliterated if she insists trying to directly compete with Sideshow. Her sculpts lack compared to Sideshow's one. PERIOD.

I know that Prime1's sculpts are BIGGER and that they impress you or 100% of the guys in this hobby (at least at the beginning) but Prime1 stands 0 chance if she tries to compete with Sideshow in the latter's expertise (Marvel/DC).

Anime/manga and video statues should be Prime1's focus now on.

I agree 100% with you but for slightly different reasons

Good to see you back btw, no one could fill the void when you left

[Forps is back]

Originally Posted by Straken-SWE

I agree 100% with you but for slightly different reasons

Good to see you back btw, no one could fill the void when you left

Thank you, my friend.

I remember you from my thread "Sideshow's Mount Rushmore".

Ohh and mind you. Many guys agree with me but are afraid to express their opinion due to herd mentality ("Prime1 is the best", "Sideshow sucks") or due to some Tubers promoting other companies cause Sideshow is NEGLECTING them. I love Sideshow giving ZERO F...S about Tubers. I love her! The same applies to Prime1, also neglecting Tubers.

The need to concentrate on anime/manga and video games stuff for Prime 1 along with movie pieces in collaboration with Blitzway (although i want Sideshow to try and get Blitzway to work with her) is obvious. I bet that even Prime1's executives can see that Sideshow is no longer kidding and all of collector's money heads to Sideshow that combines EXCELLENT new sculpts with affordability.

Prime1 should not be stubborn. Her ego is hurt cause they thought that they were the best, collectors were praising them (average Joes correlating size to artistic value) and it is difficult to admit that Sideshow is KOing her atm.

Pride though has nothing to do with business logic. Prime1 should not try to compete with Sideshow in Marvel/DC. This battle is over.

XM lost it, LBS is losing it, Prime cannot win it.

Sideshow is the Queen of western comic-related statues. Period.

Move on, Prime1. Protect your business and concentrate in aspects where you are good, in your "niche" markets.

2024's Sideshow is something like prime Goldberg. Unbeatable!