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 Talys wrote:
ZOMG. Drop pods! I love it, lol.

All those formations to boost sales are working as intended. Rent-a-pods for everyone!

 the_Armyman wrote:

 Talys wrote:
ZOMG. Drop pods! I love it, lol.

All those formations to boost sales are working as intended. Rent-a-pods for everyone!

To be fair, pods were good before formations. And it’s not just the formations that really did it, but the ability to take loose non-DT pods as FA picks.

Also proof that gamers, not just collectors, are driving at least some of these sales. No sane person is going to want to put together multiples of those horrid things, unless for a significant table-top advantage.

(YMMV, I just really hate those things from a modeling POV)

 Nevelon wrote:

 the_Armyman wrote:

 Talys wrote:
ZOMG. Drop pods! I love it, lol.

All those formations to boost sales are working as intended. Rent-a-pods for everyone!

To be fair, pods were good before formations. And it’s not just the formations that really did it, but the ability to take loose non-DT pods as FA picks.

Sure, FA pods boosted sales, but so did Gladius and the Flesh Tearers formation where you could get six FA slots for like a 100 point tax. Every codex that didn't have access to pods rejoiced at their newly discovered ability to DS with little or no scatter.

"Hi I'm Crazy Seth and I WANT YOU to come on down to my used drop pod lot!! I'm a RAGING over wanting to give you a good deal. With the decline of my chapter's numbers I need to clear out all of this excess inventory. That means you are going to get a BLOODY good deal! Are you THIRSTING for a way to scream down at a a thousand miles an hour right on top of those heretic and xeno scum's position with minimal loss of accuracy? Of course you do!!! So come on down to Crazy Seth's drop lot. Buy a used pod and I'll even throw in a dozen eviscerators to go with it!!! They say the Black rage has messed up my ability to think straight so come on down and take advantage of these deals as like my chapter they will not last much longer."


I have to agree with the pods being so popular for gaming. They are a pretty boring model to build, paint and display so I bet most of those sales are for gaming. Especially and any imperial army can get drop pods for cheap. I mean even Sisters get something in this deal...

 Nevelon wrote:

 the_Armyman wrote:

 Talys wrote:
ZOMG. Drop pods! I love it, lol.

All those formations to boost sales are working as intended. Rent-a-pods for everyone!

To be fair, pods were good before formations. And it’s not just the formations that really did it, but the ability to take loose non-DT pods as FA picks.

Also proof that gamers, not just collectors, are driving at least some of these sales. No sane person is going to want to put together multiples of those horrid things, unless for a significant table-top advantage.

(YMMV, I just really hate those things from a modeling POV)

I, too, hate building and painting drop pods. I only have one, and it taught me to hate pods. Good thing I play Dark Angels, who are not known for being a drop pod army.

What's wrong with drop pods? They are a pretty nice model, no? Excellent value for the size, and considering how nicely all the kit fits together, it's a pretty cool vehicle.

My one complaint, which is not fixable, is how the paint rubs off the hinges if you open/close them. I end up building them closed or open (and not closing them).

Onager DUNECRAWLER next!

 Mymearan wrote:
Onager DUNECRAWLER next!

Should have been a tripod.

How do you make a martian army with walkers and not give them a tripod?

 Talys wrote:
What's wrong with drop pods? They are a pretty nice model, no? Excellent value for the size, and considering how nicely all the kit fits together, it's a pretty cool vehicle.

My one complaint, which is not fixable, is how the paint rubs off the hinges if you open/close them. I end up building them closed or open (and not closing them).

It's not really very interesting, though, is it?

I mean, it's basically like a mechanical version of a pandoro cake. Nice to eat, but you don't make five of them the centrepieces of your festive table decoration.

Or maybe an air filter out of a Dyson vacuum cleaner or something.

The old Tyranid Mycetic Spore was a lot more interesting because you could colour them all different ways like a set of particularly ghastly pathology specimens.

Talys wrote:What's wrong with drop pods? They are a pretty nice model, no? Excellent value for the size, and considering how nicely all the kit fits together, it's a pretty cool vehicle.

My one complaint, which is not fixable, is how the paint rubs off the hinges if you open/close them. I end up building them closed or open (and not closing them).

Getting them together is the hard part. You need to line everything up, and it all wants to fly apart. I don’t know if they’ve fixed it, but for the longest time they were miss-assembled on the box art. One of the harnesses was not socketed into the wall correctly. Getting the doors to open/close smoothly is another issue. Requires everything to line up just so, when it’s rough enough getting everything to stay together in the first place.

From a painting POV, there is a lot of finicky detail (harnesses, etc) and flat boring planes (doors) Might be easier with an airbrush, but as a fuzzy stick guy, they were a major PITA.

Looks? OK, they are not bad. Nothing to write home about, or get to the top 28 on it’s visual merits. Value? From a $ to point value they suck, but for the amount of plastic you get, it is a reasonably sized kit for the cash spent. All of the SM transports are like that.

But despite how much I dislike the kit, I own 3. Which is how it’s on this list.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Mymearan wrote:
Onager DUNECRAWLER next!

Should have been a tripod.

How do you make a martian army with walkers and not give them a tripod?

Fully agree here. Lost opportunity.

Thanks to Talys, I'm now aware of this thread. I'm anxious to see all the AOS releases no scope solo headshot the top ten as he apparently expects.

I wouldn't expect any new AoS kits beside the starter to be on this list, but if Archaon released earlier, it might have a chance. I've been quite surprised at the number of people who have picked him up.

I would be very surprised if Archaon showed up on this list.

coldgaming wrote:
I wouldn't expect any new AoS kits beside the starter to be on this list, but if Archaon released earlier, it might have a chance. I've been quite surprised at the number of people who have picked him up.

People buying Archaon without Slaanesh. It's like they hate life.

More ad mech, dragoon this time!

I did notice the "best sellers" list on the GW site doesn't match what's in this "most popular" list.

I call bullcrap on #9.

 jer155 wrote:
I call bullcrap on #9.

You call "bullcrap" on it? Meaning they're lying? Why would they? Besides, the Dragoon is one of the coolest kits they released this year, plus it was one of the first Admech releases. I could see it even higher no problem.

 Mymearan wrote:

 jer155 wrote:
I call bullcrap on #9.

You call "bullcrap" on it? Meaning they're lying? Why would they? Besides, the Dragoon is one of the coolest kits they released this year, plus it was one of the first Admech releases. I could see it even higher no problem.

It's a $50 30 point walker...

Fifty dollars!

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Mymearan wrote:

 jer155 wrote:
I call bullcrap on #9.

You call "bullcrap" on it? Meaning they're lying? Why would they? Besides, the Dragoon is one of the coolest kits they released this year, plus it was one of the first Admech releases. I could see it even higher no problem.

It's a $50 30 point walker...

Fifty dollars!

Obviously people don't care that much... I know my local Admech player bought three. A good model will sell.

If I were going to question anything, it would be the nid units on the list and potentially AOS. Luckily, there is no AOS (yet) so no need there. I don't play nids (anymore) but with all the flak that the army gets as boring/useless/underpowered/etc, they have as many entries on the list as space marines so far.

 warboss wrote:
If I were going to question anything, it would be the nid units on the list and potentially AOS. Luckily, there is no AOS (yet) so no need there. I don't play nids (anymore) but with all the flak that the army gets as boring/useless/underpowered/etc, they have as many entries on the list as space marines so far.

That would only be questionable if you assume that the majority of sales come from people who only buy the best units for their army. In the case of the Tyranids, they got a second release wave, including the long-awaited drop pod, which surely excited the hell out of many Tyranid players. And all units were playable at least, no real stinker boxes.

I'd be surprised if the Zoan/Venomthrope kit was actually 16th in overall sales, it's not a bad kit, but most nid players already would have owned several of them and the rules didn't change when they came out so there was no motivation to buy more.

That and the fact that even though it wasn't a bad kit, it didn't save all that much money compared to the old metal and resin versions. So I wouldn't have expected a bunch of people who previously couldn't afford the metals to run out and buy the new plastics when the new plastics weren't much cheaper.

That mostly leaves it down to new players and old players who for some reason didn't already have a bunch of Zoans and Venoms or are so hyper enthusiast that they'd want to buy even more of them.

But yeah, at this stage I'm not convinced the list we are getting is actually a "highest sales" list.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I'd be surprised if the Zoan/Venomthrope kit was actually 16th in overall sales, it's not a bad kit, but most nid players already would have owned several of them and the rules didn't change when they came out so there was no motivation to buy more.

That and the fact that even though it wasn't a bad kit, it didn't save all that much money compared to the old metal and resin versions. So I wouldn't have expected a bunch of people who previously couldn't afford the metals to run out and buy the new plastics when the new plastics weren't much cheaper.

That mostly leaves it down to new players and old players who for some reason didn't already have a bunch of Zoans and Venoms or are so hyper enthusiast that they'd want to buy even more of them.

But yeah, at this stage I'm not convinced the list we are getting is actually a "highest sales" list.

Venomthropes had really good rules backing them- stick one in a Bastion and nearly your entire army had a cover save.

Plus the kit also makes Doom of Malantai 2.0 which will draw in sales.

You missed a big category - people who replaced their old metal/finecast zoans. I would assume the list is by revenue, I don't see a reason to think otherwise. Our expectations aren't necessarily correct, we already know that.

 Mymearan wrote:
You missed a big category - people who replaced their old metal/finecast zoans..

Who would do such a thing? Those metal Zo's are great!


Jazz hands!

 Mymearan wrote:
You missed a big category - people who replaced their old metal/finecast zoans. I would assume the list is by revenue, I don't see a reason to think otherwise. Our expectations aren't necessarily correct, we already know that.

I expect that the list isn't by revenue but rather units sold. Gw could charge $10k for a special LE mini limited to one copy and it would then be "more popular" by revenue than a $1.00 model that sold 9,000 copies. It's obviously an extreme and absurd example (Gw charging $1.00 for a mini?!?!) but it illustrates the point. If the list is truly ranked by "popularity", unit sales make for a more common sense metric than revenue especially given how similar kits with the same number of midels/sprues can vary in price (like command squad vs sternguard or death company vs assault marines) based on their age.

 warboss wrote:

 Mymearan wrote:
You missed a big category - people who replaced their old metal/finecast zoans. I would assume the list is by revenue, I don't see a reason to think otherwise. Our expectations aren't necessarily correct, we already know that.

I expect that the list isn't by revenue but rather units sold. Gw could charge $10k for a special LE mini limited to one copy and it would then be "more popular" by revenue than a $1.00 model that sold 9,000 copies. It's obviously an extreme and absurd example (Gw charging $1.00 for a mini?!?!) but it illustrates the point. If the list is truly ranked by "popularity", unit sales make for a more common sense metric than revenue especially given how similar kits with the same number of midels/sprues can vary in price (like command squad vs sternguard or death company vs assault marines) based on their age.

We'll see as we near the top of the list, but my gut tells me that I don't think so, because we haven't yet seen Imperial Knight or Wraithknight, two that are probably going to make it. It would be rather shocking if Imperial Knight sold more UNITS than drop pods!

Also, when you look at Forge World Top 10 lists, it's always massively expensive titans at the top. Like, Warlord Titan is #1, and that can't be the best unit seller..... right?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mymearan wrote:
It's a $50 30 point walker...

Fifty dollars!

Obviously people don't care that much... I know my local Admech player bought three. A good model will sell.

That's a good point but I haven't looked at the forgeworld lists in a very long time. The devil is in the details and the details are how exactly they word the classification of those lists. Also, the really expensive kits only top the lists usually when they're brand new and lots of folks are actually buying a bunch. I don't think FW sells hundreds of each and every kit every month and we've seen IIRC for the warlord certificates with numbers over #100 in the initial release. With the knights getting a modified "new" kit and codex this year, I could see them on that list since drop pods have been around for so long. I've seen alot of armies online (here on dakka as well as youtube) with multiple knights. I'd definitely raise an eyebrow if they outsold something like tactical boxes though.

Rhino has got to be on the list...

I wonder if any other Tau, like ghostkeel or tides show up.