MANY OR ONE - HOT TOYS vs NECA (Are you feeling the same?)

My collecting world mainly consist of NECA and Hot Toys. With the increasing prices of figures, I have been doing some heavy “soul searching” regarding my love for collecting. Personally, I don’t think I will ever stop collecting, however it might be time “unfortunately” to let one or the other go. I love NECA as I have been with them since Hellraiser but I find their increasing prices to be a huge “gut punch”. I saw Pan's Labyrinth – Ofelia for $50+tax. Two NECA figures are reaching $100. As much as I love NECA and the license they have acquired I have to start and question are these 7 inch figures worth the price? I have a long list of figures I am anticipating like Pale Man, Faun, New born, A4 Ripley, A4 Alien, Haloween Laurie, F13 Roy etc. I was onboard when the average figure was $20 (4 = $80) where they appeared to have value. Today four figures will average $200…..WOW!!!

I average about two Hot Toys a year (maybe less). Currently in 2019 I have purchased nothing with zero on pre-order. Like NECA the main reason is increased prices. I might love the character but do I love them enough to drop approx $350 on? That’s up to me to answer. Recently I have been thinking about DX Maul. Sure its a very expensive figure however I wonder if I was to allocate all my anticipated NECA figures funds into just one HT figure, will one Maul have a greater impact in my collecting room than a handful of 7 inch plastic action figures. What holds a greater value in my room (not from a collector MOC POV). For example if a non collector walked into my room and saw NECA will they be thinking $20. If I say $50 would they say WTF!!!! Take the same example and apply to HT. If I say my DX Jack Sparrow is $330 do they say WTF or that’s expensive but I can see why!!


Curious if other (I’m in my 40’s) have reached a similar point as I have. Or am I just taking crazy!!!

I think with certain ones like Pan's Labyrinth, there's literally no one else making these figures and that's the price of doing business. If you love the movie and think the toys came out well, then you've gotta pony up the money because no one else is making them.

I've been thinking the other way in comparison with NECA and their Pennywise figures. I've been wanting a premium one, but their's are about $30. Now with Mezco's launching at $100, I can get 3 of the NECA ones for about that and have like 10 heads to swap around with a bunch of accessories.

My rule of thumb in the situation you mentioned is to pool the money for the one amazing figure rather than buying several good figures.

I recently dove into Neca’s Gremlins line. But only because it was pretty much 1/6 scaled....
I hate multi scaled collections, especially if they are in the same space..... blame OCD.

I only recently bought a Jaws collectable (my favorite film) because it was finally 1:6.

I do have a few non-1/6 statues, located on the other side of the room from the 1/6 “displays”

Sounds so silly.


Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

I waffled back and forth between scales for a while, but in the end decided that I preferred the quality and visual impact of sixth scale — and I’ve always been a ‘less is more’ collector, brutally editing down the collection to fit whatever my vision at the time may be.

For the most part it’s served me well; no clutter and even non-geeks see the wow-factor in a nicely curated and presented sixth scale collection.

80% of what I have is Hot Toys, with a couple of the better Sideshow releases and Enterbay.




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I’m done with NECA,while I appreciate the efforts they put into licenses,franchises and characters,like you already know they are just way overpriced in Canada.I now would rather get a killer hot toy and just have one really nice piece than a bunch of sub par overpriced ones by NECA.If you don’t have access to them in hand prior to buying,than I won’t even bother as there QC imo is very hit or miss.They are so mass produced that there is no reason for them to be $60,this is suppose to be the cheapest form of figures at $60 CAD...sad times for collectors in Canada because it’s becoming challenging to justify the cost

xipotec said:

I recently dove into Neca’s Gremlins line. But only because it was pretty much 1/6 scaled....
I hate multi scaled collections, especially if they are in the same space..... blame OCD.

I only recently bought a Jaws collectable (my favorite film) because it was finally 1:6.

I do have a few non-1/6 statues, located on the other side of the room from the 1/6 “displays”

Sounds so silly.


Sent from the inside of a giant slug in outer space.....

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I ended up buying Stripe and four of the regular Gremlins. Pretty awesome figures! Fills a void in my collection as I love the movie Gremlins, watch it at least once before Christmas every year.

Did the same thing as you man, really sat and thought about my collection about a year ago. At that point I axed my Neca figures. I felt the continual QC issues and the rising prices wasn’t worth my time. Did the same on Friday with most of my Black Series and Marvel Legends, took them all to Toy Traders. The Ms came over after - a non collector and very much a minimalist - and seemed to appreciate how my place looked.

I will admit, that I’ve come close to just nuking it all a couple times lately. With the prices on everything, I’ve become way more selective on what I purchase. HT Neo was the last one, before that Sith Ani. I have only two preorders catching my eye, and I can feel complete with what I have already and with those two coming up.... Gunpla however is a whole other animal lol

I got rid of most of my non-1:6 scale collection (exception: 1977/78 Kenner Star Wars and my extensive Toy Biz LOTR) and have focused on 1:6th exclusively since. Pretty amazed by what I got for some of the Harry Potter and POTC Neca figures...

I was in Disneyland Star Wars Launch bay and they had the V1 SS Deluxe Vader and Boba Fett displayed along replicas and miniatures. I could see the impact they had with parents and kids (imagine the impact HT figures would have). It was a proud moment for me as I have both at home (along with their HT counterparts). They also had SS Maul displayed in their gift shop and I could feel his high end presence. Again imagine the upcoming HT!!!

Years back when NECA started to increase their prices I felt I could no longer afford to buy two of each (open and MOC), I became a MOC Neca collector. I still had the desire to own but no longer the need to open. To date I have been keeping pace with NECA as to the figures I need in my MOC collection but I feel another change is on the horizon……..dropping NECA entirely. Going to be tough. Will I fold when I get the call that Faun, Paleman, New Born, A4 Ripley are in?? Or do I say save the funds Dooku is just around the corner……. “remember the Launch Bay in Disneyland"

Honestly, I’d save for Dooku.
As much as I love Pans Labrynth, I’m passing hard after seeing the first release. Ophilia’s legs were warped on all the ones I saw.

solominic_knight said:

Honestly, I’d save for Dooku.
As much as I love Pans Labrynth, I’m passing hard after seeing the first release. Ophilia’s legs were warped on all the ones I saw.

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Did you see her at Toy Traders? I was surprised she was released in Canada before Pale Man!! I agree about Dooku!!

Bo Shrek said:

Did you see her at Toy Traders? I was surprised she was released in Canada before Pale Man!! I agree about Dooku!!

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Ya I did, they have a couple left. The accessories were top notch, I’ll admit that but the classic Neca leg warp was on them. Wasn’t as bad as the Xeno’s but still there.

I've tried to quit NECA several times. But they got me a year back with the 1990 Turtles and Gremlins. It's like they knew how to grab onto my nostalgic, childhood heartstring.

I'm still evaluating where I'm going with my collection, but in the mean time, they really make me happy.

One representation per franchise regardless of scale/figure/statue etc. Only way to keep things manageable and force you to make the tough decision of which is your favourite.

A quick update in my campaign to reduce my NECA purchases.

Below are figures I have passed on that were originally on my list:

The huge Predator = approx. $70 CAN
Remake Friday the 13th = approx. $35 CAN
Deleted scene Predator in Camo Gear = approx. $35 CAN

That’s $140 savings that can go to the purchase of a high end Hot Toys with a greater “WOW” factor.

Sidenote: $140 for three 7” figures sound ridiculous.

Well, I think I'm f@#$%ed because I just pre-ordered Ant-man from AM and Wasp.... I really shouldn't have as I have only one other 1/6th figure and that is an unlicensed Alex Delarge figure that I had the packaging signed by Malcolm McDowell. I have always been a Neca fan and NEVER a 1/6th fan. I'm from early on when 1/6th figures looked like dolls and tailoring etc was clunky at best.

Because a majority of my collection is horror based, I will stay with Neca for horror. I have a signed 20th anniversary F13 boxset by Steve Dash who recently passed away. I have a part 4 Jason signed, part 6 signed and a McFarlane Jason X signed. So I will continue in that vein. The boxes lend themselves well to signatures as they can be opened and displayed or closed and protected (yeah, right...) I want to have every possible living actor that played Jason sign an ultimate. I also go to a horror convention in Texas every year and get posters and all kinds of pictures signed. Its really just a cool hobby but for some reason, I really like the signed figures. I can display them with an opened one and have a really cool kind of setup.

I guess my point is, I've never had the dilemma you have but get what you want! I know the money sucks but I'm not going to live forever and I can't take it with me. I've never felt like my spending is out of control and my family has never been put into a bad situation because of it. I get the quantity vs quality debate so I'll go with decent "affordable" quality for the gut of my collection and get several hot toys pieces to go with it.... face facts, I can get multiple marvel legends or spend a mid-range on imports like mafex or just buy a really good hot toys for the avengers/super hero stuff so I'm gonna try out HT and see if I dig them enough to keep going.

I like both, but when it comes to NECA, I do look for the large scale, 18" figures. They did use to make more of those in the past, not so much now.
I'd rather buy a NECA than a 1/12 collective figures for double/triple the price. Making 6" figures, changing their name to '1/12 Collective', and charge $100 for them is ridiculous.

I've cut back on both Neca and Hot Toys, I think they're both over priced these days. As for Neca, their QC has really been sliding over the years so I usually re-paint what I do buy or turn the really bad QC ones into small statues b/c while the paint on the figures is so so their sculpts are almost always amazing. Their 1/4 aliens may be horrible action figures on account of their bendy, warped legs but make for incredible, cheap statues.

I would buy NECA if they would make good 1/4 figures like the Batman returns Catwoman, Penguin, Joker and Christopher Reeve Superman.
The Man of Steel Superman and Wonder Woman just disappointed me.
They came back strong with the 90s TMNT though.
Hot Toys needs to let Iron Man and Spider Man rest for a while. Sheesh!