[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth

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.

I agree with much of what you’ve laid out. Especially the bits about expanding the character count. It would be a dream come true to see Bruenor, the Bouldershoulder brothers, Azalin, Soth, Zaknafein, Kaz, Theros Ironfeld, etc. The original Drizzt release is definitely better than this new one imo, but I’m influenced by the armor design and its resemblance to cover art from the Hunter’s Blade arc. Whereas this new one feels less recognizable to me; maybe they referenced the graphic novels, of which I’m aware, but have never read.

I’ve consumed a great, great deal of FR and large amounts of RL and DL and love them all equally. I’ve also had separate conversations on the Ark about Greyhawk representation – a little before my time, but obviously foundational canon. Based on that dialogue, I’d say we need to throw module consumption in the mix as well. I’d love to see all of the characters made and would prefer the literature to be the choice over movie tie-in merch, but I also know how integral marketing is within the toy industry. It’s not about the die-hards and our deep cuts, it’s about characters that are tied into multiple mediums and pumped directly into the psyche of kids/young adults. If that’s the case and they are looking for media tie-in then I believe they’ll opt for the action/camp friendly FR (even RL) over the more thoughtfully written sweeping epics of DL. But that’s just my opinion, everone has one

EDIT: While my personal experience is anecdotal, it has been punctuated by encountering far more FR fans here in the northeast from the early 90’s forward. Conversely, in the early aughts I did have a DL fan stop me in the subway to chat up our shared interest in the War of Souls after he saw I was reading Dragons of a Vanished Moon. However, outside of that isolated and random experience, I just haven’t encountered many Dragonlance lovers. Obviously book sales demonstrate there are many supporters out there but given that it’s been a very long time since I frequented hobby/gaming shops/bookstores I’m not afforded many opportunities to discuss this slice of North American-otakudom.