Collectibles > The Vintage Collection
The Future of Star Wars Collecting?
Qui-Gon Jim:
--- Quote from: Brian on December 12, 2013, 09:16 PM --- I've noticed that we've been able to find everything at retail (usually several times) - things are restocked consistently. Plus, there is a nice variety to the line. Sure, there are multiple versions of the Turtles, but she has at least a dozen villains/supporting characters as well in the first year+ of the line.
--- End quote ---
This echoes my experience with a different line I have been getting for my son, Disney's Planes. There was one character, Rochelle, that was packed at 1 per case for one wave. My SW experience warned me to expect a tough find on this one. I've seen this one on three or four different occasions, and it isn't because these things sit. Every store we frequent regularly turns over their stock (pegs empty then full then empty again).
I think other companies "get" it where Hasbro just doesn't.
Jeff:
Was discussing the explosion of large scale Star Wars figures with someone this morning. It's kind of incredible how fast it's spreading.
Since Hasbro kicked off the 6" line last year, we've had...
- a new 6" line from Hasbro
- a few 6" MAFEX from Medicom (Japan)
- a few 6" SHFiguarts from Bandai (Japan)
- a new 12" 5POA line from Hasbro
- a new 12" announcement from Hot Toys (1:6 scale)
- a new 13"-15" line from Disney Stores
- a new 18" announcement from Hot Toys (1:4 scale)
- a new 21" line from Jakks Pacific
- a new 31" line from Jakks Pacific
And there could be more announcements out there at SDCC... crazy.
What do you all think is the cause?
- Is it everyone trying to cash in on the success of GG's Jumbo Kenner figures?
- Is it Disney who opened the license floodgates to prep for Ep7?
- Is it yet another sign that 4" is dead and the future lies with bigger figures?
Dave:
Normally I'm pretty open to new Star Wars lines, but I'm completely uninterested in nearly all of these, so I'm at a loss as to who these are targeted towards and if they'll be successful.
I mostly love the Hasbro 6" stuff, and I understand the 5POA from Hasbro and to some degree the Disney stuff, even though I'm mostly uninterested in the last two.
Not interested in the Hot Toys stuff.
The Jakks Pacific stuff completely confuses me. It seems super lame.
Japan is Japan. They've got their own licenses and can do some weird stuff sometimes.
Maybe they feel 3 3/4" is completely tapped out (without new cartoons/movies) and were just trying new things. I would be surprised if even half of these lines still existed in 18 months.
Jesse James:
I'm very closed minded to new scales, so if bigger scales are (mostly) the future (4" maybe being relegated to kid-oriented things), then I'm maybe a little dejected but my wallet won't be.
I'll pick up the odd 1/6 Sideshow figure, but I won't be diving headfirst into that. It'll be limited, militaries figures. OT almost exclusively.
Bigger does seem to be perceived as "better" for collector-oriented toys though right now, and for the most part they're right. If you read the article yesterday we posted a link to on the front page, regarding Jabba The Hutt's 6" figure creation process, Hasbro was very pro 6", and had a stance that what they do in 6" can't be done in 4".
Now, do I believe that? No. Only because they've proven they CAN do the things in 4" scale they seemingly were now claiming aren't possible in the 4" scale. The washes to highlight hair sculpts? 4" had them for years, now cutbacks they don't. Painted buckles and buttons? They've done that... They do is less now.
I don't disagree that you can do it better, or more elaborate in 6" scale though. That's indisputable really. But they've cut back and aren't doing it much at all in 4" scale now... costs and all that jazz. They're seeing that $10 is a threshold for 4" figures where people really are hesitant to spend it. I think they're at this point afraid to raise a basic figure above that because they know price has hurt that line far more than any other factor.
That's why I think they're pushing 6"... They can do more, they've got basically a license to start over with the character pool depth, they've got selling points to adult collectors like higher detail and such... Their only flaws are vehicles (which they clearly don't feel collectors are a target there anyway unless they're smaller ones), and they're $20, but again they're going to push the "Look what you get for that though!" angle, vs. the $10 figures which have steadily declined in quality while they attempt to hold that price point.
While I'd be slightly annoyed to see 4" figures I personally find interesting go away, I'm also not going to worry too much about it. It's been a very long run. I'll be a little more annoyed that the new media maybe won't have figures I find "worthy" of standing next to my collection. Customizing will pick up for me for sure though and I'm sure I'll be spending money elsewhere. I already have been during this slowdown. There's a lot of good compatible things out there that fit with Star Wars 4" figures, and appeal to me. There's always something to spend money on other than Star Wars toys. :-\
P-Siddy:
Actually, 6" prices are going to go up a couple dollars in the next waves.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version