What HT Announcement would make you rethink your preorders

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

Hey. If this topic is redundant you guys can feel free to shut it out. I'm finding I'm trying to make decisions on my preorders but am having a hard time doing it because I don't have a crystal ball. Some figures would just look a lot better standing next to other figures from that license and because sometimes Hot Toys might leave a line high and dry, like Watchmen, I worry about having a figure that looks really random and alone standing there by themselves.
For example, I have a Silk Spectre and would me more apt to hunt down a Comedian if I thought we were getting a couple of more characters. Also, While I'm learning toward pulling the trigger on the Tron offerings I'd be more apt to do it if I thought I'd see a Quorra or Clu.
While some characters like a Spider-Man or Superman are iconic enough to stand there by themselves, others require at least one other character to complement them and when we don't know whether we are getting one or the line gets abandoned it adds a little frustration to collecting HT figures. Does anyone else out there wish we could know a little more about HT's intentions before handing over the cash and if so how would certain announcement effect what you have coming?

 

[EVILFACE]

Movies with a large main cast. People only want the most popular, then complain if they lesser figures don't get made.

I think the TRON figures sold like poo, so I wouldn't expect anyone else.

Bottom line buy what you like. Comedian is a fantastic looking figure even though the reset of them won't ever see the light of day.

 

[El Skutto]

Their intentions are irrelevant; it's the money that decides if a line gets more releases or not. I'm sure that Hot Toys acquires every license with the intention of producing as many figures as possible, but if the sales don't support it, they'd just be throwing their money away.

It takes a lot of money to develop a 1:6 figure, including sculpting, paint, accessory and outfit design. They have to make a significant profit to not only offset those costs, but also pay their staff, their bills and turn a profit for their stakeholders and/or investors. If they're only selling, say, 2000 of a particular figure then that line is more than likely to be cancelled to prevent further loss of profit.

Hoenstly, the best you can do is look at the movie's performance. If it does well at the box office and gets generally positive reviews, you'll most likely see more product in the future. But if the movie tanks, chances are you'll get one or two releases at best before Hot Toys takes their ball and goes home.

 

[Oscar_the_Gungan]

Their intentions are irrelevant; it's the money that decides if a line gets more releases or not. I'm sure that Hot Toys acquires every license with the intention of producing as many figures as possible, but if the sales don't support it, they'd just be throwing their money away.

It takes a lot of money to develop a 1:6 figure, including sculpting, paint, accessory and outfit design. They have to make a significant profit to not only offset those costs, but also pay their staff, their bills and turn a profit for their stakeholders and/or investors. If they're only selling, say, 2000 of a particular figure then that line is more than likely to be cancelled to prevent further loss of profit.

Hoenstly, the best you can do is look at the movie's performance. If it does well at the box office and gets generally positive reviews, you'll most likely see more product in the future. But if the movie tanks, chances are you'll get one or two releases at best before Hot Toys takes their ball and goes home.

That makes sense. I think what makes it difficult is it is rare we hear that something sold well or didn't or whether the research and development of a figure is taking longer than they thought. It seems like for the last year whenever they announced something on Facebook they got bombarded with, "Where's Superman." While it was a given the figure would be a cash cow little was known for much longer than anyone thought it would be. Some even speculated it was cancelled. So in some cases its hard to say because we haven't heard something by a certain date that something isn't happening.
On the issue of box office success I think most of the time it is probably a good rule of thumb but I'm not sure that is always the case. Sometimes, I have wondered if there is a landfill in North Dakota filled with Mattel's Avatar toys. The film was a huge success but the merchandising didn't catch on. But on the other hand I figured being that is almost 18 months and Hot Toys hasn't made a specific figure announcement that they are slowed down because they are unique designs that would require bodies they haven't used before.
Tron is hard for me to declare DOA yet. Some retailers have sold out on preorders for the Hot Toys Tron product, but a lack of announcement makes me wonder if they are done. On the other hand was that just what they could release while trying to develop light up suits for a couple of other figures and we see an announcement two years from now. As a movie Tron: Legacy is in a weird in between place. If the movie had made $20 million less they probably wouldn't be working on a script for a sequel, if it had made $20 million more we may have had a title, a release date and Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde saying they can't wait to get started.
As far as something like Sucker Punch. I wouldn't be surprised if Hot Toys looked at the box office returns and scrapped the whole line, but they could decide the designs speak for themselves and the figures would look cool and there would like be buyers for them.
I guess I'm rambling now, but while I couldn't expect Hot Toys to commit to a whole line before knowing how profitable it would be, it would sure be nice to have a bit more information, especially when the cost of the figures dictates you have to be especially choosy about what you buy.

 

[Jill Sandwitch]

@El Skutto: That isn't always true though if what EVILFACE is saying is true the TRON figures had poor sales but that movie was a box office hit. Tbh I'm surprised Angelica got announced for the POTC line I was expecting them just to make Jack and call it a day.

 

[El Skutto]

@El Skutto: That isn't always true though if what EVILFACE is saying is true the TRON figures had poor sales but that movie was a box office hit. Tbh I'm surprised Angelica got announced for the POTC line I was expecting them just to make Jack and call it a day.

Actually, Tron Legacy is officially considered a box office failure, despite making a modest profit domestically. Disney execs were expecting it to make considerably more money during its opening weekend.

And the jury's still out on the Tron figures. Two have been announced and have yet to be released. If sales of those two figures are strong enough, you can bet Hot Toys will follow up with other releases from the license.

The good news is that Tron Legacy, like its predecessor, is starting to develop a much larger fanbase since its release on video. So, it's probably too early to call the Tron line dead.

 

[Lejuan]

Maybe if HT brought out a Pulp Fiction Jules but not a Vincent Vega then sure, this'd look pretty ridiculous... but I can't readily think of any movies where this is genuinely the case that the figure is somehow diminished by not having an accompanying figure from the movie standing next to it, and that figure wasn't made.

Maybe having Kevin and Sam Flynn but no Qorra is an example, but it wouldn't stop me getting either of these if I were a Tron fan.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

The only announcement that would force me to go back and cancel some PO's would be if they announced they were making a 1/6 for every female assassin from the 'Kill Bill' movies



Forget Sucker Punch, Kill Bill is where the real bad ass honey's are at

 

[SAB]

Actually, Tron Legacy is officially considered a box office failure, despite making a modest profit domestically. Disney execs were expecting it to make considerably more money during its opening weekend.

And the jury's still out on the Tron figures. Two have been announced and have yet to be released. If sales of those two figures are strong enough, you can bet Hot Toys will follow up with other releases from the license.

The good news is that Tron Legacy, like its predecessor, is starting to develop a much larger fanbase since its release on video. So, it's probably too early to call the Tron line dead.

Tron Legacy is not considered a box office failure.
Disney would have liked it to make more but it passed $400mil on a $170mil budget.

 

[xjamiex]

Forget Sucker Punch, Kill Bill is where the real bad ass honey's are at

 

[Gipetto0812]

LOTR or SW would probably really make HT bleed me dry of all the cash I've got but besides that, nothing really

 

[tinister]

Actually, Tron Legacy is officially considered a box office failure, despite making a modest profit domestically. Disney execs were expecting it to make considerably more money during its opening weekend.

And the jury's still out on the Tron figures. Two have been announced and have yet to be released. If sales of those two figures are strong enough, you can bet Hot Toys will follow up with other releases from the license.

The good news is that Tron Legacy, like its predecessor, is starting to develop a much larger fanbase since its release on video. So, it's probably too early to call the Tron line dead.

Tron Legacy definitely is growing in popularity after the theatrical release. And there's a spinoff cartoon series premiering soon that looks kickass. So I wouldn't call it dead either.

But as far as an expanding HT figure line of the license - I think the drawback is that the figures would be expensive to produce in 1/6 scale. And articulation would be a problem. They would be suits similar in construct to the Ex-Machina line.

 

[tinister]

Movies with a large main cast. People only want the most popular, then complain if they lesser figures don't get made.

I think the TRON figures sold like poo, so I wouldn't expect anyone else.

Bottom line buy what you like. Comedian is a fantastic looking figure even though the reset of them won't ever see the light of day.

They really should have made a Rorschach imo. Along with Comedian - he is super popular.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Watchmen was plain terrible. Tron was an award winner compared to that movie

 

[tinister]

I didn't care much for the movie "Watchmen" but I loved the visuals from the movie. Mainly because it looked so much like the graphic novel. And if it wasn't for the actor who played Rorschach - it would have been completely unwatchable for me.

 

[SAB]

Snake Plissken

 

[Rzeznikk]

LOTR or SW would probably really make HT bleed me dry of all the cash I've got but besides that, nothing really

This.

Along with if HT looked into doing Universal Monsters or Slasher/Horror icons like Jason/Freddy/Myers....