Master Replicas on the ropes...

brazilianjiujitsu1979 · August 27, 2007, 05:16:45 AM

I like MR a lot but I agree. I have noticed that they have slowly raised the prices on stuff. It is great but to much money.

Andy

Rico · August 27, 2007, 06:37:59 AM

I don't share Bryan's idea that they are going to vanish, well at least not soon. Actually I'm kind of betting they get the Star Wars license back. A lot of time and money has been put into the work that they have done and I see some type of new deal happening. That's just a guess on my part.

Frankly, my wallet could use a breather for awhile. ;)

iceman · August 27, 2007, 10:34:53 AM

I think when they loose a huge collector base for not having the star wars license, they will be motivated by their monetary loss to get sometype of license back or slowly loose their company.

The pirates of the car ribbean line and marvel lines have not been a great success and their pirate chest has not gotten great reviews to say the least. Master replicas has cut a lot of corners lately and it is starting to show, just look at their spidy masks.

They better hope that their battlestar galactica line, and star trek lines can pick up the void that will be left by the SW void. They now have a lot of unhappy collectors due to their very bad business decisions of late.This could cost them dearly especially if the star trek line does not stand up to public scrutiny.

Bryancd · August 27, 2007, 10:48:08 AM

Absolutley, Rico. I'm just speculating, but here's my thinking. MR was founded by some very talented artisans and prop builders. You and I know a few of them from the RPF. They were the engine of creativity that drove the comapny to excel and produce some great product. As we all know, a company is only as good as the talent.

So now, Corgi comes in and basicaly buy's these guys out. Big pay day and most of them, from what we have seen and read over at the RPF, have left. Heck, Steve D. had already started a new prop company! Corgi has never been in the boutique high end market for props or studio scale models. I'm not entirely clear what Corgi is trying to accomplish here. Perhaps they do want to have a presence in this space but the problem is that a lot of what made MR so good is walking out the door. Add to that shody customer service, cancelled projects...well it doesn't bode well.

The loss of SW was clearly financial, either Lucas wanted too much OR Corgi was unwilling to pay. No way to know for sure, each side would say the other is at fault, but it clearly hurts the long term prospects for MR not having the number one sci fi franchise to work off of. Star Trek stuff sells very well for them, but they made a TON on SW. I don't see them being able to fill that void financially and Corgi isn't going to pump cash into them forever if sales flag.

Tatooine_Todd · August 27, 2007, 03:13:44 PM

They may also feel the Star Wars line-up is played out right now. They've released every relevent saber, blasters, etc... (I know there are a few blasters they could still do), they may figure that R&D money could be better spent in untapped lines.

Another reason may be the collector's themselves. This is not an excuse for MR's quality control issues, but collectors have beaten them up lately on almost everything released, especially helmets. They may figure it's not worth dealing with returns on high-end items.

iceman · August 27, 2007, 04:20:58 PM

On the otherside of that coin, when you are paying 1500 or more on a collectable item you should expect to be getting quality for the money, Master replicas has been plagued with some bad collectables, mainly because they tried to cut corners.

This probably in part, as to why the Klingon battlecruiser will have no lighting in it. Just take a look at the LE spiderman masks they are trying to sell, who in their right mind would spend 175 dollars for a mask that is glued on to the head and has the webbing printed on it. Also look at the POTC Chest it is made of resin plastic and for the kind of money they are asking it looks really cheap.

We as collectors give praise when praise is due, and to be fair to Master Replicas they have made some very good products, Unfortunately lately they have made some very bad business decisions, one of them to join with corgi, and the other to give up the star wars line. Putting off the tricorder to the new year could very well signal that this item may not get made at all.

I think their biggest problem lately has been that they have for the most part really only focused on star wars and not paid to much attention to the other lines, and in fact have neglected them, IE Star trek, and especially this year have focused primarily on getting out as much star wars stuff as they can, that they have virtually neglected the star trek line, Hence we have heard nothing about the battlecruiser or tricorder.

Tatooine_Todd · August 27, 2007, 04:33:29 PM

Quote from: iceman on August 27, 2007, 04:20:58 PM
On the otherside of that coin, when you are paying 1500 or more on a collectable item you should expect to be getting quality for the money, Master replicas has been plagued with some bad collectables, mainly because they tried to cut corners.

As I said, I'm not making any excuses for their quality control. I agree completely that any high-end piece offered comes with the expectation of a flawless piece, not a cut corner.

I'm just saying it may be a part of their (Corgi's) decision to not chase the license.

QuoteI think their biggest problem lately has been that they have for the most part really only focused on star wars and not paid to much attention to the other lines, and in fact have neglected them, IE Star trek, and especially this year have focused primarily on getting out as much star wars stuff as they can, that they have virtually neglected the star trek line, Hence we have heard nothing about the battlecruiser or tricorder.

I also agree here, I think they view the Star Wars license played out for the most part, and by not renewing, they can focus the money elsewhere.

iceman · August 27, 2007, 04:44:04 PM

I am not disagreeing with you at all, I was just playing the otherside of the coin and pointing out that they have not made some good decisions lately.

Rico · August 27, 2007, 04:55:06 PM

I've got one word to explain most of the troubles.....

CHINA

iceman · August 27, 2007, 05:00:05 PM

You got it they lost a lot of production time, If the production had of been done in the us, they would not have had the quality control issues they have had and the x-wing would have been done.

Tatooine_Todd · August 27, 2007, 05:31:00 PM

I agree 100%.

jedijeff · August 27, 2007, 06:58:51 PM

One has to wonder how the first half of 2008 will fair for MR. They have been focussing a lot on getting out Star Wars products before the end of the year. Makes me wonder if they have done any R&D on any of their other Licenses, and ready to start introducing new product next year for BSG, Marvel and Star Trek. As well with the Star Wars line, they had a lot of scaled products for people who could not afford the higher end items, never saw much of that in the other lines as of yet.

Rico · August 27, 2007, 07:08:03 PM

Good point Jeff. Maybe Bryan is on to something. This could be their grand finale!

iceman · August 27, 2007, 07:56:45 PM

Perhaps this is why they moved the tricorder until the new year, as they have not even mentioned the klingon battlecruiser, Perhaps that wont evan show up until the new year, maybe they feel the sales would be higher if they dont have to compete with the end of the star wars product line.