WotC Roll For Combat: Hasbro Downgraded. Toys Rotting on the Shelves

[Umbran]

I don't know how to report someone who has me blocked but is still quoting me, but that seems like behavior that is contrary to the purpose of blocking

Mod Note:

1) Next time, please send a PM to the moderation staff when you see this happening, rather than make it a public thing. And note that we don't read every post - so you're only getting any response at all because someone thought to report your post to us to be sure we knew about it.

1a) Please note that the moderators cannot see who has blocked who. Unless you name them, we can't generally help you.

2) That said, yes, the behavior is contrary to the purpose of blocking. So, whoever is doing this, please cut it out.

 

[SteveC]

Let's unpack that a little bit. Marvel didn't sell off X-Men, Spiderman, or Fantastic Four - they've always still owned the characters (and I doubt there's a realistic offer that could induce them to fully sell them off short of extremely desperate circumstances for Marvel). They sold the film rights because they wanted to make money off the films but, at the time, didn't have their own film-making studio or infrastructure. If they had Marvel Studios or were in a position to start it up like they were several years later, they wouldn't have sold the film rights to those characters at all.
Of course, the fact that there were successful movies out there of some of those characters by other studios probably enabled them to make the case for making their own movies...

This is a really good point. Marvel was in a situation where comic books weren't really selling. They haven't been for a long while now, so the rights were sold for other mediums. There was a great video made by the guy who came to Marvel and told them that it was their characters and IP that were valuable not the books. that I remember seeing that started off this whole transition for them away from being a comic book company to an IP company.

Can WotC do something similar? I know they would like to, since after the next round of PHBs are sold, that will be the best they do in terms of books until we reset things again. I don't know if they can really do it because I'm not aware of what the IP equivalent of Spider Man actually is. I'm old enough to remember when there was a daily Spider Man comic in my newspaper.

But you're definitely right and it's sloppy at the least to say that they "sold off the characters."

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't watch a lot of roll for combat but don't regard them as garbage tier content wise.

I don't find them particularly interesting either but the occasionally have good stuff. I have a top 1 youtube channel for D&D the rest are occasional watches.

Ymmv of course.

 

[Stormonu]

This is a really good point. Marvel was in a situation where comic books weren't really selling. They haven't been for a long while now, so the rights were sold for other mediums. There was a great video made by the guy who came to Marvel and told them that it was their characters and IP that were valuable not the books. that I remember seeing that started off this whole transition for them away from being a comic book company to an IP company.

Can WotC do something similar? I know they would like to, since after the next round of PHBs are sold, that will be the best they do in terms of books until we reset things again. I don't know if they can really do it because I'm not aware of what the IP equivalent of Spider Man actually is. I'm old enough to remember when there was a daily Spider Man comic in my newspaper.

But you're definitely right and it's sloppy at the least to say that they "sold off the characters."

For D&D, that might be like the Heroes of the Lance (Raistlin, Caramon, Sturm, etc.), various Forgotten Realm characters (Elminster, Xanathar, Drizzt, etc.), the D&D cartoon characters and the like. TSR/WotC had a whole line of books that could be fodder for movies, toys and the like - certainly not as famous as Marvel, but D&D has already had a toy line in the 80's and several remakes recently. If the RPG tanks, Hasbro could attempt to make money off worlds, characters, monsters and the like in a variety of products. Heck, I've lately seen D&D jigsaw puzzles, journals, blankets, socks, mugs, lap desks and the like. Probably more product than the RPG itself.

TBH, I'm betting we'll see BG3 figures in the not-to-distant future.

 

[humble minion]

For D&D, that might be like the Heroes of the Lance (Raistlin, Caramon, Sturm, etc.), various Forgotten Realm characters (Elminster, Xanathar, Drizzt, etc.), the D&D cartoon characters and the like. TSR/WotC had a whole line of books that could be fodder for movies, toys and the like

Honestly, the impression I get is that pretty much all the ubiquity of the Heroes of the Lance is in the nostalgia banks of people my age (coughmidfortiescough) and older.

I’ve just started up a Dragonlance campaign, running it for a group assembled from a Facebook ‘looking for group’ post. Other than me, there’s a fiftysomething, an early 40s, two 30yos and a 20yo.

Only the two eldest of us had ever read the Dragonlance books, or knew who Raistlin was, or ANYTHING about Dragonlance beyond a scan through SotDQ. Some of them didn’t know there had been novels, let alone over a hundred of them. You know all the enworld memes about how running DL was a nightmare because someone was always going to want to play a disruptive jerk kender? Nobody did. Most of the group didn’t even know what a kender WAS.

It was weird for me to realise how something so universal in my geek formative years has absolutely vanished from the geek zeitgeist of even half a generation later.

Vox Machina are what the Heroes of the Lance used to be. Which is distinctly awkward for WotC because they don’t own them.

 

[CleverNickName]

Vox Machina are what the Heroes of the Lance used to be. Which is distinctly awkward for WotC because they don’t own them.

That's a good point.

 

[mamba]

was weird for me to realise how something so universal in my geek formative years has absolutely vanished from the geek zeitgeist of even half a generation later.

yes, but who knew Rocket Racoon and those other weirdos before their movies?

I’d say DL and FR characters are still the best shot WotC has, and with Hollywood recycling old stories all the time…

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I don't watch a lot of roll for combat but don't regard them as garbage tier content wise.

I don't find them particularly interesting either but the occasionally have good stuff. I have a top 1 youtube channel for D&D the rest are occasional watches.

Ymmv of course.

What us #1?

 

[Zardnaar]

What us #1?

Dungeon Dudes.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Hasbro needs and is more interested into a new generation of fandom what recovering the older selling nostalgia.

I don't know the toy market to know where are the mistakes by Hasbro. Maybe we should ask in the forum of the action-figures fans.

And it is not only the toys, but also the cinematographic and the videogame industry is suffering a within crisis, and this is a serious obstacle for D&D brand to become a multimedia franchise and cash-cow.

* If I started to paint miniatures as hobby. Hero Quest would be a cheaper option than Games Workshop?