I think what really opened my eyes to the possibility is seeing all the adventuring gear NECA's Elkhorn comes with. Like, I don't care very much about generic fantasy characters, and I care even less about D&D's IP/novel characters, but as an old-school dungeon delver, the idea of equipping a character with a torch or rope or sack of loot really calls to me.
I realized I don't want fantasy characters so much as I want fantasy adventurers. I know that's a subtle distinction, but it feels more distinctive to the idea of D&D.
Like, I might buy a "female dwarf cleric" or a "male human sorcerer," but if the rest of the wave was "kobold scavenger," "town guard," and "jungle exploration gear pack," I'd be all-in.
Or maybe some kind of build-a-hoard.
Hasbro has never put that kind of energy into D&D ever since they bought WotC, and has actively expressed a disinterest in doing so internally. It's really important to understand, when talking about whether Hasbro would invest in a D&D line of toys, that Hasbro doesn't even really want to invest very much in D&D as a GAME - the main thing D&D is.
Hasbro, at its heart, is a company with no vision. It's a bunch of absolute fucking idiots running the show, with NO concept of how to capitalize on the many things they own beyond just making more of whatever they've already been doing or MAYBE trying to squeeze a movie out and then pissing themselves in anger when it isn't a billion-dollar success story and doesn't get the hype of Barbie (because Hasbro decided not to put ANY effort or funds into promoting it).
No shade to the people working in the trenches and making cool toys. But the top level of Hasbro is just worthless schmucks. Can D&D be a massive, global power-brand that can sell toys, video games, books, movies, and TV shows? Absolutely. Will it be? Probably not while Hasbro owns it, no.
Nothing to add here, I just thought it was well said. For as good as the Marvel team is, it seems like everyone else at Hasbro knows fuck all.
Hell, I just bought my first physical dice this year.
Mazeltov!
To your later points; it's actually relevant that Drizzt was a main character in a video game literally when the Drizzt figure was released. He was still regularly appearing as the main character in current books being published even right up through this year. He was about as 'public conscious' as a character can get without being part of a movie or TV show. Which is particularly relevant because there's that push to make like.. BGIII figures and I just don't know if that works. BGIII is massively popular.... with gamers. With lots of D&D players. Not with 'people who typically buy action figures.' Because the kind of people, mostly, playing BGIII already know who Drizzt is and chose not to buy the figure, apparently.
I think it would be really interesting to see how well the Beholder and Owlbear figures have done for Hasbro because I think that's the truest test of how well-received a regular ol' D&D action figure line might be.
I do want to clarify that when I say "major media," I mean notable TV shows and major motion pictures. I'm a hardcore gamer and I'm not even sure what game you're talking about.
Agent Hemlock did a nice job summarizing my argument in his post earlier today. For the record, I don't even care if we got D&D/fantasy-type figures from another company. If a company like Boss Fight wants to do highly articulated 6" figures, that may be even better. We wouldn't get BG3 stuff, but I could at least scratch my high-fantasy/D&D itch. And the figures would probably be higher quality. As I've said, I think enough people could be enticed to buy Generic Ranger, Generic Monk, Generic Wizard, etc. with a ton of accessories and swappable parts.
It's a beautiful set of dice, too. Sadly, the Etsy seller has since closed their doors.
I mean... here's the deal. Hasbro has tried to leverage the D&D brand. They made a big retail push with both a full fledged attack on nostalgia and leveraging new media.
The Cartoon based D&D line stuff didn't sell well enough and was eventually clearanced out. They did a full push with the D&D movie line - the entire cast plus the deluxe Owlbear and Displacer Beast... and that doesn't seem to have done particularly well at retail either. They have also released two different versions of Drizzt with and without the cat. They haven't announced anything further, so I'm guessing those didn't do what they hoped either.
Clearly someone at Hasbro had enough pull to convince them to try to exploit the D&D market for action figures in a variety of ways. But I think it's pretty clear none of those have been overwhelming successes in Hasbro's eyes. There is simply no way they would commit, at this stage, to another try at a figure line.
At this stage it seems like Mythic Legions is the closest we're going to get to those D&D tropes in figure form.
It sucks but I agree, we are not going to get a fully fleshed out line by Hasbro at any point soon. Maybe with them licensing to so many other companies, diamond select, mcfarlane, neca or super7 can keep getting us toys. I really would like an action figure line that stays in scale, and give us some characters from adventures. I am almost finished with spelljammer and if any of the LOX characters made it into figure form I would be so happy. More likely if they did this we would get people like Strahd, which I am also fine with. TBF I will take anything dnd that any company puts out. I have all Neca, Hasbro, and Super7 figures. I will get anything else too, if someone does put more out.
I do want to clarify that when I say "major media," I mean notable TV shows and major motion pictures. I'm a hardcore gamer and I'm not even sure what game you're talking about.
Agent Hemlock did a nice job summarizing my argument in his post earlier today. For the record, I don't even care if we got D&D/fantasy-type figures from another company. If a company like Boss Fight wants to do highly articulated 6" figures, that may be even better. We wouldn't get BG3 stuff, but I could at least scratch my high-fantasy/D&D itch. And the figures would probably be higher quality. As I've said, I think enough people could be enticed to buy Generic Ranger, Generic Monk, Generic Wizard, etc. with a ton of accessories and swappable parts.
It's a beautiful set of dice, too. Sadly, the Etsy seller has since closed their doors.
That's a sweet ass dice set. I remember a DM years ago that got really whiny about people using stuff like 'Dwarven Bones' and such dice (basically, the kind of dice you get on specialty dice stores that are made out of weird materials and such) based on the idea that they could be intentionally or unintentionally 'loaded' and therefore unfair. But man.. getting funky dice is one of the best parts of TTRPGs and one of the reasons tabletop gamers don't have money for action figures, haha.
The game I was talking about is Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance. It had moderate anticipation behind it, but review scores kind of tanked after it's release because it's a very empty, boring game that's way more basic hack-and-slash than RPG. You just.. get to play as Drizzt and run around a very empty linear world hitting things. That's it, really. BUT, he is the main character of a video game that had a fair bit of hype/promotion behind it, for the type of game it is.
Definitely not a TV show or movie - but that was sort've my point. The character has done about as well as that character is going to do without being in a movie or TV show. He's most definitely at the pinnacle of popularity for a D&D character/trope. So if he can't sell, it just doesn't seem like the appetite is there in a way that Hasbro feels is worth taking advantage of. But I definitely think someone else COULD, if they were able and wanted to. But again, I also feel like most smaller companies would much rather do their own D&D-adjacent things than pay licensing fees. And I can't blame them for that.
I think what really opened my eyes to the possibility is seeing all the adventuring gear NECA's Elkhorn comes with. Like, I don't care very much about generic fantasy characters, and I care even less about D&D's IP/novel characters, but as an old-school dungeon delver, the idea of equipping a character with a torch or rope or sack of loot really calls to me.
I realized I don't want fantasy characters so much as I want fantasy adventurers. I know that's a subtle distinction, but it feels more distinctive to the idea of D&D.
Like, I might buy a "female dwarf cleric" or a "male human sorcerer," but if the rest of the wave was "kobold scavenger," "town guard," and "jungle exploration gear pack," I'd be all-in.
Or maybe some kind of build-a-hoard.
You're basically describing Boss Fight's HACKS line.
I mean... here's the deal. Hasbro has tried to leverage the D&D brand. They made a big retail push with both a full fledged attack on nostalgia and leveraging new media.
The problem is they tried to leverage it without promoting it or putting any effort into it. It was just 'let's just throw some stuff with D&D labels on it against the wall and see if we can make some money without really trying. Their 'big retail push' depended on a movie they utterly failed to promote (and which has done better in home viewing than it did at theaters), and a cartoon line that absolutely sucks and is, quite possibly, some of the worst 1:12 action figures Hasbro has produced since 'the dark days' of Marvel Legends.
I guess I just think it's more accurate to say that Hasbro 'is aware D&D exists and has made a half-hearted attempt to make money off it on something that isn't books.' But they really didn't try very hard and it's pretty obvious they just don't really care. Which is consistent with everything we know about how Hasbro treats D&D just in general.
At this stage it seems like Mythic Legions is the closest we're going to get to those D&D tropes in figure form.
And HACKS! We've got Paladins/knights, death knights, Wood Elves, 'High'/armored Elves, dark Elves/Drow, Elven Rangers, snake people, demons, gargoyles, various warriors/barbarians, good mages, dark mages, faeries, spell books, Orcs, hobgoblins, skeletons (and -giant- skeletons), horses, pegasi, unicorns, elk - you name it. And coming soon we'll have BIG Orcs, dwarves, and halflings.
Add other HACKS lines and you've got a bunch of other stuff as well (like Court of the Dead providing some awesome fantasy stuff, a pirate in the Hero HACKS line - until actual Pirates come out soon, zombies, etc).
It's a bummer that there's some specific stuff that can't happen under the heading of 'just a fantasy line - not D&D.' I'm a massive Dragonlance fan and there's designs that are specific enough in there that I don't think we'll ever see them without an actual Dragonlance line. So I do get the desire for that sweet, sweet licensed goodness to get those specific things. But whether you're 1:18 or 1:10, we're pretty well covered in the general range of cool fantasy toys.
HACKS is exactly what I'm looking for. Except I want it in 1/12 scale.
I mean... here's the deal. Hasbro has tried to leverage the D&D brand. They made a big retail push with both a full fledged attack on nostalgia and leveraging new media.
The Cartoon based D&D line stuff didn't sell well enough and was eventually clearanced out. They did a full push with the D&D movie line - the entire cast plus the deluxe Owlbear and Displacer Beast... and that doesn't seem to have done particularly well at retail either. They have also released two different versions of Drizzt with and without the cat. They haven't announced anything further, so I'm guessing those didn't do what they hoped either.
Clearly someone at Hasbro had enough pull to convince them to try to exploit the D&D market for action figures in a variety of ways. But I think it's pretty clear none of those have been overwhelming successes in Hasbro's eyes. There is simply no way they would commit, at this stage, to another try at a figure line.
At this stage it seems like Mythic Legions is the closest we're going to get to those D&D tropes in figure form.
As KD said, these efforts were half-assed at best. I've been one of the more passionate folks in this thread and yet I didn't buy a single thing you mentioned. The cartoon line was bad, the movie and tie-in figures were decent (but not what I was looking for), and Drizzt isn't a character that I have a connection to (though if I had known his success or lack thereof would determine the future of the line, I would've bought one). I think you have a good case. There's probably enough evidence to suggest that a D&D line won't work for Hasbro's purposes, but I'm also confident that they haven't given the people what they want.
The model is GI Joe Classified or Boss Fight's HACKS with Warduke, Drizzt, or Jaheira thrown in.
I'm running a Tiefling monk in my ongoing campaign and I would love to get her in figure form. I just use a piece of fan art to represent her on Roll20. Nothing is going to perfectly match the image I have in my head, but I'm not looking for perfect, just close enough. I have unoccupied space in my display that's waiting for an extensive 6" fantasy line. It doesn't need to be D&D branded, either. I started playing Dungeon Crawl Classics, as well. I want a line that encapsulates my love for the fantasy setting and genre tropes. Nobody has dipped their toe in the water in 1/12 scale. When they do, they'll get my money.
You're basically describing Boss Fight's HACKS line.
Maybe. I don't follow 1:18th very much. But now that I am looking at it, I wonder if any of these will carry over to Epic HACKS. Their Red Sonja looks tight.
I mean... here's the deal. Hasbro has tried to leverage the D&D brand. They made a big retail push with both a full fledged attack on nostalgia and leveraging new media.
I think it's pretty clear none of those have been overwhelming successes in Hasbro's eyes. There is simply no way they would commit, at this stage, to another try at a figure line.
As KD said, these efforts were half-assed at best. I've been one of the more passionate folks in this thread and yet I didn't buy a single thing you mentioned. The cartoon line was bad, the movie and tie-in figures were decent (but not what I was looking for), and Drizzt isn't a character that I have a connection to (though if I had known his success or lack thereof would determine the future of the line, I would've bought one). I think you have a good case. There's probably enough evidence to suggest that a D&D line won't work for Hasbro's purposes, but I'm also confident that they haven't given the people what they want.
Please understand that I'm not defending the quality of Hasbro's D&D output in any way. [Although frankly, I absolutely LOVE the two owlbears, the Displacer Beast and the Xanathar - those turned out pretty cool and I'm happy I own them.] I'm suggesting that to the people who make the decisions at Hasbro they see investment in multiple attempts at Dungeons & Dragons action figures and none of them have sold well enough to warrant further attempts. They aren't likely to be very receptive to an argument that they did it wrong and just need to try again.
So here's hoping 6" Epic Hacks can deliver some of what you crave - but I'm hoping they take a second or I'm going to have sell an organ or something.
I think he's saying Red Sonja is an encouraging sign for their 6" endeavors.
I've also been meaning to post this: ‘Almost nobody left’ of D&D team that helped get Baldur’s Gate 3 off the ground, says Larian CEO. Somewhat significant to our discussion of Hasbro's treatment of the D&D brand and those of us who love BG3. I don't know who needs to hear this, but your workplace doesn't care about you.
It's a bummer that there's some specific stuff that can't happen under the heading of 'just a fantasy line - not D&D.' I'm a massive Dragonlance fan and there's designs that are specific enough in there that I don't think we'll ever see them without an actual Dragonlance line. So I do get the desire for that sweet, sweet licensed goodness to get those specific things. But whether you're 1:18 or 1:10, we're pretty well covered in the general range of cool fantasy toys.
I love Dragonlance back in my middle school days. That's my ultimate hope for D&D as an action figure property as Raistlin, Caramon, Soth, etc would look mighty fine on a shelf. I'd do a backflip if Boss Fight somehow was allowed to ply their trade with that license, and then I'd have to go see a chiropractor.
You're basically describing Boss Fight's HACKS line.
Maybe. I don't follow 1:18th very much. But now that I am looking at it, I wonder if any of these will carry over to Epic HACKS. Their Red Sonja looks tight.
I'd be surprised if we see a 1:1 re-make of every HACKS figure in 1:12, but I imagine quite a few will be coming. We've already got two waves of 1:12 Skeletons, and the Court of the Dead line is coming in 1:12 and looks amazing so far, as well as blanks. I expect we'll probably see their most popular HACKS figures, like the Knight of Asperity/Accord, end up in Epic HACKS, since those are probably going to be considered guaranteed sellers.
I think he's saying Red Sonja is an encouraging sign for their 6" endeavors.
I've also been meaning to post this: ‘Almost nobody left’ of D&D team that helped get Baldur’s Gate 3 off the ground, says Larian CEO. Somewhat significant to our discussion of Hasbro's treatment of the D&D brand and those of us who love BG3. I don't know who needs to hear this, but your workplace doesn't care about you.
Just quoted for the hard, sad truth of it.
I love Dragonlance back in my middle school days. That's my ultimate hope for D&D as an action figure property as Raistlin, Caramon, Soth, etc would look mighty fine on a shelf. I'd do a backflip if Boss Fight somehow was allowed to ply their trade with that license, and then I'd have to go see a chiropractor.
This is why we can be friends.
BFS just showed off a new 'gold' blank that I know has been talked about, way before it was ever actually announced or revealed, as the basis for being able to make Raistlin customs.
But yeah, it's just.... it's not the same making customs and there's parts that'll probably never feel QUITE right.
Give me Huma, Kaz, and Magus. And Rennard. And Tanis, and Sturm, and Soth, and Kitiara, and Kith-Kanan, and and and. I grew up with Dragonlance - it was some of the first fantasy I can ever remember reading and a few of those books are still favorites of mine. But yeah... it does not seem like that's likely to ever happen so long as Hasbro owns D&D.
@theknightdamien You definitely don't come off as a downer, I actually have more respect for a realist approach than complete fantasy. Plus it's inevitable after years of wanting something like this to exist and never having an attempt at it.
Regardless, I do think it's a bit hard to place "gamers" in one set category. Gaming has grown HUGE nowadays, but there's also enough merchandise for the gaming crowd currently (between Figma's offerings, Mcfarlane's various lines, Jada, etc) to say there is at least some demographic for a toyline of an IP in the same vein as BGIII. A lot of the gamers who I'd consider peers (around 20-30) buy collectibles of any character they adore when they can find them. It just all depends, and everyone will have a different perspective on it anyhow.
I do wonder if a full on D&D line could be done by NECA, their throwback figures are going to run out of characters soon, and it'd be a little dumb to kill off a line that seems to be doing well... I wager at some point you could split the line into a video game category especially focused on BGIII, then the more traditional tabletop and novel characters. Trickle out characters every so often.
But for my tastes in figures and scale, I'd prefer to see what would happen in Hasbro put in a full effort. I don't know who those cartoon figures were for (maybe they can offload crates of the clearanced figures to Brazil), and putting full effort into a movie that isn't even out is probably the worst misstep that Hasbro keeps routinely making. Especially because every single one of these movies has bombed as of late.
NECA isn't interested in Baldur's Gate 3 because it wasn't released between the years of 1978 and 1993.
Not to get too excited but BG3 just announced a logo tshirt, so maybe we will actually get a ton of merch for the game. Or maybe I am being delusional and making huge leaps in hopes of getting Gale on my shelf...
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