Hot Toys Star Wars?

[Lightsaber]

Plastic. All plastic.

 

[The Josh]

Doesn't no mean yes? lol. or is that why I keep getting into problems?

True, eventually I learned to do that. had no choice, my wallet was hurting too much.

Seems that way and I did the same thing.

 

[Sachiel]

SS's model definitely has it's place. But for those of us who have discovered over the years that what we really want are the core characters, extremely well done, HT's model is far more attractive to eye (potentially) and the wallet.

Yup.

 

[Anzik]

George Lucas has made enough off of Star Wars. Forcing us to get addicted and then extorting a huge fortune from us. If not for the fans he wouldn't have a fortune. What about the needs of the collector??
And SSC has made their greatest profits to date, they need to reduce the prices and stop being so greedy, and if they have to do it, so does Hot Toys!! What right do they have to make such indecent amounts of money because we collectors need our figures?
There should be a law limiting how much they can charge.

 

[rushmore223]

George Lucas has made enough off of Star Wars. Forcing us to get addicted and then extorting a huge fortune from us. If not for the fans he wouldn't have a fortune. What about the needs of the collector??
And SSC has made their greatest profits to date, they need to reduce the prices and stop being so greedy, and if they have to do it, so does Hot Toys!! What right do they have to make such indecent amounts of money because we collectors need our figures?
There should be a law limiting how much they can charge.

That's a joke, right?

 

[Matt S]

That's a joke, right?

I sure hope so. Otherwise, its true what they say: ignorance is bliss

 

[Darth Cruel]

That's a joke, right?

The half dozen roll eyes emoticons should tip you off.

 

[rushmore223]

The half dozen roll eyes emoticons should tip you off.

Should have, funny how I missed them when I posted.

 

[BankruptCollector]

IMO, of all star wars collectibles the 12" figures are the least impressive. The ss mace windu is decent, obi wan (mcgregor) is ok but the anakin and Jedi Luke are ghastly. I'm happy with the rah imperial guard but let's not kid anyone...those aren't hard to make.

Conclusion: yes please! Hot Toys please start with a p. Leia w/ white gown and slave suit!!!

 

[devilof76]

I think you have a severely limited experience of Sideshow Star Wars figures.

Nearly all of their humans leave something to be desired, but the lion's share of what they've made is not human.

George Lucas has made enough off of Star Wars. Forcing us to get addicted and then extorting a huge fortune from us. If not for the fans he wouldn't have a fortune. What about the needs of the collector??
And SSC has made their greatest profits to date, they need to reduce the prices and stop being so greedy, and if they have to do it, so does Hot Toys!! What right do they have to make such indecent amounts of money because we collectors need our figures?
There should be a law limiting how much they can charge.

Awesome.

Hasbro figures looked like they cost $20. Sideshow's earliest human figures looked like they cost $50-60. Economy gradually went to hell starting in 2006, and with the improvements we have seen for basic figures, it is absolutely no surprise that they now cost $100.

If people want Hot Toys quality core characters, they're going to cost Hot Toys prices, and if you add Lucasfilm licensing fees to that, they're going to cost Iron Man or Predator prices.

And it's a damn good thing these prices are yielding record profits. Profits are what ensure the viability of any company, especially in poor economic times. Cheaper figures for the sake of collectors who don't have the money to spend that they did in 2005 equals no more figures. It's already clear how dangerous 1:6 has proven for Sideshow, and it is in their best interest to play Scrooge on Christmas Eve---not Scrooge on Christmas Day. If we want to keep getting cool aliens, clones, troopers and eventually droids, it's in our best interest too.

I know there aren't a lot of people who want ten different clones any more, and background aliens appear to be even less popular. The number of people who would be happy with just R2 and 3PO is disheartening, because I can remember how excited people were when the line was announced and everybody wanted everything. Apparently economic fatigue is a killer of the passion for Star Wars that was abundant before hatred for wealth finally manifest itself.

Because that is what brought everything down. Coming out of the 90's, people should have been screaming for more wealth at every turn. Nope. What the chorus couldn't keep its mouth shut about was how some people had so much while so many other had so little. And guess what? Now lots of people have so little. And now that the wealth that the tech boom was promising is essentially destroyed, the people who want it back practically have to beg to have even the slightest loosening of the grip on that goose's neck. Even landslide elections are scoffed at as mere backlash from reactionary fear-mongering.

I hope George makes a lot more money this year. But he won't unless the rest of the world catches up with him again. The more money everyone makes, the more and better Star Wars toys we'll get.

Here's to a thousand more laws helping rich people in 2011.

 

[jkno]

George Lucas has made enough off of Star Wars. Forcing us to get addicted and then extorting a huge fortune from us. If not for the fans he wouldn't have a fortune. What about the needs of the collector??
And SSC has made their greatest profits to date, they need to reduce the prices and stop being so greedy, and if they have to do it, so does Hot Toys!! What right do they have to make such indecent amounts of money because we collectors need our figures?
There should be a law limiting how much they can charge.

You'd be the best economist in a totalitarian regime.
Though I would agree with lowering of the prices, and Lucas to donate me 1/4 of his money.

 

[Anzik]

I love profit. It is the reward for people striving and achieving. It is the best leading by example, showing others the way that says if they can do it, I can do it. It is people that face a challenge and beat the odds, not people that cry that its not fair and they never had a chance.
I think SSC is a very smart business, diverse in its offerings, and they deliver a product people want. As far as the background aliens, I would contend that if Hammerhead, Greedo etc were to have come out at the time of the Kit Fisto release they would have flown out of the warehouse, but these days, we look at the growing collections, the shrinking space and we ask, "Where the hell can I put this?
As for the economy, its not great. I find it a bit ironic that five years ago the news portrayed the economy as horrendous, and today they just sing Happy Days Are Here Again, and broadcast optimistically every time a new report isn't as depressing as they expected. Despite that, people find a way to buy what they want. Cigarette sales are still high, Iphones, video game systems and some of us buy very expensive toys.
What we're seeing is a natural force. SSC raised the bar Hasbro set, HT raised the bar further. Medicom was in there somewhere, but now seems largely irrelevant. SSC is still considerably cheaper than HT, its just that magic number that has everything to do with perception. ROTJ Luke cost $50 and there is a $50 price difference between SSC and HT, yet people dismiss it. We have a right to demand the best, but we have to be prepared to pay for it.
I will agree that SSC's paint applications do not match HT, I will agree that their costuming often but not always, isn't as good, but head sculpts are generally superb. Trevor, Oluf, Tim, and Mat still has the most Hamill looking Luke. Andy, though a bit stylized there was never any doubt who it was. Coincidentally SSC has trouble with the sculpts everyone else has trouble with. We also have to admit that HT is not God. They have had their share of near misses as well, and while I am irked by an off sculpt from SSC< I am more irked by an off sculpt from HT because I paid more for it.

 

[Darth_IMPoor]

 

[Darth Cruel]

Why is everybody apologizing for SSC's pricepoint? Let the haters hate. It will be their loss.

 

[devilof76]

I'm not apologizing so much as taking a moment to pound the hell out of the drum. If Sideshow will continue to make figures for me that no one else will, I will continue to do what I must to keep up with their prices. The last thing I want is for them to decide privation is preferable to profit.

 

[Darth Cruel]

I'm not apologizing so much as taking a moment to pound the hell out of the drum. If Sideshow will continue to make figures for me that no one else will, I will continue to do what I must to keep up with their prices. The last thing I want is for them to decide privation is preferable to profit.

Amen, brother! Me too. Although I would love to see Sideshow drop the prices if they can reasonably, I won't even consider letting prices stop me from buying them!

On the other hand...as I have mentioned...if Hot Toys were to replace Sideshow as the makers (which I feel is NOT the case), then I might stop. But not because of money (unless it was truly outrageous), but more because of the figures not being likely to look right displayed next to my Sideshow ones. But we would have to see about that.

 

[rushmore223]

I'm not apologizing so much as taking a moment to pound the hell out of the drum. If Sideshow will continue to make figures for me that no one else will, I will continue to do what I must to keep up with their prices. The last thing I want is for them to decide privation is preferable to profit.

LOL, let's not hope SS reads this and gets emboldened to raise their prices further. Or, maybe they can just raise them for you.

 

[The Josh]

I want more clones.

 

[The Mike]

Give me an HT ROTJ Luke, Vader and Boba Fett and I'll gladly bargain basement my SSC SW figures at prices that'd make Hastings blush here.

 

[devilof76]

As for the economy, its not great. I find it a bit ironic that five years ago the news portrayed the economy as horrendous, and today they just sing Happy Days Are Here Again, and broadcast optimistically every time a new report isn't as depressing as they expected. Despite that, people find a way to buy what they want. Cigarette sales are still high, Iphones, video game systems and some of us buy very expensive toys.

Some people, but a lot of tangential business is already long gone. Speaking for myself, I buy a lot less music, movies, books, comics, and other luxuries than I did at the beginning of the decade. I would not be able to afford the classes from Ron if I had to take them now (between travel expense and his rates), and I've been unable to follow up with other students from that time, since he left.

Luxuries are the first to go (not that Americans are much good at giving up what they've been accustomed to).

What we're seeing is a natural force. SSC raised the bar Hasbro set, HT raised the bar further. Medicom was in there somewhere, but now seems largely irrelevant. SSC is still considerably cheaper than HT, its just that magic number that has everything to do with perception.

And a positive force, but I think it would have been exaggerated at a far lesser degree had the purchasing power of the dollar not taken such a beating over the last 10 years.

ROTJ Luke cost $50 and there is a $50 price difference between SSC and HT, yet people dismiss it. We have a right to demand the best, but we have to be prepared to pay for it.
I will agree that SSC's paint applications do not match HT, I will agree that their costuming often but not always, isn't as good, but head sculpts are generally superb. Trevor, Oluf, Tim, and Mat still has the most Hamill looking Luke. Andy, though a bit stylized there was never any doubt who it was. Coincidentally SSC has trouble with the sculpts everyone else has trouble with. We also have to admit that HT is not God. They have had their share of near misses as well, and while I am irked by an off sculpt from SSC< I am more irked by an off sculpt from HT because I paid more for it.

A lot of the difference has to do with location as well. Hot Toys is a Chinese company, operating in a market that is the fastest growing in the world (despite the current lag). Hong Kong, for as much as Chinese control has hampered it, was one of, if not the best economy in the world, and that foundation has not taken the hits that ours has. Sideshow is all the better for going there to get their work done, but it is still a cost that any company already located and integrated in the Asian market does not have to incur. I think that goes a long way towards explaining why the quality gap is not as extreme as the price gap.

Amen, brother! Me too. Although I would love to see Sideshow drop the prices if they can reasonably, I won't even consider letting prices stop me from buying them!

We can save the world together.

On the other hand...as I have mentioned...if Hot Toys were to replace Sideshow as the makers (which I feel is NOT the case), then I might stop. But not because of money (unless it was truly outrageous), but more because of the figures not being likely to look right displayed next to my Sideshow ones. But we would have to see about that.

I don't see it being as much of an issue if all Hot Toys supplements are the core humans. None of the aliens or armored figures I own would be out of place amongst Hot Toys' work.

LOL, let's not hope SS reads this and gets emboldened to raise their prices further. Or, maybe they can just raise them for you.

I am one poor mofo, and if they dropped the prices, I would party like it's 1911.