by Requiem Prime » Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:37 am
- Motto: "You take care of your team and stay out of my way, so I can take care of mine."
- Weapon: Hypersonic Concussion Blasters
I don't really see a problem with pricing to break even or even fund future projects (as long as they actually happen). They put a lot of hard work into these things and deserve some return. Even the ones based off unused designs impress me for coming from a single piece of art with no real information of the in between, or in some cases the end product.
Still, I agree the bubble is likely to burst. You have to wonder how many are just using the $80+ mark to see if they can? (I'm looking at you, iGear). Some cases of response are already out there. I've seen a lot of smaller items at more reasonable prices hitting the big leagues. CorbotV's lovely War Axe, Headrobots is staying 30 and under, even FansProject's Sidearm and CC gun (what? It still counts as embellishing existing toys).
Overall, I expect FansProject & others will likely ride out unscathed. Or rather, they had better; a genuine 3rd party presence must survive. What do you think brought about this little renaissance from HasTak? You think they're going to continue on this level if 3rd parties suddenly died back to non-entities? The only weapon Hasbro has really taken from them is giving neglected characters proper toys. Besides that, they'll always have a role with unused toy/character designs, additions to existing toys, and good old additional weapons.
As for Xovergen; I've gone back and forth on preordering this set a dozen times. It is an interesting design. More so, since I'm not a Joe fan and couldn't care less about accuracy. I'm really drawn to the green version as a unique character. But the price and forced pairing is just wrong, especially on their first product, with the preorder set up oddly fast to release, almost like when movie studios deny reviewers early showings.