Why does it sometimes take so long to manufacture and ship action figures?
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Why does it sometimes take so long to manufacture and ship action figures?
For toy collectors, the wait for an action figure can sometimes take years.
The Hong Kong-based company Hot Toys announced in late 2022 that it would be releasing an action figure of Reva (Third Sister) from the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The expected shipment date? Between December of this year and March 2024.
The collectible is a 1:6 scale action figure, which typically runs about 12 inches tall. The degree of complexity of a figure, the location of where it’s manufactured and the approval process can all factor into the length of time it takes to produce one of these collectibles.
James Zahn, editor in chief of The Toy Book, a trade magazine for the toy industry, joined Marketplace to explain what goes into manufacturing figurines and toys.
Going from design to market
Zahn said it has traditionally taken 18 months for a toy to go from design to release. He pointed out that high-end, premium collectibles like the Reva figure aren’t necessarily toys, but that the process can also apply to these products.
Manufacturing involves tooling, which is “the very time consuming process of creating molds for each part of a figure,” according to Super7, a San Francisco-based company that makes toys and collectibles.
And Zahn said that if you’re making a Star Wars- or entertainment-related toy, or one that bears likeness to an actor, you also need to get a license or go through an approval process.
“Disney itself is sort of notorious for being fairly stringent with their licensing approvals. Things have to go through different passes. That is certainly going to lengthen the process,” Zahn said.
He said Hasbro has several lines of 6-inch-scale action figures that include characters from “Star Wars,” Marvel, “Power Rangers” and “G.I. Joe” that run about $25 or so each.
“They have multiple lines that they typically announce, but then consumers have to wait months or in some cases a year to actually get the product,” Zahn said.
He noted that these have many points of articulation, which are parts of the body that can be moved. “So there are a lot of mechanics to it, a lot of engineering,” he said.
Hot Toys in particular is known for making realistic, intricately detailed figures. They have a Chewbacca collectible that has “fabric hair,” which was made using “special tailoring techniques,” according to Hot Toys CEO Howard Chan in an interview with StarWars.com.
Once the product is manufactured, if it’s being made outside of the U.S., you also have to factor in the shipping time of when the product will arrive.
“And then of course, when it arrives in the U.S., it then has to make its way through the rest of the distribution channels to ultimately end up at retail,” Zahn said.
The rise of crowdfunding and made-to-order
Zahn said that major companies like Hasbro and Mattel, along with smaller companies like Super7, also use crowdfunding as a strategy for some high-end collectibles that retail for hundreds of dollars.
“They will make a product that is a toy/collectible that in some cases is so large, so extreme, so intricate, that would never work at traditional retail,” Zahn said.
Companies might show consumers the image of the final product, and then greenlight it for production after it gets enough people who pre-order it, which is why it can take a while for these products to arrive.
For example, Zahn said, Mattel Creations began crowdfunding for a Masters of the Universe playset in fall of 2022, and it’s not set to be shipped until early 2024.
“By crowdfunding it, they take the financial risk away from the company,” Zahn said.
Zahn added that some companies will also have the option of “made to order” where they’ll allow customers to pre-order a product for a limited time.
“They know exactly how many of a certain product to make so that they’re not overproducing and clogging inventory channels or sitting on expensive stock, because these products are not cheap,” Zahn said.
He said that companies can end up investing hundreds of thousands of dollars — or even millions — to produce a collectible.
How some companies are getting faster at releasing products
While some toys or collectibles can take a while to arrive, Zahn noted that “speed to market,” which he says is the business lingo for this process, has actually been getting a little bit shorter for some products.
Funko Inc., for example, has been able to quickly release Funko Pops, which are figurines of characters in movies and TV shows, celebrities and sports stars.
“If they have a property that is really hitting hard, they can kind of strike while the iron is hot and get something to market usually in under three months. But you have to look at the product itself. Something like a Funko Pop is essentially two pieces. It’s a head and a body,” Zahn said. “They sort of have a template. They can add to it. They can flip that around very quickly. They’ve also worked on their supply chain over the past few years to speed up that process.”
Zahn said that Mattel has also been getting quicker at releasing products. It took them just six months — which is considered very fast — to get a baby doll-sized version of Grogu (also known as Baby Yoda) from “The Mandalorian” to market.
Zahn pointed out we’re seeing more instances of reshoring, where production is now moving back to the company’s country of origin, or nearshoring, where production is moving to a country near the final delivery destination. Some of Mattel’s toys, for example, are now being made in Mexico.
“The main thing in speed to market, and we saw this during the pandemic, is that if something were to disrupt the global shipping channels, it can just obliterate the entire schedule for a product,” Zahn said.
He pointed out that if you go to a discount chain like Ross, a T.J. Maxx or a Burlington, you might see that they’re sitting on collectible products intended to be released earlier during the pandemic at a retailer like Target or Walmart.
“It’s actually top-quality product that simply arrived too late,” he said.
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