How To Resurrect D&D Miniatures

[Oryan77]

Which par of unpainted to you somehow means pre-painted?

The part with the paint that is not on the unpainted plastic before painting the unpainted plastic with the paint to create pre-painted plastic....probably.

Pre-painted is part of the problem, because the cost/price is too high. Ravenloft does NOT have painted minis in it.

Huh, weird. This whole time I thought I was having a discussion as to why WotC couldn't continue their pre-painted DDM line. I'm not interested in discussing their unpainted minis, cause well, that's not the problem. People are wondering why they couldn't do non random pre-painted minis and make a profit. That's what I've been commenting on and that's what you replied to when you first responded to my first post.

Am I being railroaded here? I don't want to discuss unpainted Ravenloft minis. I was interested in discussing the pre-painted canceled minis and why they were randomized. Don't make me fight the dragon. You won't like what I'll do to the dragon.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I don't want to discuss unpainted Ravenloft minis. I was interested in discussing the pre-painted canceled minis and why they were randomized.

Me, too.

I was probably in the 99th percentile of DDM buyers.

If Harbinger had been unpainted, I wouldn't have ever purchased that first booster.

If -- and I am saying "if" -- the question is "How do we get someone like Jeff Wilder to spend ridiculous amounts of money on our miniatures again," the answer is not going to have the word "unpainted" within 10 miles.

 

[shadzar]

The thing is the non-painted non-random plastics would sell. The pre-painted MUST be random to sell the crap minis that nobody wanted as filler.

DDXP 2011: New Product Seminar : Critical Hits

Any plans on making more plastic miniatures?
“We’re having issues with the global economy.” D&D minis were produced in China, less cost-effective to do it now, so they discontinued Minis (per se) but they will still produce plastic minis for some of their existing products (like Legend of Drizzt boardgame etc). They’re taking a “wait-and-see” stance.

D&D Minis license to be released to other companies so they can carry the torch?
They’ve talked about it, but they can’t really discuss anything like licensing. Wow there are a lot of factors involved in making minis, most of them involving the costs of plastic. Discussing advantages of being owned by Hasbro in these matters and piggybacking their efforts, but even that hasn’t been enough to compensate with the situation in China. They know there is demand for it, and Chris and Mike still want to play it. Chris has a “coffin” full of Minis. Awesome.

Get out of China?

Non-food grade recycled plastic has MANY companies in the USA starting up. Why not give some jobs to your fellow Americans, and not worry with brand new plastic, but try recycled.

Using HASBRO business ties jsut to get the cheaper deal on plastic, sure didn't cut consumer costs any. Are HASBRO products made of plastic even recyleable?

Recycled plastic has different grades and SOME can be used for toys. So come back home and stop sending jobs over sees, and when you help lower costs to American manufacturing, you will also lower your own costs to produce products and cut out costs of overseas importing of the products as well.

Try post consumer HDPE such as rulers and such is made, or if you need the flex, which people are saying Ravenloft minis have less of, then try post-consumer PVC...the same thing they are currently made from, but not made from first use.

The minis will still not be good at temperatures of 160 F (71 C) as that is the temp for current ones made from PVC anyway, but you will save money and have the same quality, oh and help America in the process and maybe gain some clout and faith back when your product says "Made in the USA" on it.

 

[Sorrowdusk]

Not necessarily. Another alternative is to ensure that all visible minis are equally desirable. A unicorn as the visible mini wasn't a particularly good idea. Having a Balor and a Huge Beholder as visible minis were great ideas.

Speaking of huge models, the huge Orcus was like $75-85. And its just a plastic statue-its non posable in any fashion and mounted on a big fat base. From what I have seen, cool as it is-I wouldnt pay that much for it. The gargantuan black dragon is like $99 and Collosal red $300? Rediculous.

 

[Echohawk]

Speaking of huge models, the huge Orcus was like $75-85. And its just a plastic statue-its non posable in any fashion and mounted on a big fat base. From what I have seen, cool as it is-I wouldnt pay that much for it. The gargantuan black dragon is like $99 and Collosal red $300? Rediculous.

When they were launched in 2006, I paid US$27 for the Gargantuan Black and US$60 for the Colossal Red. The WotC catalog for May-August 2006 lists the recommended retail prices as US$24.99 and US$49.99 respectively, but I seem to recall there being a slight last minute price hike, which accounts for the higher prices I paid. (I hope. Either that, or I was ripped off... )

It seems a bit disingenuous to refer to them as costing $99 and $300. That might well be the current price on the second-hand market, but that's probably not something that WotC can be blamed for.

 

[shadzar]

It seems a bit disingenuous to refer to them as costing $99 and $300. That might well be the current price on the second-hand market, but that's probably not something that WotC can be blamed for.

Both current prices seem to be 5 times the original price, so yeah, WotC set the original price and would then have a part in the current pricing.

Similar HASBRO toys of those sizes would have been about $10 and $25, for similar size and painting.

WotC set the price and caused the current pricing trends based off those initial prices, plus the limited supply, and lack of demand due to such high prices to begin with.

 

[Echohawk]

WotC set the price and caused the current pricing trends based off those initial prices, plus the limited supply, and lack of demand due to such high prices to begin with.

Are you really blaming WotC for the current pricing of their miniatures on the secondary market? I'm afraid that makes no sense to me.

While you are at it, why not blame TSR for the high price an original woodgrain D&D boxed set fetches? That's clearly TSR's fault for producing so few of those sets in the first place...

 

[shadzar]

Are you really blaming WotC for the current pricing of their miniatures on the secondary market? I'm afraid that makes no sense to me.

While you are at it, why not blame TSR for the high price an original woodgrain D&D boxed set fetches? That's clearly TSR's fault for producing so few of those sets in the first place...

I never once said "blame", but they had a hand in it. Otherwise why isnt the price of both dragons the same right now?

 

[wedgeski]

Because of their ignorance?

The tendancy of fans to describe companies as "ignorant" just because they're not supplying what they want is almost universal, and is a very dangerous line of thought IMO.

IMO Wizards nailed pre-painted plastic D&D miniatures. The model and price point were perfect. The sculpts were (for the most part) good or great. It was a brilliant innovation and something the game had been crying out for almost from the word go.

That it eventually collapsed is inarguable, and we can argue about the reasons why (I personally think the termination of the skirmish game was less of a factor than others here). But, there isn't some vacuous hole in their business logic, they didn't stop the line because they didn't have the imagination or skill to make it work, and they certainly didn't give up on it without a fight. It simply reached the bottom of its life-cycle, and now needs some breathing space to recover.

 

[thewok]

I never once said "blame", but they had a hand in it. Otherwise why isnt the price of both dragons the same right now?

Market forces. Demand goes up, supply goes down, price goes up. Since WotC no longer makes the minis, supply is now finite and can only go down. Demand can fluctuate, depending on whims of consumers. The only hand WotC has in the current price of these minis is the fact that they no longer produce them.

The hand that is responsible for the price increase is an invisible one.