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A few things to consider...
Economics of scale. Mortal Kombat would most likely be a collector's line rather than anything aimed at kids in any kind of numbers that would significantly reduce the single unit cost. Particularly with no current major motion picture or animated series media tie-in other than the recent live action web-series. The video games are hugely popular, but aimed at adults (and rightly so given the violence).
Size really doesn't have much of a comparative basis if you look at what goes into the production of a JLU figure vs something with as much ridiculous articulation, sculpt and paint apps as most of the contemporary 3 3/4 inch GI Joe figures have for example.
Many of the JLU figures have reused the same body parts across dozens and dozens of different character figures. Add in the fact that by now Mattel have sold an incredibly large amount of even just Batman and Superman using the same molds over the years this toyline and series has been in production... both as repaints and tossed into three packs (because kids always want Superman and Batman over the c listers that collectors want, thus the failure at Matty to meet the numbers required).
Also look at the limited amount of pieces and thus limited articulation of the JLU figures... the new 3 3/4" GI Joes have ANKLE and WRIST articulation now in additional to to all the rest of the moving parts. From a production stand-point... that is much much more tiny little pieces that need to be tooled, manufactured, assembled and painted. Hasbro's Star Wars and Marvel figures aren't far behind either. Much more work involved than even some of the 6" figures the same companies produce even a decade ago.
I haven't had a good look at the Mortal Kombat figures, but I would hazard a guess that one of the main reasons we are seeing them is because all the different ninja characters like Smoke, Lizard, Scorpion, Sub Zero etc. all have enough shared generic parts that it makes is fairly cost effective.
Classic 12" GI Joe and Retros involve far less tooling since the bodies are generic and thus can be stretched out across multitudes of character variations vs the tooling involved for each of the hundreds of original sculpts in the 3 3/4" scale figures like Star Wars. I will admit that I am not too well versed in the 12" GI Joe, but my understanding is that there are a set of generic bodies that have gotten decades of mileage ever since they were first (re)introduced via the Hall of Fame GI Joe figures of the nineties. Including Street Fighter, Star Wars, Retro Style Military Joes, Action Man (which also got a lot of play overseas for decades as well), etc. Did they use surviving molds from the sixties/seventies as well for the Repro Joe lines? Someone can correct me if I am wrong... how many generic Joe 12" bodies have there been the past two decades? It isn't more than a handful is there? vs the hundreds of different characters and variations produced using these bodies spread across years and years... that is the economics of scale at work (and how Mego remained a powerhouse for a decade utilizing their 8" body across almost all their lines).
Also keep in mind the rising price of oil in the past decade or so. Without getting political, we're talking both the oil used in the production of plastics and the fuel used in transport across oceans and continents. how has the cost of oil fared compared to regular inflation?
and finally the slippery slope of a Sweatshop argument... how much more dismal should the conditions be for workers in Asia so that we in the Western World can have cheaper toys? If they improve their working conditions... are we willing to pay the extra price for our luxuries like toys?
(that is not to say that the Corporate Entities that are the Toy Giants (Mattel and Hasbro) aren't culpable or "greedy" as some here are suggesting... that's the nature of the beast, particularly if you are a publically owned company that has only the singular purpose of existence to make money for shareholders. It can't necessarily be faulted for sociopathic tendancies when it is part of a much larger and complex societal structure and consumption cycle we collectively participate in).
Economics of scale. Mortal Kombat would most likely be a collector's line rather than anything aimed at kids in any kind of numbers that would significantly reduce the single unit cost. Particularly with no current major motion picture or animated series media tie-in other than the recent live action web-series. The video games are hugely popular, but aimed at adults (and rightly so given the violence).
Size really doesn't have much of a comparative basis if you look at what goes into the production of a JLU figure vs something with as much ridiculous articulation, sculpt and paint apps as most of the contemporary 3 3/4 inch GI Joe figures have for example.
Many of the JLU figures have reused the same body parts across dozens and dozens of different character figures. Add in the fact that by now Mattel have sold an incredibly large amount of even just Batman and Superman using the same molds over the years this toyline and series has been in production... both as repaints and tossed into three packs (because kids always want Superman and Batman over the c listers that collectors want, thus the failure at Matty to meet the numbers required).
Also look at the limited amount of pieces and thus limited articulation of the JLU figures... the new 3 3/4" GI Joes have ANKLE and WRIST articulation now in additional to to all the rest of the moving parts. From a production stand-point... that is much much more tiny little pieces that need to be tooled, manufactured, assembled and painted. Hasbro's Star Wars and Marvel figures aren't far behind either. Much more work involved than even some of the 6" figures the same companies produce even a decade ago.
I haven't had a good look at the Mortal Kombat figures, but I would hazard a guess that one of the main reasons we are seeing them is because all the different ninja characters like Smoke, Lizard, Scorpion, Sub Zero etc. all have enough shared generic parts that it makes is fairly cost effective.
Classic 12" GI Joe and Retros involve far less tooling since the bodies are generic and thus can be stretched out across multitudes of character variations vs the tooling involved for each of the hundreds of original sculpts in the 3 3/4" scale figures like Star Wars. I will admit that I am not too well versed in the 12" GI Joe, but my understanding is that there are a set of generic bodies that have gotten decades of mileage ever since they were first (re)introduced via the Hall of Fame GI Joe figures of the nineties. Including Street Fighter, Star Wars, Retro Style Military Joes, Action Man (which also got a lot of play overseas for decades as well), etc. Did they use surviving molds from the sixties/seventies as well for the Repro Joe lines? Someone can correct me if I am wrong... how many generic Joe 12" bodies have there been the past two decades? It isn't more than a handful is there? vs the hundreds of different characters and variations produced using these bodies spread across years and years... that is the economics of scale at work (and how Mego remained a powerhouse for a decade utilizing their 8" body across almost all their lines).
Also keep in mind the rising price of oil in the past decade or so. Without getting political, we're talking both the oil used in the production of plastics and the fuel used in transport across oceans and continents. how has the cost of oil fared compared to regular inflation?
and finally the slippery slope of a Sweatshop argument... how much more dismal should the conditions be for workers in Asia so that we in the Western World can have cheaper toys? If they improve their working conditions... are we willing to pay the extra price for our luxuries like toys?
(that is not to say that the Corporate Entities that are the Toy Giants (Mattel and Hasbro) aren't culpable or "greedy" as some here are suggesting... that's the nature of the beast, particularly if you are a publically owned company that has only the singular purpose of existence to make money for shareholders. It can't necessarily be faulted for sociopathic tendancies when it is part of a much larger and complex societal structure and consumption cycle we collectively participate in).
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