Hot Toys Han Solo & Chewbacca re-release with poll.

[kl241]

This is the way it used to be when we were kids. Star Wars figures for everybody who wants them whenever they want them. I am so tired of the "Exclusive" "Limited Edition" marketing B.S. that has ruined this hobby for decades. About time they made enough to meet demand.

 

[kc13]

i JUST found out about hot toys and the star wars line, i was lucky enough to get most the figures at retail price even though they were sold out at sideshow. i missed the storm troopers and wish they would release some more of those.
i did end up with an extra han solo, that i would like to sell to recoup my $$$

 

[noisyrobot]

Exclusivity with what are essentially toys is really laughable to me.
Are you not wanting to share with the other kids in the sandpit? Do you think you belong to some special club?
Urgh. I just imagine Comic Book guy.

 

[nathan.never]

From reading these posts I see that many of you just don't understand what is the problem with re-issuing this kind of collectables and why it is bad for us collectors. So, let me try to explan the way I see it...

The price of these products is determined (or at least it should be) mainly by the edition sizes. Cost for each figure comes from design (engineering), licencing, and finally manufacturing. So, to calculate the desired profit, a company has to use a formula where edition size plays a huge factor. For example, if you were to produce a 1000 pieces, the price tag would have to be twice as high from what it would be if you produced 5000 pieces (I am making this up, but roughly it comes down to these numbers).

Generaly speaking, the problem with re-issuing is that we payed more for this collectable (retail) than we would have if the company decided to produce more from the start. At least this is the way it should be in the real world economics - price is always offset by the quantity produced. (That is why custom pieces are so damn expensive!)

So, like it or not you are paying for exclusivity and you should be aware of that. Otherwise I don't know how you justify these prices. If you don't care for this kind of "exclusivity", don't you think you are overpaying all this stuff?

If you think I am talking nonsense, just wait a year or two when the secondary market becomes so saturated and flooded with 1/6 scale and the prices tumble so hard we will all feel like fools for paying initial retail prices. If they continue this re-issuing nonsense, this is exactly what will happen.
I know, many will say "I don't care about the price, I collect for fun", but that is just to comfort yourself.
Just ask yourself - if you were promised a figure one year from now at 30 or 40% discount, would you buy it now without discount "just because collecting should be fun"? Yeah, right...
Of course, this hobby is a huge fun, but don't loose perspective of real world economics over it.

I missed out on many Hot Toys releases myself and I personaly have no desire that any of these I missed are reissued - I learned to live with it and have no problem with someone else owning it and not me. I would expect the same from somebody else looking at my collection. We don't all need to have everything. Be happy with what you have, and take comfort in the fact that what you paid for holds value in the future (no profit needed, just not becoming worthless in comparison to todays prices).

My oppinion - Hot Toys is making us all fools with this move...

 

[murdomac]

I disagree with your hypothesis on Hot Toys pricing policy, these maybe toys but at the end of the day they are luxury goods and no doubt are priced accordingly that it to say if Hot Toys does a run of 1000 costing £100 per figure they charge £200 per figure to make the profit they want (made up figures to illustrate the point) however if they do a run of 5000, 10,000, 20,000 they still charge £200 per figure, sure their cost per figure drops but all that means is they make more money.

I don't know the figures but I am guessing that Hot Toys makes an obscene amount of profit/figure no matter what the edition size.

This reissue is so close to the actual issue that it won't have any real impact on the market only on scalpers/flippers and indeed might benefit real collectors in keeping retail prices at retail for longer, and discourage the profiteering club from trying to rob the normal people.

 

[svander]

Good god, this is dumb.

 

[nathan.never]

Good god, this is dumb.

Nice to see you answering me with so much arguments and so politely. Great contribution to the topic.

 

[Lejuan]

Pretty sure svander is referring to the thread as a whole.

 

[Kvothe]

Super fine with it even after paying something like an extra 60% of retail for Han and Chewie, especially if it means they'll continue the practice in the future. Being able to pick up something down the line instead of sweating over it being sold out shortly after release is great. Anything to stop the scalpers.

 

[ali032373]

The aftermarket prices on figures has dropped and continues to drop with re-issues. The more common form of a re-issue is producing the 3rd and 4th variant of the same figure (like BW, thor, cap, vision, hawkeye, loki, hulk, etc.). Most of the time the new figue has some small change that does not warrant another purchase. So the market gets flooded with 4 versions of the sam person that are substantially identical.

The other thing is that the aftermarket was making a killing on figures. HT basically put the aftermarket out of business, sold the figure at the lower price (good for consumers), and put the profit in their pocket, not the scalpers. Nothing wrong with scalpers btw. Buy low and sell high is a pillar of a free market.

But now i dont even do POs for the most part because stuff shows up on ebay new for about $20 less. And there is no NFD obviously. Stuff doesnt sell out any more because theyre producing waaaay more than they did 6 yrs ago.

 

[svander]

Pretty sure svander is referring to the thread as a whole.

Correct.

These figures are mass produced. They're not numbered editions or otherwise exclusive in my way, beside their price tag.

It has absolutely no effect whatsoever on John if Peter owns Chewbacca too.

 

[jkno]

Love this thread!

Thanks to the poll, we know, as of the moment I'm writing this, that we've got at least 13 would be scalpers on these boards!

Someone brings the tar and feathers! I'll get the pitchfork and a rope!

Naaaa... shhhh, don't tell anyone

 

[ALESTE]

Hot Toys has announced they will re-release the sold out Star Wars figures of Han Solo & Chewbacca as well as Obi Wan.

I'm curious how everyone feels about Hot Toys re-releasing sold out figures? Do you buy Hot toys figures expecting exclusivity?

For those who missed out the first time, will the re-releases make you want to purchase more Hot Toys Star Wars figures? I can understand Hot Toys position. Not having key figures may discourage people from purchasing the rest of the Star Wars line.

I did get these figures when announced and am a little disappointed they will be re-released. The exclusivity of the figures made me preorder future figures. The re-release has me rethinking about purchasing more Star Wars Hot Toys figures. They are very expensive so I may only purchase the figures I really really want in the future if at all.

If you only bought these and only pre-ordered future figures based on exclusivity then you are a fool. Buy them because you like them, not because they are rare and could possibly be flipped down the road. Don't get something just so you have some super limited BS on your shelf just you can stroke your nerd ego, buy what you like.

I missed out on Han and Chewie because there was just too much released at once when they came out, and I missed out on Ben by mistake, he sold out while he was still on Pre-Order. At the moment I only have Luke and a Chrome Copper Storm Trooper but I will be getting the Han and Chewie 2 pack and Old Ben. I'm excited that they are making a second batch and I look forward to having these guys in my collection.

The only people I feel bad for are the ones who spent 600 plus to get these guys on the secondary market.

 

[DVDVampire]

From reading these posts I see that many of you just don't understand what is the problem with re-issuing this kind of collectables and why it is bad for us collectors. So, let me try to explan the way I see it...

The price of these products is determined (or at least it should be) mainly by the edition sizes. Cost for each figure comes from design (engineering), licencing, and finally manufacturing. So, to calculate the desired profit, a company has to use a formula where edition size plays a huge factor. For example, if you were to produce a 1000 pieces, the price tag would have to be twice as high from what it would be if you produced 5000 pieces (I am making this up, but roughly it comes down to these numbers).

Generaly speaking, the problem with re-issuing is that we payed more for this collectable (retail) than we would have if the company decided to produce more from the start. At least this is the way it should be in the real world economics - price is always offset by the quantity produced. (That is why custom pieces are so damn expensive!)

So, like it or not you are paying for exclusivity and you should be aware of that. Otherwise I don't know how you justify these prices. If you don't care for this kind of "exclusivity", don't you think you are overpaying all this stuff?

If you think I am talking nonsense, just wait a year or two when the secondary market becomes so saturated and flooded with 1/6 scale and the prices tumble so hard we will all feel like fools for paying initial retail prices. If they continue this re-issuing nonsense, this is exactly what will happen.
I know, many will say "I don't care about the price, I collect for fun", but that is just to comfort yourself.
Just ask yourself - if you were promised a figure one year from now at 30 or 40% discount, would you buy it now without discount "just because collecting should be fun"? Yeah, right...
Of course, this hobby is a huge fun, but don't loose perspective of real world economics over it.

I missed out on many Hot Toys releases myself and I personaly have no desire that any of these I missed are reissued - I learned to live with it and have no problem with someone else owning it and not me. I would expect the same from somebody else looking at my collection. We don't all need to have everything. Be happy with what you have, and take comfort in the fact that what you paid for holds value in the future (no profit needed, just not becoming worthless in comparison to todays prices).

My oppinion - Hot Toys is making us all fools with this move...

Price is what ever Hot Toys wants to charge. Plain and simple.

As far as caring about the price and , "trying to comfort ourselves". Some of us do pretty well around here and are truly just in this hobby for fun.

 

[nathan.never]

As far as caring about the price and , "trying to comfort ourselves". Some of us do pretty well around here and are truly just in this hobby for fun.

Truly glad to hear it, good for you!
But then again, if this is the case, it shouldn't matter to you one way or another, you can always get what you want either from store or scalpers.

I also do well, just not that well that I don't have to be selective in my purcheses.

 

[Megacolor]

if you guys want rare stuff go buy things that made in the early 1900s.

 

[DVDVampire]

Truly glad to hear it, good for you!
But then again, if this is the case, it shouldn't matter to you one way or another, you can always get what you want either from store or scalpers.

I also do well, just not that well that I don't have to be selective in my purcheses.

Yeah... because that's what I want to do, give my money to a scalper. Maybe for concert tickets, but a not a little piece of plastic with some fabric.

 

[bdhartma]

Re: Hot Toys Han Solo & Chewbacca re-release with poll.

Yeah... because that's what I want to do, give my money to a scalper. Maybe for concert tickets, but a not a little piece of plastic with some fabric.

What's the difference? At least you have the plastic and fabric for as long as you want. And Id say the scalpers here are probably going to use the money a little wiser than the guys standing on the corner of the street selling tickets.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[DarthAlias]

I like to think that the pricing for these figures has a big factor of exclusivity. Make so much and charge X amount of dollars. But if they up the edition, they should charge less for these figures. Which probably cost not even $50 to make. I also like to think should I need to sell for a rainy day, and I have before, I want to at least make my money back. Not more, of course more the better but to break even is ideal.

 

[Tauntaun Han]

Obviously when I need to sell an item I would love to be able to get my money back but I look at it more as an entertainment activity not an investment. If I have to sell and lose money that money lost kinda counts toward the fun I had while owning it. People go to movies, dinners, ect... and spend quite a bit of money for the enjoyment of it. At least with this hobby you have the item to continue to enjoy for as long as you want it and then you can get some money back to put towards something else you want. You can't do that with alot of other entertainment out there.