The current state of DC 1/6 collectibles . . . DEAD

[abake]

Yeah well, monopolies will do that.

 

[hbhf]

The memory of some people here is too short, which is leading them to mix up cause and effect.

Hot Toys started backing off of DC figures before the DC movie well dried up.

Depends on when exactly would you consider the well "dried up" in this context. As mentioned, Hot Toys did Superman, Zod and Jor-El for Man of Steel, which is about to be expected for a film of that performance (Lois would've been nice I guess). It did good but certainly didn't light the box office on fire in a way where you'd think HT needed to pump out the entire cast. For comparison, Doctor Strange and Ant-Man & The Wasp did similar numbers, and I'm pretty sure Hot Toys only made the title characters for those movies.

BVS was the first hugely panned film of the franchise, and Hot Toys still did the title characters and Wonder Woman. Maybe it could be argued they should have made Lex Luthor and Doomsday too, but those guys were two of the most heavily mocked and criticized parts of the movie, so it's not surprising they weren't huge priorities. The only movie I can honestly think of where the lack of figures was truly shocking and (no pun intended) fishy is Aquaman, given its popularity.

That's the problem with the whole Disney conspiracy. Of all the unmade DCEU characters, there's no omission glaring enough that it doesn't have the asterisk of "This movie was unpopular" or "This was a side character nobody but the hardcore fans cared about in the first place" (Hello, Faora!).

Even Shazam, much as I loved that movie, did just okay numbers at the box office, unfortunately.

 

[Remy]

Totally agree with you here, Remy. I wouldn't be surprised if HT eventually only makes Marvel/SW/Disney figures similar to how Enterbay eventually went to only making NBA figures.

The thing is, what company has the skills to make top quality DC figures? I mean WB/DC gave Star Ace a try with HP and 300 and while those figures are somewhat decent they aren't HT quality and their 1/8 CW DC figures don't look that great either IMO. Mezco does great work except they're at the 1:12 scale. They're 1:12 89 Keaton, John Wick and others rival what HT has done just at smaller scale. They'd have to start making 1/6 scale and then they'd have a backlog to catch up on. WB barely trusts their own film makers, so having them trust a new company with their licenses sounds even more difficult to imagine unfortunately.

I think Asmus would be great as they tend to take fan wants/critiques into account as well as communicate with fans on progress with their LOTR figures with a fair amount of behind the scenes WIPs of current and future figures. If they could give that same amount of care and attention to detail to DC movie figures I think they could be a real contender. They don't have ALL the license/movies to create figures from like HT does with the ENTIRE Disney line-up. I mean, they did so well on their LOTR figures that their original 4 year contract to produce figures has pretty much turned them into the sole licensee for 1/6 LOTR.

Yup, Asmus is one of the ones I had in mind as well as Blitzway.
And if Galdalf really ends up looking like the proto...I would say they have surpassed Hot Toys in quality in terms of people sculpt.

 

[ZE_501]

Yup, Asmus is one of the ones I had in mind as well as Blitzway.
And if Galdalf really ends up looking like the proto...I would say they have surpassed Hot Toys in quality in terms of people sculpt.

I've seen some good work from Enterbay, I have their last 1/6 Bruce Lee, but they only do NBA now.

Never had any Asmus figures in-hand but they look good, especially these days. QMX Star Trek TOS figures like Kirk and Spock re-releases look pretty phenomenal but that company appears to be all over the place.

*Edit: I should include Blitzway, they've done some good work.

 

[Sardo Numspa]

For me, the biggest issue is that Hot Toys tends to focus on Movies or TV live action.
To their credit, the headsculpts and paintwork really put them overall in a league of their own compared to other 1/6.
But I really wish they would focus on non live-action.
For DC, clearly the obvious choice is the Arkham game universe. Glad to see they are doing more, but very disappointed that it's Batgirl and Harley. The first thing they should do is an improved Arkham Asylum/Arkham City Batman, then move on to the other characters.
They would never do it, but I'd love for them to take on Comic-style versions, and personally, I'm very happy with what Sideshow has been doing. They are overpriced, and not perfect, but I'd rather have a comic version of any of those characters over the film/tv ones.
For me, the Sideshow Flash (for example) is a much better representation of the character, than the Hot Toys Ezra Miller version.
For Star Wars, they could easily work on the Clone Wars universe. I haven't watched it, but I know it's hugely popular (like the Arkham Games) and would sell very well.

Oh well. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the Sideshow Wonder Woman, and Jazz Inc's 66 Batmobile for now....

 

[DioramaMaker]

When your product is pushing $300, you're going to be banking on items that have a higher propensity to sell. You're going to make your Batmen, your Iron Men, and your Mandalorians. You're not making Bob the Goon, you're not making George Reeves, you're not investing extra costs into a portrait of a devisively recieved Superman who may or may not look like that soon. You're making things that the market is familiar with and actively pursues.

You can stick your head in the sand and deny it, but most people aren't going to drop $300 on unpopular, dated, or obscure now. I'm thorough surprised they put out that atrocious looking Sonar Suit and didn't instead revisit the the Nolan films instead. Am I happy to see the variety and something others have wanted? Sure, absolutely. But it doesn't change that I genuinely see it as an odd product.

The only DC line that I 100% think HT under uses is the Arkham stuff; it's effectively a real world interpretation of the animated series and because of that it's cross-generational and a good product. But the numbers don't lie, even those releases sat around for extended periods of time before selling out.

And I'm saying this as someone who desperately wants them to revisit Terminator, Aliens, and the like.

 

[ironwez20]

Same thing I said in another thread. Dudes wanted the three main guys from jaws. Ain?t no way in hell hot toys are making those no matter the cultural impact. They aren?t well known enough by people to buy.

 

[Dash]

Same thing I said in another thread. Dudes wanted the three main guys from jaws. Ain?t no way in hell hot toys are making those no matter the cultural impact. They aren?t well known enough by people to buy.

It's not that they're not well known, it's just the fact that a Richard Dreyfus figure sitting on your shelf looks far lamer than a Batman or Boba Fett figure.

 

[hbhf]

Like a lot of things it's the cost vs. reward assessment. Are enough people actually gonna buy figures like that to justify the costs in getting the likeness rights, the franchise license, the production, ect...

 

[ironwez20]

It's not that they're not well known, it's just the fact that a Richard Dreyfus figure sitting on your shelf looks far lamer than a Batman or Boba Fett figure.

That snd China and most Asian countries would rather have Batman and marvel characters then some guy who hunted a shark

 

[TheDucky]

Reading this thread again just seems like a bunch of 80s kids are pissed they aren’t getting their childhood in 1/6th scale form

 

[hbhf]

That snd China and most Asian countries would rather have Batman and marvel characters then some guy who hunted a shark

So you're saying there's no hope for Hot Toys doing figures from The Graduate?

 

[ironwez20]

So you're saying there's no hope for Hot Toys doing figures from The Graduate?

Oh no..... there is def a chance for that.

 

[ironwez20]

Reading this thread again just seems like a bunch of 80s kids are pissed they aren’t getting their childhood in 1/6th scale form

I'm not from the 80's but I love me some burton Batman and anything DC. I love 80s culture as I am a 90s kid but I don't wish I lived in that decade. I loved the 90s to much.

 

[gmoney5000]

So you're saying there's no hope for Hot Toys doing figures from The Graduate?

Okay, this had me lol'ing out loud!

 

[FlyAndFight]

So you're saying there's no hope for Hot Toys doing figures from The Graduate?

Perhaps that's the only Richard Dreyfuss figure we would get...

 

[Nine Inch Nails]

Lol cosbabies and light boxes lol

 

[haytil]

When your product is pushing $300, you're going to be banking on items that have a higher propensity to sell.

You're mixing up cause and effect. The fact that the product is pushing $300 is entirely Hot Toys' choice - it's not dictated by the market or the limitations of the product or manufacturing. We know that they can make these figures and sell them profitably at half the price, in much greater numbers, because that's how they used to for many years, just a few years ago.

You're going to make your Batmen, your Iron Men, and your Mandalorians. You're not making Bob the Goon, you're not making George Reeves, you're not investing extra costs into a portrait of a devisively recieved Superman who may or may not look like that soon.

I think Penguin and Catwoman fall much closer to "Batman" than to "Bob the Goon" on the spectrum of popular characters and action figure marketability.

 

[Matt Random]

For me HT DC is more alive than it has been for a while since my primary interest is Arkham. I'm thrilled that the Batgirl is finally coming. I'm sure I'll preorder the Harley once it goes up. I only need one Arkham Batman and for me that is the Knight version, but I'm glad to see that the Beyond and Prestige versions are being offered.

The Indiana Jones franchise is my favorite, but I'm not sure if I'd get an Indy 2.0. I admit that the first one is not perfect. However, it would be hard to top the golden idol and map room dioramas. Those are my favorite sequences of any Indy films. I really only need one 1:6 Indy since I also have PF and 6" as well as multiple Mickey versions. I also have to admit that the constant release of new versions of older products is what caused me to cut back on HT purchases.

 

[hbhf]

This thread is doubly funny in light of the new Arkham Harley Quinn being officially announced.