1/6 Hot Toys - MMS284 - Avengers: AoU - Ultron Prime Collectible Figure

[bransen2099]

That was the Mark 43

Whoops completely misread that

 

[TimothyR]

Becuase when you buy one figure they can send it on a plane..when it comes to larger amounts they actually have to sail across the ocean on a cargo ship. And go through strickter customs inspections and longer port times. And they don't just have a massive cargo ship sitting at the doc waiting for the figures. Sometimes hey wait for a ship for days or weeks at the dock. It can be weeks to a month just to make the trip.

When they get to customs the entire ship gets unloaded. Then reloaded to go to the distrubutor (sideshow)...this takes time as well. And since just clearing customs not counting any of the other stuff can take up to 10 days.



Then when they get to the distrubutor they have to be removed from the packing boxes, repacked, catolog, labeled and sorted. The ones that pay flex are seperate D from full pay, and those that go out to retailers. Bills have to be generated and make sure funds clear. A month to 6 weeks isn't odd when you think about how long it takes. And remember there are thousands of each figure.

BBTS and other U.S. e-trailers aren't just ordering one masterpiece figure and those arrive in very short order from the time they're released in Japan. And it's not like the boxes are much smaller than a hot toys box, in fact, in several cases they're larger.

So, is it just the difference between hot toys using a slower shipping method and takara using an expedited one?

 

[MaxGoof]

BBTS and other U.S. e-trailers aren't just ordering one masterpiece figure and those arrive in very short order from the time they're released in Japan. And it's not like the boxes are much smaller than a hot toys box, in fact, in several cases they're larger.

So, is it just the difference between hot toys using a slower shipping method and takara using an expedited one?

It's totally different. BBTS gets their Masterpiece Transformers directly from Takara, who ship out individual MPs as soon as they're releases. However, Hot Toys has to send their figures to Sideshow in huge shipments of multiple figures, and then Sideshow has to distribute the figures to BBTS and other retailers.

 

[Motuxmen]

BBTS and other U.S. e-trailers aren't just ordering one masterpiece figure and those arrive in very short order from the time they're released in Japan. And it's not like the boxes are much smaller than a hot toys box, in fact, in several cases they're larger.

So, is it just the difference between hot toys using a slower shipping method and takara using an expedited one?

It's a completly different product. Bbts sells hot toys figures, so why not compare those? And bbts does not move anywhere near the total volume on any one figure as sideshow does for a hot toys figure.

Sideshow is the distrubutor for all of North America, parts of central and South America, and Europe. They also sell to people in Australia as well. So no, the comparison is not even close. The "box" size is also not accurate. I posted pictures of the cases sideshow gets figures in from hot toys. They are varied but for your average figure like Vision they have 6-8 individual figures. And they get HUNDREDS of those cases. Sometimes thousands.

It's just not even a close comparsion. And if you disagree call a shipping company and find out what it would take to ship 10 pallets of goods or a full container and how long it takes and what it costs. Then compare that to air shipments. A full load could take up an entire cargo plane to ship. So tens of thousands of dollars.

Do you think sideshow would rather not have things sooner to get paid sooner? Lol to not lose sales to those ordering from eBay? Tell you what, you call sideshow and offer to pay the cost of one shipment of figures, whatever's next released, by air and I bet they would be happy to let you.


It's like comparing buying a person a plane ticket and renting an entire 747 for yourself. Both take the same time in flight but one costs a wee bit more.

Even if bbts ordered a hundred (or three hundred) figures it wouldn't be close to the amount sideshow gets from hot toys for every figure. And I doubt they bring in that many on a single order.

Here's a pic of one of the cases (has two figures in the case...) that sideshow received for thanos. They also got two other figures in the same shipment. I can't recall which ones it was off the top of my head. Not two individual figures but two other figure releases (one was a partial order, but still had like 300 of these cases). I happen to have about half a pallet worth of cases in my storage room in my basement at the moment. It's around 10-15 cases. For thanos alone they received two shipments..the first was 500 cases (plus the roughly 700 other cases they got at the same time for other orders). That's like a semi full of product. A semi. The only way to ship that much and still allow for any type of profit for ssc is to do it by cargo ship. I can promise you, and feel free to check, bbts and the masterpiece figures are shipped in a fraction of that amount. If sideshow only got a hundred or two hundred total figures they could possibly do the air shipments. But at that volume, unless you want a 300% market up (meaning a 200 dollar figure costs 600 bucks) it's just not possible.

Yes, they use a slower shipping method. But not because they are cheap or anything else. It's the only way they could afford to do it.

Thanos-note the numbers..1 of 500 for just this shipment of thanos figures


The box(case) for normal figures has 6 figures in it..mk6 box next to a case for thanos


A bunch of different cases

 

[guy66657]

He's coming soon!

 

[Hologram AI]

Looks great with the photoshopped red areas. Eager to see what it looks like without it all.

 

[guy66657]

Looks like the neck and head look great as well.

 

[Auel]

Pretty sure the figure will be even better with PERS like the one from Revoltech. But it seems like they've thicken the neck, can't wait!

 

[ApeManRyan]

Honestly Ultron Looking awesome in that photo. I may have to get this guy if it turns out good.

 

[Starscream Soundwave]

Ultron Prime, Mark 45, AND Superman all coming soon? This isn't going to be cheap

 

[Flintty]

Nailed it. I had high hopes and expectations that he was going to turn out great. Looks like I won't be disappointed

 

[Brainiac]

Ultron Prime, Mark 45, AND Superman all coming soon? This isn't going to be cheap

It's like a triple barrel shotgun w/bean bag rounds to the wallet

 

[Starscream Soundwave]

It's like a triple barrel shotgun w/bean bag rounds to the wallet

 

[Dino_Ranger_White]

Looking good in that pic… and wow, Superman was crazy fast. Seems like he just went up on PO yesterday.

 

[ronri]

He's coming soon!

Funny how technically the model used for Ultron's box art is actually more inaccurate than Hot Toys's actual figure now.

 

[Brainiac]

Funny how technically the model used for Ultron's box art is actually more inaccurate than Hot Toys's actual figure now.

They probably used that ultra high definition image too

 

[2littlemoney]

the way ultron prime lights up turns out well!

 

[Brainiac]

the way ultron prime lights up turns out well!

Agreed although you know HT and batteries

 

[Biojex]

Prime! Finally :

 

[Skillerwhale]

Oh snap! I'm a little shocked the 45 got bumped up so much, my wallet's glad I didn't jump on shotgun! And daaaang!!! Ultron looks phenomenal! Any guesses on Ultron and 45's HK release people?