Yes, it is complex and it is based on many things. And none of us know for sure as we don't work for Hot Toys. But, the cold hard truth is that's how actual businesses operate. There are expenses, true, but there's also what the market will bear. I'm not saying that as some fan who's just guessing (and have you realized I LIKE the figure? It's not like I'm just bashing it to be negative.) how businesses work. I am quite aware of how things are priced and marketed thanks to my work, and Hot Toys isn't some special snow flake that doesn't follow those same theories!
It's true that different companies have different cost structures, and I don't KNOW that this could have been cheaper. But, you really only need to look at comparable products they've put out to see that he is priced the way he is because that's what they think they can get for him. It doesn't mean they are evil. It's just a reality of business. It's VERY possible for companies to reduce their margins on products if they don't think a product will be successful at a certain price level, but there are lots of reasons to avoid that, too.
Your example of the WS Black Widow just illustrates that you don't understand what I'm talking about. It's not about the MAXIMUM of what people will pay. Secondary prices have nothing to do with it. It's about the price that people will pay at retail. To be honest, if Hot Toys didn't think that fans would pay that much for Bruce, he might not have even been made because they wouldn't have wanted to take a margin hit! There are a lot of reasons for companies to maintain a "base" price for a figure, even if that figure isn't as good a value.
I want Bruce to be successful because I'd like HT to make more of these "civilian" type characters. I want the promised Pepper Potts and Agent Carter, for instance. That's why I wish they'd have sweetened the pot a little more for collectors to be more enthusiastic about it.
I love when the word "entitlement" gets thrown around, because I honestly am not sure some people understand what it means. In reality it seems to translate (in poster's minds) to "Someone has a different opinion for me and I'm going to take it weirdly personally so I will call them entitled." But what it actually means is that you think you have a right to something. I never said I have a right to get a Bruce Banner figure cheaper. I was just trying to say this idea that some people have that companies ALWAYS price things EXACTLY based on how much they cost to produce or to cover licensing or whatever is just a bit of fantasy. That's all PART of it, but a lot of it is what the market will bear. And again, it doesn't mean they are evil or bad! It's even entirely possible that, within a year, they budget these things out so that they don't have to charge quite as much for another figure. Take a look at the Chitauri figures. Those are actually really well priced considering all the new body tooling they require. Well, part of the way they might be able to set them at a certain price is that the make more margin on something like Banner while giving up some margin on the Chitauri.
Again, I'm not trying to be a know-it-all (there's lots I don't know!) but I was trying to offer some insight into what's going on here. In the end, the market will decide if this will be a success or not. Some of the comments here worry me a BIT, because I want him to be successful.
