It's really a shame....

[Jessedart]

I know Play imaginative has all but assumed room temperature. And they have rightfully so, been pretty hammered.
But I feel like it's a pity because I think they really tried to reach for that brass ring, and a ring even higher than Hot Toys. Here's why...

My super alloy Mark 7 arrived yesterday.

Yes it has pink panties...
Yes it was missing a screw cover....
Yes the lights in the hands blinked out...

But...

The figure itself is a beautiful detailed wonder. The sculpt is spot on. The paint like a Ferrari. But even more the Armory. OMFFFG!
The current selling price on discount, the Armory accessory is worth 1/2 the cost alone. The inside is almost all diecast, the details are amazing, the lighting is breathtaking. It's weighs a ton. Hot toys has their version, and it's no comparison.
Also the attention to the philosophy of "Premium Experience" is without equal. The boxes alone are of the highest quality I have ever seen, from anyone ever.
The internal foam is the same, complete with detailed silk screening. The "extra" display stand is better, heavier and more detailed than most companies primary stand.
In all this company may have had QC issues a plenty, but you can tell that all things were very heavily though over and they really did go after the ultra premium experience. From the box to what's inside, PI aimed high.
It's real shame they missed the mark... But it wasn't for lack of trying and vision..








I'm a iron man collector, not a Hot toys fanboy. So I can call it like it is. PI could have been simply amazing.

 

[Bttfiii]

The PI mark 7 hard sculpted parts that made it look cheap like Hasbro. HT assembled little parts together.

 

[Plastic Bateman]

That Mk VII, while it doesn't have all the features of the Hot Toys version, does have far better proportions and overall accuracy to the film model. Significantly better elbow articulation too, and no rubber joints.

I started a thread in General Collectibles a while back concerning their apparent demise. While it is a shame they're apparently gone and Hot Toys won't have some much-needed competition, they did somewhat bring this on themselves by putting so many items out for preorder before even sourcing a factory and the notoriously poor quality of their electronics (most of those halls of armour didn't work at all, straight out of the box. The same with the electronics in other products they actually released like Super Alloy Superman), among other things.

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

I give Kudos to Play Imaginative for throwing it's hat into the ring of 1:6 scale Iron Man but I always felt right out of the gate they were making mistakes that would cost them.

For example, right off the bat they were pricing themselves out of competition. How did they expect to steal sales from Hot Toys when Play Imaginative products cost $50-$100 more retail then Hot Toys Iron Man figures? I'd think that if you wanted to compete with Hot Toys best selling product line (Iron Man) that you'd offer a competitive product (in this case the PI 'Super Alloy Iron Man') at a competitive price, say $25 or $50 cheaper than your competitor, to sway collectors into trying your product while enjoying a savings doing so. What better way to pick off competitors customers than saving them money, right? At least offer the product at the same price of your competition.

Next mistake would be showcasing 40+ prototypes without having ever released a single 1:6 scale product at that point in time, which shows all flash and no substance imo. They should have previewed a handful of proto's max, say 2 or 3, then focused on actually developing and producing high quality end products of those prototypes and delivering to customers. PI needed to build a foundation with solid initial releases in order to generate a new customer base, customer trust and hype going forward into future releases. It's clear PI bit off more than they could chew and couldn't deliver on even 2 of the 40+ of those prototypes in 1:6 form. Talk about falling flat on your face...

 

[LipSmack]

I give Kudos to Play Imaginative for throwing it's hat into the ring of 1:6 scale Iron Man but I always felt right out of the gate they were making mistakes that would cost them.

For example, right off the bat they were pricing themselves out of competition. How did they expect to steal sales from Hot Toys when Play Imaginative products cost $50-$100 more retail then Hot Toys Iron Man figures? I'd think that if you wanted to compete with Hot Toys best selling product line (Iron Man) that you'd offer a competitive product (in this case the PI 'Super Alloy Iron Man') at a competitive price, say $25 or $50 cheaper than your competitor, to sway collectors into trying your product while enjoying a savings doing so. What better way to pick off competitors customers than saving them money, right? At least offer the product at the same price of your competition.

Next mistake would be showcasing 40+ prototypes without having ever released a single 1:6 scale product at that point in time, which shows all flash and no substance imo. They should have previewed a handful of proto's max, say 2 or 3, then focused on actually developing and producing high quality end products of those prototypes and delivering to customers. PI needed to build a foundation with solid initial releases in order to generate a new customer base, customer trust and hype going forward into future releases. It's clear PI bit off more than they could chew and couldn't deliver on even 2 of the 40+ of those prototypes in 1:6 form. Talk about falling flat on your face...

dont forget 3 scales too

are they officially done?

 

[Taibhse]

That Mk VII, while it doesn't have all the features of the Hot Toys version, does have far better proportions and overall accuracy to the film model. Significantly better elbow articulation too, and no rubber joints.

I started a thread in General Collectibles a while back concerning their apparent demise. While it is a shame they're apparently gone and Hot Toys won't have some much-needed competition, they did somewhat bring this on themselves by putting so many items out for preorder before even sourcing a factory and the notoriously poor quality of their electronics (most of those halls of armour didn't work at all, straight out of the box. The same with the electronics in other products they actually released like Super Alloy Superman), among other things.

Agreed.. but I think Jessedart has a point, it's a shame HT do not have the 'Ultra Premium' competition, that PI were trying to achieve.. I would have been fairly happy with PI as the manufacturer of 1/4 Diecast IM figures, if the QC had matched the price.. sadly it did not

 

[Jessedart]

Yea, I really feel it's a shame.
The entire Unboxing experience was truly "premium". PI did one up HT in that area.
The QC killed them. But yesterday I was truly amazed with the experience. They were going after the top top end.

 

[Motuxmen]

Can you post photos of the box art and internals you described? I've not seen them. Thanks in advance.

I never gave PI a second look. They where doomed to fail from jump. Made me think about learning to drive. Instead of learning the basics and what not, their first drive was to hope in an F1 and try to race at Monaco and Mario Andretti. Lol

Having done some toy building and contract work thru my pops studio the thing that is most impressive and sets hot toys apart is their manufacturing. Most people don't look at it or even really think about it...but the level of quality and craftmanship they have gotten to is something I did not think would be possible at current tech levels. Not in a figure that cost under a grand and was mass produced. And becuase of things hot toys have advanced other companies are moving up as well.

I think PI had a good idea on paper and their protos looked pretty good at the shows. But they never had a clue how to produce the figures and that's the problem. They started showing off prototypes before they even knew how to make them. Which, they never got right. It took hot toys five or six years to figure it out. And even they run into issues from time to time.

It would be nice to see someone get into the 1/6 comic figure market and push hot toys. But going direct head to head with hot toys bread and butter isn't the best way to go from jump. The would be better served going the way sideshow is. Comic based and characters (mostly) that hot toys does not have figures of. Then maybe try things like iron man. I mean the DC fans would love some better comic batman, or even from films like batman&bro in and batman forever. Those suits where cool. Could do a 1/6 knight fall. And a new 52 superman. Or old man logan. Xforce characters. cable, bishop. So many options that would draw away customers from hot toys.

 

[Plastic Bateman]

Having done some toy building and contract work thru my pops studio the thing that is most impressive and sets hot toys apart is their manufacturing. Most people don't look at it or even really think about it...but the level of quality and craftmanship they have gotten to is something I did not think would be possible at current tech levels. Not in a figure that cost under a grand and was mass produced. And becuase of things hot toys have advanced other companies are moving up as well.

This. It's why I rarely, if ever, complain about the retail prices of their figures. They must have access to a truly state-of-the-art manufacturing complex to produce things as consistently perfectly as they do now. The level of tooling that goes into an Iron Man suit alone is just mind-blowing, let alone whatever technology they're using to cast heads, hands, etc almost seamlessly and paint them to the same standard every time.

 

[TheChozoWarrior]

This. It's why I rarely, if ever, complain about the retail prices of their figures. They must have access to a truly state-of-the-art manufacturing complex to produce things as consistently perfectly as they do now. The level of tooling that goes into an Iron Man suit alone is just mind-blowing, let alone whatever technology they're using to cast heads, hands, etc almost seamlessly and paint them to the same standard every time.

Yea arent ironmen comprised of a couple hundred individual pieces or something? I remember they had that pic showing all the pieces that went into a figure, pretty amazing what they achieve.

 

[Plastic Bateman]

Yea arent ironmen comprised of a couple hundred individual pieces or something? I remember they had that pic showing all the pieces that went into a figure, pretty amazing what they achieve.

I believe it's closer to 300+ nowadays.

 

[CatWoman'sPenPal]

I believe it's closer to 300+ nowadays.

One dollar per piece... it all makes sense.

 

[Motuxmen]

Here's the part break down for the mk7

 

[Y4NK33 PL4N3T]

Was just looking for that pic, thanks.

 

[Motuxmen]

Was just looking for that pic, thanks.

No worries.

 

[YankeesFanboy]

PI had huge dreams and wild ambitions, but it couldn't follow through and bring enough product to retail at reasonable enough prices.

 

[Plastic Bateman]

View attachment 178768
Here's the part break down for the mk7

That never fails to impress me. The fact that they can churn out so many of these with such a low failure rate and completely consistent finishes for $200-300 each is honestly nothing short of a miracle.

A friend of mine in Japan who's 'in the know' on the toy industry mentioned to me once that Hot Toys have some serious money behind them and their products are made in a high-end car manufacturing plant when it's not making cars. No idea how true that is, but it would make sense.

 

[Motuxmen]

That never fails to impress me. The fact that they can churn out so many of these with such a low failure rate and completely consistent finishes for $200-300 each is honestly nothing short of a miracle.

A friend of mine in Japan who's 'in the know' on the toy industry mentioned to me once that Hot Toys have some serious money behind them and their products are made in a high-end car manufacturing plant when it's not making cars. No idea how true that is, but it would make sense.

I don't think that's the case. The way cars are made isn't really comparable with how these are made. 70-90% of car parts are made off site and just assembled in one factory. And the paint is all robotic.

Hot toys are all produced at a manufacturing complex that has nearly a dozen seperate facilities on site. It's a large complex. That's how it was four or five years ago anyway.

But I agree with your sentiment. What they do is amazing. And they get way to much flak for things. Half of which is beyond their control. It would be different if there was compititionand those people where doing better. But, hot toys is years ahead of the curve. The fact that they have gotten so much better and keep making improvements when there's no one pushing them is impressive. At least to me.

 

[PopCultKid]

I didn't follow these guys closely and I'm just catching wind of them falling apart today. What's the deal, are they completely under as a company or is it just the Iron Man initiative? I didn't even realize that they were looking to make 1/6 stuff. That had a massively impressive display at NYCC 2 years ago. Really it was one of the main highlights of Comic Con that year. But all they had was a multitude of 1/4 & 1/9 stuff, no 1/6. But everything was awesome. Really a shame to hear if they went belly up.

Really happy I didn't PO their NYCC 1/4 MK 42 EX. I wonder if they ever completed and shipped them or if people are out their money

 

[Motuxmen]

They just rebranded themselves as comic cave/CMC studios essentially.

Play imaginative is still operating though. But they are trying to distance themselves from, well, themselves. Without any actual changes other then in name on some products