I know as well as anyone that making toys is an expensive hobby, but what I don't understand is how toys that are only marginally better than others can cost literally 10 times as much. There is such a wide gap between price and quality the standard excuses just aren't convincing enough for me anymore. Fussing about the cost of items is relatively useless, I know. Some people are willing to pay for $200 toys, I get it. I don't hold anything against those individuals, as long as it's within their means, I'm glad they love toys so much. My argument is instead that companies may actually be better off charging considerably less, increasing production numbers substantially, and in turn selling figures at a smaller profit margin, but selling so many more than they gain in the long run. Now I can't pretend to know all the numbers on production costs, and it differs from toy to toy, yet I'm willing to bet many collectors would be much less hesitant to purchase a toy if it were even as little as 10% cheaper than it currently is.

So my challenge to manufacturers is: why not make them cheaper? That question usually results in a number of excuses why 12 inch figures are so expensive, each and every one of which is something I've set out to disprove right here. To illustrate my point, I have two 12 inch figures as an example today. First up is Mattel's Ray Stantz from the Ghostbusters line, a mid-range 12 inch figure that costs $60 (a lot less than many do). I also have a World Peacekeepers 12 inch figure that costs $10 at Big Lots. Ray Stantz is from the biggest toy company in the world, from a vastly popular license, and costs 6 times what the other does, which would probably be classified as junk to most people. As different as these two toys are, they're not that different at all, and one is definitely not worth $50 more than the other. 

Excuse #1: The base body is better - Popular 1:6 toy companies always brag about the qualities of their base body, often tweaking it to perfection before moving on to a newer and cooler body. That evolution and change might lead to increasingly better base bodies, but even the $10 World Peacekeepers figure above, which has a standard and unrefined structure, still holds up rather well compared to Mattel's brand new one featured on Ray Stantz.  The first difference you might notice is in muscle tone and proportions. Ray Stantz definitely looks more muscled and shapely, but many of those same bulges look awkward in costume (like the wide thighs and thick calves). On the other hand, our $10 fellow sticks to the basics, and while not quite as nifty looking, also avoids any potential problems.
     The articulation is slightly more abundant on the $60 figure, but not as much as you'd think. The only extra joints are an ankle swivel, toe hinge, and shoulder pivots. Both toys have a calf swivel, just that one's is near the ankle while the other's is at the knee. The $10 figure even has an eblow swivel worked into his double hinged elbows, gaining a point of movement there. To make things even worse for the more expensive toy, one of his knee joints is frozen, limiting it to a single hinge, and I also snapped his elbow while trying to pose it (it's sort of fixed now). There were no problems on the cheaper toy, and all his joints are just as tight and hold his weight well. In this case, the extra $50 gets you broken joints and a similarly well-designed body, definitely not worth it. 

Excuse #2: The cloth costumes are higher quality - One of the highlights for 12 inch figures is that they feature realistic soft goods, bringing toys to life more than a simulated plastic costume ever can. Companies continue to improve on costumes, making them closer to scale, creating better fitting clothes, and increasing standards for sewing and durability. As these improvements are made, they're often used as an excuse for disproportionately higher prices too. Looking at the cloth costumes from the $10 toy and the $60 toy seen above, there are definitely some differences, but they don't explain away an extra $50. You can see tighter stitching on the gray Ghostbusters jumpsuit, along with more shapely shoulders and metal zipper pulls sewn on to simulate real life. The $10 toys costume doesn't have all that, looking much messier as well. Despite those differences, I actually prefer the cloth used for the $10 toy's costume, and it looks good on the figure even with its deficits. Pouches were still included on it, and it hugs his body nicely, an obvious good fit, bringing it a step closer to the quality of costume seen on Ray Stantz. Both toys have cloth straps holding on different accessories (shoulder straps and belt for Ray, a leg strap and belt for Peacekeeper), so there's little difference there. Even their boots are quite similar, featuring sculpting details of the same level and fitting the figures well. For $60, it is a better costume, but certainly not that much better. For $50 less, this small company put out a soft goods costume that's very nearly as good as the more expensive counterpart, so I don't see how cloth costumes can be an excuse for the high prices being charged on these toys.

Excuse #3: The accessories are cooler - This might be the one place that the $60 figure gains some ground, but once again I have to ask, is it $50 worth of ground? The photo above is an example of both toys' main accessories, Ray Stantz's pack and wand, and the Peacekeeper's vest and gun. This may be a slightly unfair comparison, because the pack and gun are some of the coolest accessories of the year, absolutely loaded down with sculpted details, intricate painting, and lots of great tooling. The vest, on the other hand, is a single piece with only a few small painted details. It's actually rather well sculpted, featuring wrinkles, buttons, and stitching, but it doesn't compare to how excellent the $60 figure's stuff is. The pack even has a light-up feature, and the closest thing the $10 figure includes to an action feature is a removable scope. If there's one thing going against Ray Stantz in this category, it's that the pack is too heavy, and actually trying to balance him with it on is almost impossible. 
     You might be thinking, but wait, doesn't Ray Stantz come with a lot more accessories than that? Doesn't that make him worth a lot more? He does, but so does the Peacekeeper. They each come with a head attachment. One has a knife and holster while the other has a ghost trap. One has extra hands while the other has a clip and clip holder. One has a walkie-talkie and holster while the other has a pistol and holster. One has... I think you get the picture here. They're actually rather well matched in the accessory quantity department, and in the case of these other smaller pieces, not all that different in the accessory quality department either. 

Excuse #4: The face looks amazing - These two toys may not be the best example for this particular excuse, given the relative lack of quality present in Ray Stantz's head sculpt and paint. He is far from a Hot Toys level, but then again, Hot Toys figures are also $150 or more, meaning the distance from our $10 toy to that level of head sculpt and paint is even farther, making the excuse stand on even weaker footing. With just these two figures in mind, it's abundantly clear that the head sculpt isn't worth an extra $50, it might be even worse. The sculpting is softer for Ray, the hair is hideous, and the paint on his eyes and face isn't administered as well as the Peacekeeper's either. I actually prefer the cheaper toy's face, as it features better sculpting and painting. For $60, you get a soft cartoony sculpt that's a poor resemblance of the person it's supposed to be. For $10 the face might be generic, but at least it doesn't look so soft and goofy. 

Now there are obviously some things I left out of this analysis (likeness and license costs, safety testing, and even packaging come to mind), but based on the facts presented here, there is absolutely no way that the manufacturer can reasonably charge so much more for a toy that isn't vastly better than its much cheaper counterpart. Even all of the small advantages added up don't explain away the $50 larger investment. If a toy can be made like that for $10, then I can't justify spending 15 times as much on a high end 1:6 figure that's only moderately better. How about you? 

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