Ben Bentley wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:52 am
BATWINGED HORNET wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:18 am
BiffPow wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:47 am
Picked up Egghead a couple of days ago. Why is he so small? Vincent Price was 6’4” not counting the oversized head makeup, and McFarlane’s Egghead is shorter than Joker and Catwoman!
And, when compared with the 1/12 McFarlane Captain Kirk, it’s obvious that the 1966 Batman figures are more like 1/14 scale.
It there's one thing about action figure manufacturing decisions that's always bugged me, its the corners cut ($) when producing lines based on real actors, where its not uncommon for one mold to be used (or re-used) for a number of characters, even if the actors they're based on have completely different body types. I've avoided collecting certain figures lines based on that problem.
Thankfully, companies such as Hot Toys were all about attention to detail, including accurate scales (e.g., ANH Luke Skywalker compared to ANH Darth Vader, et al.), which is a great selling point (along with the excellent likenesses, of course).
To each their own, obviously you're not wrong in what you're saying, Egghead does scale shorter relatively in this line... But I will say this as this general theme continues to be a mainstay here on the Message Board and in fan-culture at large: Context is
everything, and in this case to throw Hot Toys into the mix we're comparing a ceiling fan to a helicopter. We're talking about $20 vs $300 aimed at two entirely different markets within the wider collector umbrella. I see an awful lot of $20 customers endlessly bemoaning the lack of $300 sensibilities. It strikes me as a wildly unhappy way to pursue a hobby rooted in child-like joy.
I definitely don’t expect a $20 figure to have the sort of detail as a $300 figure. And I completely agree that those are two different markets targeting different collectors with different budgets. And, yes, we are thankful that there are figures available at a comparatively affordable price for one of our favorite childhood memories.
But making the figure slightly larger, like the NECA 7 inch Batman that originally sold for, what, $25 (with the accessories), seems to be a very doable thing. It’s not any harder to make, and it doesn’t use that much more plastic. It’s just surprising to me that one of the literally larger than life villains is somehow shorter and appears all around smaller than Catwoman.
More surprising, because McFarlane has historically been known for exacting accuracy and detail, and probably still is known for it in practically every other line he makes but this one. I just feel like it was a missed opportunity that could’ve been easily “not missed,” and I can’t help but wonder if the people responsible just really thought we were a bunch of old fogies anyway and they can’t relate to the show or to us and figure we will pretty much buy whatever they crank out.
Take the Batcave playset. It’s clearly 1/18 scale, not 1/12 (and I’m glad that we have at least that to use with the Funko or Mezco 1/18 figures, to be sure). But the Batcave equipment doesn’t look like the equipment in the show and even has contemporary keyboards? How hard would it have been for them to use stickers, if that’s the route you’re going to take, with something that at least more closely resembles the equipment in the Batcave? Same cost for design. Same cost for printing and manufacturing. I guess there could’ve been a licensing issue with whoever holds the design patents, but you can modify it and still make it look a little more accurate.
Just me, I guess. Not meaning to offend anyone.