Why are Hot Toys so expensive?

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TheNerdHoard

Just a little freaky
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I've been asked this from a bunch of people who don't understand why I would drop hundreds of dollars on a "fancy action figure". My answer. They're awesome!

The real answer though is:

- They’re extremely high quality
- They’re highly sought after by collectors
- They’re handmade and hand painted
- They have limited production runs
- They take a significant amount of time to produce
- They’re based on highly popular IPs

I actually wrote about this on my blog recently in an article entitled "Why are Hot Toys so Expensive?". Would love to get the community's opinion on whether I missed anything (and whether they agree that Hot Toys are worth the hefty price tag).

Thanks!
 
I've been asked this from a bunch of people who don't understand why I would drop hundreds of dollars on a "fancy action figure". My answer. They're awesome!

The real answer though is:

- They’re extremely high quality
- They’re highly sought after by collectors
- They’re handmade and hand painted
- They have limited production runs
- They take a significant amount of time to produce
- They’re based on highly popular IPs

I actually wrote about this on my blog recently in an article entitled "Why are Hot Toys so Expensive?". Would love to get the community's opinion on whether I missed anything (and whether they agree that Hot Toys are worth the hefty price tag).

Thanks!
Of your list, these items don't go into the high cost IMO:
- They’re highly sought after by collectors
- They have limited production runs
- They’re based on highly popular IPs

The desirability does not add to production costs. Hot Toys aren't limited at all during preorder phase. And them being based on popular IPs doesn't make them pricier since there's vast amounts of retail figures available for those same IPs. If anything unpopular IPs are going to have higher costs since they'll sell less of them.

A few comments on the article:
- Hot Toys are referred to as statues, when they're 99% figures.
- A Sideshow Iron Man statue is referenced when referencing Hot Toys resale value.
- Also referenced is the Hot Toys Infinity War Thanos as one that's gone up in value, but it actually can be found for almost ~$100 less than retail on eBay now.
- They are almost never sold out before release now.
 
Thank you so much for amazing feedback, Dukefett! I've gone ahead and made some tweaks to address those points. Really appreciate it!
 
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I think that in the 2011-2018 window HT offered us phenomenal products for a very decent price.
Back to 2012-2013 I bought the DX09 for 180€, DX08 for 170€ and the Batmobile for 590€.
It was a dream for the price.
Nowadays it’s became another story.
Spend 300 and more for a single figure becomes less acceptable.
Nevertheless when yesterday I saw a guy who posted pics of his 1/12 Justice mobile I couldn’t deny that HT offered products with great finish and manufacturing.





I know HT got much more manufacturing ressources but for more or less the same price the 89 Batmobile dashboard was a wonder next to…

 
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It's a bit like the Field of Dreams line: If you build it, they will come.

HT have built up such a rabid and loyal fanbase that they will lap up whatever they put out for whatever they price it at. There seem to be figure collectors and then HT collectors. It's like I've said before, if your figure collection is worth more than the house it's standing in, then you have a problem!
 
Of your list, these items don't go into the high cost IMO:
- They’re highly sought after by collectors
- They have limited production runs
- They’re based on highly popular IPs
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.
 
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.

They are generally focusing on licenses while they are hot and new.

SST has come out multiple times and said they started out with figures that had either less popular licensing demand and/or were old enough IPs where they knew the licenses wouldn't be cost prohibitive to acquire.

Someone who wants to make Hunger Games figures 15 years from now is not facing the same situation as HT trying to get all the Marvel licenses today.

HT started out with retro licenses. Rambo, Robocop, Terminator, Aliens, Predator, etc, etc. But that well ran dry.

Over time, my guess is we'll all see more movement towards the 1/12th scale. Maybe a little bigger. I think 8 inch figures is about right for getting more cloth/detail oriented stuff in play.

The other factor is how predictable is reusing existing R&D and molds going to be? With the MCU, after the first Captain America dropped and you could see the groundswell, you could project probably 3 full Thor movies and see the pattern for four future Avengers movies. That's giving you a lot of mileage out of that Thor Hammer accessory.

But sort of one offs? Like I doubt HT would have done Avatar Jake Sully without understanding there would be future sequels. Albeit a long time apart. But I doubt you'll see stuff like Appleseed Briareros ever again.

Part of the game is being patient. To help fund the new prequel Star Wars movies, Lucas allowed the Power Of The Force 4 inch line to return to stores. People went nuts over it. Then there a mass dumping when Phantom Menace came out. You could get a POTF AT AT for 9.99 at some ToysRUs locations in the old days. Yes, the big one.

At some point, the market will likely collapse. It happens to all lines and brands eventually. HT has had a long life cycle that's a little unusual. Like 80s GI Joe RAH, they had good timing on their side. They keyed in during the massive uptick from modern military 1/6th during the early 2000s. Lots of conditions made that possible but were unique. Widespread internet access and home PCs weren't really a thing until the late 90s. Larger shifts to ECommerce and online retailing didn't take hold until half a decade later. Formalized online payment systems changed the game and web development to support that changed the game quite a bit. There were some overall price controls coming from the 2008-2010 era of the economy just being tanked.

When HT collapses, hope you are in the right place/right time to buy in when someone is dumping their collection. If you are still in the game that long.

Part of the equation is a lot of potential collectors are opting out because of the FI/RE movement ( Financial Independence/Retire Early) and the minimalism movement. You need space and time and money to collect and there is a clear generational demarcation point at work here. Are you really going to see so many 20 year olds collecting HT stuff now? At price points at 300 a figure in some cases?

HT is expensive in part because it has survived. It's survival was dependent on a host of many other complex issues that range outside of the hobby and 1/6th in general.
 
It's a bit like the Field of Dreams line: If you build it, they will come.

HT have built up such a rabid and loyal fanbase that they will lap up whatever they put out for whatever they price it at. There seem to be figure collectors and then HT collectors. It's like I've said before, if your figure collection is worth more than the house it's standing in, then you have a problem!
Lol. I’ll say that a person can have a collecting problem waaaay before their collection even comes close to the value of their house.
 
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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