[WritinMan]

Actually,we ,as collectors,have opened up the market for these prices.If no-one bought a HT figure when they first started making 100 dollar figures.I doubt the prices would have stayed that high.But when they started sell and we started buying,they proved they could sell those figures for that price...and BBi,TS,and ACE followed suit.

We have only ourselves to blame.

Bingo! They can charge these prices because we pay these prices. People line up to pre-order these expensive items. In the case of Sideshow's products, their runs are also limited so they're fairly confident the figures will sell out. Not sure about HT's production runs.

HT does make a better figure, but their prices are also creeping up--because we will pay.

Sideshow does vary widely, and better QC (and maybe just some common sense) would help. The Bespin Han Solo was a joke, but I recently paid just under $70 (with shipping) for Episode IV Obi-Wan and it's fantastic--probably my favorite of their Star Wars line. I don't regret the purchase at all.

 

[WritinMan]

As for Sideshow, I'm not expecting any improvment in the quality of their figures. I believe the price hike is due to the fact that the figures are not selling as well and so they much adjust their profit margins by hiking the price and taking it out on the customers who still DO buy thier stuff.

The Star Wars figures seem to sell out pretty quickly no matter what the price point. Not sure about the LOTR line, though, I haven't really followed that one. I do think those are too expensive--so I don't buy them.