HOLY CRAP!!!
Not that I am busting on the fine folks at Paizo, but I can not BELIEVE how expensive some D&D miniatures have become!
$70, $100, $200 for single plastic minis?!?
And I thought Magic: the Gathering was bad!
Whew!
I guess this is a "rant", and I don't know where else to express my "WOW!!!" at the prices and the state of the miniature collecting hobby.
I bought several lots of Dragoneye commons for .50 a mini back when the set was in print, and now I see some of those are going for $5-$10 each here and on other collector sites.
Man! Glad I have them now, but I fear I'll never get some of the classic monsters that are rares.
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HOLY CRAP!!!
Not that I am busting on the fine folks at Paizo, but I can not BELIEVE how expensive some D&D miniatures have become!
$70, $100, $200 for single plastic minis?!?
And I thought Magic: the Gathering was bad!
Whew!
I guess this is a "rant", and I don't know where else to express my "WOW!!!" at the prices and the state of the miniature collecting hobby.
I bought several lots of Dragoneye commons for .50 a mini back when the set was in print, and now I see some of those are going for $5-$10 each here and on other collector sites.
Man! Glad I have them now, but I fear I'll never get some of the classic monsters that are rares.
I think the issue is that the prices reflect not game pieces but collectibles. In thirty years, who knows, they could be worth twice to three times as much.
In a similar eye-popping encounter, I missed the boat when Star Wars Hero's Guide was out on the shelves. Now that I'd like a copy, I see that they go for anywhere up to $140.00. (Second print WotC?)
I guess that there's always going to be someone out there willing to fork out the money. And hey - if they don't - maybe Paizo has an office pool where employees get the no sells? It'd be cool if you did. Of course, it'd be even cooler if subscribers got an occasional gift of one, too - perhaps through a random prize for subscribing.
The good thing is that some of the classic rares come back in different scupts for those of us not into the collecting aspect of things. The stats on the cards may be different, but a beholder is (in many ways) a beholder, a mind flayer a mind flayer, etc.
Now some of those huge minis will probably never come back into production, but I'm not sure I want to shell out the bucks some folks are asking.
The way I see it, if the single miniature is more expensive than a booster pack of the miniatures, I won't buy it. I like being able to buy commons and things that I'll be able to use a few different ways but it may be a better investment to attempt to either get lucky with a random draw (and maybe wind up with something else you can use) or look for a single metal miniature instead (which may be about the same price, however, depending on the figure).
If you notice the add in Dragon 136, you'll see that the $70 to $200 mini is the size of a pinapple. Thats pretty big and no normal "mini"
Let me first say that I don't buy or own minis, so I don't know what I'm talking about. And if I step on toes, sorry but...
These are cheap plastic figures, not collectibles -- or they shouldn't be. How WotC has wrangled such a huge profit margin out of them has me stumped. I'd be buying minis, but I think that 1) the price is exorbitant, and 2) I don't know what I'm getting.
Again, I don't get the whole collectibles thing, and I know that's part of what people are doing. But as a strictly gaming tool, these things are ridiculously priced. Shame on WotC for exploiting the market so brazenly and abusively!
IMHO :)
Jack
who loves joining rants about minis
The price of the D&D miniatures (especially the older series) makes it impossible for me to ever get into them for use at the gaming table (not the Miniatures skirmish game). If I wanted to start using minis at the table and use them right, to use them in such a way that I have the appropriate minis for any given encounter, it would cost me over $1,000, and I'm not about to spend that on D&D minis. The Harbinger set sells for $500 on Ebay, and the other 9 sets aren't cheap either (War Drums is about $70).
It's a real shame, but since I didn't get on the bus back in 2003, miniatures are out of the question at my table.
I think the issue is that the prices reflect not game pieces but collectibles. In thirty years, who knows, they could be worth twice to three times as much.In a similar eye-popping encounter, I missed the boat when Star Wars Hero's Guide was out on the shelves. Now that I'd like a copy, I see that they go for anywhere up to $140.00. (Second print WotC?)
I guess that there's always going to be someone out there willing to fork out the money. And hey - if they don't - maybe Paizo has an office pool where employees get the no sells? It'd be cool if you did. Of course, it'd be even cooler if subscribers got an occasional gift of one, too - perhaps through a random prize for subscribing.
I also spent more money on D&D minis than I would like to admit, but the aspect of collecting is irresitable (although I am not crazy, spending my last money on it and I do not have a single complete set, but anyway...)
Back to prices, yes they are ridiculous, especially as some kind of "investment". In former days I spend hundreds of bucks on Spellfire TCards, and was happy about the rare chase cards and their value, BUT what are they worth now? Nothing Nada, Niente Nichts Rien! Noone will buy them.So I think when the D&D Miniature series will be stopped in the future, the value of the Minis will be their value in plastics (and as really nice and neat tools at the gaming table, these gorgeous little bastards, these ...;-).
Sorry for the rant anyway.
There is an answer to this, though it is rather weak when it comes to actual monster figures - buy pewter and paint and do it yourself.
The average pewter (used to be lead and I have two boxes full of lead) miniature blister pack these days costs around $3.00 - $5.00. If you're buying heroes, it's usually one figure. If you're buying monsters, it's usually 2 or 3. Sure, the price is high, compared to 10 plastic pre-painted miniatures, but you a) know what you're getting, b) can customize the paint jobs and c) only end up with what you want, rather than having an army of lemures when you never use them. It also helps to be able to paint, but there are lots of how-to sites out there (the guys who make Warhammer have TONS of suggestions and they're quite good ones).
Eventually, you get good enough that you can sell your old minis (the ones of dead characters you never use anymore) and can usually make your money back (they go for about $8.00 a figure at the local game store). It's also a really cool way to get your group truly involved - "Hey gang, go to the game shop and find a mini that looks like your character. I'll paint it and we'll have it for use in our games!"
Of course, if your party has a high turn-over in terms of character deaths, this might not be the best option...
^_^
And as to the whole "collectible" side of things? They're plastic. They're badly painted, and they come randomly in sets of ten. The only reason they're "collectible" to begin with is because WotC didn't want to shell out the ducats to make regular sets of figures and was afraid they'd lose money on the proposition. It also works to get gullible people to purchase BOXLOADS of badly-made miniatures in the hope that they'll get something "cool" or "collectible."
I finally bought a box of plastic minis (the basic set for the miniatures game) and was badly disappointed with what was inside. I won't be buying any more - just like I never bought Magic: The Gathering cards or any of those darned HeroClix games. If you aren't in control of what you're buying, you might as well be shoving money into a one-armed bandit in Las Vegas - you've got the same chance of making something decent out of it - and as much chance to throw your money away like I did.
Syrinx
Edit - One last item regarding collectibles always being worth more later? They're not. I have a ton of action figures I bought during the eighties from comic stores that sell for less than the purchase price on E-Bay these days. Not every "collectible" is worth the expenditure...
A few years ago: "Babylon 5 figures will be worth five times as much in ten years!"
Now: "Babylon 5? What's that?"
Pfsh...
i'm somewhat torn on the subject. while War Drums (when I started collecting the plasticrack) has a lot of awesome figures in it that were immidiately useful to my gaming needs, War of the Dragon Queen doesn't. some of the figures are cool, but mostly they are boring - and I'm just not willing to shell out 20 bucks a box to get the things I'm really interested in from that set.
I'll be ebaying a few masses of good things - the fire elementals, dire rats, were-rats, pirates, tavern drunks, etc... but the rest of it isn't all that worthwhile. I'll get a couple of mountain trolls, a couple of huge fire elementals, and a couple of purple worms, and then my huge needs from the set are taken care of.
the gargantuan black and the colossal red, on the other hand, are way cool, and I'll at least be picking up the black, if not the red too.
Mostly, I've decided that from now on, I'll be cherry-picking (via ebay) sets for the stuff I'll actually use in my game, and ignoring the rest of the dross.
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The price of the D&D miniatures (especially the older series) makes it impossible for me to ever get into them for use at the gaming table (not the Miniatures skirmish game). If I wanted to start using minis at the table and use them right, to use them in such a way that I have the appropriate minis for any given encounter, it would cost me over $1,000, and I'm not about to spend that on D&D minis. The Harbinger set sells for $500 on Ebay, and the other 9 sets aren't cheap either (War Drums is about $70).
It's a real shame, but since I didn't get on the bus back in 2003, miniatures are out of the question at my table.
What would it cost to use metal miniatures "right, to use them in such a way that I have the appropriate minis for any given encounter"?
Just because you can't buy a mini for every single PC, NPC, and monster in your campaign doesn't make them useless. If you have a perfect match, great; if not, you use what you have, the same as metal. And you don't have to buy them blind. Non-Rare single D&D minis on eBay are not expensive; there's a wide variety of Commons that sell for much less than $1 apiece (I just bought some for $0.15 each), and most Uncommons and even some Rares still cost less than comparable metal minis. (However, do pay attention to S&H costs.)
HOLY CRAP!!!
Not that I am busting on the fine folks at Paizo, but I can not BELIEVE how expensive some D&D miniatures have become!
$70, $100, $200 for single plastic minis?!?
Actually, Paizo's prices are almost double the ebay or online store price of the single figs.
As to my opinion... I like them. I used to paint pewter figs, but time is a valuable commodity. (Think about how much you get paid per hour vs. how much time it takes to paint a fig.) And as far as prices, I've been buying cases as the new sets come out. I sell most of the rares on ebay, which brings the cost of the figs I keep down to almost nothing. Then I buy singles on ebay to fill in what I need. How much would it cost for a Huge pewter dracolich, fully painted? My plastic one was $15.
After taking a look at Paizo's pricing, i must admit i'm confused. I just looked down the Abberations section for a mindflayer miniature for my bro. It's $30. Other miniatures in the same singles collection are priced as little as $1 to as much as $40. Why does the price fluctuates so much?
Contributor
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After taking a look at Paizo's pricing, i must admit i'm confused. I just looked down the Abberations section for a mindflayer miniature for my bro. It's $30. Other miniatures in the same singles collection are priced as little as $1 to as much as $40. Why does the price fluctuates so much?
Rarity.
And even among minis of the same rarity, some are better (in the D&D Minis game) than others, and are thus worth more.
You know what would be cool? D&D PONGS!
As for the expensive chunks of plastic, I just open the box before I buy it so I know what I'm getting. That's how I got a $60 beholder for a $1.80. It's not that hard.
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on the "pro-DnD-Mini's" side, they DO have a couple of advantages over pewter minis.
1: weight. have you ever tried to carry a box of 70-100 pewter minis? significant weight, and if you're DM'ing at a non-home location, figuring in books, minis, dice, anything else, that's a butt-load to carry around.
2: paint. sure, they're not perfect. sure, you may HATE the paint job. but the point is, they ARE painted. i dunno how many of you have 30-60 minutes to paint 1 (one) mini, but if i were to do so for each of the PC's, that's 6 hours, and each mook takes about as much time as a boss figure.
and sure, you can use them unpainted, but if you're doing that, it's hard to keep track of who's who, especially at a distance.
also: paint ain't free. add that to the "savings" of the pewter mini's, cuz it's NOT an expense with the pre-made plastic "garbage"
3: durability. toss your pewter (or lead, or scupley) fig's in a cardboard box. rattle them around in the trunk of your car for a day or so, then count the new pieces. oh wait, each one is it its own, padded, safe-like compartment in your travel case? how much did that cost?
all told, i think they're worth it. still wish i had gotten those Giants of Legend boxes when i coulda...only got 1 and i've been kicking myself for some time.
(btw, Paizo sale price and Ebay price may vary quite significantly. case in point: Tiamat is going for 20-25.00 US on Ebay right now.)
namaste'
the hamster
You know what would be cool? D&D PONGS!
As for the expensive chunks of plastic, I just open the box before I buy it so I know what I'm getting. That's how I got a $60 beholder for a $1.80. It's not that hard.
The voices in my head say thats illegal. They might even be right this time.
Oh I know it's not legal or fair to the store. But it takes out the guesswork. That's how I got the majority of my Magic cards too. I even asked if it bothered the manager of the store as he said something along the lines of "if it doesn't bother Rufus (his pit bull) it doesn't bother me". And that's a mean looking dog he's got next to the counter all the time. But hey, it's not like I'm breaking into cars to jack Magic cards. I quit that a year ago.
If you notice the add in Dragon 136, you'll see that the $70 to $200 mini is the size of a pinapple. Thats pretty big and no normal "mini"
Drizzt is now as big as a pinapple?!?
Check out what his price is in the Paizo store.
Everything that you've all discussed on this thread is why I just don't use minis, period. When I have a battlemat, coins, monopoly pieces, beads, rings and even shreds of paper with scribbled names works just as well. I apologize if I sound condescending but I've collected M:tG in the past and even HeroClix for a few months, but I've finally learned my lesson about collectibles in general.
Why does the price fluctuate so much?Rarity.
And even among minis of the same rarity, some are better (in the D&D Minis game) than others, and are thus worth more.
Thanks for the clarification although the logic is disappointing.