1/6 1/6: Hot Toys - MMS470 - Black Panther - New Black Panther Figure

[The Buffinator]

Proto vs reality. Hot Toys is roping people in with high quality protos, and generating cheaper sculpts and paints in the final release. (photo from VIRTUAL DEVIL)

View attachment 442156

OK, Seeing those next to each other, I retract my earlier statement that I could still see Chadwick in the production sculpt. Damn, that’s bad. I can understand when a production sculpt is a bit softer or the paint app isn’t as good, but how do that many features change? The mouth, chin and eyebrows look completely different. WTF...

 

[memphissfinest]

*sigh*... this is really disappointing. I was anticipating this release and was willing to wait to see it in-hand, but these recent images are showing a precipitous drop in quality. I can't help but feel I need to vote with my wallet and cancel this pre-order, NRD be damned. It's really not looking better. What to do...

I guess you could take one for the team and keep your order and get it in hand. Then post the pics here with some of this magical lighting that some think will save this sculpt.

 

[Rudimus]

This is the cycle of the release where it’s all terrible. Then more inhands start to arrive & suddenly it’s not that bad. Don’t think the sculpt is a homerun, but it’s not a dealbreaker either. The rest of the set looks great.

 

[gmoney5000]

This is the cycle of the release where it’s all terrible. Then more inhands start to arrive & suddenly it’s not that bad. Don’t think the sculpt is a homerun, but it’s not a dealbreaker either. The rest of the set looks great.

I'm sorry, but anyone who says this will look better in-person is only lying to themselves. An inferior product won't magically look better in-hand. They simply don't want to admit they purchased an inferior product...and I don't blame them, it's human nature. They don't wanna admit to buyer's remorse. They want to justify the $260+ they just plopped down on a "premium" figure.

That side-by-side comparison was the final nail in the coffin. I don't need to see any YouTube videos trying to justify this BOTCHED release. Like I said earlier, my purchasing decision was based on the initial prototype head sculpt. Now that we all know the final product is a cheapened 3rd party version, this is now officially a PASS.

People vote with your wallets. Don't let HT SCAM you like that! Send them a message! Don't let them get away with FALSE ADVERTISING!

 

[ZE_501]

This is the cycle of the release where it’s all terrible. Then more inhands start to arrive & suddenly it’s not that bad. Don’t think the sculpt is a homerun, but it’s not a dealbreaker either. The rest of the set looks great.

Absolutely, I know the release cycle hysteria well -- -- the rest of the set *does* look great, but I don't need another faceless, all-black clad figure on the shelf -- for this one I needed a stellar unmasked portrait, and I really don't think it's going to deliver what I was after. I'm hoping we'll get another version of the character down the line with a better head sculpt.

Prices are too high and HT has set their own bar. I don't need it to look exactly like the proto, but I needed a better resolution portrait than we seem to be getting. Depending on your threshold and how you want to display it, YMMV, of course.

 

[ZE_501]

I guess you could take one for the team and keep your order and get it in hand. Then post the pics here with some of this magical lighting that some think will save this sculpt.

Ha...sadly, no. I can't remember the last time I canceled a pre-order, but I don't think the portrait will satisfy, and that's how I wanted to display it. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, just not close enough for my personal taste -- similar to how I ended up feeling about both Wonder Woman releases.

I've ranged from satisfied to *very* happy about some HT sculpts, but I genuinely feel this one is a dropped ball and don't want to encourage sloppy work. It's too bad because I really dig Black Panther.

 

[gmoney5000]

 

[Garo Predator]

Damn that picture is pretty telling, at least for me. This make's me a bit worried for Killmonger because his unmasked sculpt is the main thing that sold me on that figure.

 

[Zurdo95D]

View attachment 442151
View attachment 442152
View attachment 442153
Really want to get a hands on look but the suit looks great and i love the mask sculpt

View attachment 442154
Sculpt kinda looks alright in some angles

Again, the suit looks incredible, I definitely like the option of having the eyes show through the mask. It looks to have even better articulation than the Civil War version.

 

[Rudimus]

I'm sorry, but anyone who says this will look better in-person is only lying to themselves. An inferior product won't magically look better in-hand. They simply don't want to admit they purchased an inferior product...and I don't blame them, it's human nature. They don't wanna admit to buyer's remorse. They want to justify the $260+ they just plopped down on a "premium" figure.

That side-by-side comparison was the final nail in the coffin. I don't need to see any YouTube videos trying to justify this BOTCHED release. Like I said earlier, my purchasing decision was based on the initial prototype head sculpt. Now that we all know the final product is a cheapened 3rd party version, this is now officially a PASS.

People vote with your wallets. Don't let HT SCAM you like that! Send them a message! Don't let them get away with FALSE ADVERTISING!

It’s definitely far from the prototype, but once again we’re looking at the sculpt with super human eyes. It’s not like this is Sideshow Jedi Luke bad, it’s just not as good as what was the prototype, which it never is. The most glaring decline is in the hair, the production piece lost the afro sheen from the prototype, same thing happened to the Finn sculpt from TFA & most got over it quickly. Also once more people receive this “in-hand”, guarantee that the poor translation of the prototype will be more forgiven, as usual.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Wait, no one has this in hand yet and people are freaking that its a disaster? Now where have I seen this before...?

 

[Sassafras]

It’s definitely far from the prototype, but once again we’re looking at the sculpt with super human eyes. It’s not like this is Sideshow Jedi Luke bad, it’s just not as good as what was the prototype, which it never is. The most glaring decline is in the hair, the production piece lost the afro sheen from the prototype, same thing happened to the Finn sculpt from TFA & most got over it quickly. Also once more people receive this “in-hand”, guarantee that the poor translation of the prototype will be more forgiven, as usual.

Hela IMO is as good as the protype. CW Natasha and CW are beautiful. Spiderman sculpt. DS 1. Even my Ultron Hawkeye has great sculpt and paint.

IMO the same factory that put IW Cap out with the KO features put this sculpt out. Also, if HT is cheapening production, what does that say about the rest of the fig? How long will the light up stand last? Makes u think.

 

[memphissfinest]

Wait, no one has this in hand yet and people are freaking that its a disaster? Now where have I seen this before...?

People have this in hand...

That’s where the pics and video reviews are coming from.

Let me go back and review the figures that had good prototypes and also good production sculpts. I’m sure both were very close in quality to each other.

 

[memphissfinest]

Hela IMO is as good as the protype. CW Natasha and CW are beautiful. Spiderman sculpt. DS 1. Even my Ultron Hawkeye has great sculpt and paint.

IMO the same factory that put IW Cap out with the KO features put this sculpt out. Also, if HT is cheapening production, what does that say about the rest of the fig? How long will the light up stand last? Makes u think.

Maybe Hot Toys has been scaling up production numbers and is having growing pains keeping the quality in line with the increase of production

 

[Wor-Gar]

People have this in hand...

That’s where the pics and video reviews are coming from.

Where, in China? Those pics are always crap.

Never counts until it gets into people's hands that you trust. You guys will be arguing over this for a month, until it gets here and then slowly, one by one, people start coming around and saying "hey its better in hand".

Seems to be the way with everything from HT. Natural course. With rare exception. Hopefully, for you guys, this isn't that rare exception.

 

[ZE_501]

[...] Hopefully, for you guys, this isn't that rare exception.

That's just it -- I think it's just that. I'd love to be wrong, I'd eat an NRD for it but enjoy it. But I have a bad feeling about this one.

 

[Sassafras]

Maybe Hot Toys has been scaling up production numbers and is having growing pains keeping the quality in line with the increase of production

I think it's that the cost of everything went up, but HT can't increase prices too much. Their customer base can't afford it. So they cut costs in other ways. For a lot of people it won't matter since they don't keep their figs.

But I do. And I would rather have better sculpts and less box art and accessories if that's how it is.

 

[memphissfinest]

Where, in China? Those pics are always crap.

Never counts until it gets into people's hands that you trust. You guys will be arguing over this for a month, until it gets here and then slowly, one by one, people start coming around and saying "hey its better in hand".

Seems to be the way with everything from HT. Natural course. With rare exception. Hopefully, for you guys, this isn't that rare exception.

Jenkin posted his review a few days ago, Virtual Devil just posted his video review and I’m pretty sure Justin is going to post his review sometime today. So far from those reviews it’s been all bad with the sculpt but the rest of the figure looks great if you plan to never display him unmasked.

 

[gmoney5000]

It’s definitely far from the prototype, but once again we’re looking at the sculpt with super human eyes. It’s not like this is Sideshow Jedi Luke bad, it’s just not as good as what was the prototype, which it never is. The most glaring decline is in the hair, the production piece lost the afro sheen from the prototype, same thing happened to the Finn sculpt from TFA & most got over it quickly. Also once more people receive this “in-hand”, guarantee that the poor translation of the prototype will be more forgiven, as usual.

I don't collect SW...never seen a single movie, but I do know that the Finn figure from TFA did not sell well. If you're telling me that specific figure suffered from quality downgrade during the prototype to production process, then this will likely happen to BP 2.0 and its sales.

For starters, majority of the people seem to agree that the CW suit is wayyyy better looking. So for those who own the first one they aren't gonna be inclined to buy another BP if they don't particularly like the suit. The headsculpt would be the obvious selling point since everyone who has 1.0 complained that it didn't come with the sculpt. Now that the sculpt is officially a major BUST, what reason will people buy it now?

Sure, there are still gonna be people that will buy this 2.0 version (because even I'll admit the suit/articulation looks great), but mark my words, this figure won't sell well...just like IW Black Widow (awful, cheap looking wig) didn't sell well or IM Mk II Diecast (re-used outdated Mk III 2.0 parts/midget scaling) didn't sell well. Because when you cut corners your consumers will know and they WON'T buy it, especially at the price point that HT is charging.

And before you go "How do you know IW Black Widow and IM Mk II Diecast didn't sell well?", I would just say the fact that both are still available for order many months after initial release is evidence of low demand. Hell, even the IW Black Widow was discounted and even included free shipping during Christmas and people still didn't bite! People don't wanna waste their hard-earned money on low-quality products.

The only good news is that people on the fence can wait it out now and buy it when it dips below market value.

 

[gmoney5000]

Where, in China? Those pics are always crap.

Never counts until it gets into people's hands that you trust. You guys will be arguing over this for a month, until it gets here and then slowly, one by one, people start coming around and saying "hey its better in hand".

Seems to be the way with everything from HT. Natural course. With rare exception. Hopefully, for you guys, this isn't that rare exception.

Yeah...because I remember people were arguing for months about Hela and Yondu and the poor likeness/quality and then people started getting them in-hand and they finally realized they were all wrong.



Please.

This Chadwick sculpt is a stinker. I will go as far to say that it is objectively BAD and that's a fact.