TheDieselTrain
Fry's dog Seymour
Chicks Dig Hootie.
Is Stone Cold gonna have to smack a bitch?? WHAT!!!?????
Posts: 23,724
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Post by TheDieselTrain on Sept 9, 2019 16:53:16 GMT -5
Specifically marvel/x-men ones. I still have my collection from the 90s/2000s and I remember them costing usually $5.99 per figure. Went to a few stores recently to go gift shopping and I couldn't believe my eyes WTF with them costing $19.99 each now??
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Post by edgestar on Sept 9, 2019 17:01:43 GMT -5
The new ones are made to be more articulate, and with that, comes the cost. If you're looking at years old figures, the age is the reason for the price, most likely.
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
Fed. Up.
Posts: 37,742
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Sept 9, 2019 17:01:57 GMT -5
It's lots of factors, but I can try to simplify it. Toy Biz birthed a new market for adult collectors when they launched Marvel Legends in 2002. The idea was offering an all-encompassing Marvel line with really nice sculpting and crazy articulation. It was a huge hit, and the line is now thriving more than ever under Hasbro.
The price thing is just a result of oil prices more than anything else. To turn a profit on figures with so much detail, they have to charge around $20. They still make $10 figures for kids, but they look like glorified Happy Meal toys.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,054
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 9, 2019 17:15:23 GMT -5
Inflation, plastic got more expensive, more sophisticated engineering. Marvel Legends are also bigger than the retro ones were, though that's only a small part of the reasoning.
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Post by BorneAgain on Sept 9, 2019 17:17:46 GMT -5
It's lots of factors, but I can try to simplify it. Toy Biz birthed a new market for adult collectors when they launched Marvel Legends in 2002. The idea was offering an all-encompassing Marvel line with really nice sculpting and crazy articulation. It was a huge hit, and the line is now thriving more than ever under Hasbro. The price thing is just a result of oil prices more than anything else. To turn a profit on figures with so much detail, they have to charge around $20. They still make $10 figures for kids, but they look like glorified Happy Meal toys. Toy Biz involved in creating a collection market for increasingly expensive items supposedly for kids, but instead geared towards adults? Can't see that going wrong.
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Post by Mister Pigwell on Sept 9, 2019 17:20:32 GMT -5
20 is the going for their Legends line usually, which are super nice. You can get cheaper ones with less articulation that are still in the 8-12 range.
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Post by Fade is a CodyCryBaby on Sept 9, 2019 17:23:46 GMT -5
Yeah, that seems to be the case with most toy lines these days. Detailed, bugger articulate ones, and the “basic line” that’s cheaper for kids
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Post by MC Blowfish on Sept 9, 2019 18:33:09 GMT -5
If you think those prices are steep. You might want to take a look at the Transformers Masterpieces and the third party lines.
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Post by Hobby Drifter on Sept 9, 2019 21:38:08 GMT -5
There's no single reason for it, but these are the big ones 1) Kids don't really buy action figures like they used it. They're more into video games and especially tablet/smartphone games. $5 can get a kid hours of interactive fun in ways that an action figure can't really compete with. So the market for action figures is smaller than it was before, necessitating figures be produced in smaller numbers which can cost more per item to produce than if a company were making millions of them. 2) Inflation. Nuff said. 3) Oil costs Here in Japan, it's even worse. The size of the market is *tiny*. Action figures made for kids are these incredibly cheap soft vinyl toys with less than 5 points of articulation that sometimes aren't even fully painted. Action figures for adults, though? We're spoiled for choice. Take Star Wars for example. We've got two different companies producing 1/12 scale figures at the same time and they look amazing. Same with Marvel and DC characters. MAFEX, Figuarts, Revoltech Yamaguchi, etc. The figures generally run between $50 and $90 at retail. That does *really* suck for stuff like troop building Storm Troopers. But most of the time only one or two in a line are released every month or so and pre-orders go up almost immediately after the figure is announced (usually 6 months or more in advance). So you've got plenty of time to budget for stuff. Same with the Masterpiece Optimus Prime 3.0 figure. Yeah, it was almost $500 at retail and that's nuts. But it went up for pre-order almost 9 months before your card would be charged. Compare that with the Hasbro Unicron crowd-funding effort that was like "Here's this thing you know you want but weren't expecting. It's $600 and we need the money up front in 6 weeks." Interesting note, the original end date for that crowd-funding project was the *same day* cards were charged for MP Optimus Prime. I dunno. I'm an adult. I do like that parts of my hobbies have grown up with me. I just wish that that didn't seem to be such a big part of those hobbies. Kids 20 years from now aren't going to be nostalgic for action figures like the last two generations were. But, hey, I've got a shelf with the best possible versions of the G1 Autobot leaders right below a set of Soul of Chogokin Dino Zords, so at least my inner child is well pleased.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 5:59:59 GMT -5
Adults that buy toys are paying 20 bucks for them. Why would they lower the price if they can get suckers to pay it?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 7:12:43 GMT -5
Well, the Marvel Legends figures (Hasbro) are very well made, articulated and detailed. So that explains that.
That said, their prices for other smaller figures are wildly outrageous. It costs more than ever for Star Wars figures but they're puny (almost brittle) compared to the heyday of the early 2000's, articulation barely exists anymore and the detail is fine at best. The Black Series is where all the detail and care for SW figures is now, and those prices are similar to the Marvel Legends line.
Hasbro is planning to eliminate a ton of the plastic used in their packaging soon, so I'm curious to see how much this affects costs. Probably not much.
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Post by Hobby Drifter on Sept 10, 2019 9:41:52 GMT -5
Well, the Marvel Legends figures (Hasbro) are very well made, articulated and detailed. So that explains that. That said, their prices for other smaller figures are wildly outrageous. It costs more than ever for Star Wars figures but they're puny (almost brittle) compared to the heyday of the early 2000's, articulation barely exists anymore and the detail is fine at best. The Black Series is where all the detail and care for SW figures is now, and those prices are similar to the Marvel Legends line. Hasbro is planning to eliminate a ton of the plastic used in their packaging soon, so I'm curious to see how much this affects costs. Probably not much. I doubt it will lower prices at retail, but it may allow for more to be done for the same price. More accessories or paint applications, maybe. I know it's environmentally disastrous, but large Soul of Chogokin figures still include Styrofoam in the packaging...and, sorry, but I freaking love it. I don't buy SoC stuff (for myself) very often. Only Voltron and the three figures needed to make Daizyujin/Megazord. It just adds to the nostalgic feeling these toys have. You open the box and the figures are laid out in a similar configuration to the 80's 90's versions, but they've got freakin' "used car" smell and it's just magical. The Styrofoam is one of the reasons that while I'll almost never keep boxes for toys, I haven't been able to chuck a few of them. It just feels even more wasteful than usual.
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Post by Hit Girl on Sept 10, 2019 10:47:22 GMT -5
Specifically marvel/x-men ones. I still have my collection from the 90s/2000s and I remember them costing usually $5.99 per figure. Went to a few stores recently to go gift shopping and I couldn't believe my eyes WTF with them costing $19.99 each now?? They are in demand. As opposed to the Star Wars figures I am picking off the shelves for next to nothing.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Sept 10, 2019 12:40:54 GMT -5
Increased articulation and parts count, plus the rising costs of labour in the far east where they're assembled. On top of that, you have the increased costs of plastic and paint, various new taxes on imported goods and the fact that the toy market has shrunk dramatically over the past 30 years, slashing the economy of scale for the bigger players in the business. The only portion of the business that seems to have grown is the portion aimed at adult collectors, and collector oriented figures cost more because they need to do more.
Then there's the costs of licenses in the case of Superhero figures, 20 years ago they had no idea the value of what they had, now they do and they charge accordingly.
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
advocates duck on rodent violence
Fed. Up.
Posts: 37,742
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Sept 10, 2019 14:01:35 GMT -5
Adults that buy toys are paying 20 bucks for them. Why would they lower the price if they can get suckers to pay it? That's insulting and not at all the case. There's a page full of actual explanations.
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TWERKIN' MAGGLE
Crow T. Robot
Black Lives Matter
Posts: 45,595
Member is Online
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Post by TWERKIN' MAGGLE on Sept 10, 2019 14:13:03 GMT -5
Bigger Butts = More Plastic = More $$$
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Post by grungesmurf on Sept 10, 2019 14:19:27 GMT -5
There's no single reason for it, but these are the big ones 1) Kids don't really buy action figures like they used it. They're more into video games and especially tablet/smartphone games. $5 can get a kid hours of interactive fun in ways that an action figure can't really compete with. So the market for action figures is smaller than it was before, necessitating figures be produced in smaller numbers which can cost more per item to produce than if a company were making millions of them. Poor kids have no imagination. I used to get hours of enjoyment out of my figures be it the Masters of the Universe collection, G.I. Joe, Transformers, M.A.S.K etc... 2) Inflation. Nuff said. 3) Oil costs Here in Japan, it's even worse. The size of the market is *tiny*. Action figures made for kids are these incredibly cheap soft vinyl toys with less than 5 points of articulation that sometimes aren't even fully painted. Action figures for adults, though? We're spoiled for choice. Take Star Wars for example. We've got two different companies producing 1/12 scale figures at the same time and they look amazing. Same with Marvel and DC characters. MAFEX, Figuarts, Revoltech Yamaguchi, etc. The figures generally run between $50 and $90 at retail. That does *really* suck for stuff like troop building Storm Troopers. But most of the time only one or two in a line are released every month or so and pre-orders go up almost immediately after the figure is announced (usually 6 months or more in advance). So you've got plenty of time to budget for stuff. Same with the Masterpiece Optimus Prime 3.0 figure. Yeah, it was almost $500 at retail and that's nuts. But it went up for pre-order almost 9 months before your card would be charged. Compare that with the Hasbro Unicron crowd-funding effort that was like "Here's this thing you know you want but weren't expecting. It's $600 and we need the money up front in 6 weeks." Interesting note, the original end date for that crowd-funding project was the *same day* cards were charged for MP Optimus Prime. I dunno. I'm an adult. I do like that parts of my hobbies have grown up with me. I just wish that that didn't seem to be such a big part of those hobbies. Kids 20 years from now aren't going to be nostalgic for action figures like the last two generations were. But, hey, I've got a shelf with the best possible versions of the G1 Autobot leaders right below a set of Soul of Chogokin Dino Zords, so at least my inner child is well pleased.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 14:44:24 GMT -5
Specifically marvel/x-men ones. I still have my collection from the 90s/2000s and I remember them costing usually $5.99 per figure. Went to a few stores recently to go gift shopping and I couldn't believe my eyes WTF with them costing $19.99 each now?? They are in demand. As opposed to the Star Wars figures I am picking off the shelves for next to nothing. https://www.instagram.com/p/B2GowObi8jK Oh, the days.......
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Post by Hit Girl on Sept 10, 2019 15:18:18 GMT -5
A Vito Corleone action figure would be cool.
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4real
Wade Wilson
Posts: 27,673
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Post by 4real on Sept 10, 2019 15:26:53 GMT -5
This is one of the reasons why I’ve never collected wrestling figures even though I really want to. I just can’t justify spending that much on a figure
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