That's exactly why they didn't include figures with this campaign. They would raise the price and potentially drive away people because of the cost. No extra figures; smaller cost. And they can sell those potential bonus figures at retail.
This guy could come down to $125 easily if he were mass produced, and there would be plenty of retailer interest.
By what rationale do you think retailers would be interested in carrying an $125 action figure which is a box they can't even fit on store shelves? And I doubt it would be $125. Just because this gets 15k (random number) backers via crowdfunding, there's no guarantee they'd sell 15k to retailers. They need a production run multiple times higher to make the cost come down so much. And at a higher pricepoint, there's no guarantee of hitting those numbers. This should go without saying, but just because you want something to be true doesn't make it true.
I do wonder, as I do with all Haslabs, if it was mass produced and sold in store, what could this price get down to? I'm guessing considerably less.
First, you'd have to find a brick and mortar store willing to stock it and buy enough inventory to make it worth Hasbro's while. Clearly there's not interest in that from the Targets and Walmarts of the world and there's likely not any other retailer (outside of Amazon, which is online only) that would ever buy enough to make it worthwhile for them.
I'd argue that "Clearly no interest" part. Are any of those big box stores on record saying they wouldn't take a Marvel Legends figure this size? I see Spin Master Batplanes, JP dinosaurs, and those big, 5POA Darth Vaders the size of my 6 year old on toy shelves that take up at least as much (and probably more) shelf real estate than this would. Heck, Hasbro could even break this guy down and have the customer pop the legs on themselves to get him into a smaller box.
If you don't want to go brick n mortar, am I to believe that a specialty online store that caters to collectors like BBTS or EE wouldn't take this?
This guy could come down to $125 easily if he were mass produced, and there would be plenty of retailer interest.
I'm sorry, when the biggest toy company in the world holding the license to one of the biggest IPs you can ask for tries to tell me there's no way a retailer would be interested in something fans clearly want to buy, I just flat out don't believe it. You are free to call that a character flaw 🙂
*sigh*
Are we really having this conversation again?
Can you guess the difference between Marvel's Giant-Man and Batman, Jurassic Park, and Darth Vader? The others may have slightly more brand recognition. And to be crystal clear, by "slightly," I mean a fuckton.
Does it really need that high level of articulation, particularly for the fingers? It seems a bit overdesigned and intentionally so to justify the high price point. A less robust Giant man at 200 or 250 plus a few obscure Avenger outfits that likely won't be made in our lifetimes would have been ideal.
*sigh*
Are we really having this conversation again?
That's not what HasLab is. HasLab is for high-end centerpiece items. Of course it doesn't need that level of articulation, sculpted detail, or paint, but then it would be an entirely different product.
Does Stephen King's It really need to be about a murderous evil clown? Can't it be about a nice clown who does birthday parties in the suburbs? Sure it could, but then it would be a different product for a different audience. This is the product. Buy it or don't.
Also, just to keep this in perspective, this board is probably far more likely to have people commenting who own the original Toybiz Giant Man. I guarantee you most people who are aware of this figure/campaign do not. I was around back then and even I didn’t, I never found all the pieces and I was trying, but I was in high school and working so my hunting time was limited and my budget didn’t allow for secondary prices, so for the majority of modern Legends collectors, I suspect this is the first chance they’ve ever had of owning a classic Giant Man.
Also, just to keep this in perspective, this board is probably far more likely to have people commenting who own the original Toybiz Giant Man. I guarantee you most people who are aware of this figure/campaign do not. I was around back then and even I didn’t, I never found all the pieces and I was trying, but I was in high school and working so my hunting time was limited and my budget didn’t allow for secondary prices, so for the majority of modern Legends collectors, I suspect this is the first chance they’ve ever had of owning a classic Giant Man.
And the wave with Giant-Man as the BAF was a Walmart exclusive that was notoriously hard to find in some parts of the country. Not to mention the fact that it was what, 16 years ago when some current collectors might not have even been collecting yet? If I remember correctly this was the very last ToyBiz wave (other than the Legendary Heroes line with Conan, Judge Dredd, etc). Honestly if I hadn't gotten in at the very beginning then I probably never would have started - I totally get why some people only collect MCU because that just began relatively far more recenty in comparison.
I hope this Giant Man figure get funded, I don't think I can handle another failure.
Perhaps there's a silver lining for this figure being so large. Maybe something smaller is still feasible (or even being planned) at retail or Fan Channel. Maybe we can still get 12-15" figures at retail for $50-100.
That's my hope as well, and partly why I'm on the fence about this Haslab. I don't want to miss out on this Giant-Man if there isn't going to be what I consider an ideal 12-18" version down the line. I was also hopeful that the Haslab would be smaller simply to accommodate the idea of reuse for other giant figures. One 2 foot figure is hard enough in terms of shelf space, but multiples will literally be unmanageable (for me).
I hope this Giant Man figure get funded, I don't think I can handle another failure.
It's a quarter of the way to baseline funding in the first day. Very good odds it'll pull through to at least basic production.
Cool Haslab. Love all the small sculpted details in the suit, and the articulated hands look fantastic.
Agreed. the sculpting on the suit is great. At first glance, I hated the hands/fingers, but they've grown on me. The potential for posing is pretty cool. Here I am talking myself into backing.
Perhaps there's a silver lining for this figure being so large. Maybe something smaller is still feasible (or even being planned) at retail or Fan Channel. Maybe we can still get 12-15" figures at retail for $50-100.
I'd say the future of that is mostly based upon how successful Hasbro feels that projects like MCU Surtur and comic Super Adaptoid were. We know that the Icons 12" line generally didn't work out for them. That 14" Titan series Sentinel that was aimed at kids from the X-Men '97 line might be the more likely workable scenario for this scale of figure, honestly. I do hope to see more things like Surtur and Super Adaptoid in the future though, personally!! I bought both of those and love them both! I also bought all of the Marvel Universe 12" figures when they were released around that $50 price point many years ago now.
I am a MCU only collector, but if I were a comic collector, I would be backing it. Price point I think is fair and the lack of figures I just see as helping to keep this at a lower price. This is a pretty safe offering, IMO. But it's an awesome Giant-Man figure.
The size being too big is the root of any reasonable complaints I have. I think he should be much shorter than Galactus (then again, Galactus is small for a Galactus), and I think his size overshadows the rest of his team.
But more importantly it makes it completely unfeasible to make a matching Bill Foster Goliath or Atlas, one of which being in sore need of an update, and the other having been built up to for the last few years of the line.
Figure looks great. Height is pretty perfect. If I'm buying, I don't want a "Kind of Tall" Man, I want a giant. Price is decent. The lack of figures as tiers is a completely welcome surprise. The face plates don't tweak me, but that doesn't matter.
Overall far more satisfying than last year's offering.
Hi. please make a comic Agatha head. 😆
He looks great, the detail on the suit, the shading, the head sculpt. The shoulders are a little low, but I can forgive that. I really want him, but I'm not sure I need him to be that big. He gets all the attention and the rest of the Avengers look pretty ridiculous next to him.
Not sure how I feel about 200$ price. 175$ would be better. Especially considering no action figures come with him. I understand and agree that other characters shouldn't be "held hostage" to campaigns like this, but at least a smaller 6 inch version of the same Giant Man could have been included, no?
Well, Size isn't everything...I may buy it, I may not.
That's not what HasLab is. HasLab is for high-end centerpiece items. Of course it doesn't need that level of articulation, sculpted detail, or paint, but then it would be an entirely different product.
I think the point you made earlier in that post about how it might be very difficult to get retail support for 10,000 orders for a $200 Giant-Man figure is what any HasLab really is, and always has been - going back to the Khetana - items they think retail is going to balk at. Centerpiece items, yes - high end, kind-of? High price-point relative to the rest of the line to be sure, but I am not sure I agree it is meant to be "better" than a typical item in the line (which is how I interpret the high-end term). I think it comes out that way because at a larger scale you need more detail or else it will look cheap, and therefore they can do more and have it work well, but that is more practical than it being "high end" per se. At least that's my take.
While I personally doubt the articulated fingers* adds that much to the cost, it does add something to production which had to be balanced against other options. The board members here critique most design choices that involve articulation, accessories, etc., for almost every figure, not sure this would be exempt from that. I think this is fairly priced for what they are offering (8 random figure or this seem equal to me), even if I would have made some different choices.
* As an aside, the best use of articulated fingers for figures I have was the 18" Spider-Man from 20 years ago - it really benefitted to be able to make the web-shooting look, or fists, or grabbing onto a web-line. There worth every penny. Giant Man may not need that for the character, but I get their point that swapable hands would be a huge waste of plastic. And although the Zombie version isn't of interest to me, doing the crooked fingers in the livestream did look cool.
Figure looks great. Height is pretty perfect. If I'm buying, I don't want a "Kind of Tall" Man, I want a giant. Price is decent. The lack of figures as tiers is a completely welcome surprise. The face plates don't tweak me, but that doesn't matter.
Overall far more satisfying than last year's offering.
Hi. please make a comic Agatha head. 😆
Sorry, I'm already working on an Aunt May head, and that hits my old lady quota.
I'm kidding. I'll put Agatha on the list.
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