Queen Studios / InArt to do sixth scale figures

[potato]

One of the longest written threads ive ever seen.

sorry tldr

 

[Popid]

Watched Will's interview:

- Reeve Superman is on the top of the list. Just not sure when preorders will be ready but hoping late 2025/2026 as mentioned in their second stream.
- Aiming for around 10-12 preorders per year.
- Batfleck is about 80-90% there. Ivan said they're really close with that one.
- June/July for Catwoman. Aimed for middle of the year.
- Talked about how good of a job HT did on Bane. Ivan doesn’t really see where they could improve on it.
- They're in the middle of talks for Terminator with the licensor so they're not able to say anything atm.
- Vehicles are not happening any time soon. They tried and found they're not good with it. Maybe in the future.
- Said for Chainsaw man "Getting license approval is such a pain in the ass!"
- They definitely want to stick to completing what they have before moving on. Meaning they don't want to move onto Two Tower or Return of the King before being done with Fellowship.
- This connects to them showing GOT so early. They don't want to start a new series without having multiple characters/figures in the pipeline. They don't want to just do Jon and Daenerys. They want to be able to put those two up for preorder while having more characters/figures to follow them shortly after.
- This applies to Matrix as well. They're not going to just do one character (Neo) and move on. They would do the trinity (Trinity & Morpheus) so that the series is "complete".
- Walking Dead aimed for March/April after CNY. All 3 are pretty much finished. Waiting on likeness approval so that's the uncertainty. He said that for a lot of Marvel/Disney properties, likeness approval isn't needed but Walking Dead is not that case.
- Frodo/Sam might be end of the year but likely early 2026 @Wor-Gar Probably misheard him on the other stream or he misspoke. His english is a tad broken at times.
- Said probably 2-3 years to do the full Fellowship but he’s probably just taking a wild guess since it’s so early. 5-6 seems more realistic.
- If they do Gandalf the White, everything would be new. New sculpt, new hands, new accessories, everything. Not reusing.
- RND cost is extremely expensive atm, contributing to the high prices. They're hoping that as their revenue goes up, they can reduce the prices across the board for all lines.
- They have the license for Gunns Superman. They have talked with their design team already but the costume has changed throughout development. Effects how fast they're able to make a figure. Talks about how much of a mess Black Adam was in that regards.
- Licensor for Ledger Joker reached out saying it was going to expire soon unless if they showed some sign of development for a new figure. Ivan seemed to suggest that there might not be anymore Ledger Jokers in the future once this expires for everyone. Laughed and said which most people will probably be happy about.
- They asked the licensor hundreds of times if they can do Nurse Joker but was denied. Bank Robber version was mentioned as something they can possibly do. Still way too early to say.
- Bruce Lee will be fully silicone. They’ve been experimenting with it for a while now trying to nail it. Seamless neck to head, wrist, etc etc. Mentioned at one point, the body had a 20% success rate and 80% failure. Some parts they have figured out and other parts they don’t. Actively working on it.

I feel like the partial quote here re Chainsaw Man figures might give too little information or even the wrong idea, cos he says they're coming. The exact full quote is:

"so basically we have two or three chainsaw man anime [figures, he presumably means] ready this year. And uh the license already ran out, and we renew(ed) the license because of the licensing approval process is just such a pain in the A - but ah good news [is] we'll finally get it ready, the bad news [is] the series [is] not...I'm not gonna comment on that one [laughs] but uh, I don't think we're gonna have too many sales from that line because it's been too late' which Will then sorta clarifies, as in it's been so long since the first season aired. Which is true, and sucks. I hope they're aware that the Reze arc movie is out this year and should reignite some fire for the property...

Sucks for them that getting licences is so hard and then the figures take so long that the license would've expired and needs renewing, so the whole time ig you're paying for that license even if you're not producing anything? Or not sure how that works.

I hope 'ready this year' means preorder and/or shipped this year. Also no one clarified that they're still 1/6 scale, last I heard it sounds like it but we're still not certain? Is it part of the 'MAG' series that the questioner mentions? what do we know about that?

I'm still in for a 1/6 denji, and would take a great Aki too, to go with my 3Z Power which is the only one of theirs still that I've bought...

edit: typos

 

[Darth Meda]

BROOOOOOO! Reeve Superman at the end of this year or early next year! That wait time honestly sucks!

 

[Cap'n Cook]

@Hologram AI shared it. See below from their post
https://www.collectorfreaks.com/thr...o-do-sixth-scale-figures.245206/post-11172174

Thanks bud I missed that.

 

[Chopper Face]

Ultimately, I'm getting the message 'What you think we're working on, we're working on-mostly, and those figures will be announced eventually- probably. The figure's you want us to make, we might make, someday- maybe. Stay tuned!'

 

[webhead05]

An earlier season Daenerys would be a must-have for me. Not interested in the S8 version, as impressive as the tailoring would be. Would also love to get a proper Night's Watch Jon Snow, as opposed to only the King in the North version.

Also, if they're doing the full Fellowship, they'll already have to work up a Sean Bean sculpt, so why not give us a proper Ned?

 

[HyperDrive]

I just hope it’s a definitive Daenerys and not Dothraki or Qarth version… Season 3 is arguably the best season and she wears the blue dress throughout which is essentially inspired by the Dothraki culture (the trousers, the blue royalty color) and the dress top gown templates based on Qarth that she modified to her liking. Daenerys also incorporated dragon-scales embroidery patterns woven into the suit. I vote that one.

She also adorns herself with different necklaces and cape or no cape with this blue dress making for a fun set with various accessories and stuff.

It’d also mean a potential Drogon too. The largest size feasible to do in 1/6 imo.

A Night’s Watch Jon is a holy grail too.

 

[R_R_X]

I was bummed to hear they aren't really pursuing any game licenses for 1/6 scale beyond Wukong due to the high risk and expense of the licenses. Seems like they're planning to do all their video game lines in 1/12 Morfig, but if something blows up, they'll consider moving up to 1/6.

This is not surprising at all, video game licenses are quite expensive and more often than not, the profit of a licensed 1/6 scale game figure is not even worth the cost of R&D.

There's also the trend of video game publishers being uncooperative and difficult to work with and most of them will not care if a third party makes the same figure you paid the license for.

Ivan also mentioned "gamers are not big into collecting" which is sadly true. Most casual/hardcore gamers care more about video games and the hardware to play them on, which is are very expensive things already. Only a smaller portion of them buy collectibles and it's rarely 1/6 figures. Funko pops and game related apparel are the most common types of merch that gamers buy.

I think they're playing it smart and safe by choosing all sculpted, cheaper 1/12 figures for their Morfig video game line.

 

[R_R_X]

So they're making the whole Fellowship, which means the person on Tieba was lying, or they saw the negative feedback to that person's information and decided to come forward and say they are making all 9 of them. Either way, it's a win for collectors.

 

[HyperDrive]

So they're making the whole Fellowship, which means the person on Tieba was lying, or they saw the negative feedback to that person's information and decided to come forward and say they are making all 9 of them. Either way, it's a win for collectors.

I think it was most likely the former, where they misconstrued what was said and relayed misinformation. Up until that point, INART had always expressed wanting to complete the Fellowship.

But yeah, water under the bridge.

 

[R_R_X]

I think it was most likely the former, where they misconstrued what was said and relayed misinformation. Up until that point, INART had always been adamant about wanting to complete the Fellowship.

But yeah, water under the bridge.

Yes probably, I assume they likely said "Sam and Frodo next, the rest are not coming right away." and the person on Tieba interpreted it as "We are not making the rest." the same way they interpreted "If given the chance we'd love to make Jessica from Dune." as "We're making Jessica from Dune."

A lot of the information they posted matched up though, such as no John Wick, no Terminator and so on, but some things were completely wrong, and that is why InArt should start doing these type of Live streams or recordings for any live event Q&As they do.

On Tieba, the same person stated that InArt said Harry Potter is their most successful line and the one they're most confident in, I did not post that information here because it could very well just another case of misinterpretation.

 

[RandomHero]

So they're making the whole Fellowship, which means the person on Tieba was lying, or they saw the negative feedback to that person's information and decided to come forward and say they are making all 9 of them. Either way, it's a win for collectors.

Yup, Boromir is my favorite LOTR character and one of my favorite characters of all time. Yeah, we all want to be Aragorn but Boromir is the one we'd likely all be on an adventure like that. The character who isn't evil at all, but fails and falls after he causes harm through actions he meant well one. I always felt for him as a character, one torn between going on a journey that benefits all of Middle Earth while trying to remember the weight of all his people on his shoulders.

I've had a spot reserved for him for what feels like forever as the Asmus figures just don't cut it. So I'm glad that, however it worked out, Boromir will be coming. As much as I wish InArt would take a stab at Galadriel as her most important scenes are in the first movie anyway, I'm just glad that they'll be finishing the Fellowship.

 

[RandomHero]

On Tieba, the same person stated that InArt said Harry Potter is their most successful line and the one they're most confident in, I did not post that information here because it could very well just another case of misinterpretation.

I find it hard to believe Harry and Ron have had higher sales than Aragorn and Gandalf, but I do believe they could be really confident in Harry Potter as a line and see a ton of potential. I believe Hologram AI was the one who posted how they felt Game of Thrones could be their Star Wars, well, so could Harry Potter. Tons of characters with multiple looks through multiple films. Child versions and adult versions of the core characters which means plenty of companion pieces for each.

And from InArt's perspective, they said something about how they don't want to do Bane because Hot Toys did it so well already. Well that's probably the case for a lot of DC characters. How much better is their Superman better than Hot Toys, like how much is it actually better? A lot of people think the new Joker is better than InArt. InArt might get beat out by Hot Toys on some lines, but they focus on things like LOTR, HP and GOT where the competition is Asmus, ThreeZero and Star Ace, well they're going to look like kings when comparing by default.

Kind of a no brainer for InArt to make their mark on LOTR, HP and GOT, build out the lines and bring in collectors which will bring in revenue and they can grow from there.

 

[HyperDrive]

Yes probably, I assume they likely said "Sam and Frodo next, the rest are not coming right away." and the person on Tieba interpreted it as "We are not making the rest." the same way they interpreted "If given the chance we'd love to make Jessica from Dune." as "We're making Jessica from Dune."

A lot of the information they posted matched up though, such as no John Wick, no Terminator and so on, but some things were completely wrong, and that is why InArt should start doing these type of Live streams or recordings for any live event Q&As they do.

On Tieba, the same person stated that InArt said Harry Potter is their most successful line and the one they're most confident in, I did not post that information here because it could very well just another case of misinterpretation.

Exactly.

On the Wukong stream last night, they were asked who would Jon and Ivan want to make if they can make whoever. Ivan answered, “I’d like to do a Lady Jessica.” That doesn’t mean they’ll be doing Jessica. Jon responded with Mike Tyson, which I found to be funny, but again, it’s pretty clear those are just wishlist figures for them and that’s it.

I’m just glad things are clarified and further elaborated upon.

 

[FatCatSings]

This is not surprising at all, video game licenses are quite expensive and more often than not, the profit of a licensed 1/6 scale game figure is not even worth the cost of R&D.

There's also the trend of video game publishers being uncooperative and difficult to work with and most of them will not care if a third party makes the same figure you paid the license for.

Ivan also mentioned "gamers are not big into collecting" which is sadly true. Most casual/hardcore gamers care more about video games and the hardware to play them on, which is are very expensive things already. Only a smaller portion of them buy collectibles and it's rarely 1/6 figures. Funko pops and game related apparel are the most common types of merch that gamers buy.

I think they're playing it smart and safe by choosing all sculpted, cheaper 1/12 figures for their Morfig video game line.

Yeah, I'm not surprised, just bummed because of the potential of a 1/6 video game license might also push other companies like Hot Toys further into the market. That said, I understand the economics just don't make it a very attractive business position.

It's interesting that video games seem to do better in licensed statues, I'm assuming due to better margins that make it worth it. There is a small market of collectors that want this stuff, but the price point needs to be high enough to justify the R&D and licensing.

Luckily, companies like LIM and GameToys are setting such a high bar for unlicensed 1/6 scale that it's helping to satisfy that niche market (ie. me lol).

 

[HyperDrive]

I find it hard to believe Harry and Ron have had higher sales than Aragorn and Gandalf, but I do believe they could be really confident in Harry Potter as a line and see a ton of potential. I believe Hologram AI was the one who posted how they felt Game of Thrones could be their Star Wars, well, so could Harry Potter. Tons of characters with multiple looks through multiple films. Child versions and adult versions of the core characters which means plenty of companion pieces for each.

I had posted it first but you have me ignored, but yeah Game of Thrones is similar to Star Wars in that sense where it’s so expansive and there’s not one or two looks that encapsulate the entire franchise. Various iconic looks from great seasons/source material, etc. I had also felt that way and am glad they see it that way too.

And from InArt's perspective, they said something about how they don't want to do Bane because Hot Toys did it so well already. Well that's probably the case for a lot of DC characters. How much better is their Superman better than Hot Toys, like how much is it actually better? A lot of people think the new Joker is better than InArt. InArt might get beat out by Hot Toys on some lines, but they focus on things like LOTR, HP and GOT where the competition is Asmus, ThreeZero and Star Ace, well they're going to look like kings when comparing by default.

Well, this isn’t totally precise. They clearly want to do their own take on these characters regardless if others have already made it or not. Only reason why they may feel they won’t do their own Bane as of right now, is because they most likely haven’t figured out an entire upper seamless body application like Hot Toys. Simply put, it’s just not a consideration right now/not in the pipeline. They’ll also do DC related designs too, not just IPs that Hot Toys don't have….

They even mentioned how they have the license for Superman (2025). What, they shouldn’t do it because Hot Toys will?

Obviously, people prefer the DXAE Joker to INART’s very first release. Even INART themselves knows it’s worthwhile to largely improve upon. Hence, them feeling they should do a 2.0 in the future. But every other head-to-head? INART blows them out of the water (so far, HT BvS Superman 2.0 isn’t out yet, remains to be seen).

Kind of a no brainer for InArt to make their mark on LOTR, HP and GOT, build out the lines and bring in collectors which will bring in revenue and they can grow from there.

It’s funny but their “Big 4” focus this year are DC related characters and not characters from LOTR, HP and GOT.

I disagree with this viewpoint where they solely want to (or should) make their mark by focusing on things Hot Toys and others don’t do. It’s completely missing the point of what they’re doing.

 

[R_R_X]

I find it hard to believe Harry and Ron have had higher sales than Aragorn and Gandalf, but I do believe they could be really confident in Harry Potter as a line and see a ton of potential. I believe Hologram AI was the one who posted how they felt Game of Thrones could be their Star Wars, well, so could Harry Potter. Tons of characters with multiple looks through multiple films. Child versions and adult versions of the core characters which means plenty of companion pieces for each.

And from InArt's perspective, they said something about how they don't want to do Bane because Hot Toys did it so well already. Well that's probably the case for a lot of DC characters. How much better is their Superman better than Hot Toys, like how much is it actually better? A lot of people think the new Joker is better than InArt. InArt might get beat out by Hot Toys on some lines, but they focus on things like LOTR, HP and GOT where the competition is Asmus, ThreeZero and Star Ace, well they're going to look like kings when comparing by default.

Kind of a no brainer for InArt to make their mark on LOTR, HP and GOT, build out the lines and bring in collectors which will bring in revenue and they can grow from there.

I had posted it first but you have me ignored, but yeah Game of Thrones is similar to Star Wars in that sense where it’s so expansive and there’s not one or two looks that encapsulate the entire franchise. Various iconic looks from great seasons/source material, etc. I had also felt that way and am glad they see it that way too.

Well, this isn’t totally precise. They clearly want to do their own take on these characters regardless if others have already made it or not. Only reason why they may feel they won’t do their own Bane as of right now, is because they most likely haven’t figured out an entire upper seamless body application like Hot Toys. Simply put, it’s just not a consideration right now/not in the pipeline. They’ll also do DC related designs too, not just IPs that Hot Toys don't have….

They even mentioned how they have the license for Superman (2025). What, they shouldn’t do it because Hot Toys will?

It’s funny but their “Big 4” focus this year are DC related characters and not characters from LOTR, HP and GOT.

I disagree with the viewpoint on how you see INART and think they also want to make their mark by focusing on things Hot Toys doesn’t do. It’s completely missing the point of what they’re doing.

In my opinion, it doesn't matter which one of you is right, sales will ultimately dictate how InArt moves forward. Sure, they can say LoTR and Harry Potter are the main lines they want to pursue but if at the end of the day they sell more DC, that's what they'll keep making. I also think you should actually be thankful that Hot Toys has such a strong hold on Disney/Marvel/Star Wars/DC licenses because I sincerely doubt we'd be getting such a diverse output of figures from InArt had they been able to negotiate those licenses out of Hot Toys grasp, if they believe Hot Toys has already offered something that they can only marginally improve upon then I say good, I think it would benefit them and collectors if they keep focusing on making figures that haven't gotten a proper 1/6 treatment yet and characters that have not been made at all.

 

[HyperDrive]

In my opinion, it doesn't matter which one of you is right, sales will ultimately dictate how InArt moves forward. Sure, they can say LoTR and Harry Potter are the main lines they want to pursue but if at the end of the day they sell more DC, that's what they'll keep making. I also think you should actually be thankful that Hot Toys has such a strong hold on Disney/Marvel/Star Wars/DC licenses because I sincerely doubt we'd be getting such a diverse output of figures from InArt had they been able to negotiate those licenses out of Hot Toys grasp, if they believe Hot Toys has already offered something that they can only marginally improve upon then I say good, I think it would benefit them and collectors if they keep focusing on making figures that haven't gotten a proper 1/6 treatment yet and characters that have not been made at all.

I just think most characters (even if done by HT or others) deserve the INART treatment. And they should realize that there’s money to make with DC related designs. Hence their focus this year being TDK Batman, TDKR Catwoman, BvS Batman and BvS Wonder Woman.

This whole time I’ve been itching to have these characters in the collection and I’ve skipped the Hot Toys offerings because they’re just not good imo. I currently have the DX19, but even the new Armory versions leave a lot to be desired and need OATY custom parts to make them more screen accurate and worthwhile. WB100 WW is a joke. TDKR Catwoman “2.0” is laughable. BvS Batman 2.0 is terrible too, it’s not screen accurate at all.

I don’t really overthink what they’re doing. They’re just making popular and iconic/classic character designs from popular WB IPs. Most of which are 21st century which makes sense given that’s what they were more so exposed to. Or offering releases based on new IPs that are critically acclaimed and cementing themselves into pop culture (like DV’s Dune, Joker 2019, Batman ‘22). Note, how they scrapped Joker 2 plans, Matrix 4 Neo, Mera and Black Adam. Those are based on awful source material/poor reception.

 

[HyperDrive]

I guess we should be glad Hot Toys isn’t doing LOTR, Dune, HP, and GoT. But I’m glad INART also sees the demand for DC even if they know Hot Toys will also be doing the same things. Of course there will be overlap with DC properties.

 

[HyperDrive]

Like Idk, I’m chillin and eating good. Just knowing they plan to make certain characters is cool with me as I know I’ll be able to fill that hole in the collection. If it were up to me, I’d even be down to collect POs.

From what they’ve talked about recently, I’ll be grabbing..

• TDK Batman
• TDKR Catwoman
• BvS Batman
• BvS Wonder Woman
• Frodo
• Sam
• Neo
• Any Game of Thrones (really pulling for Astapor Daenerys, would be my #1 grail by this company and NW Jon)
• Rick Grimes
• Negan
• Maybe Snape
• Potential Chani “the girlfriend” and other Part 2 Dune figures

It excites me to know INART is offering things I’m into.