New items in the Istaria merchandise shop

[LaughingOtter]

We will be adding several new items to the shop in the next few days, starting with this:

Istaria Publishing Logo



What is Istaria Publishing?

Hmm....

Good question! Stay tuned to find out!

[Vaz]

Intriguing.

[LaughingOtter]

Well, if you're going to have a publishing house, you better have something to publish, yes? And so we do...

Announcing the first Istaria novel!



Written by Sephiranoth and Sonea, with cover art by Gengel. Full details are available in the Merchandise Shop, of course!

Even though the Tale has been around for some time, preparing any work for publication is a great deal of work, and I'd like to thank Seph and Sonea for all the time and energy they put into finishing and preparing the manuscript. I'd also like to thank Gengel for coming through (while on vacation, no less!) with the cover art on very short notice.

Anticipating a question here: Yes, this is considered to be a canon document with regards to the Istarian lore it contains. There was a lot of discussion about what was workable and what was not, and great care was taken to make sure that nothing presented would invalidate another player's personal history, or show an Istaria other players wouldn't recognize. That said, any discussions of lore matters belong to another thread.

There are yet more items to come, so keep checking back!

[Takora Drakan]

*is here hoping for dragon figures* =P

[Anime]

omg that be so cool figures XD oh and over cool stuff well let hope so

[Vaz]

I've been yearning for Istaria books. ^_^

[Hrough]

Ooh, book! BOOKS!

You speak to my very soul with this new idea.
Now I know what I want for my birthday!
But that pricetag is going to kill my poor Canadian wallet. (But will get it, one way or another)

[Frith-Rae]

OMG So Awesome! Congratz Seph and Sonea!! You're published!! That is so cool for a company to do that and for players to be so talented!!

Course that dragon figuring thing....I'm liking that idea muchmuchmuchly...

[Takora Drakan]

Yeah, since I saw shortly before launch horizons merchandise (but I think it never was produced more than the prototypes on the photos I saw), I saw a plastic figure of the orange concept dragon, I still remember it. But I lost the picture, since that I wanted a similar Istarian dragon figurine or platstic action thing...

[velveeta]

if horizons decided to publish more literature -
may i suggest a book of 'fanfic'? a collection of the stories from and about the gifted?

of course, i would like to submit and would be honored if vel's story (http://community.istaria.com/forum/s...15&postcount=1) was considered for inclusion!
(maybe with my siggie banner as a header...... ;-}p )

i personally think publishing is an excellent way to regain the attention of old players and prospective subscribers both. great job, vi!

[LaughingOtter]

As much as I'd love to see action figures of any kind, that's really not a viable option for us. One of the reasons the original, pre-launch action figures that Artifact was working on didn't happen was, simply, that not enough retail orders could be guaranteed. (One of the players on Twilight knew the owner of the company that was going to make the figures. We got to talking one day...)

The costs to develop the figure itself (art, prototyping, etc), get the packaging stuff made, create the molds and paint process, and then actually produce the figures and package them for sale can exceed $100,000 very easily. The more units of each figure you make, the lower the price point at which the manufacturer breaks even. Generally, that means a minimum run of 10,000 per figure. Distributers buy based on what they think they can sell, so without enough retail orders, the major distributers like Diamond can very easily decide not to carry the figures at all.

These days, if a company like McFarlane decided to take an interest in producing some Istarian figures, things might turn out differently simply because of McFarlane's history & reputation in the industry. Absent something like that, or a company like FigurePrints setting up to do single-order rapid prototyping, figures won't be something we can offer anytime in the forseeable future.

Which sucks, because I'd love to have an AoP with exchangable weapons and swappable body parts!

Edit: Link to an article with pictures of the prototypes that were made...

http://www.action-figure.com/index.p...icle&sid=11034

[Takora Drakan]

Thank you LO, you proved that I was not going insane about the figures. XD

*cries* I still want them!

[velveeta]

just a thought, lo - would it be cheaper/hit the needed bottom line sooner if the figures were unpainted? yah know - paint your own aop?
or does your previous estimate start with unpainted already?

[Soraii]

Dang... articulated wings >_<

Soraii

[LaughingOtter]

just a thought, lo - would it be cheaper/hit the needed bottom line sooner if the figures were unpainted? yah know - paint your own aop?
or does your previous estimate start with unpainted already?

Can't really answer that, sorry. :-( That wasn't covered in Action Figures 101. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't make a major difference. That aside, most people don't have the tools, talent, or desire to paint their own action figure, so doing so might well diminish an already small potential audience.

[Supernova]

Way back in the day RadioactiveClown was in the process of making Horizons - (now Istaria; yes I know, simply stating what was) figures and a special keyboard forthe game complete with hotkey buttons.

I know some of the dragons who modeled for the figures. Makes ya wonder where the deisgns went. I'd love to see some of them finished someday.

[Nambroth]

Can't really answer that, sorry. :-( That wasn't covered in Action Figures 101. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't make a major difference. That aside, most people don't have the tools, talent, or desire to paint their own action figure, so doing so might well diminish an already small potential audience.

I think much of the manufacturing cost would be in the reproduction and assembly process, I agree. That said, if you are not worried about fancy packaging and the like, paint-your-own dragon figurines DO have a substantial market. The company I work for, Windstone, does these and even though they are not articulated and are somewhat pricey, they can't keep the things in stock.
You would probably need to market to folks outside of Istaria in addition to those that would buy them for the game, to make it worth it. I can help with that if you want...

I know you have way too much on your plate to look into this too seriously at this very moment, but just food for thought.

[StalePopcorn]

*looks at the cover art on the book*

I didn't know Barbie played Istaria! :P I'll have to keep a lookout for a sporty pink convertible driving away from a chasing AoP

[StalePopcorn]

Can't really answer that, sorry. :-( That wasn't covered in Action Figures 101. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't make a major difference. That aside, most people don't have the tools, talent, or desire to paint their own action figure, so doing so might well diminish an already small potential audience.

Just did a quick search for DIY laser modelling on the web, would someone like this be able to offer a solution:

http://www.shapeways.com/

They deal with Maya 3D models, but that's about the limit of my expertise in 3D modelling (i.e. "I can see Russia from my house!"). Smarter bods than I might have a solution... plus I think it is the textures on Draggies/Bipeds that make them "look" the way they do, so don't know if it would be possible.

However, if there was a way to pull a 3d model of your character out, then it could be happiness all around! Would be an amazing uniqueness to Istaria. And what draggie wouldn't want a model of their hatchie, then adult, then ancient!!! Come on draggies - say you don't want that. I dare you! :P

[Sonea]

you know.. they make these 3-D printers now that you can 'print' a 3D item (i.e. figurine) from a graphic file. it's the coolest thing. i don't know if/when they will be commercially available.

and Stalepopcorn... as for the Barbie look.... Soni loves PINK. She has always loved pink. Her mining pick is pink... her armor is trimmed in pink.. i guess she can live with having a look-alike in another world.

*smiles*
Sonea