Queen Studios / InArt to do sixth scale figures

[AricJorn]

They’re almost 4 months into the slow roll out of the Joker so all order must nearly every fulfilled.
InArt are still a pretty small operation from what I’ve heard so they wont be giving us a dozen+ figures a year for a long time if ever.

I couldn’t hope to keep up with InArt if they were announcing figures at the pace of HT but one new deluxe set PO every 3 months would be financially tolerable and help keep the hype alive. I just don’t think they have the production side of things figured out- especially with the hairing of heads- to meet that thpe of schedule.

I believe they massively overestimated their capabilities at the start and the reality of mass production has hit them hard and altered their plans. I expect that teased Wringwraith to be off the table for a while because it’s simply not interesting enough to be worthy of taking up months of production time.

I also wouldn’t call Harry Potter a weird announcement; HP is a huge global franchise with a ton of adult fans and characters to mine and no decent competition in the figure realm.

They’ll be looking to show a variety of licenses/properties and a range of characters in their early days- and, by God, they should. Aren’t we all bored of HT’s endless cycle of Trooper, Mandalorian, Iron Man, Spider-Man, something 2.0, repeat at this point?

It is rare that I agree so completely with every point made in a comment but here we have it. I am fine with InArt's decision not to crank out dozens of figures every year in an attempt to keep up with HT's output; I'll take high quality and a measured pace every time (and my wallet will be all the happier for it). And I'm glad to see them working with licenses that are not SW and Marvel.

 

[Vitruvius]

To be honest, I'm not as excited as some months ago with InArt. Too slow information and releases lately and quite a lot of things on the Joker I'm not likeling.

 

[JacktheRipper]

I think the frustration comes from those waiting for the figure(s) they want and it's (they) not in the top five queue. I don't know how many people are actually interested in every single figure who would welcome the slow roll out, but I would gather the cherry pickers are more.

 

[Angelo2113]

Queen Studios/InArt seems self aware that their 2022/2023 lineup was more hopeful rather than practical.

Which I think will work out for them in the long run with certain releases that could be placed on the back burner and then other releases to be brought to the front and focused on.

Once they get Daniel Radcliffe's approval for the likeness, I think we'll see Harry Potter revealed shortly after.

They do seem hopeful to show off some things for SDCC and Wonder Fest in China so it would probably be best to keep an eye on those events.

 

[RavenAsh]

Yeah it’s the same with Queen Studios. They’ve really only put up the Henry Cavill Superman bust this year. They’re very obviously taking the approach of less is more and only showing stuff off when they feel extremely comfortable in it, and when its going into preorder imminently. I think that’s something that works against a company like Prime 1 when they do those huge next level showcases. A lot of awesome reveals but you might not see them up for preorder for a year or two, let alone getting the statue in hand.

It’s a hard balance to manage so we’ll see how Queen and InArt go.

 

[POshy]

Customers always ask for the same characters/licenses on facebook and livestream interviews. A lot of those requests are for popular 80s/90s action stars but they're not gonna make them since those movies aren't very popular in Asia. They're a chinese company, why don't they make figures of Honk Kong legends such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Gordon Liu, Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi etc. ? Those are very popular in the West as well and I bet they would sell much more of these in Asia than most DC stuff, too.

Looking at their Phase 1 plan, I might be interested in WW, Bale and Batfleck, but the market is flooded with DC - same goes for Marvel and Star Wars. I'm most excited for their Daenerys, LOTR and Harry Potter tbh.

 

[jamescoolber]

To be honest, I'm not as excited as some months ago with InArt. Too slow information and releases lately and quite a lot of things on the Joker I'm not likeling.

How is the Joker?

 

[jamescoolber]

Customers always ask for the same characters/licenses on facebook and livestream interviews. A lot of those requests are for popular 80s/90s action stars but they're not gonna make them since those movies aren't very popular in Asia. They're a chinese company, why don't they make figures of Honk Kong legends such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Gordon Liu, Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi etc. ? Those are very popular in the West as well and I bet they would sell much more of these in Asia than most DC stuff, too.

Looking at their Phase 1 plan, I might be interested in WW, Bale and Batfleck, but the market is flooded with DC - same goes for Marvel and Star Wars. I'm most excited for their Daenerys, LOTR and Harry Potter tbh.

The DC market is larger than HK Legends, I think they are concerning the sales since Asian Figure market is really not good.

 

[Vitruvius]

How is the Joker?

Totally amazing. Both of them.

 

[POshy]

The DC market is larger than HK Legends, I think they are concerning the sales since Asian Figure market is really not good.

Yet they're doing Zixia from Chinese Odyssey. I guess not many collectors really asked for that character. Might even buy it though depending on price.

 

[POshy]

Some interesting stuff from recent QS/InArt interview:

• Two Michael Jackson figures in the works, prototypes basically done. Will be shown at SDCC (alongside QS life-size MJ & T-800 bust from T2). PO shortly after. Globally licensed!
• If licensing is no issue with Arnold and StudioCanal, they want to do T-800 from T2
• Harry Potter license is the whole IP including Fantastic Beasts
• 1990 TMNT possible since Queen Studios boss seems to be a big fan
• Current plan for LOTR is only Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Nazgul. They'll consider the whole Fellowship but depends on sales. Could take time
• Affleck, Cavill, Gadot will be from BvS and ZSJL combined
• Bale will definitely be from TDK. Batman Begins maybe in a few years. Hathaway Catwoman planned
• Pheonix Joker currently being worked on. Diorama piece, number of figures/bodies/heads unknown. Price 1000 USD or more
• Female figures harder to produce, won't see Wonder Woman or Daenerys announced before next year at the earliest
• Alien/Predator license hard to obtain if you didn't have a contract with Fox before
• Disney basically telling InArt "Who are you again? Come back in a few years, then we can talk"
• They wanna get in touch with several studios when they're in the US, AMC was mentioned --> Walking Dead, Breaking Bad

Definitely recommend watching the whole thing if you have time, this is just what I remember from watching it yesterday. One thing I found confusing though: John said they're always triyng to reach more territories. He said the DC global license isn't easy to get. That's strange because JazzInc recently got the global license for 1/6 DC figures and Joost basically said that it was easy to obtain since Warner is pretty much desperate right now

 

[Johnny Utah]

Nothing major or new here. More fluff.

 

[Bleah]

JazzInc recently got the global license for 1/6 DC figures and Joost basically said that it was easy to obtain since Warner is pretty much desperate right now

Maybe because he already has the 1/6 license for the vehicles worldwide and has released a few of them with good success? No idea. I know Queen Studios has a bunch of other DC stuff released but not in 1/6 so maybe they want to see how The Batman will do first?

I do want to see how Jazzinc will tackle 1/6 figures since he already has a pretty stiff competition with Inart and HT at this point.

 

[Chopper Face]

Thanks for the summary. I might watch it all later for more details. It’s mostly just ‘wait and see’ talk probably with the intent to gauge reactions to certain licenses they mention.

Michael Jackson
Will be great to see but don’t imagine myself collecting any Jackos.

T-800 from T2
Easy purchase. Something tells me the battle damaged Present Toys figure I POd will disappoint.
Would love a T1 Arnie, Kyle and Sarah and an endoskeleton as well. T1 needs more recognition.

Harry Potter
Our wallets are not ready if IA mine the entire franchise.

1990 TMNT
These would be grail level figures to me so I’ll be hoping for InArt versions over QS. Don’t forget splinter!

LOTR
Shame there’s no ambition to give us true 1/6 hobbits. The Asmus set are going to look so outclassed by IA’s Gandalf Aragorn and Legolas. At least Asmus’ Gimli should hold up.
I still have no idea how they’ll convince me to blow a huge wad on a Nazgul but, if anyone can…

‘Affleck, Cavill, Gadot will be from BvS and ZSJL combined.’
In that case, I strongly hope for BVS Batman, JL Superman, and either works for Wonder Woman so long as she comes with the sword and shield.

Bale from TDK.
Perfect companion for Joker. Makes sense.

Hathaway Catwoman
We shall see. I seem to be diving headfirst back into the Nolan-verse and the QS Catwoman on Batpod looked incredible. If they can match that, I’ll be in.

‘Pheonix Joker 1000USD or more’
Definitely on the fence with this one. Gonna have to be beyond next level quality.

Walking Dead
I believe I’m at the point where I can finally walk away from that franchise but a real quality Rick, Darrel and Negan might sway me to represent the show in my collection.

Breaking Bad
I’m pretty content with what Mars Toys are offering at the moment so getting a BB collection nice and cheap will be hard to turn away from. No one’s put out a decent Jesse yet so it’s be nice to finally see a decent one exist.

 

[POshy]

Nothing major or new here. More fluff.

Maybe because he already has the 1/6 license for the vehicles worldwide and has released a few of them with good success? No idea. I know Queen Studios has a bunch of other DC stuff released but not in 1/6 so maybe they want to see how The Batman will do first?

I do want to see how Jazzinc will tackle 1/6 figures since he already has a pretty stiff competition with Inart and HT at this point.

Could be. I'm curious to see their figures. They're aiming for HT prices so they can't get away with just decent quality. He said great and well-known sculptors will be hired though. Just imagine KA Kim

 

[POshy]

Thanks for the summary. I might watch it all later for more details. It’s mostly just ‘wait and see’ talk probably with the intent to gauge reactions to certain licenses they mention.

Yeah, it's what they always do. I admit that not all is ground-breaking news but some things were definitely of interest (for me).

I'm very excited to see those Jackos soon, can definitely see me getting one of them. Don't want Smooth Criminal though, suit is too boring^^ I'd prefer Bad, Beat It or even Dirty Diana.

 

[Captain_Trips]

I thought he was quite positive with regards to LOTR. Only watched it once live the other night but I’m sure he said there’s more planned beyond the current four, and more Fellowship members. He said about Boromir they’ll make it if sales of other LOTR figures are good and there’s a lot of demand for it. I imagine the same goes for Merry and Pippin. Frodo, Sam, and Gimli all seem no-brainers. Don’t forget there’s also a lot of other stuff they can make from that first film outside of the Fellowship, Sauron, Saruman, and Galadriel must be under consideration.

 

[POshy]

I thought he was quite positive with regards to LOTR. Only watched it once live the other night but I’m sure he said there’s more planned beyond the current four, and more Fellowship members. He said about Boromir they’ll make it if sales of other LOTR figures are good and there’s a lot of demand for it. I imagine the same goes for Merry and Pippin. Frodo, Sam, and Gimli all seem no-brainers. Don’t forget there’s also a lot of other stuff they can make from that first film outside of the Fellowship, Sauron, Saruman, and Galadriel must be under consideration.

I thought he meant that anything beyond the current four will be dependent on how those (four) sell but I don't know. Boromir definitely towards the end of the line it seems. Next priority basically has to be Gimli imo, he needs to join Aragorn and Legolas. Then Frodo, Sam, Gollum, that would "make sense". I'd prefer Arwen and Galadriel after Gimli though.

 

[Nagoya]

Unsurprisingly, it feels very… inorganically PR by not directly addressing anything and leaving everything very open-ended.

I know they’ve already asserted they won’t be as straight-forward and communicative as they were in the first couple months (before that bat-nose controversy scared them off entirely), but it really sounds like they’re worried about committing to anything new right now.

I almost get the feeling that QS proper has bigger expectations for sales numbers/performance and is erring on the side of caution as they examine market trends and IP popularity instead of letting IA go wild. Though in that case, I’m not sure why current IA projects aren't being hyped up a lot more. I’m really excited to see everything InArt does, and hope they see the sales numbers they’re going for to make all our little collector dreams come true

 

[Earth 616 Collector]

Some interesting stuff from recent QS/InArt interview:

• Two Michael Jackson figures in the works, prototypes basically done. Will be shown at SDCC (alongside QS life-size MJ & T-800 bust from T2). PO shortly after. Globally licensed!
• If licensing is no issue with Arnold and StudioCanal, they want to do T-800 from T2
• Harry Potter license is the whole IP including Fantastic Beasts
• 1990 TMNT possible since Queen Studios boss seems to be a big fan
• Current plan for LOTR is only Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Nazgul. They'll consider the whole Fellowship but depends on sales. Could take time
• Affleck, Cavill, Gadot will be from BvS and ZSJL combined
• Bale will definitely be from TDK. Batman Begins maybe in a few years. Hathaway Catwoman planned
• Pheonix Joker currently being worked on. Diorama piece, number of figures/bodies/heads unknown. Price 1000 USD or more
• Female figures harder to produce, won't see Wonder Woman or Daenerys announced before next year at the earliest
• Alien/Predator license hard to obtain if you didn't have a contract with Fox before
• Disney basically telling InArt "Who are you again? Come back in a few years, then we can talk"
• They wanna get in touch with several studios when they're in the US, AMC was mentioned --> Walking Dead, Breaking Bad

Definitely recommend watching the whole thing if you have time, this is just what I remember from watching it yesterday. One thing I found confusing though: John said they're always triyng to reach more territories. He said the DC global license isn't easy to get. That's strange because JazzInc recently got the global license for 1/6 DC figures and Joost basically said that it was easy to obtain since Warner is pretty much desperate right now

The big news I'm hearing at the beginning of this is the releases are still on track. Pennywise and Gandalf are going through post production inspection right now. He still believes both will see an announcement in next few weeks/end of June.