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  • (Intense music plays)

  • - [Narrator] Our pop culture has the power

  • to bring diverse communities together.

  • It's a bridge that connects us, its characters

  • and their stories, sparking our imaginations

  • and igniting our ambitions.

  • (dramatic music)

  • From heroes, to villains, to creatures,

  • we celebrate beloved icons of cinema,

  • television, gaming and comics through our licensed

  • and original collectible products.

  • Slideshow's mission is in creating highly detailed statues,

  • posable figures, fine art prints and prop replicas.

  • - Hey, welcome to another episode of the Dan Lock show.

  • Today I am like a kid in a candy land.

  • You have no idea.

  • Look at where we are at.

  • Now, if you've been watching my videos on YouTube,

  • you know from time to time I will do a lot

  • of unboxing videos and I see the comments that you ask me,

  • "Where do you the toys?

  • Where do get collectibles?"

  • Here we are.

  • Here we are.

  • I'm so excited to be at the Sideshow Studio

  • and thank you Robin for inviting us.

  • - So grateful to have us here. - Thank you for coming.

  • This is a dream come true.

  • - Yes.

  • - [Dan] This is truly a dream come true.

  • - [Robin] That's wonderful to hear it.

  • - Thank you.

  • In case you don't know, Sideshow Studio,

  • we're going to go into the story.

  • What Sideshow's really about I think is connecting people

  • with their favorite characters, right, their icons--

  • Right, from your favorite TV shows, right,

  • from your favorite movies.

  • Iron Man, Batman, all the characters that you love.

  • But maybe you see, this isn't just a toy company.

  • We're gonna talk about a lot more than that,

  • we're gonna talk about the backstory a little bit, right.

  • So, Robin, maybe share with us a little bit about how

  • Sideshow, how this all started.

  • - Wow. (laughs)

  • We've been in business, this year is going to be

  • our 25th year.

  • - 25 years!

  • Anniversary, wow.

  • - Very long time.

  • And we started as a prototype development studio.

  • And we were helping other business realize their dreams,

  • their prototypes, their products,

  • and we were doing well, we were making some money

  • and being able to feed ourselves,

  • - A very humble beginning, right?

  • - Very humble beginning.

  • - Just before the show we were talking

  • about 4 people.

  • - 4 people.

  • We started in a garage in Woodland Hills

  • which is San Fernando Valley.

  • And technically, it was probably half a garage,

  • because the car was still in the garage.

  • But, yeah very small.

  • And there was a crew of 4 people.

  • And we were really fortunate.

  • We found each other and we shared the same passions

  • or similar passions.

  • And we made a group and started working together.

  • And it went on from there.

  • And we were able to work with many larger companies.

  • At that time, we were considered a subcontractor.

  • So if you had a toy company or some other company,

  • they'd say hey let's send it out of house.

  • We were the out of house.

  • We were the small, little garage out of the house,

  • but we were out of the house.

  • So we did that for a few years.

  • And we also took ideas that didn't work well

  • in those toy companies and they said,

  • "Okay, this project is gonna die,

  • so can you make it better?"

  • So we would redesign it and then present it back to them,

  • and quite a few projects went super, super famous.

  • And we sat there going wow, we did a lot of love

  • and labor, but we got paid that much.

  • - Now what led to the beginning?

  • The struggle years, how long did that last?

  • For how many years?

  • The 4 of you just kind of doing out of passion?

  • - It was quite a few years.

  • We went, probably I think, 8-10 years

  • before we really got that traction.

  • We were starting to work fluently, you know,

  • so we weren't worried about, you know,

  • where the next meal was coming from.

  • But we did the toy prototyping.

  • And there was some things in the industry

  • that were going a little south at that point.

  • We had various strikes, writer strikes, actor strikes,

  • so the industry was kind of shrinking

  • and some of those businesses were shrinking a little bit.

  • So it made it a little harder if you're a group

  • of starving artists who work.

  • - What was the turning point for Sideshow?

  • Like from that to now with--

  • - [Robin] The turning point was--

  • - [Dan] This huge of 5 buildings, right?

  • - [Robin] Right, I think the turning point--

  • - The staff.

  • - The turning point was one of the items

  • we designed went skyrocketed.

  • - Like a viral?

  • Not even viral, it just went--

  • - You saw it.

  • You saw it on TV, you saw it, they made cartoons out of it,

  • they made merchandise out of it.

  • And we were like we get this little check.

  • There was really a lot of love and effort

  • put into redesigning those particular set of characters.

  • Unfortunately, I can't mention the characters,

  • but it was cartoon, they made it into a cartoon.

  • And we said, enough, we're gonna do it for ourselves.

  • We know how to do the prototyping.

  • We've been doing it for a while.

  • - So you know that you have the ability to create

  • a product that people will love?

  • You know what to do.

  • - And we were fans ourselves.

  • We were geeks.

  • You know, when we redesigned something

  • or make the prototype, there's a certain level

  • of fandom that goes into that.

  • And on the side, we were doing all our stuff,

  • and it was all kind of Pop Culture, Hollywood related.

  • So we said why aren't we doing this ourselves?

  • And one of my partners, we were very blessed to make

  • those connections at that time.

  • He was a business guy, because you need a business guy.

  • - You knew the business guy.

  • You have all the artists here.

  • - Yeah, I want to do my art, I want to do my art,

  • and he was like let's get all together and--

  • - What're we gonna do?

  • - Yeah, look at what's the goal?

  • What's the business model?

  • How do we make this, sell this, present it?

  • So he was instrumental in that.

  • And we were lucky because each partner had

  • their own skillset that they brought to the table.

  • And I think that was really the magic that we were geeks,

  • but we also had a skillset.

  • And we didn't step over on somebody else's skillset.

  • - So everyone has their own areas of expertise,

  • and you have a strong business person.

  • - We had a business person, we had a painter,

  • we had a sculptor, and a graphic designer.

  • So we had our own mini studio at that time.

  • Which is great.

  • So yeah, it was that turning point

  • of they made how much money?

  • It's a cartoon?

  • It's good products, and we can really do this.

  • - 'Cause as you think about it, most people think

  • about toys, is that a real business?

  • Can you make a living doing it?

  • Right, I'm curious in terms of even pricing

  • all the items that you have.

  • Because they are like toys, but most toys are sold to kids.

  • But to me, this (mumbles) I don't want to call them toys,

  • they're like collectables.

  • Right, they're selling more to adults.

  • - Even at that time, when we made items,

  • they were in the toy category.

  • But we considered them differently

  • because we brought a tailor in that worked

  • with the studio who was making actual costumes.

  • So we went hardcore.

  • - Make it as realistic as possible.

  • - We're gonna reproduce exactly,

  • try and reproduce exactly what you saw on film.

  • And, I think we did really well.

  • Our first license was with Universal Studios.

  • And we did the Classic Monsters.

  • - Oh nice.

  • - That was one of our gads.

  • We all were like I love the Frankenstein films

  • and the classic Hollywood.

  • Because we thought that was classic Hollywood.

  • But at that time, you didn't see a lot of product.

  • And when you did see it, it was in October.

  • It was for Halloween.

  • And then you would see the generic stuff come out.

  • But we never figures, we never saw statues.

  • We never saw anything that was, what we could consider,

  • classic and collectable for people that age range

  • at the time.

  • And we were fortunate to meet with a product rep,

  • and we got into Universal and said,

  • "Hey we're interested in licensing the monster."

  • And they said, "It's not Halloween."

  • And we were like, "We know.

  • We're going to sell it.

  • But like, "It's not Halloween."

  • We're gonna sell it in spring.

  • We're gonna make this happen.

  • So our first license was the in the 8 in figure category.

  • And it was slightly jointed figures.

  • And, you know, they were just like, here you go.

  • You go guys, you 4 people, you go.

  • (laughs) - Yeah good luck.

  • - And what we didn't realize at the time is

  • that Universal didn't hold the likeness rights

  • for any of the actors.

  • And that's why when you were seeing product,

  • it was very generic, it wasn't of Karloff, it wasn't Lugusi.

  • And they said, "Well now you have our license

  • for the monsters, but now you have to go

  • and make deals with all the estates."

  • - Ooh, okay.

  • - Right, and we were like, "Yes we will."

  • We're gonna do that.

  • And there was a lot of skepticism from the studio.

  • - Because nobody's ever done it.

  • - No and they were having difficulty connecting the estates,

  • and fortunately, we got ahold of Sarah Karloff.

  • And she represented her father's estate.

  • We said, "Hey we got this crazy idea.

  • We got the license from Universal.

  • We want to make it look like your dad."

  • 'Cause there was no product, no official,

  • what they would call officially licensed product

  • in the market place showing the classic actor's faces

  • on that product.

  • So we were able to make deals with the Karloff

  • and the Lugosi estate.

  • And we did the first, and the Chaney,

  • so we did the top three.

  • And our product line was sold to Toys R Us at the time,

  • and it, bam, sold out.

  • Because the collectors were like where did this come from?

  • - Like I guess like, this is--

  • - Right, where did it come from,

  • and it actually looks like what I remember

  • from my childhood?

  • - Yes, that's exactly it.

  • - What I remember when my dad took me to the movies,

  • or when I'm up late at night and watching the films.

  • And there was an emotional connection

  • that their faces brought to those characters,

  • because that's what made them the characters in the film.

  • - 'Cause I think about it like,

  • "I never collected toys before coming across

  • the first product like.

  • I never collected, not my decision.

  • - It's an addiction. - Right?

  • - And then when I saw, I think I was browsing online one day

  • and I saw this figure.

  • I forgot which one was the first one I bought.

  • Maybe it was Iron Man, I'm not so sure.

  • Like the first one.

  • - That's a classic. - Right.

  • And I'm like this is not a toy.

  • This is like, it feels like a connection

  • if you can bring this home.

  • A piece of the memory, the film, the excitement,

  • the emotion, right?

  • - That's the connection.

  • That's like when we did that first product line,

  • we were geeks.

  • We were pop culture geeks, and that was a labor of love.

  • And we were ecstatic to the point where we went to

  • Toys R Us, the local Toys R Us, and we took cameras

  • and we were in the isle taking pictures

  • of the product on the shelf.

  • Because we were so excited.

  • I have to say, we got bounced out of that Toys R Us.

  • Because they were like, "No pictures."

  • Like we were paparazzi at the time.

  • I don't know why they were like you can't take pictures

  • in here, but that's how excited we were.

  • That we were emotionally attached to it.

  • And we got a lot of feedback from fans

  • that said thank you because this is what I remember

  • it looked like, and I have it and or I gifted it

  • to my father and he can't believe that it looks like that.

  • So it was gratifying that, one, we made the right choice,

  • and that it worked and that it was well received

  • by the fans.

  • So we did that line, then we came back

  • with a larger 6 scale version.

  • So we upscaled it, and again that was in Toys R Us.

  • - Would you say also because of the timing

  • for now they say the last ten years,

  • the Marvel Universe or the superheros really,

  • it's both, Sideshow both kind of grew together, right?

  • - [Robin] We were in a good spot at that time,

  • and we worked well collectively.

  • And we didn't quit.

  • And we just had a lot of hard work and not giving up.

  • And even when we failed, we had to regroup

  • and start a different way.

  • And that's, for us, I think, and for me personally,

  • failure is good.

  • Some people get freaked out about it.

  • And they let it side track them.

  • But I think, in certain respects, that failure gives you

  • that breathing moment to reflect back.

  • - To invent maybe.

  • - Yeah, what did I do wrong?

  • You know, what can I, how can I make that better,

  • or do I trash that idea and go in a different direction?

  • It gives you that pause moment, so failure's good.

  • It's when you have repetitive, identical failures,

  • that's stupid.

  • - It means we haven't learned from our mistakes.

  • - That's stupid, yes, you can't continue to fail

  • in the same manner.

  • Because then, you're not learning.

  • So we did have a lot of failure,

  • but we were able to pick ourselves back up.

  • - Robin, was there a time during the last 25 years,

  • a moment where it was a pivotal moment?

  • It can be one of those moments where when this works,

  • it's gonna be great.

  • If this doesn't work, we're gonna be in big trouble.

  • Those moments.

  • I mean, I'm sure you have a lot of ups and downs.

  • Share with us maybe a couple of those moments.

  • - I think, you know, once we got into the momentum

  • with the Universal license and we got product in the store,

  • we weren't knowledgeable about what happens in the store.

  • We weren't knowledgeable about any of that.

  • So that was the school of hard knocks.

  • And in some cases, there's a lot of hidden rules

  • that stores run by and they make the manufacturers jump

  • through flaming hoops.

  • - Yeah then pay them late and then all that, right yeah?

  • - Right and then, you know, the interesting thing

  • with some stores that they have their own time frame

  • of how they think things should sell through by.

  • And if isn't sold, they take it and they toss it

  • in a discount bin.

  • And then if it's not sold from there,

  • they literally send it back to you, crushed,

  • and say give us our money back.

  • And you have a crushed product.

  • So for us that was difficult.

  • You know, when you have geeks and you have people

  • that are emotionally invested,

  • 'cause not only our clients emotionally invested,

  • we're emotionally invested.

  • And then you get it back and it's all crushed,

  • you know, and we made a change to not sell to major stores.

  • That we were going private.

  • We're gonna do self distribution.

  • - Online?

  • - We were going to sell online,

  • and we weren't going to be distributing our product

  • through an actual distributor.

  • And we weren't going to be selling to Toys R Us

  • and major stores.

  • That we were going to go through specialty shops,

  • mom and pop shops, and we were going to be selling online.

  • So for us, that was a big change for us,

  • because we were bucking the norm.

  • Because they said, "What're you doing?"

  • Everybody gets distributed.

  • Everybody uses a diamond or everybody uses

  • some sort of distributor to push their product.

  • - And toys, you gotta touch it and feel it

  • and all that right?

  • - Right, but we thought that we had the key,

  • that we were gonna sell to local shops

  • and they're already invested in tailoring the experience

  • to the people in their town.

  • So they could be our grand ambassadors and sell the product,

  • and then we would also sell online.

  • And then we would start taking control of our own destiny.

  • And because at that time, everybody was saying,

  • "No, you have to do it this way."

  • Again, we had a moment where we had to step back and say,

  • "We understand the normal path,

  • but we're gonna try and do it differently."

  • And so we became self-distributed.

  • And now, from there to where we're at now,

  • we're distributing globally.

  • - What percentage of the customers are coming from online?

  • What percentage are coming from the smaller boutique stores?

  • - Oh goodness, it's hard to tell,

  • because we have boutique stores

  • but we also have distribution.

  • So we have some distributors throughout Asia, Europe,

  • and so they sell to other stores.

  • So it's really hard to say what that quantity is.

  • But we've been successful.

  • I'm not complaining.

  • I'm not worried about where the next meal is coming from.

  • - And I love the model from a business perspective.

  • I think it's very smart because a lot of the,

  • let's say the items, the products I order,

  • some of them are limited.

  • Like you don't always carry, so we don't carry a lot

  • of the inventory, right?

  • So then I know, then also increase the urgency.

  • Okay, I gotta buy this, 'cause Sideshow may not have it

  • like a year from now.

  • Or they become very, very expensive,

  • even if I buy on like Ebay and things like that right?

  • So from their perspective, I think that it's awesome.

  • And then also the pre, I can see where you can pre order

  • certain products.

  • With toys usually, it's an impulsive buy, right?

  • Kids in the store, they see the toy that's cool, right?

  • This is not like, no, I wait sometimes a year

  • for my item to run.

  • - It's also different manufacturing.

  • You know, when you're seeing those plastic toys,

  • they're manufactured way different.

  • Tens of thousands.

  • And our product is hand molded, hand made, hand assembled

  • in a lot of cases, and hand painted.

  • So it's very difficult sometimes to,

  • "Oh we're gonna make 50,000."

  • That's not, that's not the nature of the product.

  • It's of how you go from start to finish.

  • It's a very artistic, manual process.

  • So that's why you have a limited editions.

  • - And it's so happy like as a fan, I would buy one product.

  • It's an Iron Man figure, and then oh, there's another one.

  • There's a different color or a different look,

  • and that's great.

  • You collect that.

  • And then there's another figure.

  • It is addictive.

  • - Well especially with Iron Man.

  • And then you have movie one was 3 suites.

  • And then movie 2, there's 900.

  • They just exploded with the amount of suits,

  • and now you're like okay well that suit is cool,

  • and that suit's cool.

  • And I wanna, I wanna heavy lifting Iron Man suit

  • that's more of a like kinda army kinda heavy lifter one.

  • But they were so unique.

  • - [Dan] The Hulkbuster, right?

  • - [Robin] Right and there were so unique

  • that when, if you're an Iron Man fan,

  • you're like now I need.

  • It's not where it's a color shift.

  • They were significant designs, and the unique paint.

  • - Yes, different abilities.

  • - The applications and different abilities.

  • So now you went, "I need them all."

  • You know, and then they have the whole Hall of Armor suits.

  • - That's beautiful.

  • And then when do you guys transition to more than

  • making more the life sized or bigger figures?

  • - Well, you know, the interesting thing is we started out

  • doing bigger figures, bigger life sized busts.

  • And then that went away.

  • When we were doing the prototyping, we, like I said,

  • we were doing other things, other passion pursuits.

  • And at that time, we were working with a comic book artist

  • named Bertie Bryson.

  • And he had just released a beautiful graphic novel

  • of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

  • So we did a life sized bust of Bertie's item,

  • of his Frankenstein.

  • It was beautiful.

  • So that was limited edition.

  • But at the time we were a small studio,

  • so I think it was an edition of 25.

  • So if someone can find the Bertie Bryson Sideshow bust,

  • that's gonna be yes, it's very rare.

  • So we, a lot of these categories we're working in,

  • we were working in just nobody knew it.

  • So when we got the chance to start working

  • back into the life sized, we were like bring it on.

  • We're ready.

  • We've been ready to do that.

  • - And I think one of the, one of the key things

  • about all the items I collected,

  • it's not just a figure, but it comes

  • with a lot of accessories.

  • So then you don't get bored.

  • Oh it's he's just a figure.

  • But you can change the hands, you can change the head,

  • you can change this, you can get a different position

  • and different things.

  • It makes it very interesting to play,

  • but also interesting to display.

  • - We had a lot of clients that reach out and say,

  • "I love this figure, I don't know what to do with it.

  • I can't pose it, it doesn't look like anything.

  • You guys have beautiful galleries online.

  • We have a wonderful photography team, video team,

  • and the customers were struggling to make it look like that.

  • So now we have a series about how to be a poser

  • where we have one of our gentleman that just,

  • that's what he does.

  • He's very talented at that, so he has his own series

  • where we're like okay, this is how you pose this figure.

  • So we walk collectors through, step by step, if you want--

  • - I remember the first couple of figures,

  • I went this doesn't look very good.

  • The hands are like this and it's like this.

  • That's not a very hero-y pose, right?

  • They looked odd.

  • - The great thing about Terry in that series is,

  • he'll tell you why he's doing that.

  • He said if you want to look dynamic, this is how you do it.

  • He'll actually give you tips on how the wrist works

  • and why you have to turn it certain ways.

  • So he's not just showboating.

  • He's actually teaching you how to do that.

  • Which our collectors gave us positive feedback on that.

  • So I'm glad that we can help them to pose it

  • in their collections.

  • And they send us pictures using just beautiful--

  • - And you have a blog, I know that all the collectors

  • that take photos say enter kinda like a contest.

  • Like it's collected a month.

  • - [Robin] Yes it's, yeah.

  • - Collected a Month, I gotta enter there

  • - Yes, well and good thing is we want

  • to see everybody's collection.

  • So we're not looking for overwhelm me with your collection.

  • It's show me your favorite piece.

  • Show we what you got.

  • - It's your passion, right.

  • - Yeah, your passion.

  • Whether it's one or two pieces,

  • or if you've designed, you know, a whole room.

  • We've have people that have designed custom rooms.

  • We've had people that just have certain corners available,

  • and they decorate a certain corner of their house.

  • - Whose your favorite character?

  • - Oh goodness, I was just talking with your crew beforehand.

  • I love Deadpool.

  • Because he just gets away with so much stuff,

  • so much stuff.

  • You know, when you're having a hard day at work,

  • you just want to Deadpool somebody.

  • And if you guys know the character,

  • you know what I'm talking about.

  • So that's my--

  • - And he's so different from every other character.

  • He's just not politically correct.

  • - Not politically correct.

  • Just a lot of physical slap-stick stuff in a character,

  • and so that he's one of my favorite.

  • But I'm also, you know, we recently did a statue of,

  • oh goodness, we did one for How to Train Your Dragon.

  • - [Dan] Oh How to Train Your Dragon, yes.

  • - [Robin] He was, you know, he was really cool.

  • - I do also want to ask you about the team,

  • because the team is what makes the company work, right?

  • One thing I love, if you never purchased anything

  • from Sideshow, let me walk you through the process.

  • After you purchase, at the end there's a thank you, right.

  • And the thank you, there's a little video.

  • There's all teams like hey thank you.

  • For the first time I saw that, that's very unusual.

  • And I love that video, because when you buy

  • something online, keep in mind, like when I buy a toy,

  • all I saw was the picture.

  • So I bought the picture, and I really don't.

  • Even before I came to the studio,

  • I didn't know how big the company is.

  • I thought maybe she's got 10 people.

  • But you don't know.

  • You have no idea, right.

  • There's no concept.

  • And but when you can see the people,

  • the culture behind the company,

  • it almost makes me feel oh,

  • like there's real people behind this.

  • And they're just like me.

  • They're a fan, and they, right?

  • - They say come on in here.

  • You're a pop culture geek like us.

  • - Like wait you're one of us.

  • - It's sometimes it's hard to find a connection like that.

  • And we're the hub.

  • You know, I wanna be the hub.

  • Because we spend so many years as artists struggling

  • to find other people to connect with,

  • and I think that is one of the unique things

  • about our business that.

  • Even we went form 4 people to 160,

  • but it still feels like family.

  • It's close, you know, we try to keep that atmosphere.

  • And a lot of the people we have on staff

  • are also pop culture geeks.

  • Some do cosplay, you know, some have gaming--

  • - [Dan] Go to Comic Con.

  • - [Robin] Comic Con, yes.

  • Every year we go to Comic Con.

  • And, but there's such a wide variety of passions

  • and interests and pursuits.

  • Some people are gamers, you know, hardcore gamers.

  • Some people are sci-fi, Dungeons and Dragons.

  • You know, there's probably nothing that you can't name

  • that one of the 160 that work here.

  • - [Dan] But I could see even just walking (mumbles)

  • includes some (mumbles) in here.

  • - [Robin] We've got a lot of B-roll.

  • - [Dan] Yeah, in the office, and you can is right there.

  • Andy was sharing with me the seal of the company.

  • The seal of the company is actually a vegan, right.

  • So he has this kitchen that provides vegan food,

  • and also teaches the staff how to make vegan food.

  • See that's all part of the culture.

  • They're unusual, again for just a prototype, a toy company,

  • like that's different.

  • That's all culture to me, right, from what I see.

  • So I bet so the staff, you, it's very close, right?

  • - It's important for us to make it a family,

  • and to, my partner Greg always says it's not about

  • the product, it's a bout the people.

  • And it is about the people,

  • because if you're connecting with your coworkers

  • and you're connecting as group.

  • And you love where you work, then you're gonna be happier

  • in what you're producing.

  • - [Dan] And the customers will feel it.

  • - The customers will feel it, and we haven't been shy

  • about sharing the staff with the customers.

  • We have live chats, you know, we email.

  • But we also have the online shows.

  • We have different venues to bring the staff to the people.

  • So we have weekly shows and we'll pull people

  • from customer support, and then one of the interesting

  • interactions we just had, we had one of the guys

  • from customer support do an unboxing.

  • And in the chat was like, hey that was the guy yesterday

  • that helped me with my coupon code.

  • So it was nice because they get.

  • These are real people.

  • You're not calling a call center.

  • - Yeah, it's not an actor.

  • - Right, it's not an actor.

  • You're not calling a call center.

  • These are people that actually work here

  • and come everyday and deal with the product

  • and help create the product.

  • Or they help to fulfill the product,

  • once it's sold to the vendors.

  • So it's a 2 part system.

  • - So how is the Sideshow structured, now?

  • I know you have the multimedia side, right.

  • You delivery, shipment side.

  • And you have the kind of the creation, prototype side.

  • How does the company divide in terms of functions?

  • - It's creating the product and fulfilling the product.

  • I think is the easiest way to define it.

  • - And then you have the studio, right?

  • - Yeah and we have the studios and--

  • - Beautiful by the way, look at this.

  • (Robin laughs) This is awesome.

  • You only see bits of it, but it's beautiful.

  • This chunk. - He's showing this much.

  • - Yeah this chunk, there's that chunk, there's this chunk.

  • - Well it's really a 2 part system,

  • because we want to create collectables

  • that people have an emotional attachment to.

  • And it fulfills a moment or it captures a moment

  • in their life where they remember.

  • I remember when I went to the theater with my family.

  • I remember when we sat in front of the TV

  • and watched this.

  • I think I'm a superhero, so therefor, I want the Iron Man

  • because I can picture myself as Tony Stark in the suit.

  • And that's me and I want it.

  • But then there's another portion of the business

  • that has to do deliver on that emotional purchase.

  • And what we have to do on that side of the business

  • is not create disappointment.

  • Because you don't want disappointment.

  • You want that emotional excitement to carry through

  • all the way to delivery.

  • So that's what their objective is.

  • Is to connect with the customer, make sure they're happy,

  • make sure all their questions are answered,

  • they're accounts are taken care of,

  • and to be able to shepard that product to them

  • and get it delivered to their door

  • and to really close that--

  • - That's actually a great point.

  • Like to not to create disappointment,

  • because I was just before we turned on the camera,

  • was showing Robin, like, all my.

  • I just have all my Sideshow delivery delivered

  • to my house today.

  • Like here, like seriously, I have a shipment

  • from you all the time.

  • - And I'm glad that our text messaging is working.

  • - Yeah, it's working very well.

  • - We tested that out.

  • - Very working well.

  • But I bought toys from other companies,

  • like a couple other brands.

  • I won't name name, right, but similar figures

  • and stuff like that.

  • The hand doesn't work, or it doesn't look right,

  • or it's something.

  • So now I don't by from anybody except Sideshow.

  • - Thanks, that's awesome.

  • (both talking at once)

  • - I have never been, I have never seriously,

  • not because I'm in Sideshow's studio,

  • I've never been disappointed, one time.

  • One time, not one time.

  • - Well it's lovely to hear that, thank you,

  • and we work hard to make that happen.

  • And but we're not delusional to know that stuff happens.

  • Things break.

  • When people are disappointed, you're shipping it

  • and you can.

  • We had one customer that kept complaining

  • that his stuff was broken.

  • And I'm like oh I'm so sorry, let's replace that for you.

  • And then he was taking pictures,

  • and there was a boot print on his box.

  • I said, there's a boot print.

  • He upset the delivery guy, and the guy--

  • - Every single time.

  • - And the delivery guy was squashing it,

  • and so we helped try and rectify that for him.

  • But the ultimate journey of that product,

  • it was still broken.

  • So we had, you know, rectify it and replace it

  • and make it whole and make his emotional attachment

  • and his understanding of what he was going to get

  • from that product whole.

  • Somethings happen like that you never, never foresee.

  • And we know it's gonna happen.

  • And if we try to work our hardest to make it right,

  • and if not, we can try to improve their experience

  • for next time.

  • And so it's, that's one of those failure points.

  • That's like okay I'll fail, but we're gonna try.

  • And we're gonna try to improve it

  • and make sure the clients are happy next time.

  • - Where do you see Sideshow is going in the next 5 years?

  • So now we've got 25 years, like 30 year anniversary.

  • So 30th anniversary like where would you see Sideshow at?

  • - I want to be in a completely different place

  • than we are now.

  • You know, we have been working on our IP.

  • We have one of our Ips.

  • - Court of the Dead. - The Court of the Dead.

  • We have a lot of stuff in the pipeline.

  • There's some really exciting stuff coming up.

  • Unfortunately, I can't say it.

  • - Stay tune, stay tuned.

  • - But yeah, we have a lot of things piled up

  • to activate, you know, in the next few years.

  • So we're super excited internally,

  • and I'm so super excited!

  • But I just can't tell you about it.

  • - It's a cliffhanger.

  • - I know it's a cliffhanger.

  • We'll have to do another interview.

  • - Yeah, we'll come back for another interview.

  • - Come back, right now we can talk about it.

  • - Now we can talk about it.

  • So for my audience, maybe they just want to purchase

  • the first product, or they've been following me

  • for some time that they want to now expand the collection.

  • But I'm telling you, if you buy your first one,

  • that's it, it's game over.

  • It's a never ending black hole.

  • That's my warning.

  • - Yes because we've designed it to be

  • a never ending black hole.

  • - Once you get your first one, that's it, you're done.

  • - We try to make the client experience quick and easy,

  • so you can go to Sideshow.com, you can browse.

  • - YouTube, definitely follow on YouTube

  • if you want tips, yeah.

  • - YouTube or on Instagram.

  • But the just the experience online,

  • when you're on the product page,

  • hopefully we can serve you up videos,

  • we can serve you up the gallery.

  • You can see all different sides

  • of what you're gonna be purchasing.

  • You can click online chat and talk to one of our geeks

  • in customer support, because they're either a fan

  • or they have to product sitting in front of them

  • or they've been down in production

  • while they're sculpting the product.

  • So they're very knowledgeable about the product.

  • And then we also have flexible payment plans.

  • - Oh yes, that's actually, it's actually very important.

  • 'Cause it's still, it's for most people,

  • it's a 4-300, $400 figure.

  • It's not a $30 figure.

  • - Well, we originally started the flexible payment plan,

  • I believe early 2000s and nobody in the industry

  • was doing it at all.

  • And we tailored it based on a client interaction I had.

  • And he said, "Hey, I wanted to buy this item,

  • but I got the money and I blew it.

  • I just spent it, and now I'm kicking myself

  • because I really wanted this item.

  • And I only have X amount of dollars left."

  • So he said, "Can I just send you all my money

  • and then you can allocate it for me?"

  • And I said, "Yes, we'll make that happen."

  • And we did and that was the inspiration

  • of the flexible payment plan,

  • because we realized some of the clients were struggling

  • and didn't quite know how to finance their money

  • to make that purchase happen.

  • So in some cases, it allowed that collector

  • to be able to obtain their dream item

  • that they thought they couldn't

  • because the one lump sum was so overwhelming for them.

  • So the payment plan said hey you can pay for it,

  • 75 bucks a month and we'll hold onto it,

  • and we'll ship it out when it's ready.

  • - And some of the items even when you pre order,

  • you just make a deposit then you can still

  • keep making payments when it's finished.

  • - Well we try to time it--

  • - Before the release, right?

  • - Right, when we have things in production,

  • we try to time the payment plan

  • so once you finish your last payment,

  • you're item is delivering with everybody else's.

  • 'Cause you still want that excitement,

  • and you don't want to go online and hear from some guy

  • how the item is great and he loves it

  • and you're missing out, but your payment plan

  • still has 2 payments to go.

  • So we try to time it appropriately,

  • so everybody gets that excitement.

  • - I just remembered.

  • I shall share a quick story.

  • We'll wrap this up.

  • So I go to see movies all the time.

  • That's how I relax, right?

  • So every single time, I would go see, let's say,

  • one of the Marvel movies, usually after the day or 2,

  • I'll get an email from Sideshow,

  • exactly the movie I just watched.

  • Right, so listen, I just watched Iron Man 3,

  • and there's Iron Man 3 figures.

  • Oh, here we go.

  • Here we go.

  • And my wife would be like, oh Sideshow

  • just times you perfectly.

  • They know when you're watching the movies.

  • - I'm surprised we haven't found out

  • your wife's email address.

  • This is what he wants.

  • - This is what he wants.

  • So how do you know?

  • It's perfect timing, every single time.

  • Every single time.

  • So it's awesome.

  • It's so awesome.

  • Thank you Robin, thank you for having us.

  • - Thank you for coming out,

  • and we're gonna take a tour.

  • - Yeah, so make sure all it includes something special

  • B-Roll for you.

  • And make sure also check out Sideshow.

  • Just go to website.

  • Get your first collection.

  • - Yes please.

  • - Do an unboxing video.

  • Don't just watch my unboxing video.

  • Do your own unboxing video.

  • - We love to see everybody that gets product in

  • and they unbox it.

  • Some pictures of your first product, if you get one.

  • And you know, share your collection with us,

  • because we're geeks and we love to see that kind of stuff.

  • So please hit our social media channels.

  • Hit us up online at Sideshow.com and share your passion.

  • - Yes, and comment below what else you want to see.

(Intense music plays)

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