What's Your Obsession » Features

Website downtime – Apologies to all my readers!

Dr_Teng — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:11:31 +0000

My host had a bit of a hacking issue this weekend, which led to some severe problems for the website. You may have noticed the site has been down for a few days but now it’s back in business! Unfortunately I have a super busy day today but you can expect to see all the articles from the past few days coming up throughout the day, so prepare yourself for a bunch of statue and collectibles news!

Recast Alert – Hot Toys Wolverine figure

Dr_Teng — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:17:30 +0000

Hot Toys put out an announcement that there have been recasts of their Wolverine figure. Makes sense, since this is one of their most valuable ones from the past couple of years.

So be careful, buy from reputable sources, and check to make sure the quality is up to Hot Toys standards.

Statue Alert : Fred Barton 1:1 scale Robocop bust

Dr_Teng — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:06:43 +0000

One of my most anticipated pieces of the last year, the Fred Barton 1:1 scale Robocop bust, has been running into some issues. Breakage during shipping and some cases of inconsistent paint, as well as some construction issues. However, for those concerned about dropping $850 and possibly getting a product you don’t like, Fred sent out a statement, which I’ll be pasting in under the cut.

It’s good to see a statue producer making a public statement about such an expensive item and being willing to address the issues. If you haven’t purchased direct and want this piece, I’d consider waiting for Sideshow’s shipment of it, which will add another layer of quality customer service (either they’ll replace/refund it or Fred will).

“First, I want you all to know that I am aware of your criticisms about the bust and I am taking steps to address as many of your concerns as I can as we continue production on the unit.

It is absolutely your right to critique the piece and I appreciate the input. However, I don’t appreciate being trashed. I don’t deserve it and neither does the piece. I’ve been in business for over 25 years, and I’ve never pulled a bait and switch, broke any promises, manufactured or sold sub-standard work, left a customer hanging or had to defend my character or my work in any way. – Until now on this forum. My work is on display all over the world and collected by billionaires and hard working Joe’s alike. I treat everyone exactly the same. We’re all fans who live and love this stuff and I tell it like it is. I think that would be appreciated.

I will do as much as I can to make everyone happy with their product.

I would like to address some of your input point by point:

· The “slop” in the face next to the chin strap: The line that is sculpted in by the cheeks and strap is not machined. It represents human flesh and a crappy rubber chin strap as seen in the film. In order to make this look more human, and not a CG toy, there is a bit of wavering on the line and the spacing is completely uneven between the flesh tone and the black. I think when this bust is viewed properly and not put under a macro lens or microscope, the face and overall unit looks fantastic and real. Not like a shrunken toy as a lot of other busts that have been made over the years. I like it, I think it looks accurate and adds a element of realism to it.

· The differing shine of the chest: This is not a flaw, it was done intentionally to add depth and color at the top of the chest which is airbrushed with two colors. – Deep blue and violet. I didn’t want the whole thing to have the wet look. I was trying to get a Robo 1 look and we all know, he was not that shinny. It changed from scene to scene. If anything it is already too glossy, but I think it is fine as is and I like it. If I wanted to go for that Robo 3 wet look – that’s a different story, for now, this is it.

· It’s too light: I never measure art by the pound like a piece of pork.

· The head/helmet breaks off in shipping: I’m on it. I am taking steps to prevent the head from flying off. Remember, these pieces are roto-molded and sure enough, there may be some uneven application of material on the inside creating a weak spot when beat to —- by Fedex. Who knew? They’re sealed and we all found out together where the weak spot is when Fedex and their expert staff of abusers conducted their own real world tests. Anyway, sorry to the folks who found out the hard way. Those units are of course being exchanged. The head/neck will be reinforced on all future units and I have suspended shipment for a limited time as we secure the remaining units in this run. I’m sure you’d rather wait a few more days here and there rather than receive such carnage at your door. And if the head on your unit hasn’t broken, it never will. Don’t worry about it, and don’t take a baseball bat to it either to test it.

· The paint application: I have been trying to tell people all along that I wanted this bust to look more real in person than in photographs and no two will be alike and the types of paints being used will create different effects and will catch the light in strange ways and not flow absolutely flawlessly. I “promised” an automotive finish, and the bust has that. But, the bust is not a $250,000 Bentley. It is a collectible, not a car. I can’t and won’t put a $2,500 paint job on a $850. collectible. But, I will try to do better as I care and I want these to be as good as I can reasonably make them without going broke or taking months and months more to produce. The paint on this bust incorporates costly cutting edge automotive paints and additives formulated for a desired, effect. These materials are applied both by spray gun and by hand to achieve a more realistic look as close to the original filmed costume/prop as possible. Varying degrees of depth, finish aberrations, particulate matter, pinholes, luster, and differing color hues are normal and not considered a manufacturing flaw or defect. Now, that statement is not a cop-out for a poorly applied or crappy paint job, but rather a matter of fact. The paint is not poorly applied. There have been some rejects for various reasons, and I do not send out those units.

· Chest plate/helmet is warped: I’d like to know what part of the Robocop costume was not warped with a horrible finish on it from head to toe. You’ve all seen the unit at CC 2011 and on the Sideshow site and my web site. These units are all production units and all look exactly the same. You all loved the warp, dip, wave, whatever you want to call it in the photo’s, you should accept it real life. That nuance is part of the sculpture. If you don’t like it – please don’t buy it. Save us both a lot of aggravation.

· I don’t respond to customers: Yes I do. All the time. And I work with customers until they are happy. Some guys are never satisfied, but I know I’ve still done my part best I can and I tried to work things out. Be patient. I’m on it. I may not respond instantly to some concerns or inquires, but if I have nothing to report, I have nothing to report. Rest assured that I know this piece and your hard earned money is important to you and I’m doing something about it. I’ve got a company to run and many other products I manufacture and projects in development and I receive over a hundred emails a day. I’ve got a lot going on. All the time. How much one on one can I do instantly? I would appreciate if you guys would give me a break and let me do what I can to make you the best Robocop collectibles that have ever been available. – At any price.

So that’s it for now. Please be patient as I work out the kinks. As Austin Powers fasha once said… “If you have an issue, here’s a tissue…. Just kidding. Back to work.

Best,

Fred”

Here’s the rest of my SDCC coverage! NWS due to a few Yamato statues

Dr_Teng — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:58:25 +0000

SDCC 2011 – More photos and news!

Dr_Teng — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:15:07 +0000

These are photos from late Thursday/Friday, I’ll start with the news though!

- Gentle Giant has a comprehensive Marvel licence and wants to bring out a TON of products. The giant smashing Hulk statue you’ll see in my pictures? It’s the top half of their Marvel monument 1:1 scale line. While that one is made of foam, the real one won’t be, and they have the legs for it back at the office. It’ll be along the lines of their Star Wars 1:1 line. That Deadpool bust with the pens in it? It’ll have a couple arrow attachments to place on your pens. The throwing stars are also erasers.
- Their Harry Potter 1/4th statues are coming and you should see the first one (either Harry or Voldemort) before the end of the year. Baby Doll and Amber from the Sucker Punch 1/4th line should be released in the next 2 months.
- Kotobukiya is launching a full Mass Effect Bishoujo line (as seen from the photos) + a Commander Shepard ArtFX statue, along with a Dead Space Isaac Clarke ArtFX statue. There should be at least 5 releases in the Tekken Bishoujo line. Plenty more releases planned in the Marvel/DC/movie inspired lines.

On to some more photos! More of them tomorrow as well!

Officially arrived at SDCC!

Dr_Teng — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 04:25:33 +0000

Just arrived and checked in! I know there’s been a lot of news so far but trust me, I’ll get the best pics tomorrow ;D

However, they’ll be slightly late because I won tickets to the Captain America movie SDCC premiere with Chris Evans in the morning. Soon enough!

Gearing up for SDCC!

Dr_Teng — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:43:42 +0000

Ok guys, here’s the deal. I’m flying out to San Diego on Wednesday and it’s unlikely I’ll get anything shot until Thursday. Starting Thursday I’ll make one giant post a day with all the pictures I take on that day as well as all the news I find out. Reviews are temporarily on hold until at least a week after SDCC unless I get some sort of surprise free time.

If you have any picture requests, hit me up here or on my underused twitter account! I’ll be keeping that one updated during SDCC as well.

My Toy Fair gallery is finally up!

Dr_Teng — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:56:27 +0000

I wasn’t planning to have these edited so fast but I banged them out in one mega photo editing session. Check out my full gallery over at my Flickr account.

My favourites were the Bowen Designs M.O.D.O.K (enormous and so evil looking), Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo line (Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Jean Grey, and Ms. Marvel all looked amazing, Catwoman was slightly below their level but still a big hit), Kotobukiya’s Commander Cody statue, and the Mezco DC Mez-Itz line. Even outside of that, there was tons of great stuff! First4Figures, Gaming Heads, they all had great booths. Unfortunately I didn’t see the new DC Direct stuff, a big disappointment since I’m a Starfire fan and wanted to check out the Cover Girls statue.

Anywho, enjoy the coverage!

Some great site news!

Dr_Teng — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 02:02:29 +0000

Let me tell you guys, the year is starting out great for What’s Your Obsession! We picked up our first sponsor, BBTS. I’ll be running a banner ad of theirs as well as their news and linking them for preorders/during reviews. I’d appreciate if you guys went through the site to order there, even though I don’t make any money per purchase. It’ll just be a way to show them that supporting WYO is the way to go! On the review samples front, Sideshow shipped me a Mola Ram PF and you’ll be seeing a review for that later this week or early next week. I’m going to state during my reviews whether the item is a review sample or not so there’s no conflict of interest. Trust me, if a statue or toy sucks, I’m going to say so. They’re hopefully the first of many companies to agree to send review samples, since I’m in talks with a few others.

I’ve also partnered with Hobby Search as an affiliate for import items, so whenever you use my links to pick up an item through Hobby Search or my existing Sideshow or Amazon affiliate links, you’ll help support the site! Due to the support I’ve received already, I’ll be trying to invest some time in improving the visual look of the site. Plus, you should see the quality of the reviews increase from it’s already amazingly high level ;D and the return of video reviews as well.

Finally, I’m changing the way I publish articles. In the past, I’d queue up 2 or 3 articles a day to space things out. That way, you guys always had daily content. But sometimes there was way too much news and I’d have to space it out over a week. I’ve thought about it and nobody wants to read week old news. I’m going to publish the news as soon as I get it. Sure, this might mean the occasional day with no news but I think it’s a worthwhile trade-off.

Ebay Watch List – marvelatmenow

Dr_Teng — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:08:59 +0000

I haven’t updated this feature nearly as much as I’d like, it’ll happen eventually!

marvelatmenow is the latest in a series of losers that pretend one of their family members is dying of some sort of disease. They’ll send you a lowball offer claiming said relative is about to die and they’re having trouble managing their medical expenses. But they totally need a Mystique statue (or whatever else) before they die. It’s pathetic and unfortunately, all too common.

Be sure to add them to your Ebay banned bidders list.

Update : Said Ebay user registered on the site to once again talk about how multiple people have helped him by giving him discounts. Which is funny, considering he had 1 feedback and the only other auctions he was bidding on were not buy it now auctions, thus no discount. He has since changed his username and re-registered on this site, claiming to be a person who has done a successful transaction. His new username here is “Savage Garden” and his new Ebay userID is savage_ivy. So now he’s pretending to be another person.

Here are the email addresses involved : sinfultrinity@aol.com (marvelatmenow), danceofspirals@aol.com (the person claiming to have had a successful transaction with them).