Premium 6/7” line

[newgenandy]

Thought.

Do you think there’s a market for a real balls out premium line

super articulated but with a lot of the eye sore articulation hidden, maybe cloth goods but ones which don’t look like a sack of potatoes, loads of cool accessories etc

I’m talking an $80+ per figure real high quality - like a $200 per figure hot toys style? Obviously the line up would need to be super curated and you’d only get the big hitters (hogan, macho, warrior, Cena, HHH, taker etc)

Or is the wrestling market not big enough / willing to pay those sorts of prices? We do get those statues every now and then like the warrior, macho and flair ones which cost a pretty penny.

Thought I’d ask in here because I don’t see mattel ever moving close to the type of figure I’m talking about.

[PJ]

Outside of a skeleton covered skin I honestly think there’s no way to hide the articulation anymore than it already is. And the problem going with a skin over a skeleton is the skin would eventually dry rot and crack/crumble. I don’t see it worth the price point if there’s no guarantee the body won’t rot over time.

[oldschoolfool]

Feb 24, 2023 8:17:29 GMT -5 PJ said:

Outside of a skeleton covered skin I honestly think there’s no way to hide the articulation anymore than it already is. And the problem going with a skin over a skeleton is the skin would eventually dry rot and crack/crumble. I don’t see it worth the price point if there’s no guarantee the body won’t rot over time.

Not to mention it always look like crap and unnatural whenever a limb is bent. Maybe having elbow and knee pads as part of the skin sculpt would alleviate that to an extent. But not everyone wears pads.

[hbkjason]

Feb 24, 2023 8:17:29 GMT -5 PJ said:

Outside of a skeleton covered skin I honestly think there’s no way to hide the articulation anymore than it already is. And the problem going with a skin over a skeleton is the skin would eventually dry rot and crack/crumble. I don’t see it worth the price point if there’s no guarantee the body won’t rot over time.

I have a friend who is big into Hot Toys and they look amazing. But, a little while back he got this Thor from the Ragnarok movie and it looked incredible and had all these smooth joints and we were both blown away. Fast forward a year or so later and after having its pose changed just a couple of times the skin that hid the articulation has started to kind of wrinkle and show signs of stress and this is on a £200 to £300 figure!

I agree with you man, hiding articulation is just not possible.

[newgenandy]

Feb 24, 2023 11:54:15 GMT -5 hbkjason said:

Feb 24, 2023 8:17:29 GMT -5 PJ said:

Outside of a skeleton covered skin I honestly think there’s no way to hide the articulation anymore than it already is. And the problem going with a skin over a skeleton is the skin would eventually dry rot and crack/crumble. I don’t see it worth the price point if there’s no guarantee the body won’t rot over time.

I have a friend who is big into Hot Toys and they look amazing. But, a little while back he got this Thor from the Ragnarok movie and it looked incredible and had all these smooth joints and we were both blown away. Fast forward a year or so later and after having its pose changed just a couple of times the skin that hid the articulation has started to kind of wrinkle and show signs of stress and this is on a £200 to £300 figure!

I agree with you man, hiding articulation is just not possible.

Oh that’s a bummer!

I’ve only even seen the glamour shots of hot toys or ones posed in collections snd they look great. I wasn’t aware of the issue with the skin etc.

[👑🇵🇭⭐️]

$80+!? The Championship Title Belts would have to be made of Gold and leather.

[newgenandy]

Speaking of belts I always thought neca would do a great job with wrestlers. They’d nail the more accurate looking belt imo and they have good likenesses

[shanedalton]

If there was a Hot Toys style of wrestling figures, I'd grab a few major names, but probably less than 5 total. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Sting, and AJ Styles are honestly the only ones I would bother with. I just got into Hot Toys myself over the last year or so, and I average about one per year. I'd love to see a more high end wrestling figure, but I don't think it's one you could go deep into a roster with.

[stc13]

I don't see anything like that working in wrestling for few different reasons. Wrestling is still very niche and doesn't have the volume of deep pocket collectors that Star Wars, comic properties, etc have.

The Figarts figures were probably as close as we'll get to a premium line (though they were slightly smaller scale) and the line bombed.

Mattel had a really tough time getting the entrance stage funded, and there were a ton of complaints that $250 was too expensive despite having two big pieces plus figures.

I just can't see there being the volume of big dollar collectors it takes to sustain that type of product.

[derekbrazen]

Interesting idea, but I don't mind figures that show articulation points. I think a Hot Toys style wrestling figure would go for about $125. Having said that, I'm already at the point where I'm already willing to spend $60+ on getting specific Elite/Supreme style figures, so I'm down for spending even more to get detailed figures with good paint jobs and accessories. Problem is I'm not the fan/collector that wants the big names that a manufacturer would be comfortable producing; Hogan, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kenny Omega, ect.

I want Forbidden Figures quality of belts and I want cloth & Faux-leather goods for entrance gear, back-stage promos/in-ring promos. I want several different heads with different expressions and hands with different poses. But, I don't think this could work because I don't think most consumers care enough to be spend anything more than $25 USD.

I wonder what a wrestling ring would look like at this kind of price point. Maybe a real metal ring with actual wooden planks, turnbuckle pads with real padding, and a foam layer with a real ring mat. But that would probably run $700+ dollars?

I'd love to see what a Hot Toys kind of line would look like, but I'd probably not buy any.

[finnbalor1]

Like said earlier people complains all the time about a figure for $40-50 dollars,I can just imagine what would be said for almost $100 figure. Even the higher end stuff doesn't do a great job at hiding the articulation most times,so I can't see this being any different. Just like any other company,if its a guy I'm a big fan of I would give them a shot but that's gonna be a very few names. Maybe around 10-15 tops across both companies.

[themadbubbler]

I think there'd definitely be a market, but I agree with what others have said about hiding the articulation- there's just not a great way that won't deteriorate over time. Any kind of rubber, silicone, etc. will just naturally break down over time. I'd be in to a "super-premium" line, but to me, the way to go would be to kind of start with the Ultimate Edition WWE figure formula, and build on it- invest in new and unique tooling for different bodies/parts to be super-accurate, and give them a TON of parts and accessories, and feel like a great value. Like, for example, I'd pay $200.00 for a definitive Attitude Era Rock figure, but I'd want it to have, say: 6 different heads, 8 sets of hands, a few interchangeable pelvis pieces for different trunks, elbow pads and knee pads, every different title belt that he held, sunglasses, a microphone, dress pants, track pants, vest, jersey, gold chain, watch, and 2 or 3 different "$500.00 shirts."

[newgenandy]

Feb 27, 2023 14:36:00 GMT -5 themadbubbler said:

I think there'd definitely be a market, but I agree with what others have said about hiding the articulation- there's just not a great way that won't deteriorate over time. Any kind of rubber, silicone, etc. will just naturally break down over time. I'd be in to a "super-premium" line, but to me, the way to go would be to kind of start with the Ultimate Edition WWE figure formula, and build on it- invest in new and unique tooling for different bodies/parts to be super-accurate, and give them a TON of parts and accessories, and feel like a great value. Like, for example, I'd pay $200.00 for a definitive Attitude Era Rock figure, but I'd want it to have, say: 6 different heads, 8 sets of hands, a few interchangeable pelvis pieces for different trunks, elbow pads and knee pads, every different title belt that he held, sunglasses, a microphone, dress pants, track pants, vest, jersey, gold chain, watch, and 2 or 3 different "$500.00 shirts."

I think your example is what I was trying to get at but you explained it better 👍

Like say bret with a black singlet body, pink singlet body, same with legs, then maybe a sgt pepper style jacket, tag ic and eagle belts, silver and pink glasses, handful of heads and expressions with maybe wet and post match dry look hair etc