Imagine if Lucas sold his licenses to any collectible companies that could afford the

Comic concepts
Advertise with us
Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
JustinLuck

JustinLuck

Super Freak
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
3,949
Reaction score
0
It might be harder on the individual companies, but the fans would still be purchasing quality products and Lucas would still be making money. In fact, Lucas might make even more money.

For instance, Sideshow has become quite comfortable with the 1:6 SW license, knowing that no one can compete with them. So even if there are problems with a product, Sideshow know loyal fans will still buy it because there are no alternatives. Sideshow's Vader, for example, is the best incarnation we have ever seen. But of course he is, because his character is off limits to anyone else except Medicom which most of us don't count for various reasons.

However, over time, more people have been dropping the 1:6 SW line because they have been dissatisfied and disappointed with the outcome of product too many times. Lucas makes money for every figure sold. If the line has a decrease in sales (smaller edition sizes, figures that remain in-stock or go on second chance), doesn't that mean Lucas is losing money as well?

What if LFL sold the 1:6 SW license to Sideshow, Hot Toys, and Enterbay for example. Imagine the firestorm that would occur when these companies have to compete for customers. Each year, people would buy the best products available on the market. The companies would continue selling items, knowing that if they can come out top, there is a lot of money to be made. No matter what, Lucas would still make money on all of these sales, regardless of what company makes them. From Lucas' perspective, I don't understand why he limits each type of license to one company when he is only limiting his opportunity for more sales and attracting more customers. What do you guys think?
 
JustinLuck said:
It might be harder on the individual companies, but the fans would still be purchasing quality products and Lucas would still be making money. In fact, Lucas might make even more money.

For instance, Sideshow has become quite comfortable with the 1:6 SW license, knowing that no one can compete with them. So even if there are problems with a product, Sideshow know loyal fans will still buy it because there are no alternatives. Sideshow's Vader, for example, is the best incarnation we have ever seen. But of course he is, because his character is off limits to anyone else except Medicom which most of us don't count for various reasons.

However, over time, more people have been dropping the 1:6 SW line because they have been dissatisfied and disappointed with the outcome of product too many times. Lucas makes money for every figure sold. If the line has a decrease in sales (smaller edition sizes, figures that remain in-stock or go on second chance), doesn't that mean Lucas is losing money as well?

What if LFL sold the 1:6 SW license to Sideshow, Hot Toys, and Enterbay for example. Imagine the firestorm that would occur when these companies have to compete for customers. Each year, people would buy the best products available on the market. The companies would continue selling items, knowing that if they can come out top, there is a lot of money to be made. No matter what, Lucas would still make money on all of these sales, regardless of what company makes them. From Lucas' perspective, I don't understand why he limits each type of license to one company when he is only limiting his opportunity for more sales and attracting more customers. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I would love Hot Toys to give us 1:6th Star Wars so i could display them in a scene like from Spaceballs where Hot Toys are the actual Characters and the SS ones are the poor doubles of them hahahaha!

prison9.jpg



Actually..hell..Hot Toys give us SpaceBalls figures. :D
 
JustinLuck said:
What if LFL sold the 1:6 SW license to Sideshow, Hot Toys, and Enterbay for example. Imagine the firestorm that would occur when these companies have to compete for customers. Each year, people would buy the best products available on the market. The companies would continue selling items, knowing that if they can come out top, there is a lot of money to be made. No matter what, Lucas would still make money on all of these sales, regardless of what company makes them. From Lucas' perspective, I don't understand why he limits each type of license to one company when he is only limiting his opportunity for more sales and attracting more customers. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

No, LFL is making more money this way, so are the comapanies that use the license. Each comapany, as you said are selling there figure's regardless because of the way LFL has it set up. People in their region (east asia) (America) will have only one option. And when that company is done with the license it will go to some one else that will make a slightly better product. It's sort of a turn by turn process. Both sides are guaranteed to make big cash. LFL is a genius!
 
Well, the rights to produce 1/6 figures in the U.S. belong to Hasbro, so Lucas has no say in that, and I'm sure the fees paid to Lucasfilm aren't per product, it's a defined price over years.
 
Flosi said:
Market place saturation.
Click to expand...

Yes. While it sounds good in theory to have companies competing with each other, I think it would probably result in a lot of confusion and saturation of the market. The market can't support lots of companies all making variations on the same figures, so after a brief period where each tried to carve out a niche, I think you'd end up with all but one or two dropping out anyway.

Lucas's main goal is not to make as much money as possible in the short term (and it's certainly not to make the best possible products available to the consumer, which seems to be what you have in mind). It's to keep Star Wars going as a viable property. It still amazes me that I can go into any store that sells toys and buy Star Wars stuff more than 30 years after the first movie came out. At worst, doing what you suggest could very well cause the market to burn itself out in a relatively short time.
 
When you dilute the license like that it becomes worth less to the licensor and they won't pay as much.
 
Its an intriguing thought, Justin, but you have to remember that there really is a fixed number of hard-core high-end Star Wars collectors out there. And we would not buy a Farm Boy Luke from all three, four, or however many companies compete under your scenario.

We'd pick the company making the best, and the others would fade - or start making kid's toys with the license to tap an alternate consumer group (al la Hasbo) instread of continuing to produce the good stuff. Because, let's face it, one company is simply going to be better at it. Attract the best talent, the best production model, etc. It's hard for me to envision one company making a better Han while another make a better Luke for example.

Add to this the fact that competing companies would do their best to try to keep you from doing the mix and match. Slightly different scales would be the most obvious tactic, to try to encourage you to stick with their line since their figures would all go together nicely while others would look foolish side-by-side.

I like where your head's at, though. Bringing market pressures to bear is almost always a good thing. I may have to recruit you into my Conservatives Only Club...:lol

Thanks, but no thanks Mr. President on nationalized healthcare...
 
All of your points are well taken. But do any of you agree that Medicom's license is a wasted opportunity?
 
QuiGonFishing said:
Its an intriguing thought, Justin, but you have to remember that there really is a fixed number of hard-core high-end Star Wars collectors out there. And we would not buy a Farm Boy Luke from all three, four, or however many companies compete under your scenario.

We'd pick the company making the best, and the others would fade - or start making kid's toys with the license to tap an alternate consumer group (al la Hasbo) instread of continuing to produce the good stuff. Because, let's face it, one company is simply going to be better at it. Attract the best talent, the best production model, etc. It's hard for me to envision one company making a better Han while another make a better Luke for example.

Add to this the fact that competing companies would do their best to try to keep you from doing the mix and match. Slightly different scales would be the most obvious tactic, to try to encourage you to stick with their line since their figures would all go together nicely while others would look foolish side-by-side.

I like where your head's at, though. Bringing market pressures to bear is almost always a good thing. I may have to recruit you into my Conservatives Only Club...:lol

Thanks, but no thanks Mr. President on nationalized healthcare...
Click to expand...

It is good to have competing companies..when a company has the market cornered, prices go up and quality usually goes down...throw in a competitor and both lower prices and up the quality..they have to work for thier customers which i think is something that would be very interesting to see. SSC's prices have gone up and in my opinion..quality has not or even may be lacking..I say lets see another company come in and try to take my business.
 
Jackpot76 said:
It is good to have competing companies..when a company has the market cornered, prices go up and quality usually goes down...throw in a competitor and both lower prices and up the quality..they have to work for thier customers which i think is something that would be very interesting to see. SSC's prices have gone up and in my opinion..quality has not or even may be lacking..I say lets see another company come in and try to take my business.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right, but I think the competition in this case occurs when companies are initially bidding on the exclusive license. This is the point at which, as you say, another company can come in and try to take the business.

But the exclusivity of the license, as DarkLord Dave pointed out, is one of the key features of its value. I don't think that will be going away anytime soon, nor would it really benefit us much if it did.

The collectible market is different in many ways from what you might find in a typical Keynesian model because of the special and limited nature of the consumer group. It doesn't quite work like someone selling a basket of apples or some product everyone wants/needs.
 

Similar threads

P
Why companies stop making their generic 12" figure bodies after a while?
Replies
4
Views
414
Random_Retard
Random_Retard
Alatar
Rebel Moon
Replies
1
Views
532
Nagoya
Nagoya
Rorywan
For Sale Rorywan's Collection Sale 2024 - Hot Toys, Star Wars, Collectibles - NEW ITEMS!
Replies
14
Views
2K
Rorywan
Rorywan
QuiGonFishing
Hot Toys USB Powered Sabers and Effects
2
Replies
23
Views
1K
Rui Ram
R
ioFrostEminus
Seeking Advice, Experience, Thoughts on Seeking Characters Not Yet Made
Replies
16
Views
941
ioFrostEminus
ioFrostEminus

Latest posts

Back
Top