Go Hero + Executive Replicas Lost in Space

[Ironman1188]

Go Hero's owner doesn't like to be told that he doesn't know EVERYTHING about the action figure business. Yes, he owns a company but what good is owning a company if you exclude your fanbase or have lacking people skills.
Too many secrets that don't need to be and no regard for the existing fans/collectors of the line.

 

[Wor-Gar]

They said perhaps I wasn't cut out to have their "high end" products -

There's been company's like this before, with higher-than-thou attitudes. They don't last very long.

That said, I have a friend who says the owner, Steve, is a very nice guy. So its hard to know what's going on with these facebook comments. Maybe its just to get people talking.

 

[greatlakes6]

I was reading some of the owners comments on Facebook and I was very suprised at his tone and his comments. He was single handedly alienating people as if he was the sole supplier of the world's greatest product and we need him more than he needs us. He is sadly mistaken.

 

[Michael Crawford]

Did Judy ever get released?

 

[Darklord Dave]

Yes, the prices are high. But the release numbers are low. They aren't becoming millionaires by selling 250 run figures. The alternative is not releasing these characters at all. So you have high prices or you have nothing.

 

[Ironman1188]

These are NOT $300 figures.
If a solo venture like the Star Trek figures Nanjin makes can have top notch sculpts, spot on uniforms and accessories and come in at an affordable price, I can't believe a company (or a combining of 3) couldn't do similarly.
They are spitting on the Lost in Space fans that supported the original line and waited and waited for the final figures only to have them put out of reach.
Their 2001 Poole doesn't even look like Lockwood.
And, when asked, they can't even show this "new" body they're supposed to be using.

 

[nexus]

I'll have to see where they go with this line. Lost in Space was a great little show, but would want a good lineup of the characters. Didn't Sideshow or someone do a 1:6 robot?

 

[Darklord Dave]

These are NOT $300 figures.
If a solo venture like the Star Trek figures Nanjin makes can have top notch sculpts, spot on uniforms and accessories and come in at an affordable price, I can't believe a company (or a combining of 3) couldn't do similarly.
They are spitting on the Lost in Space fans that supported the original line and waited and waited for the final figures only to have them put out of reach.
Their 2001 Poole doesn't even look like Lockwood.
And, when asked, they can't even show this "new" body they're supposed to be using.

You aren't comparing similar things. If you would look at what this kind of thing costs or tried to do it yourself, you'd see that the pricing isn't that far out there.

 

[abake]

I haven't followed the posts on Facebook too closely, but in general, whoever writes them sounds quite reasonable.
I really don't get this "your figures are too expensive, price them so that I can buy them or I'll get angry" attitude.

The 2001 figures are among my most wanted, but I can't afford them. That's just too bad. I wish I could ER-GH would make them more affordable, but such is life.

 

[SwedishHeat]

If a solo venture like the Star Trek figures Nanjin makes can have top notch sculpts, spot on uniforms and accessories and come in at an affordable price

What is Nanjin's price?

I really don't get this "your figures are too expensive, price them so that I can buy them or I'll get angry" attitude.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

I'd like to get on board for a couple of these, but yeah - what everyone else said.

 

[nexus]

These small run figures in the $200-$300 range is not surprising to me. I think there's a tendency to believe that somehow figures from minor licenses should sell for less, when the opposite is probably closer to the truth. Hot Toys and Sideshow have major licenses which generally means they have a larger fan/customer base for their figures. So they might be able to sell 5,000-10,000 Star Wars figures worldwide vs. perhaps 500-1,000 Lost in Space figures (I'm not certain of the actual numbers). Higher production runs provide an economy of scale that translates into a lower cost per piece. Couple that with the ability to negotiate lower rates with manufacturers and distributors, and those companies have greater wiggle room in pricing. Sure the licenses are more expensive, but I have no doubt that they enjoy a higher profit margin. The smaller companies with minor licenses might struggle to sell 500-1,000 figures and it gets even more iffy as they tackle secondary characters. They have to build that into their economics which not only include cost of production and licensing fees, but overhead, paying people, etc.

That said, if they are going to be charging $200+/per, they'd better be ready to meet the bar that Hot Toys has set as far as likenesses, paint, tailoring, QC, etc. These are high end figures. And while I don't have a problem paying HT prices for a lesser known character, I'm not going to buy pieces with so-so quality just because it's a representation of a character (although I'm still not happy with the cartoony head sculpts for the 2001 but at least the helmets will cover, and everything else looks pretty top notch).

If Go Hero can pull off a high quality Lost in Space line I will be interested, but again I have to see if the plan will be to do more of the Robinson family. With Hot Toys tied up with Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and their other higher profile licenses, and Sideshow with its licenses, it will be up to smaller companies like Star Ace, Asmus, Go-Hero, Storm Toys, ACI and others to tackle other licenses like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc. But if these companies expect to sell figures for $200-$300 per, collectors are going to demand those figures meet or exceed HT quality.

A few years ago unlicensed customs were the only way some of these figures got made (and generally cost quite a bit more than $300). Now that the 1:6 market has gotten hot, more companies are jumping in and producing licensed figures. So its a good thing for collectors.

 

[yodasan]

I really don't get this "your figures are too expensive, price them so that I can buy them or I'll get angry" attitude.

 

[Asta]

Indeed. The price might be high, but value is always relative.

 

[Michael Crawford]

If I'm Go Hero, I want to hear what people think about the price. Ignoring it is foolish.

Demand is a function of price - pretty basic economics. In general, as price goes up, demand goes down. What price should they charge? The one that generates the maximum profit. While it's important to take cost into consideration (duh), companies prefer if you believe that they decide what to charge based on something simple, like, it costs me $100 to make this and I want to make $20 in profit. That's not the case, or at least not if they are smart. Prices should obviously cover cost, but the amount of profit is entirely dependent on what the market is willing to pay. If it costs me $100 to make a figure and you're willing to pay $300, I shouldn't charge $200. If I do, what happens is what we see with the secondary market - someone else buys them up at $200 and sells them for $300 on ebay. Hot Toys saw enough of those profits getting lost, and are slowly raising their prices, not because they're costs are jumping, but because they are trying to find that perfect place where what they charge is exactly what the right number of people are willing to pay - maximizing their profit.

But getting this right means being willing to listen to the market and figure out whether those saying it's too much are merely the vocal minority, or if you have a real problem. If they are merely the minority, you should still be polite, especially when selling low run figures (every sale counts), and being polite doesn't cost you anything. Don't get defensive, don't get argumentative - these things do you no good. And if it turns out that it's not just a minority, you need to rethink what you're doing, or you could end up with a lot of figures you lose money on.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Excellent points! Rep'd.

 

[greatlakes6]

Comptely agree, but the buyer has to feel like they are getting a deal or their monies worth. Repeat customers, word of mouth to other collectors, feeling valued as a customer, etc., that's where the focus should be. I have no idea what the quality of this product will be. I'm concerned about the likeness, the paint, etc. Am I going to spend almost $300 to find out? Is that the question you want your customer base asking?

If I'm Go Hero, I want to hear what people think about the price. Ignoring it is foolish.

Demand is a function of price - pretty basic economics. In general, as price goes up, demand goes down. What price should they charge? The one that generates the maximum profit. While it's important to take cost into consideration (duh), companies prefer if you believe that they decide what to charge based on something simple, like, it costs me $100 to make this and I want to make $20 in profit. That's not the case, or at least not if they are smart. Prices should obviously cover cost, but the amount of profit is entirely dependent on what the market is willing to pay. If it costs me $100 to make a figure and you're willing to pay $300, I shouldn't charge $200. If I do, what happens is what we see with the secondary market - someone else buys them up at $200 and sells them for $300 on ebay. Hot Toys saw enough of those profits getting lost, and are slowly raising their prices, not because they're costs are jumping, but because they are trying to find that perfect place where what they charge is exactly what the right number of people are willing to pay - maximizing their profit.

But getting this right means being willing to listen to the market and figure out whether those saying it's too much are merely the vocal minority, or if you have a real problem. If they are merely the minority, you should still be polite, especially when selling low run figures (every sale counts), and being polite doesn't cost you anything. Don't get defensive, don't get argumentative - these things do you no good. And if it turns out that it's not just a minority, you need to rethink what you're doing, or you could end up with a lot of figures you lose money on.

 

[yruh8n]

Here is my issue with it. It looks like they are using the Joy Snyder prototype John Robinson head, which is fine as it keeps this release consistent with the previously released LIS figures. But the new prototypes for Penny, Judy and Will looked like @$$. Switching to a different sculpting look and style this late in the game is a kick in the nards to those who bought all the previously released figures. The original Penny prototype needed some work but the Judy and Will were near perfect and fit in nicely with the previously released figures. Don't understand why they scrapped those. That really has me second guessing if I want to complete this line or not.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

Great post Michael.

 

[yodasan]

Looks like Will Robinson is up for preorder e.g. at BBTS.