Anyone else thinking of sticking with Hot Toys exclusively for their 1/6 needs?

[supekudx]

I am thinking this way too. I am very impressed with Hot Toys and I guess this company stay tuned with what fans like. I agree that HT is not so clear with the fans as others, but they know what we want it. Medi-ocre-com is going down because they failure in communication. I hope HT doen't get the same way.

 

[IrishJedi]

Actually, Medi-ocre-com is in trouble because of their ridiculous prices and the fact that their "stylized" look & feel has grown old to many collectors.

 

[galactiboy]

Actually, Medi-ocre-com is in trouble because of their ridiculous prices and the fact that their "stylized" look & feel has grown old to many collectors.

But do we know they are in trouble with other collectors. Sure, here they aren't winning hearts and minds on this board... but it does seem the bulk of their fanbase has always been in Asia. Which to me is part of the reason they seem to stick to their way of doing figures, rather than adapt to what others are doing.

They are kind of like the George W. Bush of 1/6... "stay the course"

 

[KBA]

If i have to fix a figure i most likely won't even buy it.

It all depends I suppose for me. Picking up a dirt cheap sideshow figure for 35 bucks leaves a lot of opportunity for stretching those custom dollars in your budget.

 

[yruh8n]

Hot Toys makes some great products no doubt. They can't make everything though. I'm going to continue to support other companies who make figures I have wanted. I can't see Hot Toys making some of the figures coming from companies like Amok Time and Go Hero. If Hot toys has no competition they will become lazy, much like SS has seemed to do for the last few years. Any other company is going to be hard pressed to obtain properties that can compete with the lines that Hot Toys has, but I wont discourage them from trying. Hopefully others will step up their game and force Hot Toys to continue to be innovators and not rest on their well earned reputation.

 

[buzzybean]

I buy what I like and what I can afford. I'm not as prissy as many of the other collectors who will only buy from one company and bash their competition. There are different degrees to the quality of character toys produced and they are usually priced accordingly. I can enjoy a Hasbro doll as much as a SS doll as much as a Hot Toys doll, etc. It just depends...

BB

 

[Khev]

If HT had the same licenses as SSC then I'd choose HT. But since they don't, SSC it is for SW and GI Joe.

 

[cerealkeller]

I buy what I like also. SSC has SW, so they get the majority of my $$, though I haven't gotten a SS Sw figure since Clone Obi-Wan. Their choices have been sub par at best as far as characters go, and I've gotten to the point of only buying main characters and Stormtroopers and Clones. This summer, I've really gotten into HT with their TDK line and holy crap do you notice the difference in quality. Now when I mess with my SS figures, the bodies feel cheap, as do the paint apps.
I really hope SS kicks their quality up as recent releases by HT just kill them. Even a great SS figure like Indiana Jones feel somewhat cheap. The new body just flops around and the paint apps are not very good. Their cost doesn't equal their price IMO.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I kinda think its bassackwards to put company loyalty over the license.

 

[Shatterer of Dreams]

Hot Toys makes some great products no doubt. They can't make everything though. I'm going to continue to support other companies who make figures I have wanted. I can't see Hot Toys making some of the figures coming from companies like Amok Time and Go Hero. If Hot toys has no competition they will become lazy, much like SS has seemed to do for the last few years. Any other company is going to be hard pressed to obtain properties that can compete with the lines that Hot Toys has, but I wont discourage them from trying. Hopefully others will step up their game and force Hot Toys to continue to be innovators and not rest on their well earned reputation.

Huh...what? Sorry i was asleep.......what's this about being lazy?

 

[dr_teng]

I kinda think its bassackwards to put company loyalty over the license.

Gotta agree with this. I've only just started with 1/6th stuff, and I currently only have Hot Toys, but there's no way I'd skip the 24 figures from Enterbay, or their Bruce Lee. As much as my friends have had bad experiences with Medicom, at some point I'll pick one of their MGS3 Snake figures, and probably their MGS4 Raiden.

 

[collectamania]

i havnt been collecting long, literally like 5 months now and totally agree HT rocks, sideshow has allot of slack to catch up on, however there bust and statues are pretty sweet but there 12" just doesnt do it for me, they have very good sculpts here an there but HT is just the bomb, that my opinion anyway feel free to agree or disagree

 

[cerealkeller]

What i really want is to get better paint apps. Sideshow has amazing sculptors working for them (Trevor grove, etc.), it's the paint that kills the sculpts. Look at ANH Han and Luke. I absolutely love the sculpts on the heads, but the bad paint ruins them. If they get QT down on that, work on the new bodies (so they are not so loose), they have a chance of competing in the 1/6 scale arena. They have far better accessories (for the most part) than HT offers.

 

[galactiboy]

Also, lets not forget customizers for some of our figure needs. Can't see many making a Roy, or Loomis figure so that's another avenue for our 1/6 needs.

 

[OSCORP]

Actually, Medi-ocre-com is in trouble because of their ridiculous prices and the fact that their "stylized" look & feel has grown old to many collectors.

They may be in trouble with some fans here, but overseas and the Rider lines and anime stuff is where they concentrate. Medicom has a "i don't give a ^^^^ what you think attitude" which i can respect to a degree.


I still think they make a better 1/6 product than SS overall. It's just the damn prices. (except the Marvel line, once that goes up like the SW line I'll really be pissed)

 

[Ultimate Weapon]

Hot Toys may be setting the bar for 1:6 scale figures, but it's the licensed characters that I'm collecting, not the company.

I'm primarily, and always have been, a Star Wars collector which is what brought me into the 1:6 world. As long as Sideshow produces Star Wars characters that I want, I'll buy from them.

That being said the quality of Hot Toys has lead me to order figures from licenses that I enjoy, but wouldn't normally collect; ie. Batman, Iron Man and Planet of the Apes.

If HT and SS were producing the same characters from the same license, it might be a different story.

 

[The Drizzle]

I would never say I buy Hot Toys only, but I will have to admit that at least 95% of my one sixth purchases in the last year have been Hot Toys- they have moved the bar up so high that I have a hard time seeing items by other manufacturers as compatible/comparable. It has made me "super-tweak" my existing figures to try to keep a consistent look of compatibility in my figure displays, and it's made me very "non-committal" as far as pre-ordering anything not Hot Toys- truth be told, Hot Toys is basically what got got me back into 1/6 figures. I had loads of Medicoms, Sideshow stuff, etc, but had sold most all of it over the last couple of years due to dissatisfaction. Medicoms just look way too "toy" to me, and are too short, Sideshow stuff is so hit and miss- it's funny how some of the older stuff- Nosferatu and London After Midnight come to mind- actually look better than more recent SS product. SS also cuts corners on it's clothing far too often, and recycles ugly parts I can't stand, like those tall shiny black boots with too-small looking dainty feet that have zero flexibility. (go look at all your Han Solos, I'll wait) It's just so hit-and-miss. After Indiana Jones (which I ordered and returned), I don't trust SS 1/6. I did buy Clone Obi after seeing pictures of the actual product here, (nice headsculpt, but he is kinda floppy) and I'm taking a chance on Vader... however, if Vader is another floppy, inconsistent figure like Indiana Jones, (which was supposed to be such a vast improvement) I am done with Sideshow produced 1/6. (I will still buy HT 1/6 from SS, and maybe the occasional sculpted item.) I'll do without licenses and characters before I'll accept inadequate or "it's the best version of him/her/it yet". It just makes it easier to decide what to get since money is tight. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Go Hero's actual production figures, (high hopes for them, and their base body looks pretty neat) and I continue to keep my eye on Amok Time toys- I was close to buying Klaatu/Gort, but Gort's hips just looked way too weird, like he was wearing a robot diaper. Still, AT's character choices sure are fascinating, and they seem to have excellent intentions. I wish SS would do more monsters, that's where they did their best work. I want to like SS stuff, I really do, (and I have at times) but there are just too many corner cutting/quality issues. I'm very, very strict about my purchases these days- If I want a toy, I'll drive 4 blocks to Target. Hot Toys is the one company that I can currently order a figure from, and be like 98% sure it will look at least as good as the preview pictures, and genuinely excite me when it arrives, like Christmas did when I was a kid.

 

[aussieinnyc]

I don't know that I'd say I'm sticking solely with HT, like most people here I plan on buying based on the license rather than the company. With that said, though, with the lousey exchange rate I am having to reconsider a lot of purchase, and if I have to make a choice between a Sideshow piece and a HT piece, I'm probably more inclined to stick with the HT one. I can be assured of the quality there, and while I'm paying extra upfront (say $150 for HT vs $90 for Sideshow) ultimately I'm going to get away cheaper with the HT version. With the exception of updating the Joker's head, I don't need to do anything more to get these guys looking great. The one Sideshow product I have - Indiana Jones, which is meant to be one of their best - I need to have sent away to get the neck sculpted and head painted properly. That's going to end up costing a lot more than an initial extra $60.

I'm not sure that I can give up the pure coolness factor of a 1/6 torture device/coat-hanger from Toht - even if it means the head sculpt or paint will look vastly inferior next to my TDK stuff, but I know I can do away with a heavy, unnecessarily expensive piece of polystone Ark (we're 1/6 collectors, we're used to plastic and Hasbro showed us it could look just fine!) If I have to decide between picking up Vader and a Stormtrooper, and the HT Godfather, it's definitely going to be the Godfather, because I know that the quality will be there, and I won't need to get it "fixed".

 

[Mighty_Jabba]

I'm new to collecting and have yet to experience the awesomness of Hot Toys in person. But I only want to collect licences that interest me and so far there's nothing Hot Toys that would exite me enough to buy their stuff, except for Hellboy, but I'm holding off on that to see whether they will continiue that line and more importantly for me produce Liz Sherman. She seems to be compeletly ignored by collectible companies. So simply out of neccessity I don't buy stuff from Hot Toys, altough looking at the pics of their products I'd love to.

 

[Kain's Ancient Blade]

I buy whatever I like. Whether it's HT, SSC, EB, Med(rarely) or any other small company that makes something awesome like the recent Jack N. Shinning figure.