75th is where it all started.


my venue has been selling out sense then as well, though I am not sure if its no players or old players buying more product.

I think GsX and 75th had the highest quality sculpts we have ever seen. I agree about the hellions but the mindless ones look spectactular.

Do you think if this guy has any previous wives or girlfriends, they call him Ex-Lax?

I was referring to the 20% increase itself being bigger than the entore production run of HoT.

The reused sculpts are a big of a downer, but regarding scale, that's something that was actually improved with GSX. Take a look at the size of figures in the set. The figures may not be to scale with the previous sets, but they ARE to scale within the set.

I'll pm you to avoid further thread derailment.

A Canadian friend of mine would so appreciate this part of the post. That is the first comic that got him hooked.

Ok, the numbers are speculative but why should all of the burden be on WizKids on this. Can't your store pre-order enough to cover then for a couple of months? Can't players pre-order to cover what they want? The sellouts are unfortunate but the blame can be spread around to all three groups.

NECA who doesn't want to sit on product that won't move. (example is Fallen Empires from Magic when a company overproduces based on demand). So they go up 20%, which is generous to me but I can see that maybe this isn't enough.

Stores who don't want to sit on product that won't move so they don't order enough to cover their players. Then they can't order more.

Players who don't tell their store owners in advance that they want their HeroClix. Without pre-orders, a store will tend to order less because they don't want to sit on product.

I've been a comic collector and game player for over 20 years and I've figured out how to pre-order what I want in the first couple of months of collecting. Of course, when I was younger, I had less to spend but I bought what I really wanted which was Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Teen Titans. I always made sure that I got those books and that my store pulled them for me. Same goes for HeroClix. My store has a standing order from me for a case of every set. I increased that to 2 cases for GSX and then decreased it to 1 case for Cap. Seems to work out good.

So how far in advance to players have to tell the venues, who have to tell the retailers. They stopped taking Cap orders months before its release
and months before we had any clue about what was in it. IE The new mechanics. I agree players should pre order, but asking them and stores to do so months before any decent info is known is a little over the top.
Not everyone wants every set, they want to see whats in it first, or at least have a clue.
Wizkids has had 3 Sets in a row sell out basically instantly. My store ordered Cap over a month ago and cant add anymore. How are we supposed to get new players when their isnt NEW product out there involving the hotness of todays comic storylines/popular characters.

Sure people like me and you know to get ours early, but what about the kids that are new, or dont have the money to preorder. You mention Magic... Magic seems to always have product on the shelf at my shop the week of release (and they drastically out number us in players and purchases). Heroclix is reaching the point were if people want to play this game they have to look for a set that is almost a year old.

We ordered the same we did last time, we gained new players in the last two months, but can not get them product. This is on WKs plate. Maybe they have been increasing the amount made, but they need to work with their distributors to figure out how to keep product on the shelves. If the last three sets have sold out, and done so in increasingly quick time frames, then maybe they arent doing enough. Players are going to try this game, realize they cant get any packs, or secondary figures unless they go online and then quit. Venues are going to get angry they cant keep up with the demand because they cant order 600 cases three months out to stay ahead of the curve.

Sorry for the long rambled rant, but I really feel local new players and their in ability to get the packs of new stuff.

Store owners have to order Magic in advance before they know what is in the set. Two local venues that I frequent both order enough Magic to cover the first 2-3 months of what they think their customers are going to buy. They plan this because they know it will sell.

They do the same for Heroclix now. Both stores have GSX still on the shelf and at MSRP. I also travel for work as well. I stopped at 2 stores in GA last week and both had GSX on the shelf at MSRP. I've also been to stores recently that have had DC 75th on the shelf. How are those stores able to still have product on the shelf and others don't? It's because they are planning to have it. Any game store has to make a decision on what games to carrry based on how they are selling. If I was a store owner and the last 2 sets had sold out, I would be ordering more of the next set so that I could sell it. Any game store should be planning for new players for any game because they are all hoping that someone will come into their store and buy something that they have on the shelf. I frequently buy stuff from stores on the road. If they hadn't planned to have stuff on the shelf for me to buy, they wouldn't get any money from me.

I agree that the situation could be better but since this has happened the last few sets for a sellout, the store owners should be adjusting their orders for the next set as well as WizKids increasing the print run.

I am fine with these trade offs if it's going to help keep costs down. I started with Secret Invasion and there hasn't been a change in price yet. Compare this with Games Workshop, who has had at least three price increases, with some items going up 25%+.

Also, some of those minimally painted sculpts look great. Complex doesn't always equal better - Ch'od and Mindless One are great looking IMO.

In 40K theres a term, Table Top Quality. Basically it refers to if you have the model on a table and are playing with it, how does it look on the table as you play. Many of us dont sit down and get right up on our figures, so the the figures look wonderful while we play our game...even if the person painted outside the lines. As long as they are at a table top quality thats all that matters.

I take the same philsophy about HC. As long as they look cool from2-4 ft out Im all good.

I think that increasing production by 20% is more than reasonable, as they stand to lose a lot of money if the product does not sell as well as expected. Past performance is no guarantee of future success.

I beg to differ. Its the only information they have. Make sets people want. They sell out. Continue to increase production to meet demand or there wont be growth will there be?

Maybe the factory they have now can handle a 20% bump, but not a 30 or 40% bump, and they'd have to secure a 2nd factory for the extra product push.

I think it's ridiculous for people to assume that a store can afford to make a single pre-order for enough product to last them 6-8 months (which is the time table Wizkids is hoping for product of a single set to be on the shelves for). I think it's ridiculous for people to assume every 'mom and pop' comic or hobby store has the money to order 7-12+ cases of every set every 3 months.

All I know is that I can guarantee that a large percentage of the stores in the nation won't have GSX sitting on their shelves at Christmas, and that means Wizkids is failing to product enough product.

It's hard to compare Magic: The Gathering to Heroclix. With Magic, the stores aren't forced to make a single pre-order or miss out entirely on product. Also, Magic has a MUCH LARGER player population than Heroclix, meaning that stores can safely order more product without worrying about the sale of it.

Also, I think most of what product that is made for Magic is produced inside the country, so it's hard to compare it to a game where most of the product is made outside the country (china, etc).