Maybe as you hold one in your hand you’ve found yourself wondering what this little toy is and how it’s made. We can understand that action figures represent characters from various entertainment media and that they are usually made with molded plastic. Now let’s answer some common questions about action figures. Plastic Figure Manufacturing Process
Is an plastic action figure a toy?
It depends on who you ask. Toys are meant to be played with. When kids get action figures, they play with them, making them part of their elaborate story plays. That means for kids they are toys. On the other hand, most adults collect action figures for display. They don’t necessarily play with them in the ways that kids do. So for adults, it might not be considered a toy but a collectible item.
How are Action Figures Made?
Most plastic/vinyl figures require the creation of complex molds in order to cast the material at high temperature and pressures. This mold making process is typically about 25-30 days. Actual manufacturing time for plastic/vinyl following the creation of the molds is usually in the range of 30-45 days — again this depends on quantities and complexity of each design. Once production is completed, delivery times via ocean are approximately 30-40 days, while air freight times can vary from 2-10 days depending on the freight carrier. Rush orders that can reduce full production times by roughly 40% are usually possible for an additional fee. This rush time may also require a production-ready design. Reorders of toys we’ve previously produced don’t require creation of the production molds so production times are generally only the 30-45 days of a typical production.
Injection molding is a manufacturing process that uses a steel mold to shape plastic into the desired shape. Injection molding consists of three main steps: injecting the plastic material into the steel mold cavity; waiting for the plastic material to cool and solidify, and opening or breaking away the finished action figure part from its casting gate.
Injection molding can produce high-quality parts at a low cost. It allows manufacturers to create a large number of action figure replicas using the same steel mold, which reduces production costs. In addition, this process has a high throughput rate due to its speed and efficiency.
After all the action figures are assembled and passed the QC inspection, the action figures will be packed. Same as customised action figures, the packaging of action figures also needs customers to provide us with AI design files so that we can customise the packaging for them.
The price of each manufactured toy varies depending on its particular design, size and quantity. The majority of the cost of plastic and vinyl toys is the cost of the moulds used for production. Moulds are often complex and require multiple parts to obtain the highest quality replica. We will try to limit these costs as much as possible without sacrificing quality.
