1/6 INART (Queen Studio) - The Dark Knight - Joker Collectible Figure

[Wor-Gar]

But don't you think $790 for a doll is excessive?

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

Hot Toys has nothing to worry about until other companies start doing Disney/Marvel/Star Wars figures, which probably won't happen for a long time.

DC/Terminator/Aliens/Predator are stuff that they have now largely abandoned. I'm just glad other companies can pick up what they left behind.

Again, I highly doubt Hot Toys will change anything. They have a massive ego after 20 years.

They haven't exactly set 2022 alight with Doc Ock and Peacemaker have they? Gotta love the ZERO communication they have with customers after such disastrous product launches.

You guys are forgetting that this is HT, the same petty company that deliberately revealed their T2 DX on the very minute enterbay revealed their 1/4 T2 battle damage OUT OF SPITE. Also, they teased a whole bunch more in the following years which ultimately led to nothing. They hoarded licenses so no other company can potentially compete with them. We all know this.

Let’s be clear, HT DOESNT WANT TO SHARE. there was some stupid shenanigans that happened between QMX and HT with regards to pennywise (vague details were shared by nanjin tam, former lead of the Star Trek line over at QMX when they still held the trek license). Howard chan doesn’t play nice and seeing how uncharacteristically “complete” their battinson is, there’s no doubt in my mind HT are slightly panicking because another company with serious talent are using official channels is now encroaching on their self proclaimed field.

They don’t pour any focus on non-Disney related products, but DC/WB licenses isn’t on the same level like “the hateful 8”, “The Godfather”, “Scarface”...QS got friggin Batman and LOTR. Region specificity isn’t even gonna hinder their sales.

QS/IA are absolutely in HT crosshairs and I wouldn’t be surprised HT are going into overdrive with the non-Disney licenses they’ve been hoarding for the past 10 years.

PURE speculation on my part of course.

But not gonna lie, a petty part of me is enjoying watching HT squirm. They’ve been arrogant for far too long.

 

[Victοr]

Can't you switch it to a single payment on release and that way if it gets delayed you can ask for the deposit back.

I don't think so. I've already paid 1/3rd of the installments thus far. It's not like Sideshow's, they offer from 2 to 15 or so. I always choose the hightest number to fit more figures in the year and keep track of them. I'll get the 100€ I paid back, but I'll lose the 60€ from the deposit and then an extra 10% as a "tax" for cancelling. It's really the double edged sword with installments. On one hand there's more leeway, especially for an international customer like me who's hit with taxes and shipping, but on the other hand the deposit's bigger and you can't easily cancel an order.

Either way, I'll probably keep it. We already know (alright, fine, like 90% know, I'm not going to account for freak accidents) the product will be solid, and while it could be improved upon in one or two areas, it's not a figure/incarnation I'd be willing to drop more than half a grand on when it's all said and done. I love Bale, but my grail of his is Bateman, so it's the Iconiq figure that I'm anxious about. If the HT BatBale is an 8.5/10, the QS is a hypothetical 9/10 and the hypothetical JND is a hypothetical 9.5/10, then it's not that big of a difference for me to really go the extra mile.

Now, all that said, I am intrigued by the possibility of a QS Batfleck. There's more to fix there from HT's efforts compared to their Bales. I can't find something in the DX19 pics that rubs me off the wrong way, meanwhile their DOJ Batfleck literally looks like a fat kid in pajamas.

 

[Hoody999]

You guys are forgetting that this is HT, the same petty company that deliberately revealed their T2 DX on the very minute enterbay revealed their 1/4 T2 battle damage OUT OF SPITE. Also, they teased a whole bunch more in the following years which ultimately led to nothing. They hoarded licenses so no other company can potentially compete with them. We all know this.

Let’s be clear, HT DOESNT WANT TO SHARE. there was some stupid shenanigans that happened between QMX and HT with regards to pennywise (vague details were shared by nanjin tam, former lead of the Star Trek line over at QMX when they still held the trek license). Howard chan doesn’t play nice and seeing how uncharacteristically “complete” their battinson is, there’s no doubt in my mind HT are slightly panicking because another company with serious talent are using official channels is now encroaching on their self proclaimed field.

They don’t pour any focus on non-Disney related products, but DC/WB licenses isn’t on the same level like “the hateful 8”, “The Godfather”, “Scarface”...QS got friggin Batman and LOTR. Region specificity isn’t even gonna hinder their sales.

QS/IA are absolutely in HT crosshairs and I wouldn’t be surprised HT are going into overdrive with the non-Disney licenses they’ve been hoarding for the past 10 years.

PURE speculation on my part of course.

But not gonna lie, a petty part of me is enjoying watching HT squirm. They’ve been arrogant for far too long.

Exactly. In the end it will all be good for us the consumers.

There is nothing better than competition, even if Hot Toys doesn't know it, complacency gets the better of everyone at some point.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I'm just bored with comic book movie merch. It's fine but imagine seeing a figure of good old Hicks some day.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Howard chan doesn’t play nice

Oh where is my Kirk screaming "CHANNNNN!!!" gif?

 

[Hoody999]

That's the sad part. An actual rep for Queen Studios says pricing will be competitive but yet folks still rather believe Justin no matter how many times he's been wrong with the info he gives out.

They will learn in time......

 

[Wor-Gar]

They will learn in time......

 

[Victοr]

I'm just bored with comic book movie merch. It's fine but imagine seeing a figure of good old Hicks some day.

The problem I think is that they're all so similar. What do we have to choose from? Basically MCU and Batman. Batman's always Batman and follows a pattern. The MCU costumes, at least until recently, were very "uniformal". So it's a lot like collecting colour variations of some cartoon show instead of having a lot of variety like comic books do. It's why I'm looking forward to the Moon Knight and Strange dolls; they look different.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I picked up the new Marvel Legends Strange and Wong at the weekend.

The likenesses are amazing for a 6 inch figure.

 

[choombaz]

Exactly. In the end it will all be good for us the consumers.

There is nothing better than competition, even if Hot Toys doesn't know it, complacency gets the better of everyone at some point.

I’m not convinced the competition will be great. I think it will only be good for customers who have nothing but money and nothing but patience. At the moment it’s all talk (and in HT case not even that) and the quality of the materials, the quality of the product, the quality of the licenses chosen it all means time and money. Plus it will be harder to choose do I pay x for this Batmobile or x * 3 for this Batmobile. And do i cancel this and instead wait for something that may never eventuate? The mine field just became the Dardenelles.

 

[vaanrose]

I don't see how this affects Hot Toys all that much. The only overlapping IP is DC/Batman and Hot Toys barely uses it, and Queen has been pretty upfront about the difficulties of ever attaining the Disney IPs. It's gonna hurt all the other, smaller companies more. Queen is directly competing with Asmus, ThreeZero, AugToys, etc.

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

I'm just bored with comic book movie merch. It's fine but imagine seeing a figure of good old Hicks some day.

I Can get the frustration. But you also have to consider TDK fans that have wanted an amazing Batman, joker, bane, ras, scarecrow, catwoman, dent for MANY years now. All we got were 2-3 really good (for the time) figures, and a bunch of half @$$ed releases AND re-releases. There are many that still regard TDK trilogy as the best so I can understand the desire and demand for knockout figures. I and many others I’m sure, look to and hope for QS to deliver them.

Not only do I desire proper DC figures, I too desire for figures from Aliens and predator.

Seeing as how HT don’t give a $hit about them, once again we look to QS and hope they’re granted the license.

I don't see how this affects Hot Toys all that much. The only overlapping IP is DC/Batman and Hot Toys barely uses it, and Queen has been pretty upfront about the difficulties of ever attaining the Disney IPs. It's gonna hurt all the other, smaller companies more. Queen is directly competing with Asmus, ThreeZero, AugToys, etc.

I disagree. Once again nanjin tam (if I understood the situation properly) gave vague details as to the mentality of HT and it’s CEO: They don’t like to be challenged by official companies that have reached a certain quality and will use under handed tactics to preserve the status quo.

BASED PURELY on speculation and being witness to HT schtick from years of collecting...if HT don’t feel “threatened” by QS/IA, you honestly think HT battinson would have been this feature rich?? (Not a direct challenge to you btw, it’s more of a rhetorical question). HELL NO. I guarantee you that had QS not obtained the WB/DC license, battinson would’ve been a standard as f*** release with no Bruce Wayne HS because they’re saving it for a 2.0...which would’ve been announced 6 months after the initial reveal.

Once again, this is all based on speculation. I’m not an expert. Just a Collector that’s fed up with HT BS.

I can’t stress enough just how happy I am over this situation. Because ultimately we the collectors will get better products.

 

[BigWayne]

IMO, Howard Chan is probably in absolute fear of the right new company coming in and changing everything. In fact, I believe he is probably anticipating the proverbial "other shoe to drop" where HT will have to deal with the inevitable challenge for market dominance. That said, I certainly don't know what goes on in his head and my theory is based only on my own observations and history. HT is a big company, with big financial obligations and the global economy isn't what it used to be. It's not so easy to run off the competition anymore.

Whether or not QS is the company that's going to pull this off or not remains to be seen. It may even be one of several companies that eat into HT's marketshare. Only time will tell. But the fact that others are surfacing with an interest in taking marketshare from HT is definitely noteworthy.

Arguably, HT has been the industry leader in 1/6 figures. However, in terms of product delivery, it's probably a fair to speculate that HT has not quite "closed the door" on their competition. It's certainly true that they've acquired a significant breadth of properties. As someone else posted, there is also a perception that they would rather defend their market position not with improvements, but by stifling the competition. In fact, to take it a bit further, it might even be a perfectly valid criticism that the optics suggest that they've sat on some of properties in an effort to box out others, rather than deliver consumer value. And their prices aren't getting any cheaper.

In 2003, I'm sure Rick Wagoner, William Clay Ford II, and Sergio Marchionne were cruising along at the helm of GM, Ford, and Chrysler without a concern in the world. They were the automobile industry. Unfortunately, that was also when a nobody with an odd first name of "Elon" showed up and redefined the industry. Today, those three stocks are trading between $15 and $41, while Tesla is at $766.

And where are the original three "captains of industry" now? Exactly. If it could happen to a multi-billion dollar industry, there's no reason why couldn't it happen to a much smaller one. It just takes one company.

 

[R_R_X]

I think HT/Howard are aware that several brands are catching up to them in terms of quality and innovation, but they don't really care, Queen Studios has licenses for figures that will never sell as much as MCU or Star Wars figures, and the ones they do are limited to China only which means if anyone living elsewhere wants a Joker they'll have to pay a hefty fee to get it, while Hot Toys dominates the market with official distributors like Sideshow.

It's definitely true that Hot Toys has gotten lazy and comfortable in their position but people forget they've pionered the whole industry for the past two decades and they have a monopoly on all the best factories around, including their own, as we've seen with the latest Batman figure, they are ready to compete in order to remain as the top dog and at the end of the day it will all come down to 3 things, price, availability and value, HT has all those in the bag already, while QS is just getting started with 1/6.

All that combined with QS already saying that the Marvel/Star Wars licenses will be hard to negotiate with Disney, I don't think this will be the "war" people are hyping up, HT and QS will certainly butt heads whenever they make the same DC based figure but for now Hot Toys still reigns over the market with the most valuable licenses under their belt but QS is smart, they are trying to eliminate all third parties and other licensed brands by aquiring licenses Hot Toys hasn't touched in a while, and other licenses that have been the saving grace of some companies, they're even planning to do video game stuff, if anything this "war" will be fought between Asmus, Threezero, JND, smaller licensed brands and of course third parties, which will probably suffer the most since now they don't only have Hot Toys doing everything in their power to eliminate from the market but also Queen trying to get ahold of every license they can in order to build themselves up, either way it's gonna be interesting to see how this whole thing goes down.

 

[BrooklynWolf X]

IMO, Howard Chan is probably in absolute fear of the right new company coming in and changing everything. In fact, I believe he is probably anticipating the proverbial "other shoe to drop" where HT will have to deal with the inevitable challenge for market dominance. That said, I certainly don't know what goes on in his head and my theory is based only on my own observations and history. HT is a big company, with big financial obligations and the global economy isn't what it used to be. It's not so easy to run off the competition anymore.

Whether or not QS is the company that's going to pull this off or not remains to be seen. It may even be one of several companies that eat into HT's marketshare. Only time will tell. But the fact that others are surfacing with an interest in taking marketshare from HT is definitely noteworthy.

Arguably, HT has been the industry leader in 1/6 figures. However, in terms of product delivery, it's probably a fair to speculate that HT has not quite "closed the door" on their competition. It's certainly true that they've acquired a significant breadth of properties. As someone else posted, there is also a perception that they would rather defend their market position not with improvements, but by stifling the competition. In fact, to take it a bit further, it might even be a perfectly valid criticism that the optics suggest that they've sat on some of properties in an effort to box out others, rather than deliver consumer value. And their prices aren't getting any cheaper.

In 2003, I'm sure Rick Wagoner, William Clay Ford II, and Sergio Marchionne were cruising along at the helm of GM, Ford, and Chrysler without a concern in the world. They were the automobile industry. Unfortunately, that was also when a nobody with an odd first name of "Elon" showed up and redefined the industry. Today, those three stocks are trading between $15 and $41, while Tesla is at $766.

And where are the original three "captains of industry" now? Exactly. If it could happen to a multi-billion dollar industry, there's no reason why couldn't it happen to a much smaller one. It just takes one company.

Exactly what I wanted to convey...Except I’m not as articulate as you haha.

BigWayne dropping them big facts.

“Why should we improve when there’s no reason to?”
Uh..,maybe it’s because you’re preventing others from competing?
“Yea...isn’t it great?”

 

[Spanbauer]

Neo has been in production a while as has Gandalf. They will be next after Joker.

Having the things already in production and almost ready to go shortly after reveal/pre-orders would certainly set them apart from Hot Toys and their 18-30 month wait times. But if that’s the case, then they’re most certainly limited runs with a short window to get in on a figure.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Having the things already in production and almost ready to go shortly after reveal/pre-orders would certainly set them apart from Hot Toys and their 18-30 month wait times.

That alone would be a game changer. One I would be eager to support... especially since I do not PO anything from HT anymore and haven't for least 2-3 years or more now. And I've never had a problem getting a figure once it releases, usually for less than it was on PO.

 

[Spanbauer]

That alone would be a game changer. One I would be eager to support... especially since I do not PO anything from HT anymore and haven't for least 2-3 years or more now. And I've never had a problem getting a figure once it releases, usually for less than it was on PO.

To be fair though, this is a model that’s much easier and more successful when producing decades-old classic well-established characters. They’ve got the source material, they know it’s popular, etc.

We’ve all seen what can happen when companies try to have figures for new film releases ready for purchase when a new film hits: black and gold spider-man will probably end up on clearance for years because its appearance in the film didn’t exactly make it a must-have and the figure looks nothing like how the suit ended up in the final film.

But that doesn’t mean we should still be waiting on Avengers Endgame figures in 2022.

 

[BigWayne]

Exactly what I wanted to convey...Except I’m not as articulate as you haha.

BigWayne dropping them big facts.

I stayed at a holiday inn last night