that “HT standard” and it’s many branching paths once seemed unobtainable for other manufacturers. However, Over the past 5 years or so, some “standards” have been met and some have been exceeded.
To say they didn’t push the medium forward is objectively untrue. They absolutely did. with a market that was flooded with g.i. Joes, Barbie dolls, and Kenner SW, HT elevated what was once seen as cheap toys into what is now known as “High end collectibles”.
But years have gone by and our untrained eyes have now been exposed to other options by way of official products based off of lesser known IPs, custom jobs and unlicensed figures. And some of those figures made me take a step back and realize “huh...these are actually better than this HT figure...”.
Holding a standard HT figure in hand, you do feel it’s quality. Yes, overall, they indeed ARE quality products. BUT that doesn’t mean it’s an outstanding figure if the MOST important aspect of it fails to meet my expectations, and that’s the headsculpt.
I agree that HT SW figures are indeed nice figures...but I only consider the helmeted characters to be great. Everything else with a portrait, save for maybe 1 or 2 characters, are downright mediocre. They’re either idealized or just flat out look nothing like the actor. Yeah they feel nice to play with...but outstanding? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
When I’m dropping $300 USD, I don’t want to settle for “nice”. I want “exceptional”. It’s totally possible because I’ve seen exceptional and HT absolutely have the resources and capabilities to give us “exceptional” everytime.
Thinking back on it...I might be a bit generous with that 20+ haha.
