This was my most anticipated statue this year so I’m sure hoping they can fix it up and make it look as good as the prototype did. Rumour is that Sideshow is having the regulars painted at another factory so they might be significantly improved, no clue if that’s true though.

The images below are what the prototype/statue looked like on Sideshow’s website.

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”

There’s two primary issues with this statue :

1) Check the white paint on yours. I’ve seen many pictures where people have significant cracking across large swaths of the white paint.
2) The paint quality on the shield in general is subpar.

As usual, crack it open and check that yours is alright. If it is, good stuff. If it isn’t, you should have plenty of time for a replacement. You can email them here about the issue : questions@kotous.com

The two primary issues are ones I mentioned in my review :

1) Excess of paint/casting material around the breasts. This isn’t a big issue for many of them, but looks terrible on some.
2) Many Vision statues have arrived broken. He was well packed on mine so I’m not sure what the issue is. I’ve seen over a half dozen on various forums.

While I still consider it a wonderful statue, you basically need to crack it open when you buy it, even if you’re planning on keeping it in box.

I don’t have any pictures of it yet, but I’ll try to dig some up later.

Anyways, this enormous $2k beast of a statue started shipping out and there’s been a few problems. While there have been some paint problems, I don’t consider those a major issue (at least not from what I’ve seen so far). The issue here is that the packing materials are subpar and some statues have arrived broken. SideshowDusty responded to this and said many of the newer shipments will include better packing materials, but this is obviously a concern for people buying on the secondary market and for international buyers. The piece is so thin in some areas that it appears to have contributed to this problem. Normally I have no issues with hollow statues, but this one may simply be too thin in areas that get stress put on them during shipping.

So yeah, be really careful about this. In hand pictures make it look very impressive, but if you were to receive one and it were broken, I can only imagine the frustration.

The most common issue with this piece include crazzzzy eyes (reported by quite a few people). On some, it’s only a minor inconvenience. On others, it looks downright messed up. There’s also been other reports including paint chips, just general sloppiness that shouldn’t have passed quality control. The most serious issue seems to be that in some cases (at least 3) the armature doesn’t line up correctly. One of the joysticks has a peg that is supposed to be attached to one of the arms and it simply does not fit. I forgot to save a picture of this, but I’ll see if I can add one later.

Here’s some example pictures of some of the issues.