[WOTC] Minis Spotlight

[mmu1]

Right, and as has been pointed-out already, criticizing mass-produced for not having the same level of detail that an enthusiast applies to his own minis is like slamming McDonald's for not serving $50 cuts of prime rib.

Nah, it's more like slamming McDonalds for having ground spinal column and rat feces in their burgers.

 

[Glyfair]

What I find interesting is that WotC isn't hiding the quality of the minatures. Indeed, I'm sure if you put these on the table and use them the way there were probably intended, you'd barely notice the poor quality of the paint jobs (unless you're an obsessed miniature painter - and no mass produced paint job will ever meet your standards).

Personally, I think that this line will fail. They are trying to sell this product to the wrong market. D&D players as a group don't want random miniatures, no matter how much cheaper they are that way (and don't kid yourself, the prices are as low as they are because of they are packaged this way).

The group that would be likely to play this game are already playing Mage Knight, Heroclix & Mechwarrior. From these pictures, the WizKids products are superior looking, mostly because of the higher paint quality.

Take a look at the WizKids Dragon's Gate advertisments. Which figures would your rather get if you cared about paint jobs?

Still, I can't accuse WotC of false advertising.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Felon]

Nah, it's more like slamming McDonalds for having ground spinal column and rat feces in their burgers.

Unless you're a macrobiotic billionaire, you're gonna eat a certain amount of bugs and rats and bits of rope and various feces now and again. That's just the reality of it all.

 

[Ceresco]

This is True?

They aren't machine painted, and neither are Mage Knight or Heroclix figs. They are hand painted in big factories in Asia.

Can this be verified? If so it will completely push me into the catagory on NOT buying. I am still on the fence for a number of reasons, not one of which would out weigh WotC using cheap foreign labor.

Hand painted by whom in what countries and what age are they?

Inquiring minds and all that.

Respectfully,

Edward J Kopp

 

[TalonComics]

Re: This is True?

Can this be verified? If so it will completely push me into the catagory on NOT buying. I am still on the fence for a number of reasons, not one of which would out weigh WotC using cheap foreign labor.

Hand painted by whom in what countries and what age are they?

Inquiring minds and all that.

Respectfully,

Edward J Kopp

Edward,

If they're done in the same country as WizKids product then that would be China. The Chinese practically produce everything that involves casting and painting nowadays. There has been a couple of articles in both Tomart's Toy Magazine and Toyfare on the production of toys in China.
Part of the problems Wizkids has is when stuff gets delayed in customs coming from China. It could very well happen to WotC as well.

~D

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Re: This is True?

Can this be verified? If so it will completely push me into the catagory on NOT buying. I am still on the fence for a number of reasons, not one of which would out weigh WotC using cheap foreign labor.

Hand painted by whom in what countries and what age are they?

Inquiring minds and all that.

Respectfully,

Edward J Kopp

It will most likely be printed on the box, just wait till you see them in your FLGS before buying any online...

The Auld Grump, who does think the paint jobs are bad, but might have bought them had they not been random. (Heck, even breaking the starters and boosters down into Player Character and Monster sets would have been nice...)

 

[Conaill]

What I find interesting is that WotC isn't hiding the quality of the minatures. Indeed, I'm sure if you put these on the table and use them the way there were probably intended, you'd barely notice the poor quality of the paint jobs (unless you're an obsessed miniature painter - and no mass produced paint job will ever meet your standards).

Yeah, I think at least one head should roll over the PR fiasco they caused with these pictures. Not only are the pictures 2-3 as large as they *should* have been for their target audience - people who want table-top quality, NOT expert miniature painters who want to see macro-shots to scrutinize every tiniest detail. But the lighting of these figs is at least half to blame as well, if not more. With the flat paint job (no highlighting, no washes), the very stark lighting makes it seem as if the figs have virtually *no* detail on them.

I believe that WotC could have made these same figs look halfway decent, with the right presentation. I don't know *what* they were thinking putting those pictures up the way they did. Guess it goes to show they've thinned the ranks at WotC that a gaffe like that, concerning the introduction of a mayor new product, can just slip by...

 

[Jody Butt]

This is the source of what bugs me about 3.5e; it could be the first wave of applying that "repeat purchase model" to D&D. Yeah, everybody from WotC says, "No, no plans for further editions;" but Valterra's gone already, so maybe his replacement is the one with the 4e plans.

Didn't Ed Stark (or one of the WotC guys) say that 4E would be coming out in 2007 "at the earliest" [cough, cough, "earliest": read "definitely"]?

 

[Gizzard]

c) paint well enough but hate doing it...

Or, in my case, "not want to worry about what my ham-handed players would do to nicely painted minis." ;-) "Hey, who got potato-chip grease on my Otyugh!?"

There's a place in my life for minis which can be thrown in a bucket and taken gaming.

 

[Endur]

Pre-painted minis get better

The pre-painted minis will get better as time goes by.

The first mage knight figures were awful. The latest DC Heroclix figures are pretty awesome.

I won't buy any of the initial WOTC figures (unless there is a figure that I must have), but after a couple of years, I'll seriously consider buying the figures once their production improves.

Tom