Kheti sa-Menik said:Because it isn't. This so called "secondary market" dpesn't really exist - it isn't economical, practical, or even viable. I went on some of these secondary sites...no one was selling a horde of orcs or a group of zombies, or large lots of kobolds or zombies.
The secondary market doesn't really exist.
Kheti sa-Menik said:Because it isn't. This so called "secondary market" dpesn't really exist. The secondary market doesn't really exist.
Twowolves said:1) Age. I'm old enough to have my own credit card, so ordering online is an option. Many D&D players are not and have limited access to an online secondary market.
Glyfair said:I know this isn't directly on your point, but am I the only DM who feels the best challenge for PC types are other PC types? As a DM I need lots of PC type figures?
wayne62682 said:If a figure, even a normal-sized one, is "Rare" then it sells for about $20 if not more. Twenty bucks for a small plastic figure with an amateur paintjob!
Twowolves said:1) Age. I'm old enough to have my own credit card, so ordering online is an option. Many D&D players are not and have limited access to an online secondary market.
2) Shipping. Worldwide players with access to the internet can be costed out of the secondary markets because of high shipping costs or no shipping available at all. Hence the WotC PDFs.
3) Rarity. If I want a secondary market beholder, I'm going to have to pay >$30, plus shipping. Or I can buy an "eye tyrant" and paint it myself for <$10, or perhaps get a prepainted one from Reaper for still less than online. Or, say, if I want 8 orc archers, I can just buy a prepainted pack, instead of having to dish out $7-$20 dollars for ONE, plus shipping, according to an eBay search. And since few of these guys have more than one for sale, that's $2-4 shipping for EACH. I'm counting the secondary online market out for this one, sorry.
Twowolves said:1The claim was they couldn't make "D&D specific" monsters, but they can and do. If they start to make them in prepainted plastic, it wouldn't be hard at all to see that they do have a Balor, they just call it something else, for example. Hell, they already have metal minis of Orcus, Demogorgon, and Dispater, as well as Hezrou, mimics, mind flayers, githyanki, myconids, hell hounds, etc etc etc. Are you really saying that if they don't market a mind flayer as an "illithid", no one will buy it, and the line will fail? I just don't agree, sorry. That's just like saying because a 3rd party d20 adventure doesn't have the D&D logo on the front, no one will know it's for D&D!
Well, not if you don't consider lost oppotunity for income a problem, I guess...Kae'Yoss said:Yes, a lot of people don't trust eBay or PayPal or credit cards, so they don't buy on the secondary market, but it's their choice and not really a problem of the market.
mhensley said:No, it isn't. The equipment needed to produce plastic figures is much more expensive than what it used for metal ones. That's why usually only large companies like GW and WOTC produce plastic minis.
Felon said:You not seem to have grasped what I was saying in my posts, as I did not claim they couldn't make "D&D-specific" monsters. In fact, I pointed out that they have gotten away with taking some pretty heavy liberties. But I will say that if someone sees an announcement on ENWorld news that Reaper is releasing a mind flayer mini, that jumps out more than some pseudonym like "tentacle lord", and it's certainly easier to locate through a search engine.
Just as you seem unable to accept that "nobody would buy the mini" because they called it "brainsucker" instead of "illithid", I find any assertion that it wouldn't help their marketing at all to advertise it as an illithid to be a tad naive. I'd love to see if they have a mini that could serve as a phaerim, but I'm not going to eyeball their whole catalog just looking for that one critter that might or might not be there.