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

[gmoney5000]

I enjoy Justin's vids for how concise and informative they are. He doesn't pad the run time and just gets straight to the point, which I appreciate.

Often times these review videos from other YouTube personalities run anywhere from 30 minutes to sometimes even close to an hour long, which is ridiculous! Keyboard Warriors and I Am Toys comes to mind off the top of my head. I don't mean to hate on them, since I find their videos very insightful and informative, but I feel that they often ramble on with too much unnecessary banter that adds nothing to the video. Trim the fat and get to the meat!

But getting back to Justin, I do appreciate his chipper attitude, but I do agree that he does come off as a "Yes Man" and he can benefit by being more critical. But on the whole I do enjoy everyone's videos when it comes to Hot Toys, so keep em coming!

 

[Jim Morrison]

I quite like Justin's videos in a lightly engaging 'watch over your morning coffee' kind of way. He comes across as an affable chap with an obvious enthusiasm for the hobby and the vids are nicely presented. However, when it comes to impartiality & objectivity (especially with things like head sculpt likeness) I often struggle to take him seriously.

 

[Wor-Gar]

So its looking better, is it?

 

[matticus]

I thought gmoney and Jim Morrison were going to explode. Glad you guys made it out ok.

 

[memphissfinest]

So its looking better, is it?

Not really. As expected Justin's video didn't make it look anymore like Chadwick than the plethora of pics and videos that were already out.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Not really. As expected Justin's video didn't make it look anymore like Chadwick than the plethora of pics and videos that were already out.

I still think you'll come around in a month.

You've only been here since Feb 2018. This has played out so many times like this in the past 10 years. The odds are in your favor that the head ends up being fine in hand.

If not, there's always the v2 adjustment in later batches...

 

[memphissfinest]

I still think you'll come around in a month.

You've only been here since Feb 2018. This has played out so many times like this in the past 10 years. The odds are in your favor that the head ends up being fine in hand.

If not, there's always the v2 adjustment in later batches...

Won't make a difference. I've already cancelled my pre-order. Not only does the likeness not appear to be there but someone already showed in this thread that the headsculpt won't fit on the Civil War Panther figure which was the only reason I was buying this figure. I don't like the suit on this figure very much so all the other extra stuff with this release didn't mean anything to me.

 

[Wor-Gar]

the headsculpt won't fit on the Civil War Panther figure which was the only reason I was buying this figure.

Well that sucks then. Oh well...

 

[Sassafras]

Won't make a difference. I've already cancelled my pre-order. Not only does the likeness not appear to be there but someone already showed in this thread that the headsculpt won't fit on the Civil War Panther figure which was the only reason I was buying this figure. I don't like the suit on this figure very much so all the other extra stuff with this release didn't mean anything to me.

Plus u might save shorting something out - I really didn't believe HT used packing materials to make the fancy stand, but re the vids - yep.

Just seeing that made me nervous about ordering IM special version - who's to say they didn't go cheap with his light-up connections too?

 

[gmoney5000]

Man, after watching Justin's video review, crazy to think that Hot Toys wants an extra $40 for that super cheap ass styrofoam light stand! I can't believe it's not even plastic!

HT figured out a way to even cheap out on plastic! Styrofoam?! Really??? They keep cutting back on quality and raising the prices? I'm a big HT fan, but I gotta say I'm starting to sour on them as of late. I look forward to the day a worthy HT competitor enters the market to challenge them with higher-quality figures.

 

[JB24]

I have dozens of figure that headscuplts i have rarely seen a good photo of. They (to me anyway) always look plastic and toyish in photos but much more like the actor or character on the shelf.

We are judging these things in 2D, under poor lighting most of the time, Photoshopped, filtered, maybe a little out of focus like that side by side photo, blown up to 3 or 4 times in normal size and a foot from your face. The way it will never be seen or looked at on your shelf.

These are a likeness not an exact copy of the actor. Yondu and a few others is an exception not the standard i think we are expecting to much for a couple hundred bucks (fighting words i'm sure ).

Well over 150 of these things and i have only really been disappointed with one figure and it was the Sneaky IM that did not even include a HS. I just really did not like the paint

I'm happy with my 1st BP but i really want to see this in hand so who knows maybe i might bit.

I will be commenting on the bolded portion above. I think that is also related to the type of camera lens used to take the picture or video. A wide angle (e.g. 24mm), normal (e.g. 50mm), and telephoto (105mm) lens will all produce a different look. For example, the wider the lens, the bigger the face (especially the nose) may look. Telephoto lenses will compress the image to make the face look more narrow.

To me, that seems to be the reason why sometimes hear comments like "this figure looks better in hand" or "photos don't do this figure justice". Of course, there are other important factors as well such as lighting. But unfortunately, pictures and videos are what most people will have to judge the figure unless they have it in hand.

Edit: P.S. But I'm not saying that the difference between the proto and production pics is due to the lens or lighting used. I can clearly tell that the sculpts are different and IMHO I am not a big fan of the production BP's head sculpt.

 

[Sassafras]

Man, after watching Justin's video review, crazy to think that Hot Toys wants an extra $40 for that super cheap ass styrofoam light stand! I can't believe it's not even plastic!

HT figured out a way to even cheap out on plastic! Styrofoam?! Really??? They keep cutting back on quality and raising the prices? I'm a big HT fan, but I gotta say I'm starting to sour on them as of late. I look forward to the day a worthy HT competitor enters the market to challenge them with higher-quality figures.

LOL!

Tho suppose it's not funny, really. A lot of people don't even seem to like dio stands - too big for a Detolf for one thing, a lot of the time - but never would have thought HT would wire up packing material w. some gift wrap and call it a day.

Gonna guess HT's cost HAVE gone up - but as a business they've got some hard decisions to make. Either keep the sculpt/costume quality they were known for (such as it was); make less profit; or raise prices even more.

Not sure why they don't put out "slim" versions (no stands, plain box, few accessories). Maybe overall customers really want that environmentally unfriendly plastic and nice boxes (even tho mine are stored in the shipper boxes).

Jeez tho - it was only 2 years ago? 3? HT was turning out stuff like the CW Iron Man and battle-damaged Cap and CW Scarlet Witch.

 

[Malgus]

Man, after watching Justin's video review, crazy to think that Hot Toys wants an extra $40 for that super cheap ass styrofoam light stand! I can't believe it's not even plastic!

HT figured out a way to even cheap out on plastic! Styrofoam?! Really??? They keep cutting back on quality and raising the prices? I'm a big HT fan, but I gotta say I'm starting to sour on them as of late. I look forward to the day a worthy HT competitor enters the market to challenge them with higher-quality figures.

It seems like no company can come close to hot toys quality. I have been hoping to see a worthy competitor for years.

 

[The Buffinator]

Man, after watching Justin's video review, crazy to think that Hot Toys wants an extra $40 for that super cheap ass styrofoam light stand! I can't believe it's not even plastic!

HT figured out a way to even cheap out on plastic! Styrofoam?! Really??? They keep cutting back on quality and raising the prices? I'm a big HT fan, but I gotta say I'm starting to sour on them as of late. I look forward to the day a worthy HT competitor enters the market to challenge them with higher-quality figures.

Well, I thought someone pointed out way back when it was first displayed at Secret Base that those light towers looked like cardboard, so given that the styrofoam filler wasn't a big surprise to me. But that tray they provided to link those two to the stand is thinner than a TV dinner tray. Calling it cheap is being generous.

It would have been nice if the wires connecting those towers to the base were a bit longer, as I was thinking of maybe situating them a bit further away from the figure. I think people may be rewiring/rerouting things to fit their individual setups.

 

[Zurdo95D]

For the figure itself, man I'm still so amped up for it!!!! I throughly enjoyed Black Panther in the cinema and I'm getting BP vibes

 

[memphissfinest]

Hot toys can redeem themselves by releasing tactical suit Killmonger with the tribal mask

 

[The Buffinator]

Hot toys can redeem themselves by releasing tactical suit Killmonger with the tribal mask

And eerily, when we put the tribal mask on him he will look exactly like Chadwick Boseman.

 

[DirtyBike]

I’ve watched Justin’s videos since day 1. There’s no question the reviews have changed over time from authentically wanting to show his collection to strictly pumping out reviews for views. There’s nothing wrong with that but it is what it is.

I would comment regularly on his videos for a while, usually say something encouraging because I recognized he worked hard to get the reviews out quickly and did a good job overall.

Anyway, one time I made a comment about wanting more articulation in Spider-Man figures, and he left a snarky comment back and spoke about it on his podcast as if it was a completely ridiculous thought. I just found it off-putting.

Yeah, used to be a big fan of Justin's reviews but they're starting to grate on me of late.

You can't really maintain any sort of authenticity as a collector if you buy and like everything, which is what he now seems to do. There's also an obvious a lack of research - for example in the Black Panther video he says he doesn't know if the stand will fit in a Detolf. Why not? You're filming in a room full of Detolfs!

He also has one of the most limited vocabularies of all the reviewers, being a 'big fan of' everything and describing everything as 'awesome'. I also dislike the fact that he uses Budget Stark's phrase 'see you in the next video'.

It's not all bad though. Because he buys everything he is able to do side by side comparisons - something most of the other reviewers couldn't do since they sold the figures straight after buying them. Justin can show you three generations of figure side by side and that is valuable.

 

[LipSmack]

Yeah, used to be a big fan of Justin's reviews but they're starting to grate on me of late.

You can't really maintain any sort of authenticity as a collector if you buy and like everything, which is what he now seems to do. There's also an obvious a lack of research - for example in the Black Panther video he says he doesn't know if the stand will fit in a Detolf. Why not? You're filming in a room full of Detolfs!

He also has one of the most limited vocabularies of all the reviewers, being a 'big fan of' everything and describing everything as 'awesome'. I also dislike the fact that he uses Budget Stark's phrase 'see you in the next video'.

It's not all bad though. Because he buys everything he is able to do side by side comparisons - something most of the other reviewers couldn't do since they sold the figures straight after buying them. Justin can show you three generations of figure side by side and that is valuable.

For me the bigger issue is how he breaks 1 Figures review into 5 different videos (Unboxing vid, Review vid, comparison vid etc...).

He's not that bad but holy **** do I miss Budget and Clipperking, they were by far the most thorough and entertaining reviewers

 

[gmoney5000]

For me the bigger issue is how he breaks 1 Figures review into 5 different videos (Unboxing vid, Review vid, comparison vid etc...).

He's not that bad but holy **** do I miss Budget and Clipperking, they were by far the most thorough and entertaining reviewers

Eh, I kinda appreciate that he breaks down his videos into different segments so this way you don't need to watch an entire 40-50 minute video. You can just select the video that has what it is you're looking for...much more user friendly in my opinion.