Yesterday, Gentle Giant Ltd. unexpectedly announced a new line of 1/6th scale Jumbo Marvel Secret Wars action figures are on the way in 2015. That was a surprise announcement in and of itself, but I was even less prepared for the primarily negative response I’ve heard from collectors about the line and its price. The first figure in the line, the 12″ Jumbo Secret Wars Black Costume Spider-Man is now up for order–but is he worth 80 to 90 bucks? Here’s my thoughts…

As I’ve transitioned more and more into being an import and high-end collector over the course of the past few years, I’ve become less shocked seeing high price tags on collectibles. So when I heard that the Gentle Giant 12″ Secret Wars figures were going to retail for around $90, I didn’t really bat an eyelash. That said, I’ve heard plenty of collectors crying foul about this line and its price-point, so I figured I’d better discuss the issue.

In a world where Hasbro puts Marvel Titan Hero 12″ figures on store shelves for under ten dollars, is there really a market for $90 vintage-style Secret Wars figures? Let’s compare the disparity in pricing and product specs between the two lines:

The Hasbro Marvel Titan Heroes line is a mass-market line with questionable quality control and paint apps, almost never any accessories, and the bare minimum of packaging. The figures are cheap and colorful, and certainly a fair price for $10, but no one is going to confuse the Titan Hero action figures with “true” collectibles.

Meanwhile, the Gentle Giant Jumbo Secret Wars line is meant to make high-end collectibles out of low-end, antiquated action figure designs. On the surface, these figures are not that much more intricate than the Titan Heroes. So how is Gentle Giant justifying the price on these? With limited edition runs, insanely huge and cool packaging, top-notch quality control, and meticulous attention paid to replicating the vintage figures and all of their accessories in a larger form authentically.

I have a few (not all, thank god) of the Gentle Giant Jumbo Star Wars figures in my collection, and they are gorgeous pieces of work. They’re expensive, but a lot of time, effort, and development costs went into making the figures as authentic as possible–I never feel like I got ripped off when I pay for one. Gentle Giant’s jumbo range are collectibles–not toys.

It’s hard not to be impressed when you see how immense and well-designed the resealable packaging for these Jumbo figures is and how well Gentle Giant has recreated the vintage figures in larger form, and I have no doubt that the Marvel Secret Wars Jumbo figures will follow suit.

Also contributing to the high price-point on these Secret Wars Gentle Giant figures is the fact that Gentle Giant is determined to recreate all of the vintage Secret Wars figures’ accessories, including having to produce humongous lenticular stickers for the shields and unique accessories like Hobgoblin’s goblin glider. And don’t forget that there’s a pretty sizable amount of new tooling that Gentle Giant Ltd has to invest in in order to begin creating this line at all.

Basically, we’re comparing toys aimed at children to (sort of) high-end collectibles aimed at adults. Could Gentle Giant have priced these figures a mite cheaper? Probably–but pre-order discounts on Gentle Giant products do help somewhat. High-end collectibles are Gentle Giant’s game, and they clearly believe the Gentle Giant Secret Wars Jumbo figures will be limited and impressive enough to be worth the big bucks that they’re asking.

The Black Costume Spider-Man Secret Wars Jumbo figure is now available for order for $81 and free shipping at EE, and is due to ship out in Q3 2015. EE’s 10% off and free shipping is a decent deal, as Gentle Giant jumbo figure packages are huge and tend to be pretty costly to ship. I don’t have enough of an attachment to go after this particular figure myself, but if and when Gentle Giant does the Jumbo Secret Wars Electro and Iceman figures, I’m absolutely in.

Does the sixth scale Secret Wars Black Costume Spider-Man tickle your nostalgia bone enough to earn your ~$90, Marvel collectors? Or are you scandalized by the very thought of paying that much for a retro-style figure such as this one?