Re: Metal minis vs. Plastic

At 10:01 PM 8/5/97 -0400, you wrote:
>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? 

Simple economy of scale. The number of metal miniatures sold of ALL
types is
a drop in the bucket (a very BIG bucket) compared to the number of Hot
Wheels cars sold. 

>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])?

Depends.

> I would be perfectly happy with
>plastic minis, even if I had to paint them myself, if they were less
>expensive.

My understanding is that you can't get the same detail in plastic that
you
can get in metal. The molds are different, too, and harder to use. If
you
are going with small numbers, metal is cheaper. However, I think plastic
molds wear better and the raw materials are cheaper. For long runs of
large
numbers of figures, plastic is cheaper. 

Of course, I could be wrong on this and plastic is ALWAYS cheaper.
Compare
the cost of a box of plastic 20mm WW2 figures (Airfix, ESCI, Revell,
whatever) to the equivalent number of metal miniatures.

>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?

Sure, if you're willing to guarantee a huge number of sales. I keep
thinking, though, that some company is going to do this one day. I'd
love to
see the looks on their faces when they realize their toy spaceship line
has
a heavy 21 to 35 year old demographic...

Allan Goodall:	agoodall@sympatico.ca 
"You'll want to hear about my new obsession.
 I'm riding high upon a deep depression. 
 I'm only happy when it rains."    - Garbage