Old, Not Obsolete!
/Ok, so wtf is the German going to ramble about today, hmm?!
Well, first of all let me apologize to a personal friend of mine from the UK, Dan. Dude, I gave you shit for this, but it was TOO fitting for this to pass up on. So: sorry, dude. ;)
Now, what I mean by this is simply that I was VERY disappointed over this year’s announcements/teases at SDCC2018. Many people know me, I´m approaching 37 and I´m pretty old school. Many people over here collect S.H. Figuarts stuff, SW Black Series, Mythic Legions and not many seem to share my love for Robocop and Terminator to only name a few, but don´t get me wrong: sure respect it.
With that being said: Hot Toys is slacking big. fuckin. time.
We only see Star Wars, DC, or Marvel, with the 3 exceptions, of which, 2 were surprises:
- John Wick (Surprise)
- Fugitive Predator
- Battle Angel Alita (Surprise)
I have zero interest in of those (good on the wallet), but it pains me to see that old franchises won´t get any love anymore. Call it whining, it doesn´t matter to me, I just need to vent and hope someone gets me. Because I know PLENTY of people which are also enjoying these franchises (maybe not in the Realm, but still) and they ache for a “The Terminator” Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor, “Robocop” Clarence Boddicker and Dick Jones, “Aliens” Ripley and Dwayne Hicks, Hudson, Drake, Vasquez…you name it. And I honestly believe Hot Toys drops the ball BIG TIME when it comes to delivering characters to collection that fill them and somehow complete them too. Especially so on the villain side, sometimes also cult characters, modern, or old school, but I´m doing an overall list. I hope you bear with me.
Just a few examples:
We´ve gotten Ant-Man, yet no Yellow Jacket. The Guardians were done, but no Ronan. Thor, no Malekith, but multiple Lokis. No Grandmaster or Valkyrie. Iron Man´s Mark 1 – 1 Trillion, but how about Happy Hogan or Aldrich Killian? Two City Hunter Predators, but was there no Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and especially since I started with them: 2 Terminator 1 T-800s (Tech Noir and Police Shootout), which were able to double as Arm & Eye Surgery and Tanker Accident T-800, but a non-fitting and INCORRECTLY outfitted Terminator 1 ¼-scale T-800 Endoskeleton, with a base with “lava” (still a big WTF?!) and phased pulse rifle (belongs to T2), yet Endo for T1, or a 2-pack with Kyle, Sarah and a blasted in half T-800 (which would work), cause let´s be clear:
RoboCop showed us that it can work. The battle-damaged Robocop with human Alex Murphy was a hit. It sold out everywhere, presented us with Hot Toys’ BEST head sculpt to date, and aftermarket prices for this set is crazy. And with current sculpters and the sculpt work, amazing sculpts could be done of Michael Biehn (which sure can be used for Dwayne Hicks too. One sculpt, two uses), Linda Hamilton, Kurtwood Smith, and all those cult characters.
So I get it why Hot Toys only delivers pieces for DC, Marvel and Star Wars: Because the licenses are expensive and they milk the cow, because they need to get their costs back. But with half- (or let´s just say “unfinished”) collections of Terminator 1, 2 and RoboCop, Hot Toys wouldn´t lose money. People want Clarence, Dick, Sarah, John and the old T-800. Fans would eat that up in a heartbeat. They pay VERY good and also big custom money for Legio7 custom figures of Clarence, Emil Antonovsky´s molten appearance from the end, Nash, Joe and there´s also a Dick Jones custom out there. 1984 Kyle too, but its sculpt is lacking.
The money is there, Hot Toys just needs to grab it and also would sure get fan/customer support big time, because that´s where they can improve too: Listening to fans, which would help them in the long run.
I hope I caught an ear or two. Would be glad if you sound of in the comments below, or leave a like. Find me in the Facebook groups as “Tim Kay” and on IG and FB as @figurephotographycrate, or on Youtube @timkaysnerdcrate. Hit me up, always happy to chop it up with the ROC fam.
‘Til next time
The Mad German
