Friday Publisher Preview: Iconic Heroes Paint Masters

Eric, didn't you say you would include the final mini of The Lost Coast case in this preview? The suspense is killing me!

These are looking good. Level of detail is great, paint is excellent, poses are cool. If the quality does indeed match this they will be remarkable minis. I look forward to the improvement in facial detail, although this has mostly been a paint issue rather than sculpt issue in the past, with a few exceptions.

Looking to be a great line! Is there, or will there be, a subscription option for these (assuming the Aus dollar is actually worth anything by then)?

Now, any word on the other lines? Huges? Evolution?

Also weren't you going to reveal the final mini from lost coast this week? (Edit: ninja'd by an Ogre?)

Looking to be a great line! Is there, or will there be, a subscription option for these?

+1

Very interested in a subscription option for the Iconic Heroes sets (that does not include the large Pathfinder Battles cases).

Looking to be a great line! Is there, or will there be, a subscription option for these?

From this thread:

The Iconic Sets are not part of the subscription, but subscribers will be getting their discount on them.

...(Edit: ninja'd by an Ogre?)

Boy, get your peripheral vision checked! ;)

Really liking the physical miniatures being shown. The detail is just amazing!

But I'm afraid I will only be truly satisfied if they look this good in hand. We've been sadly burned with great paint masters/sloppy production runs before.

I have a great deal of respect for Eric, Paizo, and WizKids for doing so much to improve the quality of the miniatures. I hope the work they've put in translates into high level factory product.

I forgot to send the web team the last image, even though it's sitting on my desktop. We'll have to do it next week. Sorry, everyone!

Hi Eric. This is my first post on Paizo's boards even though I've been purchasing every set, and love the miniatures. However, with one preview to go for The Lost Coast, I'm wondering when Paizo/Wizkids will produce some of the awesome drow/dark elf art into miniatures from Shattered Star and Second Darkness, both of which take place on The Lost Coast. I am hopeful of getting Pathfinder-style drow (with the midnight bluish skin?) every set, but alas none so far. Are my hopes in vain?

The masters look great, especially Valeros. This time around, it looks like he has a clearly defined mouth; every Valeros mini from the beginners box set I've seen either didn't have the mouth clearly sculpted or the painters obscured it with too much paint. Looking forward to these sets!

I've been avoiding drow for now because Wizards of the Coast did SO MANY of them with their D&D Minis line. Now that they are back in the game I imagine they will be doing more, so I'd rather focus a bit more on monsters that have not been done so frequently.

That said, we have some AWESOME drow art, so we will get to them eventually.

If nothing else, it would be good to get some driders, since Pathfinder driders look so different from the old WotC ones.
But I'd still rather have shocker lizards first :-p

Agreed, drider would be very nice. I'd like an Ash giant, they make great enemies and there's certainly no likelihood WotC will make one.

I think this will be really popular and I'm definitely getting this set.

Drow did get some pretty heavy coverage by Wizards of the Coast. They created a wide variety of piece plus lots of supporting cast. For new collectors it will be expensive to obtain some of the best pieces, but I have to agree with Erik that there are other areas that could use the Pathfinder treatment more. I'm thinking Tengu, Catfolk, Quaggoth, Thri-kreen, Grimlocks and Azer could all really benefit from Pathfindere take on them.

First, thank you to Erik for the swift reply to a first timer on these boards. Second, thank you also for confirming drow have been on your mind. I agree with Berk the Black - WotC did produce a number of drow, but to me, many are pretty average and lacking distinction compared to the overall quality of Paizo's minis. I'd love to have Paizo drow based on the awesome Paizo art. They could be distinctive such as the dark bluish skin on Second Darkness covers. And I'm talking 3-4 slots only, including the drider.

I have to agree with Alimon, many drow figures have a feel of an almost unpainted black plastic mini.

Agreed. Most WotC drow minis are not exciting paint jobs, though there were rare nice ones like the Champion of Eilistraee (which had a lovely, very dynamic sculpt.)

First off, I think these look great. I can't wait to get them on my table!

Second, I agree with keeping the Drow to a limited number. I really like the artwork for the Pathfinder Drow, so if we get a couple in the next couple lines, that's great. But I like that you aren't looking to flood the Pathfinder lines with the dark elves.

One thing I would love is a great looking Paizo Drow that would work as a great PC piece. You indicated that if this Iconics line sells well, you might consider continuing it with other high-end PC-types. In that vein, I'd love to see the races from the Advanced Race Guide get the same treatment. The artwork for the Drow in that book is great, and so if we get that far, including a Drow might be a natural step.

So please, everyone, buy and support this Iconics line. Once we get through the great looking Iconics, there is a chance we could get support for some of the great artwork and various races from the Advanced Race Guide.

@Pigraven I think that kinda defeats the purpose of an Iconic line. However, it would be pretty sweet to see a drow iconic pop up. Then they could make the mini:)

@jimibones83

Perhaps in name. But I don't think the purpose of the Iconics line is just to make a line called Iconics for the sake of the name. I think it is to provide players with a high-quality miniature that best represents their player character. While the Iconics themselves provide the obvious starting point, there is no reason for Paizo to stop the line if it does well. Once Paizo burns through all the Iconics, they can change the name of the line to Advanced Race Characters. The important aspect as I see it is that the high-end Iconics line does well enough that it creates an entirely new niche for collectors and players alike.

And why should we have to wait around for a Drow iconic to pop up before they make a high-qualiity miniature to represent the race? He's in a book called the Advanced Race Guide, a book that tilts towards campaigns that include non-traditional player characters. My biggest pet peeve with Paizo by far is their severe lack of miniatures that support the MAIN source books the company puts out. Erik appears to either feel the same way or has at least figured this out, as this latest Lost Coast line has a couple folks from the NPC Codex.

I've always felt that one of Wizards of the Coast biggest missteps in 3.5 was their need to push out new print material and then not support it in subsequent releases. Paizo has been a little better with this, and it sounds like some of the upcoming sourcebooks will address past material even more. While I applaud them for this, it would be nice to see this pattern trickle down even into their miniatures line. The first great sign of this is how quickly we are getting the Iconics, including those found in the Advanced Class Guide. I just hope the ARG and others aren't forgotten. Both the Advanced Race Guide and NPC Codex are gold mines as far as great art is concerned.

"Iconic Characters" can mean a lot more than the classical way of looking at it. I for one hope to see beloved characters from the setting in that line as soon as all the classes are dealt with.

Characters like Eando Kline, Ostog the Unslain, Shensen and several Pathfinders immediately come to mind, that I would not mind seeing in high prepainted quality should this line be successful enough to warrant continuation beyond the class iconics.