Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[Scooterforever]

I knew it was just my imagination..

Have you been on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal's Island of Adventures? (in Orlando) It's also a fun ride.
Like the movie, it takes a while to get into the excitement that is for the rest of the attraction, but the end of the ride is always very fun.

I wish the BTTF ride was still open! I don't know why they'd ever close that!

Yes, I've been on the JP rides at both Universal, Florida and Universal, California, although I can't recall if there are any significant differences between the two. The last time I went on the BTF ride, I knew it was going to close, so I tried to ride it as many times as I could before we left the park. It closed to make way for the Simpsons ride, which I rode when I went to Universal a few years back. I love both BTF and the Simpsons, but I'm still sad they closed the BTF ride.

 

[Drtooth]

Well... they have Despicable Me merchandise.

Unfortunately the prices were suggested by a freaking mad man, and they're expensive to such an incredible and nauseating degree.

 

[Scooterforever]

Well... they have Despicable Me merchandise.

Unfortunately the prices were suggested by a freaking mad man, and they're expensive to such an incredible and nauseating degree.

Welcome to the 21st century; everything's overpriced.

 

[Drtooth]

When I say something is overpriced, it's SHOCKINGLY overpriced. I've gotten accustom to 10+ dollar shrimpy Star Wars toys, 15+ DC hero figures and 20+ deluxe figures... but even in this is unbearable.

I'm saying 12 bucks for a small 3" PVC figure with 2 points of articulation. Outrafgeous isn't the word. And of course, it's a Thinkway license. How the company turned into the "let's price everything so that no one will buy it" cpompany, I'll never know.

 

[Scooterforever]

When I say something is overpriced, it's SHOCKINGLY overpriced. I've gotten accustom to 10+ dollar shrimpy Star Wars toys, 15+ DC hero figures and 20+ deluxe figures... but even in this is unbearable.

I'm saying 12 bucks for a small 3" PVC figure with 2 points of articulation. Outrafgeous isn't the word. And of course, it's a Thinkway license. How the company turned into the "let's price everything so that no one will buy it" cpompany, I'll never know.

When I was a kid people would laugh at the idea of a $20 action figure. I remember the 1st time I realized how expensive toys were getting; I was about 12-13, walked into my local KB Toys (now closed) and saw a DragonBall Z Goku figure for $10. I thought "wow, that's overpriced." Now the price has doubled for most single action figures. I like Marvel Select's line of action figures, they have lots of points articulation and a base, but the packaging is now nearly 3X the size of the figures, which seems like a sort of trick to make people think the figures are bigger than they really are, and get them to fork over their $22. And then there's Mattel's DC "retro-action" figures, made to look like the old 70's Mego dolls. Those old figures looked like crap, and so do the new ones, but they still cost $15-20 at Toys-R-Us.

 

[jvcarroll]

The lessening of labor exploitation the tightening of quality control and the declining interest in toys are responsible for the price increase. It's not just some greedy person. Companies would love to sell things at prices customers like. That's just not possible these days.

 

[Drtooth]

Might I restate...

12 dollar small PVC figures with limited articulation

There is no excuse on that end.

Playmates is able to sell the new TMNT line for 10 bucks or less, and it's the only toy line I consistently see selling. I know all about the politics of why the prices have to go up, the least of which no thanks to Mattel's lax standards we need tougher inspection to make sure factories don't use lead paint. But to charge that much, rather than a fair price of 5/6 bucks for a PVC (similar to the Nintendo figures) is outrageous and completely inexcusable. Especially when 12 bucks is what Jazzwares Adventure Time/Regular Show/Hanna Barbera/Nickelodeon charge for their larger figure line up. 12-15 unfortunately for action figures is reasonable and justifiable. For a 3" PVC? If they don't sell these things it's their own fault. That's half the reason the prices are so high in the first place, because they don't sell.

 

[jvcarroll]

Might I restate...

12 dollar small PVC figures with limited articulation

There is no excuse on that end.

Playmates is able to sell the new TMNT line for 10 bucks or less, and it's the only toy line I consistently see selling. I know all about the politics of why the prices have to go up, the least of which no thanks to Mattel's lax standards we need tougher inspection to make sure factories don't use lead paint. But to charge that much, rather than a fair price of 5/6 bucks for a PVC (similar to the Nintendo figures) is outrageous and completely inexcusable. Especially when 12 bucks is what Jazzwares Adventure Time/Regular Show/Hanna Barbera/Nickelodeon charge for their larger figure line up. 12-15 unfortunately for action figures is reasonable and justifiable. For a 3" PVC? If they don't sell these things it's their own fault. That's half the reason the prices are so high in the first place, because they don't sell.

There are so many variables that go into price. Licensing costs, development time, toy company standards, factory costs, market interest, customer interest, retailer interest, the approval process and many, many more issues go into each individual product. Basically, the retail price of one brand's toy from a particular toy company has no bearing on the price of another toy from a different company. IE a cheap TMNT toy has no bearing on an expensive Sesame Street toy due to the different hoops and hoop holders.

I assure you, no mainstream toy company wants to price themselves out of the market. In fact, many toys are canceled due to anticipation of customer complaints for the SRP. The world runs on profit margins. No company wants to take a financial risk if there's not a significant yield.

I'm not saying that you should buy an expensive item, but that's the way things are right now. Is a $12 PVC a rip-off? From a customer standpoint, Yes!
____

Back to Box Office talk:

I was pulled to the new Rob Zombie movie. My take: Pretentious artschool flick that overstays its welcome. A few fun moments don't justify the running length or the weak narrative. Skip "Lords of Salem" for your own good.

 

[Drtooth]

I assure you, no mainstream toy company wants to price themselves out of the market. In fact, many toys are canceled due to anticipation of customer complaints for the SRP. The world runs on profit margins. No company wants to take a financial risk if there's not a significant yield.

I'm not saying that you should buy an expensive item, but that's the way things are right now. Is a $12 PVC a rip-off? From a customer standpoint, Yes!

To give you a bit of perspective...

They also had lower (or rather more reasonably) priced items like 10 dollar plush toys and 4 dollar "soft figures." Guess what was sold out, and guess what was stocked completely shelf to shelf? I'm sure there's a lot of marketing mumbo jumbo and license crap and regulation of which passes the price onto the consumer... but there is no excuse for a 3" PVC to be 12 bucks. Unless this was a mistake, these prices, no matter how they could defend it, are bull, and they've effectively priced themselves out of the business. Meanwhile, Mattel's Croods line featured 2 figures of the same size for 8. Whoever runs Thinkway is clearly an idiot to think 12 dollar single carded PVC's will sell for the price of a full scale action figure. I'm VERY disappointed since I wanted DM merchandise since the first film. I wish that some better company, like Mattel, Hasbro, or Jazzwares got the license. Had Hasbro got it, no doubt they'd have a series of blind bagged Minions in the style of their G.I. Joe and MLP lines. Those would sell like hotcakes. Way to go, picking the worst toy company possible, Universal.

they also have the Monsters University license, it looks like. At least The Disney Store will have MU figure sets for the price of one lousy minion.

 

[jvcarroll]

To give you a bit of perspective...

They also had lower (or rather more reasonably) priced items like 10 dollar plush toys and 4 dollar "soft figures." Guess what was sold out, and guess what was stocked completely shelf to shelf? I'm sure there's a lot of marketing mumbo jumbo and license crap and regulation of which passes the price onto the consumer... but there is no excuse for a 3" PVC to be 12 bucks. Unless this was a mistake, these prices, no matter how they could defend it, are bull, and they've effectively priced themselves out of the business. Meanwhile, Mattel's Croods line featured 2 figures of the same size for 8. Whoever runs Thinkway is clearly an idiot to think 12 dollar single carded PVC's will sell for the price of a full scale action figure. I'm VERY disappointed since I wanted DM merchandise since the first film. I wish that some better company, like Mattel, Hasbro, or Jazzwares got the license. Had Hasbro got it, no doubt they'd have a series of blind bagged Minions in the style of their G.I. Joe and MLP lines. Those would sell like hotcakes. Way to go, picking the worst toy company possible, Universal.

they also have the Monsters University license, it looks like. At least The Disney Store will have MU figure sets for the price of one lousy minion.

Whatever. I stand by what I said.