Nilbogs. I wish I had like 100 o them.

Using the Jack O' Bear / Pumpkin Headed BugBear I believe there are only 2 in production:

http://www.gamers-quest.co.uk/acatalog/LAN-3038.jpg

and

http://www.gamers-quest.co.uk/acatalog/LAN-3039.jpg

Both by Lance & Laser for HeroQuest. Retail is 5.50 sterling (so about $11 a piece by todays rates). I know there are some older Pal Ratha miniatures too:

http://www.solegends.com/citrq/citrq4abeastmen.html

http://www.solegends.com/citrq/citrq4abeastmen.html

So, focusing on Lance & Laser's Jack O' Bear what do you like / not like about them (leave aside the cost at the moment, but feel free to leverage Pauls awesome comments above)?

sauromatian wrote:I dunno, when someone brought up the pumpkin-headed bugbear earlier today I immediately thought I want some too. That's 3 out of 10 respondants so far.

Very interesting!  I didn't read anyone else's response, so I was not influenced by the others

The pumpkinhead bugbear was my first thought.  

A thessalhydra might be cool.

gyg wrote:A nice Invisible Stalker

Hey no prob! I've just now mailed you a set of invisible stalker miniatures. It's in an invisible package & will be delivered by an invisible mailman. Guaranteed 100% lead-free.

Anomaly Miniatures wrote:So, focusing on Lance & Laser's Jack O' Bear what do you like / not like about them

The HeroQuest mini takes itself too seriously. The Beastmen mini you posted & the Archive mini Blackmoor posted have a slightly absurdist effect.

What would you think if you were attacked by one in real life? First of all it would be physically threatening, then the impossibility of a bear with a jack o'lantern head would make you think you're going insane. A disturbing combination.

Frank, we're not interested in your penile jokes.

Howdy,

Anomaly Miniatures wrote:Those are 2 good suggestions, but just to look at this from an economic point-of-view:

1. How many pumpkin headed bugbears or gynosphinxs would you buy? 1 I would imagine at most.

Well with that logic, why would anyone create a beholder, bulette, Demogorgon, Orcus, balrog, succubus, or any demon, Asmodeus, pit fiend, or any devil, djinni, dragon turtle, dragonne, efreeti, elementals, ghost, golems, hydra, imp, intellect devourer, ki-rin, lamia, lich, medusa, mimic, mind flayer, night hag, nightmare, otyugh, purple worm, rust monster, sylph, titan, unicorn, vampire, etc.?

These creatures appear in numbers of 1 or 2. Yet for some reason there are many, many different companies that have produced casts of these and sold them successfully.

Anomaly Miniatures wrote:2. How many people place these into play in the 1st place? I don't believe they are very common.

That is just the point. Most other companies have done precisely what you are planning. They have gone to the common denominator. What makes what you are doing any different thant the rest? What sets you apart from the currently available in-print and out-of-print miniatures?

Anomaly Miniatures wrote:So from a production stance it would be a creating a specialty figure that few people would buy and when they did they wouldn't buy many.

The reverse of course is the thug-scenario or other group based figure (n.b., 'group'). A flexible MOB, used frequently in one capacity or another and usually several are bought.

Sorry, but more groups of knights, thieves, kobolds, orcs, goblins, more undead skeletal legions, gargoyles, zombies, etc. are just another drop in the bucket. If you produce a pack of 20 kobolds, you are just competing with old and new products already in existence. If you produce a set of 20 never produced miniatures you have no competition. If folks want those miniatures they have to buy them from you. It's a niche in the market overlooked by miniatures companies of old and present.

Anomaly Miniatures wrote:These comments are in no way meant to eclipse the wonderful feedback so far, but whatever I produce, it needs to make money and the surest path to do that (and so continue making the miniatures people can use (inc., the low frequency ones) is to offer something that everyone uses, often and in larger numbers.

Again, you are not offering anything new by doing this, just the same old thing. People have a choice to make when selecting commonly sought after and commonly produced miniatures. Why will they choose the miniatures you produce over a dozen other companies with in and out of print lines available?

Be the first oldschool compatible (scale and appearance), never available before, niche miniature maker. Boast that yours are the only miniatures truely compatible with the great oldschool classics. Eschew 28mm 'heroic' scale and embrace the existance of old school miniatures and compliment it.

It sounds crazy but it just might work! ("Bill and Paul, why would anyone ever need a home computer? That's riduculous. You'll never find buyers. It's a niche market at best. Sorry, but we are not interested. Good luck." or "Gary, there's no board, the game has no conclusion, it's a niche game at best. It will never be as popular as say, Tactics or Panzerblitz. Sorry, but we are not interested. Good luck.")


Futures Bright,

Paul

The Collector's Trove wrote:There is a Dragontooth one but that is way too rare and I am not even sure if is the right scale. I'd have to find one first. (I believe lucyjoice has one.)

This picture will show the scale, and show the not so big ral partha sphinx.  While we are having fun with minis, can anybody identify the snake?

I could totally use a Jack Chick miniature, too.

But, seriously, all I am really interested in are cheap, well-made minis, that aren't pre-painted, and look cool. I need kobolds, and goblins, and other "common" stuff because I wasn't into, and do not like, the older stuff, and stuff now, made by Reaper or whatever is nice, but not really "cheap."

Remember that a pumpkinhead bugbear shouldn't be depicted as a bear with a jack-o-lantern head.

Rather, it is more like a scarecrow / Legend of Sleepy Hollow humanoid.  It should be more creepy than comic.