FSLAR
Super Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2013
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I still don't know what to make of this...but the people on MFC are trying their best to sound 'methodical' about it among st the confusion 
ronri, I don't know if you've seen any of those comments
The main thing is...with lines like The Avengers, GSC usually said WHY they were so expensive in comparison to other Figmas. There's no explanation about Solid Snake.
ronri, I don't know if you've seen any of those comments
Spoiler-tagging to avoid clutter:
Spoiler:
Nothing as absurd as Snake and the Avengers, but there are some questionable choices in the way they price certain ones. We have Oshino Shinobu, no doubt the most popular character in one of the most successful ongoing series since 2009 (the Monogatari series), with her Figma literally being only 400 yen away from Saber 2.0 and Red Pyramid Thing's price. While sure she comes with some decent accessories/parts, they essentially cut down on the usual count of face plates, instead showcasing her figFix version as a complementary piece (which was simultaneously released and advertised as being interchangeable with the Figma in terms of parts).
The pricing feels even more ludicrous since Shinobu was purposefully designed to resemble the older Figma models to match the other characters in the series, and that's not even accounting for the fact that she's one of the smallest characters they've ever produced (with Saber 2.0 and Red Pyramid Thing literally dwarfing her in terms of size). Beyond that, we get random small exclusives that needs an extra 1000 yen or so for piecemeal accessories (Haruka Nanase's mackerel, Matoi Ryuuko's Mako cut-up) when they could have easily been included in the standard release. Their recent release of Sinon from the (sadly) popular Sword/Art Online is already reaching around 5000 yen for a fairly standard release, which is already above Saber 2.0 and Red Pyramid Thing.
Aside from Figmas, we've had prices bouncing around as of recent with GSC pricing some of their figures above and beyond what everyone else is putting out (confidence in their skill perhaps? though I'd argue that they're not the tightest in terms QC). The worst I can I recall was their overall handling of their Mikasa Ackerman scale figure. They put her up at a pretty high price, slapping an extra 1000-2000 yen on the bonus version JUST so you can get her proper rooftop base. I'd argue that the figure wouldn't have sold as much as it did if it wasn't the first proper scale figure from a big company based on the popular show. The exclusive version with the rooftop base was priced even higher than their Motorcyle Saber from Fate/Zero a couple years back, despite the latter being literally a much bigger figure in terms of overall volume and size.
When other companies followed suit, not only were they often priced lower than GSC's regular and "complete" version of Mikasa, they also came with proper bases arguably possessing the same volume and size as GSC's exclusive release. It's only recently with Eren Yeager that they've decided to finally include the base with the standard release, which is pretty glaring when you realize how Eren costs as much as Mikasa while the latter doesn't even have a proper base for her standard release.
But yeah again, I'm not so much bagging them out as a whole. They make REALLY good stuff, but considering how other companies have managed to temper their prices while arguably maintaining the same quality, it certainly makes GSC (and to some degree, Max Factory's handling and bizarre fluctuation of their Figma prices) look a bit fishy in comparison.
Yeah I've seen some odd prices here and there; the fact that smaller Figmas like Nagisa Momoe is the standard price is bad.
It's worth noting that other companies like Bandai didn't suffer nearly the same amount of 'problems' GSC had with some of their licenses; the Avengers are nearly $60 with minimal but Bandai's Iron Man figures are $50 with more stuff, and with a little diecast in the feet as well.
There's also been the exclusive releases like Pokemon Red and Akuma Homura from Madoka Magica: Rebellion. Something is really ****ing wrong here especially with what you said on Mikasa, I've noticed that too.
The main thing is...with lines like The Avengers, GSC usually said WHY they were so expensive in comparison to other Figmas. There's no explanation about Solid Snake.
