Reaper Minis?

[Asmor]

My FLGS has a big wall of Reaper minis. I've bought a few and painted them, not as replacements for plastic, but for when the collectable mini format really hurts.

Here's an example from a few years back:

I wanted to have an illithid villain in my upcoming adventure I was running the next week. I didn't have any illithid plastic minis, and all the ones out were rare and had irritatingly high prices on the secondary market. (I haven't kept up with D&D mini releases, I don't know if any non-rares ever were made).

So, for a plastic mini of a creature I want I can order it online and pay ~$12 or more after shipping and it might get here in time for the game next week. . .or I can go down to my FLGS and pick up a Reaper mini. For a lot of WotC "Product Identity" monsters they have creatures that look an awful lot like them but with a different name (Bathaglian for Illithid, Phase Cat for Displacer Beast, Eyebeast for Beholder. . .). Since those distinctive creatures typically have expensive secondary-market costs it was actually cheaper for me to buy a metal mini and spend a little time painting it myself than it was to just get a piece of plastic.

If the big advantage of randomized minis is they are cheaper, that's defeated by the secondary market costs being ridiculously high on minis for creatures that may be rare in minis distribution but most DM's would want to use.

Also, Reaper has a lot of minis of things you don't often see D&D minis of, like a lot of townsfolk minis if you want bystanders for your tavern brawls ect.

That's a good point. I think that, financially at least, pre-painted plastic minis are vastly superior to metal minis for creatures which you need hordes of-- kobolds, skeletons, goblins, etc.

However, when it comes to the iconic creatures which you only need one of, it often doesn't make such automatic financial sense to go with plastic. Particularly if you've already got the equipment, paints and time to do a metal mini right, that's your best option.

 

[tvknight415]

I sincerely hope Reaper never goes under - they are producing the best minis on the market right now.

I definitely vote for using metal miniatures if at all possible. I've given up on the plastic ones at all.

 

[MerricB]

However, when it comes to the iconic creatures which you only need one of, it often doesn't make such automatic financial sense to go with plastic. Particularly if you've already got the equipment, paints and time to do a metal mini right, that's your best option.

Indeed. Plastics win when you want common creatures (or when you need to transport them a lot). They also win for occasionally getting the rare minis you want. I actually have about 6 mind flayers...

However, if I want a particular rare mini, then my options are (a) to trade for it or (b) to buy it individually, which may make a lot more sense in metal.

As I suck at painting, I proxy when necessary. Besides, not even metals do most of the monsters in D&D.

Cheers!

 

[Twowolves]

Here's an example from a few years back:

I wanted to have an illithid villain in my upcoming adventure I was running the next week. I didn't have any illithid plastic minis, and all the ones out were rare and had irritatingly high prices on the secondary market.
So, for a plastic mini of a creature I want I can order it online and pay ~$12 or more after shipping and it might get here in time for the game next week. . .or I can go down to my FLGS and pick up a Reaper mini. For a lot of WotC "Product Identity" monsters they have creatures that look an awful lot like them but with a different name (Bathaglian for Illithid, ......

You mean like this?
(Just one of the latest prepainted plastic minis from Reaper)

 

[Dragon Snack]

Does anyone have any idea why this may have happened? Does this signify for Reaper, or Reaper in Australia at all?

They probably won't be stocking them anymore because of the price increase (on top of increased international shipping costs) and are just clearing out their current inventory.

While it sucks to lose a customer and may have a big impact on sales to Australia, I doubt Reaper is going anywhere. They don't overextend themselves, that's why they've been around for so long.

 

[CharlesRyan]

When its a choice between a flimsy piece of poorly painted plastic . . .

Flimsy? Plastic minis are waaaaaay more durable than metal. (I have a large collection of both.) There are plenty of reasons to prefer metal to plastic, but flimsiness isn't one of them.

But back on topic:

Merric, you point out that the seller has 1300+ items among 800 SKUs (1 to 4 items of each SKU). That alone should tell you something about the business of non-randomized minis. Retailers and distributors have to manage hundreds or thousands of separate products, each of which sells in low volume at a low price point. Mismanage the stock balance just a bit, and your excess holdings easily wipe out the profits you make on the items that do sell. And overheads are high. It's a really tough business model.

That doesn't explain why Reaper is singled out in this case--but when you look at the fine balance that business model requires, it's easy to see how any small thing going wrong (demand or pricing changes, shipping or exchange rate increases, etc.) could create big problems.

 

[MerricB]

Thanks for the insights, Charles. Indeed, the business model for non-random minis is tough. (I note in passing the lack of choice in Reaper's prepainted plastics, even after 10 months. I think there's something like 12-15 available in total!)

I hope you're having a good time in England.

Cheers!

 

[Xsjado]

You never actually stated your opinion, you implied it. You stated that there was no comparison between the two, which he agreed with, but then he stated an opinion in stark contrast to your clearly implied opinion.

Suggesting he was being sarcastic would imply that he didn't actually feel that pre-painted plastic minis are the superior option, which I suspect he does.

Thus he wasn't being sarcastic, he was being snarky.

Well if you take one line out of context of the rest of the post then you'd be right. Problem is that my opinion was not only heavily implied in that line, it was made abundantly clear in the rest of the post.

Being snarky only works when you don't make yourself look like an idiot at the same time.

Flimsy? Plastic minis are waaaaaay more durable than metal. (I have a large collection of both.) There are plenty of reasons to prefer metal to plastic, but flimsiness isn't one of them.

I say flimsy, not in the sense that they break easily (some do if they are made from the type of plastic GW uses), but because they bend. DnD minis often come out of the pack with swords drooping like cooked pasta. Big models suffer from this a lot. They don't bend back easily either and normally require the application of a bit of heat, which can ruin the paint if you aren't careful. Again, it doesn't matter much for goblin no.33 but for the BBEG or PC...

I admit metal minis can bend as well but its much easier to fix them.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I say flimsy, not in the sense that they break easily (some do if they are made from the type of plastic GW uses), but because they bend. DnD minis often come out of the pack with swords drooping like cooked pasta. Big models suffer from this a lot. They don't bend back easily either and normally require the application of a bit of heat, which can ruin the paint if you aren't careful.

For what it's worth, DDM has improved on this lately, in that WotC is using plastic "splints" on those minis with parts prone to bending or those minis that like to do the limbo. (Unfortunately, this is pretty much the only way DDM has improved in the last several sets ... pretty much everything else has gone downhill.)

Also, I've never damaged a DDM mini, while fixing bent stuff, by using hot water. Heat the affected part -- if the plastic is thick, heat it longer than you think you need to -- then hold it in the proper position and immerse it in cold water. Fixed.

 

[Greylock]

My friends and I are huge fans of Reaper. I've bought my share of DDMs and have lately bought a huge bunch of 1/72nd scale minis, but nothing can compare to Reaper. Nothing.

See my sig. Most everything there is Reaper, with some Magnificent Egos.