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

[mightyq]

skull-i should have been more clear, when i mean some customs are better than hot toys i was referring to paint apps and clothing, and in some instances accessories. check out "robbie the painter" for those. yes of course figures like the monger, ironman, batman, those will always be better than a customizer can make. paint apps you do know are not hand painted. although they look great, some of them. a painted silent surfer sculpt is really something to look at. there are things a big co. like hot toys who mass produce figures just cant do in order to keep costs dpwn and pump these out. like hand paint there sculpts, a customizer doing a small run can make accessories better in quality because of the short run and not mass produced. egample would be the super hero capes for everything tony meis makes. hot toys probably could make the same but then costs go way up. so cheaper versions is the way. of course nobody has to buy a custom cape,. its just an example.

I still think its fairly cut and dry for value of figures, its what people will pay, of course like anyhting in life a market is set, yes there are other logistics that could always ruin value, regardless of any set market. if a seller wants out of something or a person wnats to cut a loss no matter what, the valued market is put on hold until the selling or dump is over. happens everyday with something. clothing jewlery, cars, does not matter. if said item sells for $20 then all of the sudden one merchant has a ton of surplus and starts selling for 9.99, thats the new market until he is done and maybe, this does happen,. become the new market. can it happen with figues of course, remeber when the planet of the apes general was going for $700-900 because a select few paid this and all of the sudden this figure became rare over night, bull crap, its now back down to its market price of $400-500, heck seen one sell 2 months ago brand new for $285. although i agree somwhat that its not that simple, it is when it comes to price, its what people will pay, certain perceptions only last for a short time if not proven to be true. like the pota genral, percieved to be rare, then they all came out of the woodwork, (big shocker all the sellers with the high priced generals were from asia) then people caught on and the price plunge once again.

i will say this about high priced customs, setting that market can get tough, for eg. not enough wonka's have sold to base a value on it that evrybody can agree with, its not worth $800 anymore, and not worth $6,000, as you seen the one for sale right after for $1,000 less didnt sell. so where is the value? with a figure like this with so little production you cant ever establish a set market, we cant ever say its worth $3k-3,500. because one will sell much higher like it did, and the percived market before that sale was $3,500. now its $6000 and the moon. for me i need to see 4,5 sell at that price to say ok thats the market, but it wont because there arent enough to sell. so a customs market will always be all over. this is a very thinly capatilzed hobby to begin with, 1/6 figure collecting cant even come close to other hobbies, like stamps or sports cards. hate to break it to people but this market could take a huge hit overnight. another economy crumble and people would be shocked at certain prices for sure. you know what happens when evrybody runs for the exit.

i agree collecting the cheaper well produced hot toys, enterbay, etc is the best bet as far as staying on a budget goes, but if somebody can pay $5,000 a pop for cutoms and not make a dent into their daily living expenses who am i to argue. a customs debate can go on forever. i gotta go, im working on my newest custom.

 

[The Skull]

skull-i should have been more clear, when i mean some customs are better than hot toys i was referring to paint apps and clothing, and in some instances accessories. check out "robbie the painter" for those. yes of course figures like the monger, ironman, batman, those will always be better than a customizer can make. paint apps you do know are not hand painted. although they look great, some of them. a painted silent surfer sculpt is really something to look at. there are things a big co. like hot toys who mass produce figures just cant do in order to keep costs dpwn and pump these out. like hand paint there sculpts, a customizer doing a small run can make accessories better in quality because of the short run and not mass produced. egample would be the super hero capes for everything tony meis makes. hot toys probably could make the same but then costs go way up. so cheaper versions is the way. of course nobody has to buy a custom cape,. its just an example.

I still think its fairly cut and dry for value of figures, its what people will pay, of course like anyhting in life a market is set, yes there are other logistics that could always ruin value, regardless of any set market. if a seller wants out of something or a person wnats to cut a loss no matter what, the valued market is put on hold until the selling or dump is over. happens everyday with something. clothing jewlery, cars, does not matter. if said item sells for $20 then all of the sudden one merchant has a ton of surplus and starts selling for 9.99, thats the new market until he is done and maybe, this does happen,. become the new market. can it happen with figues of course, remeber when the planet of the apes general was going for $700-900 because a select few paid this and all of the sudden this figure became rare over night, bull crap, its now back down to its market price of $400-500, heck seen one sell 2 months ago brand new for $285. although i agree somwhat that its not that simple, it is when it comes to price, its what people will pay, certain perceptions only last for a short time if not proven to be true. like the pota genral, percieved to be rare, then they all came out of the woodwork, (big shocker all the sellers with the high priced generals were from asia) then people caught on and the price plunge once again.

i will say this about high priced customs, setting that market can get tough, for eg. not enough wonka's have sold to base a value on it that evrybody can agree with, its not worth $800 anymore, and not worth $6,000, as you seen the one for sale right after for $1,000 less didnt sell. so where is the value? with a figure like this with so little production you cant ever establish a set market, we cant ever say its worth $3k-3,500. because one will sell much higher like it did, and the percived market before that sale was $3,500. now its $6000 and the moon. for me i need to see 4,5 sell at that price to say ok thats the market, but it wont because there arent enough to sell. so a customs market will always be all over. this is a very thinly capatilzed hobby to begin with, 1/6 figure collecting cant even come close to other hobbies, like stamps or sports cards. hate to break it to people but this market could take a huge hit overnight. another economy crumble and people would be shocked at certain prices for sure. you know what happens when evrybody runs for the exit.

i agree collecting the cheaper well produced hot toys, enterbay, etc is the best bet as far as staying on a budget goes, but if somebody can pay $5,000 a pop for cutoms and not make a dent into their daily living expenses who am i to argue. a customs debate can go on forever. i gotta go, im working on my newest custom.

Well put, and great thread btw I've had these thoughts and never really had a good place to talk intelligently about the subject. Your point about prices is well put but I think were talking about different things, your talking about value being subjective due to rareness of said piece, when I'm talking about quality of the piece. For instance there maybe only a few of a certain figure jacking the price though the roof due to the fact theres only a few, whereas I'm talking about the actual quality of the figure.

Silver surfer the painter you talked about is an amazing artist and his work is great no question, but better then hot toys is in the eye of the beholder. I seen his resent work on the running man sculpt coming out and its nice, but compare it to the hot toys barney ross from expendibles 2 and I wouldn't say its better, but again this is just my opinion and I really don't want to offend him or his work so I will leave it there.

In the end I'm happy with what I'm collecting, not due to price but because of the fact I'm happy with what I'm getting, I can afford to buy a figure for 800 bucks once a month no real biggie cause I spend anywhere from 300-600 a month on figures regularly, just not into spending big bucks on something when its only more expensive due to it being rare or custom and not necessarly better.

In this hobby whats most important is buying what your happy with and can afford, if people are happy with a figure they paid 5000 for and they didn't sweat dropping that kinda cash, more power to them. You can't worry about what others think about what you collect cause collecting is a personal. Trying to convince people that a expensive custom figure is better than mass produced high end collectible figure is a tough argument, and could go on and on.

I now have a headache from writing these long winded posts but glad to put my thoughts out there

 

[jimmie_dimmick]

Is there a CliffsNotes version of this thread?

 

[Lejuan]

Twitter version for me please

 

[crows]

Twitter version for me please

customs = overpriced
HT=better quality


that's pretty much it

 

[Rdeezy]

customs = overpriced
HT=better quality


that's pretty much it

You haven't seen many customs, have you?

 

[Hidden Jitsu]

Well Like mightyq has said these things are only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.
If they want it bad enough they will buy it regardless of cost.
With me i only think something is worth what they originally sold for no matter how rare.
So i think that rainman's stuff is worth the $800.00 and all hand tailored with certificate's and what not.
But $6K it is not.
I just think that let's say i was looking for a certain item and they were exactly the same but one was a statue limited numbers and one was a 1/6 scale figure i would choose the statue.
It is not about size of the item as that never matter , it is about the fact it is a statue and not dare i say it a doll.
BUT! I just thought these were overpriced doll's but now i have seen the light when i bought my first hot toys T-800 and i was amazed so now i but and customize them.
I don't even buy resin kit's anymore as there is no point even though i have hundreds of them.
I would be a bit gutted if i bought a custom for $800.00 and then hot toys released the same for $250.00.
I know it is all about the custom and hand made.
But these would only sell to hardcore collectors the likes of people on these boards and people whom know exactly what they are looking at.

But like people have said , some people buy these for the simple fact they want it to sell on and no other reason.
Which is not fair to people whom are massive fans and genuinely want to cherish and display there item.
So when people sell them 3 months later saying it is a super grail is a load of horse ****!
As if i had 1000 figures and this grail that i would never get again i would sell the 1000 figures and just have my one grail as i would have spent the money on it as it is my all time favourite movie and would only sell if really needed to.

At the end of the day it is a hobby we should all enjoy and not think of the end price.
Display it and enjoy it , yes people have various budgets to spend on these things some a lot more than others and we all have different taste's.

 

[Rdeezy]

Well Like mightyq has said these things are only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.
If they want it bad enough they will buy it regardless of cost.
With me i only think something is worth what they originally sold for no matter how rare.
So i think that rainman's stuff is worth the $800.00 and all hand tailored with certificate's and what not.
But $6K it is not.
I just think that let's say i was looking for a certain item and they were exactly the same but one was a statue limited numbers and one was a 1/6 scale figure i would choose the statue.
It is not about size of the item as that never matter , it is about the fact it is a statue and not dare i say it a doll.
BUT! I just thought these were overpriced doll's but now i have seen the light when i bought my first hot toys T-800 and i was amazed so now i but and customize them.
I don't even buy resin kit's anymore as there is no point even though i have hundreds of them.
I would be a bit gutted if i bought a custom for $800.00 and then hot toys released the same for $250.00.
I know it is all about the custom and hand made.
But these would only sell to hardcore collectors the likes of people on these boards and people whom know exactly what they are looking at.

But like people have said , some people buy these for the simple fact they want it to sell on and no other reason.
Which is not fair to people whom are massive fans and genuinely want to cherish and display there item.
So when people sell them 3 months later saying it is a super grail is a load of horse ****!
As if i had 1000 figures and this grail that i would never get again i would sell the 1000 figures and just have my one grail as i would have spent the money on it as it is my all time favourite movie and would only sell if really needed to.

At the end of the day it is a hobby we should all enjoy and not think of the end price.
Display it and enjoy it , yes people have various budgets to spend on these things some a lot more than others and we all have different taste's.

 

[potato]

A repainted HT headsculpt is also considered a custom, and even though HT & EB produce great paint jobs, still can't beat some of the custom painters, especially those special effects like sweat etc. Those can only be achieve by carefully & skillfully hand painting them.

No company would invest that kind of time & money for mass produced items.

 

[crows]

You haven't seen many customs, have you?

no, I meant that as the Twitter/simplified version of this thread lol.

 

[Rdeezy]

no, I meant that as the Twitter/simplified version of this thread lol.

Haha gotcha

 

[cplhicks]

I make my own customs and that unto it's self gives me joy.

I enjoy the creative end of making these one of a kind figures. It's really personal for me to spend time building them than putting them on my shelf I really feel a "connection" to them.

Even if Hot Toys invalidates something that I've made I still got my money's work out of the creative process.