metaphorge
Archbishop of Bologna!!!
Re: Wistful thinking: Hot Toys and Star Wars
Hot Toys' prices depend greatly on their subject matter. For example, the Aliens Marines go for around $90 each, and include accesories that are much more complicated than the typical Sideshow offering.
Things like Robocop or a Predator or an Alien xenomorph go for around $130, but you can certainly see where the money's been spent (on proprietary body sculpting and tooling).
Frankly, I don't think that Sideshow could bring in an excellent Vader for under $100, and a Chewie would most likely cost a bit more. I'd rather the end result be excellent than have corners cut to fit their current "price point".
(I think it's worth mentioning: I've been really pleased with what Sideshow has done with the line thus far and am the fartherest thing from a Sideshow basher, but all of the figures that they've done that were particularly articulated have been head-sculpt-on-a-clothed-standard-body-with-some-accesories. There's nothing wrong with this, but I have my doubts about whether Sideshow can bring off characters that require a more complex mixture of parts without drastically increasing their prices (which have been on the rise anyway) and spending a lot of money on R & D.)
In my ideal world, I'd like to see a partnership between the two companies, with Sideshow continuing to do the sorts of things they do at the prices they currrently charge, and Hot Toys taking on the weird stuff which I doubt that Sideshow could bring off for significantly less $$$. Each company producing what their strong suit is....
You're probably right that it's not hurting the SALES that significantly, but it's certainly hurting the overall QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT. Is a large portion of the Star Wars collecting community really going to notice? No, because their more Star Wars fans and less toy junkies. There's nothing wrong with this, but I tend to approach what I buy from the quality first, license second standpoint. I undress my figures and compare how well the articulation works. I go to several hours of trouble to make Adolph Hitler shorter than James Bond because Adolph Hitler was shorter than Sean Connery. I'm not the average toy buyer, but then, neither are most of the Freaks.
C'mon, how many companies produce bodies that are significantly better than the Buck now? About 10? MWC's criticisms of the Sideshow body not "hanging well" are pretty dead on (I did not realize how true this was until I switched out a Kroenen to a DiD body; it made a HUGE difference in how well he posed), and the Buck's shortcoming are my only consistent criticism of the figures we've seen so far. When I have the time and the $$$ I'm probably going to replace all my SS bodies with Dragon and bbi, especially once I figure out how to keep the interchangeable Sideshow hands on the improved body (Sideshow still does the best hands in the business).
I think the overall quality will suffer if they bring it in for that price. No corner cutting on my Vaders, please... I want Medi quality on a true to 1:6 scale.
Captain Faramir said:The bodies aren't what's hurting as much as the past few months without any shocking announcements. As for Hot Toys, I forgot the huge prices they charge $$$. Good point dude. Could you imagine how much an armored Vader would COST?!?!?
Hot Toys' prices depend greatly on their subject matter. For example, the Aliens Marines go for around $90 each, and include accesories that are much more complicated than the typical Sideshow offering.
Things like Robocop or a Predator or an Alien xenomorph go for around $130, but you can certainly see where the money's been spent (on proprietary body sculpting and tooling).
Frankly, I don't think that Sideshow could bring in an excellent Vader for under $100, and a Chewie would most likely cost a bit more. I'd rather the end result be excellent than have corners cut to fit their current "price point".
(I think it's worth mentioning: I've been really pleased with what Sideshow has done with the line thus far and am the fartherest thing from a Sideshow basher, but all of the figures that they've done that were particularly articulated have been head-sculpt-on-a-clothed-standard-body-with-some-accesories. There's nothing wrong with this, but I have my doubts about whether Sideshow can bring off characters that require a more complex mixture of parts without drastically increasing their prices (which have been on the rise anyway) and spending a lot of money on R & D.)
In my ideal world, I'd like to see a partnership between the two companies, with Sideshow continuing to do the sorts of things they do at the prices they currrently charge, and Hot Toys taking on the weird stuff which I doubt that Sideshow could bring off for significantly less $$$. Each company producing what their strong suit is....
jlcmsu said:
You're probably right that it's not hurting the SALES that significantly, but it's certainly hurting the overall QUALITY OF THE PRODUCT. Is a large portion of the Star Wars collecting community really going to notice? No, because their more Star Wars fans and less toy junkies. There's nothing wrong with this, but I tend to approach what I buy from the quality first, license second standpoint. I undress my figures and compare how well the articulation works. I go to several hours of trouble to make Adolph Hitler shorter than James Bond because Adolph Hitler was shorter than Sean Connery. I'm not the average toy buyer, but then, neither are most of the Freaks.
C'mon, how many companies produce bodies that are significantly better than the Buck now? About 10? MWC's criticisms of the Sideshow body not "hanging well" are pretty dead on (I did not realize how true this was until I switched out a Kroenen to a DiD body; it made a HUGE difference in how well he posed), and the Buck's shortcoming are my only consistent criticism of the figures we've seen so far. When I have the time and the $$$ I'm probably going to replace all my SS bodies with Dragon and bbi, especially once I figure out how to keep the interchangeable Sideshow hands on the improved body (Sideshow still does the best hands in the business).
jlcmsu said:
I think the overall quality will suffer if they bring it in for that price. No corner cutting on my Vaders, please... I want Medi quality on a true to 1:6 scale.
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