1/6 Hot Toys Avengers: Endgame - Iron Man

[gmoney5000]

Woo hoo!!! We did it guys! Who says cyber bullying and trolling on the internet can't be useful?

Although I wonder, does this mean HT will recycle the 46, 47, 50 headsculpt or will we be getting the original prototype now?

 

[Hologram AI]

What's funny is that I remember people pointing out how bad and weird the sculpt on the Stark team suit figure looked in that Coming Soon photo.

People said that it's probably just the lighting or a bad photo but you can actually tell now that they were using the exact same sculpt as this one.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Happy this bit HT in their pompous ass. They've become too complacent and it's true they don't give a **** about the people that keep them in business.

 

[Ojxsdd]

Dont think its just the headsculpt that is the issue. Look at the prototype body and the final released one. Day and night difference

 

[yacobschlomo]

The main thing I don't understand is the overall "softness" of the final products all of the sudden?
I don't get how you go from clear and crisp paint jobs to what is happening now.

This is the main issue. The sculpt is ok (it's not much different from the proto), the paint job is not. Paint quality has not improved in the last 5 years and has taken a step back on some releases. They are producing too many figures and using too many factories now. They are competing with themselves and many new manufacturers now for factories. They are no longer getting the best of the best to do every figure and they are no longer concerned about being the best. They only maintain their lead in the 1/6 scale market place due to their exclusive licenses.

Although people complain about price increases, Hot Toys has done a relatively good job of keeping them down, but that also means having to cut some corners. I have Enterbay figures from 7-8 years ago that have better paint quality on these sculpts than some of the latest Hot Toys figures. Now that these quality issues are hitting their main bread and butter line of Iron Man figures, you can tell they were trying to get away with providing lower quality products in general. But I don't think they anticipated how vocal people would be about this. It got to the point where they actually had to give in and offer replacements so they don't completely ruin their brand reputation.

 

[Saintv1]

Dont think its just the headsculpt that is the issue. Look at the prototype body and the final released one. Day and night difference

Oh? Can you show some examples of the difference?

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[Josette]

It's good that they're going to change this, but count me in among those who are starting to get nervous about future releases.

Thankfully, Gamora and Nebula turned out awesome, but I have Endgame Cap and Avengers Loki V2 on order, and if their sculpts start looking that soft/losing that kind of detail I won't be at all happy and that will drastically reduce my buying HTs in the future.

 

[Dino_Ranger_White]

Happy this bit HT in their pompous ass. They've become too complacent and it's true they don't give a **** about the people that keep them in business.

I am not being an apologist here, but to be fair, who says that Hot Toys is a pompous company?
If they were out there saying that their product is the best you can buy and anyone who argues that is
stupid, or something to that effect, then that would make sense.

There is nothing to really base that kind of thinking on, to be honest... it's very true that they are not a vocal company
as far as communication with their customer base goes, but I am not so sure that J.C. and his team are being arrogant as much
as just being artists who want to produce products and keep to themselves about it.

They are not the first company to do business that way, and they sure as hell won't be the last.

 

[hellgrammite00]

They probably have a social media algorithm that can analyze social media reaction to their product, and predict what percentage of people will buy the figure after the production is released, cancel the pre-order...ect. Not perfect but likely information they utilize.

They may have seen figures like Ant-Man for example have more cancellations than anticipated (still a boatload sitting on SS.) They may have produced 70.000 of say the Mark 85, and if they predict 5+% of people will cancel their pre-orders, it becomes unprofitable. Iron Man is profitable, popular and expensive business typically for them.

 

[Saintv1]

On the communication front, it seems like HT does not have the in-house resources to head up customer service and marketing for their English speaking customers, which is probably why Sideshow is such a crucial partner for them as Sideshow basically becomes the face of their customer service in North America.

The experience seems to be different in Hong Kong, where you can walk into a store and ask an actual employee a question.

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[matticus]

Well this is a $423 figure. While it is shown as a prototype, I think people want pretty close to what they preordered on. This has been boiling with Panther, Ant-Man and apparently this was the last straw. While I don't care about head sculpts when I just display the helmet on a figure, you do pay for it and some really do care and are justified.

 

[gmoney5000]

The people have spoken, hopefully they remain as vocal the next time HT inevitably cheapens out on something or causes a blunder this great again! Well done everyone!

 

[Johnny Utah]

I am not being an apologist here, but to be fair, who says that Hot Toys is a pompous company?
If they were out there saying that their product is the best you can buy and anyone who argues that is
stupid, or something to that effect, then that would make sense.

There is nothing to really base that kind of thinking on, to be honest... it's very true that they are not a vocal company
as far as communication with their customer base goes, but I am not so sure that J.C. and his team are being arrogant as much
as just being artists who want to produce products and keep to themselves about it.

They are not the first company to do business that way, and they sure as hell won't be the last.

Renewing licences so other companies can't produce 1/6 figures from it, zero customer service, calling their products remarkable and movie accurate, even today saying they relentlessly pursue the smallest detail...BOLLOCKS!

 

[freestylex06x]

I am not being an apologist here, but to be fair, who says that Hot Toys is a pompous company?
If they were out there saying that their product is the best you can buy and anyone who argues that is
stupid, or something to that effect, then that would make sense.

There is nothing to really base that kind of thinking on, to be honest... it's very true that they are not a vocal company
as far as communication with their customer base goes, but I am not so sure that J.C. and his team are being arrogant as much
as just being artists who want to produce products and keep to themselves about it.

They are not the first company to do business that way, and they sure as hell won't be the last.

Hi Howard Chan!

 

[Dino_Ranger_White]

Renewing licences so other companies can't produce 1/6 figures from it

Ok, going to need to stop you right there.
Why WOULDN'T you renew your licenses if you are making money from them?!??

You don't need a fancy business degree to know that you don't want other people in your space making
the same product.

 

[Dino_Ranger_White]

Hi Howard Chan!

Har-dee freakin' har har.

I have no skin in the game here, just trying to see both sides of the coin.
I am a paying customer like anyone else on the forum here.

 

[freestylex06x]

Har-dee freakin' har har.

I have no skin in the game here, just trying to see both sides of the coin.
I am a paying customer like anyone else on the forum here.

Hot Toys is arrogant because they thought they could continue to bait and switch their customers and not face backlash eventually. They probably would have gotten away with it again if it were not for the fact that a diecast figure now costs almost half a grand all-in and it was Iron Man. I am pretty sure they did this in an attempt to boost the sales for the BD Mark 85 version by giving us an inferior sculpt here and a better one later. That play has always been Hot Toys' go-to move.

 

[Mr.Tanker]

Hi Howard Chan!

It's possible to think the new sculpt is garbage and be unhappy with it, and still understand that are most likely many issues at play here beyond "Hot Toys becoming lazy and trying to screw customers over."

 

[Mr.Tanker]

Hot Toys is arrogant because they thought they could continue to bait and switch their customers and not face backlash eventually. They probably would have gotten away with it again if it were not for the fact that a diecast figure now costs almost half a grand all-in and it was Iron Man. I am pretty sure they did this in an attempt to boost the sales for the BD Mark 85 version by giving us an inferior sculpt here and a better one later. That play has always been Hot Toys' go-to move.

I'd be very curious to know what you do for a living, because you do not seem to understand how companies like this work. It is fully within your rights to be unhappy with the final product, but you're throwing around a lot of very specific underhanded, and in some cases illegal, motivations.

 

[guyver1]

I?m surprised HT actually paid attention to the backlash of the RDJ sculpt.

But then again...this is probably one of the most expensive non exclusive type IM that HT currently released

It?s a good thing most collectors chose to preorder with SSC, BBTS etc rather than order through the Asian retailers or secondary market.

Now I?m sure many have ordered through Asian retailers or ebay...so they were screwed either way for those who already had their orders ship out

So at least we know the majority who pre ordered in the states more than likely will get the ? newly revised RDJ sculpt ?

I wonder how the Asian retailers feel right now that shipped out their orders..no doubt, there will be customers interested in the exchange sculpts

Man did HT do them the Ebayers an injustice

Of course now the obvious is that there might be a huge delay before orders to the U.S. will be shipped

Hopefully it doesn?t go past February- March 2021 but it won?t surprise me if it might.