Quote:
Originally Posted by majestic1
Hey Jerry you raised concerns about the current state of the statue collectable industry a while back, I recall you said it was in a giant bubble and of course bubbles burst.
I found your insight very interesting, would you care to discuss this further now that you are back on the board as a collector, but one with inside knowledge.
What do you see in the future of the industry ? Are there too many companies pumping out too much stuff ? More advanced 3D sculpting/printing tech ? Smaller scales ? etc.
Thanks Jerry.
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the bubble has already burst.
Sales down for everyone (except Tsume from what ive heard) except for select ‘must have’ pieces. Absolutely all the major companies have seen serious decline in preorders.
Big Licensors are declining new deals because market is saturated.
Secondary values have plummeted for most pieces, again except for certain exceptions.
That doesnt mean statues are going to stop being made. There are still collectors out there and still companies that need to create revenue.
Its very similar to what happened with collectible action figures starting in 2006..some companies went under, some downsized and survived and then when the market came back, years later, those companies like NECA and Mezco were positioned to be rewarded. Which is what happened.
Same will happen with statues. We have already seen two statue companies go belly up in the past 6 months (i dont know if its public knowledge or not so im not mentionjng names) and more will follow over the next 4-5 years. The ones left, most assuredly Sideshow, will be positioned to be rewarded when the market returns probably around 2026 or so
If i were to use action figures as my basis, i would say cheaper and smaller statues will gain ground, as well as very high end pieces like ECC because the truly wealthy will always have deep pockets and want the highest quality.
3d printing isnt close to being ready for mass production of statues so thats not going to factor in. It costs thousands of dollars to 3D print a typical 1/4 statue and that doesnt include clean up, paint, box, etc. To produce a typical 1/4 statue 3D printed to order would probably put it in the $4k range. Thats just not economical.
Whats really interesting to me is its not only statues that are beginning a slow down. Collectible cars and some other high priced items are as well. That makes me wonder if we arent on the verge of a real economic recession
i love economics so this is all very interesting to me, particularly having lived through the action figure bust which coincidentally preceded the last economic recession by a couple years.
