Hello, Plastikitties! Today I’d like to have a little chat with you about a topic that has been on my mind a lot recently: figure pricing. I’m sure for the majority of us, this is the deciding factor in what figures we order and how many we order. Yes, even more so than characters, style, and how good a figure looks. I mean, it doesn’t matter how lovely a figure is if you can’t afford it, right? But recently figure prices have been on the rise, so hit the jump and let’s get this convo started!
Anyone who has been collecting figures for a few years has noticed the steep pricing hikes that seem to happen pretty much constantly. Of course inflation is a thing, but that does not seem to be all of it. I am involved in a lot of other hobbies, and not a single one has consistent pricing increases the way figure collecting does. You expect a small pricing increase from year to year, but when I go back and look at old figure pricing the results are shocking.
Let’s take these figures for example. It’s a good comparison, because both Gwendolyns are made by the same company: Alter. The one on the left was released in 2008 and had a pricetag of ¥7,800. The one on the right is coming out next year and has a pricetag of ¥16,800. That is over double the cost in a mere 10 years. And the first one is almost four inches taller, so you can’t chalk it up to a size difference. And yes, the sculpting details are better in the 2018 version, but that is to be expected in the industry. It doesn’t warrant jacking up the pricing that much.
However, not every company is raising their pricing so steadily and drastically (though they are, across the board, increasing at least a bit). Not a single manufacturer has gone untouched by the pricing increases, but some seem to be reigning it in a bit. Consider GSC’s Racing Miku: the first release in 2009 was ¥7,800, just like Gwendolyn. The 2017 edition is ¥12,800. A 5k increase in cost is nothing to scoff at, but consider how simple Racing Miku was at her release: WAY less detailed than Alter’s original Gwendolyn. GSC used to be one of the most expensive companies, but they have toned it way down recently so that a 12k pricetag on Tony Taka Racing Miku seems like a blessing.
There are other companies who stick with comparatively lower prices: Kotobukiya, Megahouse, etc. But lots of them seem to be increasing at a rate that far outpaces inflation. Flare, FREEing, Griffon, and many more have moved onto my “only order if it’s a figure you absolutely can’t live without” list. And even then, I skip many things I want: Alter’s new Ranko is literally my dream figure but I can’t stomach the idea of $200 for a piece of plastic that should be $120 max so she and I will never be together. And if it seems like I am focusing on Alter a lot, it’s because they are the one that hurts the most: they used to be my favorite manufacturer, and at the moment I have a whopping 1 figure on order for them in the next 9 month period.
I have cut back on figure ordering a lot in general, and while there are other issues at hand (I am far more picky, space constraints are a serious problem, etc) money is the main one. One large figure is now the price of two from only a few years ago, and ordering anything over 12k is a sting I don’t want to get used to.
So how about you, Plastikitties? Have your ordering habits changed in the past few years? How do you feel about the drastic price increases that have happened recently? Let us know in the comments! This is a discussion post after all, so we want to hear from you~
I have noticed the trend too, especially in the last 12 months or so where we’ve seen figures fairly regularly breach the $200 mark (thanks, GSC and your Wonderful Hobby Selection line!) What once would’ve been 10k-12k yen figures are now commonly 16k-19k figures. What was 6k is 9k. Figmas might be one of the worst – they used to be attractive in part because they were so cheap! The common cost of a figma was 2000 yen, and they came with many more accessories than they often do now. Now a common figma is 6k, with more high-popularity characters regularly coming in at 10k! Between prices and space issues, I feel like I definitely order less.
Another example of crazy price increases is the Seven Deadly (Mortal) Sins line of figures. They originally released at 9k yen, but now they’re getting re-releases due to the anime only this time without the pedestal bases. The new price? 13k, nearly a 50% increase yet they come with less than the originals.
I think what we’re seeing here is largely the same as what went on with the anime home video market – the makers realized that their audience is only so big, and the demand is relatively inelastic – raise prices and the demand just doesn’t go down very much so they end up making more money by having high prices.
You’re absolutely right, I am always shocked when I look at anime DVD/Bluray price points. $160 for one series is insane! I think the market hit its peak a while ago and there is not a ton more room to expand. I wish they could be happy with the audience they have rather than just jacking up prices: I do wonder if the figure bubble will burst soon. We get a constant flood of new companies, characters, and figures, but the average buyer certainly doesn’t have unlimited funds. There are only so many figures we can buy a month, and that number is getting smaller and smaller.
The only figma I’ve got on order now due to the price increase is the protagonist from Persona 5, and that’s only because he comes with Morgana, which I feel justifies the cost. I would’ve been upset if I was one of the people who ordered the Morgana Nendoroid only for GSC to turn around and release what looks like a Nendo-sized figure as a bonus accessory a short time later.
The price increases have slowed my ordering but tbh general jaded-ness about the market has been more of a factor. Accelerating price increases and themes/tropes repeating over several years just make me choosier. There’s probably an already-released wistful schoolgirl/ridic weaponry-wielder/etc that fills the same niche and I might like it more/find one or the other reduced sometime.
Luckily I’m not into some of the big-in-figures IPs (e.g. im@s, KanColle*) and I don’t have grails/faves that I’ll pay and pay for. You weigh up your love of source, quality of figure and price and more often these days = lol no thanks
Am ordering less and less scales at release. Finding gems on sale/pre-owned is it’s own kind of fun.
When nendos and figmas start getting unreasonably pricey, that’ll test me, specially with some of the older IPs that’re getting a shot now.
*KanColle completionists, those poor bastards
There is indeed a sense of same-ness to the industry. I am sure it has always been there, but when I started collecting I noticed it less. It seems like figures fall into categories: slice-of-life girl from, It Girls (Miku, Sonico, etc), It Franchises (KanColle, IM@S, and Fate atm), trope-y girls who rely on exaggerated details (maid catgirl, schoolgirl demon, etc). There are very few that feel fresh and original anymore, if I’m being totally honest (and the original ones that I DO find tend to be $$$). I’d like sculptors to take more risks: the garage kit scene seems a lot more inventive and interesting.
I’ve been noticing this trend for a very long time, and just like you it’s been cutting into my purchase rates. Now I find myself regularly canceling preorders because I decide I just don’t want to shell out that much for a figure I would’ve been all over 10 years ago at $60 (which was a “crazy” price back then for those outside the hobby). It’s an interesting analysis you give of the reason, though when I noticed it was the oil “crisis” from a few years ago where all plastic prices got jacked up. The crisis is over, but the manufacturers never dropped the prices accordingly.
I do think it also has to do with general quality going up (though that’s not always the case… just got Million Arthur Nimue from MFC, not a bootleg, and the paint/sculpt leave a bit to be desired). The sculpts are getting more elaborate and detailed (though one could argue the sculptor, presumably being a salaried employee, gets paid the same either way), and the paint jobs and materials are improving (Atelier Sophie, anyone?), but is it proportional to the price hikes? I dunno.
I’m willing to bet there’s a lot more going on behind all this than we know. Wage increases for the factories in China? Increased shipping costs? Higher-quality materials? Packaging itself is a cost too.
Part of me is hoping the prices just become completely prohibitive to my hobby so I can stop spending so much on plastic crack… ^_^
Part of me is hoping the prices just become completely prohibitive to my hobby so I can stop spending so much on plastic crack… ^_^
Haha, I am totally guilty of this one! I’m down to two scaled figures max a month (+the occasional ReMent or Nendoroid), and given the price increases I might be down to one… or zero… in a year’s time. On the plus side, I’m able to get over missing “big deal” figures pretty easily now!
I guess I’m actually down to way less, what with preorders now getting farther and farther off (maybe that’s a different topic entirely). Just placed orders for stuff that comes out NEXT JUNE? So, I get like 4-6 figures twice a year now it seems. Aside from, as you said, the occasional Nendo or something. ^_^
Yeah, I have some July pre-orders which seems crazy. That’s 11 MONTHS from now!!
I just totaled it up and I’m well under two a month even counting Figmas and Nendos (and the two FiguartsZero figures that Bandai still prices about like Nendos).That’s even with some licenses that have seen me buying nearly everything released to date, like Persona 5, and the uptick in the last couple years in figures for beloved older series/male characters I never expected. Part of the problem really is that I find myself consistently asking if a figure is worth buying, or if it’ll just get lost next to everything I already own. All too often, it would just fade into the background and therefore simply isn’t worth the 10k+ cost.
Flare kills me because I love all their figures and haven’t yet been able to justify buying one because of the cost. I’ll pay a lot for an interesting pose and a lot of detail (I PO-ed GSC’s Benten a couple years ago, for example, and have never regretted him even though he represented a massive increase in cost), but they price so far above similar figures from other companies that I just can’t do it.
I’m no longer working in the industry, but back before I left there were rising costs on the production side at the factories. I wasn’t privy to all the numbers, but it is a factor.
My collecting is borderline hoarding. My pre-orders for the rest of the year are $500-1k. But I think the quality is getting better than what it use to be.
As for the pricing, I think it has more to due with the expanding Anime audience. Anime is close to mainstream now and with a bigger market prices will rise until figure sales drop. I would say there is probably another 5 years (at least) of this trend.
The crazy thing is, depending on the figures, 1k could be as little as 5 pre-orders! (Or less, if you have that crazy 36k Griffon Escalayer on order) I miss the days when $90 seemed like an insane price. Now I see that the new racing Miku is 10k and breathe a sigh of relief.
Hi, my name is Nfern0 and I’m a Kancolle completionist struggling to contain himself.
Yeah, the prices have definitely risen. It’s kinda part of why I’ve drastically cut on figure orders
At the same time, since I can count my remaining orders on one hand, paying a big price for a single figure I really like (like GSC’s WHL boat girls or Saber Alter) feels okay to me. The downside is I look at figmas / nendos and think they aren’t worth the price anymore 🙁
The quality overall HAS been going up but because of that any issues the figures have are exacerbated, no matter how minor they may be.
It’s funny, I’m feverishly awaiting the release of Jet Striker Barkhor. I know it will likely push me to get more Strike Witches alongside her but it’s okay since a lot of them can be bought for cheap on the 2nd hand market. How far I have fallen….
It’s definitely true (at least for me) that the increase in quality has made me more okay with getting fewer and fewer figures. When I get one or two a month, I know they’re going to be gorgeous. It used to be a bit iffy, even with big companies, if the quality was going to be all the way there. You see a lot less painting mishaps and much better sculpting nowadays, and figures look very close to promo images.
I do wonder how that trend is working out for mediocre companies though, since they are also jacking up their prices but quality doesn’t seem to be on the rise for them. Why spend $340 on a Griffon figure when you can get 2 or 3 better quality ones for the same cost?
As a kancolle completionist what do you usually succumb to PO? I’ve always dreamed of collecting ALL of the KanColle Nendos
I started with figmas and nendos then added the GSC scales ontop. It got ugly real quick so i stopped getting nendos and figmas (still have around 20 of those) and keep getting scales (Amakuni Shimakaze, Yamato, Musashi, Atago, Takao, Prinz, maybe Bismark and will also get Amakuni Iowa). I also have Wo, Seaport Hime and Re (I hope they will make moar abyssals!).
I’m very lucky that other figure makers use different scales or I would’ve added even more of them.
Nendos are the cheaper option on paper but there is a metric asston of them, not sure if you end up cheaper in the end lol.
Yeah, I’ve primarily been an after-market collector for most of my addict days, but it’s getting to the point where even aftermarket isn’t very sustainable because the figures either get marked up crazy high aftermarket or even with a 40% discount or whatever, I’m still paying over $100 for USED figure, which boggles the mind.. Otherwise, the quality of Prize figures has really gone up & they are still pretty affordable, so there’s little chance of kicking the habit completely..
There was definitely a point where most manufacturers were clearly over-producing figures and literally 50% of releases (even big ones!) would end up in the bargain bin or on the aftermarket for 60-80% off. Those were nice times, because you could just wait for a sale and it was rare that something would totally sell out. You still see items with discounts, but nowhere near as crazy as it used to be. I do miss those sales, but at the same time I’m glad companies aren’t taking big losses like that consistently.
Ugh this makes me wish I’d gotten into figure collecting earlier! The only figures that are below $100 now are nendoroids and prize figures that aren’t super rare. I really have a bone to pick with Megahouse because their figures are insanely expensive for the quality you’re getting. Their 1/10 scales are over $100, which I think is really outrageous. At least with companies like Good Smile or Alter, I can justify it with the amount of detail and craftsmanship, but Megahouse doesn’t really have that much going for it other than the licenses they’ve acquired.
MegaHouse’s sculpting has gone WAY down in quality, it’s kind of ridiculous. They had some absolutely gorgeous figures a few years ago (like the Elf from uh… Dragon’s Crown?) and now their bodies look like a joke. Worst figure anatomy I’ve ever seen, and they keep ruining perfectly good figures of characters I love with absurd boobs that are not character-accurate at ALL. What is up with their Android 18, it kills me inside
I’ve been a figure collector figures ever since the first Black Rock Shooter Figma came out (2010). I’ve been reading yours and Stephens since you wrote on Tomopop. I’ve almost stopped buying figures altogether.
Now I just stick to a few key figure from series I love. For me it’s the mixture of rising prices and lack of space. In the last few years figure collecting became even more mainstream and with that people became more willing to pay higher prices.
I think the reason they keep raising prices is because people are willing to pay that much. It feels like a game of chicken. I feel like manufacturers are gonna keep raising prices until they get to the point where profit goes down cause prices are too high.
If we’re talking about insane price increases, look no further than Gecco. They were pumping out 1/6 Silent Hill figures for about 12k each. Fast forward to now and you’re looking at spending at least $300 for a Gecco figure. Their figures are very intricate, sure. But we’re talking about over a 100% markup in just a few years.
I got into this hobby back in 2006 and current pricing always gives me a laugh considering how many figures I used to be able to cart up for those amounts. It’s also a good laugh to look up figures I wanted and see how poor their quality seems in retrospect. It feels like makers in every hobby nickel and dimes fans these days. I’d hope some of that profit margin is going to the workers, but ya know. As for the collecting of anything, I don’t do much of that anymore since I realized that it came from a negative place. I only keep/order something if it means a lot to me, and the rest is money saved towards new experiences.
As a fan who got into figure collecting around 4 years ago who is extremely poor, the new prices on scales (and now figmas especially) is honestly down right offensive to me. I could never really afford scales in the first place and the insane price hike over the last year or so is just hurtful because now they’re practically entirely out of my range. Alter is my favorite company too, I managed to snag their KOS-MOS v4, Tales of: Asbel, and Tales of: Yuri for $100 a piece with shipping and that was just barely doable for me with a lot of saving. I always dreamed of being able to collect more scales, but the higher prices make that impossible. The only scale I plan on getting in any timeframe is Alter’s Mikleo, only because I love him to death and the prototype looks great. I love that character so much that I’m already saving for him and will pay what they ask, but I’m not going to like it and I won’t be buying any other scales anytime soon.
I also cannot understand the insane price hike on figmas. I have around 12 figmas and stopped buying those too on account of less characters being made that I care enough about to buy and how expensive they are. The only one I’ve bought recently was Persona 3’s MC only because I got a really good deal on him through TOM’s point and coupon system. How did they sell him for 6k when he’s so tiny and doesn’t even come with a ton of extras? Not to mention how simplistic his outfit is.
I kinda like the original Gwen but of course I want the new Alter Gwen. But I’ll wait till the Aquamarine ver of Gwen, even the Flare ver of Princess Gwen. As far as the pricing issue, I’m sure one of you explained it well but Amen to frustrating pricing as of later
So much truth in this. Yeah Alter still makes some great figs but the price tag really is a killer. I wonder how they justify such prices? I wanted so bad to get the Saber Alter but skipped on it because it was plainly too expensive.
Even figma prices have doubled. It used to be that I didn’t flinch when ordering a figma or a nendo. Now like you and many other, I’ve gotten far more picky with my orders. Five years ago I could order a figure for a character I didn’t know because I liked the craftsmanship. Now I stick with characters that I know about and very very very rarely even consider getting a figure from a series unknown to me.
On top of that, Japanese currency exchange went up so that’s another hurdle to my figure collecting hobby.
Yup this blog is so true, I had cut back so much since when I began with the hobby. I rarely buy more than 10,000 yen now.