[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBlueMarvel

If Drizzt with 40+ books isn’t recognizable enough, I don’t see any other character or group of characters moving the needle. Additionally, in my opinion, the Companions of the Hall from Forgotten Realms enjoy wider fanfare than Dragonlance’s Companions.

In the larger marketing picture - I hate that the film industry has forced fans to consider the business side of the art, but we’ve been here for a while now - I would be quite surprised if the movies didn’t lean on the Icewind Dale Trilogy given how much it lends itself to modern movie sensibilities that mix action, humor and character development (not an endorsement of this style; I feel like ‘cookie-cutter’ concepts are part of what ails in Tinseltown). Each character had a personal journey and backstories that represent many of the elements movie and serial makers try to weave into contemporary works.

I should have been clearer with my original statement. I was referring to this being Hasbro's second release of a character from novels and it is the same character at nearly the same price as the OG which included a panther. My thought was to expand into the rest of the party to encourage those who purchased the first Drizzt with Gwyn. I want to see more D&D figures but I won't be buying this Drizzt since I have the first one which I think is better (from pics alone at least).

As for Companions from FR or DL being more popular? Methinks it depends on the age of the fan and the area they grew up in. I worked at a hobby store in high school and I would say the fanbase was evenly split between the two realms (I'm just referring to my customers at the time) with little to no crossover from each group. We had a couple of dozen who read everything and played everything, but for the most part I saw pretty strict camps, if only because of disposable cash. To that end, DL had (at the time) a unique take on things AND it was more creatively owned/managed by the authors. It saw a film release and the quickest novel release for quite a few years. Unless Weiss and Hickman are tightfisted with licensing, targeting FR fans, DL fans and Ravenloft all at once would be smart. Sure the film has targeted merch, but I think many old school fans would prefer seeing figures of popular characters from the novels more than the film and to that end, give us a Twins 2-pack, or a Lord Soth or a Count Strahd to go with our Drizzt.