1/6 1/6 Hot Toys - MMS 452 - Star Wars: Episode V ESB - Darth Vader

[jkno]

I?m not digging it, tbh.

Neither do I, and I like Gentle Giant products in general

 

[Lord Valefor]

My replacement wasn't broken but has a small gap in the neck making the head tilt downwards affecting the overall pose negatively. God I hate ordering figures online. I like to go into a store and select one myself.


Anyone has experience returning stuff with Amazon ? How many times can you do it before they flag you as a bad customer or something.

 

[Matt S]

Finally got somewhere to ?properly? display a few of my HT figures. Forgive me, I?m not much of a futzer, but went with this pose for now.

View attachment 481534

Favorite Vader from my favorite SW movie. Glad to finally have this on display!

Great pic and pose. The stand diorama really makes the figure 'pop'

 

[dukefett]

Vintage style packaging re-issue coming. I'm a little surprised they're including the stand, basically inflating the price by $20-30.

 

[pixletwin]

Very ?meh? to be honest.

 

[K1NG J0RDAN]

No Lando
No Bespin Han
No Hoth Luke or Han
No Snowspeeder Luke
No Bespin Luke 2.0
No C-3PO
No Veers

But hey, reissues and repaints!

Surely they can do better.

 

[dukefett]

Very ?meh? to be honest.

Yeah I totally agree, re-releasing a figure that came out a little over a year ago is really lame. The Boba makes sense since it's a re-deco at least, but a straight re-release seems dumb and is also annoying because now it'll only delay the eventual RotJ release.

 

[Tee-Kay]

Glad HT do acknowledge May the 4th this year. Would have preferred brand new figures instead of repaints and repacks though. Happy for fellow collectors enjoying this. For my part, gonna be a pass saving for the next new figure.

 

[Took]

No Lando
No Bespin Han
No Hoth Luke or Han
No Snowspeeder Luke
No Bespin Luke 2.0
No C-3PO
No Veers

But hey, reissues and repaints!

Surely they can do better.

they can, but they won't.
It's Hot Toys, and they have no idea what the fans actually want. It's been like that for years.

 

[Saintv1]

More likely that, like any business, they have to make a tough resourcing decision about every product they make, and a re-issue of a good seller makes good financial sense (also possible that Disney reduces licensing costs for participating in their May 4 merch push, and HT could only guarantee a pre-order launch on that day for re-issues and repaints but that's just my speculation).

The question, really, is are they also putting out enough desirable new product to maintain the buying habit of their customers. I think for a hobby like this, if a regular customer goes a year without placing an order, they might fall out of the hobby completely.

 

[Lord Valefor]

they could have fixed the helmet sculpt

 

[manwee]

More likely that, like any business, they have to make a tough resourcing decision about every product they make, and a re-issue of a good seller makes good financial sense (also possible that Disney reduces licensing costs for participating in their May 4 merch push, and HT could only guarantee a pre-order launch on that day for re-issues and repaints but that's just my speculation).

The question, really, is are they also putting out enough desirable new product to maintain the buying habit of their customers. I think for a hobby like this, if a regular customer goes a year without placing an order, they might fall out of the hobby completely.

Exactly, I think a lot of people fail to understand that they would gladly spit out all the figures everyone asks for if they had the statistics to prove that even a fraction of the people asking for certain figures would commit to the purchase (not to say that the people in this forum WOULDN'T buy the figures they're asking for, but this is a forum exclusively made for the discussion of collecting figures, so the data you'd get here doesn't represent the entire collecting community, especially when some people only collect casually/want main characters).

Like look at Anakin, he was around for what felt like an eternity, readily available everywhere you look, what exactly happened there? He's what seems to be THE essential PT figure and one of the coolest designs in the franchise, did they simply make a ton and assumed he would fly off the shelves quicker than he did? Did they ACTUALLY sell a ton and he was just incredibly overproduced so everyone who wanted him could get him? We don't know, because there's all sorts of behind the scenes stats & figures I'm sure they're scrambling to think of, and even when you have the numbers backing you up, you still never really know until the product launches, and then you have to account for operating expenses & manufacturing expenses and stuff like that (did the sales of this figure throughout a certain period of time justify how much it cost to produce?) So really I don't blame them for picking these safe releases to hopefully have more funds available to take risks on other things. They WANT your money, and they want as much of it from you as they can take.

 

[Mike86]

It’s kinda crazy when you compare prices with Toys Buy Agent (Timcent) versus Sideshow. You can get this for $247 with Timcent and that’s even before you apply a coupon code, which in this case doesn’t save a whole ton but takes another $6 off bringing it to like $241. I seriously don’t even know if I’ll continue buying through Sideshow. There’s not a lot of benefit to doing so. Get charged tax, which is a thing with online purchases but still, and plus you have to pay their high shipping prices in addition to paying a marked up price.

 

[dukefett]

Exactly, I think a lot of people fail to understand that they would gladly spit out all the figures everyone asks for if they had the statistics to prove that even a fraction of the people asking for certain figures would commit to the purchase (not to say that the people in this forum WOULDN'T buy the figures they're asking for, but this is a forum exclusively made for the discussion of collecting figures, so the data you'd get here doesn't represent the entire collecting community, especially when some people only collect casually/want main characters).

Like look at Anakin, he was around for what felt like an eternity, readily available everywhere you look, what exactly happened there? He's what seems to be THE essential PT figure and one of the coolest designs in the franchise, did they simply make a ton and assumed he would fly off the shelves quicker than he did? Did they ACTUALLY sell a ton and he was just incredibly overproduced so everyone who wanted him could get him? We don't know, because there's all sorts of behind the scenes stats & figures I'm sure they're scrambling to think of, and even when you have the numbers backing you up, you still never really know until the product launches, and then you have to account for operating expenses & manufacturing expenses and stuff like that (did the sales of this figure throughout a certain period of time justify how much it cost to produce?) So really I don't blame them for picking these safe releases to hopefully have more funds available to take risks on other things. They WANT your money, and they want as much of it from you as they can take.

It seemed like Anakin, the Darkside version anyway, was still being produced. People had it on order at SSC on payment plans, and then those people got their orders cancelled when the pandemic happened, they were told that HT suspended production. So that really kind of went in the face of how we all think these things are done in 'runs.' Maybe because it was an exclusive they had that ability to order more figures, who knows.

It’s kinda crazy when you compare prices with Toys Buy Agent (Timcent) versus Sideshow. You can get this for $247 with Timcent and that’s even before you apply a coupon code, which in this case doesn’t save a whole ton but takes another $6 off bringing it to like $241. I seriously don’t even know if I’ll continue buying through Sideshow. There’s not a lot of benefit to doing so. Get charged tax, which is a thing with online purchases but still, and plus you have to pay their high shipping prices in addition to paying a marked up price.

The only reason I'd go to Sideshow is for exclusives, and to use all the rewards codes they pump out.

 

[Mike86]

The only reason I'd go to Sideshow is for exclusives, and to use all the rewards codes they pump out.

This is about where I’m getting with them anymore. There’s very little benefit going through them. Customer service is good I suppose. The rewards seem nice, but at the same time you have to factor in all the added cost you incur by going through them. So you really aren’t saving anything at all. Every now and again they’ll have a sale where it’s worth buying from them, but when that happens it’s often on the stuff that’s been lingering around forever that they’re just trying to get rid of. There are so many other places to shop that are more competitive. Honestly shipping prices are a big knock against Sideshow. So many other places offer free shipping or at least lower cost shipping, whereas Sideshow it’s like you pay an extra $25 or so for a standard sixth scale item to ship out. It’s just dumb. They should have a lower flat rate or something.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

Yeah, the shipping is absolutely a sneaky cash grab.


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[Jungle_Hunter]

Question/Concern about the ?leather? suit - I noticed certain areas all over the body, including the legs which I?ve never articulated since removing from the box, show a ?scaly? look as opposed to other, smoother looking areas. I can?t remember if it looked like this coming out of the box or not. It?s not flaking or peeling, I?m just not sure if anyone else?s is like this or if I need to be worried? I?ve kept him in a museum pose, out of sunlight, and in a climate controlled room.

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[The Jerker]

Mine was like that out the box. I bought a spare outfit from TA and that had the same pattern in places as well I wish HT went the SS route and used the material they used for their last Vader. It wasn't pleather but had a nice shiny finish like leather. Kinda like the material used on umbrellas.

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[Jungle_Hunter]

Mine was like that out the box. I bought a spare outfit from TA and that had the same pattern in places as well I wish HT went the SS route and used the material they used for their last Vader. It wasn't pleather but had a nice shiny finish like leather. Kinda like the material used on umbrellas.

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Ahhh gotcha, so this is something typical then. Did yours end up breaking up and peeling?

Yeah, I can say, however, whatever they used on the 1/4 scale Vader seems to be holding up nicely


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[The Jerker]

Ahhh gotcha, so this is something typical then. Did yours end up breaking up and peeling?

Yeah, I can say, however, whatever they used on the 1/4 scale Vader seems to be holding up nicely


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Can't say it's typical overall but it is on my two examples. Neither one is peeling but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

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