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Removed - Rule #1 and please use spoiler tags next time when quoting a massive wall of text.

While I understand where you're coming from with this, I still think there's almost no logic with how GW prices their stuff, and the nearly unrelenting price creep is just going to alienate customers.

To address some of your points:
"Hobby X is so much cheaper than GW." This one really hit home for me today, at my local games shop. The new Exorcist is over ￥10,000. Slap that bad boy into your currency converter of choice, if you dare. I double dare ya to go to the Japanese GW site and actually get the legit price.
I went to a nearby hobby shop today, to pick up a few brushes. (shoutout to tamiya, their brushes are great and cheap!) Out of masochistic curiosity, I decided to see what gundam kits could match that kind of price range.

The MIGHTY 1/100 MG Sazabi Ver. Ka - knocked out of the park. A model kit I own, and can happily attest to - massive in size, sprue count, mind bending detail, mechanical complexity on a whole other planet compared to GW, with some SINGLE parts molded to be articulated once removed from the sprue. Less than a measly rhino variant.
I even saw a PERFECT GRADE Unicorn Gundam - a new model kit, one that transforms, and, a rarity for a gundam, does it WELL, a model that is recent and at the very cutting edge of model kit design. Also less than said rhino variant.
Now, there's a community out here. When I've gone to my nearest GW, in Osaka, there are clearly enthusiastic locals. All I had to do was mention the Horus Heresy, and suddenly everyone wanted to chat to me about it, dead keen to glean whatever they could from me about the mysterious, far-off forgeworld line. GW are actively buying out space in one of the country's leading - and arguably, one of the world's leading - hobby publications - Hobby Japan. Every single month.

But for the life of me, I really can't figure out how the everloving feth they plan to actually break into the market here, beyond a handful of ultrageeks and then foreign expats like me. I've seen the Gashapon machines they did with bandai out here. I've seen them in prominent places, in major cities. I've seen literally no-one except myself not pass them by. Even with those, they're charging close to double what the toy is worth, and are UTTERLY put to shame by ANY machine on either flank. The molds are cruddy and unattractive, there are slip lines all over the place, the designs are made without any consideration that they'll be crammed into a ball, the paint application is sub-par, there's no articulation. They feel like a con job. "It’s not like that in my country/region. Fair enough. I probably don’t know about your region" I honestly feel like this might be GWs approach, too. They really don't seem to care about doing proper market research here at all. GW prices back home are off-putting. Out here? Like, perplexing? And heartbreaking, too. I wish there was a community, I wish there was a scene, because, as much as I'm ranting - I love this hobby, so much, and I love sharing it with other people, and it feels like nottingham really couldn't give to gaks.

"Hold on – if that’s the case then why can they offer Start Collecting and Battle Boxes for a discount?" They barely even do that here. Most Start Collecting boxes clock in at over ￥10,000. Start a hobby for the price of the pinnacle, once-in-a-lifetime hardcore-collectors-only model? Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that bandai has much, MUCH more financial clout than GW, but really. Both companies are at the top of their respective games, both have domination over their particular niche, with a nice mix of devout followers and curious newbies. If anything, lower prices might help GW eat into some of the modeling fandom out here, because there's clearly hype about it - the ripples of excitement about contrast easily made it out here, even among very serious historical modelers. Despite their differences, the two are painfully alike. And yet GW just jacks up the price, damn the community, damn the fans, damn the potential, damn the poor dude working the GW store in Namba trying his hardest to keep that scene going.

GW doesn't owe anyone affordable kits. But I don't owe them anything right back, if they're going to keep turning the screws. There are enough recasters in east Asia. There are enough models in Japan that I can keep scratching the hobby itch without giving them another penny.

In theory you can say that about any company operating a system that isn't the cheapest possible and making the least or any profit at all.

In the end it doesn't really matter, GW could charge £100 a model or £.50p a model and it wouldn't matter. What matters is that the parent company is in a healthy financial position to sustain itself long term and that the customer is willing to pay. There will always be those who can't afford or who get priced out or who can buy 10 armies in an afternoon and it won't even have a meaningful effect on their money. Just as there will be those who can afford but not justify the cost. In the end if you can't or won't then you won't and GW won't worry about you as you're not a customer. Even if you were a former customer.

GW will only worry about "you" if you are representative of a meaningful portion of the market that GW wants to retain or recapture. If that's the case then GW can only "care" about you within their means and provided that your viewpoints are united and that this data makes it to GW. If there's a billion varying viewpoints and outrageous demands (I want Space Marines at £5 a box and 20 marines in a box all with multipose and 10 weapon options) then chances are it won't get heard.


Similarly GW isn't reading these forums, so viewpoints aired here are not likely to result in any change. Plus, as noted, GW is less likely to listen to people who are not their customers when GW already has enough customers to put their production to its limit.

In reply to comment that has since been removed -

I'm not arguing that GW have a right to gouge anybody - the analogy used there was equivalent to saying that they're forcing hobbyists to pay their prices. They're not. They're a company that has a right to charge whatever they want for their products. If that's a price that the market will bear, they will succeed as a company. If it's a price that their customers won't pay, they'll fail. It's as simple as that. Nobody's compelled to buy their products. They're a luxury hobby, and there are other alternatives. Anybody who thinks their prices are terrible is free to not buy their products. You're free to buy miniatures from other companies, or to pursue other hobbies entirely. They will only care about people with this "GW is screwing me" attitude if it becomes a large enough group to significantly negatively impact their sales.

Nor are those of us who are willing to pay their prices "mugs". We're well aware of how much we're paying and what we're getting in return. Everybody's different, in a different life and financial situation, and there are enough people out there willing to pay what GW charge to sustain them as a company, and even propel them to record profits. It's disingenuous to claim that anybody willing to pay GW prices is somehow willingly allowing themselves to be exploited.

 Overread wrote:


In theory you can say that about any company operating a system that isn't the cheapest possible and making the least or any profit at all.

I don't know samsung or huawei phones are cheap, but apple stuff is mind blowing. Comperable or weaker machines costs two or three times as much, if they are apple. And your paying for a name and futures you can't really used outside of western europe or the US.

A skirmish GW game, costs a lot more then a skirmish game for similar fantasy or sci fi systems. And it is not like models produced by french, spanish or russian companies are butt ugly, and GW is some god like pinacle of model design. At best GW models for w40k can be considered good, as an aquired taste. Same way I know I like hagis soup, because I am polish, but for anyone east of my country it is considered hell food.

posermcbogus, it is sad to see that local pricing had screwed Japanese. Though, it is not as bad as it looks like, because it means that you are living in a lot better country than other countries. For example, in relationship you are paying an exact same price as I do, because my income is certainly less than twice of yours and thus every scrap of disposable income you have is a lot higher. Though, couldn't you just import this stuff from elsewhere? We get free shipping on these miniatures and they are tax free at least here.

I also want to add that those things around model sides are mould lines. Due to how these miniatures are manufactured there is little plastic left at the edges. You have to prepare GW miniatures before assembly. As for those giant robots, yes they look impressive, but I would like to remind you that they lack depth. They are a lot cheaper to make by comparison and while I appreciate their mechanical complexity, they are just plain surfaces over plain surfaces. It is like comparing detail of a airliner vs detail or space marine.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I don't know samsung or huawei phones are cheap, but apple stuff is mind blowing. Comperable or weaker machines costs two or three times as much, if they are apple. And your paying for a name and futures you can't really used outside of western europe or the US.

A skirmish GW game, costs a lot more then a skirmish game for similar fantasy or sci fi systems. And it is not like models produc

But that is the case. GW simply produces way better stuff than most its competitors. People in this thread could only show cheaper stuff which looks like toys and has no real game behind them and even if they show one for a game, it is some cheap ass nonsense which nobody had heard of it. In addition, prices are comparable with other producers.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Bellerophon wrote:
In reply to comment that has since been removed -

This thread originally was about some packages being badly priced by comparison to their other products. Like Flesh Hounds while being more simplistic unit, being a horde unit and benefiting in game from a lot of them and at the same time not being a niche unit, they have price point above that you would expect for such unit to have. It is not unique to one specific unit, most of the stuff GW sells are well priced in my eyes and I'm happy to buy it, but some are such obvious outliers that they stick out. Perhaps you have something to share and about this too?

But that is the case. GW simply produces way better stuff than most its competitors.

If think this is a politcians version of good or way better. One has to identify better as something very specific. GW produce models for the game that is more popular, one can not give them that. But better then competitors? GW is unable to make a normal sculpt of a human face.

I play all popular tabletop games in my local game community and competition simply does not compare. Getting faces right is most difficult part of miniature and I did not had this issue with GW figurines, but I did had this issue with Warmachine miniatures. I'm assembling Slaanesh and Khorne demons right now and their faces are right, so it is probably some of their other miniatures are worse in quality than ones which I have at my hand.

 Bellerophon wrote:


Nor are those of us who are willing to pay their prices "mugs". We're well aware of how much we're paying and what we're getting in return. Everybody's different, in a different life and financial situation, and there are enough people out there willing to pay what GW charge to sustain them as a company, and even propel them to record profits. It's disingenuous to claim that anybody willing to pay GW prices is somehow willingly allowing themselves to be exploited.

You are paying massively inflated prices for model kits that depending on there age, range from dire to caught up to modern standards more or less and that's not taking the aesthetics into account.
That are used in a game with rules that can be described at best as an afterthought or at worst as dire/a handy way to flog 2-4 overpriced hardbacks a month.
You potentially paint and build them with rebaged tools and brushes witha 70% mark up over the originals and using paints that are twice the price for half the product to almost all the competitors brands.

Finally personal value is certainly subjective however actual value is not and being willingly exploited is still being exploited, while businesses do aim to make a profit most are not quite as dismissive of there customers intentionally as GW a company who specifically set out to ape Apple.

SeanDrake wrote:

Finally personal value is certainly subjective however actual value is not and being willingly exploited is still being exploited

Exploited? I can see calling it overcharged, though how one determines overcharged in a completely non-essential product is difficult at best. GW is definitely overcharging on brushes/glue and some of their paint range, though some of their paints are very good. Their unique products (miniatures), they are free to set their own MSRP and let the market decide.

Yes, GW could charge less than they do, but they are obviously charging the market rate because they are producing and selling at capacity and working to build more capacity.

Most of the non-GW companies that offer plastic miniatures used Kickstarter to get their production up and running. The results have generally been 20 years behind GW's plastics. That's great for historicals but GW has been pushing what can be cast in plastic for quite some time now. IMO some of the stuff is overwrought with detail and especially breakage prone flourishes, but there have also been some absolutely amazing stuff I never would have believed could be done in anything but (garage kit priced) resin 10 years ago.

anyone wanting to compare GW minis to the compeition shou;ldn't be using and old space marine kit to compare. tac marine kits are kinda old and where held back from letting GW do their best by needing to be cpmpatable with older kits. if you compare the latest and greatest GW kits though I doubt there's much that compared. the sisters of battle kit for example is beautifuly detailed

 John Prins wrote:

Yes, GW could charge less than they do, but they are obviously charging the market rate because they are producing and selling at capacity and working to build more capacity..

Honestly this is an argument that GW charge under what the market value could be, which is supported by the fact people will bulk buy limited runs to immediately flip at profit.

I'm not getting what books you need to replace several times per month?




I had read about brushes, they cost like 13% more than a market alternative. It is more of a question if it is worth that money to have company's logo on it.

https://spikeybits.com/2016/04/truth-behind-gws-new-25-paint-brushes.html

In the end it seems that most people can't act as rational adults here. They are buying stuff they do not need and then blame company. They don't need expensive brushes, but are too lazy to go and buy 1 dollar brush from their supermarket. They want quality, but do not want to pay for it. They want to get miniatures and get playing as quickly as possible, but are too lazy to purchase entire armies at considerable discount from second hand providers. Then they blame GW for their own stupidity.

 Ernestas wrote:
posermcbogus, it is sad to see that local pricing had screwed Japanese. Though, it is not as bad as it looks like, because it means that you are living in a lot better country than other countries. For example, in relationship you are paying an exact same price as I do, because my income is certainly less than twice of yours and thus every scrap of disposable income you have is a lot higher. Though, couldn't you just import this stuff from elsewhere? We get free shipping on these miniatures and they are tax free at least here.

I also want to add that those things around model sides are mould lines. Due to how these miniatures are manufactured there is little plastic left at the edges. You have to prepare GW miniatures before assembly. As for those giant robots, yes they look impressive, but I would like to remind you that they lack depth. They are a lot cheaper to make by comparison and while I appreciate their mechanical complexity, they are just plain surfaces over plain surfaces. It is like comparing detail of a airliner vs detail or space marine.

Gundam kits have plenty of detail- just not as much as you would like.

CAD sculpting a mini is time consuming, but designing the mechanics of a highly-posable model kit is not?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I don't know samsung or huawei phones are cheap, but apple stuff is mind blowing. Comperable or weaker machines costs two or three times as much, if they are apple. And your paying for a name and futures you can't really used outside of western europe or the US.

A skirmish GW game, costs a lot more then a skirmish game for similar fantasy or sci fi systems. And it is not like models produc

But that is the case. GW simply produces way better stuff than most its competitors. People in this thread could only show cheaper stuff which looks like toys and has no real game behind them and even if they show one for a game, it is some cheap ass nonsense which nobody had heard of it. In addition, prices are comparable with other producers.

GW does not produce the "best" models. They have released many questionable sculpts in the last 4-5 years. Models covered in smoke/skulls/superfluous stuff copy-pasted from the asset library, dynamic-but-not poses, designs that simply make zero sense (Deepkin seahorse mount with its gills......... on its belly?????) and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

Plenty of companies also make nice-looking models, without mold slippage or mold lines everywhere. "Some cheap nonsense which nobody had heard of it" is snobbery. And a Genetic Fallacy.

and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

dude GW practially INVETED "rule of cool" seriously you're criticizing GW for that? LOL dude where have you been the last 30 years?!

BrianDavion wrote:

and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

dude GW practially INVETED "rule of cool" seriously you're criticizing GW for that? LOL dude where have you been the last 30 years?!

This is like complaining about critiques of a film, by citing willful suspension of disbelief as though that magically fixes everything, when a movie world still needs to have verisimilitude to be believable. As does a game.

Blastaar wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

dude GW practially INVETED "rule of cool" seriously you're criticizing GW for that? LOL dude where have you been the last 30 years?!

This is like complaining about critiques of a film, by citing willful suspension of disbelief as though that magically fixes everything, when a movie world still needs to have verisimilitude to be believable. As does a game.

no it's like going into a fantasy movie and claiming that "that movie was lame, magic doesn't exist"40k has never tried to be realistic and "sup[er grounded in reality" that's not their art style. so criticism it's not like that is basicly like complaining a humburger isn't a pizza.

Gundam kits have plenty of detail- just not as much as you would like.

CAD sculpting a mini is time consuming, but designing the mechanics of a highly-posable model kit is not?

I'm not sure why you are saying that.

GW does not produce the "best" models. They have released many questionable sculpts in the last 4-5 years. Models covered in smoke/skulls/superfluous stuff copy-pasted from the asset library, dynamic-but-not poses, designs that simply make zero sense (Deepkin seahorse mount with its gills......... on its belly?????) and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

Plenty of companies also make nice-looking models, without mold slippage or mold lines everywhere. "Some cheap nonsense which nobody had heard of it" is snobbery. And a Genetic Fallacy.

I did not said that. Though, I do say that it is best in a market in terms of quality and variety it produces. Sure, they had duds here and there, mostly in a past now as new releases all were stellar in my eyes. If you wish to disagree, I want to see other company which competes with GW. I only see small, independent producers making far more expensive resin miniatures without fraction of variety and having just loose collection of miniatures, often mimicking something already. As for quality of miniatures, like I had said, you have to prepare GW miniatures for assembly. What you are referring to is called "mold scraping". Hobbyist have to scrape it with mold remover tool. There are other ways to prepare them too.

 Ernestas wrote:
posermcbogus, it is sad to see that local pricing had screwed Japanese. Though, it is not as bad as it looks like, because it means that you are living in a lot better country than other countries. For example, in relationship you are paying an exact same price as I do, because my income is certainly less than twice of yours and thus every scrap of disposable income you have is a lot higher. Though, couldn't you just import this stuff from elsewhere? We get free shipping on these miniatures and they are tax free at least here.

I also want to add that those things around model sides are mould lines. Due to how these miniatures are manufactured there is little plastic left at the edges. You have to prepare GW miniatures before assembly. As for those giant robots, yes they look impressive, but I would like to remind you that they lack depth. They are a lot cheaper to make by comparison and while I appreciate their mechanical complexity, they are just plain surfaces over plain surfaces. It is like comparing detail of a airliner vs detail or space marine.

Are you sure we're paying the exact same price? Surely if someone living in "a lot better country", making, by your estimations double your income, thinks GW pricing is insane, then...
...it's insane?
Regardless of your meandering points about Japan vs your own country, GW is ludicrously priced. Like, yeah man, I may well make more money than you. But I'm still not going to blow what fun money I do have on an awful deal like 10 Sisters of battle for over ￥8000.
Yeah, I could import it from elsewhere. Perversely, despite there not being a single GW in all of South Korea, it would be cheaper to buy the models on GWs international store, then have them sent to Korea, than it is to buy them from GW in Japan. I have friends there who could post them (kinda) cheaply to me out here, or wait until my next visit. But again, just because it's so insanely inconvenient, and my savings would work out at probably... less than $10? No thanks. I'm not so desperate for these minis that I'll jump through that many hoops to get them, just for that itty bit cheaper. I shouldn't have to make up the gaps because GW have decided to half-ass it out here, and make buying their products the least attractive option for Japanese modelers.

Jumping back to your comment about mould lines - this was more me going off about these https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-10-23.jpg Another instance of GW charging silly money for something in an already-crowded market. It doesn't make sense to me. Are they trying to break into the Japanese market? That they consistently buy out space every month in Hobby Japan suggests yes, but their prices for the products they are selling speak otherwise.

As for your comment about Gundam being cheaper to make? You almost would be right. In that your average bandai sprue is a lot thinner than it's GW rival. But as for detail? No. You simply aren't correct. Even 1/144 gundam are designed to within fractions of milimeters. The aesthetic is less crowded, but the precision is razor-sharp. GW parts are chunkier, and thicker, true, but Gundams are designed to both articulate, and support continued stress is certain spots. That PG unicorn I mentioned is designed to be filled with LEDs, and still be completely poseable AND transformable. Look at the inner frame parts for the RG line. Tell me, afterwords that any GW piece even comes close in terms of complex manufacturing, or even design. Sure, Bandai has a bigger financial cushion, their customer service isn't a patch on GW, and here, at least, they aren't imports. But that doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, for a basic, 10-man troop kit, GW charges what other companies only dare charge for bespoke, top-of-the-range, VERY LARGE models.

frankly, gw's prices are absurd, regardless if it is it's subline FW or mainline GW.

Infact FW you see it even more, considering the Resin used for FW models is abismmal comparatively to companies like Anvil , etc, which also charge a lot less with a lot more customizability on the custommer end sadly.

Karol wrote:
Yes, but it is like apple stuff. All their stuff costs 3xtimes as much as Huaweis or Samsungs. You are praying for the brand.

w40k stuff is probably the same way. They could sell it for less, but if majority of buyers are willing to buy 10 models at 60$, why shouldn't they keep such a price.

And for places where 60$ per squad is not as acceptable, there are recasters.

Good God, no! I got scammed by a recaster and I’m STILL fighting to get my money back (it’s been almost a month since I received the crap). Short of it is I bought on a site that had the unit’s name and no product description with an American address, but I received from China. PayPal keeps finding in favor of them despite an official letter from GW that the models are recast (after PayPal agent even promised a refund due to fraud). The models are very bad quality, and one steed/mount isn’t even fully formed. Do not suggest supporting recasters! They’re a blight upon the hobby. Every freaking recaster should be shut down with extreme prejudice.

So you got finecast-tier stuff from a recaster? I didn't know they tried to emulate GW in that much detail...

 timetowaste85 wrote:

Karol wrote:
Yes, but it is like apple stuff. All their stuff costs 3xtimes as much as Huaweis or Samsungs. You are praying for the brand.

w40k stuff is probably the same way. They could sell it for less, but if majority of buyers are willing to buy 10 models at 60$, why shouldn't they keep such a price.

And for places where 60$ per squad is not as acceptable, there are recasters.

Good God, no! I got scammed by a recaster and I’m STILL fighting to get my money back (it’s been almost a month since I received the crap). Short of it is I bought on a site that had the unit’s name and no product description with an American address, but I received from China. PayPal keeps finding in favor of them despite an official letter from GW that the models are recast (after PayPal agent even promised a refund due to fraud). The models are very bad quality, and one steed/mount isn’t even fully formed. Do not suggest supporting recasters! They’re a blight upon the hobby. Every freaking recaster should be shut down with extreme prejudice.

Get down off your high horse.
YOU are also to blame for your own problems. You've admitted, that based on the price, you suspected that these were recasts from the get go. And you ordered them anyways.
The only reason you're complaining is that what you got was crap. If it had looked good to great? You wouldn't have a single problem. You'd have saved a good chunk of change and walked away smiling knowing full well what you have.

I was talking about ordering from a simple international online store and being shipped to you. Is that a possibility in Japan?

As for cost. Here is reality in Lithuania and all developing world. A minimum wage is 400 euros. I fall into bracket of top 10% earners in my country. I do have quite considerable personal income, but where in other nations you would pay 10 bucks for a meal, I pay 3 euros for it. Where you pay 700 pounds for a room, I pay 180 euros. This means that if you manage to get same amount of your income as disposable income percentage wise, it will be a lot more in your country than in my own. An average person here can expect to earn 800 euros net. 500 euros will go in mandatory expenses like debt, rent, food, bills, etc. In Lithuania, a person has around 300 euros of disposable income per month. This is for working adult with no considerable financial burdens. For everyone else like students and other poorer people, they have to pay a lot more to get into hobby. This is why I always smile when people from first world can't afford their own hobbies. It is so cheap and easy for you to get into them with only some financial discipline and not screwing your life up in such a way that you are not stuck in dead-end, low paying job.

As for Gundam models, I had checked them out. They cost around 30-60 euros and I think we have different interpretation of details. These robots look smooth with sharp curvatures. The difference is that surface of a model looks like plain plastic, it is a often a smooth surface with rarely any details on it. Where are battle scars? Where are wires, weapons and their ammo belts? Where are insignias and faction symbols? You see, with GW models you get small plastic piece with a lot of small details on them. While Gundam might be more mechanically complex, these models lack in detail depth. A single bit is just a smooth surface while GW model's detail depth makes it to have a lot of extra nuance to it. For example, my Bloodletter head has Khorne symbol imprinted into it. It also have rough surface with countless small rumps. This is essential difference between Gundam and GW miniatures. Though, I can't speak about miniatures you had shown me. Those literally do not exist in our region as I never saw them being sold.

Comparing GW models to Gundam is disheartening. I actually got back into GW from Gunpla. Hadn't touched a miniature in years. Was very surprised that the construction guide hadn't improved in around 20 years. Maybe a little surprised to see a lot of the models that were old and in need of updating when I'd last played were still being sold too. But hey. there's a lot of near-antique Gundam kits still being sold too.
The awkward construction on newer kits and CAD-enabled cutting of parts at weird angles took some getting used to, but the bounty of models I'd not seen in my years away was nice. Too many instruction booklets with unclear pictures, and mislabelled parts didn't help. I think Bandai send someone round your house with a fruit basket if you get a kit from them where the parts are numbered wrong, but I think someone in GW is maybe just taking a shot of absinthe every time it happens...and they've been dead for a year.

Then you look at the pricing...
Oh my. Imperial Knights are nice, big, chunky kits with a few options. Right? Um...no. They're not. They're a little bigger, and less complicated than a couple of basic HG Gundams, that cost maybe 1000yen each. I was actually amazed when I saw a Knight in person for the first time. They're so small! SO small. I've love some because the design of them is very nice, but I've yet to be able to justify the price, in part because I can get 2 big Master Grade kits for the price if I want. It's a significant step down in size and engineering. Options too, depending on the kit. I'd love GW's partnership with Bandai see them license out some of the larger designs and see us get Knights or Flyers or Superheavy tanks for half the price, with loads of easily swappable options, opening panel gimmicks and in-built space for pre-existing LED kits. Won't happen though.

Gundams, and mecha kits in general, go for the same style of detail as actual scale models. You won't find a kit of F-14 or Su-27 with the same...thick blobs of detail that GW does. There's a reason why a scale model looks like a scale model, and GW's super-heavy stuff looks like a toy.

Ahh, yes, no surface detail. Because you refuse to do even a basic google search, here is the model that is cheaper here than a single troop choice for SoB. And it's LARGE.

https://c.76.my/Malaysia/bandai-1-100-mg-msn-04-sazabi-ver-ka-darkbunny-1801-04-hulgo2009@13.jpg

No surface detail, huh? Beyond a varnish, and some waterslide transfers, that's the build out of the box.

Those pictures that you posted are mostly 1/144 HGs - a kids toy - with missing parts, and going off the hands, pretty old, while the larger ones in the back are very early 1/100 MGs - also quite old. Stop moving the goalposts. I never mentioned old kits. I specifically mentioned newer ones, that price wise came close to what GW decides to charge their fans, but those kits were cheaper than much, much smaller GW kits.
And I never said GW sculpts were bad to begin with??? Those bloodletters are fine. But you're being pretty obstinate when it comes to recognizing that just because something is designed differently, doesn't mean it lacks detail. Precision is still precision, weather it be a bajillion skulls and pock-marks, or some delicious crisp lines and vents. To re-state, I am a fan. A frustrated fan, because I'm increasingly alienated by a company I otherwise really like, seemingly drunk on their own profits, continually jacking prices up. If you're fine with it, cool man, you enjoy paying $80 for a box of 10 ordinary space men in 3 years time, but I think it's unreasonable, and I'm bummed about it.

I'm comparing the newest SoB troops with a single kit from a few years ago. I've mentioned it in a few posts, but as you seem very eager to get on the high horse about being able to pay - baring in mind I said nothing about "I can't afford" and more "There are other fun things that are more cost-efficient, and these prices are just getting silly" - it's a bad deal. Just straight up. Specifically for me, and my region, but still. I can't help but imagine that there aren't similar cases across the board.

ccs wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:

Karol wrote:
Yes, but it is like apple stuff. All their stuff costs 3xtimes as much as Huaweis or Samsungs. You are praying for the brand.

w40k stuff is probably the same way. They could sell it for less, but if majority of buyers are willing to buy 10 models at 60$, why shouldn't they keep such a price.

And for places where 60$ per squad is not as acceptable, there are recasters.

Good God, no! I got scammed by a recaster and I’m STILL fighting to get my money back (it’s been almost a month since I received the crap). Short of it is I bought on a site that had the unit’s name and no product description with an American address, but I received from China. PayPal keeps finding in favor of them despite an official letter from GW that the models are recast (after PayPal agent even promised a refund due to fraud). The models are very bad quality, and one steed/mount isn’t even fully formed. Do not suggest supporting recasters! They’re a blight upon the hobby. Every freaking recaster should be shut down with extreme prejudice.

Get down off your high horse.
YOU are also to blame for your own problems. You've admitted, that based on the price, you suspected that these were recasts from the get go. And you ordered them anyways.
The only reason you're complaining is that what you got was crap. If it had looked good to great? You wouldn't have a single problem. You'd have saved a good chunk of change and walked away smiling knowing full well what you have.

Have we met? No? Then don’t assume you know how I’d react. Originally, when I made the purchase I thought I found an awesome cyber Monday deal. After I made the purchase I saw stuff that didn’t look on the level, but decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and took a chance, knowing it was possible the items were recast (for what it’s worth, I know of one legit online store I can get models 30% off, and this was just a couple dollars below on cyber Monday). I called GW the day the stuff arrived, and even though I could technically even fix some of the stuff for at least one fully serviceable unit, I’ve offered to send the models to GW to dispose of, asked what they wanted done with the stuff, and even asked PayPal. Don’t act like you know me. I made the purchase in good faith before I started having doubts. So yes, I’ve been fighting them since. I’m not on a high horse; I made a mistake and I’m trying to get it rectified while working with GW to shut down a recaster’s store. I contacted GW the second I saw they were resin, before I even fully started inspecting the stuff.

Blastaar wrote:

GW does not produce the "best" models. They have released many questionable sculpts in the last 4-5 years. Models covered in smoke/skulls/superfluous stuff copy-pasted from the asset library, dynamic-but-not poses, designs that simply make zero sense (Deepkin seahorse mount with its gills......... on its belly?????) and make patently obvious that the sculptors don't do any fething research, but run blindly with what they think looks "cool" or add detail as an afterthought.

Plenty of companies also make nice-looking models, without mold slippage or mold lines everywhere. "Some cheap nonsense which nobody had heard of it" is snobbery. And a Genetic Fallacy.

I've never encountered a kit with slippage or lines.

And why does it matter where the gills are? It's clearly not a traditional sea horse. I find people who get upset by the most inane gak have the least convincing position. There are plenty of eh models, but there are few companies that can produce kits like GW's top level and when they do you're going to find the pricing in the same bracket.

 Daedalus81 wrote:


I've never encountered a kit with slippage or lines.

And why does it matter where the gills are? It's clearly not a traditional sea horse. I find people who get upset by the most inane gak have the least convincing position. There are plenty of eh models, but there are few companies that can produce kits like GW's top level and when they do you're going to find the pricing in the same bracket.

yes, but the size and resources of a company matter, as is the expiriance of the people working for them. It is one thing to sit me down and sculpt a model, and it ending up looking beyond bad. It is another if a company with huge resources and expiriance, is unable to sculpt humanoid faces. In fact they seem to be regresing a well bit. Because really ancient models like for example azrael look better then the new stuff they do.

As the gills examples goes. If you make something look like something, then it has to be true to the patern. If someone makes a tank and informs that the long pipe at the end of the turret is the tanks exhaust, and the actual weapon is under the track guards, people will call foul. No matter how fantasy the tank is suppose to be. Don't have to be a sea creature nut to see a problem with GW details anyway. They often slap them on to cover up the fact that their models look like cheap toys, a lot of marine and specially the DG stuff looks like that. Which against is strange, because at the same time the company can make realy good looking 1ksons or Space Dwarfs for AoS.