I mean this as respectfully as possible…but is it possible that you may be spending way too much time thinking about…ALL of this?
Not really; it's a username. It takes a minute, two,
ten, tops, to pick one. I have the same system across all forums, social media and the such. I cycle through a couple of real world names I like, as they're less restrictive. You may outgrow a character or property; why be stuck with it as a handle when you can just use an actual "fake" name you like?
I just like uniformality.
Blah blah blah
Doom was taken. Am I right?.
I honestly didn't check. I like the name "Victor" independently, which was the point.
Very much agree with all of this, I would've considered a rooted standard version for $500, but locking it to a double pack that will cost over $1000 completely killed my interest in getting the rooted versions.
Ultimately I am glad they went this way, as such an option would've been tempting. But even then I would've passed. I liked Ledger's Joker, I want one on my shelf, same as a Baleman, but they're not absolute grail figures that'd warrant me dropping top dollar. I can think of maybe 5 characters I love enough to go the extra mile, but the whole point of these higher prices is the rooted hairpiece, which needs a character with long hair. What could be done to, say, a Vader, to make him cost that much? Better materials? Metal? So as it stands I see no real reason for me to make any sort of "switch" yet.
I'm also waiting to see what Hot Toys will do with their new Joker, the ball's in their court now, say they release two versions of the Joker, regular one for around $300 and then a rooted for $500, seamless arms and all, it could happen, QS announcing this first could force Hot Toys to actually try with the sculpt and innovate if they want to come out on top.
I'll wait a bit, because I want to see how Hot Toys handles the oncoming MCU & SW shows and movies. I'm moving forward with my pre-planned list and picking what's best. But with the price here being competitive, and with the figure looking as good as it does, what'd be the point of waiting for a DX 3.0 HT Joker? More accessories I suppose, two headsculpts, something like that. I'll give it some time, as I don't think the regular edition of the QS will be selling out in a week, but I won't wait that much.
The other figures won't sell as well as Joker so they shouldn't pull this double pack nonsense, especially with characters like Paul and Neo, I would say they should just do one sculpt for all figures moving forward so they can just have a regular and rooted version, I feel that would be less taxing for Viper or whoever is rooting these and would give folks the opportunity to grab more rooted figures.
That's what I was thinking of as well. Ledger's Joker is a unique character in the hobby as well as cinema and pop culture, so I can see people paying the price. But everyone else? Not a chance. I'm not sure Resurrections Neo will sell as is, let alone with rooted hair, and that's not even getting into any hypothetical 1K$ Double-Packs.
Paul's the only one who'd tempt me to buy with rooted hair, but it'll all depend on when he goes up for Pre-Order, how it's handled, etc. If it's a single-figure edition, if they put it up towards the end of the year, and if I can get it on installments, then I can add him to my 2023 slate which is a lot cleaner, and afford him. Otherwise it's the classic sculpted.
I don't think it will impact the hobby that much, all these things have been done before but just never got this much attention, seamless arms and magnetic bases are something most brands could do, diecast weapons sound fancy but the cast on those always loses the detail you get with plastic, the one thing that could change the hobby is the rooted hair, IF it turns out like the proto, that would be bad news though because then you would see everyone raising their prices in order to produce those figures.
Good points all around. As for the rooted hair, I don't know. It looks great with the longer haired characters, but would people really pay such amounts for Captain America's unmasked, short-haired headsculpt? The characters you can do in this format that genuinely warrant it are limited. If it becomes a tonal shift and every figure starts trying to incorporate rooted hair, then the vast majority of customers will be locked out of it. Granted, we went from ~200$ per figure to ~300$, but that's in the span of a decade. Do a 200$ jump in this era, and you're definitely losing the average customer. Unless it becomes a more common extra option in addition to the normal edition, which would make sense. The figures that warrant it get it, the "big guys" go for the rooted version, and everyone else just keeps going, business as usual.
Personally, even if I could afford it, I am not sure I would make the jump. Unless you're limiting yourself to 10, 20 pieces, all of which can have their own spotlight on a shelf/cabinet, then I don't see the point. They'll all blend together in a multi-figure display and the extra realism will be lost. A series of 2-3 figure vignettes and some solos all in their own cases I understand, and it'd look splendid. Rebuying, say, the entire Avengers line, but this time with rooted hair doesn't seem logical to me. I'm in this scale to build some displays, so I don't need
that much realism. Try me again in 10 years when I'm done with 1/6th and making the jump in 1/4th for 20 characters in all, and then I'd be tempted to go the whole way.
