{"id":5354,"date":"2010-05-11T04:34:27","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T09:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5354"},"modified":"2010-05-11T09:34:17","modified_gmt":"2010-05-11T14:34:17","slug":"mr-rant-talks-toys-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5354","title":{"rendered":"Mr. Rant Talks Toys Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

No, I\u2019m not dead. Moving on…
\nI\u2019ve been thinking about toy prices lately. Price is something important to all of us, but it\u2019s not something we all agree on. I\u2019ve been looking over some of the IAT crew\u2019s recent purchases in regards to this season\u2019s newest movie toys and wondering why they spend good money on some of the things they buy. I thought I\u2019d get back on my soapbox for today and talk about my problems with action figure pricing. <\/p>\n

Collecting toys is a hobby, but it’s not always a healthy one. Toy collectors can be an obsessive lot. Some of us wake up early on our days off to drive to the five closest Wal-Marts or spend our down time scouring the internet searching for the latest news about our favorite lines. Toy collecting can be our recreation, our drug, and possibly even our religion all in one. So when we do happen to spend that hard earned paycheck on our newest little totem, we want to feel like we\u2019re getting what we paid for. <\/p>\n

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In common sense land, the amount of money you pay for an item dictates the quality of said item. This should be true with toys. Two ten dollar figures should be somewhat comparable, even across different lines. If the price of the figure is higher, the quality should also go up. This doesn\u2019t seem to be the rule anymore though. I\u2019m not sure if it ever was.<\/p>\n

The official How to Train Your Dragon <\/em>toys<\/a> are on par with McDonalds Happy Meal toys. A MOTU Classics figure is $5 more than a DC Classics figure, even though they\u2019re basically comparable. And how can a fairly-articulated Marvel Universe figure and a Toy Story 3 figure<\/a> with only two moving joints both set you back $10? These days the toy collecting world is a very confusing place.<\/p>\n

That confusion is only deepened by the toy companies themselves, who reveal very little to us about how the process works. I understand the need for secrecy and ambiguity in any industry. I\u2019m not asking toy companies to broadcast production runs or fixed costs. But, at the same time, that has resulted in many fans not really knowing how much toys cost to produce; to not understand the effect that extra accessories, more articulation, or better paint jobs really has on the value of the unit. Common sense says that more pieces or work should cost more, but other than that, many collectors are left in the dark about how the different parts of production affect the final value.<\/p>\n

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My personal feelings on the subject are a little more basic though. Look at MOTUC. Mattel proudly advertises it as an \u201cAdult Collector\u201d line. I pay $20+shipping for a He-Man figure. For that price, I expect a certain amount of quality. There will always be some rotten QC in any production run, but snapping joints and poor paint jobs<\/a> should be the exception, not the rule. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t expect that quality simply because I\u2019m paying $20. I expect it because I\u2019m buying a re-used body every month with a few new pieces (maybe) and some new add-ons. I don\u2019t expect Mattel to lose money, but shouldn\u2019t I expect near perfection for that amount? Or should I accept that $20 only buys me a decent toy and not an excellent one?<\/p>\n

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I realize these companies aren\u2019t Santa\u2019s elves making toys for all the good kids. These are businesses with employees and boards of directors who need to keep the company profitable (sometimes largely profitable). But, these companies also must realize that if they want our money they have to earn it. $10 Toy Story toys should be fun, not immobile hunks of plastic. $20 MOTU figures should be near perfect instead of making me worry about getting a good paint job. It\u2019s a give and take process, and if I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m getting a fair amount of product for my money\u2026 well, Noisy is always telling me that my toy budget could make for a really nice vacation. <\/p>\n

-Mr. Rant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, I\u2019m not dead. Moving on… I\u2019ve been thinking about toy prices lately. Price is something important to all of us, but it\u2019s not something we all agree on. I\u2019ve been looking over some of the IAT crew\u2019s recent purchases in regards to this season\u2019s newest movie toys and wondering why they spend good money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[31,10],"tags":[30,2560],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/rantTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-1om","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":806,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=806","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":0},"title":"Mr. Rant says I thought we were past “female figures don’t sell”.","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Apparently, it\u2019s 1950 and boys don\u2019t play with girl action figures. At least, that\u2019s the way Mattel still sees it for a few of their lines. If you are a fan of the Secret Saturdays or Batman: Brave and the Bold, don\u2019t get your hopes up for a complete set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3823,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3823","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":1},"title":"Mr. Rant to Toy Companies: “Do Better!”","date":"February 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I spend a disproportionate amount of my income on Mattel toys. As a result, many of my Rants are aimed at Mattel. I don\u2019t like that. I want to spread it around, so to speak. Last night, Noisy gave me a revelation. I don\u2019t have a lot to rant about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1710,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1710","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":2},"title":"Mr. Rant asks “Why does the gun barrel point sideways?”","date":"September 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"So Webstor is here, and Noisy will have his review up soon, but I wanted to comment on a disturbing trend I\u2019ve noticed in the last few MOTUCs. One of the benefits of having friends that like similar things is that you can split the cost of shipping. It also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2711,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=2711","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":3},"title":"Mr. Rant’s favorite things about Christmas","date":"December 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas is rushing towards us at full steam and I'll be out of town for the next few weeks, so it\u2019s time for another one of my holiday lists. The newspeople would like us to think we aren\u2019t spending any money this year, but I\u2019m pretty sure they\u2019re wrong. No,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3221,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3221","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":4},"title":"Mr. Rant’s Post Holiday Complaints","date":"January 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Waiting, waiting, waiting is all I seem to be doing lately. I ordered a case of DCUC11 from Matty on December 23rd. I realized when I ordered them that it was too close to Christmas to expect them anytime soon. To Matty\u2019s credit, they had them ready for shipment rather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":348,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=348","url_meta":{"origin":5354,"position":5},"title":"Mr. Rant asks Where are my DC Minimates???","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Mister Rant"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5354"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18313,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5354\/revisions\/18313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}