BOYCOTT of Wotc miniatures

[Silveras]

Popular Collections, looks like a great site. Taelorn, do you know is it possible to order several of the same figures at the same time? For example, would I be able to get 3 or 4 orcs in one order? Or when they show something on their page, do they only have one or two in stock at a given time?

After you click the button to add the mini you want, the next page has a box for "Quantity" and a button to "Update Quantity". If they do not have enough on hand to fill your order, the page will say so.

I filled out the missing items in the Harbinger line with Popular Collections. Quick delivery and very good service.

Also, the RPGShop (and ENWorld's RPGShop) now offers individual minis from the Harbinger and Dragoneye sets.

 

[Jehosephat]

After you click the button to add the mini you want, the next page has a box for "Quantity" and a button to "Update Quantity". If they do not have enough on hand to fill your order, the page will say so.

I filled out the missing items in the Harbinger line with Popular Collections. Quick delivery and very good service.

Also, the RPGShop (and ENWorld's RPGShop) now offers individual minis from the Harbinger and Dragoneye sets.

Hey that's good to know. Thanks. This way I don't have to let a whole order wait for one piece.

 

[Felix]

*looks around thread*
Anybody see where Sluggo ran off to after his boycott idea met with criticism?

Anyway, I'm an economics major and I feel obliged to say this (because economics is gggrrrrrrrATE!). And this is from a guy who hasn't bought any minis because $5 is the value I rate those minis at.

...

With the production of mass-produced items, there comes a time when proucing the next mini costs more on the average (per-unit) than the next to last mini. This means that your average cost has begun to increase. As you continue to increase quantity produced, your average cost of production skyrockets, and your profits dwindle. There is a point where even economies of scale breaks down.

So WotC might have decided that by increasing price less units will be sold (and thus less units have to be produced). Less units will certainly be sold because the marginal consumers of the products like Henry (not that you're a marginal person, Henry! ) will stop buying. Because they do not have to supply as many units, the average cost of a mini might move back towards the minimum value.

This increase in price could simultaneously produce:
a) higher revenues for WotC. $13 x Lower Quantity might be more than $10 x Higher Quantity
b) lower costs for WotC. Fewer minis might mean a smaller average cost.

If that happens, by raising price WotC will have increased profit on both the revenue and the cost margin. If they did that, they will be able to afford to spend more money on producing future products for us that we will hopefully love. Or, they could spend some of that extra profit on improving the quality of the paintjobs, which I hear they have done. Remember, profits are the costs of the future!

Long live economics and capitalism!

 

[Orius]

Something I noticed while shopping for singles, it seems that traditional DnD creatures that are "commons" are worth more than commons that have no aesthetic value. Orcish, zombie, skeletons, and such all seem to have a slightly higher price than some uncommons (tiefling captain?). I wouldn't know if this is based on their abilities in the minis game, though, because I don't know how to play.

This to me, is kind of a "duh" thing.

I doubt it has anything to do at all with the mini game, it's probably a matter of how useful they are for a D&D game. The average DM will get more mileage out of hordes of orcs, skeletons, zombies, and such than out of tiefling captains. So naturally, the average DMs are probably gobbling them up more.

 

[Olive]

There is also a site that sells individual minis called Popular Collections . They also sell cases of minis at a bulk rate around $115 or something per case. There are 16 boosters in a case, so it definately cheaper to go this way instead of buying individual boosters at FLGS.

Do you know how much the case weighs?

 

[Creamsteak]

5 pounds a case supposedly.

Took me about 3 hours to shop around and find the cheapest case (including shipping), and the cheapest singles...

 

[Olive]

5 pounds a case supposedly.

Took me about 3 hours to shop around and find the cheapest case (including shipping), and the cheapest singles...

What was the result?

 

[Creamsteak]

What was the result?

Well, your mileage could vary. I could easily have missed a lot of sites. That warning said, I purchased my cases from the same place as someone else in this thread:

Gameoutfitter - If your buying a case of harbinger & dragonseye, the current prices are fairly good ($6.06 down to $5.75 a pack). However, if you want to just get a bunch of those 16 piece starter packs, I couldn't find a better price than amazon's $8.

Harbinger Only (Amazon) - Starter Packs ($0.50 a fig)
Harbinger & Dragonseye (Gameoutfitter) - Dragoneye/Harbinger Sale ($0.71875 a fig at largest bulk)
Archfiends (Gameoutfitter) - Archfiends Pre-Order ($0.7325 a fig at largest bulk)

For singles, your going to have to crunch the math on your specific order. It's rather tricky, really. For my order, I compared three sites which had different deals over each other, then calculated exactly how much ordering all the same figs from sites would cost individually. Then I had to see if I could save MORE than shipping costs by buying specific figs from one store and specific figs from another.

I did the math on my order from FRP games, popularcollections, and usacomicbooks. I saved approximately $3.00 from ordering from popularcollections, but their shipping cost was more than $4.00 more. I'm sure there are even better prices out there, though, but for my order this was pretty cheap (75 figs at about 0.6 a fig, before shipping. Includded a few uncommons, a lot of commons, and only the cheapest of the rares).

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I am not boycotting the WotC plastics, I am just not buying them.

I HATE random packaging, and don't even buy CCGs.

I LIKE painting figures, and enjoy the sense of accomplishment when one is well done.

I don't like the paint jobs at all, but then I can do better, and I realize that thee are those who cannot.

I don't like a lot of the models, sorry, I think that most of them are ather poor sculpts, I can number four or five that I liked, the rest are 'eh'.

I don't buy them, even at a discount, so for me the price increase has no bearing, and doesn't even seem that unreasonable given demand for the horrible things.

The Auld Grump, hemorrhaging money into Reaper Miniature's coffers since they began!

 

[sluggo the sleazebag]

*looks around thread*
Anybody see where Sluggo ran off to after his boycott idea met with criticism?

For your information, I didn't "run off." I've been reading the responses. I just don't feel that I have to repeat myself ad nauseam. Which is to say, my position regarding Wotc remains unchanged.