When Is It Going to Be $40 For A Single Figure (1 Viewer)

[thebritfarmer]

Yo Troopers, used a lot of tissues this week reading this, not often you see an Aussie shedding tears while knocking the froth off a cold one lol.
But see what you mean about price increase.
Bernard.

http://cgi.ebay.com/AL001-Australia...=ViewItem&pt=Toy_Soldiers&hash=item335df3a545

What a joke !!!!!! Must be an extremely rare K&C master.

 

[Louis Badolato]

The increase in prices is part of life . . . I don't like any more than any of you, but I am not going to let it drive me out of the hobby. I have just become more selective in what I buy. With the economy and my kids tuition, the museum quality warbirds are no longer in my budget, but I can still buy some of the more affordable warbirds, and the excellent quality WWII figures and vehicles produced by K&C and Figarti, just in much smaller quantities than before.

Lets face it, even if you want to collect First Legion, you can do it on the same budget, in much smaller quantities.

I'm just glad I was able to amass my collection before the prices more than doubled. If I were starting now I wouldn't be able to afford a museum, more like a showcase . . .

 

[wayne556517]

The increase in prices is part of life . . . I don't like any more than any of you, but I am not going to let it drive me out of the hobby. I have just become more selective in what I buy. With the economy and my kids tuition, the museum quality warbirds are no longer in my budget, but I can still buy some of the more affordable warbirds, and the excellent quality WWII figures and vehicles produced by K&C and Figarti, just in much smaller quantities than before.

Lets face it, even if you want to collect First Legion, you can do it on the same budget, in much smaller quantities.

I'm just glad I was able to amass my collection before the prices more than doubled. If I were starting now I wouldn't be able to afford a museum, more like a showcase . . .

A collectors showcase.........................

 

[The Military Workshop]

A comment on the increased price of the FW190 that Al mentioned.
Just a reminder that it comes with a pilot and fuel drums and jerricans. However I would have preferred fuel drums /cans as a seperate item;
Regards
Brett

 

[Caporal Pierre]

it is the same in France....
i stopped two series and sold on ebay old reference to finish other diorama..

 

[Scott]

Maybe these makers could start making or having the painting done in Europe or the US.

 

[Cyber Field Marshall]

Lots of great posts here. Its a very difficult decision to make what "not" to buy when the quality and choice are so great out there. I hope K&C doesn't become like FL and St.Petersburg because I would hate to be only able to admire their products from online pictures. One maybe unintended benefit of the higher prices is that my collection isn't growing exponentially anymore and causing space issues.....the wife is happier too!

 

[Gustavflyer]

Hopefully never.

When I got into collecting K&C in 2005 you could purchase a single figure for $21 USD. Some of the new single figs are now pushing the $33 mark. Thats a 57% increase in cost over 5 years. Wow, thats a lot man. I dont think the price of my home has risen 57% in those 5 years. Considering the world economic times there really hasnt been pricing increases on a lot of things. I would agree that the quality of figures in the past five years has improved. Has it improved by 57%? Well I guess thats a matter of personal opinion on a case by case basis. As K&C is the 800lb gorilla in the toy soldier world, once they increase their prices most everyone else follows suit. In short, the dye is cast and the pricing bar now raised. It will never go back down.

I'll be the first to admit that I dont have a clue what the price of tea in China is. I would prefer not to hear some long dissertations of the global market economic prices of any said raw materials or increased costs(yawwwwwwwwwn). Yes, I know K&C takes pricing very seriously and tries their best to keep costs and prices down. To be honest, what else would you expect a company to retort with when questioned why it costs so much?

I know this comes off as a complete rant. Its more of a concern. I would prefer to collect K&C for the next 5, 10, 20, 30 years but at this current pricing escalation rate I'm not going to be capable of keeping up. I'm at the point now where I'm about ready to check out. The only options I'm going to have is to switch to a more economical manufacturer, start collecting plastics, or wait two years and scavenge on Ebay for reduced price figures. I would prefer not to do any of these. Not sure whats going to happen in the long run but it will be interesting none the less.

Well said here, I am not ranting at all, however, my purchases have almost stopped. I am still finishing the Life at the Berghoff series but after that I will just enjoy what I have. I am not saying anything negatvie about any company or any individual but I am at my limit to what I can pay for individual figures. Thats all

 

[Cardigan600]

What a joke !!!!!! Must be an extremely rare K&C master.

lol, OK now Scott he knocked a bit off, brought the price down from $65,000.00 to $60.00 what a bargain if your going to make a typo thats the way to do it lol.
Bernard.

 

[Alex]

I have stopped collecting K&C 1 year ago NOT because the price was increasing but because the quality of the figures was not (for me) worth a 57% increase in price per figure.

However I have recently ordered 2 dozens of first legion figures and I'm so happy about my purchase. Yes they cost more (way over 35$ per figure) but the quality is there and you get what you pay for. I do not have that feeling with the current K&C offering .... and I find it sad. When I'm visiting my local K&C shop, I can still see the same figures on the shelves that were there 2, 3 and 4 years ago !

My humble opinion,

Alex (please don't flame me ! )

 

[desk11desk12]

It means buying fewer figures and enjoying the ones I already have. It also means selling off ones I no longer want to get some dollars back for new items. It also means less impulse buying and more consideration of whether I truly want a piece.

I think it is very significant that 4 figure sets have become one figure sets. Partly because of the cost, but also it would be harder to sell sets if one or two of the figures were not what a collector wanted. A few years ago, one unwanted figure in a set of 4 may not deter a purchase of the other wanted figures, but it probably would today.

You'll know the end is near when they even stop selling single figures and just sell body parts - make your own figure.

Terry

I agree with Terry 100%.

Your strategy is the same as I've been forced into. I also have space concerns and price concerns has made it easier to sell off some older sets and replace them with fewer sets. The outcome has been more space for me and backed filled this space with some newer higher quality (in some cases) sets.

I must say it was fun buying an entire run wasn't it.


Carlos

 

[debrito]

In my case I never bought like many does here (every month), and even if I have money, that is not the case, I will never do it. The thing that K&C have to consider is not to become more quantity less quality....and the last month this is the case....

I think that lately there were many releases of the same thing EX: Arnhem (I will not comment on this range, because people will start to cry AGAIN) or D-Day etc..., Nothing different happens really, always the same range with the same vehicles, and poses uniforms etc etc etc... ,,,,,,I am sorry to say but I start, seriously to lose interest on K&C....

 

[lancer]

A comment on the increased price of the FW190 that Al mentioned.
Just a reminder that it comes with a pilot and fuel drums and jerricans. However I would have preferred fuel drums /cans as a seperate item;
Regards
Brett

I, also, would have preferred the fuel drums separately if it would keep the FW's price down. -- Al

 

[gk5717]

After reading all the above post I ask the question, who is still buying? Somebody must be. As I stated I too have cut back and become more selective.
I don,t see a slow down in production unless they are making fewer of each piece.
I think a comment from one of the manufactorers would be helpfull.
Maybe it is just a Treefrog thing?
Gary

 

[VIRIATO]

Well, to me it's adapt, adapt, adapt and be very, very patient, think of this as a long run thing. I never think (and never thought) in terms of a complete range, can't afford it and haven't got enough room. I tend to be more and more selective and now prefer to buy much less but better. As Louis has pointed out you can collect First Legion using the same budget, you just have to buy smaller quantities. You can also say that when it comes to Connoisseur figures (this to me looks like a one by one thing, no dioramas or complete ranges at all...). To me tanks and aircraft have now long ceased to be an option, larger or smaller scale ones. No more K&C at the moment or for the foreseable future.
I have started collecting First Legion, figures quite over the 40USD mark, but I am willing to trade quantity for quality and axe what I don't find essential as much as possible, and of course my budget surely will keep me on track. Like somebody said, let's face the music and dance. And if collecting has to stop one day, well, better that than other things... It really is just a luxury (although I love it).

Paulo

 

[Jackaroo]

This has been an interesting thread to follow. Personally I only started collecting recently (Sep 09), so for me there are no “good old days”. I have been pretty selective with what I buy and I prioritise my purchases against an imposed budget. I have never been a completest, so I just buy what I really like in an attempt to create a sustainable obsession. To sum up…with the cost of it all… I have to be satisfied with appreciating a piece, rather than possessing it. Alby

 

[Go for Broke]

If the prices were cheaper, I would, by now, have the new Tiger, Panzer III, Firefly and all the Canadian & British DD soldiers. I'm spending way more and showing less for it. I can understand costs going up, but my business cost went way up, but I can't increase fees to stay competitive. I hope I won't be returning to the days when I was a kid drooling over the Sears catalog and getting underwear and socks for Christmas.

 

[Peter Reuss]

One thing I'm wondering...in the past several years we've seen quite an improvement in the figures and vehicles produced. Unfortunately, the increase in quality leads directly to an increase in price.

If a company started producing figures with the quality of a decade ago at a lower price than today's figures, would people be interested? It was good enough for collectors back then (people were thrilled with the releases), but I suspect not many people would be willing to make that trade, even if it meant a lower price.

 

[kogu]

I don't think a lot of collectors would be willing to do the trade that Pete is talking about. Once you got accustomed to a better quality it is very hard to step back. For me, the higher prices, along with higher quality, will lead to less purchases like other collectors mentioned here. Will try to keep up the hobby for as long as possible and if it ends up by picking a single figure a month, I still will look forward to it.
Konrad

 

[joesgis]

One thing I'm wondering...in the past several years we've seen quite an improvement in the figures and vehicles produced. Unfortunately, the increase in quality leads directly to an increase in price.

This sweeping generality does not apply to all cases. Although some manufacturers' current offerings are indicative of their best work to date and can represent support for the "higher cost due to better quality argument", I can also reasonably assert that some manufacturer's older figures are every bit as good if not better than their more expensive, recent counterparts.

Joe