To re-release or not to re-release, that is the question?

[wookster]

Yeah I agree but i'd stress that highlighted bit

DX Joker and DX Bats were certain improvements over the standard releases, hence i'm ALL for it.

This new Batman though, while yes there is the switchable face plates and the massively improved CB likenes, the batsuit and cowl is still the same! HT is capable of improving on both without a doubt and they really should have done that IMO.

I get where you are coming from, but this is a convention exclusive, aimed squarely at your hardcore collectors and to be more precise convention attendees. I think if they went the whole hog and made a massively improved version of the OC then peeps would be mighty miffed at the 'exclusivity'. As it is, this is a cool improvement, but non essential add to the line-up (well, I say that, the 'night out' harness adds a lot of value for me). The con ex pieces do tend to be reused existing figures (or bits of) like the Pred and the IM variant.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Doesn't bother me if they re-release something or not. I collect for the item, not secondary market value

I wouldn't mind if Enterbay re-released it's Bruce Lee Way of the Dragon

 

[SolidLiquidFox]

The moral of the story is that everything eventually will be re-released and usually with improvements. Very few licenses pop up that endure the test of time and build fandom to make it worth it to secure them. Aliens, Predator, Terminator, etc. are tried and true so they will ALWAYS come back to them later on.

12" figures are a prime example of this. Spend big money on ebay at your own risk with the understanding of how very cyclical this stuff is.

 

[karamazov80]

I'm always up for improved versions of figures I own. Whether that be OC Batman, Endoskeleton, DX Joker, or whatever. But like Nam says, Medicom's strategy stinks to me. They're even worse with Kubricks than RAH figures. Recently, they released figures that were previously only available as 1/96 blind box chases as a mass-produced 2-pack costing $20!! WTF?? Selling something as a truly rare collectible (i.e., not 4,000-10,000 produced) where people are forced to pay Medicom more money than they would like to to get those figures, then mass producing the exact same figure for cheap sale is not cool.

 

[barryo]

i would be more interested in them actually finishing lines especially when we've seen prototypes & they've made announcements for future figures. re-release/variants?, sure, why not..........but just finish what you stated......

 

[karamazov80]

Well, I don't think HT has ever released "official" pics/specs without releasing that figure. Often the prototypes shown are leaked from "behind the scenes" photos, and that doesn't mean much to me. Sideshow has also shown prototypes of things that never came to be, and of variations we never saw mass-produced, and no one gets too angry about that.

As for announcing licenses than sitting on them for a year or two. . .I don't get it, and don't think it's the best strategy. Why build up hype for something that you don't have firmly in the pipeline? Just announce the license when you've got the first official prototype ready to go, and have that figure announcement be the license announcement. Lame.

As for finishing lines. . .that's just not HT's MO unless you're called Iron Man.

 

[wookster]

It's cold business at the end the end of the day. If a thing sells and makes money you'll make more of it (like IM), however if pre-orders are poor and the sales figures don't recoup enough profit for the license (Watchmen) then no good business will cut its nose off to spite its face.
As for sitting on a license I believe that things like Avatar for example are being researched and developed as we speak, but the early announcement is as much for their competition as it is for the punters.
Just my opinion anyway.

 

[Jmlsuperman]

If you can improve on a product and make it better and more durable, then why not. Also, a companies job is to make money. Hot Toys knows that making Iron Man and Batman figures make them money. I think if they were to re-release the Aliens Marines now, they would be amazing, even more so then they already were. Would people buy them, for sure. Remember at the end of the day, if it can turn a profit, and it can be improved upon, then by all means.

 

[Guinnessfan]

For anybody that's gonna pick this up I hope that HT fixes and improves on one main thing, the rubber suit. This will for sure go for big $ especially at first, and it would be a sad thin to see any leakage on these.

 

[domino]

Due to the fact that I just started collecting I would love to see some re-releases or variants. There are so many great figures that I missed out on that I can't afford on the secondary market.

 

[The Mike]

As for finishing lines. . .that's just not HT's MO unless you're called Iron Man.

The Iron Man line certainly has more pieces to it than most but it is far from finished. Unless they sneak a few into their TT line it never will be. The same way that people are screaming for Gordon to finish their line because of his importance others are screaming for Stane or even Pepper.

 

[wookster]

The Iron Man line certainly has more pieces to it than most but it is far from finished. Unless they sneak a few into their TT line it never will be. The same way that people are screaming for Gordon to finish their line because of his importance others are screaming for Stane or even Pepper.

And I want some Hammer Drones godammit!

 

[Solidus]

Variants are fine so long as they don't take precedence over follow-up releases, but a company should never re-release the same exact figure... I'm looking at YOU Medicom!

Medicom frickin' blows. Back in 2009 I purchased a few Medicom Metal Gear Solid figures, but in the following year (2010), the lame company decided to release one of the figures in the exact same packaging as the original. I've since sworn off Medicom for good.

 

[barryo]

i guess it's hard a balancing act as to produce what will sell & what wont. i think there are several camps in the mix. 1 doesnt want to invest in a line at all if the line doesnt have a certain depth. another wants just the main character, & another camp that buy any & everyting in the line. i tend to be a mix of the first two. not counting camp flip.......

dammit, i just want my platoon elias figure..............

 

[eighthsamurai]

i guess it's hard a balancing act as to produce what will sell & what wont. i think there are several camps in the mix. 1 doesnt want to invest in a line at all if the line doesnt have a certain depth. another wants just the main character, & another camp that buy any & everyting in the line. i tend to be a mix of the first two. not counting camp flip.......

dammit, i just want my platoon elias figure..............

i get suckered in by certain lines because they make more sense if they're complete, like a lot of people. watchmen and platoon being good personal examples. of course HT didn't promise us anything, but up to that point they'd been fairly good with giving us some depth for each license. i bought comedian and the ____ty silk spectre because i thought at least rorschach would come. maybe nite owl too. it seemed like a no brainer.

platoon is an even better example - the display just "makes more sense" with elias completing the trio. i've had people look at my 2 figs already and ask "what about the other one, dafoe?"

can't even wait around to see how the line develops before you buy anymore. seems HT figures nowadays go up in price before they've even hit retailers in the UK and US.

but at the end of the day, it's all just toys. i'm not gonna get my panties in a twist over this crap anymore. we're at the whim of plastic dealers. best not to get too hooked.

 

[karamazov80]

The Iron Man line certainly has more pieces to it than most but it is far from finished.

Well of course, you're not gonna get every civilian and secondary character in a film (like Pepper Potts and Justin Hammer), but I would say HT got pretty dang close with IM 2 considering that the large robots like Whiplash Mk. 2 and Drones are probably cost prohibitive. I wouldn't expect HT to ever delve more deeply into a line than they did there, and would hope they wouldn't because they have limited resources and I want them working on other things personally.

Also, I agree with Wookster all the way about the costs, etc. They're a business. Though I get frustration (I, too, want a Rorschach!), they do what makes sense to them as a business. And you can't hardly fault them for that. I just wish they wouldn't start with secondary characters before giving us primary characters unless they were really certain a line was going to succeed.

 

[thenammagazine]

Yeah I get what you mean.
Thread starter is referring to the new Toy Fair Batman and actually said halfway down page 1 that he meant variants, so I'm talking along those lines.

Is it right for HT (or anyone) to release new improved versions of figures they'd previously released, crashing the value of older versions?

I vote yes.

Improved versions are variants in my eyes, so I really don't care. So long as some aspect of it is visibly different. I think the Batman fans are failing to understand the concept of a con exclusive and what that means. Those of us who've been collecting Sideshow all these years are very familiar with it. Unfortunately, as seen below, the HT Batman fans are not.

Yeah I agree but i'd stress that highlighted bit

DX Joker and DX Bats were certain improvements over the standard releases, hence i'm ALL for it.

This new Batman though, while yes there is the switchable face plates and the massively improved CB likenes, the batsuit and cowl is still the same! HT is capable of improving on both without a doubt and they really should have done that IMO.

It's not the same. It's a variant. The new likeness, harness and mouth make it an update of the old figure.

Medicom frickin' blows. Back in 2009 I purchased a few Medicom Metal Gear Solid figures, but in the following year (2010), the lame company decided to release one of the figures in the exact same packaging as the original. I've since sworn off Medicom for good.

I'm with ya. I own the Zombie Snake and paid $299 to import it from Japan. I can't complain about it, really, because nobody put a gun to my head and made me spend the money. I saw the figure I wanted and bought it. And I don't regret owning it. But when all is said and done, I won't be paying to import rare Medicom exclusives anymore, so that's on them (or more directly, hurts the Japanese retailers who sell their exclusives).