Hot Toys- Batman Begins:Batman Demon & Scarecrow spec and pics

[karamazov80]

I'd honestly prefer that they hadn't made Scarecrow at all as opposed to making him ande not being able to buy him.

Well. . .OK, then

I do think fairness plays a part - yeah sure they can do what they want, but to discriminate against one loyal customer base versus another - and make no mistake, HT DOES have a very loyal foreign customer base, reeks of bad business practice.

I guarantee you Hot Toys ain't gonna lose more than a very small handful of customers to this, if any at all. They have leverage because of the quality of product they produce. Would you turn away another Joker figure?

Honestly, I think Sideshow has a lot more to worry about re: future business with all their QC problems of late than HT does of making a slightly hard to come by exclusive figure.

 

[devilof76]

Honestly, I think Sideshow has a lot more to worry about re: future business with all their QC problems of late than HT does of making a slightly hard to come by exclusive figure.

Sideshow will soon be moving away from high quality busts and statues that their factories continue to ____ up, so that they can devote all of their resources to the 1:6 G.I. Joe, 1:6 Star Wars, and newly resurrected 1:6 Dead lines.

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, I see that happening

 

[devilof76]

 

[intothevoid]

I guarantee you Hot Toys ain't gonna lose more than a very small handful of customers to this, if any at all. They have leverage because of the quality of product they produce. Would you turn away another Joker figure?

Honestly, I think Sideshow has a lot more to worry about re: future business with all their QC problems of late than HT does of making a slightly hard to come by exclusive figure.

Oh yes of course you are correct in that.

But that 'leverage' may not last a long time - and even if Medicom/Enterbay/others never get their act together, this kind of exclusive release only rubs customers the wrong way UNNECESSARILY. They could have handled this a lot better - it's what seperates the good companies from the truly great ones.

 

[karamazov80]

To go off-topic for another minute, I've criticized the "chicken littles" of the Joe line quite a bit, but I do see Sideshow's recent QC issues as very worrisome. Many more Mark VI-type issues, and I can people deciding not to buy anymore, regardless of the high quality of the sculpts and first class customer service.

Hot Toys has had QC issues, as well (particularly with leaky abs Batman), but nothing like what we've seen with some of the much pricier Sideshow statues recently. It bums me out as a collector who wants to buy their product, but has little faith that we'll get the kinds of quality products that Sideshow has produced in the past.

 

[BISHART]

are there physical locations in hong kong the batman scarecrow set can be found? i have a friend in hk looking for it for me.

 

[intothevoid]

are there physical locations in hong kong the batman scarecrow set can be found? i have a friend in hk looking for it for me.

Toy Hunters store I would imagine.

I'll look into this too, I know someone in HK

 

[Padrinno]

this is the seller who sold me the set....

https://cgi.ebay.es/HOT-TOYS-10th-B...959?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27b7bbdd4f

I paid in euros so for me was a "good" price ... a little more that 2 figures around 400 euros

so if this help someone....

 

[Commtech]

I got this set today.
anyone interested?

yep... this smell really really bad ...

If you want to scalp, go to Ebay.

Yeah, no worries guys. I smelled scam also but was curious. He wants $500 plus shipping from HK. Same as some ebay sellers but in this case he want to avoid ebay fees. How convenient!!!
How come this guy's been here since 2008?

 

[intothevoid]

Yeah, no worries guys. I smelled scam also but was curious. He wants $500 plus shipping from HK. Same as some ebay sellers but in this case he want to avoid ebay fees. How convenient!!!
How come this guy's been here since 2008?

Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

 

[herzograven]

Oh yes of course you are correct in that.

But that 'leverage' may not last a long time - and even if Medicom/Enterbay/others never get their act together, this kind of exclusive release only rubs customers the wrong way UNNECESSARILY. They could have handled this a lot better - it's what seperates the good companies from the truly great ones.

this is why i hate HT as a company, they don't seem to give a damn about their fan base, they are talented, but they are ___holes!

- they start a line and never finish it (predator)
- they do such limited releases are so damn limited that you have to jump on or else it sells out within minutes and then shows up on ebay for 5x the original cost (guardian predator)
- they don't redo a line they screwed up (aliens)
- they love double dipping instead of releasing the best product up front (batman/joker dx)

of course i understand you have to make the most amount of profit to keep your business healthy but HT does a lot of BS that straight up pisses me off as a collector

sideshow on the other hand may not always release the BEST products, but years down the road i can find a rare piece at an affordable price even if it has escalated on value

the other thing i love about sideshow is their PF scale, that's something HT is probably never going to be able to touch, and i know i'll get flamed for this one, but i think SS does better sculpts on their PFs than HT (PF T-800 looks WAY more spot on than HT's T-800 without glasses)

just my two cents

 

[Remy]

this is why i hate HT as a company, they don't seem to give a damn about their fan base, they are talented, but they are ___holes!

- they start a line and never finish it (predator)
- they do such limited releases are so damn limited that you have to jump on or else it sells out within minutes and then shows up on ebay for 5x the original cost (guardian predator)
- they don't redo a line they screwed up (aliens)
- they love double dipping instead of releasing the best product up front (batman/joker dx)

of course i understand you have to make the most amount of profit to keep your business healthy but HT does a lot of BS that straight up pisses me off as a collector

sideshow on the other hand may not always release the BEST products, but years down the road i can find a rare piece at an affordable price even if it has escalated on value

the other thing i love about sideshow is their PF scale, that's something HT is probably never going to be able to touch, and i know i'll get flamed for this one, but i think SS does better sculpts on their PFs than HT (PF T-800 looks WAY more spot on than HT's T-800 without glasses)

just my two cents

I know HT may Piss off a bunch of people but you have to understand its all about business.
Why would you bother pre-ordering if you know most of the products are easily accessible? You can always say that you'll just get it when you have more money cause it'll always be there.

Well in this case, you snooze you lose. You have to get it when you can.
I'm pretty sure they know that there's still a big demand for OC bats. But its in their best interest not to go back there again. If they did, if you miss out on some figure, you would just assume if the demand is still there that they'll just redo it.

Its all about business. Think about it this way though, compare their products to medicom, SS, and other 1/6 makers, its not even close most of the time in terms of quality. I know you can say Enterbay but how many good license do they have? And then they usually charge a whole lot more for about the same quality as HT.

Big Economics rule: Supply and Demand
bring out a high quality product, then lower the supply, the higher the demand. Sure it would suck for a lot of us but that's the reason why HT is phenomenal, its good business.
They'll continue to pump out low supply products, its in their best interest that we as a consumer are well aware that we can always end up missing out.

...Its frustrating I know...trust me, I'm still looking to score a v1 Robocop

 

[karamazov80]

- they start a line and never finish it (predator)
- they do such limited releases are so damn limited that you have to jump on or else it sells out within minutes and then shows up on ebay for 5x the original cost (guardian predator)
- they don't redo a line they screwed up (aliens)
- they love double dipping instead of releasing the best product up front (batman/joker dx)

Why should Hot Toys lose money for the benefit of a few hardcore fans? Furthering the Predator line probably would have been throwing money away on figures without likenesses that folks wouldn't want to buy.

Guardian Preds were selling for around $300 last I checked, which is not 5 times more than it originally cost ($200 shipped to me from Sideshow). Mass released figures have jumped much higher than that. Not that this matters. Better to produce low-quantity figures of characters as exclusives than not to make these figures at all (my opinion, obviously others here would rather have NOTHING produced than have HT release something rare/expensive ).

They didn't screw up the Aliens line, it was just an early line and they learned from it. However, the gear was very good and probably didn't need to be re-done. Meaning they would need to be re-released for head sculpts and bodies mostly. Nowadays, they don't really do figures without likeness rights, and several of the Marines/Ripley apparently present problems there. So, re-releasing might not be a viable option even if they considered doing so.

You criticize them for not re-releasing Aliens Marines, then you immediately criticize them for re-releasing superior (arguably) Batman figures because they should have waited until they had the wherewithal to produce better figures? In any case, they improved their production capabilities and sculpts, and gave fans what they wanted. They could have sat back and let folks keep the earlier figures, but then we wouldn't have the awesome DX figures, which would suck for those of us who have and like them.

I may come off as an HT apologist here, but really, I don't understand all the anger people hold against them. And it isn't just this thread. They produce quality figures (best 1/6 scale figures in the market by far), they give us scores of lines and characters we want, they even release desirable figures from lines we thought long-dead as exclusives, and how do folks respond? Finding something else to complain about.

 

[intothevoid]

I like Hot Toys and I understand what they do ultimately keeps them alive, makes them money, and allows them to keep upping their quality and give us figures we want

All I'm saying is it's the little things they can and should do better, which ultimately will not cost them much and would leave certain customers a lot happier

 

[Devil_666]

this is why i hate HT as a company, they don't seem to give a damn about their fan base, they are talented, but they are ___holes!

They're based in HK. Their "fan base" is first and foremost in Asia.

- they start a line and never finish it (predator)

Blame that on buyers. Billy didn't sell well so why would HT "finish" a line that can't sell!? Same with The Watchmen. Low sales for Silk Spectre and The Comedian killed that line (apparently!?)

- they do such limited releases are so damn limited that you have to jump on or else it sells out within minutes and then shows up on ebay for 5x the original cost (guardian predator)

Again, they're a HK based company. People over in Asia disagree with you about HT products being "limited" since they have no problem getting them. You complaining about a foreign company not catering to your needs in America is like Australians complaining about an American based company not catering to people down there.

- they don't redo a line they screwed up (aliens)

They don't own the movie licenses and they don't have the right to make products for said licenses for infinity. They cost $$$ and all the products they make have to be approved. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff HT would like to do but can't i.e. give Falconer a face. Just doesn't work like that.

- they love double dipping instead of releasing the best product up front (batman/joker dx)

No one is forced to buy their products. They're trying to make money. They run a business. Best way to show a business that you're unhappy with their products or how they do business is to not give YOUR business ($$$) to them.

of course i understand you have to make the most amount of profit to keep your business healthy but HT does a lot of BS that straight up pisses me off as a collector

Again, then don't buy their stuff. Pretty simple. If you keep buying then you're just contributing to the "problem".

sideshow on the other hand may not always release the BEST products, but years down the road i can find a rare piece at an affordable price even if it has escalated on value

And that's why. All the really TOP level stuff Sideshow puts out eventually costs TOP Dollar on the after market.. All the so-so stuff, even if it's rare will be more affordable. Same goes with HT. Same goes with any collectible from any company.

the other thing i love about sideshow is their PF scale, that's something HT is probably never going to be able to touch, and i know i'll get flamed for this one, but i think SS does better sculpts on their PFs than HT (PF T-800 looks WAY more spot on than HT's T-800 without glasses)

And I've seen 1:1 scale products that make SS PF's look like crap. It's irrelevant comparing work from different scales. Like when people say 1:6 scale stuff looks better than little 6" action figures. Well yeah..

I think everyone who's not in Asia and collects HT stuff thinks they do A LOT of stupid ish. I know I do. They make some wonky ass decisions sometimes. But I'm sure THEY know what they're doing. And they continue to grow and make fat dollars so they must be doing something right.

 

[KingGrayskull]

Again, they're a HK based company. People over in Asia disagree with you about HT products being "limited" since they have no problem getting them. You complaining about a foreign company not catering to your needs in America is like Australians complaining about an American based company not catering to people down there.

Its always the same. When you are on top you are the ass. You can do what you want this is a rule.

HT does have an amazing customer service and they really care for quality. Eg they switched out all the leaky Bat-suits. What do you want more?

BTW in Germany you always have to pay these high prices for HT (around 200-250$ is usual for us). You should be grateful that you get at least the chance to buy most of the figs for a decent price. Same for Sideshow...

 

[karamazov80]

HT does have an amazing customer service and they really care for quality. Eg they switched out all the leaky Bat-suits. What do you want more?

Though, in fairness, it took a lot to get HT to give in to that. They initially denied there was a problem and attempted to avoid blame. It wasn't until the evidence was overwhelming and they couldn't avoid it anymore that they replaced suits.

Having said that, they did more than lots of other companies probably would. Sideshow is an exception, but their customer service is one of their biggest selling points.

 

[Devil_666]

Man HT gave people, even in Asia a hard time about replacing that leaky pee-pee Batman. Even ToyWorld members were _____ing about it.

 

[haytil]

I know HT may Piss off a bunch of people but you have to understand its all about business.
Why would you bother pre-ordering if you know most of the products are easily accessible? You can always say that you'll just get it when you have more money cause it'll always be there.

Well in this case, you snooze you lose. You have to get it when you can.
I'm pretty sure they know that there's still a big demand for OC bats. But its in their best interest not to go back there again. If they did, if you miss out on some figure, you would just assume if the demand is still there that they'll just redo it.

Your argument makes sense in the context of people complaining that Hot Toys doesn't release extra runs of figures long after their initial release.

But this exclusive Scarecrow/Bat-Demon release is a completely different thing.

They've deliberately produced a very limited run and restricted the distribution channels to levels far lower than their normal releases.

It's a slap in the face to a good portion of their customer base, because it represents a policy that's fundamentally different than what loyal customers have come to expect, or can reasonably manage.

It's one thing if Hot Toys doesn't try to please the people who decide to hold off on figures for later (and then complain when they aren't available). It's entirely different to not let people get them in any reasonable fashion upon the figure's release in the first place.