1/6 Hot Toys - The X-Men License - Interview with Chan

[WhoaItsJBot]

You and Pturtle have hit the nail on the head.. most peeps are making their buying decision, based on whether they like the head sculpt.. however that is a very high risk issue for Hot Toys, if collectors decide they don't like the HS, the figure's sales will tank.. so any figure where the actor's face is obscured by a mask, helmet, make-up etc. is a much safer bet for sales.
Imho, this is why Sideshow made a smart choice going for the comic likeness rights.. and Collectors are more likely to see X-Men figures they like.

..excluding their current Wolverine prototype.

Exactly, most everyone was ready to cancel TDW Loki based on the prototype pics. If HT gets their best sculptor on this, imagine how great the figures could be. A Wolverine that matches the sculpt on the Stealth suit Cap/Steve Rogers would be fantastic.

Oh, and I'll get the SSC Wolverine if they make an alternate headsculpt... that grin is just plain ugly lol. And not in a good way. Giant horse teeth ruin it.

 

[Motuxmen]

Err, to me this is a huge difference.

And that is the problem then.

1000-900=100

200-100=100

But when you only invest 100(a full 800 less), then you have that other money to invest in other things. Why tie up the extra 800 when the profit you make is exactly the same?

I keep seeing the argument that since DOFP did so well that should justify the risk, while also seeing that people don't know who hot toys pays on licenses. On the license issue, I explained that. We don't know the exact numbers. But we know that there are two additional parties that get paid, over a property like predators. And also, as I explained, the current license situation was not always the case. For the first few movies the studio paid the actors for likeness rights up front, so hot toys did not require that third step. Right around the time of first class that changed. So for first class and dofp hot toys has additional rights to aquire, adding additional cost.

The success of dofp is pretty much meaningless. All of the characters have been in the franchise before(aside from a few minor ones). And if you adjust for inflation and the huge spike in ticket prices dofp I doubt would beat any of the original three. Maybe the first xmen. But x3 nearly had the same box office total as it is, nearly ten years before and on a smaller budget. X3 did pretty well at the box office. But again, box office success has little to do with figure sales. It's about the characters with figures. I'd buy a figure from a movie I didn't like if I liked the figure(the look or the character or the actor), but I'm not buying a figure I don't like the look of just because I liked the movie.

And your right about Spider-Man. I should have reversed the films. The original Spider-Man was great at box office, but figures sold poor, if we got any. ASM, and ASM2 are getting more figures(spidey, electro, rhino, Parker). Again, box office has little to do with it.

 

[a-dev]

I think a lot of the frustration stems from the bizarre fact that the $h!ttiest films in these franchises get figures and the best films get none. It really is ****ing weird.

Nothing from X1, X2, First Class or DOFP
Nothing from Spiderman, Spiderman 2

But we do have X-men Origins, X3, The Wolverine, The Amazing Spiderman, The Amazing Spiderman 2

You wouldn't script that.

 

[Josette]

On the surface it seems weird, but people are buying the character, not the movie.

I mean, take X3 Wolverine. Many people hated X3, but still loved Wolverine - and the X3 figure can also stand as an X1 or X2 version, since he's wearing the standard team uniform. Wolverine: Origins was a terrible movie, but the figure is still Jackman's Wolverine, in an awesome jacket and jeans that represents the character well - for any of the previous X-Men movies. Throw away the box, don't bother watching W:Origins, and you still have an awesome Wolverine figure that could remind you of any of the X-Men movies.

 

[Taibhse]

I think a lot of the frustration stems from the bizarre fact that the $h!ttiest films in these franchises get figures and the best films get none. It really is ****ing weird.

Nothing from X1, X2, First Class or DOFP
Nothing from Spiderman, Spiderman 2

But we do have X-men Origins, X3, The Wolverine, The Amazing Spiderman, The Amazing Spiderman 2

You wouldn't script that.

..plus the truly bizarre decision to do a New Goblin figure!

 

[Mr Walker]

As others stated, and myself, box office and gross of the film mean little. aSM2 out sold all the raimi movies..but most people prefer the Spider-Man 3 figure to the upcoming asm2 figure.

You're comparing a figure that's quite good looking to a figure that is less attractive than the end result of the digestive process.

Make a good looking ASM2 suit, and all those Spidey fans out there would be over it. It was an extremely good looking suit on screen.

If you make 1000 dollars but have to invest 900, it's no better then if you make 200 and invest 100. You make 100 each way.

Uh, what?

A little diversity doesn't hurt.

Careful... expressing a desire for something new and interesting rather than bubble and squeak gets one labelled as having a sense of entitlement around these parts.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

I think a lot of the frustration stems from the bizarre fact that the $h!ttiest films in these franchises get figures and the best films get none. It really is ****ing weird.

Nothing from X1, X2, First Class or DOFP
Nothing from Spiderman, Spiderman 2

But we do have X-men Origins, X3, The Wolverine, The Amazing Spiderman, The Amazing Spiderman 2

They aren't the ****tiest

You make a good point though. Could include Iron Man 3 and Spider-Man 3

On the surface it seems weird, but people are buying the character, not the movie.

Another good point.

 

[Mr Walker]

Another good point.

It's why I have both SM and Wolverine Origins in my collection.

Even if you hated the movies, they're good representations of the characters, and there's easy leverage there to attract comic book fans, especially with Spider-man, who's really just a mask, and fortunately, Jackman (despite being too tall), plays an excellent Wolverine, almost in spite of how rubbish the movies themselves may be.

Now if HT can only fix the ASM2 suit....

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Yeah - the point of view that these great characters' appeal, transcend the crappy films they come from, makes far more sense when purchasing figures, than whether to buy or not based on one's opinion of the film they come from.

If the representation translates into a great looking figure - & you dig the character on top of that, it's a win all round.

 

[Josette]

For me, it comes down to the fact that I DID like the first two X-Men films, and Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine is a highlight in those films. There's enough goodwill towards the previous X movies and towards the character that buying a representation of him from a crappy movie isn't a big deal - it also helps that he doesn't look drastically different in any of the x-Men movies he's in.

I would actually prefer figures from First Class because I had issues with DOFP and don't like it nearly as much as others do, but I would buy Fassbender's Magneto either way, because I adore his portrayal of that character. A lot of my adoration comes from First Class - that's why my preference would be a figure from that movie. But I wouldn't pass up a DOFP version, if that's what we got. Love the character too much to pass.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Yeah, I haven't seen DOFP yet - but regardless of whether I end up liking it or not, I want Logan in his 70s gear.

 

[a-dev]

The point is when HT had the option of making figures from the X-men trilogy (as it was then) they chose X3. When they had the option of making figures from the Raimi trilogy they chose S3. What the ****. Why test the market with figures from the crappest films in those respective franchises regardless of how passable the looks of the character are for any given film. You have your choice of the films and you pick the crap ones?

I know not everyone thinks those are crap, in fact, I keep calling them 'crap' but I actually enjoy them to a degree. Perhaps I should change my language to ''least good''

And on that note what if HT had kicked off the Back to the Future license with Part III? What if they made Batman & Robin stuff to test the waters for the older Batman films? Terminator 3 before T1 and T2 etc etc.

edit- wait no, Batman&Robin and T3 are truly crap, but you get the idea

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Well, spidey could've been from any of the films really, but yeah. No Goblin, no Ock, no X1 Logan, no Nightcrawler etc.

Wtf indeed..

 

[a-dev]

Yeah if you pick Spidey 3, yeah Spidey is basically the same but you're tied to the villains from that film. No Doc Ock, the one everyone wants.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Yeah if you pick Spidey 3, yeah Spidey is basically the same but you're tied to the villains from that film. No Doc Ock, the one everyone wants.

Truth.

 

[Taibhse]

Yeah if you pick Spidey 3, yeah Spidey is basically the same but you're tied to the villains from that film. No Green Goblin with Dafoe HS, the one everyone wants.

*fixed*

 

[pturtle]

Yea, I would kill for a Doc Ock and a Dafoe Green Goblin, I’m kind of with a-dev here, why test the waters with the worst films in the series?

Instead of getting a Dafoe GG, or Alfred Molina Doc Ock, HT limited themselves to making the worst villains in the series

I do think making figures for the worst films in a franchise does have a subtle affect on buyers, Iron Man sells through the roof, but I believe almost all the Iron Man 3 armors are still available including the main armor of the movie.

 

[karamazov80]

I think the Spidey 3 decision was influenced by HT wanting to do Symbiote Spidey. He looked basically the same in all 3 films, so putting aside potential villains, Spider-Man 3 gave them the ability to get a black Spidey out. X3 Wolvie is harder to figure out, except that I don't think they ever planned on doing more than him from whichever movie they chose, so they probably just went with whichever look they liked best. The Sentinel head option could have also played some role there.

 

[YoNoSe]

I doubt obtaining the rights to a series of films gives you carte blanche to produce whatever characters you want, whenever you want. I imagine some studio rep is involved, whose thought process may go no further than "make something from the last one, that's the one people will remember."

 

[karamazov80]

I can imagine an HT exec. having the same mentality with those films, or at least X3. But the Blade 2 figure came out after Blade Trinity was released, for what it's worth.