Got my order of the toon ones yesterday but today I found the new movie ones and they only had 1 of the toon ones on the shelf. I hope they at least finish the toon line. Couldn't care less on the movie ones right now.
Because I am so mature. "Profound enlightenment can be yours all you need is to tug on my finger. (Wink wink)" "Really Dungeonmaster? Gee thanks."
One of the video reviews said that the figures seemed off somehow. Like they weren't really based off the cartoon but off some other artwork and maybe Hasbro had actually been sitting on these designs for awhile. And then I found this book on Amazon. It's probably an unofficial companion piece to the figures. But yeah... those are CLEARLY the designs the figures are based on. So someone actually did some kind of "update" on the designs. I don't know. Maybe there was some preproduction started on an update of the cartoon and it just sat in the Hasbro vault. Then when the new D&D movie came out, Hasbro was like "hey, since we're sitting on these designs anyway, throw them out to the stores with the movie figures." Which I hope isn't true, because when that movie bombs, wave 2 of these figures will surely be canceled. Maybe I'm being too pessimistic. Maybe these designs are brand new and Hasbro had them drawn up for other merch incase the figures took off.
The movie is a bomb and should of never been made. Twelve to twenty-four hour long episodes should of been made for a streaming platform, with a lot of world building, maybe a war, and a lot of character interaction, like in season 1-3 of GOT and with a major quest line and several smaller side quests. For toys, finish the last three of the 80s cartoon, forget about this new flim, and focus on producing figures like Drizit, create good looking Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Skeletons, undead, and it will sell, the player base from the 70s to today will buy it, look at D&D miniatures from the early 00s, it sold well and now some pieces sell for $100+.
The designs are very similar to IDW's new comic, particularly Diana's leggings. I think they reverted the toys to a more retro look after maybe planning them as an update?
I tend to think the figures are a blend of styles. They aren't exactly toon...but they aren't quite as "high on bath salts" as those storybook depictions either...lol. I mean, storybook Bobby looks like he's considering clubbing his friends to death just to paint his club red.
After opening the first wave of D&D cartoon figures, these pieces are basically 6" versions of toon accurate plastic statutes. Bobby can hold the club, Diana can barely hold the staff with both hands, Dungeon Master is a piece of sculpted plastic, Eric can barely mange to pull off the firing pose, and Venger is a piece of plastic, changing the hands to use the effects hands make the piece look stupid. Basically this set is get the main cast and move on. I understand why people will wait for clearance, but I have to pay the the early tax for this set. Also, this is a fan service line, I doubt that these molds can be reused/repainted into any other Hasbro line.
I know fans of the show are starved for figures, so I understand the excitement! I also recognize they may never happen again. Hopefully wave 2 makes it to shelves (I assume it’s already a done deal). I’d be willing to pay full price for Presto just to have some representation of the show on the shelf. I’m also at a point where display space is at a premium, so, talking myself out of getting figures is really in my best interest anyway.
You’re being too optimistic not pessimistic. You’re optimistic that these figures aren’t going to fail on their own merits. these are likely to fail because once you get past the adult collectors who have to have them no matter how much they cost, there likely isn’t a market for them at $28 retail like Target is charging. The average consumer isn’t going to see that cheap looking packaging and think the toy inside of it that they can’t see is worth that price. When the movie fails it will simply cement both lines failures but it won’t be what causes the animated toys to die.
And they just nuked the TTRPG D&D HARD!!! Right before the movie came out… Took an unsure bet in the movie, then alienated the entire hardcore fan base. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen a company do! Now there’s a much larger chance the movie fails and they’re going to have to uncover the Atari E.T. cartridge hole for all those unwanted movie figures…
Sad I still want the pulse exclusive d&d figure but only for the panther. Hell I'd take 3 or 4nof just the panther. Make for great jungle dio.
In the past if you wanted to create and sell third party D&D tabletop content (settings, adventures etc) there was an OGL allowing it which was very convenient and helped a lot the renaissance of the brand alongside Stranger Things and Critical Role. Recently a new OGL was leaked, having very unreasonable things inside, like the fact that any third party content is optionable by hasbro and Wizard of the Coast for resell. They can also terminate your OGL at any moment with the possibility of your third party content being terminated and then republished by them. This prompted a mutiny of the content creators with Wizard partially backpedaling when people started to cancel their subscriptions to D&D Beyond, the digital toolset for the game. However the damage is already done (the general consensus is that Hasbro and Wizard will try again to push for something like that, driven as they are toward an increased monetization of the D&D brand) and a lot of tabletop content creators are moving to other game systems or are taking steps to create their own.
