Re: Metal minis vs. Plastic

> Date: 	 Tue, 5 Aug 1997 22:01:50 -0400 (EDT)
> From: 	 ChanFaunce@aol.com
> Reply-to:	 FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> To:		 FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> Subject:	 Metal minis vs. Plastic

> Just went to the mall with my son and bought some Matchbox(tm) cars.
Now,
> these are metal, fully painted and cost a buck each. This got me to
> wondering: Why are gaming minis so expensive when they come unpainted
and
> some even need to be assembled? Also, was looking at MicroMachines(tm)
and
> was wondering: Is it cheaper to produce a mini in metal or plastic (I
have
> bought the Wings of Death(tm) set of 48 plastic minis for Silent
Death(tm),
> which cost $30 for 48 ships [$.63/ship])? I would be perfectly happy
with
> plastic minis, even if I had to paint them myself, if they were less
> expensive. Could we get one of the mini manufacturers, or even Galoob
to make
> a good looking line of plastic generic (not a specific backgound) line
of
> ships?
> 
> Any thought on this?
> 
> Chan Faunce
> 
Chan,

There is no comparing a mass market, made in China micromachine with 
an essentially hand made game piece.  The economies of scale 
available to Galoob and other giants of the toy industry just simply 
dwarf the size of the entire game market.  But when you want that Orc 
or spaceship two years from now to complete your collection the game 
company will have it,  while Galoob and Toys R Us will have moved on 
to the next hot toy release.  By the way, how do you like the 
complete ignorance of scale in the micromachines?  Look, you're 
comparing apples and oranges here.  The fact that micromachines can 
be game pieces began as an ACCIDENT, now that they've caught on to 
their use in games they are indeed attempting to scale some of their 
products for use in games.  But the second an item's sales numbers 
drop it's gone.

KR, Geo-Hex