How much is too much for a single 1/6th figure?

[Phine1]

Labor theory of value is pure gibberish.

I see. whatever you do for a living, the labor of whatever sort you spend your LIFE doing, walk in tomorrow and start doing it for free then. Because what you just said is telling me your labor is of no value.

 

[devilof76]

That is not what I said at all. I said that how you are evaluating labor is nonsense. A man could produce a superior figure in half the time a basic customizer can, and his output would not be worth half as much.

 

[Phine1]

That is not what I said at all. I said that how you are evaluating labor is nonsense. A man could produce a superior figure in half the time a basic customizer can, and his output would not be worth half as much.

I have no idea what you are talking about. A man can? what man?
are you actually saying an artist making a custom sculpt, casting it and whatever else needed, accessorizing, tailoring, painting, assembling, packaging, and shipping a one off figure in 15 days????
where are these men???? I don't see them anywhere around here? they're losing out on a lot of business!!!!???
plz explain im lost.

bottom line: Hot Toys are expensive mass produced action figures of a select few licenses. Customs are expensive artwork that can range to any character unbounded from licensing and commercializing. whichever realm - be it both, none, or one or the other - just collect what you want and that is all that matters.

aaahhh w.e this threads been hijacked.
I'll sit out the next inning.

 

[devilof76]

A man. You know, like, a person. They're like artists only less divine and/or exalted.

I'm trying to illustrate how you're conflating price with value, as well as appreciation with quality. You also have a funny concept of art, but that's endemic and as I said before, can't really be helped or blamed.

I'll just leave it there. I've had my fun for today.

 

[Phine1]

how much do you think Hot Toys sculptors get per sculpt they complete? Let me tell you it is WELL over $1000 - more like 5. and guess what? that one head is casted 15000 times and factory painted and you end up still paying top dollar for a casted generic and widely available head.

Now imagine that same sculptor making that same head for ONE PERSON, instead of HOT TOYS. All of a sudden that head that is worth 2-5 grand for hot toys, is worth LESS somehow because it is THE ONLY ONE and there arent thousands of them and you get it instead of hot toys?! man, think for one second about what you're talking about. I get the feeling that you think these sculptors do this stuff for free, or that hot toys pays them like 100 bucks and the other 200 goes to body clothing and accessories? and then they just copy the head from there? hahahaha. logic, use it.

In fact I would like to propose a challenge. Find me a sculptor of hot toys / rainman / beto / rovo quality..... commission a one off sculpt from them, and see what they charge. I think you may be SERIOUSLY surprised. Don't you ever wonder why commissioned requests are done in runs for the most part? it is to bring cost down PER FIGURE as there are MORE OF THEM.

Hot toys pays 5000 for a sculpt.
They multiply it 15000 times.
The sculpt costs them .30 cents each figure.

Same sculptor makes the same head. One person is buying it, and making a run of 10 figures.
The sculpt costs $500 each figure.

See where im getting at?

So the professional sculptor is losing thousands, wasting his time and effort, all because you expect a 1/1 perfect HS to cost the same as something hot toys casts and multiplies by 10-15 thousand and you STILL pay 300 for!?!?!

 

[devilof76]

Your logic is a hot mess of confused snobbery, bub. Maybe tomorrow. I'm done today.

 

[Phine1]

Snobbery? Coming from the guy who is literally unable to give praise to the work of the artists doing this stuff???? I collect hot toys too "bub" , but i also know how the system works.

How much do you think a dx13, for instance, would cost if it were the only one in the world?

I respect the art and im the opposite of a snob when it comes to collecting. You sir, are the one who is being a snob - expecting the world for a nickel.

 

[devilof76]

Look, I'm lazy and you're boring.

Maybe some other time.

 

[Phine1]

Just spreading unjustifiably absent facts to collectors who should know these things, and know what theyre buying / supporting.

Artists gotta eat too.

 

[Solidus]

I had to think about this poll for a while. I was going to vote for $300, but I have Raiden on pre-order with SSC, and it costs $309 . The flex payments help to mitigate the hit on my wallet. I probably won't have a price limit, if SSC continues to offer affordable monthly payment plans.

 

[j97e1]

What is better - Rotate your q-tip clockwise, or conter-clockwise?

The OP asked what would be a price people would pay for a mass produced, basic 1/6th scale figure (your typical TrueType based ), and here we go - Another thread where some trying to argue to others what is what, while using a 2"x4" on the horse carcass in the corner.

A figure is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. For example, I will NOT pay a dime for a Harry Potter figure, not one made by Elvis, nor Willie Nelson for that matter, but I will take a HT Godfather for $600.

Different strokes, to each their own. Moving on...

 

[Indeedely]

I did not buy a few figures purely because they seemed too expensive for what you got. For the figures I purchased, I realized I paid too much during pre-order after they went on clearance. Overproduced and overpriced results in the clearance sales and buyers unwilling to pre-order the next item. Nevertheless, I hope Hot Toys can find a balance to keep doing what their doing.

I did pay $500 twice over to one maker of limited quantity figures. And I would do it again. But they keep to the code of pricing out for certain amount of pre-orders. Guess it's hard to know what to charge based on unlimited pre-orders, so Hot Toys is making tons regardless of pre-orders and if so it seems prices should then go down which they eventually do. So then Hot Toys needs to lower their pre-order prices if they're producing so many...is where my logic takes me.

 

[Phine1]

^this.

Indeed, indeedely.

 

[devilof76]

how much do you think Hot Toys sculptors get per sculpt they complete? Let me tell you it is WELL over $1000 - more like 5. and guess what? that one head is casted 15000 times and factory painted and you end up still paying top dollar for a casted generic and widely available head.

What does it matter how many times it has been reproduced?

Now imagine that same sculptor making that same head for ONE PERSON, instead of HOT TOYS.

Oh, gee. I don't know if my imagination can handle that. I may have to go back over the nearly 8 years I've been here to see if I can recall a time when that actually happened.

All of a sudden that head that is worth 2-5 grand for hot toys, is worth LESS somehow because it is THE ONLY ONE and there arent thousands of them and you get it instead of hot toys?!

Who said that? Or even suggested that? I'm pretty sure that the most I've intimated is that it would be worth several thousand dollars for Hot Toys to pay for a unique portrait to be sculpted, but not for an individual. Hot Toys will see many thousands of dollars more return from that investment. A lone buyer will get...a doll (precious, though that doll be).

man, think for one second about what you're talking about.

Perhaps you should take a second (or two) to think about what I'm talking about.

I get the feeling that you think these sculptors do this stuff for free, or that hot toys pays them like 100 bucks and the other 200 goes to body clothing and accessories? and then they just copy the head from there?

Then you're as presumptuous and condescending as you are pretentious.

hahahaha. logic, use it.

What a maroon.

So the professional sculptor is losing thousands, wasting his time and effort, all because you expect a 1/1 perfect HS to cost the same as something hot toys casts and multiplies by 10-15 thousand and you STILL pay 300 for!?!?!

I don't expect to pay $300 for a unique portrait when it is worth $5000 to the sculptor. I simply would not pay it, and the sculptor would have to find someone else.

The quality of work produced by these artists is worth, at most, $300 to me. It is only worth that to most people. That is why Hot Toys and Sideshow produce them at volumes which can be sold at roughly that price (or the amount per unit that the market will bear). When you pay $5000 for a figure, you are not getting anything more than a prototype of what has the potential to be produced on a mass scale, and from what I have seen on these boards, it is often a prototype of a lesser quality than what the big companies produce (frequently less so than what comes out of their factories). That is no slight against any of the artists producing these figures. Their work is still phenomenal.

There is simply nothing about it that warrants double, triple, or (gods forbid) ten times the price of what a mass produced figure would cost. There are people with the disposable income to justify the expense. Price no object, and all. That willingness to invest with no profit beyond esthetic satisfaction does not confer a non-existent quality upon the object.

Snobbery? Coming from the guy who is literally unable to give praise to the work of the artists doing this stuff???? I collect hot toys too "bub" , but i also know how the system works.

Arrogant and obnoxious, but hardly unique.

You came in here **** talking mass produced figures. Like a snob.

How much do you think a dx13, for instance, would cost if it were the only one in the world?

More than what anyone who wasn't a borderline fetishist would pay.

I respect the art and im the opposite of a snob when it comes to collecting. You sir, are the one who is being a snob - expecting the world for a nickel.

With as promiscuously as you treat them, I believe it is yourself who should learn to respect a nickel.

Just spreading unjustifiably absent facts to collectors who should know these things, and know what theyre buying / supporting.

They were absent because none of us needed you to tell them to us.

 

[Phine1]

wow, how long did that take to seperate all that. wonderfully done!

for the record, i have never spent over $500usd on a figure before this month. I cannot afford to buy original custom rainman, beto, etc pieces. I saved for half a year to buy the most recent rainman release - because I budget for figures - just as everyone should. I collect hot toys so I am not trash talking them - I am being completely truthful and straightforward about their business plan. I respect their sculptors the same as custom sculptors, but I see the difference between 10-40 handmade and 10,000 machine made. If they make a character that I want, I'm getting it. Another thing you dont seem to remember is that hot toys sculptors are many times the same sculptors that work outside as custom sculptors. the smaller amount of figures in total is the reason for the cost increase. That is all i was getting across - The artist needs to make their money at the end of the day.

Im glad, for someone who said no matter what that these peoples art isnt worth any more than $300 for any figure in the world - that I was able to get under your skin so badly. My point was simply that just because you may no want to spend YOUR money on it, does not affect it's worth whatsoever to the artist and the real customers who do buy at those prices.

 

[devilof76]

wow, how long did that take to seperate all that. wonderfully done!

5 minutes.

I collect hot toys so I am not trash talking them

No?

if there is one thing this hobby has taught me is that a lot of so called "enthusiasts" have an reprehensible problem with distinguishing art from toys.

And what you're still missing is that simply because someone will pay exorbitant amounts for a handmade figure, that does not make what they buy a better figure than one produced in a factory for a reasonable price. It does not make one 'art' and the other a 'toy'. Your point does not stand.

 

[Phine1]

what you don't seem to understand is that it is not about it being better or worse. They are more or less on par - which considering hot toys has hundreds working for them and customs 1-5, is pretty awesome. Hot toys cant make the figures anyways due to licensing. It is about the artists getting their moneys worth and the fact there are so few of them makes it more valuable. It's pretty simple, it goes with most things in life that are desired and I have no idea how you take so much offence to people buying artwork for more than you, and no idea how you don't understand it. I'm not even one of those people and I can understand it.

 

[devilof76]

The ignorance you presume on my behalf is a straw man.

 

[Phine1]

we understand each other but we dont want to admit it. it's ok. I am envious of the posh collector able to get the best rendition of characters that Hot Toys will never make, and no other companies are talented enough to pull off on a scale big enough to keep quality in tact and comparable. At the end of the day for me it comes down to the best possible representation of character. For a mass produced figure I have a budget, and for customs I have a budget that is a little bit more. Based on cost and availability - and the obvious fire sales and dead stock of hot toys due to overpricing and then seeing them go on major discounts - some customs are impossible to find and never go on discount and sell out immediately.

I'm tired and we've argued enough while probably agreeing subconsciously. Dipping out of the thread and unsubbing, but I will set my vote at 350 (between 3-350 max) for a mass produced figure before I go.

 

[holtrax]

The question shouldn't be how much are you willing to pay but rather where will It all stop?. Hot toys prices in particular have skyrocketed In the last few years. I know theres inflation, licensing and production costs but I've reached my limit with $300 on how much Im willing to pay. Prices after that just get ridiculous and if it continues we'll be looking at $400 to 500 for a figure in the next 5 years. That's when it gets scary for most folks.

I think ht may be going for too much with too many licenses and jacking up the prices as a result. It may mean people just get sick of their pricing structure and they lose a lot of customers or just eventually go broke. For me I'm now looking at other companies who offer similar quality but for a much lower price like art figures or dam toys. The days of impulse buying are definitely over.