Need your thoughts on prepainted miniatures.

[Steel_Wind]

One note here.

Given that the cost of moulds for metals is comparitively cheap - and the setup cost for plastic moulds is BLOODY EXPENSIVE, while the consumables on metal are more expensive, the setup most defninitely is not.

If you are a mftr looking at much smaller runs, metal may well be more economical.

If what you were asking was: would I buy pre-painted metals?

If the quality was high and the price competitive, yes.

From an overall durability aspect, plastic wins - hands down. But...I'm flexible if there's a damned good reason.

 

[Li Shenron]

Initial sets will consist of a lot of monsters and we will support large figures all the way up to colossal sizes. We got all those parts covered.

This sounds extremely promising

Good luck by the way!

 

[Bonzi]

One note here.

If what you were asking was: would I buy pre-painted metals?

If the quality was high and the price competitive, yes.

I think this is a really good point. I also would be willing to buy pre-painted metal miniatures if the quality and price were reasonable. While I think plastic would be more successful, I think you could also have some degree of success with pre-painted metal miniatures. I, for one, really hope this goes forward and would be surprised if it weren't very successful.

 

[JVisgaitis]

It has been done and somewhat recently (tied into d20). The ones I saw were poorly painted (compared to the Mage Knight figures, that were the only comparison at the time) and were about the same cost as a set of unpainted miniatures.

You mean metals? Do you know who did them?

Given that the cost of moulds for metals is comparitively cheap - and the setup cost for plastic moulds is BLOODY EXPENSIVE, while the consumables on metal are more expensive, the setup most defninitely is not.

That's exactly the thing. I have an outfit that could set me up with either metals or resins for really cheap. In the long run I'll pay more, but we can't front the kind of costs required for plastics. If everyone is against metals, we might not proceed with this.

However may I please be the spokesman for the d20/D&D community when I beg for plastic dungeon dressing type miniatures?

No need. I have that covered too.

If production of metals really is cheaper to set up, would you consider doing both basic plastics for the monsters and a smaller line of higher quality metals that focus on characters?

Honestly I'll consider anything and try anything at least once. If I had access to the proper funds I would announce the product tomorrow and knock everyone socks off. If I could do this the way I envision, everybody would buy this and it would be the best thing for D&D since dice. Unfortunately, I have monetary constraints that I need to account for and that may hurt initial sales which would cripple this entire idea in the long run. We'll see how it goes.

Olgar Shiverstone Pssst. One word:

And the word is?

 

[Kanegrundar]

I'm the camp for plastics for pre-painted figures. Metal figures that I buy I usually want be the one to paint them. When I buy pre-painted figs, I want them cheap, so plastics work for me.

Kane

 

[kenobi65]

And the word is?

Plastics, Mr. Braddock.

But, seriously...if they're well-sculpted and well-painted, plastic vs. metal doesn't matter too much to me, though I'd agree that plastics are easier to schlep about.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Isn't there going to be a problem making minis of D&D monsters w/o WotC's permission? Especially things like demons & devils. Sure you can name them differently but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Now I realize Reaper makes a lot of D&D-type minis but those are metal and aren't in direct competition with the WotC plastic minis.

Just something to think about...

 

[kenobi65]

Isn't there going to be a problem making minis of D&D monsters w/o WotC's permission? Especially things like demons & devils. Sure you can name them differently but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Now I realize Reaper makes a lot of D&D-type minis but those are metal and aren't in direct competition with the WotC plastic minis.

IIRC, in the earlier thread on this topic, it was indicated that they'd likely be sticking to monsters that are in the SRD, and the descriptions therein. Demons and devils are in the SRD, though most of the descriptions are, well, skimpy...

Bone devils stand about 9 feet tall and weigh about 500 pounds.

 

[d-pirate]

If your company is against plastics for cost then think about resin molds. That guy over at Hirst Arts (http://www.hirstarts.com) is a genius. Also Dwarven forge had some admirable resin prepainted minis but decided making walls was a better niche. And resin molds aren't that expensive to make but the key is size and detail. If there is on thing some would argue about metal being superior to plastics is in the detail. Come closer to the standard they set on that and metal would disappear. One thing to add if your thinking resin or plastic and that is hardness. D&D miniatures are very flimsy with the swords or thin legs and get crushed and bent easily. Who here hasn't used to warm water/cold water trick to reset poses? You should make them sturdy. Metal is sturdy to a degree but they can be bent or chipped. Hard plastic or resin would be awesome.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Isn't there going to be a problem making minis of D&D monsters w/o WotC's permission? Especially things like demons & devils. Sure you can name them differently but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

We'd have to be careful the way we went about it, but it wouldn't be an issue. If we released our own Drizzt miniature, then we have problems. We won't rigidly follow the SRD anyway. We'll release our own orc, our own demon, etc.