# of figures produced? (2 Viewers)

[54mm]

Just curious as to the "rareness" of King&Co, Conte, and other manufacturers.

When they release a new figure -- how many do they generally produce for a first run? I know that some are limited -- but others just remain in production. Is there any benefit (or way to identify) a first release -- ala a first edition of a book?

 

[Louis Badolato]

Andy rarely produces a non-limited figure set these days unless he believes he can sell 1000 of it. He regularly retires sets, so that for all intents and purposes all of his sets are limited to an extent. The most he ever produced of one set was Michael Whittman's Last Tiger (WS43), in excess of 2000 of which were produced.

His early production sets were often produced in much smaller numbers, on average 300-500, but some less than 100 (or even less than 20). As the collector base has grown, these earlier sets sell for extremely inflated prices on the secondary market, as new collectors seek to obtain these very limited production earlier sets.

Should K&C's plans for television advertising substantially expand the collector base, present production of around 1000-1500 sets will seem limited, and prices will again go up (while the very early very limited production items will become even more expensive).

 

[54mm]

Very interesting -- thanks for the reply!

Television advertising? Seems like a waste of money for such a niche product!

 

[Peter Reuss]

Perhaps it is only a niche product because nobody has had the capital to promote it properly to move it into the mainstream.

We have a ton of new customers who say, "I'd never heard of toy soldiers before I ran across them ..." I think the hope is that more mass advertising will open some doors to the hobby for many new people.

Is it a gamble? You bet! But the payoff could be huge.

Pete

 

[sceic2]

I agree with Pete.

The baby boomers growing up after WWII, being children of the pre-Vietnam generation (when toy soldiers became unpopular), have a huge portion of the population's disposable income. It (mass marketing) will bring all those dime store, Marx, green army men children back to the hobby. All it will take is spreading the word about the availability to trigger that memory response. When it happens, look out collectors, you better buy them when they are released, in the first month or so, or you won't get 'em.

 

[Louis Badolato]

K&C plans to advertise on the History Channel, something I have seen one of the big diecast manufacturers (I forget whether it was 21st Century or Forces of Valor) do. Perhaps a review of the response this company got from its television advertisement would provide a fairly reliable indication of the results K&C could expect.

 

[sceic2]

It was FOV that was advertising on the Discovery/History Channel group. With the greater production numbers that FOV has compared to K&C, I too would like to see the sales figure differential between no TV and TV, but I think that would be a very hard number to get; trade secret and all that.

 

[Louis Badolato]

I thought that the FOV (thanks Michael/Sceic2) commercial was a little too "toyish" (i.e. like a toy, rather than a collectible, advertisement). I think that for K&C to get a response from History Channel advertisement, they really have to get across the incredible level of quality (of both sculpting and hand painting) and exclusivity (limited production) as well as the depth (from Ancient Egypt through WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan) and bredth of the products (figures, vehicles, diorama materials). If its done right, I think television advertisement on the History and Military Channels could cause a dramatic increase in the collector base.

 

[steveo]

HMM , i have always wondered about limited editions and well i used to collect the Britains limited editions ,some of these totalled 7500 production runs,so are they limited?
I dont think so, i dont bother now unless i like the set.
Surely some manufacturers outputs are allready classed as limited editions, because of low production runs,ie not up with the likes of King and Country or Britains?

It makes me wonder why i bothered, i mean did i collect them because i liked the figures,company brand or because of possible financial gain?
Then i thought well hold on i dont display these items and leave boxed ,other people will be doing the same,so limiting the chance of rareness of said box/set.To be honest if i can pick up a limited edition and break up the set to get figures and off load the items i dont want then i dont see the problem?Personally i do think limited editions are a brilliant marketing ploy but id prefer to pick up the item cheaper than pay a premium for an item which is no better than a standard release!Must admit, i have yet to break any King and Country sets,so i am falling for the same plot again