[ShadowNinja]

Didnt they do something like but but in reverse when the roc movie out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lespaul59

HCC788 just made a good point that the Retro line could have been rush out as a place holder for the movie line. Or to add to that it could be to have non 3 3/4" Joe on pegs along with the movie figures.

[ShadowNinja]

I thought they did that too go more with the art. Had to be a reason because I doubt that head cost too much to give it too us. No hooker jokes please.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 46 Zone

Minus the Commando head.

[jscott991]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowNinja

I thought they did that too go more with the art. Had to be a reason because I doubt that head cost too much to give it too us. No hooker jokes please.

I think they decided no alternate heads. Storm Shadow doesn't come with any of his alternates either.

[lespaul59]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jscott991

I think they decided no alternate heads. Storm Shadow doesn't come with any of his alternates either.

I just figured Storm Shadow didn't come with the second head because It's 100% the Renegades head.

[Cross Country]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jscott991

If they release any CC other than the Ultimate version, then we should start to to think this will be a lazy line. Same goes for if we get a 25th/Renegades Scarlett or just a 50th Duke.

Agreed. If I don't get an impressive Scarlett and Duke I'm out for the figures. I'm just assuming that we'll get a 1984 colors Club RB?

[txbart]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowNinja

I thought they did that too go more with the art. Had to be a reason because I doubt that head cost too much to give it too us. No hooker jokes please.

I’m betting that (83) Commando head came on the same sprue as the (85) Ninja head. If it’s not hidden somewhere in the package, they are likely holding it back for a running change or some other completist collector shenanigans. Same with the Storm Shadow body. We’ll see the other version of that before too long.

[CADPAT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allamaraine

Of course not, it's all about the perceived value... they spend an extra $2 in plastic, but get to charge an extra $6-10 because people, generally, find that size difference worth the price increase.

Which is to say, we're all suffering now because of Marvel Legends collectors, generally, being willing to spend unreasonable amounts of money on minor repaints of the same tooling with a new head or cape or whatever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allamaraine

Absolutely true, and soft goods en masse have the same savings economy of scale provides for plastic, but the consumer base doesn't support that kind of product nowadays except on the lower-end (Barbie) or higher-end (Hot Toys/Mezco one:12)... Hasbro's stuff sits right in the middle, and plastic is the most economical way to do that, I think.

If OG Joes started becoming a thing again they'd totally jump on that bandwagon, but there hasn't been anything to show that there's a market for that kinda product. It'd be like making the world's greatest text adventure game: super economical and proportionately incredibly profitable, but if nobody buys it then it doesn't matter how much you saved when making it.

That's basically what Hasbro's Vincent D'Alleva said about 12" Joes back in 1994, and then a few years later a little company calling itself 21st Century Toys started offering a small assortment of uniforms and vehicles for 12" figures...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allamaraine

And Mattel lost the DC license and is struggling financially because they somehow couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of Batman toys. Which is a stunning level of corporate/artistic incompetence, about on par with most of DC's movie efforts, actually (a match made in heaven!). They've got a handful of owned and licensed properties keeping them afloat, but Mattel's generally a bad model to use when it comes to profitability.

Right, let's just ignore the spectacle of all those unsold Rey, Finn and Rose figures haunting the aisles of hapless Walmarts to this day...

[Allamaraine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CADPAT

Which is to say, we're all suffering now because of Marvel Legends collectors, generally, being willing to spend unreasonable amounts of money on minor repaints of the same tooling with a new head or cape or whatever.

I wouldn't say we're all suffering. Speaking for myself, I totally find the price increase reasonable considering the leap in sculpt and paint details. I collect a lot of movie-based toys, and when it comes to making a figure that when photographed could, at a glance, be mistaken for a still of the actual actor on set, that's something that the extra money is absolutely worth to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CADPAT

Right, let's just ignore the spectacle of all those unsold Rey, Finn and Rose figures haunting the aisles of hapless Walmarts to this day...

I'm not clear what that's got to do with what we were talking about... if anything, being able to shrug off almost entire waves of product pegwarming is a really good indicator of how solid their business actually is. If the occasional botched release wrecked them the way it did Mattel then they would have lost SW decades ago. But they haven't, because they've got a good enough foundation to bounce back from miscalculations, screw-ups, and gambles that don't pay off.

[Mega Convoy]

I refuse to believe that same quality of detail in paint and sculpting isn't possible in a 4" figure.

[Allamaraine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mega Convoy

I refuse to believe that same quality of detail in paint and sculpting isn't possible in a 4" figure.

Sure, technically you can do it, but there are a bunch of practical reasons it isn't feasible. Think of any time they make clothing for a figure. The fabric weave, the stitch size... not everything scales, and even when it does, that extra effort toward miniaturization costs you. An itty bitty zipper for a 6" figure costs pretty much the same as a zipper for a coat you can actually wear. There's a lot of extra effort to overcome the challenges of scale, and you've got to (literally) pay for that trouble.

Sculpt fidelity drops the smaller tooling gets, so accuracy goes, and something as simple as paint thickness can make a huge difference. A single coat can make the sculpt pop on a 1/6 figure, but completely fill in the detail on 1/18 and make it look smooth and featureless. Gun barrels need to be made proportionately thicker to be appropriately durable, joints have to be larger to handle the stress that you put on it because leverage is a PITA, corners that would be a-ok on a larger figure become cutting edges when you get small enough so they've got to be rounded, etc., etc..

There's a reason Hiya Toys' 1/18 figures cost $20, and even then when you've got them side by side with a NECA figure they're still obviously not a detailed despite the matching price point.