I know I'll probably be excoriated for this, but what about the idea of pre-painted minis? Reaper has put out some that are reasonably priced and have decent paint jobs. There might be a market among those of us with poor painting skills and little time or patience.

I doubt many people would want to buy a pre-painted boss monster, but what about some skeletons or goblins? Some of the low-level creatures are only challenging in large groups after PCs pick up a few levels. I don't know the economics of it, but I know I would buy some pre-painted low-level monsters.

[I just realized I posted this under the wrong section; now I don't know how to move it to the suggestions box; I'm computer illiterate as well as unskilled with a paint brush]

I would buy a ton of them!

The set up costs would be prohibative. The tooling alone for a die would be probably north of a grand before all the logistics and painting, not to mention choosing the right plastic for the job.

:o Urk, you mentioned plastic :angry:

It doesn't feel like the right fit for Otherworlds. Pre-painted minis seem like the way to go for much larger companies. Otherworlds caters to a much smaller group of fanatics that are focused on the hobby of painting and gaming.
Or am I off base on this?

Personally I would buy pre-painted minis if the price was right, the quality was good and they were metal and not plastic.

I already send some models off to be painted by others professionally (not ones I post here - those are my work!) as I don't have time to paint all the minis. The danger with pre-paints is that they need to appeal to the majority. If I send a mini off to be painted I pick some-one with a similar style to my own. So I have more choice and the minis will match in my collection.

Would pre-paints be cheaper than sending them off to a professional? Probably not. The only advantage I can see is you get a painted mini much quicker. But then the supplier would need to invest in expensive stocks and could be left with mini's if people don't buy them.

Otherworld is quality old school miniatures, don't lump them in
with the crap reaper and wotc somtimes produces. To produce
prepainted plastic miniatures is sacreligion to most
old school collectors. they are just inferior toys made in Asia.

As this is a "niche" market, I doubt the economies of scale could be generated to make high quality figures at a reasonable price. I wouln't buy any unless they were really high quality and pewter, not horrible plastic.

I read somewhere once "you can have quality, quantity or price - now choose two of these"

Richard has quality and quantity so I don't mind paying a premium price because it's a premium product with a decent range. Can't really see how pre paints would work?

Still, that's just my opinion.

Dave

If someone did 'bendy d&d' toys that matched the 1" LJN toys from the 80s, for about £1 a figure I'd probably buy some...

Having pre-painted minis that are done to a good standard is cost prohibitive. Having plastic ones do the same is even more of a hassle. Otherworld would have a hard time profiting

I can handle getting my stuff painted on my own.

The reason I got back into miniature collecting after about twenty years away from the hobby was simply because I always used to find painting the little fellows incredibly therapeutic.

And, it turns out, I still do, even though I'm not even close to the standard displayed here on this forum. My shading's probably a bit too subtle, I almost certainly don't use enough layers and the very thought of NMM makes my blood run cold in fear. Still, I find that getting my paints out (some of them my trusty old acrylics from 1990!) and spending a couple of hours with a little metal friend is a very effective way for me to de-stress and undo all the day's knots. So for me it wouldn't be tempting.

I can stress enough how I hate pre-painted minis.

I have yet to see a decent pre-painted mini selection.

Wiazrds D&D and Starwars line worth horrendus. It's not usually so much the actual mini is bad it's the paint job.

I stripped a number of WOTC Starwars mini's and the detail was actually quite good. It's just the 3 inch thick coat of paint that spoils it.

While I agree that pre-painted minis aren't the way to go for Otherowrlds, I'm glad the topic came up. It's good to hear what others think of pre-painted miniatures. I had high hopes for the idea in the beginning. My biggest problem with them, aside from the number of good companies that have nearly been ruined by them, is the bendy plastic. Unless you know how to deal with the stuff it doesn't hold paint well. If they made them in harder plastic I'd be buying and re-painting pre-paints by the basket full.

i wouldnt mind if other world sold their mins as singles
that way you can pick an choose the poses i like