im in.

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What danb said. Joe collectors are cheap for subsequent purchases for armybuilding or custom fodder. The stuff we're cheap for on initial purposes is stuff that's generally kinda dumb or otherwise not up to standards, but I get the feeling that none of us hold off on first-time purchases of cool stuff at regular retail prices.

As to the subscription idea; yeah it has to be 18th. Any other scale can go throw itself up its own ass. I'm also not a fan of subscriptions where you're committed to figs you've no idea about. Gimme mock-ups based on the parts you're gonna use, at the very least. And they'd have to be 'deluxe, definitive' versions of characters. I'd allow for exactly *one* fig of the big names, and only one of them per monthly pair, preferably no more than one per alternating month. Trying to load up the roster with SE and Duke every month is a surer way to fail than doing so at retail. If Hasbro really wanted to use HTS as something worth having, this idea could be a decent money-maker for them if they did it wisely.

Also, screw the packaging. Assume the buyer is gonna play with the fig and make the people that care for MOC packaging ask for it and pay $2 extra.

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The reason the stuff from the club costs so much is because of the small quantities they order. Anything produced in a small quantity is more expensive than a larger quantity. While tooling for a repainted figure doesn't cost anything, there's still the manufacturing and production costs and those costs are rising more and more. If they weren't we'd be getting figures like that Snake Eyes that you love at retail as a standard. This is just the way it is now and until things improve and manufacturing and production costs get cheaper, you might as well just get used to it.


Only if HTS was interested in doing that. They don't stock much GIJoe product as it is. I don't see them doing something like this at all. The club is pretty much the only option available.

yeah I have heard that before Pyre. but thanks for bringing it up again.

going back to what I had said, if Slayer design studio, who doesn't have a large manufacturing factory can make a whole new sculpted figure and cast them buy hand and sell them for 15 bucks unpainted then I am fairly certain the club with their small runs could keep prices down. Fact is we don't know how much it cost for hasbro to make package and sell figures, thus we also do not know the difference the club pays to do the same thing. we just know the stuff they tell us. and since they have often been caught lying multiple times and know "must have it" fan types will pay no matter what the cost is, they charge whatever they'd like and fanboys pay it.

the club is the only option available because they chose for it to be. Hasbro could use Hasbro Toy shop in anyway they want currently they seem to be using it to clearance out stuff in the same manner as how they deal with ross.

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HTS is, for some reason, not actually run by Hasbro. They're just an online retailer that happens to exclusively sell Hasbro products. I remember in the 90s, Hasbro ran that store which sold exclusives and even a few imported Transformers which seemed to do well, until they just got tired of running it and shut down.

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HTS, as of my last understanding, is owned by Hasbro, but runs itself with an independent line of accounting. Meaning, they can't just take any old crap Hasbro can't dump at a real retailer and still make its own profit margins. Altho they sell only Hasbro product, they still have to buy it as any other retailer does and they choose their products based on what they think will sell.

Which is dumb as all hell if Hasbro as a whole doesn't make as much money as it can due to that arrangement.

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Hasbro itself doesn't want to run it's own store so as not to upset the big retailers (especially Wal-Mart). That's why their first online store closed down.

As for the club lying, I can speak from personal experience that they're right about how much more it costs to manufacture something in small numbers. I used to work in a print shop and while not the same as making toys, the principle was still the same. The smaller quantity that we printed, the more it cost to do so. Go ask anyone in manufacturing or production and they'll tell you the same. You can't compare what Slayer does to what the club does. What you get from Slayer is also not a finished product. You have to do quite a bit of work yet to end up with a finished figure. If they were to offer a completely finished figure, it'd cost ever more. I'm also pretty sure that they don't sell whole figures for $15. A head alone costs at least a third of that. Unfortunately, I can't check since their store isn't open right now (how convenient for you). I can however go check Broken Arrows store and his full figures which come unpainted cost $50 and up. Ragin Spoon's are the same. Know why they cost so much? Because they are produced in small quantities. *gasp* Have you ever stopped to think that the reason you keep hearing this is because it's true? That maybe if you'd just accept it as the fact it is, you'd stop hearing it?

Sez you.

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Club figures have a very high mark up... sure they have a Higher production cost than Standard Retail figures... but the greater percentage of the cost of the Club's exclusive figures is the Mark up to pay for Fun Pub's opperations... you need a pretty good mark up to pay for a House in a gated community, and a number of flopped ideas like 12" sets, and Adventure Team "LASER BLAST" bricks.

Slayer Design Studio isn't a great example to compare to...I don't think Slayer Profits much, if any from those ARAH figure kits.

Alyosha or Raginspoon, are better examples, because as far as casting materials...there's not a lot of cost in any one figure...the biggest investment is time.

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Forget the figures, where are more updated vehicles to fit the 25th/ME style figures we've gotten?

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I am not even talking about the ARAH kits, I and alot of other people purchased the general from them for 15$ they may not have made much off it, but they could still sell it for 15$.
I am fairly certain I am not the only person who purchased the figure I am sure some one else can verify the pricing.

as far as it costing the club more to make a figure than Hasbro, well sure it does. but how much more? How much does it actually cost for those little Chinese children to make a joe in the first place? Working in a print shop as I currently do, running a Hiedleburg GTO, and three years experience as a screen printer I do know that the status quo says the more you buy the cheaper it gets, I also know that the Asian market can print for less than half the cost as we can. If a small company like slayer can hand cast and sell a figure for 15$ or hell even 50$ then One would think doing a standard run for the club would not be that expensive. However the club isn't even straight with us on how many pieces they have made. so no one even knows what their run is, or if the set is treated as one run, or if each individual piece is treated as a run. Since that too can effect pricing. Working in a print shop I know that if the client spends X amount on art in the design department they get a pretty knock down on the pricing of their printing.

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Even at $12 a figure for Retaliation figures that Target has on their tags, Target is getting a cut. That isn't what Target paid per figure. And it isn't what it cost Hasbro to produce those figures.

In the same vein, $25 isn't what it costs GIJCC to create a carded figure. That isn't what they pay per figure to the Hasbro factories to create those figures.

Does it cost them more than it costs Hasbro because of the lower production numbers, I'm sure it does. But the margin between what they pay versus what they charge is fairly substantial or else they wouldn't keep doing it.

I agree with nova here as well. Slayer has great products but time and time again Dave has said he and his team are more about sharing with the community then charging what they should. Even Alyosha and Ragin Spoon with much higher prices aren't trying to rake anyone over the coals. They are trying to make it worth their while to keep their stores open and their projects going. I don't think either one of those guys is rolling around in beds of $100's.

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