Do you ever think about the people that make our collectibles?

[BACON!]

Every time I open up a new figure, I think about how many man hours it took to get this to my doorstep. These things are a combination of mass produced and handmade, which makes me think more hands have touched our brand new figures than we may realize.

The extreme amount of detail is what drew me into 6th scale collecting to begin with, but the assembly, coordination and logistics of producing things with so many different materials inside, not to mention the wrapping of head, feet an hands for practically every figure I get, I can't help but fantasize a stop motion film that depicts everything from idea inception to finished product.

I have a feeling the people that make our collectibles are a combination of incredibly gifted artists, as well as other people that have a hard time believing people buy this kind of thing regularly

 

[MyenShi]

I do sometimes.

For the majority of people I think it’s just a job. No real time to really think about people who buy this sort of thing. True of factories anywhere, but especially over there where it’s just business.

People doing some of the more specialized work like head sculpt painting might feel a little differently, but at the end of the day it’s still mass production and you probably just look forward to going home. I imagine it’s stressful knowing you have to meet extremely high expectations and standards.

It would also depend on the company but I imagine most are similar. They normally keep this all behind closed doors and I think people that really care are rare, though there are a few exceptions. Nanjin has been pretty candid about his production process for EXO-6 and wanting to give people better opportunities in life. Joost at JazzInc has shared a lot of behind the scenes manufacturing pictures and videos which are very interesting to see.

There’s still a lot of repetitive and not terribly exciting manufacturing work that still needs to get done to get the figures and other collectibles out at reasonable cost. Companies typically just shop around for the factory that can meet their requirements and don’t really interact with the people that work there; often only the management or middlemen.

Hot Toys has never shown a lot of factory production pictures understandably, but I remember seeing a few way back. They definitely don’t show this kind of thing anymore.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

I think about the artists who create the collectibles we collect every time I open a package from Sideshow, Hot Toys, Iron Studios, and others.

I appreciate their creativity and hard work that goes into bringing these collectibles to us.

 

[Mondragon]

You can see the old palitoy factory hear.
Warning heavy ROTJ spoiler at the end

Spoiler

Akbar escapes the trap and commandeers an AT-AT !

 

[generalszabo]

I do think about the people being paid a very low wage, just to put food on the table in Asia. This is the same for all things though like clothes, furniture, etc

The artists are very talented but at least they are being paid fairly

I would love to see a piece being made from start to finish on the production line, there must be quite a lot of efficiency and work that goes into it, as time is money after all

 

[FlyAndFight]

Here's a old Hot Toys factory video with Howard Chan leading the line workers:

 

[Zurdo95D]

All the time !

 

[fireman2228]

I personally feel like a lot of people unfortunately take all this hard work and attention to detail put on 1/6 scale figures for granted. It's amazing to me that such care and effort is put into these figures. Everything from the custom tailoring of the clothes, to the hand fabrication of parts, painting, modeling & design of the art boxes, etc.

 

[Lorddrizzt]

For most of the people that make the statues/figures it is just a job, most of the time they do not even know what they are making. They just have some approved sample that they copy. When you make parts for Porsche, you never drive one, you even cant afford one. You make just part that you are asked to make, over and over and over. Maybe assembly and testing gets some idea how the final product looks. It gives them work, money for their work. Nothing less, nothing more. And low wages in China? Yes, very low, but most of the time they do not live in some big city, so housing, food, electricity, etc. are much cheaper in these areas so the low wages are not that big a problem. Can they purchase the item they make? No, but maybe they do not care to buy one. Or they buy some cheaper, looking bit worse, from Aliexpress or similar web page (giving work to other workers, making those cheap pieces). They do not pay 20 USD for hot dog there like you do in f.e. New York. They get much better food for the whole family for few bucks from local farmers.

So yes, I am glad they make the great pieces and my money pay for their wages.

 

[potato]

No. I care only about the end product. I dont follow the names of sculptors. I am not a figure journalist. Same as i dont pay attention to designer leads of cars.

 

[Bri]

Hmm, I'll admit that I never thought about the factory workers before this thread, but I do keep a spreadsheet of the master sculptors and master painters for each figure, assuming the info is readily available. This habit was borne from me getting into customs though as before I just bought the figure and didn't think twice about the people behind it.

Now that every figure of mine has some sort of customization, I like to keep track of who has done what and who will be doing some customizing on it in the future.

 

[BACON!]

I wonder-

• Are there doll dressing experts?
• Are they ever given a diagram or briefed on how to assemble the figures?
• How is QC organized?
• Are they under video surveillance?
• Regarding assembly, is there a quantity they need to be hit each day or is it a batch mentality?
• What about theft? Are they searched ever?
• What about spying/IP theft? I am sure most manufacturers work with many outside jobbers, so how are they trusted?

 

[ioFrostEminus]

YES! Everytime I peruse the websites, everytime I order, and the horrible guilt I feel every time I cancel a hastily-purchased pre-order in favour of something else. Everytime I open the package. Holding them. It astounds me.

 

[hoodonit00]

I take it personal. The way some people attack certain companies angers me. Even though I may not know this person my attitude towards them is influenced by how they interact with companies I may like. It’s probably unhealthy but I view people like that as bullies and I can’t stand bullies.

 

[ioFrostEminus]

I take it personal. The way some people attack certain companies angers me. Even though I may not know this person my attitude towards them is influenced by how they interact with companies I may like. It’s probably unhealthy but I view people like that as bullies and I can’t stand bullies.

I feel the same way. I play one computer game and so many players are borderline abusive about the company and devs. It’s such a misdirection of energy to hate so much instead of focusing what they do like. I must admit I am always disappointed and/or lose a little respect for anyone that invests so much into anger, hate and insults like that. Maybe it is unhealthy, but their way seems unhealthy too. Either way, I’m with you!