"I HATE limited edition figures!" Topic

I do indeed.
Let's get one thing clear right off the bat. I have no problem with the right of the manufacturer to do whatever he wants. I just wish they wouldn't do it.

Wargames Foundry had a limited edition figure of Queen Victoria with a shotgun. I desperately needed that figure, but it was … a limited edition figure. It took me two years of unabashed whining on sever forums before some kind soul sold me one. (Maybe he just wanted to shut me up.)
I'm a sane world, She would have been available from WF. In fact, a few years later, the figure was available when Foundry got sane management.

I also stumbled upon a limited edition Bobby Jackson female pirate figure on that site on Atlanta that has ripped off every one of their customers. I got her, but my back order was never filled. Oddly enough.

It would be nice if all SHINY figures were available to the general public. I recognize the right to do this. That doesn't mean I have to like it. I still hate the practice.

BTW, I still have Her Majesty. She proudly stands guard in the pilot house of my Lindberg paddle wheeler. She is on tour of Her Empire when the Bad People attack, and is willing, God bless her, to put a hand in. And woe betide the Bad Guy who… My game. My rules.

The Lady Pirate is sadly gone with s bunch of other Lady Pirates, so I could put food on the table.

Beer I could understand but you sold her for mere food? You gave in way too easy.

I understand exclusive giveaways are the convention or developers right as well but I agree it can be really annoying when it's a great sculpt by one of your favorite sculptors in a genre you collect.

I think limited edition figures do more damage than good to a business.

What you're actually whining about is you can't get every figure you want.

I will happily whine along side you.

The 1/72 plastic manufacturer Caesar would place coveted special figures (eg a Hittite King or an Egyptian standard bearer) RANDOMLY in boxes of figures from different armies that you almost never wanted.

Yes, I bought such boxes to find no random figures In them.

I do feel for you, Winston.

I think limited edition figures should simply be a limited early run, before the general release. So bring a few to a convention for convention goers. Then a couple months later release them to everyone. I think that creates interest and buzz, but still allows people to get what they want.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Look at it this way: at least of have the joy of the hunt, which is the real joy of any collector.

That's capitalism for ya!

John T

So if anyone has unwanted AWI limited editions of whatever sort by the Perrys or by Warlord, or Warlord's Mad Jack Churchill… please give me a shout!!!

Oh, I'll join the rant! I hate them too! Back when we started hearing that Wargames Foundry was under new management (new old management? new new management?--better, at any rate), I sent an e-mail asking about some figures that I could no longer find on their website. This was the response I received:

I'm terribly sorry but those models were limited edition that were run as a promotion on the basis that they wouldn't ever be available again, so we really can't be selling them to people.

I guess they were polite about it. I was not motivated to buy other miniatures from them based on that policy.

To be honest, I don't understand the business model of limited edition miniatures. Maybe limited edition cars make sense, but miniatures?

It is a company's prerogative. I just wish they wouldn't do it. I'll buy non-limited edition miniatures and continue to complain about limited editions.

I avoid them. To be honest, I tend to avoid companies who do this sort of thing as a regular practice. I've never been a fan of gimmicks, and see limited editions, deals, membership clubs, etc as gimmicks.

Just sell me figs at a fair price, no hoops to jump through.

I know what your saying I kept getting limited edition figures and samples that I have no use for: 2000Ad Souther trooper,Ancient greek medusa archer in snake form.
Whilst purchasing exclusively renaissance figures.

More unwanted lead.
Guy T

Limited editions – they have a right to sell them this way and I also have a right not to buy them

To tell the truth, it doesn't bother me all that much.

As it is, I can't buy half of what I want, don't have time to paint most of what I have, and don't have opportunity to play with a fraction of what's painted.

Both Perry and Warlord, for instance, offer exclusive figures to those who preorder directly from them. I get it. I understand. Honestly, if it helps get their profit margins up so they keep producing the great figures and rules that they do, I'll play along.

Sometimes I miss out because I didn't see the deal or put off ordering too long. Oh well, there will be more offers in the future and I scoop up some of those soldiers who will stand unpainted along with the thousands of other troops I've obtained with the best of intentions.

I totally get your frustration, though. I really do. The exclusives that really annoy me are the convention figures/cards/whatever. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not going to sends a thousand dollars to take vacation, buy plane tickets, book a hotel, etc. just to get a 28mm pewter convention exclusive. But there's lots of things in life that I can't have and on that list, missing an exclusive whatever has to be on the bottom.

I have a friend who does excellent conversions, he can make any figure I need a limited edition :)

If you notice my second example in my OP, I bought one from a store which got hold of leftover limited edition convention stock.
Well, it was a shady company to begin with.

Robotech RPG Tactics has 'exclusive' minis for conventions and backers that keep getting sold online every time they have a sale.

I'm not a fan of limited stuff either and won't buy it, though I am starting to think, given the rate at which companies stop producing lines or straight go out of business, we should just consider all of them limited edition.

LE figures are pretty much always beyond my price point, so I don't have a basis to wonder whether the limited run affects me.

As cavcrazy points out, cheap related figures and a bit of the green stuff is not beyond my price point, and I end up with a very limited edition figure.

though I am starting to think, given the rate at which companies stop producing lines or straight go out of business, we should just consider all of them limited edition.

Heh. I owe you a for that one.

The miniatures hobby is kind of like shopping at Sam's.

If you see something you like, you better buy it now. It probably won't be there when you go back next week.

I'll collect that beer at any convenient point. No IPA though :-)

If you count convention exclusive Mouselings I would be tempted to whine also. But I am an adult (well, sometimes.)

The advantage of smaller scale figures is that you never get any 'limited edition' figures.

Sounds like a 28mm 'first world problem' to me.

YouTube link

YouTube link

138SquadronRAF,

I bow before your brilliance.

Not to mention your sarcasm.

Dude… Awesome…

On the other hand I once read a post here complaining that they had bought a LE figure and then found out that the company was later offering the figure for general release. The problem as I understand it was that the general release devalued the figure

No IPA though :-)

Wouldn't think of it. Will a stout do?

On the other hand I once read a post here complaining that they had bought a LE figure and then found out that the company was later offering the figure for general release. The problem as I understand it was that the general release devalued the figure.

GW used to do that all the time. I got over it.

Winston, the Bobby Jackson female pirates were for a now defunct convention in Atlanta called Warfare. Bobby sculpted them for us and we sold them at the con as a way to break even.

When I used to hit Gen Con I was always picking up con exclusives for friends. People want to see something new at a con which is hard in the age of the internet.

There are zillions of wargames figures available on the market.

And some people complain because sometimes a company stops making a specific one?

Get a wargaming life!

I don't buy those, since it is usually just hype to increase the costs of the minis beyond what they would normally sell for.

On the flipside though, I guess you can make an argument that virtually all minis are "limited editions", since none will ever be available to everyone, forever.

Mine certainly are.

Perhaps I should add those words, and triple the prices?

Nah……..

This:

Bunkermeister:I think limited edition figures should simply be a limited early run, before the general release. So bring a few to a convention for convention goers. Then a couple months later release them to everyone.

This:

irishserb:I avoid them. To be honest, I tend to avoid companies who do this sort of thing as a regular practice. I've never been a fan of gimmicks, and see limited editions, deals, membership clubs, etc as gimmicks.

And well, this:

XRaysVision:As it is, I can't buy half of what I want, don't have time to paint most of what I have, and don't have opportunity to play with a fraction of what's painted.

I've always assumed there were two production economic factors going on here: 1) there's usually a disproportionately large number of orders when a figure is first released, which drops to a small or very small average rate for the rest of its life; and 2) production runs cause molds to deteriorate over time and have to be remade, so there is a real cost to keeping a figure in stock, plus also storage cost for mold and the figures.

Winston summed it nicely in the original post. It's their right, but I wish the would not do it.

Does the income from limiting the figure balance the cost of producing it? Is it economically limiting to the manufacturer?

Wargamers are a first world problem.

Really? You did not get a toy and somehow this is worth whining about?

You want manufacturers to stop making LE toys because it is your tantrum?

There are so many things I bought years ago then later discovered no longer had intrinsic value to me including some miniatures. The world will not end because I missed an LE miniature.

Sorry but in the greater scheme of things this just hit me wrong this morning. Enjoy your hobby, don't go looking for things to cry about.

I well remember visiting Nottingham twenty-five years ago, and tracking down the very well hidden Wargames Foundry factory. I pounded on the door awhile, and a nice young man admitted me. I told him I had always wanted the limited edition Cow-riding African figure. He went away while I happily sorted through bins and bins of 50P figures, not all of which were casting seconds. When he reappeared, he handed me the desired figures, still quite hot from casting. He had gone out to the shed, found the mold, set it up in the spin casting machine, and spun the mold once just for me. A bit later Brian Ansell himself wandered in and answered some questions I had about the very first gangster figures (about 20mm) that they had cast and sold in the early '80s. What a day !