I'll happily explain. You DO need to know A, B & C before you make all of the comments that you do. YOUR EXPECTATIONS are built on ignorance because you clearly don't know the difference between mass produced licensed products and limited edition customs. You don't even know the differences that Rainman, Iminime and the rest of the customizers here have between each other. To understand and appreciate the costs of certain things it's important to understand WHY they cost that much. Like for starters the fact that most of the customizers here are working out of Korea not China, where it's more expensive to produce things. Ooorrrr.... the big one.... HT
owns the factories and
mass produces. When RM, Velvet, Beto, Iminime or any other custom full fig producers own the factories and start pumping out 4000, 7000 or 10,000 of a set like HT does... then you'll surly see their prices come down into the HT realm. But they don't do numbers remotely close to HT. You're looking more at numbers like 10-30 (VM & Beto), 30-35 (Rainman Full Sets), 50-125 (Iminime), etc. That's a HUGE difference in production. So I guess that I couldn't buy 100 even if I wanted to because they don't exist
Another major difference is the hand crafted vs. the mass production aspect. Without elaborating on every detail, the sum of all of that is one is an "art figure" and the other is a high end collectible. I love and collect the mass produced high end figs (BW, HT, SS, EB, etc.) and I'm one of those guys that refuse to view them as "toys", but there is still a clear difference between custom and licensed stuff. Yes, there are things that are outside the capabilities of customizers to create that require a factory (specialized bodies like the DX13, intricate outfits like Thor & Loki, so on & so forth); but when it comes to the simpler things like Joker or Colton outfits or a suit like Coulson's, the best tailors on the forum can produce a superior outfit over HT. The individually hand crafted outfits that you would get from say Kato or Rainman are essentially as good as the prototype that HT starts off with, but the HT pieces that end up at your doorstep lose a bit in the mass production process.
High end customs are for those who want all the accurate bits that can't be easily found on the market and bashed. It's too bad that you didn't like Bickle but I'll say that you didn't get the best example to judge. Rainman's paint up on the Mohawk sculpt was FAR better than Aeons; nearly night and day. The sculpt with his paint is as close to the mark (or better) than most of what HT is putting out right now (aside from the best of their recent stuff like Coulson, Jor-El or upcoming Thor), but putting Aeon’s paint aside there’s no denying the quality in the outfit and accessories. For the DIY guys or the guys that are happy with the $200 or less build-up that's "close enough", high end customs aren't for them but those kinds of bashes are RARELY as accurate as a custom full set. Bickle is a prime example; you'll never find that snub nose with pearl grips, a .44, a modded .25 on an arm-sling or a real silver belt buckle with that kind of detail (or any other parts of the outfit or accessories for that matter) ANYWHERE on the market. So the best bash out there isn't as accurate as what that full set brings to the table.
You have to be able to appreciate the hand crafted art aspect of customs to appreciate what they are. If you’re the kind of guy that feels "close enough" is good enough, then you definitely won't appreciate customs. It's appeals to people who are really detail orientated and are bent on accuracy and top quality. Unfortunately those little differences, upgrades and improvements come at a high premium. Most of that goes back to the one man show VS. the mass producing theory. Add all of that to rarity (collectability), the realization of characters in 1/6 that will most likely NEVER be mass produced to a high level (not a Brothers Production level) and that's what customs are all about.
And it's not that you didn't like Bickle that's aggravating (everyone is entitled to their opinion), it's the various other things that you say and all of these posts where you're talking a lot about things you know very little about. It's wiser to soak it all in and know what's what before going so hard
It did
