Hot Toys The Dark Knight Joker DX/Artisan 1/6 Scale Figure

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Custom bros watching people argue which subpar (Hot Toys / Inart) figure looks better

That’s fair. We all have different reasons for collecting and all are valid.
Yep. Have to suffer the hard choices, can only have one vice in life. Bolivian marching powder or dolls, the dolls won.
 
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I like the conversation, but collecting in and of itself isn’t fun to me. I don’t like storage,
I don’t like seeing how much product I’ve acquired. Don’t like the feeling of being overwhelmed of what’s in my possession without a way to navigate any kind of future life. I suppose I just don’t like clutter (I threw out new nightstands and a headboard because they felt like too much, same thing happened when I received my Moducases, I disassembled the smaller cases and will use them for parts) no matter how good the figures are, custom or officially licensed, they all amount to clutter to me at a certain point. Though I like the process of building figures up, it’s such an exhausting task that I couldn’t be bothered trying to do that with 20+ figures.

The passion has dimmed I suppose. Bit of a love-hate relationship, on one hand I want to get something as accurate as possible, on the other - I feel like why bother, which makes me really hone in on the characters that matter that can actually push me to improve their accuracy.
 
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I’m not in this hobby for the fun of collecting.

I’m in this hobby to get things as accurate as I possibly can, a form of art. If that is not possible, or things need more work than I care to devote, I don’t buy the figure. Hence the small collection.

I don’t like stock figures, I don’t want everything sold in a neat box. For example, the T-1000 police uniform not having a custom offering is putting me off from the purchase, the clothing is bad and if I can’t upgrade it then I don’t want it. Thankfully the T-800 offers genuine leather that looks promising. If I didn’t have the Yunsil ‘89 Joker suit coming, I would have sold the DX08 and never looked back.

I don't agree with this. If at all possible I would rather that a stock figure be all that it needs to be rather than me having to go to additional expense and effort. And more often than not, for me, stock does the job. My standards are probably lower than yours, moreso regarding outfits.

I like the conversation, but collecting in and of itself isn’t fun to me. I don’t like storage,
I don’t like seeing how much product I’ve acquired. Don’t like the feeling of being overwhelmed of what’s in my possession without a way to navigate any kind of future life.
I suppose I just don’t like clutter (I threw out new nightstands and a headboard because they felt like too much, same thing happened when I received my Moducases, I disassembled the smaller cases and will use them for parts) no matter how good the figures are, custom or officially licensed, they all amount to clutter to me at a certain point. Though I like the process of building figures up, it’s such an exhausting task that I couldn’t be bothered trying to do that with 20+ figures.

The passion has dimmed I suppose. Bit of a love-hate relationship, on one hand I want to get something as accurate as possible, on the other - I feel like why bother, which makes me really hone in on the characters that matter that can actually push me to improve their accuracy.

But this....man, more and more I'm feeling this.

*Looks at collection*

 
I don't agree with this. If at all possible I would rather that a stock figure be all that it needs to be rather than me having to go to additional expense and effort. And more often than not, for me, stock does the job. My standards are probably lower than yours, moreso regarding outfits.



But this....man, more and more I'm feeling this.

*Looks at collection*


Perhaps less is truly more. Although that is bad for business.
 
This used to be me after every purchase. That's a sign to slow down and reevaluate. Admittedly, I've been faltering again lately.
I actually have. I buy feck all anymore. I just haven't done anything to address the legacy of excess. It's all still there and, because it is, I find myself doubly questioning almost every would-be purchase so as not to add anything to this mess that I didn't really really want.

I can't figure that Inart Cavill Superman for example. On the one hand a modern incarnation of Supes had been on my list for years but I never could get past the silly bodies Hot Toys kept giving him with the ridiculous boulder shoulders, thunder thighs and stick up the arse head/neck posture. I thought the Inart one was fine, hence I preordered it, but the final figure is getting a lot of criticism itself - together with QC concerns - which has been offputting. I wish HT would show their inevitable 2.0 now.
 
I actually have. I buy feck all anymore. I just haven't done anything to address the legacy of excess. It's all still there and, because it is, I find myself doubly questioning almost every would-be purchase so as not to add anything to this mess that I didn't really really want.

I can't figure that Inart Cavill Superman for example. On the one hand a modern incarnation of Supes had been on my list for years but I never could get past the silly bodies Hot Toys kept giving him with the ridiculous boulder shoulders, thunder thighs and stick up the arse head/neck posture. I thought the Inart one was fine, hence I preordered it, but the final figure is getting a lot of criticism itself - together with QC concerns - which has been offputting. I wish HT would show their inevitable 2.0 now.

I'm in the same place with Superman.

It's not enough to like the figure to warrant a purchase anymore.

There's always a "But". And the desire for something better.

And those decisions carry more weight when you start to mount up clutter.
 
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I don’t want to have to spend more on a custom outfit or custom sculpts, it’s simply the reality we face that none of these companies will offer the level of precision that custom will.

To me it feels like a waste of money to buy a stock HT or InArt, throw it on the shelf, and do nothing to it until a 2.0 comes around making those changes for you.

I know the T-1000 2.0 outfits are bad quality, not much at all has changed in that regard from the 1.0. So, instead of looking at a badly tailored uniform, with no ability to do anything about it, I’d rather just skip the release and save the headache. Most of my figures have custom outfits, or at the very least custom parts. Once you buy custom suits, you can never go back to HT or InArt quality without feeling like you’re collecting backwards. I don’t buy with the idea of “it’s good enough till something better comes along” that’s how you end up with excess and broke.

For me, a release better look phenomenal out the gate or have the ability to be with custom work added. If neither are reality, I discard the thought of owning it altogether.
 
This is where my philosophy just differs from many on here. In the realm of miniature painting, a common phrase is "tabletop standard" -- the idea that a paint job only needs to hold up at a distance of 3-5 feet, because that's the distance at which you'll most commonly be viewing the minis.

I'm the same way with sixth scale. I don't personally need the buttons to be a certain size, the lining just right, etc. etc. I just need a figure to look right standing on the shelf. I admire folks who push it further, but it's diminishing returns to me.
 
Yes it is diminishing returns, but is this hobby in its entirety not also diminishing returns?

With my custom Ledger Jokers, I don’t have to worry about a company topping those anytime soon. Buying those has saved me $600 USD here by cancelling my Artisan PO which I can then put towards the JND Type A version. I still don’t think the JND version is up to par either, but it includes parts I want to own to make my customs more well rounded.

Keeping strict about what I deem good enough has been the best decision I’ve ever made in the hobby, can’t go back from that mindset. I have a few items I’d like to unload to fund other purchases, that process has not been easy at all.

Do I want to carry around a bunch of figures that are constantly becoming outdated and obsolete quicker and quicker it would seem, not being able to unload them because anyone who might have been interested, isn’t anymore due to everything new releasing. It’s the direction I’ve chosen,
to have far less, but better product. You guys make up for a less than Ledger Joker by acquiring more figures per year.
 
Sure, but my rebuttal would be two-fold:

1. As someone with a lesser eye for the little details, I don't feel much compulsion to upgrade once I've found something that fits my personal standard. For instance, I've looked at the JND pictures, and I just don't see myself wishing I had that version over this Artisan. The differences are just very minimal to me, which is of course a matter of personal taste.

2. While I don't love the hassle of finding buyers for old figures, it also just doesn't bother me so much selling off older figures -- even at a loss, as they almost always are. The money's already been spent, and if I've gotten (x) years of enjoyment out of the figure, it was money well spent. Anything I get by reselling is just a bonus. It also keeps clutter down as I said goodbye to figures that have run their course.
 
That’s how most people felt about their InArt figures when they were shiny and new.
In total, there was less than five of us here who had anything negative to say about it way back then.

Now? Everyone prefers this Artisan which got an awful wrap upon announcement. It’s always about the new shiny thing, but not to me, to me it’s about accuracy, which custom and JND are the only options to deliver that accuracy so far and still fall short in my estimation.

There’s not a single thing I’d use from this release on my customs, virtually everything is a downgrade as if it was made 5 years ago, same goes for InArt.

The issue now is things aren’t selling, not even talking about expecting a profit. No one wants old outdated product, or even product that released early this year due to everything up for PO.

I have a brand new DX24 Luke only opened for inspection and is very reasonably priced, still sitting. Are some of us lucky in being able to offload? Sure, but the majority aren’t which makes collecting going forward very dodgy. To me it isn’t entirely about making money back, but to simply offload unwanted goods.
 
Again, I just think we have fundamentally different views on the value proposition. You could say, "There will be a better version in 5 years," and all I'm hearing is that I can get 5 years of enjoyment out of the current version. I don't agree with the idea that there is a perfect, eternal figure -- because even the best custom money can buy will eventually be overtaken by better materials, methods, etc. (Not even including just the natural degradation over time.)
 
I just have a “bar” for the quality of figures I’ll add to my collection. I’ve passed on a ton of fairly awful/cheap looking third party figures, and am thankful for the figures Mars was able to get out to fill some of those voids. Fingers crossed they finish the ‘66 villains and release their Tommy Lee Jones Two-Face.

Not looking for perfection, just things that are at the very least “good enough”. I’m happy with my InArt Joker being my only Ledger Joker for the foreseeable future, though this figure definitely beats it in a lot of areas.
 
I was looking through my camera roll for something today and unearthed this from a year ago:

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So, I’ll just take a moment and say “good on ya, Howard.” I certainly ***** the man out enough. Might as well sing his praises when he deserves ‘em.:lol
 
I have not seen many, to think of it any non-blogger pics of the dx33ae with the tongue piece.

It is a different look, but I wonder if people are like f that not messing with the hair and changing it out ham fisting on the head. Does seem like a pain to swap out with the teeth.
 
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