WizKids to Release New Red Dragon Plaque, With More Manageable Head Size

WizKids is releasing a smaller dragon head plaque, this time featuring the 2024 version of the Red Dragon. Announced this week, the new 12-inch Red Dragon Plaque will feature the head of the 2024 Monster Manual version of the Red Dragon. Notably, the dragon plaque will only be about half the weight of previous dragon plaques released by the company, with the new plaque weighing about 7 pounds as opposed to the 14-16 pounds that old plaques weighed. Currently, there's no price point attached to the red dragon.

WizKids has released a series of trophy plaques, featuring dragons, mind flayers, and even an owlbear. Traditionally, the plaques have cost $474.99, with a hefty shipping fee to account for the large size of the box they were placed in.

You can check out the new dragon plaque below:

 

[NerdyRotica]

Oof, not a fan of this one. I absolutely adore the 2024 redesign on just about all varieties, but this just seems like a sub-par sculpt. Still miles better than the old one on my opinion, but if you compare it to the recently released red dragon bookend, that one looks WAY better. Obviously the detail gets an upgrade with the larger plaque (not as much as I would like, though), but the overall shaping and structure looks more natural - not to mention more accurate to the concept designs - in the bookend.

For what this is probably gonna cost I'd rather just use the bookend as a reference and sculpt my own. Looking forward to merch of other dragon colors though!

 

[doctorhook]

The only one (of the 10 standard) of the dragons that get a redesign in 4e as the green dragon. It was then changed back in 5e.

Yeah I remember that; it’s a point in favour of the stability of the dragon designs across 3E to 5E. In this case, I phrased my comment as “a lot of creatures were redesigned in 4E” because there were some iconic looks that changed dramatically compared to 3E: trolls, ogres, and beholders just off the top of my head. But the dragons were mostly very consistent.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

More manageable head size similar to the more manageable mini size which sort of feels like more manageable overhead on costs, though the prices of hte smaller dragons have remained the same

 

[doctorhook]

More manageable head size similar to the more manageable mini size which sort of feels like more manageable overhead on costs, though the prices of hte smaller dragons have remained the same

This comment reminded me why I got away from minis and amused me with a realization:

I stopped buying plastic minis more than a decade ago; I had too many of them and was frustrated at the cost, the storage and convenient access conundrum, and the fact that with 1000 minis you still might never have the right one. So I swore off them and went to tokens, often just printed images I’d glue to wood or cardboard; much cheaper, easier to store, perfect representation, and disposable to boot. Eventually I went abstract, just plain tokens with no image at all; infinitely reusable.

So your comment made me imagine applying the same logic to this dragon head mount, and that’s what amused me. I wouldn’t bother with the plastic 3D sculpt, I’d have a flat image on paper… realizing I’ve just reinvented the wall poster in my mind, lol. Double lol when I realized my players would point out that a truly “doctorhook” solution would either be plain white poster with the word “dragon” printed across it, or a plain white poster with a random number and me telling them “just pretend it’s a dragon”.

 

[dave2008]

Oof, not a fan of this one. I absolutely adore the 2024 redesign on just about all varieties, but this just seems like a sub-par sculpt. Still miles better than the old one on my opinion, but if you compare it to the recently released red dragon bookend, that one looks WAY better. Obviously the detail gets an upgrade with the larger plaque (not as much as I would like, though), but the overall shaping and structure looks more natural - not to mention more accurate to the concept designs - in the bookend.

For what this is probably gonna cost I'd rather just use the bookend as a reference and sculpt my own. Looking forward to merch of other dragon colors though!

You may be correct of course, but this is just a rendering and not a picture of the actual plaque.

 

[NerdyRotica]

Yes, but the renderings always look better than the actual product, so the actual plaque will almost certainly look worse.

 

[R_Chance]

The same reason people have kids... They get old...

You have that backwards. They have kids, then they get old

 

[Cergorach]

You have that backwards. They have kids, then they get old

As someone who has no kids, I can confirm that we also get old!

 

[BB Shockwave]

I have the old Red, used my bonus one year to get it. I would have gotten the rest, but I live in a small flat, so no chance of that.
I dislike the new designs - I won't even buy miniatures of these new Dragons. The Red is still the least changed, but I don't care for the weird S-shaped mouth and the Raptor like head. They tried to make them look like Smaug in the Hobbit, and the head looks too narrow and flat as a result, and the blackened horns and wings.... not a fan.

 

[Phatman80]

The only thing good about 5.5e is the dragon redisigns.