Your thoughts on the current state of sixth scale figure collecting?

[jal76]

We also have to consider that Blitzway released two of my favorite 1/6 scale figures with the two Tyler Durden's last year...pretty sure you can still buy them...whereas all kinds of Marvel figures sold out...even obscure Rogue One Troopers sold out...people say that they want diverse licenses but when it comes time to vote with their wallets the results prove to be a bit different...

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

It's just like any other hobby, wait for the releases you want, who cares about the rest. All those Iron Man figs are paying for those niche licenses

 

[WolfBoy]

"Its just a cash in!".

Welcome to how to run a business guys.

HT started one way and is now focused on another way, whatever way is more profitable is the way they will go, like any company. You grow, you change, you become more successful ect. HT as far as profit is 10 times what it was 5-8 years ago.

HT aren't here to fill your geek void from your childhood, they're here to sell you whatever people are demanding. 200 people screaming about a Batman Returns Catwoman from a 20 year old movie as opposed to 2000 people screaming for a Captain America from a more current hotter property is going direct HT where they need to go. Its that simple really.

There are a whole bunch of grail figures i'd love that i'm sure we would have gotten by now if HT didn't have their schedule so pumped full of Disney properties, but oh well, can't do much about it.

There ARE other toy companies that do fairly decent work [Blitzway, Threezero ect] that release more smaller license figures anyway. I really don't think its the tragedy people make it out to be. There is A LOT out there for fans/buyers to enjoy.

 

[a-dev]

*thread takes anticipated path*

 

[DiFabio]

My thoughts on the current state of 1/6 are simple, they're not making any dolls I'm interested in and because of this, I've been buying a lot less than I have in previous years. I want to get more, but they're just not picking characters or properties I'm interested in.

It's a love/hate kind of thing I guess. I wanna get more so it sucks I'm not getting what I want, but hey, I'm not having to buy anything so that's nice too. I'm not losing sleep over it. Would I like to get a Kyle Reese, a Returns Catwoman and Penguin, and a new endoskeleton? Sure. But it's whatever. Let the masses that are into mainstream stuff get what they want. I feel sorry for the people that feel the need to get all those Leto Jokers, Kyle Rens, Iron Men, duck troopers, Harleys and BB8s, but if that's what sells, then who am I to talk.

I'll say this, they're saving me a lot of money with this focus on modern superhero and star wars crap. I only gave in with a Vader and Affleck Batman, and that was just out of boredom because I haven't been buying anything 1/6 for well over a year.

 

[xipotec]

My thoughts on the current state of 1/6 are simple, they're not making any dolls I'm interested in and because of this, I've been buying a lot less than I have in previous years. I want to get more, but they're just not picking characters or properties I'm interested in.

It's a love/hate kind of thing I guess. I wanna get more so it sucks I'm not getting what I want, but hey, I'm not having to buy anything so that's nice too. I'm not losing sleep over it. Would I like to get a Kyle Reese, a Returns Catwoman and Penguin, and a new endoskeleton? Sure. But it's whatever. Let the masses that are into mainstream stuff get what they want. I feel sorry for the people that feel the need to get all those Leto Jokers, Kyle Rens, Iron Men, duck troopers, Harleys and BB8s, but if that's what sells, then who ali to talk.

I'll say this, they're saving me a lot of money with this focus on modern superhero and star wars crap. I only gave in with a Vader and Affleck Batman, and that was just out of boredom because I haven't been buying anything 1/6 for well over a year.

Thing is, on this forum at least....I have heard similar sentiments alot......

But as wisely stated before....someone is buying all the typical licenses HT is stuck on.....

I saw the "new" stormtrooper and was like ...nope....but there are plenty of people over there chomping at the bit to buy a trooper with some added black paint... A new weapon , and a new grill........

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[DiFabio]

The Dalmatian trooper with the pool net and super soaker guns is a travesty. Do those things even sell well?


If Hot Toys is going to do troopers, they should atleast make cool looking ones. I'd give them my money for a Commander Cody, Commander Bly or 501st trooper. Clone troopers were being redipped in different paint schemes before Iron Man was cool.

I do wish the licenses I'm interested in were as popular as the modern stuff that constantly gets figures made for it. I'd be a pig in **** if there were as many Jack Joker variations as there were Leto and Harley or as many Endoskeleton variations as there are Iron Man and the quack troopers.

 

[rjszar]

There ARE other toy companies that do fairly decent work [Blitzway, Threezero ect] that release more smaller license figures anyway. I really don't think its the tragedy people make it out to be. There is A LOT out there for fans/buyers to enjoy.

There are other good companies out there, yes, but they aren't able to produce any figures from licenses that Hot Toys is sitting on and doing nothing with.

 

[xipotec]

There are other good companies out there, yes, but they aren't able to produce any figures from licenses that Hot Toys is sitting on and doing nothing with.

Which would those be? Do we really know what those are?

Terminator?
Aliens?
Predator?
We have a set of those figures.... and wile a few new characters would be nice....I doubt those will ups be huge sellers.

I am more interested in the licenses that are ignored completely by them, even though there seems to be a lot of interest in them out there.



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[rjszar]

There are other licenses that they are short changing, Indiana Jones and The Matrix to name a couple. We got what, one Indy figure and a sentinel from Matrix.

 

[jal76]

But at this point expecting Hot Toys to release a line of figures from say...Scorsese's Mean Streets or Herzog's Aguirre The Wrath of God, or Die Hard and Lethal Weapon figures would be like getting frustrated that when you walk into McDonalds they are not serving Risotto and Roast Duck on their menu board...its just not the business that they are in...why not get mad at Hollywood for not putting John Wayne in any more new movies too...

 

[a-dev]

Hot Toys are the best there is at what they do. It's only natural to have them as one's first choice to make figures from a specific license...of course not if they're just gonna sit on it....

You're right that we shouldn't expect niche and/or older stuff from them anymore though. The BTTF II stuff may well be the last time they touch anything from the 80s for all we know. That's actually why I'm considering buying back into BTTF. I used to worry that if I had BTTF stuff I'd also want X and Y from Hot Toys - if they made X and Y - and in so doing I'd be extending my financial commitment way into the future - but now it feels like I wouldn't have to worry about that.

 

[DiFabio]

But at this point expecting Hot Toys to release a line of figures from say...Scorsese's Mean Streets or Herzog's Aguirre The Wrath of God, or Die Hard and Lethal Weapon figures would be like getting frustrated that when you walk into McDonalds they are not serving Risotto and Roast Duck on their menu board...its just not the business that they are in...why not get mad at Hollywood for not putting John Wayne in any more new movies too...

Nobody is expecting that though. A lot of the things people want are from existing lines Hot Toys already have.


And even then, they weren't always predictable like they are now. There are many unconventional figure choices in their portfolio.












Mean Streets would be ridiculous for them, sure. But Die Hard? They did figures from Rambo, Rocky and Commando. A John Mcclane wouldn't have been a stretch for Hot Toys a couple of years ago. Remember, Movie Masterpiece had a different meaning than it seems to have now.

 

[a-dev]

Ahh Sergeant Barnes. I loved that figure. Another one of their best likenesses that I forget to mention when the topic comes up.

Anyway, sold him when it became apparent they weren't going to make Elias. No point in having 2 out of only 3 core characters from a movie. And I'm sure many people more prudent than me didn't buy into that line at all because they knew Hot Toys wouldn't complete it.

 

[DiFabio]

No point in having 2 out of only 3 core characters from a movie.

My biggest problem when I look at my '84 Terminator or Returns Batman. ;_;

Spoiler:

 

[rjszar]

DiFabio is exactly right. They still use MMS to number their figures, but they aren't necessarily movie masterpieces. When you watch Movie Masterpieces on TV, you're not seeing the most recent mega cash cows, you're seeing memorable movies from the past.

 

[a-dev]

I suppose I do make allowances for my most treasured licenses.

I've been thinking (again) of trying to reduce my Terminator collection by the way. Sometimes when I see pictures like the ones Snoop101 posted recently - a single DX13 in a detolf shelf, displayed by itself - it really makes me feel like I've damaged the impact of these figures by having so many of them. Of course, saying it is one thing, looking at them and deciding what I don't need is always another thing entirely.

 

[rjszar]

My biggest problem when I look at my '84 Terminator or Returns Batman. ;_;

Spoiler:

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It's no fun spending big bucks to do it yourself because you have no hope of seeing those figures made while a company sits on the license.

 

[jal76]

I thinks we are all very much on the same side here in that we WANT figures from more niche and less current mainstream blockbuster properties at Hot Toys quality. I am just saying that it is not what they do...looking to the amazing licenses that they tackled in the past is no different than seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and complaining that they are not wearing leather jackets in the basement of a bar in Germany playing R&B cover songs...its what they did when they were starting out but it's just not what they do anymore. It sucks, but it is what it is.

 

[rjszar]

FINE, let Hot Toys do every character multiple times from every Disney/Marvel and DC movie that comes out for the next twenty years. I don't really care. Give up the other damn licenses that they're sitting on. Let someone else do them. No, they can't do that because someone might make a couple of dollars selling figures that OBVIOUSLY NOBODY WANTS ANYWAY.