New Doctor Who 1:6 from Big Chief Studios!

[The Mike]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I wouldn't be so sure about that...general interest in Tennant era related collectibles seems to have faded significantly.

I'm unsure about that. There are an amazing amount of fans who still haven't gotten over Tennant not being The Doctor this far away from his tenure. Every post on Facebook whether official or fan is littered with comments wanting him back.

Lots of Tennant stuff on ebay and forums that nobody wants, unless it's ridiculously cheap. People (including me) who sold their stuff lost lots of money and people that are still trying to sell just don't get rid of it.

The market is a weird place. In some aspects its over saturated, in others it's difficult to get anything. Sure you can buy the 10th Sonic anywhere for dirt cheap but try to nab a 5" figure in his trench for less than a mint. Having to go back and get the Daleks as I'm starting that collection I'm astonished at the prices that some stuff comes with.

Rose is high on my list too.

Rose definitely, I want Donna too. I would probably buy Rory if they made him but not direct.

Historically, Doctor Who fans have not embraced higher priced collectibles for whatever reason. So it's a bit risky.

There hasn't really been much to go off of though. The licensed replica of the Doctor's Sonic by MFX was amazingly inaccurate from the get go and even some who have bought customs to replace it. Even one of the designers who helped in the process for them has admitted the errors and that he is working on his own customs. Past that what has there been that is high priced? Clothing replicas that cosplayers usually either make themselves or others go and peacemeal themselves. Qmx paired with Nick Robatto for his 11th Sonic for $4,000 that sold out quick. They've been sitting on the license for years without a sonic offering while customizers have been doing them for around $400 for years and selling through. They may not sell HT Iron Man numbers but there is definitely a market for these just like there is a serious market for prop replicas especially since people are making mints on them on their own.

 

[pixletwin]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Jon is referring to the Product Enterprise statues and helmet replicas that both tanked.... glub... glub.... glub....

 

[Liz10]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Yes, much better just to go off anecdotal evidence or your own opinion.

I know that Tennant fangirls are manipulating polls and if you don't believe that you're naive.

I'm unsure about that. There are an amazing amount of fans who still haven't gotten over Tennant not being The Doctor this far away from his tenure. Every post on Facebook whether official or fan is littered with comments wanting him back.

I don't think many of them are collectors though. Mainly because most of these fans you're talking about are teenies that can't afford this hobby.

The market is a weird place. In some aspects its over saturated, in others it's difficult to get anything. Sure you can buy the 10th Sonic anywhere for dirt cheap but try to nab a 5" figure in his trench for less than a mint. Having to go back and get the Daleks as I'm starting that collection I'm astonished at the prices that some stuff comes with.

I've seen them very often with a starting bid of 0.99 and they didn't go much higher. Right now there are lots of 12" Tens on ebay with low starting bids and I doubt any of them will go for more than 10 but they used to go for around 50. Go figure.

 

[pixletwin]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I don't think many of them are collectors though. Mainly because most of these fans you're talking about are teenies that can't afford this hobby.



I've seen them very often with a starting bid of 0.99 and they didn't go much higher. Right now there are lots of 12" Tens on ebay with low starting bids and I doubt any of them will go for more than 10 but they used to go for around 50. Go figure.

Oh there are lots on ebay. Well isn't that interesting (and scientific!).

 

[Liz10]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Oh there are lots on ebay. Well isn't that interesting (and scientific!).

I think it's funny to see how many people want to get rid of their Tennant stuff.

 

[pixletwin]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I think it's funny to see how many people want to get rid of their Tennant stuff.

Anyone seen all the star wars stuff up on ebay. Clearly Star Wars' popularity is on the wane!

 

[bigchiefstudios]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Firstly on behalf of everyone at BIG Chief I would like to thank you for your kind comments and support for our first 1:6 scale release - the Eleventh Doctor.

I would also like to take this opportunity to address some of the comments regarding pricing.

With all due respect to the members here, based on some of the comments made in this thread, not to mention other threads, it would seem there are actally very few who have a real world working knowledge of how collectables such as these are made. To that end I would like to offer some clarity as to why prices are on the increase.

1. Labour costs in China, where pretty much all of the items we collect are made, are on the increase year on year. The current average hourly rate in China is anywhere from .65p ($1) to .80p ($1.20), not much at all given the work that goes into each item. Labour costs are expected to rise a further 30% next year as well, so this of course impacts upon product cost out of the factories.

2. Minimum order quantity (MOQ), the number of pieces of an individual product ordered from the factory used to be much higher. A decade ago MOQs were routinely in the region of 2000-3000 pieces, which is a lot of any one product to sell for any company. The world has changed massively in the decade since and we have a lot more to choice in what we collect. As such manufacturers have been forced to reduce their MOQs from vendors, a lesser number is easier to sell. The vendors have in turn increased the unit cost per piece for the reduced quantity to recoup the lost revenue.

3. Advancements and mprovements in both quality and accuracy have forced every manufacturer to up their game. However, this means extra work, more hours, which equals a higher product cost from the vendor. This translates to an increase in selling price to the customer. Take the 1:6 format as an example, you might think well it's basically a high-end toy, you could not be more wrong. Using our male figure as an example, do you know that there are over 100 parts (excluding screws) that make up each body, all of which have to be hand assembled? Each costume, whilst taken from pre-cut patterns, have to be hand sewn, with buttons, insignia etc either glued or stitched in place, all by hand. Sure the heads, hands and accessories are injection moulded, but they still need to be trimmed and painted by hand. On top of this each figure has to be hand assembled and packed. In short each figure is around 80% hand made. Now work out how long it would take you to do this at your country's minimum wage and see what the cost would be.

4. Sales of course are the most important thing to any manufacturer. The success of a product and revenues realised from sales, will be re-invested back into the company for future products. For any manufacturer selling direct to the end customer results in the maximum revenue possible. Of course most manufacturers sell into retail outlets, which you would think would garner more money for the manufacturer. Well of course it does, but nowhere near the same level as selling direct. The retailer wants their margin too and in many cases will look to get 40%-50% discount. Add a distributor into this equation, who will seek anywhere from 50%-70% discount to be able to sell to their retail customers at 40%-50% and the manufacturer is left with 30%-50%. Out of this the manufacturer has to pay: staff wages; running costs; accountancy fees; taxes; product development; license fee/royalty; manufacturing costs and shipping fees. The end result - the manufacturer takes all the risk, has all of the heavy upfront costs to pay (tooling etc) and the retailer makes more money!

When we first shared information regarding our range to numerous major retail customers, we were actually advised to increase our product selling price. We however, felt that as a new company we needed to be competitive with other manufacturers and so decided to keep the price as we originally intended. Sadly this will, in all probability, not be the case going forward. Just look at the recent price increases for Hot Toys 1:6, Sideshow 1:6 and premium format pieces, all have seen their prices go north of where they were a year or two ago. Will our prices increase? Almost certainly I am afraid. However, this is why we are working on developing a range of costume and accessory packs, to offer collectors the opportunity to collect alternate outfits to redress their figures, without the need to outlay for a whole new figure. We are very mindful that these are high cost items and so we are committed to delivering both the quality and accuracy we have all come to expect, with the added flexibility of lower cost expansion packs.

I hope that you do not misread this as being preachy or dismissive, but I felt facts needed to be aired, rather than speculation based on assumption.

Best
Mark

 

[Niceman]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Anyone seen all the star wars stuff up on ebay. Clearly Star Wars' popularity is on the wane!

Exactly.

Tennent wins all the polls and incidentally he was (IMO) the best Doctor since Tom. You wait and see, his figure will sell like mad.

Now if only they would make a Rose to go with him. I don't need a Martha. I'm actually quite satisfied with the CO version of her. It's impressive!

 

[DVD1]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Very true. 10th would sell in minutes. Unlikely to see Rose tho. If they went for Donna
The CO Martha is very well made and looks as good as any HT figure. Already planning to have Martha with 11 th while waiting for Amy.

 

[Niceman]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Firstly on behalf of everyone at BIG Chief I would like to thank you for your kind comments and support for our first 1:6 scale release - the Eleventh Doctor.

I would also like to take this opportunity to address some of the comments regarding pricing.

With all due respect to the members here, based on some of the comments made in this thread, not to mention other threads, it would seem there are actally very few who have a real world working knowledge of how collectables such as these are made. To that end I would like to offer some clarity as to why prices are on the increase.

1. Labour costs in China, where pretty much all of the items we collect are made, are on the increase year on year. The current average hourly rate in China is anywhere from .65p ($1) to .80p ($1.20), not much at all given the work that goes into each item. Labour costs are expected to rise a further 30% next year as well, so this of course impacts upon product cost out of the factories.

2. Minimum order quantity (MOQ), the number of pieces of an individual product ordered from the factory used to be much higher. A decade ago MOQs were routinely in the region of 2000-3000 pieces, which is a lot of any one product to sell for any company. The world has changed massively in the decade since and we have a lot more to choice in what we collect. As such manufacturers have been forced to reduce their MOQs from vendors, a lesser number is easier to sell. The vendors have in turn increased the unit cost per piece for the reduced quantity to recoup the lost revenue.

3. Advancements and mprovements in both quality and accuracy have forced every manufacturer to up their game. However, this means extra work, more hours, which equals a higher product cost from the vendor. This translates to an increase in selling price to the customer. Take the 1:6 format as an example, you might think well it's basically a high-end toy, you could not be more wrong. Using our male figure as an example, do you know that there are over 100 parts (excluding screws) that make up each body, all of which have to be hand assembled? Each costume, whilst taken from pre-cut patterns, have to be hand sewn, with buttons, insignia etc either glued or stitched in place, all by hand. Sure the heads, hands and accessories are injection moulded, but they still need to be trimmed and painted by hand. On top of this each figure has to be hand assembled and packed. In short each figure is around 80% hand made. Now work out how long it would take you to do this at your country's minimum wage and see what the cost would be.

4. Sales of course are the most important thing to any manufacturer. The success of a product and revenues realised from sales, will be re-invested back into the company for future products. For any manufacturer selling direct to the end customer results in the maximum revenue possible. Of course most manufacturers sell into retail outlets, which you would think would garner more money for the manufacturer. Well of course it does, but nowhere near the same level as selling direct. The retailer wants their margin too and in many cases will look to get 40%-50% discount. Add a distributor into this equation, who will seek anywhere from 50%-70% discount to be able to sell to their retail customers at 40%-50% and the manufacturer is left with 30%-50%. Out of this the manufacturer has to pay: staff wages; running costs; accountancy fees; taxes; product development; license fee/royalty; manufacturing costs and shipping fees. The end result - the manufacturer takes all the risk, has all of the heavy upfront costs to pay (tooling etc) and the retailer makes more money!

When we first shared information regarding our range to numerous major retail customers, we were actually advised to increase our product selling price. We however, felt that as a new company we needed to be competitive with other manufacturers and so decided to keep the price as we originally intended. Sadly this will, in all probability, not be the case going forward. Just look at the recent price increases for Hot Toys 1:6, Sideshow 1:6 and premium format pieces, all have seen their prices go north of where they were a year or two ago. Will our prices increase? Almost certainly I am afraid. However, this is why we are working on developing a range of costume and accessory packs, to offer collectors the opportunity to collect alternate outfits to redress their figures, without the need to outlay for a whole new figure. We are very mindful that these are high cost items and so we are committed to delivering both the quality and accuracy we have all come to expect, with the added flexibility of lower cost expansion packs.

I hope that you do not misread this as being preachy or dismissive, but I felt facts needed to be aired, rather than speculation based on assumption.

Best
Mark

Thanks for spelling that out. I'm really looking forward to my 11.

Just be careful not to price yourselves over Hot Toys. 11 cost me $245 in the US. That's more than Iron Man, Spiderman, Superman, Babydoll, Alice, or Batman. It's on par with the Jack Sparrow and Indiana Jones DXs. Yes, the upcoming Joker 2.0 is over your price, as is the Hulk, but consider how many accessories they come with. (Edit: Hulk doesn't have accessories of course, but he is 16.5 inches tall!)

I'm a big Who fan, so if your quality is there I'm okay with paying the HT rate for characters I love, but in my opinion you would be mistaken to charge more than Hot Toys.

Also, be careful of the price difference between yourself and US retailers. It would cost me roughly $35 less to buy these from Big Bad Toy Store than you (including postage.) I made the decision to support you and buy direct, at least for these first two, but keep in mind that this is a noticeable price difference.

Anyway, can't wait for #11 to arrive!! And I hope you do find a way to make Rory and River. (And please please Rose!)

 

[DVD1]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Good comments from Mark on the costing.
My cost is all down to postage, getting it back to China.
For my money, literally, I'm so pleased that we are getting these figures. I do hope that future releases are carefully thought through so as not to end up with duds that don't sell, and cancel the line.
I would hedge bets on 10th and 4th being sup sellers.

 

[Niceman]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Also, Big Chief, if you're listening (Which you obviously are,) please consider if it might be practical to offer us a 2-pack or some sort of a discounted package deal to buy more than one Weeping Angel. It would probably go over really well! I'd LOVE to have a set of three, but hate to pay $600+ for it....

EDIT: and if you made the 2 or 3 pack discount only available for direct customers, that would help us to buy directly from you!

 

[DVD1]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I'll second that comment. A couple of Angels surrounding the Doctor and Amy would be very cool.

 

[Niceman]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Some of you might not have seen this post about Amelia from their FB page. I think it's impressive:

"Thanks guys! By the way Amy is very much a "go" and we will update you guys soon. Right now we are working on new tooling for the female figure. The original tooling, which we all hoped would be perfectly usable from our original vendor, pr
oved to be very difficult to work with. The results off the original tooling were simply not of a good enough quality for us to accept for our customers. Therefore at great expense to ourselves, we are re-tooling the figure. Sadly this takes time and is not a quick process. Rest assured you will all be updated in due course! Cheers The BIG Chief Team"

 

[DVD1]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I'm ok with the Amy delay. I'm sure BC want it out ASAP though. With all the ht stuff and CO figures etc, I'm not strapped for new product. I'm sure we'll get a cool Amy soon enough.
Now, it would be cool if BC included their FB comments on their website. It would keep it fresh, and contail all news in one place.

 

[aimeekitty]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

I know several folks are discounting polls, but on BBC's recent fb poll, Rose Tyler won out of all the women of Doctor Who (old who, too.)

I'm not buying Amy because I'm not super hot on her as a companion or a figure, but I'd buy Rose (and 10) in a heartbeat. I really hope that other figure sales don't keep a potential Rose from being made! (not that BC has even said they're considering it, but I can dream!)

BC, thanks for clearing up some of the pricing confusion. I have a friend who has a plush made in china and she has similar issues with retailers (ie loosing a huge amount of the price to retail markup) I'd totally forgotten about that.

 

[thamesvalidude]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Great breakdown of the production cost dynamic, Mark. I think the older heads here who have business experience are very much onside and recognise that as quality has increased with Hot Toys, Enterbay etc then we are entering a very different premium market.
The 11th Doc is right on par with that market.
I have just under a hundred Hot Toys and Enterbay products on display, alongside Sideshow and Hasbro. The difference is incredible and I still love my sideshow Bonds, Buffy crew, highlanders, X Files etc. I guess now, you are going to have to try and release figures as quickly as possible to maximise turnover. So good luck and let's get Amy as quickly as possible and then 10 Rose...weeping Angels, silents, Tom Baker etc etc

Lesson for all:...you get what you pay for. (Don't mention MiB )

 

[sithlord13]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Big chief. Mark.
Firstly thanks for showing us you are listening. I'm a big fan of your approach.
I don't think anyone is having a go at you for your pricing they are just stating certain facts or opinions.

I am very aware of the cost increases in collecting. As many have said. Ssc Jedi Luke was 30£ !!!

I just think that I will struggle to pay these prices for Amy etc although I would like them.

Wish I could give you all the answers and look forward to seeing what else you have planned.

Hint 4 & 10. Davros. Sarah Jane. Genesis dalek. Hint.

 

[DGTWoodward]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Isn't it great to see a company itself posting here on these boards? How refreshing indeed.

Thank you Mark for this informative piece. Of course, you understand that even though there has been a lot of estimation and assumption about costs, no one here was in any way trying to belittle your efforts. BCS has been the most up-front and open company I have ever personally experienced, with updates and amendments every step of the way.

As for the actual figure, I have mine and it is in my all time top 5, along with Superman/Reeve, Batman/Keaton and two Spiderman/Maguires. It is superb, from the leather elbow patches to the red braces.

My only suggestion would be to concentrate on the Doctors mostly. I know that it is good business sense to mix things up a bit and keep some variety, but good Doctors are the real key.

Thank you Big Chief.

 

[sithlord13]

Re: New Doctor Who 1:6 and 1:4 from Big Chief Studios!

Here here dgtwoodward.