Why are Hot Toys so expensive?

[Masao]

As for licensing, prices for fully loaded action figures went up from $39.99 USD to over $100 USD practically overnight in 2003.

Fully loaded meaning: uniform, weapons and equipment. Cy Girls for example, included extra weapons and hands.

 

[Sidewinder]

The prices are pretty ridiculous now. I mean paying AUD$280 less than 10 years ago wasn't too bad, but over AUD$400 is getting pretty ridiculous now. I've started to cut back a lot now and am only picking up figures here and there and moreso if there is a sale. They're just getting too expensive and I can't really justify spending that amount of money on a figure that is just going to be put on display.

 

[potato]

The main reason HT are so expensive is that they can name their price as the leader in their field.

Also aspects like licensing and other legal type costs are contributing more and more and covid has inflated production costs, resources, transportation across most industries.

Doing business in the West probably added alot of cost compared to when they were focusing in asia.

 

[potato]

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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.

They also help boost the hobby. We wont be seeing many of the new figures if they did not try to buy every figures. The hobby would have been dead once the oldskool collectors ran out of real estate to store them.

While i agree how they made the hobby expensive they also helped the scene.

 

[potato]

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.

We just gonna ignore modern tech lowers the cost as usual. Prices go up when cost go up but never comes down when cost is lower.

 

[potato]

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

High end cars too. Dont forget random doodles and antiques. But i bet if folks could afford those they might not bat an eye on toys. Toys, games and sneaker market is easily accessible to folks looking to spend on some hobby.

 

[potato]

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.

Ur a toy collector not an drug addict ffs. People coming out of closets dont even care they are infact proud about it. Be proud about your hobby my Padawan. I am sure mst people know how much average ferrari costs and folks have no issue showing them off with pride.

 

[potato]

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.

You have been overpaying since 2011. You got used to overpaying.

 

[potato]

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 havent bought any hot toys since ripley/snowtrooper. Bought more 3rd parties or non hot toys figures. Cant say HT is out of this world in terms of quality and accessories. They have the branding and license, their products are nothing amazing as there isnt much innovation for past few years. No reason to make a perfect figure the 1st time as they know folks would buy the renewal version$.

 

[potato]

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

They were $50

 

[potato]

That’s not entirely true.

-Being sought after tends to affect after market prices but if HT couldn’t sell $300 figures because people weren’t willing to pay, they wouldn’t make $300 figures. It’s a rather symbiotic dynamic. It certainly didn’t start out quite like that but it definitely is now.

-Production runs do have quite a bit to do with prices actually. Whether 100 items are produced or 100,000 the material costs for the manufacturing molds are the same. The more they make the more they can spread the costs of those and create a lower price point. Hasbro can’t sell $20 figures by only making 100 of them. It’s the quantity that makes the expensive tooling affordable. It’s less clear just how much that plays into HT though as their production runs are largely unknown and we only have competing 3rd party items to even begin to guess how munch of a mark up they are potentially adding in.

-popular IPs have higher licensing fees so this is 100% a factor in some of their prices- particularly for Star Wars. Lucasfilm takes a 20% commission on the wholesale price on every item sold. And that’s on top of their exorbitant licensing fees. Not all licensors are like that but Lucasfilm is a very expensive partnership.

Not saying that those contribute to their prices as much as the others but they certainly are a valid factor. The one that was left off was just good old fashioned greed. Even their retail prices differ country to county as each middleman takes their slice and passes on the costs to us. HT certainly could charge less but as with any leader in their field, they charge what they think they can get away with. $300 seems to be the new mental barrier most of us are balking at. HT might have just met their cap on basic figures and they’re going to have a reality check or they’ll just increase them even more but sell less (going back to the production run factor) and double down on being an ultra luxury item. On some level they like not having everyone being able to afford their products.

Price goes up when Howard is in need of a new Ferrari.

 

[FlyAndFight]

Doing business in the West probably added alot of cost compared to when they were focusing in asia.

They also help boost the hobby. We wont be seeing many of the new figures if they did not try to buy every figures. The hobby would have been dead once the oldskool collectors ran out of real estate to store them.

While i agree how they made the hobby expensive they also helped the scene.

We just gonna ignore modern tech lowers the cost as usual. Prices go up when cost go up but never comes down when cost is lower.

High end cars too. Dont forget random doodles and antiques. But i bet if folks could afford those they might not bat an eye on toys. Toys, games and sneaker market is easily accessible to folks looking to spend on some hobby.

Ur a toy collector not an drug addict ffs. People coming out of closets dont even care they are infact proud about it. Be proud about your hobby my Padawan. I am sure mst people know how much average ferrari costs and folks have no issue showing them off with pride.

You have been overpaying since 2011. You got used to overpaying.

I havent bought any hot toys since ripley/snowtrooper. Bought more 3rd parties or non hot toys figures. Cant say HT is out of this world in terms of quality and accessories. They have the branding and license, their products are nothing amazing as there isnt much innovation for past few years. No reason to make a perfect figure the 1st time as they know folks would buy the renewal version$.

They were $50

Price goes up when Howard is in need of a new Ferrari.

Mr. potato, you may not know this but multi-quote is available.

 

[ridetofight]

I agree on the point about HT's atrophy at the top. They've seemingly been so concentrated on pushing product out, it hasn't felt like was anything new or novel.
On their way up they were improving the quality of sculpts, tailoring, accessory design, engineering, paint and gimmicks yearly, sometimes quarterly. They were constantly leading 1/6 scale in new ways of thinking about what could be achieved.

But i think they're coming back around. If i understand correctly that new thor figure has enough light features he has to be plugged in. I remember when it was mind blowing that the predator's laser sight actually lit up. Thor even has the black light gimmick as well.

It has to be fairly expensive to hire and retain the kind of talented forward-thinking people it takes to push through the glass ceiling of a hobby and transcend it, in a sense. As well as the engineers who can figure out how to do it and make or source the means. Yeah, that is what R+D is, but something tells me SS R+D doesn't cost as much to employ as HT R+D.

As long as they can keep thinking up and competently executing new gimmicks and improvements they can keep buyers engaged and continuously try to shoot the gap between "yeah, okay, it's important enough to me to spend that" and "i just can't justify it".

I wish PERS had become standard. Such a brilliant idea that's rarely used now. The new material they used for the scout trooper boots was also innovative. They managed to figure out how to light interchangeable lightsaber blades. I like where they're headed, but i'm grabbing my things and getting off at the next station. I can no longer afford their ticket to ride at $285+.

 

[Jay Virtual]

Honestly? I think it's great that prices are up so much that I kinda lost interest in the hobby. I remember the DX02 being my first HT figure way back in 2011 and when the DX12 came out I knew I had to upgrade because it was an improved release. Now despite the new DX19 being even better than the DX12, the temptation to upgrade again is just not there due to how expensive figures are nowadays. If prices are so insane that it totally stops my compulsion in its' tracks then I consider it a blessing.

 

[Bo Shrek]

It’s across the board. NECA are over $50 CAN. Star Wars vintage collection over $20 CAN and SW Black series are $40+ CAN. Prices like this take the fun out of “collecting toys”. I no longer have the desire to purchase so I have been buying only the “must have”. And after collecting for 30 years there is not much “must have” left.

 

[DParga21]

It’s across the board. NECA are over $50 CAN. Star Wars vintage collection over $20 CAN and SW Black series are $40+ CAN. Prices like this take the fun out of “collecting toys”. I no longer have the desire to purchase so I have been buying only the “must have”. And after collecting for 30 years there is not much “must have” left.

Same boat here. My "must haves" is getting shorter and shorter. It's pretty much just Star Trek now. Unless there's a live-action Guy Gardner anytime soon, there aren't many more supes I want. It's mostly Star Trek, and thankfully those are still at a reasonable "collect 'em all" price.

 

[Bo Shrek]

My last HT purchase was in Feb 2021 (Qui Gon). I have only purchase one 1/6 figure since then Dam Toys Golden Years Godfather (in May 2022). This demonstrates two things: I am buying less and my thoughts on Hot Toys current catalogue.

 

[dantes2501]

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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.

Agree. And rest in peace

 

[Alsharad]

Hot Toys official prices are reasonable. It's the Sideshow markup that makes them so expensive.

 

[MarkKing]

Hot Toys official prices are reasonable. It's the Sideshow markup that makes them so expensive.

I will not say Hot Toys is reasonable, but Sideshow seems to be pushing it I feel.

250-300 seems to be the new price..for HT and Sideshow is heading there with their figs.

The problem with Hot Toys imo, is the value is not there. I expect extra heads and that to me is where they lack. They give hands and most accessories, but pehaps clothing change and extra heads would make the price justified.

I must say, I am leaning towards many 3rd party figures, as I found their quality up there. I am a new collector somewhat, who really got hardcore the past couple years, who like customs of characters that will never be officially made, but I am one of these guys, when it comes to third party, I am like well it's close enough.

I will take the sub200 dollar American Psycho over the near 300 dollar Sideshow version. Is sideshow better, yes....100 dollars better....debateable.