Why *do* some people hate on InArt? I mean, do they hate them out of a sense of loyalty (watching their team get royally tea-bagged by a new team that just entered the league)? Did they sink a lot of money into grails that are no longer grails because a vastly superior version is now available? Do they just hate quality in general and wish things would go back to mediocre? Were they not hugged enough as children?
Joking aside, I am actually getting a little concerned about InArt and its clear trend toward rising prices. I paid 480 pp for Aragorn which looks to be an astounding, nearly perfect figure and, while Harry also looks extremely good, is it truly worth over a $120 more than Aragorn? I really want to support InArt but they are rapidly approaching a price point where I will be unwilling to do so.
Honestly, I think these all might be legitimate reasons especially the loyalty thing for whatever reason and the tea bagging
. I've seen many people not even give them a chance and just trash on them. Don't really understand, as I still love Hot Toys and look forward to their releases as well. I think the rooted InArt is a few steps above and the sculpted is pretty much on par with Hot Toys, or maybe slightly above because of materials.
The Harry Potter release was higher than I expected, but I also didn't expect it to come with a statue diorama base. That base is the distinct reason for such a large price difference beyond the rooted hair. The standard is $335-$355 shipped and very affordable. For people that like and want representation of Harry Potter but aren't in love with that franchise, then this is a perfect option. That's exactly why I purchased the standard TDK Joker. $1100-1200 for a two pack with a diorama is not what I needed for Joker, so I went with a $380 standard sculpted. So many people love that character and that's what they wanted. I like the character so standard was good enough for me.
I think they should have released 4 SKU's for Potter to sell it better. Should have been standard $300-325, deluxe rooted $400-425, standard w/base $450-475, and deluxe w/base $550-575. This IP probably means more to me than any others so even with all of these options, I would have still went with the highest option of deluxe w/ base.
I completely understand why you and others don't want to spend that highest option, but don't want the sculpted. There is no option in between, comparable with TDK rooted Joker, and that sucks. Context of what's offered in each release is needed for comparability reasons. That has often been neglected when comparing InArt. Whether it's $1,000 for "a" figure (actually 2 rooted figures and diorama base), or $300 HT Batman vs $500 InArt Batman (actually $345 shipped HT sculpted Batman vs $360 shipped InArt sculpted Batman) we have to break down and actually compare the context of what's being offered.