Statue Weta Announces Barad-Dur

[Mr Fell Beast]

What are the two wrongs?

The price could be double what it is and it is still personal choice, whether you buy from source or even more from flipper. Nothing wrong in any point if a company chooses to sell at inflated prices or someone chooses to buy limited editions at these prices knowing there are others desperate to get one, then banging on a profit to resell.

You are right, WETA is working them out of a business here, $700 for a black tower, really?? So by your logic, it is ok for WETA to Price gouge their clients, well then so be it as I do not need that......

 

[Invictus Sol]

Although it's more than I personally am willing to pay, I feel the price is justified for the size, detail and amount of work that went into it. No offense meant, but you really seem to have an axe to grind when it comes to this piece, for some reason (especially in relation to the DM one).

 

[DaveMac]

You are right, WETA is working them out of a business here, $700 for a black tower, really?? So by your logic, it is ok for WETA to Price gouge their clients, well then so be it as I do not need that......

It's a huge, detailed piece that is a limited production collectable. If it's just a 'black tower', then Uruk Hai PF is 'just a bald guy with a bit of attitude', the Ringwraith on Steed (SS or SS/W) is 'just another horse with a few cuts and a bloke shaped black cloak on it' and Gandalf the Grey is 'just another Santa'

Price gouging? Nah... WETA is a business and though they actually listen and respond to their collector base, they are still a business and not a charity. It's there now, maybe there for a while, but those who want it will buy it and those who lose out at this stage will pay that bit more to get it at some stage. Either way, WETA have started to realise the love and demand their stuff creates so they are pricing to match now.

 

[The Josh]

There ate plenty of reasons IMO why Barad-Dur is the price it is. That doesn't mean the next item is going to be this price and that's the impression I'm getting from some posts.

 

[Invictus Sol]

...Either way, WETA have started to realise the love and demand their stuff creates so they are pricing to match now.

Have to say I don't agree with this. I'm sure Weta's profit margin on Barad Dur is the same as any similar piece but the overall price reflects the R&D, size, materials, limited run, etc. I don't think they've only now just realized how much stuff goes for on the secondary market and have decided to increase the price based on that factor. Likely they worked it out and $700.00 was the price point at which it was worthwhile to produce 1000 of these, that simple.

 

[VASith]

You are right, WETA is working them out of a business here, $700 for a black tower, really?? So by your logic, it is ok for WETA to Price gouge their clients, well then so be it as I do not need that......

Did you help design this piece? Do you know the wages that WETA have to pay to create this? If not then you speak from ignorance when you complain about the price.

 

[cstojano]

I think people are missing some of the point here. I am sure Weta priced this at a level they needed to make it worthwhile for them. I didn't get the sense that R&D went beyond initial expectations, in fact this piece seems to have come out sooner than expected, so perhaps no unexpected "delays" there. I think the point is that some decisions may have been made that resulted in this being this price point, and the question remains whether they overshot the fan base or not. Honestly, I'm more miffed about the 8000 dollar Sting with 6000 dollar scabbard than this, and by miffed I mean peeved that I cannot justify paying this even if I could technically afford to. I hate to vote against a company but with pricing in the collectibles realm becoming what they are I'm craving a bit of failure to keep prices from rising further. I haven't had a cost of living raise in close to 5 years now so all this inflation in the expendable income category is baffling - but yet the companies continue to thrive.

 

[eti023]

I just don't get it why people take it against Weta about the Price tag...well we wanted a Barad-dur and they gave it to us...we wanted a big tower and they gave it to us...then what do your expect a big statue with a small price tag...?? Not possible especially with all the Detail Barad dur has its just amazing...
Ok i get it you complain about the price because you really want it and you just can;t afford it...well when i saw the RWOS that is what i thought and i would really love to buy it but i am not prepared to pay $700 Dollars for a Horse statue... that is for sure but i did not moan about it i just did not order it was happy for everyone that did order it and lived with it...Nothing i can do
But this Barad-dur is simply amazing and what i am gonna do is use all my Weta Dollars and sell my Danbury-Mint Barad-Dur that way its a reasonable sum of money that i have to take our of my bank account...
Barad-Dur is awesome

 

[Mr Fell Beast]

Did you help design this piece? Do you know the wages that WETA have to pay to create this? If not then you speak from ignorance when you complain about the price.

Really.....................

Ignorance is your bliss there fella................

Grow up next time you hit reply...............

 

[VASith]

Really.....................

Ignorance is your bliss there fella................

Grow up next time you hit reply...............

If you know nothing about facts and figures and numbers about this and make post after post complaining about how expensive it is, then you are ignorant.

Would i prefer this to cost 5 dollars? Sure I would. But I don't set the price, WETA does. And I'm sure they have a very good reason to charge 700 dollars for it. They're a smart company, I'm sure they don't want to alienate fans, but at the same time they are a company and have to make a profit. It would be very short sighted to tell them to charge 99 dollars for this and they lose a ton of money and have to close.

 

[Adolfo]

Weta charges 700 for this because they can...bottom line...They are a business like most all businesses and will try to make the most money they can for their product...it's not a matter if it's ok or not being nice to clients, it's only business which is to make as much money as one can....end of story

 

[cstojano]

Weta charges 700 for this because they can...bottom line...They are a business like most all businesses and will try to make the most money they can for their product...it's not a matter if it's ok or not being nice to clients, it's only business which is to make as much money as one can....end of story

All true, and I accept this as long as its two sided and I on the other side of the coin am allowed to finagle, cajole, manipulate, annoy and anything else within the law to minimize a company's profit, right?

VASmith, you still seem to miss what I am saying. There may well be labor costs, man hours, materials, etc that went into this piece that no collector will ever know. But its Weta's obligation as the business to assess the market before dumping all this R&D into it. I think they over-stepped here, you disagree. Most comments online that I have read across forums seem to agree with my take; as nice as it is/may be 700 is more than I'd like to plunk into a single environment. Like I said above, I could do with less detail and less screen accuracy for 499 dollars since none of these details matter from more than a foot away. And we learned from Rivendell that we aren't supposed to really look closely at these environments.

Furthermore my fear is that many people (myself included) will cancel this order if it doesn't sell out before it ships. I mean, we have a right to preserve our wages don't we? But if many do this then weta may stop making environments altogether with the excuse that they didn't sell well. So its a catch-22 it seems. I won't be on the side of overpaying to keep a company solvent though. They mishandled the John Howe line and that seems dead in the water.

Finally I don't see people moaning because they can't afford this. At least that's not the case with me. I am discussing the economics of it all.

 

[VASith]

All true, and I accept this as long as its two sided and I on the other side of the coin am allowed to finagle, cajole, manipulate, annoy and anything else within the law to minimize a company's profit, right?

VASmith, you still seem to miss what I am saying. There may well be labor costs, man hours, materials, etc that went into this piece that no collector will ever know. But its Weta's obligation as the business to assess the market before dumping all this R&D into it. I think they over-stepped here, you disagree. Most comments online that I have read across forums seem to agree with my take; as nice as it is/may be 700 is more than I'd like to plunk into a single environment. Like I said above, I could do with less detail and less screen accuracy for 499 dollars since none of these details matter from more than a foot away. And we learned from Rivendell that we aren't supposed to really look closely at these environments.

Furthermore my fear is that many people (myself included) will cancel this order if it doesn't sell out before it ships. I mean, we have a right to preserve our wages don't we? But if many do this then weta may stop making environments altogether with the excuse that they didn't sell well. So its a catch-22 it seems. I won't be on the side of overpaying to keep a company solvent though. They mishandled the John Howe line and that seems dead in the water.

Finally I don't see people moaning because they can't afford this. At least that's not the case with me. I am discussing the economics of it all.

I don't think they over stepped at all. This is the biggest enviro they've done and the most detailed. I can appreciate if people think its too expensive, but to slag off the company because of that is juvenile. Go back and reread this thread..there are plenty " weta is stupid for charging this price". "weta is greedy and I'm never buying anything from them again".

You've provided a concise argument...my post wasn't directed at you. Just at the people who feel entitled to this for a hundred dollars. There are plenty of things I wish I could afford..I don't go on forums and call the company and their employees stupid for charging what they decide.

 

[The Josh]

I would rather pay $700 and get the best option than pay less for a lesser option.

 

[Adolfo]

I would rather pay $700 and get the best option than pay less for a lesser option.

Yes but if this was made in 2002 it would be 300 or less...fact

 

[The Josh]

Yes but if this was made in 2002 it would be 300 or less...fact

Probably so but as I've reminded many folks before its nit 2002 anymore so prices then aren't really relevant.

 

[Adolfo]

Probably so but as I've reminded many folks before its nit 2002 anymore so prices then aren't really relevant.

Yes but look at Rivendell made for 400...this should have been 500 no more...If this was open edition I actually might have not gotten it...its saving grace in regards to its present pricetag besides being awesome and beautiful is that it is L/E....I just wish it was 500 L/E instead of 1000...this will not sell out quickly...but it will sell out...I hope in the Hobbit film they show Baradur being built...It was at this time period I believe they were rebuilding it...

 

[The Josh]

Yes but look at Rivendell made for 400...this should have been 500 no more...If this was open edition I actually might have not gotten it...its saving grace in regards to its present pricetag besides being awesome and beautiful is that it is L/E....I just wish it was 500 instead of 1000...this will not sell out quickly...but it will sell out...I hope in the Hobbit the show Baradur being built...It was at this time period I believe they were rebuilding it...

I was surprised it came in at 400 and that orthanc was $250. Right and I said to weta at comic-con that whatever the price was that this needed to be a le.

 

[cstojano]

VASmith, fair enough

I think Adolfo's point is the crux of the matter. We have been whip-sawed with pricing and no longer know what to expect.

My take:
Bag End: OE = great value, CE = ok value
Prancing Pony: poor value
Rivendell: great value, most were pleasantly surprised
Fellowship sets: poor value
Gandalf the Gray seated fig: great value

Even within the environments its hard to make sense of the pricing. Rivendell is more than 2X Prancing Pony to me BY A LONG SHOT. But BD seems way out of whack when compared to Rivendell but maybe not the Prancing Pony. I attributed the price of PP to legacy or sunk costs since that was something already developed but this may be way off base. With SS, pricing makes sense, maybe inching up here and there but not schizophrenic like these environments seem to be.

That's all I have to say about this. BD looks great and I hope to own it and I hope it sells out.

 

[Mr Fell Beast]

All true, and I accept this as long as its two sided and I on the other side of the coin am allowed to finagle, cajole, manipulate, annoy and anything else within the law to minimize a company's profit, right?

VASmith, you still seem to miss what I am saying. There may well be labor costs, man hours, materials, etc that went into this piece that no collector will ever know. But its Weta's obligation as the business to assess the market before dumping all this R&D into it. I think they over-stepped here, you disagree. Most comments online that I have read across forums seem to agree with my take; as nice as it is/may be 700 is more than I'd like to plunk into a single environment. Like I said above, I could do with less detail and less screen accuracy for 499 dollars since none of these details matter from more than a foot away. And we learned from Rivendell that we aren't supposed to really look closely at these environments.

Furthermore my fear is that many people (myself included) will cancel this order if it doesn't sell out before it ships. I mean, we have a right to preserve our wages don't we? But if many do this then weta may stop making environments altogether with the excuse that they didn't sell well. So its a catch-22 it seems. I won't be on the side of overpaying to keep a company solvent though. They mishandled the John Howe line and that seems dead in the water.

Finally I don't see people moaning because they can't afford this. At least that's not the case with me. I am discussing the economics of it all.

I don't think they over stepped at all. This is the biggest enviro they've done and the most detailed. I can appreciate if people think its too expensive, but to slag off the company because of that is juvenile. Go back and reread this thread..there are plenty " weta is stupid for charging this price". "weta is greedy and I'm never buying anything from them again".

You've provided a concise argument...my post wasn't directed at you. Just at the people who feel entitled to this for a hundred dollars. There are plenty of things I wish I could afford..I don't go on forums and call the company and their employees stupid for charging what they decide.

Dude it is NOT about affording it, this is about Weta pricing some out of the market, no one said they wanted it for $100 Most in here collect this line for fun, I do, but to drop $700 on this is crazy, I know as I have dropped that and then some on the SSW WiKi statue to name a few. Could I afford it, yes, did I want to pay that much, no. Weta and this pre-auth crapola is sad way to run a business, come on SS does not pre-auth, it is THEIR company, therefor they can make that choice but sadly they go on blaming somebody else. This forum is about others opinions and thoughts, quit coming to the aid of them when in reality they could care less. Weta has priced the average collector out of this, wonder what other "Surprises" has in store for the collector. It is about economics here and sadly Weta has dropped the ball.................................again