Toy Anxiety 1:6 Custom Brainstorm Thread

[Toy Anxiety]

Finally had a big enough order that I went ahead and picked up the flame for the torches I had -- looks really great! If anyone thought they looked too small, they look much better in hand. I’ll try to get pics up soon.

Thank you for the feedback on these. We were pretty happy with the way they turned out. Look forward to seeing your pics.

 

[damagecase]

Boondock Saints Connor and Murphy MacManus

 

[beeshaw]

So what happened? Everyone (that was interested) was excited about these torches. Now that they are available with flames, no one has responded in this thread about them, and no one has bought a single one. What's up?

I had a baby in between me ordering a couple torches and the release of the flame tips, and since then all my bashing funds/time have been wrapped up in diapers.

But I do plan on picking 2 flame tips up eventually!

Can't wait to see the pics Dashopkinsfan!

 

[AdgeTimick]

Sports accessories would be great. Footballs, helmets, shoulder pads, knee pads, baseball bats, basketballs, etc. I know there are a lot out there in the 6" size from McFarlane, but these are generic items that would be great for 12" figures. Don't know what demand would be like, but I thought it was worth suggesting.

If there are sports accessories already available and I'm just suggesting something I can get somewhere, let me know please. I've just had trouble finding anything.

 

[ifrack]

It would be nice to complete lines abandoned by HT. As already stated Whistler.... also some other female HS such as Jennifer Gardner... Jessica Alba

 

[T-800]

Conan's sword, sheath and boots from the conan movie. Also a recast of Hot toys Arnie with long hair.

 

[Toy Anxiety]

Hey guys. Thanks for your suggestions. As for sports, there is a Dragon figure that has all the football gear - Ohio State and one other guy I think. We have some of his stuff left on our site, but nothing more. That new Koby Bryant figure may have some basketball stuff, but we won't be carrying that figure as we don't have a source for wholesale.

In general though, we are done producing custom accessories as the majority of people who said they'd buy certain things never did once they became available.

 

[zombierider]

Hey guys. Thanks for your suggestions. As for sports, there is a Dragon figure that has all the football gear - Ohio State and one other guy I think. We have some of his stuff left on our site, but nothing more. That new Koby Bryant figure may have some basketball stuff, but we won't be carrying that figure as we don't have a source for wholesale.

In general though, we are done producing custom accessories as the majority of people who said they'd buy certain things never did once they became available.

That is a terrible thing. I really like the custom stuff from you guys, and I always buy it. Sadly not again.

 

[Toy Anxiety]

That is a terrible thing. I really like the custom stuff from you guys, and I always buy it. Sadly not again.

Yeah, you've always come through, and we appreciate it, but to be honest, we've spent thousands developing items, paying for head sculpt commissions, etc, and we've barely made half our money back much less any profit. It's the heads that killed. When like 20 people say they want a head, and only 5 of them actually buy it once it's available, it just doesn't work out. That's even the case with the torch. That was one of the most requested items in this thread, and we only sold 1 full torch, and 8 separate flames without the stick. Oh well, maybe something else will come up in the future. The only good seller was the Mad Max stuff, and we can't get anymore of those accessories done as Witekite is done with them, and I don't blame him. The heads sold OK, but didn't make back what we invested. We still have the Riggs head in the works as we're already committed to that, but that will be our last offering for awhile.

 

[MicroJow]

I'd like to add my two cents to this discussion and I really hope it doesn't come across as mean because I know how hard it is to create something, hoping people will enjoy it, only to find it ignored or bashed... and I have nothing but the greatest respect for anyone who even ATTEMPTS sculpting. I've tried it, I suck at it, and it's TOUGH. But regardless, here goes...

When you posted that you were going to offer Dr. Henry Frankenstein sculpts, my interest definitely perked up. Same went for the Ron Burgundy sculpt. But once the product started being shown, I lost interest. So now I find myself asking "why did I lose interest?"

It's not that the sculpts are bad... they may be perfect, they may be a bit off, whatever... I think the reason I lost interest was twofold:

1) The presentation / photography. Both Henry Frankenstein and Ron Burgundy were shown casted in a white resin which REALLY doesn't show off the details very well. If you were able to cast them in gray, or even give them a gray dusting of paint, that might help. Or, get one painted up and post that. One of the reasons I keep going back to Spenser and his sculpts is because he does a great job of showing off the work once it's done.

But I must admit, that sometimes even that doesn't do it for me. His Ghostbusters? Love 'em. His Hannibal Lector? Not so much. So, who knows? Maybe I'm just talking out my a$$ here.

And since I really didn't go back to the H Frankenstein and R Burgundy threads after seeing the initial white-cast sculpts, maybe I'm wrong and you already showed some painted up ones. I'm gonna have to go back and take a look. But what it comes down to is, I saw the white-cast sculpts, didn't see much detail, and lost interest because I felt they were lacking.

2) The threads. And by this, I mean the clothing. I would probably STILL go for a Ron Burgundy, but I don't have a line on a good 70s-era brown suit. And I'm lazy, so I haven't done the research necessary to find one. Once again, I go back to Spenser's Ghostbusters: Mattel provided the clothing & accessories, so all I needed to do was replace the body with a new head and swap out a couple easy to find bits & pieces.

I'd suggest showing some fully-completed figures and suggest where we can get the clothing. I just saw your fully finished Tallahassee and it looks great! If I were interested in the character, I'd be all over it.

Once more, I want to throw out the caveat that I haven't returned to those other threads lately, so if you've already done this, my bad.

Again, I'm sorry this hasn't worked out for you the way you hoped, but who knows? Perhaps the heads will sell slowly over time and you'll eventually make the money back. Like another poster mentioned, what with the economy being the way it is, this isn't exactly the best time to be an entrepreneur.

Good luck and I'll keep returning to Toy Anxiety for parts!

- MJ

 

[Toy Anxiety]

Hey MJ. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. However, my references are to cases such as Burgundy where people were satisfied and stated their desire to buy the head once it was cast. They saw all the pictures ahead of time and comments suggested they were satisfied with the sculpt before I sent it off for casting. I had a list of just about 10 interested people. Then, once the castings came back (in flesh tone), I posted new pictures in which I believe the details show just fine, and I've since sold 2, and the only people who commented in the thread were the people who actually came through. Where's all the other people on the list. They've all but disappeared, and they all knew it was on its way. I agree presentation is important, but I don't believe that has anything to do with people completely disappearing. I think some people (not everyone and certainly not saying you) use that as an excuse to either delay their purchase or to back out of it entirely.

Regarding presentation, we had painted and all but completed a figure of Tallahassee, and that still did no good. We've barely sold any of his parts and/or heads to this day. We offered several accessories and made suggestions as to what to use for the rest. As for painting, you know as much as I that a paint job can make or break the sell-ability of a head as well, so in order to get a good paint job, it's just more money and a long wait to get one (a good one anyway), not something we're willing to do at this point.

I started this venture with the unexpected success of selling the Chevy Chase heads. Never was there a high quality picture, never was there a painted mock up, never were there any accessories to go with it, but people wanted this sculpt and bought enough that I had to order a second batch of castings. I thought, if I can sell that many Chevy Chase heads without hardly any effort, then selling more "in demand" heads should be even easier. Obviously not the case.

I've talked to other people about this who do head sculpts, and they have said similar things, but also agree this is happening a lot more lately.

The point of this was to offer people a way to get a commissioned head sculpt going without people having to pool up money and pay ahead of time, and to offer some accessories to go with them if they were do-able. Unfortunately, we have found no affordable way of getting clothing done at this small scale, and other than Mad Max accessories, very little of what we've done has sold. We also hoped to offer things that many people would not expect to be available such as Burgundy, not just the mainstream movie icons. It pretty much backfired. Anyway, I'm sure as I someday complete my own figures from these sculpts, I'll post pictures, but no more money will be spent on new sculpts or accessories anytime soon.

One last note, I am also very unhappy that one of our known upcoming commissions was done by another sculptor who knew that we already had a commission going for this particular sculpt. I'll say no more on that.

OK, I really didn't intend to rant this much. I could say a lot more as I have many more points, but I'll end it here. Thanks again for your thoughts! I do appreciate it!

 

[Laney74]

Major League-
Vaughan, Taylor, Mays-Hayes, Cerano, Dorn, Harris

Top Gun-
Maverick, Goose, Ice Man, Slider, Viper

 

[Pennyworth]

However, my references are to cases such as Burgundy where people were satisfied and stated their desire to buy the head once it was cast. They saw all the pictures ahead of time and comments suggested they were satisfied with the sculpt before I sent it off for casting. I had a list of just about 10 interested people. Then, once the castings came back (in flesh tone), I posted new pictures in which I believe the details show just fine, and I've since sold 2, and the only people who commented in the thread were the people who actually came through. Where's all the other people on the list. They've all but disappeared, and they all knew it was on its way. I agree presentation is important, but I don't believe that has anything to do with people completely disappearing. I think some people (not everyone and certainly not saying you) use that as an excuse to either delay their purchase or to back out of it entirely.

Let me start by saying thank you for seeing the Ron Burgundy sculpt thru. I've only been into 1:6 for 2+ years, but RB has always been on the top of my wish list of figures to pursue, and I was super stoked with your results.

Ron is now heading off to the painter and I've actually had fun working on the suit & accessories...I'm looking forward to sharing.

I guess I'd have to agree with the others regarding the diminishing interest in the sculpt - lack of a painted up Ron plus the fact that sourcing the clothing is challenging, has probably lead people to lose interest and move on other things.

I believe it was 8 months from announcement to availability which isn't abnormal in a hobby where patience is required, but there has been a lot of new stuff coming out and maybe people just turned their attention to easier-to-complete figures.

It sucks that you've suffered losses on these projects. I hope that when myself and others share our figures, more freaks will be inclined to put in their orders.