Howard Chan Interview Session - Toy People - trans. by Charles Lim (UPDATED Oct 3)

[The Chev]

There are lots of "competitors" out there. All this forum pays attention to is Hot Toys.

Can you imagine an automobile forum that only talked about Rolls Royces?? And any time Toyota made a new car, people would complain because it was not Rolls Royce quality??

A forum where people asked for a Rolls Royce minivan, a Rolls Royce sports car, a Rolls Royce truck, a Rolls Royce SUV??

I get what you saying, but I also know that Enterbay gets love here as well. Sideshow Collectibles, actually gets talked about more on this site if you ask me.

 

[Mike86]

There are lots of "competitors" out there. All this forum pays attention to is Hot Toys.

Can you imagine an automobile forum that only talked about Rolls Royces?? And any time Toyota made a new car, people would complain because it was not Rolls Royce quality??

A forum where people asked for a Rolls Royce minivan, a Rolls Royce sports car, a Rolls Royce truck, a Rolls Royce SUV??

Right and I'm not trying to say that there aren't other manufacturers but Hot Toys is the major player at the moment let's face it. You have other companies out there too like Enterbay, Sideshow, Blitzway, Medicom, Toy Soldier, and a bunch of others and they all do good work but at the moment Hot Toys is kind of where it's at for pop culture/movie action figures if you ask me.

 

[Lejuan]

There are lots of "competitors" out there. All this forum pays attention to is Hot Toys.

Can you imagine an automobile forum that only talked about Rolls Royces?? And any time Toyota made a new car, people would complain because it was not Rolls Royce quality??

A forum where people asked for a Rolls Royce minivan, a Rolls Royce sports car, a Rolls Royce truck, a Rolls Royce SUV??

I get tired of Hot Toys this and Hot Toys that also, but this is a film-dominated forum and Hot Toys is the premier producer of 1/6 film figures.

Whenever DiD put out a film-related figure there is plenty of discussion about it. DiD are pretty close to HT sculpt-wise, and their paint and tailoring are excellent - but they take the unlicensed route so details tend to be deliberately changed away from the source material, which bothers some.

Enterbay have a hard-on for NBA stuff because they're been squeezed by HT on the film licenses, and because they have a trust-deficit problem with customers wary of their QC-prone releases. But when EB puts out something new, people do talk about it.

Medicom doesn't do photo-real figures well by themselves and they're typically pricey.

Blitzway have done well out of their two 1/6 figures, but they're pretty new and their turnover is tiny compared with the larger companies.

And there are a few small outfits bringing out LOTR figures and the like that get plenty of attention in their respective sections.

The only other high-end option is customs, and their price puts these out of reach for many.

People are going to beg for HT stuff because who really wants to beg for a Triad Die Hard figure, or a Dragon models Batman Begins?

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Another DX Joker (3.0)? There goes my money

 

[Darklord Dave]

Great - the head of the company answers questions directly with no evasion, something that almost never happens, and then people are complaining about the answers.

I've said this before, people don't go into the action figure business to make a pile of money. They do it for the love of the hobby and the properties. So he doesn't love Trek and chooses not to take on the license. Get over it.

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

Great - the head of the company answers questions directly with no evasion, something that almost never happens, and then people are complaining about the answers.

I've said this before, people don't go into the action figure business to make a pile of money. They do it for the love of the hobby and the properties. So he doesn't love Trek and chooses not to take on the license. Get over it.

He must REALLY LOVE Iron Man

 

[batfan08]

Great - the head of the company answers questions directly with no evasion, something that almost never happens, and then people are complaining about the answers.

I've said this before, people don't go into the action figure business to make a pile of money. They do it for the love of the hobby and the properties. So he doesn't love Trek and chooses not to take on the license. Get over it.

I'm not mad at Chan, I'm mad at whoever the "interviewer" is for not asking one damn question about Returns or Arkham. Hell, even to see if 66 would continue beyond West and Ward, but nada.

 

[The Chev]

Does Chan screen the questions before? It's possible he lets the interviewer know what he's willing to talk about and not before the interview begins.

 

[Voorhees27]

Sooooo they're basically focusing on DC and Marvel properties ........

 

[Mike86]

I'm not mad at Chan, I'm mad at whoever the "interviewer" is for not asking one damn question about Returns or Arkham. Hell, even to see if 66 would continue beyond West and Ward, but nada.

I honestly think that Batman Returns just isn't as big of a priority as some people want it to be. We already got a Keaton Batman and I don't think that Batman Returns is as popular as the original Batman anyways. I think it's one of those lines that Hot Toys will get to eventually but doesn't seem like a major priority for them. Plus we're getting the 66 Batman and Robin figures next year that's pretty good on the Batman front if you ask me.

 

[batfan08]

Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited for 66, but, at the end of the day, I'm a Batman fan, not just a 66 Batman fan.

 

[Darkseed]

Great - the head of the company answers questions directly with no evasion, something that almost never happens, and then people are complaining about the answers.

I've said this before, people don't go into the action figure business to make a pile of money. They do it for the love of the hobby and the properties. So he doesn't love Trek and chooses not to take on the license. Get over it.

I had no problem with his answers.

I don't give a rats *** about BTTF or video game figures but at the end of the day it's his company to manage. I'm thankful for the licenses I enjoy that are produced the others don't care....

 

[Mike86]

Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited for 66, but, at the end of the day, I'm a Batman fan, not just a 66 Batman fan.

I am too don't get me wrong. I just see so many people (not you necessarily) b*tching and moaning about Batman Returns not being announced yet in so many threads. It gets kind of old reading it over and over.

 

[RIDDICK]

He must REALLY LOVE Iron Man

and what is Iron Man but pure marketing w/o substance

 

[Wah]

essentially, we'll be getting iron man year around regardless of if there's a movie or not to support it.

 

[a-dev]

Great - the head of the company answers questions directly with no evasion, something that almost never happens, and then people are complaining about the answers.

I've said this before, people don't go into the action figure business to make a pile of money. They do it for the love of the hobby and the properties. So he doesn't love Trek and chooses not to take on the license. Get over it.

There were valid arguments to be made against what he said about Star Trek (''not enough characters'', ''all look the same'') so we made them. I know it won't change anything but people are obviously going to react. Fair enough on the language infraction though.

 

[Sachiel]

Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Man of Steel Iron Man Iron Man Batman Iron Man Batman Versus Superman Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Johnny Depp Iron Man Iron Man Diecast endoskeleton like whenever Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Robocop and other stuff you've already seen Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man back to the future at some point like we've been saying for over a year Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man already talking about New Star Wars trilogy despite having only made one OT figure Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Batman Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man Iron Man

These interviews blow.

I can see why that part of the interview wasn't posted before.

Dont worry people, HT don't have it all! LOL

Let me guess... that's a custom figure that costs double a Hot Toys figure.

 

[boylost99]

i think it's about money too especially the part where he says whether the line or figure sells well or not, it's mostly about money, never kid yourself, but once awhile he does indulge in his passions like the storm riders comics figures. but still about money, hence iron man and movie line figures.

 

[boylost99]

i do hope they can pull off the DeLorean without any QC issues like the tumbler and batman 89 batmobile has been having. would like to see them pull off the flying car mode and normal all in one and not sell 2 different cars (they mentioned 2 prototypes).

 

[The Clown Prince of Crime]

There were valid arguments to be made against what he said about Star Trek (''not enough characters'', ''all look the same'') so we made them. I know it won't change anything but people are obviously going to react. Fair enough on the language infraction though.

It was a dumb comment by Howard Chan and a terrible business decision, in my humble opinion. I know I don't drive a Ferrari, and I'm not the president of a major company like Howard Chan, but they're in the business of making movie collectibles, and here is a film/TV franchise with a hit film, iconic characters, and a large fanbase, and HT could be the first and only company to make quality figures from this franchise. It's a missed opportunity. I HATE the idea that just because he doesn't like ST, he neglects all the people/fans/customers who like ST. Spock was right, " The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."