the cost of custom's $$$$ then the inevitable burn!!!

[mightyq]

ok guy's and gal's,
have you ever bashed a custom you loved and spent big bucks on just to get burned with another co. making it, or a high end custom co. make it. dont get me wrong, i know exactly what the custom game is about. I say its all about 'risk", the chance of spending a lot on a custom and then bam! one day a co. or small custom's group decides to make one, and your out not a little, but maybe hundreds. I go into all of my customs knowing full well this can and will happen. so when it does i am not in shock and awe. how many have dropped out of the customs game because of this? lets be honest, unless your a co. this is a hobby of some monetary loss at the end. only a select few will profit,. even hot toys are discounted everyday, forget customs, almost a sure loss as soon as your done putting it together, like buying a car and driving it off the lot. i know bad anology, but you get my gist.

anybody post your custom you got burned on, or yet think one day you will just might lose money with.

my short list- neo, bashed a nice one along came iminime. pulp fiction, rainman did them, now its going to be the walking dead, for sure whether its 3zero or somebody else they will get done, and this has been nothing short of a customs frenzy the past 2 years by collectorts bashing these. the $$$ lost might be huge. dexter, nobody has really done him right, attention kumik, but its has lost some steam and those $500+ customs are rarely re-sold at break even. lost- forget about those, cant give them away. there are more but you get the idea. post away people, lets here your choices.

 

[EVILFACE]

Doesn't bother me. The company made one might be better than the one I made or I can use parts to improve mine. Then again, theirs might suck.

 

[red4]

.....

 

[automaton]

a good custom has a lot more value to me than anything monetary... why complain when a print is made if you have the original painting?

 

[toylion]

a good custom has a lot more value to me than anything monetary... why complain when a print is made if you have the original painting?

It's because people make these custom that Company's finally realize they're wanted and will sell.

 

[karamazov80]

Best to enjoy the hobby in the moment IMO. It happens, but you can't let that fear dictate your collecting habits. My only thing is, I don't go after custom work that I don't really really like to begin with. If someone else beats it, then they'll have to do a really freakin' good job (unless it's something I'm putting together myself, but even there I won't have something without a great sculpt). Considering that, I think the risk remains low with me no matter what I take on. I'm not sure it has happened with me yet as I think about it. HT probably will do a Back to the Future McFly, but by the time it is released I will have been enjoying my custom for several years, and I am extremely skeptical of HT's ability to beat Trevor Grove plus Rainman's tailor. But if they do a good job, I'll pick it up as well and own both anyway, enjoying the positives that each brings.

 

[The Skull]

Not really to big on the custom game personally, I have watched from afar as the custom thing has got out of control, by out of control I mean pricing. Its now to the point where people expect anywhere from 400-5000 big ones No figure is worth that kinda value in my book, but that's just me. People just throw the word grail out there and expect that to justify the value, I know theres a lot of time, effort, and skill that goes into some of these pieces and I'm not trying to take that away from anyone.

Its just when you can get things like the licensed hot toys batmoblie for 500-600 hundred or there Robocop for 300-400 and then compare that to a custom unlicensed willy wonka that people expect 5000-6000 grand for, I get lost in the logic. Top that with the fact that most customs are not put together so great, most have heads held on with blu tack and are on knock-off true-types and paint apts are not always concistant.

Not saying customs aren't cool and fun to make, but when you ask people to drop a mortgage payment on them I say you can keep it. I'll take my fully licensed professionally put together and packaged figures that can be bought from reputable dealers than going though the hassle of paying for a figure that may or may not ever come out, and may be years til release and paypals 45 day limit comes and goes

Its not like that with all customizers but theres enough of that going around that I keep my distance. I also look to the fact as soon as a company picks up a license that has been customized by a bunch of people you see them drop them like a bad habit for the official versions most of the time.

That and it has also created a small market of flippers on the board who only buy hard to get custom figures only to sell them for double or triple the price a month or two later after there sold out, we've all seen them say it"Sorry to let this grail go, but has to be done" Yet if these people really felt the piece was grail then why is it the first thing they sell

 

[Mr. EcKo]

Not really to big on the custom game personally, I have watched from afar as the custom thing has got out of control, by out of control I mean pricing. Its now to the point where people expect anywhere from 400-5000 big ones No figure is worth that kinda value in my book, but that's just me. People just throw the word grail out there and expect that to justify the value, I know theres a lot of time, effort, and skill that goes into some of these pieces and I'm not trying to take that away from anyone.

Its just when you can get things like the licensed hot toys batmoblie for 500-600 hundred or there Robocop for 300-400 and then compare that to a custom unlicensed willy wonka that people expect 5000-6000 grand for, I get lost in the logic. Top that with the fact that most customs are not put together so great, most have heads held on with blu tack and are on knock-off true-types and paint apts are not always concistant.

Not saying customs aren't cool and fun to make, but when you ask people to drop a mortgage payment on them I say you can keep it. I'll take my fully licensed professionally put together and packaged figures that can be bought from reputable dealers than going though the hassle of paying for a figure that may or may not ever come out, and may be years til release and paypals 45 day limit comes and goes

Its not like that with all customizers but theres enough of that going around that I keep my distance. I also look to the fact as soon as a company picks up a license that has been customized by a bunch of people you see them drop them like a bad habit for the official versions most of the time.

That and it has also created a small market of flippers on the board who only buy hard to get custom figures only to sell them for double or triple the price a month or two later after there sold out, we've all seen them say it"Sorry to let this grail go, but has to be done" Yet if these people really felt the piece was grail then why is it the first thing they sell

Good Job Peeeetah

 

[karamazov80]

Well, the whole hobby is pretty overpriced IMO. HT figures shouldn't cost $250, and perhaps customs shouldn't cost $800. But it's basic economics, and I think the relative cost is reasonable when you factor in the fact that there is an economy of scale issue, and the fact that the hand-crafted nature of custom work warrants a premium. Particularly with Iminime and Rainman head/outfit stuff that costs around $400. There, you get nice figures of licenses HT won't touch for less than the cost of Iron Man version 50 and Joker version 40.

 

[The Skull]

Well, the whole hobby is pretty overpriced IMO. HT figures shouldn't cost $250, and perhaps customs shouldn't cost $800. But it's basic economics, and I think the relative cost is reasonable when you factor in the fact that there is an economy of scale issue, and the fact that the hand-crafted nature of custom work warrants a premium. Particularly with Iminime and Rainman head/outfit stuff that costs around $400. There, you get nice figures of licenses HT won't touch for less than the cost of Iron Man version 50 and Joker version 40.

Good points for sure, a lot of customs are made cause a licensed version is unlikely to see the light of day, in cases like that custom figures fill the slot nicely. But when you meantion pieces like joker I think of the jacket kado made for him, the one that was 700 dollars to get, yes a 1/6 scale jacket only, but then hot toys puts out the dx11 joker tailored by kado and with a ton of extras, licensed and packaged beautifully for a quarter of the price......Value wise the choice is easy for me

 

[ebor]

I like hand made items that have the artist's flair. Most artists offering items here have a style, you either like it or don't--to each their own. That said I support most of the larger companies in the market, each have their flair as well. These are great times for someone is a fan of movie-pop-culture in 1:6 or 1:4 or statue form

 

[Hidden Jitsu]

Well i have only been into the 1/6 hobby for a few months now and before that i collected statues and 1/6 resin and vinyl model kits.
And i did not realise how much these things cost.
But in regards to the custom's like Willy Wonka LOL!
why anybody would want that figure is beyond me and for 6K either have money to burn or are very stupid.
I would prefer official items everytime as they are so good and some do hold there money or gain value.
I think what does make a custom figure is an amazing sculpt and paint job then the rest follows.
Also i think the prices people charge are silly when it comes to customs and taking advantage of people and saying this will be a future grail and what not.
As $700.00 for a jacket 1/6 scale , no way would it even cost $150.00 to make.
But then again if your stupid enough to pay these high prices then it is the person's fault for buying it.

I doubt you will ever beat hot toys , blitzway , enterbay for price , quality and quality and they are all official items.
As let's face it anything not official is a recast TBH.
Also i think some people just buy these and never display them just for the sake of it which is pointless.
It is better to buy just a select few you actually like and enjoy them than buy everything that pops up.
As it is a matter of time before they get released officialy

 

[potato]

Those companies may have great talents but no way they gonna invest so much time & money to recreate excellent sculpt & super realistic paint jobs that require hand painting.

Usually it's the paint job that makes a custom excellent.

But seriously people pay $150 for a 1/6 Jacket? $700? I think it would be wiser to just go to your nearest tailorshop & ask them to make a miniature "Sample".

Usually customs don't cost more than $400.

I doubt you will ever beat hot toys , blitzway , enterbay for price , quality and quality and they are all official items.

 

[Rdeezy]

But seriously people pay $150 for a 1/6 Jacket? $700? I think it would be wiser to just go to your nearest tailorshop & ask them to make a miniature "Sample".

Usually customs don't cost more than $400.[/QUOTE]

The Kato Joker jacket wasnt $700 i believe the entire outfit was $800. If your talking full figures, most if not all are more than $400

 

[a-dev]

Not really to big on the custom game personally, I have watched from afar as the custom thing has got out of control, by out of control I mean pricing. Its now to the point where people expect anywhere from 400-5000 big ones No figure is worth that kinda value in my book, but that's just me. People just throw the word grail out there and expect that to justify the value, I know theres a lot of time, effort, and skill that goes into some of these pieces and I'm not trying to take that away from anyone.

Its just when you can get things like the licensed hot toys batmoblie for 500-600 hundred or there Robocop for 300-400 and then compare that to a custom unlicensed willy wonka that people expect 5000-6000 grand for, I get lost in the logic. Top that with the fact that most customs are not put together so great, most have heads held on with blu tack and are on knock-off true-types and paint apts are not always concistant.

Not saying customs aren't cool and fun to make, but when you ask people to drop a mortgage payment on them I say you can keep it. I'll take my fully licensed professionally put together and packaged figures that can be bought from reputable dealers than going though the hassle of paying for a figure that may or may not ever come out, and may be years til release and paypals 45 day limit comes and goes

Its not like that with all customizers but theres enough of that going around that I keep my distance. I also look to the fact as soon as a company picks up a license that has been customized by a bunch of people you see them drop them like a bad habit for the official versions most of the time.

That and it has also created a small market of flippers on the board who only buy hard to get custom figures only to sell them for double or triple the price a month or two later after there sold out, we've all seen them say it"Sorry to let this grail go, but has to be done" Yet if these people really felt the piece was grail then why is it the first thing they sell

I have a few custom Terminators that I am very pleased to have as they were very well done but overall I agree with you. I think you have pwned with this post. Especially that last paragraph.

 

[Lejuan]

Very glad I ended up not buying one of Serang's Churchill sculpts for a bash I was planning. Picked up a fat suit, some Godfather clothes and a couple of accessories, the rubbish Headplay sculpt... but I can re-purpose a lot of it so it's not all money down the drain. I recently picked up DiD's set, which short of the bulldog is the equivalent to Serang's DX fullset. It cost quite a bit less than a single Serang sculpt.

 

[mightyq]

Not really to big on the custom game personally, I have watched from afar as the custom thing has got out of control, by out of control I mean pricing. Its now to the point where people expect anywhere from 400-5000 big ones No figure is worth that kinda value in my book, but that's just me. People just throw the word grail out there and expect that to justify the value, I know theres a lot of time, effort, and skill that goes into some of these pieces and I'm not trying to take that away from anyone.

Its just when you can get things like the licensed hot toys batmoblie for 500-600 hundred or there Robocop for 300-400 and then compare that to a custom unlicensed willy wonka that people expect 5000-6000 grand for, I get lost in the logic. Top that with the fact that most customs are not put together so great, most have heads held on with blu tack and are on knock-off true-types and paint apts are not always concistant.

Not saying customs aren't cool and fun to make, but when you ask people to drop a mortgage payment on them I say you can keep it. I'll take my fully licensed professionally put together and packaged figures that can be bought from reputable dealers than going though the hassle of paying for a figure that may or may not ever come out, and may be years til release and paypals 45 day limit comes and goes

Its not like that with all customizers but theres enough of that going around that I keep my distance. I also look to the fact as soon as a company picks up a license that has been customized by a bunch of people you see them drop them like a bad habit for the official versions most of the time.

That and it has also created a small market of flippers on the board who only buy hard to get custom figures only to sell them for double or triple the price a month or two later after there sold out, we've all seen them say it"Sorry to let this grail go, but has to be done" Yet if these people really felt the piece was grail then why is it the first thing they sell

really good points skull. well put, but wouldnt you agree that customs fill thsat void tha co's like hot toys enterbay etc will never ever make?? customs are almost needed in this hobby? i agree about wonka, $6,000 and people saying the future is $10,000 are way off. now this comes from a guy (me) who enjoys customs and has many rainman elvis, beto figures. now you have to take somebody's monetary issue into account. "hidden jitsu" calls it stupid, maybe to him it is. because it is out of his range and many others range also, so to drop that amount is stupid to him. meanwhile the person paying $2,000, 5000, 6,000 for a custom might have plenty of cash to play with,. its all relative isnt it? what is expensive to one guy at $300 doesnt get expensive to another guy until it gets to $3,000. so to condem all customs as over priced figures isnt entirely true. whats over priced to some is a super deal to others. something is worth whats someone's willing to pay. thats goes for anything in life.

I also will say that top customizers like rainman offering a figure with a release of 30-35 tops for $850, much less with the h&c sets, is a bargain to me. if these had hot toys release #'s 5,000-7,000 then the price would be $300 a figure. iminime the same thing, beto has done horror figures that a legit 1/6 th co. will never make, to me paying $900 for that figure i always wanted with a releasae of 15 is worth it. i am getting hot toys quality and sometimes better for that money. again its all relative because i can pay these amounts and to me they are not over priced. again a $200 hot toy might be over priced to somebody. I wouls ask this question, if you can have the monetary means to pay $800 for a figure without a problem at all, and all of the sudden a customizer makes your dream figure. the one you have wanted forever, your going to tell me your not going to go ahead and buy it?? anybody who says no is a liar. because if the money doesnt matter the figure sure as heck does.

I do admit that if you cant afford the customs game dont get into it. i see it all the time, people making a custom and spending money they shouldnt have then re-selling it and taking a beating, then calling the customs game an "over priced" waste of time. i agree with kaz 100%, do it for the love of the hobby, make sure that what you spend may one day never be able to re-coup. if you cant take the loss then you better re-think yout collecting interest.

I agree about the flippers, you see it every release. what makes me laugh is the guys that do it seem to think nobody is watching. lol. but the secondary market dictates that money can and will be made with a hot custom. if there is no secondary market there is no chance for a flip and profit.

 

[karamazov80]

If you went on over to TheFwoosh forum, or Spawn.com, 90% of the forum membership would probably call anyone who ever buys a $250 Hot Toys Iron Man figure "stupid," as well, when you can buy 15 or 20 Hasbro toys for the same price. It really is totally subjective, based on ability to pay, and degree of interest in the product.

 

[Black Knight]

Being someone Who has Sold ..., and Boughten many Customs, and Items over the yrs ... My Heart is just so into them , and I realize the Amount of Time, Effort and Skill that can go into them.. Most Customizers be lucky to make Minimum Wage on thier Product, Let alone something Worth a Damn.

It's Fun stuff...
To me..., U only get Burned, if you don't get your stuff ..., and or... the product isn't what U though U would get.

 

[The Skull]

I have a few custom Terminators that I am very pleased to have as they were very well done but overall I agree with you. I think you have pwned with this post. Especially that last paragraph.

Thanks buddy, I have nothing against customs at all, I have a few myself, most are bashes to be acturate. For me I will buy a head sculpt then go from there, that way I know what goes into the piece, I prefer quality bodys and parts, not a fan of knock offs and boot leg parts.

really good points skull. well put, but wouldnt you agree that customs fill thsat void tha co's like hot toys enterbay etc will never ever make?? customs are almost needed in this hobby? i agree about wonka, $6,000 and people saying the future is $10,000 are way off. now this comes from a guy (me) who enjoys customs and has many rainman elvis, beto figures. now you have to take somebody's monetary issue into account. "hidden jitsu" calls it stupid, maybe to him it is. because it is out of his range and many others range also, so to drop that amount is stupid to him. meanwhile the person paying $2,000, 5000, 6,000 for a custom might have plenty of cash to play with,. its all relative isnt it? what is expensive to one guy at $300 doesnt get expensive to another guy until it gets to $3,000. so to condem all customs as over priced figures isnt entirely true. whats over priced to some is a super deal to others. something is worth whats someone's willing to pay. thats goes for anything in life.

I also will say that top customizers like rainman offering a figure with a release of 30-35 tops for $850, much less with the h&c sets, is a bargain to me. if these had hot toys release #'s 5,000-7,000 then the price would be $300 a figure. iminime the same thing, beto has done horror figures that a legit 1/6 th co. will never make, to me paying $900 for that figure i always wanted with a releasae of 15 is worth it. i am getting hot toys quality and sometimes better for that money. again its all relative because i can pay these amounts and to me they are not over priced. again a $200 hot toy might be over priced to somebody. I wouls ask this question, if you can have the monetary means to pay $800 for a figure without a problem at all, and all of the sudden a customizer makes your dream figure. the one you have wanted forever, your going to tell me your not going to go ahead and buy it?? anybody who says no is a liar. because if the money doesnt matter the figure sure as heck does.

I do admit that if you cant afford the customs game dont get into it. i see it all the time, people making a custom and spending money they shouldnt have then re-selling it and taking a beating, then calling the customs game an "over priced" waste of time. i agree with kaz 100%, do it for the love of the hobby, make sure that what you spend may one day never be able to re-coup. if you cant take the loss then you better re-think yout collecting interest.

I agree about the flippers, you see it every release. what makes me laugh is the guys that do it seem to think nobody is watching. lol. but the secondary market dictates that money can and will be made with a hot custom. if there is no secondary market there is no chance for a flip and profit.

Yes sir, I would agree that customs fill a important role in the hobby and stated so myself. Theres clearly figures that will never see the light of day otherwise and custom stuff is the answer.

As for value of figures being relative that's a little more tricky then a simple yes or no. It was pointed out that Hasbro collectors would state buying one hot toys figure over 10-20 Hasbro figure is crazy, well theres a clear differents in quality there that does not need to be explained, hot toys blows it away by miles.

Then you also stated that some custom figures are better quality then hot toys, that's where I would tend to disagree. I think for the most part its certainly the other way around, look at figures like iron monger, Robocop, reeves superman, the 1/4 scale endoskeleton and so on, theres no way any customizer could even touch stuff like that. The most you can expect from a custom figure is a well sculpted and painted head with nicely tailored clothes, Most of the time that combo is then put on a knock-off true-type with one set of hands then put into a basic black cardboard box.

Then to say its a better quality in cases like that falls short of my expectations concidering the most basic of hot toys releases are on a better body, paint is flawless, packaging is beautiful and quality control is at a high end factory level. Then couple that with the hassle to get a custom figure, first you gotta stalk the custom threads, then find someone making something you want, find out when its going to be made available, try and be home at pre-order date cause the flippers buy the first batch on very limited runs to begin with, pm back and forth, get put on a list and wait for up-dates, then hope the customizer don't back out for any number of various reasons...... I mean hold c r a p its annoying

I realize for customizers its not worth there time to make limited custom items for cheap, I realize it takes time and effort an skill to do what they do and I respect that. But just cause something is custom does not make it better then professionally manufactured stuff, it just makes it more expensive.