I wouldn't say Exo-6 is especially cheap, at least not if you're ordering from overseas. Personally speaking I have to think of the cost of the figure, plus the shipping (which is usually around 40-50 €) and then taxes. They vary from place to place, but for me they're around 35% plus whatever commission the customs office gets. So if Kirk and Spock cost, say, 220$/€ (they're about equal these days) each, plus 40€ for the shipping, and another ~120€ for the taxes (I paid 60€ for a 140€ package just last month, and that was books, so something marked as a toy would be higher), and the average Exo-6 figure comes to ~400€. That's more than the HT Mando Luke I got from a local shop (320€ with VAT/taxes and shipping included), DamToys Godfather (around 340€ IIRC) and actually more than any HT if I order it from Kit, where I bypass taxes. It'd cost me as much as a standard InArt Aragorn or just ~100€ less than a rooted one, always ordered from Kit's.
So yeah, technically Exo-6 is providing pretty good figures for a neglected property at good prices, but in a Post-Covid world and for people on the other side of the world, they're actually pricier than other offerings. And while it is a plus, the very fast TOAs mean I have to gather half a grand in a relatively short amount of time. For someone like me who's on the younger side and has a lot of things going on, I can either PO an HT/IA, pay less/the same as an E6, and spread out the payments over a 1-2 year period through installments, or set aside roughly half a grand per figure in these unstable times. With the same cash I'd spend on the two E6 Trek figures I wanted for this year, I'll be able to get 3 HTs to finish lines I've already started, or 2 rooted IAs, more or less. I can't justify these prices for this product.
I'm not here to knock on E6 or anything, but even though I had TWOK Kirk & Spock in my list ever since I got news of this undertaking, I'll probably have to drop them since they're coming out this year, and with IA in the game, things have changed. The E6 model has its pros, but I'd also say it has its cons too. Maybe I'll have better luck when they get to Kelvin Kirk & Spock, but personally I think that it's more likely that I'll wait it out and see what happens if another, bigger company picks up the license. Maybe InArt for the JJ flicks, maybe someone else, I don't know. But while this model might work for Trek uberfans who are focusing on it, for more casual collectors of the line it's a hassle, and personally I'd prefer the way others do it. I'd take an increase in price but a wider distribution network so that I'll have more options, and more refined offerings at the expense of all the D-Listers and the faster delivery times.
Again, not knocking on anything, we can't all get everything, choices must be made. I'm just offering my 2 cents as an "outsider" in this case on the whole contrast with the two major brands.
OneSixthKit. Free shipping, no taxes, and if you're into it, installments. I think KGHobby offers a similar service, but I've never ordered from there. You'd get better answers asking in one of the IA threads, like the Aragorn one that has heavy traffic ATM.
