Why are Hot Toys so expensive?

[DeltaForceChung]

I wish we could go back to the days where Hot Toys were in the $220-250ish range with a few exceptions. New releases creeping closer and closer to $300 for a standard figure is getting to be a lot.

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I remember a time when HT was right at the $100.00 USD mark and then below the $200.00 USD when they start with some MCU offerings, but over time prices just kept creeping up and collectors never questioned it until the default price range was at $250.00 USD and significantly higher for the bigger sized offerings.

 

[DeltaForceChung]

To non collectors looking in from the outside the whole thing must seem ludicrous. They walk into a store and see this figure in a cabinet, they think it looks good, then they see a three figure price tag and are dumbfounded and then they probably leave. The poor retailer has had to get the figure from a distributor, who wants their cut over and above any other cost, so they have to mark up the figure accordingly to try to recoup. The thing is, they can't. A retailer near me has several grand's worth of HT in a cabinet, and if I go back in 3 months, they will still have several grand's worth in there, mostly the same figures! In a city population in the UK only a very small handful willl know what these figures are, and if they do, they won't get them from a bricks and mortar retailer, because the prices are so grossly inflated.

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NON 1:6 COLLECTORS came into the 1:6 hobby focusing on HT because of the crazy secondary market pricing they saw being paid.

IMHO, NON 1:6 COLLECTORS ****** up the 1:6 hobby with ramifications still felt to this day regarding HT figures as investment.

 

[Rogerbee]

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I remember a time when HT was right at the $100.00 USD mark and then below the $200.00 USD when they start with some MCU offerings, but over time prices just kept creeping up and collectors never questioned it until the default price range was at $250.00 USD and significantly higher for the bigger sized offerings.

My Bruce Lee cost £75 MIB. My local store wants £650 for a life size Grogu!

 

[Rogerbee]

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NON 1:6 COLLECTORS came into the 1:6 hobby focusing on HT because of the crazy secondary market pricing they saw being paid.

IMHO, NON 1:6 COLLECTORS ****** up the 1:6 hobby with ramifications still felt to this day regarding HT figures as investment.

Probably true, but, by non collectors, I meant outsiders without a full interest in the hobby.

 

[BACON!]

All I can say is the high end 1/6 collecting market is not nearly as insane as the high end wristwatch or the high end audio people out there. A million dollar watch is not out of line, or even a $100,000 stereo component

 

[Rogerbee]

The stereo collectors are going steadily deaf and buy more powerful equipment so they can still hear the music. The watches, well, that is kinda crazy, yeah, buy a $30 dollar watch with a $200,000 name on it.

 

[**16k**]

Seems like you’ve missed an option in your first post:

- 'cause they’re a bunch of thieves and know we’re a bunch of morons.

 

[Rogerbee]

LOL! That was to the point!

 

[Mike86]

I imagine something like a watch a person doesn’t collect as many of. Plus those are clearly a more wealthy person’s game. Multiple thousands is way less than anything in our hobby.

Stereo/record collectors are maybe a bit closer to our hobby.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

Because they can be. When they started up, they were less than $200 for figures

 

[Brett Banner]

I imagine something like a watch a person doesn’t collect as many of. Plus those are clearly a more wealthy person’s game. Multiple thousands is way less than anything in our hobby.

Absolutely. Rich bored people like RDJ. I’m sure most of it is collecting based on the aesthetics, but functionally speaking my $400 Apple Watch is far superior to any $100k-1mil watch. You won’t find many 1/6 figures that you can do more with than a good, solid Hot Toys release though, especially one from back in the day when they included loads of accessories and real DX treatments. But who knows, that all could be changing with InArt and EXO-6.

 

[GaryPool]

Back in 2011 I think I was paying around £160-£180 retail, now it's about £200 typically. Hasn't gone up that much to be honest. Depends where you buy from. If you're paying £400 for a single figure from Forbidden Planet you're an idiot.

 

[j97e1]

Back in 2008 I paid $120. Now its $250. What gives???????
Oh wait.....
I was making $35k a year. Now I'm making around $85k.
Doh.

 

[choombaz]

Absolutely. Rich bored people like RDJ. I’m sure most of it is collecting based on the aesthetics, but functionally speaking my $400 Apple Watch is far superior to any $100k-1mil watch. You won’t find many 1/6 figures that you can do more with than a good, solid Hot Toys release though, especially one from back in the day when they included loads of accessories and real DX treatments. But who knows, that all could be changing with InArt and EXO-6.

I think RDJ was a bad example of a rich bored person. Rich yes. Bored? Never. He donates a lot of money to a bunch of great worthwhile charities and he’s worked with or started up tech companies that invest in clean environment technologies. He is Iron Man lol.

 

[choombaz]

We shouldn’t forget though, that there is also inflation and the pandemic. Coffee prices have doubled, petrol prices have nearly doubled, clothes are more expensive, groceries are more expensive. And most of us aren’t getting wage increases to match all of these increases. HT prices have not doubled in the past ten years. But it won’t be long before they do.

 

[Mike86]

To non collectors looking in from the outside the whole thing must seem ludicrous. They walk into a store and see this figure in a cabinet, they think it looks good, then they see a three figure price tag and are dumbfounded and then they probably leave. The poor retailer has had to get the figure from a distributor, who wants their cut over and above any other cost, so they have to mark up the figure accordingly to try to recoup. The thing is, they can't. A retailer near me has several grand's worth of HT in a cabinet, and if I go back in 3 months, they will still have several grand's worth in there, mostly the same figures! In a city population in the UK only a very small handful willl know what these figures are, and if they do, they won't get them from a bricks and mortar retailer, because the prices are so grossly inflated.

Oh I’m sure the prices do seem ridiculous to people who don’t collect.

Like my girlfriend knows how much they cost (not exact amounts but she always guesses in the $300 range). She doesn’t love the idea necessarily but she knows that I enjoy them and am all in all responsible with my money.

I don’t really like to tell most people that don’t know how much they cost just because I’m sure they would scoff. One of my closer friends knows and my parents I’m sure have an idea. Try to keep it to a small amount of people.

 

[Lorddrizzt]

Easy - because people are willing to pay this much for them. When they hit the point that people stop buying, they will have to slow down or lower the prices. The fact is that everything is getting more expensive, not only HT. People want higher wages, companies want more profits, transportation costs from China to US and from US to rest of the world went way up, something that companies have to cover. And even those people making HT figures want to be able to buy food, so ask for more. In fact, they are getting better - higher quality, facesculpts, so they should get more money for it. But simply - if there is enough demand to buy for higher prices, they wont go down.

 

[Wor-Gar]

But simply - if there is enough demand to buy for higher prices, they wont go down.

Yes. InArt is going to test that theory.

 

[medicomsucks]

Yes. InArt is going to test that theory.

I d ont think in art will have a lot of success with $1,000 figures unless they stick to iconic characters. I wouldn't mind imagine a lot people paying that for a Rachel dawes for example.

 

[Masao]

The cost of sculptors is negligible and doesn't effect the price much over a large run. Lawyers make more on a project than any artist on the same project.