I am just a blip in the radar, but I've looked into mass production and I concur with Wake's statement about the licensing. I can, right now, go to a chinese factory with my headsculpt and have it mold and cast and painted. Each cast and painted head would cost $15 to make, that's very affordable, BUT you have to make at least 2000+ pieces plus the cost of the mold which is 10k. Same with clothing, I know the factory HT uses to make the clothing, they request also a minimum of 5000 pieces at $25 or less even.
Example, let's say you hire a sculpt and he charges $1500 for a sculpt, and then hire a prototype painter to paint the sculpt and he charges $500. The investment in the head would be $2000. So I am going to produce 5000 figures, $2000 / 5000 = $0.4 per figure. So the sculpt would cost $15.4 each to produce.
So that's only on the clothing and head department. With big investment at low cost to produce, the end result would be obviously an affordable product. Meanwhile custom artists don't have that kind of monetary power to go full mass production on their product, Denny Kim being one close to that currently. While other artists like Rainman and Serang prefer to be just custom artists.
I'm not directing this comment to you LipSmack. I personally feel it is a little unfair to attack on custom artists and their prices, since all the production, time, investment is on the artist's own hands, not in a production line. Clothing alone costs around $200 to $300 each to make, that's a big big chunk out of the collectors pocket, it's not our fault nor the tailors as those prices are for a minimal run of 20 to 30 pieces. Custom artists can't afford to go head to head with the big guns because of investment, otherwise we would do it, at least I know I would. I can complain all day about Rolls Royce making expensive cars (same applies to custom cars by reknown garages) becuase I can buy a fleet of Toyotas with that money, but they are directed to a different costumer, someone who likes not only the car itself, but the name and the company. Some buy cars because it's a medium for transport, others because they see more than cars, they love speed, they love the sound of the engine, they love the freedom that the car evokes, the love to cruise across the country, to personalize the car, to add more horse power, etc. I know it's stupid to compare cars to toys, but it's the same principle. (I love cars too).
Peace and love guys, just respect each others opinion. If you think something is expensive, just spend somewhere else, I don't see the need to put down another human being just because we don't agree with their pricing, there is always someone or something that is made to fit our needs, just keep looking.
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