HOT TOYS STAR WARS licence?

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Sorry some of you ubersnobs think SSC heads are crap, but most people are fine with them and most people can't afford $70 more for a better head sculpt and paint job.

If HT takes over for Medicom, I'd be fine with that, but HT should not replace what should be the "affordable" and "deep" producer of SW dolls, which is what SSC is.

Suggesting Lucasfilm and Hasbro should transfer the rights from SSC to a company that will at most be "10 and done" so they can please ubersnobs that would only buy a handful of figures anyway is pretty ignorant of the SW business model.

Cash cows are only cash cows when you market to the masses and make a deep quantity of items.

 

[lerath666]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Sorry some of you ubersnobs think SSC heads are crap, but most people are fine with them and most people can't afford $70 more for a better head sculpt and paint job.

If HT takes over for Medicom, I'd be fine with that, but HT should not replace what should be the "affordable" and "deep" producer of SW dolls, which is what SSC is.

Suggesting Lucasfilm and Hasbro should transfer the rights from SSC to a company that will at most be "10 and done" so they can please ubersnobs that would only buy a handful of figures anyway is pretty ignorant of the SW business model.

Cash cows are only cash cows when you market to the masses and make a deep quantity of items.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

I'm currious however. This gets ignored every time i say it. So i'll ask directly.

Do People in general STILL want Hot Toys to do Star Wars, KNOWING it would mean Medicom Loosing their liscense?

Sideshow is not going to let the liscense go, nor are they going to loose it. (even so, HOt Toys needs the asian market liscense, as they are not a US based company) the reason they will not loose it is this. Lets say you're hasbro, who is the one sharing the liscense from lucasfilm. they make money on EVERY Sideshow Star Wars product. And for the record, it's basicly FREE MONEY for them. Sideshow does the work, but as the liscense holder, they get a piece of the pie. From a buisness standpoint, knowing that Sideshow WILL CONTINUE putting out 4-5 figures a year untill you tell them to stop, and hot toys will do 4-10 figures EVER, which one makes more sense from a buisness standpoint?

I'd be in favor of HT becoming the new Asian maker and working like Medicom with a few big releases here and there while SSC continues to make a full line.

I know Medicom has a style to it, which is fine, but after Maul, I just haven't seen a Medicom figure come out, and Maul's even included, where the retail price for a figure seems rational for how the product you get looks.

Giving HT the Asian license would be great for us, being so close with SSC, I'm sure they wouldn't make competing characters so we'd get Grievous, R2, 3PO and the likes while getting the Landos and Pietts from Sideshow.

Which is another reason I'd like to see HT take over from Medicom, Medi's releases are either competitive with SSC, or they're just rehashes of Troopers.

A lot of folks point out having Medicom and Sideshow co-exist in their collections. I believe in this too. However, I don't feel Medicom's approach is adding too much. I have 3 Medicom Star Wars figures because most of their stuff is stylized representations of humans that I don't need or care for, or pretty plane Troops and variants of them.

I think if HT were the other SW maker those of us with mixed collections would benefit far more.

 

[wookster]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

They've made it public that they want it real bad... I think it'll come someday... 'when' is the question!

 

[OSCORP]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Sorry some of you ubersnobs think SSC heads are crap, but most people are fine with them and most people can't afford $70 more for a better head sculpt and paint job.

Gimma a break man c'mon. People are ubersnobs because they want the best quality? Please! I really can't afford it either, and i definitely can't afford it with Medicom but i want the best when it comes to SW. So i'll do what i must.(i guess i'm an ubersnob now) So leave the name calling out of it. There's probably some snobs here, but that's one hell of a generalization. Of course i'm a firm believer that if SS had consistent and decent paint apps we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

I suppose it could be worse. The clothes could be cheaper, the bodies made out of scale with eggshell fragility, the horrendously inaccurate sculpts masked as "stylized," with sub par accessories like plastic belts, Hasbro lightsabers and bent blasters, all for double the price.

It's like trying to watch Dane Cook do comedy.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

... All SS has to do if fix lame ass sub par paint applications and they'd be right up there cause the sculpts are fine...

You beat me to it. Many of Sideshow's sculpts are top of the line as well. But the subpar paint apps simply kill the sculpts (and hurt the figure.) A well sculpted and painted headsculpt will elevate a mediocre figure. A poorly done headsculpt will sink a good figure.

I suppose it could be worse. The clothes could be cheaper, the bodies made out of scale with eggshell fragility, the horrendously inaccurate sculpts masked as "stylized," with sub par accessories like plastic belts, Hasbro lightsabers and bent blasters, all for double the price.

Now THAT was funny!

They've made it public that they want it real bad... I think it'll come someday... 'when' is the question!

I too see it happening, particularly with certain figure types, as mentioned previously. (Chewie, droids, and other non-human-like characters...)

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

If HT takes over for Medicom, I'd be fine with that, but HT should not replace what should be the "affordable" and "deep" producer of SW dolls, which is what SSC is.

This is if you assume that spending $70 for a bare bones figure is "affordable" but $150 for something probably significantly better is not. Also, the price on Vader is nearly on par with Hot Toys.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Gimma a break man c'mon. People are ubersnobs because they want the best quality? Please! I really can't afford it either, and i definitely can't afford it with Medicom but i want the best when it comes to SW. So i'll do what i must.(i guess i'm an ubersnob now) So leave the name calling out of it. There's probably some snobs here, but that's one hell of a generalization. Of course i'm a firm believer that if SS had consistent and decent paint apps we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

Its not really meant as a bad name. I'm just saying that people demanding quality of $140 toys are a rarity compared to the majority of SW collectors who willfully accept the limitations of $70-$90 items in order for them to stay near that price range.

If you can't afford to buy HT or Medicom I really don't understand the wish for SSC option to be eliminated.

Maybe you're like a spectator that doesn't care about ticket prices because you watch from tv anyway.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

This is if you assume that spending $70 for a bare bones figure is "affordable" but $150 for something probably significantly better is not. Also, the price on Vader is nearly on par with Hot Toys.

Thats if you think HT would be significantly better than SSC on everything. I really don't see how HT could have added $70 value to Han, Luke, any of their Ben figures, etc. Also, Vader from HT would be $180 at least.

 

[OSCORP]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Its not really meant as a bad name. I'm just saying that people demanding quality of $140 toys are a rarity compared to the majority of SW collectors who willfully accept the limitations of $70-$90 items in order for them to stay near that price range.

If you can't afford to buy HT or Medicom I really don't understand the wish for SSC option to be eliminated.

Because like i already stated i want the best of the best. If that means paying more and sacrificing so be it. I MYSELF am willing to do it.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Well, I think most people would admit that Hot Toys figures would be of a higher quality than Sideshow, particularly in terms of body and paint apps (and sculpt, IMO). My point is that $70 isn't cheap in itself, so paying twice as much for a drastic increase in quality might not be unjustifiable to some, since these are high priced items to begin with. The day of the $50 Sideshow figure appear gone forever. Of course, if you could still get 2 bare bones Sideshow figures for the price of 1 HT version, then that is certainly a defensible reason for preferring them.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

They've made it public that they want it real bad... I think it'll come someday... 'when' is the question!

And 'how' too.

You beat me to it. Many of Sideshow's sculpts are top of the line as well. But the subpar paint apps simply kill the sculpts (and hurt the figure.) A well sculpted and painted headsculpt will elevate a mediocre figure. A poorly done headsculpt will sink a good figure.

Yup, just painting eyebrows and eyes and hair on a head isn't far enough, you have to paint the heads in such a way that carries the likeness through.

Good example, Sideshow Palpatine enhanced the look of McDiarmid from Oluf's sculpt, bad example, ANH Han takes away from the sculpt work Trev did.

And above all, NOT using the doll dot is key too. Even the best painted eyes will look crappy with that dot. Where we know it's possible to gloss eyes enough to have natural catch lights, it is detrimental to have permanent ones on there.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Well, I think most people would admit that Hot Toys figures would be of a higher quality than Sideshow, particularly in terms of body and paint apps (and sculpt, IMO). My point is that $70 isn't cheap in itself, so paying twice as much for a drastic increase in quality might not be unjustifiable to some, since these are high priced items to begin with. The day of the $50 Sideshow figure appear gone forever. Of course, if you could still get 2 bare bones Sideshow figures for the price of 1 HT version, then that is certainly a defensible reason for preferring them.

The closer SSC prices creap to HT, I agree. But even right now with $90 vs $140 that is a STEEEEEEEEEEP difference. Thats 3 figures for the price of 2. And thats assuming the lowest price of HT figures. Vader, Stormtroopers, etc would probably be more.

For me, it would actually mean 0 figures because no matter how good they are, $140 for a figure is not worth it and I would drop the hobby. $90 is already pushing that where I am now a part time collector.

 

[OSCORP]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

So in other words you're going to be dropping SW eventually anyways? Cause it aint going nowhere but up friend.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

I used to feel similarly to you Progmatinee. In fact, there was a time I wouldn't spend over $35 for a figure, but Medicom (with their Kubricks) and Hot Toys with their 1/6 figures have slowly but surely changed my conceptions of "cheap" and "expensive." But truth to be told, I will probably have to stop collecting myself when Sideshow figures go for $150 and the average HT figure goes for $200.

 

[MaulFan]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

With the world economy as it is, Sideshow, Hot Toys and Medicom will either have to hit a ceiling with their prices or drastically cut back how many of each figure and how many figures they make in order to keep good business. If prices get too high a lot of folks will be backing off.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

With the world economy as it is, Sideshow, Hot Toys and Medicom will either have to hit a ceiling with their prices or drastically cut back how many of each figure and how many figures they make in order to keep good business. If prices get too high a lot of folks will be backing off.

Assuming that the market keeps going as it is, I would agree, but I think this will be relatively temporary. Also, it hasn't seemed to affect the sale of the already outrageously overpriced Sideshow/Hot Toys stuff recently. . .

 

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

So in other words you're going to be dropping SW eventually anyways? Cause it aint going nowhere but up friend.

Quite possibly.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Assuming that the market keeps going as it is, I would agree, but I think this will be relatively temporary. Also, it hasn't seemed to affect the sale of the already outrageously overpriced Sideshow/Hot Toys stuff recently. . .

I think the prices have dramatically reduced sales for at least a year or 2 now. Just look at how many figures SSC used to make when they were $60. At least 5,000 of almost every figure and some near 10,000 units. They now come in closer to 3,000 units. Sure some figures took a while to sell out, but they didn't have 7,000 figures in warehouses.

 

[karamazov80]

Re: Do you think we will ever get Hot Toys Star Wars 1/6 figures?

Fair point. I don't know anything about numbers produced.