I was just thinking about my Sofvilife Jet Jaguar toy yesterday at work, and how I'd really like to have another to paint in some crazy way, but the figure doesn't pop up very often for sale. This got me thinking about molds, costs and the companies that release vinyl toys. And I have a couple questions.

I'm going to use the Sovilife Jet Jaguar as an example. I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) but it was released in 3 color schemes- black vinyl, flesh vinyl and silver flake (fully painted). I don't have a clue to the production numbers, but whatever.

Whats it cost, basically, to make a vinyl figure? I'm not looking for specifics, but like ballpark numbers. Hundreds of dollars? Thousands? They got sculptor to make a figure, then had molds made, paint masks, and the vinyl itself, and headers, etc.. Would the initial run of a figure (assuming it sold out) be enough to recoup all the costs plus profit?

I wonder all this, because, well.. there were never any more sofvilife jet jaguar toys. Now, barring copyright issues with toho or whatever, is it possible that Sofvilife made enough on the JJ figure that they do not have to revisit it? Or was is the figure a flop at release? Or would three runs of the toy (for each color released) destroy the molds? ( wouldn't think so)

I mean most companies make their living reusing sculpts and molds, producing new color schemes, so I'm just surprised when I see (or rather don't see) another company doing the same.

I'm sure there are other figures/companies that the same situation as the JJ figure can be applied to, and I figured I'd ask the more knowledgeable people about it.

Will we eventually see a company return to figure years after its release? (JJ was released in 2005, I'd like to see another go at it) Or do some companies just do their inital run of a figure and thats it to retain the collectability of the piece? Are molds recycled (like physically melted down and made into new things) and some companies release something then recycle the molds (like old warner bros. animation cels) for future releases?

I was just wondering.

Phil

$5k+ to make the toy.
Lots of cost involved.
Most expensive would be the sculptor.
Then you need to get a wax sculpt made.
Then you need to get the master mold made.
Then you buy your raw vinyl.
Then you pay all the labor.
Then if you need to get masks made.
Pay people to paint them.
Headers printed up.
Need to buy a stapler.
An initial run might be able to cover all the expenses.

And in the case of their Jet Jaguar and Goji stuff, Toho licensing fees. Also, I would imagine the license is finite, so it would expire after a certain amount of time. If they didn't earn enough off of it the first go, it may not be worth renewing it. That's all conjecture on my part, though. We've already seen multiple variants with the Gigabrain, and to be honest, I wasn't all that impressed. The clear was cool, as was the original, but the EVA tribute and Gundam tribute didn't do a whole lot for me.

might want to hit up ricky and ask him some questions about how much it took to start up his bechigons...

I don't remember where I heard this (or IF I did!) but I think I heard a very rough estimate of $20K to get a toy made and released.
And I do remember hearing that the Ojo Rojo hadn't broken even after 3-4 releases - so for these smaller batch toys it does take several colorways before the company starts seeing profits.

Yeah, basically you need to figure out how many you want to make (which is not always how many will sell, haha) and try and amortize your startup costs over the price of those pieces.

And depending on whether you're making it in Japan or China, that affects things.

Wholesaling can also affect your costs/pricing, too. It can really smart. ;p

I have thought about this myself many times. Like when I see RxH releasing so many figures. if cost on a mini size figure is a good 5-7K, if he come up with say 5 new sculpts (which is like 1/3 of the how many new sculpts he came out with last year) that's 35K and that's just for mini size figures. A shinto would be a good 15K to get made.

These cost alone are mind bending. So I feel that there is something up. It cant be that much to get a figure made. Its just not possible !!!

I know costs go way down when you sculpt the figure your self, and then don't get any paint masks made, but still.


As for the JJ we really have no clue just how big the runs where. I'm sure they where large as I'm sure many Godzilla toys sell very well in Japan and sold well. This is just speculation though so who knows.

...and how you're going to send that to me for Xmas

Spending less than $10,000 is getting off easy when producing a toy, and making them in vinyl is the one of the cheapest ways to do it.

If this is "mind bending" to you, I wouldn't look into injection molding. ;p

Well, seeing as all this so expensive it just surprises me I guess that sometimes you don't see multiple color schemes popping up to cover costs. But I guess if we're talking in round numbers, again using the JJ as an example and say it cost $10k to cover the costs and licensing, then they made 3 runs (flesh, black and silver) of 100 each (does that seem high? Does it seem low?), and sold out of them at $50 a pop, that would be $5k profit... I guess you wouldn't have to see a lot of extra runs for the company to make the release viable... And if its something all in house like RxH lets say, where licensing and sculpting and masks are eliminated, its less costly... huh. Interesting.

Phil

I'll pitch in on the math later, but what makes you think that this "in house" stuff doesn't cost money?

I didn't say it didn't cost, I said it's less costly, which it probably is. If Mori is sculpting the RxH figures, or an employee of his, chances are it's for less then someone doing it freelance, right? He's not licensing the figures from anyone, so thats eliminated. Realhead doesn't use many masks, right? So thats basically eliminated too. Less costly.

phil

The guys in this business do it out of love, It's sure not making them rich. So buy your toys at retail. Support the toymakers, and help the runs sell, so they stay working.

Phil-

I don't think there was ever a flesh-colored one. I saw a whitish proto that was painted the same as the silver, but that's it. I think they only did the regular silver and black versions.

As for production counts, I don't have a clue.

--
jJ

trust me, 5k won't get you far. Some companies just fold up after a bit on some vinyls.I think they were expecting a bigger reaction than they got for that toy, and it was very delayed from it's original release date. Not sure what ever happened to it.