Welcome to our next Q and A of the Day post! This column will be published daily, weekly, monthly, or just based on how many questions I get emailed – but no more than one a day. Feel free to send in your questions and I will put them in the queue. Click through for Q and A of the Day: Day 17.
Q: Hi Paul. With so much talk about the cost of Hasbro producing each figure what exactly is their process in making a S.W figure? I just don't understand how sculpting a plastic action figure is always being made out by Hasbro to be so extremely and overly expensive! Isn't it just a talented clay sculptor followed by mass mold making and cheap plastics? I'm sure I'm not the only one who often wonders about this behind the scenes stuff. (Andy M.)
A: Andy, depending upon the type of action figure you're talking about, each one is handled differently from the next. Let me explain. Just how Star Wars characters differ from each other in the films, so does Hasbro's approach when making an action figure counterpart. Droids and mechanical figures go through a special 3D digital modeling process after sculptors come up with the idea for these types, different from what happens to regular non-mechanical figures. If you have missed our incredible Special Report entitled "From Concept To Digital Model" which featured an exclusive interview with Hasbro Star Wars modeler Jay Kushwara, I suggest you catch up on it as soon as possible. It's very enlightening. You'll find that characters like C-3PO, FX-6, 2-1B and many, many others are handled quite differently than a creature or human character.
Other characters like Luke Skywalker and Han Solo go through a much more standard process. You may have seen various coverage from San Diego Comic Con where Hasbro shows a case of various portraits and in various sizes. These characters go through the traditional artist/sculptor process right from the get-go.
But no matter the process, the cost to manufacture these action figures is a completely different bowl of wax. Rising costs to use factories in China, less factories in general producing these collectibles and the overall exponential increase in materials have all but made this profitable for Hasbro. Clearly, five points of swivel articulation is less time and less labor and the reason why Hasbro has gotten the Saga Legends line down to six dollars. I am not excusing some really bad choices of theirs, but they are absolutely swimming against the flow and are losing the battle. It is strongly believed that the 6" line was a desperate attempt to get almost $20 a figure to cover costs more efficiently. You can take that as you wish, but many have surmised that $10 super-articulated action figures are almost no longer an option anymore.
That being said, I however see inconsistencies in what Hasbro ends up releasing despite their claims that cost is always an issue. For example, why would the new TRU exclusive "kids" Battle Of Geonosis: Jedi Knights sets contain collector-oriented figures and cost around $45? (Psst. Because they are geared for us and not kids.) They just released The Rise Of Darth Vader set (TARGET) and they managed to include the similar quality figures and only charge $29.99, or create an wholesale cost that would allow TARGET to sell it for that much. Why would The Vintage Collection Republic Gunship comes with inferior pack-in figures?
This will be pondered for a very long time, but we'll see how many answers we can pull out of them at NYCC Preview Night.
