I started out getting all the Iron Man suits, but it was just getting ridiculous both price wise and release wise. I had to give it up. I cancelled my pre-orders, will sell the ones I do have and will only get a few that are Avengers tie-ins now. I wanted the Hulkbuster, but that one is just out of my league with everything else I'm wanting in other lines. And just the amount of Avengers figures is bad enough. As long as people are willing to pay whatever they price them at. They'll continue to go up in price. I think if alot of people didn't have the flexpay option, they'd probably think twice.
Taking a pay cut due to rising insurance costs at work doesn't help any.
Prices are high and getting high. I get it. I have made adjustments to my collecting. I can afford only two figures a year BD Robocop and Chewcacca (and that is $600+) which is ridiculous for two figures. So figures like SS R2 D2, Neca Queen Alien, HT BD T1, Robocop had to be passes for me. Future HT Obi Wan, Han Solo are so far out of reach that they are beyond being even “tempted” to make the purchase. SS Hoth Luke and Han I have to put in the “I don’t care anymore” category. Prices have caused me to develop a thick skin and make “black or white” decisions. There is no more grey area.
That being said I don’t get the people who buy a Black Stormtrooper (who’s not even in a ****ing movie) and say “yeah I’ll get it to a “Spacetrooper”. No that’s what I call disposable mother****ing income!!!
Word!!!
See, people who have been around a while view the whole thing differently than some of the new collectors. Today's prices are what they know and they're very excepting of them, while people who have been absorbing the increases for a while are getting turned off and/or straight up priced out.
Shame is this won't stop until these companies push it to where it backfires on them badly enough to do damage. You would think that what we've been seeing on Sideshow would be the first warning signs to them (HT, SS, etc.). Now they are choking on a multitude of different releases, many of which have been collecting dust for way long, and are still sitting there despite Spook deals, 10%-20% discounts, extra/double/triple rewards, etc.
Whether it be overproduction, the movie not being popular, the character not being popular, the final product not being popular, whatever.... you'd think that this would have been something that would make HT reevaluate their strategy... and then they launch a 2nd string character, head to toe of reused parts... for $340+. Man.
Perhaps this trend is mostly stemming from Asia where adult toy collecting has grown to an epic level, and even 5"-6" figures could run from $50-$80.
IDK. Prices have jumped in the last 3½ years that I've been collecting 1/6, but the level of quality has clearly increased also. I'm still around because the figures
have gotten better and the average price for regular figures are $190-$260, which is still justifiable in my book. But the day you're Star Lord/Winter Soldier/Cap/Thor type figures are regularly $275-$325+ for no apparent reason, I'm throwing in the towel just on principle alone
Ugh. $340 repaints of 2nd string characters really get me going
