Premium Format Batman Arkham Asylum Premium Format Figure

[SAB]

I would have preferred some battle damage though .... I love how he slowly gets more damaged in the Arkham games.
Not too much, just a couple of cape and suit tears with a few bloody cuts, would have been awesome.

 

[67L88Stingray]

I would have preferred some battle damage though .... I love how he slowly gets more damaged in the Arkham games.
Not too much, just a couple of cape and suit tears with a few bloody cuts, would have been awesome.

Might be a battle damage variant coming too.

 

[sarakawa]

So looking at the material texture of his suit, is anyone else concerned that SSC will make him out of PVC? I will wait til I get him in hand before making any final decisions but if he was announced as PVC as a production piece, I would be very concerned...

 

[floreairfoot]

New price point is a bad move IMO. 399.99 price think about it then order. But nearing 500.00, think about it for a bit and then pass because of the high price. SSC better be careful, or they may price themselves out of business. At this prices I like I am sure many, will buy less and really pick and choose. I just started pf collecting and I am already getting priced out. This is a troubling trend. 399.99 is still a good chunk of money for a statue, but 469.99 is just crazy and can not justify the purchase at that price.

Manufacturing is just getting more expensive. Unfortunately, everything is going to pass $500 soon.

I wanted to start a DC collection of my favorites, but I'm not going to spend that much money. It would irresponsible and immature.

...now if I was bringing in $200k+ it would be a different story.

 

[sarakawa]

Manufacturing is just getting more expensive. Unfortunately, everything is going to pass $500 soon.

I wanted to start a DC collection of my favorites, but I'm not going to spend that much money. It would irresponsible and immature.

...now if I was bringing in $200k+ it would be a different story.

Haha, this is NOT why prices are going up...

 

[floreairfoot]

Haha, this is NOT why prices are going up...

Do you know that for a fact?

 

[sarakawa]

Do you know that for a fact?

Ok, I'll give you that...only people at SSC would but I'm not an idiot...$450 to $470 in a couple weeks?..yea, that's not production costs...

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

So looking at the material texture of his suit, is anyone else concerned that SSC will make him out of PVC? I will wait til I get him in hand before making any final decisions but if he was announced as PVC as a production piece, I would be very concerned...

They've done similar textures in polystone, you're getting more paranoid as each release comes up

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Ok, I'll give you that...only people at SSC would but I'm not an idiot...$450 to $470 in a couple weeks?..yea, that's not production costs...[emoji38]

That's two completely different sculpts, theres a lot less to Joker than there is Batman

 

[Tbolt]

That's two completely different sculpts, theres a lot less to Joker than there is Batman

You know what is likely driving up the cost? XM. And not for the reasons that you might think. It's not that they want to get the same amount for their pieces (I am sure they do), but I bet SS has had to start paying comperable rates to get/retain decent painters for their stuff to avoid more Iron Patriot disasters. It's not that they can't make these for less, its that they probably can't make them well enough.

That said, the prices are insane. I really don't see how you can go very deep with any line and expect there to be enough collectors to keep the pace. As such, even though it will probably cost even more than the Arkham version, I think I will hold out for ther Ledger Joker and pay whatever the going rate is on that one, and get just the ONE Joker that means the most/I want the most. Same thing I will probably do with the new Spidey PF, wait on them to make the black suite variant.

At least if you Just wanted the Arkham style PF's, you only have the 3, but then will they also add to that line from other games later on? If so, I would think you need to decide which line to follow (comic,movie,game) and stick with it.

 

[BurningRage]

Might get less popular characters when pfs are almost $500 now.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

You know what is likely driving up the cost? XM. And not for the reasons that you might think. It's not that they want to get the same amount for their pieces (I am sure they do), but I bet SS has had to start paying comperable rates to get/retain decent painters for their stuff to avoid more Iron Patriot disasters. It's not that they can't make these for less, its that they probably can't make them well enough.

That said, the prices are insane. I really don't see how you can go very deep with any line and expect there to be enough collectors to keep the pace. As such, even though it will probably cost even more than the Arkham version, I think I will hold out for ther Ledger Joker and pay whatever the going rate is on that one, and get just the ONE Joker that means the most/I want the most. Same thing I will probably do with the new Spidey PF, wait on them to make the black suite variant.

At least if you Just wanted the Arkham style PF's, you only have the 3, but then will they also add to that line from other games later on? If so, I would think you need to decide which line to follow (comic,movie,game) and stick with it.

I said something similar and was called crazy

 

[Tbolt]

I said something similar and was called crazy

Probably by the same people who think competition is good in this industry and will only bring prices down/quality up. Not that 'some' competition is a bad thing necessarily, but we are still talking about works of art, that even at mass produced scale, are hand painted, sewn etc. There have been numerous reports of XM paying better wages/attracting the better factory talent, even when using the same factories. This isn't all about them being nearbye to QC (although that helps). But when SS was the big fish with hardly any worries about anyone else, you could take their rate or not get the business. Now? SS got caught flat footed IMO, and has had to continually adjust prices up to try and level the field, which (again IMO) is why we are seeing price hike on top of price hike.

Now, this does bring up a point that has been discussed before. Accounting for shipping costs etc, at what point does it make sense to bring some of that manufacturing back to the U.S. or even Europe? I have to think we are approaching the levels that you would at least be looking into that if you were SS.

 

[Josh-A-Tron]

Probably by the same people who think competition is good in this industry and will only bring prices down/quality up. Not that 'some' competition is a bad thing necessarily, but we are still talking about works of art, that even at mass produced scale, are hand painted, sewn etc. There have been numerous reports of XM paying better wages/attracting the better factory talent, even when using the same factories. This isn't all about them being nearbye to QC (although that helps). But when SS was the big fish with hardly any worries about anyone else, you could take their rate or not get the business. Now? SS got caught flat footed IMO, and has had to continually adjust prices up to try and level the field, which (again IMO) is why we are seeing price hike on top of price hike.

Now, this does bring up a point that has been discussed before. Accounting for shipping costs etc, at what point does it make sense to bring some of that manufacturing back to the U.S. or even Europe? I have to think we are approaching the levels that you would at least be looking into that if you were SS.

Definitely. Then you cut your freight costs to put that into manufacturing

 

[filip629]

Josh, you know you're my boy, and Tbolt, I respect the hell out of you but do you guys really believe that XM is responsible for the ridiculous price increases we are seeing from SSC? Peeps have been complaining about SSC raising prices since I've been a member here. That's long before XM was around. SSC is a big company. A major player in the game. Corporations increase prices and cut corners to pad their bottom line all the time. It's the nature of the business. They are big enough now to dictate terms to their customers. It's obvious that they can produce overpriced eggshell statues with questionable QC and peeps will buy it. Hell, I bit on the Darkseid PF.

I have to say, I find it curious that anyone would believe that XM's solid casts and stringent QC is the reason SSC is increasing the price on its merch. If SSC's price increases gave us full casts (or at the very least, great QC) I can see the correlation. All we are getting is more eggshell pieces, questionable QC, and bloated edition sizes at higher prices. This is simply SSC's business strategy and so long as peeps keep buying, we'll see more of the same. XM can close their doors tomorrow...there's no chance that SSC will lower the prices on their merch or stop future price increases. Like any established business, they want all the money the market is willing to give.

 

[Tbolt]

Josh, you know you're my boy, and Tbolt, I respect the hell out of you but do you guys really believe that XM is responsible for the ridiculous price increases we are seeing from SSC? Peeps have been complaining about SSC raising prices since I've been a member here. That's long before XM was around. SSC is a big company. A major player in the game. Corporations increase prices and cut corners to pad their bottom line all the time. It's the nature of the business. They are big enough now to dictate terms to their customers. It's obvious that they can produce overpriced eggshell statues with questionable QC and peeps will buy it. Hell, I bit on the Darkseid PF.

I have to say, I find it curious that anyone would believe that XM's solid casts and stringent QC is the reason SSC is increasing the price on its merch. If SSC's price increases gave us full casts (or at the very least, great QC) I can see the correlation. All we are getting is more eggshell pieces, questionable QC, and bloated edition sizes at higher prices. This is simply SSC's business strategy and so long as peeps keep buying, we'll see more of the same. XM can close their doors tomorrow...there's no chance that SSC will lower the prices on their merch or stop future price increases. Like any established business, they want all the money the market is willing to give.

Filip, I agree with about 90% of what you said. The most dissapointing thing in regards to SS of late IMO are the cutting of corners. Eggshell/PVC/Poor quality capes (See CR Superman) those are on the manufacturing side, and are no excuse other that SS being cheap. Thats not where I am going with this though.

First, and this is in no way a rant about XM, there are only so many decent factory painters to go around. Especially with the general labor demand in China to begin with, this was already becoming an issue BEFORE SS had any real competition. IMO, they caught SS napping on this one and cornered some of the better factory talent for themselves. Even with their lower ES, they themselves are pumping out A LOT of different characters to maximize their 2 year license. Good on them, and I would do the same thing in their place, but again, it's about the available labor on the finishing side, not the manufacturing.

This is where I think this has creeped into SS prices. They say, we need an A+ factory for the paint on this character, and now the labor for said piece has increased exponentially, because someone else is competing for a spot at the same table. Thats why these price points, again IMO, are taking such odd spikes. Also accounts for the wild swings in finished product, as they are looking for new sources to handle the finishing end. Some have been up to the task (Saruman, Sinestro) Some have been wild misses (Iron Patriot, CR Superman) and some wildly inconsistent (Wonder Woman).

Again, all speculation on my part, but it makes alot of sense. I recall reading more than a year, maybe a year and a half ago how many of the factories were complaining about the rates they got from SS, so I can see how out of necessity with more players in the game than ever before, they have had to bump that up much faster than at any point previously, and it shows on the PO page.

 

[creature4000]

I think they are just going cookoo for cocopuffs! Sure the cost of freight and the labor to manufacture has gone up, but what shocks the heck out of me has been the huge edition sizes and lack of QC. It's almost as if there is zero QC. Look at the ES of some of these other companies and then look at their QC... all that = cookoo for cocopuffs. But I also am talking out of me bum.

 

[jpuli28]

Josh, you know you're my boy, and Tbolt, I respect the hell out of you but do you guys really believe that XM is responsible for the ridiculous price increases we are seeing from SSC? Peeps have been complaining about SSC raising prices since I've been a member here. That's long before XM was around. SSC is a big company. A major player in the game. Corporations increase prices and cut corners to pad their bottom line all the time. It's the nature of the business. They are big enough now to dictate terms to their customers. It's obvious that they can produce overpriced eggshell statues with questionable QC and peeps will buy it. Hell, I bit on the Darkseid PF.

I have to say, I find it curious that anyone would believe that XM's solid casts and stringent QC is the reason SSC is increasing the price on its merch. If SSC's price increases gave us full casts (or at the very least, great QC) I can see the correlation. All we are getting is more eggshell pieces, questionable QC, and bloated edition sizes at higher prices. This is simply SSC's business strategy and so long as peeps keep buying, we'll see more of the same. XM can close their doors tomorrow...there's no chance that SSC will lower the prices on their merch or stop future price increases. Like any established business, they want all the money the market is willing to give.

= Capitalism

 

[ambasah]

if people continue to accept inflated prices with small discounts for "imperfections" SS would be a fool to change anything.

 

[filip629]

Filip, I agree with about 90% of what you said. The most dissapointing thing in regards to SS of late IMO are the cutting of corners. Eggshell/PVC/Poor quality capes (See CR Superman) those are on the manufacturing side, and are no excuse other that SS being cheap. Thats not where I am going with this though.

First, and this is in no way a rant about XM, there are only so many decent factory painters to go around. Especially with the general labor demand in China to begin with, this was already becoming an issue BEFORE SS had any real competition. IMO, they caught SS napping on this one and cornered some of the better factory talent for themselves. Even with their lower ES, they themselves are pumping out A LOT of different characters to maximize their 2 year license. Good on them, and I would do the same thing in their place, but again, it's about the available labor on the finishing side, not the manufacturing.

This is where I think this has creeped into SS prices. They say, we need an A+ factory for the paint on this character, and now the labor for said piece has increased exponentially, because someone else is competing for a spot at the same table. Thats why these price points, again IMO, are taking such odd spikes. Also accounts for the wild swings in finished product, as they are looking for new sources to handle the finishing end. Some have been up to the task (Saruman, Sinestro) Some have been wild misses (Iron Patriot, CR Superman) and some wildly inconsistent (Wonder Woman).

Again, all speculation on my part, but it makes alot of sense. I recall reading more than a year, maybe a year and a half ago how many of the factories were complaining about the rates they got from SS, so I can see how out of necessity with more players in the game than ever before, they have had to bump that up much faster than at any point previously, and it shows on the PO page.

XM is a very small company in comparison to SSC. If SSC wants quality merch from their factories, they can easily crush XM. There's no way factories would risk losing the amount of volume a company like SSC brings to the table for a fledgling company like XM. XM simply has a different business model. Not only do they pay the factories more for quality work, they take numerous trips to said factories to make sure QC is up to their standard. Even after all of that effort, they then go through EVERY single statue they receive from the factory and make sure that those statues are up to par. The ones that are not up to par are then touched up in house before they are shipped out to their customers. XM takes pride in the quality of their merch...more so than even genrating a larger profit margin for the company. Does anyone really think XM couldn't sell more Cap, Thor, Magneto, Thanos, Wolverine, or Phoenix statues? XM is obviously leaving profits on the table because they have a different business philosophy.

So, when it comes to SSC, the real question is why are their statues eggshell pieces with spotty QC and retail prices that aren't much lower than XM's? I absolutely agree with you that SSC has wild swings of QC in their products. However, that didn't start with XM's arrival to the game. This has been going on for years. Peeps have been asking what's happened to SSC for years now. The days of the grail pieces (Doom, Thor, Cap, Hulk, etc...) were long gone before XM arrived on the scene. SSC has all the resources to produce merch just as good or better than XM (they proved that with their early grail pieces years before XM was around). SSC started their company with the same bang and excitement that XM now has. Fully casted pieces, high QC, low edition sizes, and great paint apps. Obviously, things have changed since then. SSC evolved to eggshell pieces, spotty QC, bloated edition sizes, and much higher pricing. XM didn't force SSC to compromise the high standard they established years ago or cause SSC to increase prices to what we see today. SSC's evolving business philosophy and desire to increase its bottom line did. Nothing is stopping SSC from offering us what XM does. SSC isn't interested because that course of action would reduce their bottom line. Peeps can slam SSC on forums and voice their frustration all they want, so long as peeps keep buying their merch at prices they set, it will continue to be business as usual.