Nothing? Motivates them to increase the rate of production? Motivates them to just drop the idea altogether?
Any thoughts?
My guess is that Reaper views it as an opportunity to do a little free market research. If they are a huge success then that demonstrates a demand that Reaper might well want to take advantage of. If it flops Reaper can shrug and say "better you than me" and continue with their existing plans. I doubt Reaper considers it to be any sort of threat to their current market approach. They probably see no downside at all.
Nothing at all. Reaper's prepainted line goes back to when Pathfinder was still 3.5 and has progressed at less than a snail's pace ever since. They seem to like it that way.
I truly believe, being a frequenter of those boards for many, many years now, that they don't keep anything like a worried eye on other prepainted brands, or worry about competition in that arena on any level.
They are a strong company in what they do, and are expanding in other ways. Like I said in another thread, everytime a plastic line is announced, people start discussing the effect on other brands (metals, plastics, whatever). Most often there is no effect, or if a brand does die, it has to do with broader market concerns, not any one single competitor. But in Reaper's case, none of this conjecture ever seems to have meant anything.
They are a big, lovable, constantly-present elephant, threatened by very little at all, and pretty much minding their own business all the time.
I definitely see the Pathfinder Reaper line as complimentary to the Pathfinder Wizkids line. When I want a specific PC or NPC model, the metal Reaper line is where it is at. When I want to generally expand my monster collection, Wizkids will be awesome.
Legendary Encounters fill a middle gap, where you might want a specific monster. If only my local store carried more of them.
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They both have their place in the marketplace.
Reapers Legendary Encounters line is for the everyday RPG miniature need from old timers to newbies. They produce miniatures of mainly the core or classic monsters in a style that is mainstream to what many expect. Their Bathalian is pretty much a classic Mind Flayer. These figures will likely always be available and at stable price points from Reapers website.
With the Paizo/Wizkid line we get miniatures based on the artwork of Pathfinder. So from Goblins to Trolls the look will be unique to their designs. By virtue of their randomization model, some if not many of the figurines could become collectible. I know that many do not like this aspect, but the reality is that this is a good way to get many miniatures into the marketplace quickly. Reapers with their Legendary Encounters line by contrast has used a very slow process to bring miniatures to market. In three years, I don't believe they have more than around 50 miniatures available. Paizo/Wizkid's Pathfinder series will have over 100 miniatures available within an eight month time period.
Bottom-line the release of more and more Paizo/Wizkid figures may have a small short-term effect on the Reaper Legendary Encounters series, but I doubt anything lasting.
Later,
Mazra
Reaper Miniatures
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I hope it challenges us and pushes us to improve above and beyond. We like to think that we produce high-quality figures, and I would like to think that any innovations in the plastics arena will only help us to improve that and take what is already a good product to the next level.
Also, thanks to Bruunwald for describing us as lovable...
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I am quite biased, since I am a lead-er all out. I love painting all of my own minis.
That said I think the Reaper line doesn't really pretend it is a full and complete pathfinder line, but just a nice addition to pre-painted mini's. I have a werewolf and the quality is quite nice. Quite nice.
Still! *back to painting*
@Reaper: Keep up the metal! Big fan.