[SteveConard.com]

I'm curious if anyone is disappointed with Medicom. Recently (meaning within the past ~6 months) I've received Boba Fett and MGS4 Snake and, to my disappointment, they did not meet expectations. They are not bad by any means, but considering their price point they do not come close to Hot Toys (which are much cheaper) in my opinion. Honestly, I'd put them equal to or maybe slightly better than Sideshow's figures which are a lot more affordable. (I'm not knocking Sideshow at all as I love their stuff and it's priced about right.)

On the other hand, I thought Jango Fett was amazing and glad I purchased him. However, I'm worried about Darth Maul (in transit to my house) and my pre-order for MGS4 Raiden. Spending $200 (with shipping) on a figure that should be priced about $80-100 concerns me as there are a lot of other cool figures out there I'd love to get (e.g. Appleseed, Biohazard/Resident Evil). I don't mind spending the $200 if it's worth it (e.g. Jango Fett). For me, it's a gamble with Medicom I suppose.

Anyway, sorry I just had to vent a little. I can't to the wife becuase she'll reply "well that's settled, just stop buying them!"

 

[Tatuued1]

Watch out Steve, they are going to tag you as a whiner!!! Take cover.

 

[SteveConard.com]

Watch out Steve, they are going to tag you as a whiner!!! Take cover.

Thanks for the warning. I am whinnying a little bit though ;-)

 

[Tatuued1]

As you have every right to dropping that kind of loot and being let down. I know the feeling my brother, I know the feeling.

 

[phillip750_3]

I think you are right about the Sideshow prices but I think they are starting to go up and I don't think they should.

 

[oltar]

No not really, Medicom SW figs are expensive but on the other hand the marvel one are priced right it's all about the licen$e.Nobody is better than HT right now but Medicom is waaaaay better than SS IMO.

medicom maul is a great figure i'm sure you'll enjoy it.(they're just toys enjoy!)
If you're worried about the neck pad his shoulders or futz him,it looks worse in pics than it is in hand.(I padded the shoulders and it rocks best maul HS out there)Great ****in fig!!I'm gonna grab jango next!

enjoy.

 

[GabRaz]

I think the price point comes more from the licenses than anything else, while SW figs tend to hover in the $129-$150 range, Marvel and certain other movie related figs don't seem to go beyond the 90s.

EDIT: Oltar beat me to it.


BTW, what didn't u like about Boba, he's my fav' of all of them even more so than Jango.

 

[SteveConard.com]

I think the price point comes more from the licenses than anything else, while SW figs tend to hover in the $129-$150 range, Marvel and certain other movie related figs don't seem to go beyond the 90s.

EDIT: Oltar beat me to it.

BTW, what didn't u like about Boba, he's my fav' of all of them even more so than Jango.

Oh, I like Boba a lot, don't get me wrong. But the price point bothered me a little on him. Jango on the other hand is excellent and I'd buy him all over again. I'd buy Boba over again too, but I'm not sure I would Snake. Then again, I don't plan to sell Snake either, I'm weird that way ;-)

Honestly, I don't have anything really negative to say about Boba as far as quality, craftsmenship, etc. Well, maybe he could be a bit taller.

 

[evilalive]

Agreed with the point that licensing may leads to higher price tag. Moreover, currency may also affects the final pricing though. To what I knew, people in Japan do pay 1/3 more in get SS figure from there (perhaps due to taxation or other issue).....and vice versa to collector in US may be....

To me, I collect both SS and Medi SW figure series, and they both great but perhaps it just an apple to orange comparsion.

Oh GabRaz, Boba is second to Darth Maul now.....(my opinion though)

May the force be with you.....

 

[oltar]

Get maul!!!!!!

 

[CalvinLo]

I agreed! Never like Medicom much, scale tend to be smaller... price too high, still, had to buy Solid Snake despite its many deficiencies... hope HT get the licenese some day and relaunch to do Snake justice!!!

 

[mpchi]

Medicom's stuff has always been overpriced when compare to others (especially when its import). But the thing is that, they do release figures that their competitions don't a lot of times, especially on the Japanese super hero stuff or anime related figures. So you kind of have to pay the price for the ones you like. And they can rank from awesome to horrible in terms of quality and QC.

I always rank Medicom below Hot Toys and Takara in terms of quality. But Medicom wins when it comes to variety. So we still got to pay up no matter what.

 

[Usmcrtop]

When I sold model kits, prices in Japan often did not bear any relation to costs especially as to regards limited run or resin kits- it was just what makers felt prices should be, as Japanese consumers were psychologically conditioned to paying high prices for EVERYTHING-I remember seeing a pear that was priced at 10 dollars !!!!

 

[shim]

Medicom's Mandos are tip top... totally impressed with the quality, and after a little paint / futzing, worth every penny.

 

[newbie]

I just got into this hobby but so far i m steering clear of Medicom, i just felt money may be better spent on other brands other than medicom...My personal opinion..No offense to anyone..

 

[koa1138]

I have had issues with the RAH bodies. I realize most people don't strip medicom figures down, but on a couple of figs I bought I found cracks in arms and bad joints. Maybe it was just mine. I have definitely noticed that medicom figures do not move as well on the secondary market.

 

[Porkins73]

Medicom's stuff has always been overpriced when compare to others (especially when its import). But the thing is that, they do release figures that their competitions don't a lot of times, especially on the Japanese super hero stuff or anime related figures. So you kind of have to pay the price for the ones you like. And they can rank from awesome to horrible in terms of quality and QC.

I always rank Medicom below Hot Toys and Takara in terms of quality. But Medicom wins when it comes to variety. So we still got to pay up no matter what.

Agree with you totally. Though not a top Medicom fan but they does the things that I want ie classic Kamen Riders and Ultraman which contributes to 90% of the Medicoms I own.
Unless one day Hot Toys or Takara decided to make Kamen Riders and/or Ultraman... Medicom will meanwhile gets my money.

 

[crowinghorse]

I've been wanting to write an in-depth article on the "state of the 1:6 scale industry" commenting on this and other factors folks bring up here...

Anyhow...here's my take on Medicom at this point...

With Sideshow suddenly becoming one of the best 1:6 distributors and one of the few places fans can buy direct from a manufacturer, it's changed the face of not only production, but retail as well...

No longer are fans limited to buying imports from overseas as many companies - including Medicom and Hot Toys, two of the higher priced 1:6 scale manufacturers - have made their figures available through Sideshow. As such, it seems retailers w/ Sideshow accounts can offer the 15% discount on these and thus make them much more affordable (If you're going to buy the MGS4 Old Snake, get it for as low a price as possible - www.cornerstorecomics.com!)

That being said, Hot Toy is no doubt at the top of the heap when it comes to quality and value - sadly, this is very much like the housing market... When a beautiful figure like the Hot Toys Elder Predator and a figure like Sideshow's Star Wars figures are sold in the same place by the same distributor (Sideshow), the idea on the sales side is people will willingly and knowingly pay more for the lesser quality figure than they would normally because Hot Toys (and Medicom products) are already a higher price...

Sad, but true. Now I'm not saying these figures aren't worth the money they're being sold for (though I personally won't pay that much for them), but it's a sad day when a figure sells for $100 and only features a perceived value of $75 or less. Likewise, it's sad when a figure sells for $175, and features a perceived value of $120 or less...

I guess my point is because Hot Toys makes and sells a $150 figure which looks, moves, and feels like a $150 figure, other manufacturers as of late have started to jump on the band wagon, make small changes to their figures, and attempt to sell them for an inflated price. While this works for some lines (those with a built in market of buyers like Sideshow's Star Wars), it fails for others - sadly, the fans are complaining about the increase in prices, but still talking business talk with the all-might $$ (as they're still buying these figures) and thus I don't see this trend stopping anytime soon...in fact, if anything, manufacturers will continue to increase prices and we'll soon be unable to find a decent licensed 1:6 scale figure for less than $100 or more...

This is what I've perceived on the licensed figure side - as I don't do military figures, I'm not sure how that's working, but I'm guessing with copy cat uniform sets of Very Hot going for $70, it's not much different on the military side...

 

[mpchi]

I have had issues with the RAH bodies. I realize most people don't strip medicom figures down, but on a couple of figs I bought I found cracks in arms and bad joints. Maybe it was just mine. I have definitely noticed that medicom figures do not move as well on the secondary market.

You are not alone. Medicom's RAH301 body has been known to be fragile. The plastic can't take too much pressure. The shoulders are especially easy to crack, and some snap off a leg at the hip. So definitely be cautious and don't force it when trying to pose the guys. And maybe come in handy to have a spare body or two in case you need to replace some parts.

 

[Anti-Personnel]

ive been disappointed with medicom and havent bought a product from them since 2001 or so.

IMO high end figures with high price points such as those from Takara and Hot Toys are worth the money because of the quality they put into them. IMO Medicom stuff is not up to par. if the price point for their stuff was somewhere reasonable between BBI and HT, it would be justified, but i just think their stuff is way over priced and overrated.

they do get some really great licenses though (that other companies never produce). oh well. as long as they can bank on the sure-seller licensed figures and their endless faucet of kubrick/bearbricks, i guess its not going to change anytime soon