[Chuck_P.R.]

Hi guys!

Been tied up for months by a new girlfriend and some serious, time consuming, and tedious/costly home improvements I had to do virtually by myself.

So I haven't had much time between that and work to do much more then eat sleep and drink.

What happened to Master Replicas?

I'm sorry if that's old news to most of you guys but I've been out of the loop for most of the past several months. I've hardly been able to stick my head in the door here muchless keep up. :freak:

Any info you'd care to share would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[gojira61]

Still around but with a complete restart, they are now Factory Replicas, the MR name has been dropped.

 

[Chuck_P.R.]

I saw that website.

Doesn't seem to be any mention of a Sci-Fi license
other then "The Prisoner."

Anybody know of what's become of all their old stock, licenses, etc?

This seems to be a truly sad event.

 

[SteveR]

I'm still thinking about the girlfriend ...

 

[gojira61]

I saw that website.

Doesn't seem to be any mention of a Sci-Fi license
other then "The Prisoner."

Anybody know of what's become of all their old stock, licenses, etc?

This seems to be a truly sad event.

The licenses are in the wind, a few have found new homes at eFX like Disney Classics and the Muppets.

I was a huge MR. fan, loved their stuff. Factory Replicas is just getting rolling, it takes time to hammer out licenses so I wouldn’t count them out yet on some classic Sci-Fi.

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

Hi guys!

Been tied up for months by a new girlfriend . . .

Sounds kinky! Did she release you or did you have to gnaw through the ropes?

Either way, good to have you back and posting again!:wave:

What happened to Master Replicas?

I'm sorry if that's old news to most of you guys but I've been out of the loop for most of the past several months.

Don't feel bad--I've been paying attention and can't keep up with it all.

Usual stuff going on like with PL morphing into AMT/R2, Monarch and Moebius appearing like angels out of the heavens, Revell reissues, etc. I think we may be entering the Platinum Age of sci-fi model kits and collectibles.:thumbsup:

 

[Joeysaddress]

So did MR ever release the last of the Studio Scale USS Enterprises?

 

[Carson Dyle]

There's a lengthy thread over on the RPF devoted to MR's demise. According to founder Steve Dymszo...

"...MR went out (of business) because they really never understood the subject or customer base, their founder and head of design lost his mind and went nuts, and too many people had their own agendas for how the company should be run, and the market was starting to dwindle and there were faaaar too many companies trying to sell too-similar (or re-packaged) items to an ever-decreasing fan-base. Customers were starting to get tired of the crap, and the money dried up."

Sums it up pretty well, I think.

Anyway, they made some cool stuff while it lasted. The guys at efx are attempting to carry on in the MR tradition, but their "keep the numbers down" business approach seems a lot more level-headed given current economic realities. Lord knows the market for these sorts of high-end collectibles has shrunken in recent months, but with any luck efx will be able to hang in there.

 

[JGG1701]

Ya know they did GREAT work but not everyone could afford $1000.00 for the Enterprise. INCLUDING me! I wanted one so bad. I just couldn't justify it to my other half.

 

[Steve H]

There's a lengthy thread over on the RPF devoted to MR's demise. According to founder Steve Dymszo...

"...MR went out (of business) because they really never understood the subject or customer base, their founder and head of design lost his mind and went nuts, and too many people had their own agendas for how the company should be run, and the market was starting to dwindle and there were faaaar too many companies trying to sell too-similar (or re-packaged) items to an ever-decreasing fan-base. Customers were starting to get tired of the crap, and the money dried up."

Sums it up pretty well, I think.

Anyway, they made some cool stuff while it lasted. The guys at efx are attempting to carry on in the MR tradition, but their "keep the numbers down" business approach seems a lot more level-headed given current economic realities. Lord knows the market for these sorts of high-end collectibles has shrunken in recent months, but with any luck efx will be able to hang in there.

Well, I think the problem was, they just didn't understand how it all works today. If you put out a 'limited edition' item, probably 75% of the run gets eaten up by scalper/speculators who just want to 'flip' the item for large money, having no love for the item whatsoever.

While I firmly believe in the capitalist system, that just defeats the entire reason for HAVING limited items, which is 'we know we can't sell 100,000 of this, but we CAN sell 5,000 to those dedicated fans out there'.

Look at Mattel's Mattycollector, or that large Batmobile. How many He-Man figures are up on eBay at the moment?

The secret is, today, unlimited runs and low prices. Sell via web and select dealers (ignore the comic shops unless they come to you), and don't let the scalpers dictate your sales. Run off 2000, sell them, see what the reservation requests are looking like, run off another 2000...repeat until nobody wants it anymore or your license runs out.

MR and Product Enterprises both thought the future was more and more expensive and limited items because the margin was huge on such things, but good lord, how many 'studio scale' Eagles can you have room for?

Diamond almost has it right with their Star Trek stuff, but again they play to the scalper/speculators with 'limited this' and 'only available at that' nonsense. You've got the molds, you've got the license, the cost to make more is MUCH less than the original development cost, just KEEP MAKING THEM but....

*ahem* sorry, I get a little ranty about this subject

Low cost, high volume, no limited editions, that's how you make money.

Oh, and REALISTIC sales goals. You HAVE to understand that you're going to sell way more 'standard' Eagles than Commissioner Simmon's executive Eagle with special orange paint trim. In that case what you do is sell the Eagle, then sell a set of 'speciality' modules with all the variations. Simple, because you end up selling more Eagles.

Blah blah blah, sorry.

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

Low cost, high volume, no limited editions, that's how you make money.

:thumbsup:You're right except that I'd say "reasonable price" or "lower price." There has to be a decent margin to make it worth while for the business folks and most folks will pay and respect a price higher than that found in a "bargain bin" but that is within reason and reflects the quality of the product.

 

[Steve H]

:thumbsup:You're right except that I'd say "reasonable price" or "lower price." There has to be a decent margin to make it worth while for the business folks and most folks will pay and respect a price higher than that found in a "bargain bin" but that is within reason and reflects the quality of the product.

Yes, you're right, Lower cost is better, reasonable price more polite.

Of course what I may find 'reasonable' you might consider insanely low.

But I come from the time when everything WAS cheap, even allowing for inflation. Someone made a lovely, lovely prop replica of the first season Lost in Space Laser Pistol. Looking at it, I can finally SEE it, see that it was based on a Remco 'Monkey Division' grenade launcher toy gun (and I seem to recall that the pistols and rifles were actually made by Remco for the production in order to secure the toy license-yet oddly they never actually made them as toys)..now, I HAD that toy gun as a child, and because I am a mutant even at 7 or 8 years old I noted prices for things, and that was only like $4.98. A princely sum at a time MacDonalds was still like 15 cents for a burger, but still, cheap.

NOT several hundred Dollars.

So I'd go maybe $50 for a LiS Laser pistol, doesn't even have to fire roll caps or anything. But several hundred, I just have to look at it and sigh and go on with my life.

See, the thing is, at $50, they COULD sell a few thousand, maybe 10,000. It's all being made in China, they've GOT the molds, they don't NEED Bill Mumy to sign 'authenticity' plates, doesn't even need light and sound.

Argh.

Maybe I'm just a poor businessman with no head for reality.

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

$5 in 1966 would be about $33 today according to: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

That's based on the official government underestimate of/lying about inflation.

If you look at the price of gold, the average prices of a car, a house, etc. I think it'd be more like $50.00 or more as you suggested.

 

[Richard Baker]

When Product Enterprises decided to move from the smaller diecast replcas to the giant expensive ones I was afraid for their future. When you charge that much for something it had better be perfect and you were working with a much smaller customer base to afford them. Their Thunderbird line had numerous prbles and simply was no tworth what they were charging fo rthem. I would lov to hav had a chance to get one of those ships (without the launch bya they bundled with it, and eventually I found the Thunderbird 3 in the same scale at a resonable price and got one. Ironically it looks like this GK was what they based thir versionon, just with some panel line changes...

The idea of a fully lighted Enterprise was great, but there is not way on Earth I could kustify buying one- I have bought several cars for less than that.

I am not sure what they will release from 'The Prisoner'- ID card, one of the phones, a full size Rover? (or you can take an old weather balloon and make your th esame way the production company did). I do with them luck and hope the decide to make smaller, less Uber-replcas that more people can afford.

.

 

[Antimatter]

Same old same old. Big announcements no product. Custom Replicas, Master Replicas, Sovereign Replicas, yada, yada, yada. This has been going on for over 20 years. A big Jupiter 2. A big TOS Enterprise. etc, etc. If a certain persons name come up with another company to produce Sci-Fi ships, I think I'll throw up. :freak:

 

[Antimatter]

$5 in 1966 would be about $33 today according to: http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

That's based on the official government underestimate of/lying about inflation.

If you look at the price of gold, the average prices of a car, a house, etc. I think it'd be more like $50.00 or more as you suggested.

Yea, but the average yearly salary in 1966 was about $6,900.

 

[Steve H]

When Product Enterprises decided to move from the smaller diecast replcas to the giant expensive ones I was afraid for their future. When you charge that much for something it had better be perfect and you were working with a much smaller customer base to afford them. Their Thunderbird line had numerous prbles and simply was no tworth what they were charging fo rthem. I would lov to hav had a chance to get one of those ships (without the launch bya they bundled with it, and eventually I found the Thunderbird 3 in the same scale at a resonable price and got one. Ironically it looks like this GK was what they based thir versionon, just with some panel line changes...

The idea of a fully lighted Enterprise was great, but there is not way on Earth I could kustify buying one- I have bought several cars for less than that.

I am not sure what they will release from 'The Prisoner'- ID card, one of the phones, a full size Rover? (or you can take an old weather balloon and make your th esame way the production company did). I do with them luck and hope the decide to make smaller, less Uber-replcas that more people can afford.

.

See, this goes to what I was saying.

You make a cordless phone handset (with base and all, to be hidden in normal use) like the ones in Number 2's office, price it at about $100, and it would be a hit. You could also make it a Bluetooth handset for your cell. THAT would be nifty.

But if you make it a non-working 'replica' that maybe plays some pat phrases from the show and charge $250, well, bleah on that. Good lord, I could carve the handset out of wood, hollow out the core and have one of the wizards of electronics (you know who you are! ) here build me something in it to do the same thing, and using some cheap Chinese copy of an iPod I could probably do the whole thing for under $100.

I get....testy...when I see that kind of boldfaced stupid shortsightedness...*sigh*

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

Yea, but the average yearly salary in 1966 was about $6,900.

And today it's about $48,201.00 so maybe a factor of 7 or 8 is about right.

 

[Chuck_P.R.]

Sounds kinky! Did she release you or did you have to gnaw through the ropes?

Either way, good to have you back and posting again!:wave:

Sorry! Guess I should have said "all my free time has been spent...". :tongue:

Just the plain 'ole Vanilla and whipped cream stuff going on with the girlfriend.

Thanks for the welcome back, though!

Glad to finally have more time, though I still have more work to do on the house(that sort of stuff never seems to end, does it?).

Don't feel bad--I've been paying attention and can't keep up with it all.

Usual stuff going on like with PL morphing into AMT/R2, Monarch and Moebius appearing like angels out of the heavens, Revell reissues, etc. I think we may be entering the Platinum Age of sci-fi model kits and collectibles.:thumbsup:

That could be possible. It's becoming easier and easier to have models created by 3D printing/construction machines.

Glad to see there are some true fans that also have the money to get licenses and have them molded in metal and produced.

While not everyone can then afford to have the models made into cast aluminum and produced and shipped from abroad,

once you can get one master produced from 3D masters it's not rediculously expensive to make RTV models and several dozen runs or more from those masters, or their first-generation resin copies.

While it's sad to see the number of mainstream old-line producers of styrene shrink in size and production(not to mention a dramatic shrink in number of subjects they produce),


I can see a day in the not too distant future where fans may be able to easily have even one of a kind models built up by 3D printing companies for them.

Once we get to the point where that's a simple thing technologically, perhaps companies like Paramount might see the light and allow even individual modelers to design models of their stuff and produce copies on a small scale, while retaining the right to reproduce them themselves if they turn out to be popular.

Win/win.

Licensing aside, I see it becoming easier and easier in the future for us to have our own models built up from 3D models created by us or other fans.

At that point we would have almost come full circle again to the point where our grandfathers were when they made their own models one at a time from blocks of balsum wood.

Except the block of wood will exist in cyberspace and the carving tools will be 3D programs instead of knives.

We can hope and dream at least.

Thanks again for the greet and info. :wave:

 

[Chuck_P.R.]

There's a lengthy thread over on the RPF devoted to MR's demise. According to founder Steve Dymszo...

"...MR went out (of business) because they really never understood the subject or customer base, their founder and head of design lost his mind and went nuts, and too many people had their own agendas for how the company should be run, and the market was starting to dwindle and there were faaaar too many companies trying to sell too-similar (or re-packaged) items to an ever-decreasing fan-base. Customers were starting to get tired of the crap, and the money dried up."

Sums it up pretty well, I think.

Anyway, they made some cool stuff while it lasted. The guys at efx are attempting to carry on in the MR tradition, but their "keep the numbers down" business approach seems a lot more level-headed given current economic realities. Lord knows the market for these sorts of high-end collectibles has shrunken in recent months, but with any luck efx will be able to hang in there.

Thanks for the info Carson. Especially the quote from Steve Dymszo.