Something else that nobody is mentioning as part of the cost is the licensing. If this were MOTU then the cost would maybe be 100 less.

neca charged similar money for what was essentially a plastic shoebox for the tmnt animated sewer diorama and….. it didn’t have nearly as much tooling as this.

Speaking of Barbie's Dream House why does a house scaled for 12" figures, that stands 45 inches tall, takes up a floor space of 28" x 62" (compared to 19" x 32" for the base cantina), comes with 75 accessories, has electronics built in, and also has a good sized piece count of panels and parts that have to be molded and cut from sprues only cost $179 at Wal-Mart when this costs $400 plus shipping? Even if we were overly generous and say that each HasLab figure included in the base cantina was $35 per figure that still only bumps the price of a GIGANTIC amount of plastic Dream House up to $284. The other 3 figures don't even get produced unless an additional 3.6 million minimum in funding is pulled in. Which looking at the current numbers it looks doubtful that even the first tier is going to unlock. Why is it so hard to say that there is an adult, nostalgia nerd tax included? Because that's exactly what a fair sized chunk of it is. I'm not faulting a company for wanting to make some money, but let's be honest...they want to make ALL of the money.

Look I don’t need 80 cups, how about Hasbro keeps 60 and they can take $50.00 off the top….🤷‍♂️

I hope HasLab Cantina gets funded personally. I don't collect Star Wars so I will not be getting it but I see the appeal of it considering how much I enjoy/love my 3D printed made Transformers sets. I also feel that this is one of the more justifiable funded of all HasLabs. And I am not HasLab fan at all. Its a lot of work to print and make sets. Personally I'm surprised that more don't make STLs to bring to life all the different castles and sets.

Haslab is over priced because they are treating us still as a consumer buying from a retail store rather then the retailer who buys the product at wholesale in bulk to sell at retail. Walmart would not be selling this set for $800 they would still be selling it for $399 or less because they would be buying it in bulk at around $180 a pop. If this went to retail lets say Walmart and Target. There is over 6,000 Walmarts and Targets in the USA if each recived about 4 sets that would mean a production run of at least 24,000. 24,000 x 180= $4,320,000 the buy in on Haslab is 8,000 sets 8,000 x 400= $3,200,000. We can assume $3.2 Million is basically the cost to build with very little profit- but probably still some. So, on 24k sets sold to retail Hasbro makes essentially $1+ Million in profit. If they hit the goal of 17k on Haslab they essentially made 3.6+ Million dollars on us, the consumers, while making 7,000 less sets which allows the factories to make other things. The stretch goals should be garrenteed once we hit 11k sets. Everyone of our buy ins on Haslab is a garrenteed sell. There is no retail clearancing to get rid of product that didn't sell or making more items then they can sell at retail cloging up retail space- because every buy-in has a home. This set should of been $350 for the regular and $450 for the expanded with all 6 figures included and an add on $49 Special Action figure set (3 pack of Cantina Patrons) excusive when we hit 15k in sells- with a reiussed Dr. Evazen, Walrus Man and all-new molded Hammerhead (that they have teased) to round out our cantina. They can reissue those 3 on vintage cards when the cantina comes out or in the coming years after. And we with our Luke, Ben, Han and Chewies that we have or can easily get would have a pretty decent amount of figures to populate it when we get it. And hopefully they have one of those 4 carded figures box sets drop once this set ships (4 figures I would like to see: all new modern tooling of Dannik Jerriko (the smoker), Dijas Puhr (coal man), Kabe (the bat), Hrchek Kal Fas (crocker)... And two single released carded figures of Boshek (green spaceman) and Ellorrs Madak (goggly eyes)... And a reissued cantina band set.

This is a long rant but stay with me: The mentality of modern collectors drives me crazy. It's something I began to notice when I still collected comics (on a weekly basis) as recent as 10 years ago, though It started way before that, having more collectors say "I'll wait for the trade", now toy collectors are like "I'll wait for it to hit discount" completely sending the wrong message to the company: I want your stuff....eventually. Now, you could say the message is also "I want your stuff, but cheaper" but completely loose track that if you wait for something to go on discount, the company's response will be ok, next time im going to increase the price to offset the discount price; we still make back the production and make profit. Collectors think that everyone has their approach to collecting. Nah. I enjoyed buying comics in the standard comic book format, but because others would rather want everything in one sitting, the publishers would see the response in sales "huh, looks like this book isnt selling, welp, time to cancel" and fans of the book would be like "Nooooo, we like your book!" meanwhile the publishers point to the sales chart. And now the "wait for the trade" buyers were also SOL. For toys, if you wait for them to hit discount, the message the company gets is "well, this wave didnt sell, this is the last time we offer D-list characters" but fans will be like "Nooooo, we've been waiting for these since forever!" while the company points to the sales chart. So where am I going with this? Aside from Greedo, if all those figures from the Cantina HasLab were sent to retailers i assure you they would all be peg warmers. Fans will complain it isnt fair hiding these behind a paywall, but not every collector is like you, not everyone has been waiting for the bartender or the sisters, some fans are just fans of the main cast and could care less about ancillary characters, so if Hasbro released these to Walmart and Target they would sit forever and eventually go on discount, and when Hasbro got the sales numbers back they're going to back off making niche characters, next time making less...which would then sell out faster...and fans would complain...and the cycle begins again. Also, If the cost of plastic magically went down to half the price, companies would NOT drop their prices. They wouldnt raise prices (at least i hope not) but they couldnt care one rip about the fans by "doing them a solid".

I would love a video on international toy prices. for example this deluxe set is $499.99 and in UK its £499.99. the conversion rate should make it £391. 97p. so why are international sellers paying more for their toys when the items are made and shipped from china to all countries?

How close are we, to a future where consumers are expected to assemble the figures themselves? I know there's a separate market, which is literally model kits and Gundam/Gunpla; but wouldn't it make more sense for corporations to phase out factory labor costs and let the consumers do it themselves? Bandai Namco has done this with varying degree of success with Dragon Ball figures, marketed towards children already. There's even Pokemon figures that are sold like this. If articulation and focusing on adult consumers that value mannequin/display options, wouldn't this be the next step for toy manufacturers to indirectly cut manufacturing costs and sell it as a play feature? Some of Bandai's model kits are so good, they barely need additional deco, and if they do, they're already pre-printed onto the sprue/pieces. I can easily see Hasbro using buzz words like "self-expression" or "dynamic play". The same type of buzz words used to sell "adult coloring books" to domestic alcoholic housewives.

To go over to Transformers with their big ticket items, the Titan Class figures, there's something you'll notice. The more complex ones like the two combiners were much smaller, because they had to be able to split into 5 or 6 smaller figures. Recent bigger ones like Scorponok or Cybertron Metroplex are able to use the fact a lot of parts are mirrored, so they don't need to make two different tools for each arm's biceps for example.

There is no way this should cost more than the price I made up in my mind while sitting here surrounded by toys I bought (1/2 on clearance) and had ZERO experience in producing. Like zero of ANY toy production experience. Zero of any manufacturing experience whatsoever.

Trust me, i work in the injection molding industry, hasbro are pulling customers pants down and royally shafting them.

Ok, you have the formula, now show us your math

Tooling iron for a mold seems like it would be excessive for toys. I'm pretty sure the molds are mostly aluminum

Awesome video, always insightful!

Thanks for Explaining this to Us

Castle grayskull tooling cost $350,000 so if you made 10,000 the tooling cost $35 per unit. Lets say assembly cost $350,000 so thats another $35 per unit. $350,000 for material and paint so add on another $35 per unit. $35 x 3= $105.00 per unit $1.05 million total production cost for 10,000 units? Castle Grayskull sold for $300 which seems right with about 1/3 of price is production cost. If it went to retail you would have sold more units then 10k (which would have drove production costs down) and the retailer probably buys them at $140 each

Any thoughts on adult collectibles taking over in sales over children's toys?

Thanks for doing these videos. 🐸👍

Lets not forget too that when hasbro prices these out, they are also pricing them to include all the figures as well. And if they don't unlock the figures after the set itself is unlocked, well, bonus for them.

You forgot the equation of corporate greed .

Scott, I'd love to hear a corporate accountant take on costs and what is or isn't tax deductible for a company this size. Does Hasbro contract out manufacturing or do they own their own factory and labor force?

Could you please give an update on the ongoing MOTU Origins line at retail and the Turtles of Grayskull?

i really like it but it pales compared to the lego cantina. that has 20+ expensive figures, auxilary builds, vehicles, a dewback, a deck construct etc.

Damn it. I still can't afford it. And it is so close.

It’s funded and 3 days 13 hours to go - will FOMO help us reach all tiers?

Happy 4th of July 🎉

If the cost is because of the articulation, how do you explain re-action figures going for $20?

Oh yeah? I'd love to see some of Hasbro's internal financial documents to prove these prices are necessary. I don't mean to be rude but you have an interest in staying on good terms with companies like this and that creates a conflict of interest between your viewers and your industry.

Fair enough explanation. But that doesn't explains why Hasbro made o-ring Ghostbusters instead of 3 3/4 figures like SW ones. Cutting too many corners.

you are paying for 6 figures. Those tiers are not gifts but when they are not met you basically give Hasbro more profit.

Great video, thanks for making this!

Happy Independence Day, Scott! Thank you for explaining this information.

Funny vid. It takes a lot to make things.

Good morning everyone 😊

I personally think the 500 dollar tag is ridiculous, it really should be 300 dollars, cause realty is you can buy bigger playsets for for much less and while it probably easier to make which is why they cost around 150.

Awesome display and toy but I'll pass.

Will you ever admit they just Want to make the most amount possible? Lol we all know there are tooling costs, but its not even close to the sentinel galactus the sail barge etc.

It's not going to cost me anything.

Stop gaslighting. This is a “modular” playset. They reused the same parts over and over in this thing. They did that so they could minimize the tooling cost. The cost of producing the cantina was far less than the cost of producing the razorcrest or ghost.

so, y'all never heard of 3d printing yet? LOL

Talk about corporate propaganda. There are so many falsehoods in this that it's pathetic. This video is just a desperate attempt to get people to buy it cause Scott doesn't want to miss out. Even considering inflation, there is ZERO reason that the Cantina should be more than Galactus. Galactus has lots of unique pieces and electronics. The Cantina reuses lots of tooling like the seats, stools, glasses.

I dearly hope that you asked for permission from the independent content creators (apart from Hasbro and Mattel) from which you took the images in this video. I noticed several creators whose images you grabbed. Wouldn’t want another copyright strike.

12 years ago does not make a couple of years, scooter. It’s no wonder your math never maths.