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GW succeeds in spite of itself (see full quotation in the OP, below).
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False

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Made in es
Inquisitorial Keeper of the Xenobanks






your mind

This morning, as I edited a paper for a journal. I listened to a few popular Youtube channel videos. One concerned what the content creator considered is good and bad about 9th edition 40K. Scrolling through the comments, I came to this one, which I paste as a direct quote, here:
This company succeeds because a long time ago some genuinely passionate people wrote some kickass lore. That is the only reason people don't leave this game in droves. Nowadays the company succeeds in spite of itself. We love the IP too much to leave and they are our abusive spouse.

Simple poll: Do you feel that this statement is True, or False?

As a follow up, I wonder how much of this opinion has to do with 9th edition 40K. Maybe some have held this opinion for a longer time? Since when? Has your opinion changed in the past? Recently? What was the reason for this change of opinion? Anything specific?

Thank you in advance for contributing to this thread in a civil and constructive manner, respecting the fact that different people get different things from different things. The purpose of this poll is simply to survey the landscape of opinions here on Dakka. As usual, I will wait until poll results are obvious before voting, and volunteering my own experience, so as not to skew responses too heavily from the beginning...

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 11:01:34


   
Made in us
Buttons Should Be Brass, Not Gold!






That's overthinking things IMO. I got into all of GWs games because of the miniatures first and foremost. Now, roughly 30 years later, I'm still in this for the miniatures, same as it ever was.

If the complaint is about 40K rules, its not exactly news that the game has had shoddy rules ever since the games got too big to fit into the original skirmish scale. By that logic yall would have quit playing around 4th - 5th edition.

This "GW succeeds in spite of itself" sounds to me like a jaded take from someone who lost interest in the hobby a long time ago and is only chugging along because of habit. YMMV as usual

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/10/10 11:02:45


 
   
Made in gb
Storm Trooper with Maglight





I put False, though I'm torn on this topic, I could probably be easily persuaded to change my vote.

I think GW, like most companies, does some things well and some things badly. People continue to buy their products because they have weighed up the pros and cons (either consciously or not) and decided that the good outweighs the bad.

Sure, GW has a captive audience, especially in the UK, where no competitor has the kind of reach that running your own retail chain brings. However to say that GW is still going strong today only because it wrote some good lore some decades ago is a big stretch.

Many of us (especially those who have been in the hobby a long time) complain about the rules for GW games. This is one of the things they don't do well. If GW didn't do other things well they would have folded a long time ago.

There are many companies with great products that survive because consumers want to buy that particular product, despite not managing every aspect of their business brilliantly. I would say that GW are one of those companies.
   
Made in ie
Battleship Captain





Yes, it's absolutely true and I think only a few people who lack any kind of self-awareness would deny this.

I don't think it's a 9th Ed phenomenon though because we all know GW wasn't in a great way just before 8th. 8th promised a lot but GW failed to capitalise on the good faith people returning had and people's opinion is starting to swing back to where it was prior. They're especially chancing their arm in terms of pricing which has been a very long time complaint but I'm seeing more and more people get priced out of the hobby.

I don't think it's JUST the setting though, there's a lot to be said about the ease of accessibility of Warhammer. It's the only minis game with dedicated shops and there are a lot of other ways to get into the hobby that don't involve a few shelves at an FLGS and passionate players running intro games. GW is a whale in a small pond basically. You don't see people playing Malifaux: The Video Game or posting Infinity memes outside of Infinity groups.


 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






 jeff white wrote:
This company succeeds because a long time ago some genuinely passionate people wrote some kickass lore. That is the only reason people don't leave this game in droves. Nowadays the company succeeds in spite of itself. We love the IP too much to leave and they are our abusive spouse.

Just on the background front, GW's more recent offerings have been incredibly reliant on nostalgia - things like:
- The Crimson Fists are having their last stand on Rynn's World again against Orks again. Oh wait, no, they're also having their last stand on Rynn's World again, but against Chaos.
- The Ultramarines are defending Damnos from the Necrons again, for the third time.
- The Orks are back at Glazer's Creek again.
- The Sisters of Battle are fighting Necrons on Sanctuary 101 again, for the third time.
- The Blood Angels are defending Baal against the Tyranids again.

So much of 40K now relies upon a past positive feeling for the setting. Do you remember this old character? This old artwork, which is now in model form? This old story? This old faction?
Meanwhile White Dwarf is literally telling it's readers that the past was actually rubbish (you're just blinded by your rose-tinted glasses!) and this is a golden age. This is the best edition ever. Etc. etc...
   
Made in de
Contagious Dreadnought of Nurgle





It's wrong. We saw in 6th and 7th edition 40K as well as 8th edition Fantasy, 1st edition AoS and times of the Hobbit movies that it does matter what GW does. And in these cases people left in droves and other games made profit from that.
Since 8th edition 40K/2nd edition AoS/middleearth SBG GW reclaimed territory with a multitude of actions.
   
Made in de
Longtime Dakkanaut



Bamberg / Erlangen

Sgt. Cortez wrote:
It's wrong. We saw in 6th and 7th edition 40K as well as 8th edition Fantasy, 1st edition AoS and times of the Hobbit movies that it does matter what GW does. And in these cases people left in droves and other games made profit from that.
Since 8th edition 40K/2nd edition AoS/middleearth SBG GW reclaimed territory with a multitude of actions.
Agree. If the game is crossing a line, people stop playing and buying.

Now that line might be lower than for other games because of the setting and other factors. But GW is not able to get away with everything without repercussions in sales.

   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






This company succeeds because a long time ago some genuinely passionate people wrote some kickass lore. That is the only reason people don't leave this game in droves. Nowadays the company succeeds in spite of itself. We love the IP too much to leave and they are our abusive spouse.

I hate this quote and people need to stop using domestic abuse as a comparison for a TTWG.

With that out of the way, I would say a lot of it is to do with rose-tinted specs, which everyone is guilty of from time to time. Everything is always better in the past, except that's not always the case.
Is the current edition of 40k poorly balanced? In some places yes, in others no and it will absolutely vary depending on factors that are outwith the control of the game and the designers i.e. community and personal choice.
Is the current edition of 40k any worse than the previous edition? In my experience, not at all. Balance is an impossible task and again so many of the issues I've seen with most editions are down to outside influences. While power creep is a thing for some factions, not every new release is always better than the last one with it often being the outliers that people get the most annoyed about. There will always be powerful or broken combos because IMO it's not possible to create a system where that isn't the case. At the same time, I would blame the Internet for exaggerating a lot of the issues found and personally, I think that a lot of people are far too competitive when it comes to the game and I think competitive thinking has shaped 40k for some time now, both officially and unofficially.
As for the background, it's the specs again. There is this persisting narrative that all new 40k stuff is bad and all the old stuff was good when that's again not the case. A lot of it just comes down to people not liking change. Mystery and sandboxing is great but when too much of the setting is empty space it's not really a setting and I am a firm believer in sandboxes within reason, i.e. have enough space that people can do a lot of stuff but not so much space that there isn't any consistency or rationality.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 11:43:09


 
   
Made in gb
Sagitarius with a Big F'in Gun





I think it's true, they're pushing prices up to a level where it's hard to justify, not only on new releases but older models too.

I love the lore, I love the models and the game is ace, but upping prices during the first lockdown when a lot of people worried for their jobs was just a callous move IMO.

I've only been buying books lately and almost all second hand, but I'll be honest I'll prob buy more once I'm back gaming more regularly.

Approx armies
9000pts AdMech (Main army)
7000pts Black Templars (original army)
3500pts Death Guard (lazy side project)
2000pts Imperial Knights (extension of AdMech)
2000pts Harlequins (fun side project)
 
   
Made in de
Huge Bone Giant






Since the poll is strictly in answer to the following quote...

 jeff white wrote:
This company succeeds because a long time ago some genuinely passionate people wrote some kickass lore. That is the only reason people don't leave this game in droves. Nowadays the company succeeds in spite of itself. We love the IP too much to leave and they are our abusive spouse.


... my vote is false. The quoted post isn't wrong in highlighting the beneficial influence the successful and beloved world crafting had for GW. But the idea that this is literally the only thing keeping them in business decades later is ridiculous.

GW certainly has been able to engage in more exploitative behavior because they can leverage attachment to the setting to retain customers regardless, but it's hardly the only positive the company has going for it. Miniatures are of high quality, availability and supply of the products is good outside of deliberate limited releases, it's easier to find an opponent than it is for any other wargame, the constant stream of releases keeps GW on people's mind, even the marketing provides something on a daily basis to keep up interest.

The lore has a fairly large role in this since it extends pretty far, allowing for the creation of ancillary material like novels, video games, art and animations that are to a smaller or larger degree removed from the core business of GW, the miniatures. It's important to remember that while those additional revenue streams don't hurt, both the lore and the game exist to sell miniatures. None of these components stand alone, and so I find it hard to believe that one could stand out as the only thing that keeps customers buying without the other ones contributing to a large enough degree.

Which leads to this:

 jeff white wrote:
As a follow up, I wonder how much of this opinion has to do with 9th edition 40K. Maybe some have held this opinion for a longer time? Since when? Has your opinion changed in the past? Recently? What was the reason for this change of opinion? Anything specific?


Personally I don't care for the changes that 8th ed brought and 9th ed built upon, but the game does seem to have appeal with a large number of people. In spite of my own distaste for the current rules I can recognize that they actually fulfill what is their most crucial function to GW, engaging customers and getting them to buy product.

After the decline up until and including 7th ed GW succeeded in marketing 8th ed as a new version of the game that is beginner friendly, fun and easy to learn, and 9th ed as an improvement on that.

So while my opinion of the 40k rules hasn't changed, which is to say they were bad for a decade and haven't improved recently, I do believe the current style of game has appeal to some people. Which contributes to my assessment of the situation and my choice when I voted.

Nehekhara lives! Sort of!
Why is the rum always gone? 
   
Made in de
Been Around the Block






False, absolutely. GW has made plenty of poor decisions, but none of those have done significant harm to its core business, as its continued growth demonstrates. GW succeeds because of itself, and indeed managing the lore and continuing to extract value from it is part of its strategy.

What this quote does, however, is illustrate the mindset of a particular group of resentful grognards. If that person feels like they're in an abusive relationship with a game or IP, it's on the one hand a wildly inappropriate comparison, but on the other hand that's apparently how they feel, and I'm saddened that they're unable to achieve a healthy relationship to their hobbies.
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Springfield, VA

I think GW's decisions have helped them survive in addition to the lore.

Whether you believe "New GW' (the end of 7th switcheroo to increased community engagement and rate of releases/FAQs) was a PR dupe or a genuine fix, it certainly had an effect.

For me? I tend to believe it was a dupe - 9th shows they're back to the same habits they were in earlier editions (r.i.p. Imperial Guard codex; we are at the 2nd longest time between releases in GW history).

The only thing that makes me hesitate in saying GW is back to old habits is COVID, which could also explain the stretched release cycle. *Shrug*

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 13:33:47


 
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






IP law itself is abusive. See the Mickey Mouse Act in the US. GW would be remiss if they were not guarding their IP, it's their primary value. If they lost their exclusive rights to the lore, they would be fubar.

They realize that their company only has value because of good ideas somebody had back in the 80s.

In my opinion, IP should go public domain in 20 years or less so that companies can't just rely on sitting on someone else's ideas. It's ridiculous. Walt Disney is dead and his estate as well as the Corporation is still milking his creations for everything they're worth. That, and buying up the rights for other decades old IPs. It's honestly pathetic and counterintuitive. There is no reason companies of that size should not have to innovate and do the same thing they did decades ago to stay competitive. It facilitates sloth, decadence and exploitation of someone else's work, while depriving the public space of so much more creativity.

We are seeing this in action with the animation purge. We had people doing what GW should have been doing, for free, and this lazy company gets to shut them down, corral them and steal their work. It's both unconscionable and unethical. Those suits had nothing to do with it, they just came in with an MBA and a knowledge of copyright law and business and ran with a good idea instead of creating something new or even facilitating a good business environment for new creations.

Copyright law is broken and corrupt, that's why all we get is trash and why they can get away with half-A effort.

It will never change. The only thing that will happen is that lobbyists will lobby lawmakers for more Mickey Mouse Acts to prop up bad actors.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 13:37:25


Fang, son of Great Fang, the traitor we seek, The laws of the brethren say this: That only the king sees the crown of the gods, And he, the usurper, must die.
Mother earth is pregnant for the third time, for y'all have knocked her up. I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe, but I was not offended. For I knew I had to rise above it all, or drown in my own gak. 
   
Made in us
Confessor Of Sins





Tacoma, WA, USA

GW does not abuse it customers. It puts out a product into the market at a price they feel is fair and customers buy it up faster than they can produce it. That is not the result of people sticking to an ancient IP while buying crap models to play a crap game.

The game may not be perfect, but lots of people are playing it. The models may not be perfect, but almost all releases get positive reviews. The price may be higher than you want to pay, but not high enough to keep GW from selling out of new releases.

That being said, GW isn't some benevolent god handing out rainbows and unicorns. They certainly do things with their bottom line in mind. But making you wait for model X if you don't want to purchase the latest two faction battle box is not customer abuse. You can complain about being priced out of the hobby, but what captive market doesn't have high prices. I'm sure we can all agree the prices of food at sporting events and movie theaters are ridiculously high, yet the lines are still there. GW is just doing what any other profitable business does and that is not a bad thing. If they didn't make a profit, they would go under and we wouldn't have a game.

Think about how many Star Trek and Star Wars games there has been over the years. Vastly more well known IPs and still GW with their modest in-house IP dominates the MWG market.
   
Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle





In My Lab

I voted no.

You can dislike GW's business practices, or prices, or rules, or... Well, the list can go on.

But they're not morons when it comes to business. They might not be good at rules, but they know what they're doing to make money.

Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne! 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut




I don't think this is true in the least. GW produces a lot of things that are very attractive. They have a massive range of beautiful miniature, their game, while not the most competitive out there, is very fun. The lore is great and the new lore isn't any worst than the old one. Their release schedule is quick so you don't need to wait almost decade for an update to your force. My only problem would be if they keep rotating the edition every 2 years instead of 4. 4 years is a good number for an edition. It lets you enjoy and explore the system before changing it.
   
Made in it
Waaagh! Ork Warboss




Italy

False. They are successful because their miniatures are the best looking ones on the market. Simple.

When other companies' miniatures become better looking than GW ones for the majority, GW's success, and "monopoly", will fade away.

Simple. Quality of the games they sell does matter a bit but it's not the main factor for their success.

 
   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





I'm going to go with, kind of, a bit...

I've long suspect GW has always been everything it gets accused of, the internet age has just stoked the echo chamber

What has changed is me, I've had been in since Rogue Trader but time and circumstances have slowly nudged me away

I think the first step was circa 94/95, one of the nerdherd brought back some MTG cards from Uni, intially the rules were a bit wooly but then somewhere around 5th (?) edition they got fixed to a degree that I'm of the view the Comp rules are one of the most solid bits of geek rules ever, yep WOTC may bodge the odd card or expansion but the game engine is solid and GW's "do it like Jervis" mindset became increasingly irksome

The second push was Warcraft, which I admittedly took far too seriously, but our Guilds maths whiz explained (in a second language no less) how to theorycraft, leading me back to doing mildly trixy sum regarding d6s, again exposing more of GWs ""good enough" dogma

Finally X-wing, 7th was about as unfun as it got, and was super casual by this point as the clubs TFG post was taken. pre-painted spaceships and an army that fitted in a lunch box, with reasonably solid rules (end of 1.0 bloat aside) caused the final walk away


"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in ca
Arch Magos w/ 4 Meg of RAM






GW is running on inertia. Them being the biggest wargame means that pretty much no matter what they do, they'll stay the most easily accessible so potential new players will start with that game instead of ones that are better like Infinity/Malifaux/SW:Legions/etc.


This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 16:13:08


 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Nah.

GW have undoubtedly been lucky at times. Like, really, really lucky. Or so it would seem.

For instance, the LOTR bubble burst a year or two before the global financial crash. Just as everyone else was panicking and resizing business and employee numbers? GW was just about stabilising, or at least on the road to recovery.

But at the same time, they’ve never been into borrowing money to expand, so they were insulated from banks getting shirty about lending, and entirely insulated from having to pay back loans when cash flow tightened.

They got in at the ground floor, reinventing fantasy and SciFi gaming. By dominating the market on the U.K. High Street, they did something no other company really has. And over time, they’ve worked to ensure that someone can walk into one of their stores, and find or order everything they need to take part in the hobby. Rules, models, paints, glues, brushes, tools, scenery, boards. The lot. Yes there are cheaper, but that’s not to say their stuff is inferior. The stores are manned by people already active in the hobby, with the skills to teach newcomers the basics, and the enthusiasm and product knowledge to make decent sales.

Just lately on the “maybe it was luck?” we’ve seen them resurrect Specialist Games, and even produce Limited Spend stuff like Underworlds. So when the pandemic hit, and people suddenly needed in-door hobbies? They had a wide and accessible range, stock issues not withstanding.

They’ve largely weathered the Digital Era because they’re traditional pastimes. Certainly when I last did a stint as a till monkey, parents were happy to pay for it precisely because “it’s not another bloody computer game”.

In stark contrast to what some claim or fervently wish? GW are absolutely not poorly run, stupid or incompetent. At all. They know their product. They know their customer. They know their business, and they’re making money hand over fist.

   
Made in de
Battlefield Tourist






Nuremberg

I think there was a time at the end of the Kirby Era when GW were really in decline. But nowadays they're doing amazingly well and going from strength to strength.

From a personal perspective, some of the stuff they are doing doesn't appeal to me, but I don't confuse that with them not being wildly successful. After a long time being interested in wargaming, I've just developed particular tastes that might not be that widespread.

I think it's a mistake for long time fans like me to generalise our experiences to others who might be having a brilliant time with the game. Certainly, there's loads of positive buzz around, much more than in the dark old days.


   
Made in ie
Battleship Captain





 Blackie wrote:
False. They are successful because their miniatures are the best looking ones on the market. Simple.

When other companies' miniatures become better looking than GW ones for the majority, GW's success, and "monopoly", will fade away.

Simple. Quality of the games they sell does matter a bit but it's not the main factor for their success.


That's very subjective.


 
   
Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut





I wouldn't say it SUCCEEDS in spite of itself, but it does do better than it should given everything in spite of itself. Like, we survived 6th and 7th edition of the game, despite 7th having been the "we give up" edition. We only survived it because of 40k's universe and the love we have for it.

Right now, 40k isn't doing bad, but it could be doing BETTER if they didn't go backwards this past 6 months with a really reigned in FAQ and community presence.

 Galef wrote:
If you refuse to use rock, you will never beat scissors.
 
   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

 VladimirHerzog wrote:
GW is running on inertia. Them being the biggest wargame means that pretty much no matter what they do, they'll stay the most easily accessible so potential new players will start with that game instead of ones that are better like Infinity/Malifaux/SW:Legions/etc.



It's funny that you put "Infinity" in the same breath as Malifaux or SW: Legion.

Infinity has been running on inertia for at least three or four years now. They have a FAR more aggressive bend when it comes to "codex creep", just for whatever reason people seem to excuse it since you can "just proxy, bro!" things.
   
Made in us
Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle





In My Lab

 Yarium wrote:
I wouldn't say it SUCCEEDS in spite of itself, but it does do better than it should given everything in spite of itself. Like, we survived 6th and 7th edition of the game, despite 7th having been the "we give up" edition. We only survived it because of 40k's universe and the love we have for it.

Right now, 40k isn't doing bad, but it could be doing BETTER if they didn't go backwards this past 6 months with a really reigned in FAQ and community presence.
Yeah, GW definitely has a big benefit from being the first big success, and has a lot of inertia and whatnot.

That doesn't mean they're a dumb business, just that they have an advantage that their competitors lack.

Clocks for the clockmaker! Cogs for the cog throne! 
   
Made in ca
Arch Magos w/ 4 Meg of RAM






 Kanluwen wrote:

It's funny that you put "Infinity" in the same breath as Malifaux or SW: Legion.

Infinity has been running on inertia for at least three or four years now. They have a FAR more aggressive bend when it comes to "codex creep", just for whatever reason people seem to excuse it since you can "just proxy, bro!" things.


What? Infinity doesnt do codexes. All rules are released at the same time. And when the winrate of factions is between 45-55%, i'd say they have the balance down pretty well.
   
Made in us
Ollanius Pius - Savior of the Emperor






Gathering the Informations.

 VladimirHerzog wrote:
 Kanluwen wrote:

It's funny that you put "Infinity" in the same breath as Malifaux or SW: Legion.

Infinity has been running on inertia for at least three or four years now. They have a FAR more aggressive bend when it comes to "codex creep", just for whatever reason people seem to excuse it since you can "just proxy, bro!" things.


What? Infinity doesnt do codexes. All rules are released at the same time. And when the winrate of factions is between 45-55%, i'd say they have the balance down pretty well.

You'll note that I put quotes around "codex creep". Because I'm well aware that they don't do codices, but they do release new books(which is what the argument about "codex creep" is always about) with new rules and new Sectorials. Them having free rules doesn't change or excuse anything considering they don't backdate older factions that often or that well.

If you want to pretend that they don't do individual books and that new sectorials(because the bits about "winrate of factions" is basically a polite bit of fiction) don't have huge advantages over old ones? That's on you.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/10/10 17:52:33


 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

 jeff white wrote:
This morning, as I edited a paper for a journal. I listened to a few popular Youtube channel videos. One concerned what the content creator considered is good and bad about 9th edition 40K. Scrolling through the comments, I came to this one, which I paste as a direct quote, here:
This company succeeds because a long time ago some genuinely passionate people wrote some kickass lore. That is the only reason people don't leave this game in droves. Nowadays the company succeeds in spite of itself. We love the IP too much to leave and they are our abusive spouse.


Ah, this crap again.

GW simply makes a product people want & they know how to market it.

As for any of you who think you're being abused by the eeevil toy company? There's plenty of options:
There's the door. You can walk away anytime you please. GW will never know. Or care. (As long as they make x $ in the end, it's all good)
You could discuss things with the people you play with & come up with some house rules.
Is co$t is the root of your issues? There's plenty of options that'll reduce that.

But if you're stupid enough to continue playing games you don't like, in ways you don't like, in environs you don't like? Well, that's a YOU problem.

   
Made in pl
Longtime Dakkanaut




 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

In stark contrast to what some claim or fervently wish? GW are absolutely not poorly run, stupid or incompetent. At all. They know their product. They know their customer. They know their business, and they’re making money hand over fist.

This. They had to correct course after Kirby thinned out the whalestock a little too much, but overall, GW knows what it's doing. It's really hard to tank a corporation into the ground as long as it doesn't do something spectacularly stupid.

What people seem to be missing is that GW is not, and hasn't been since the second they went public, Your Friend. You're source of money to them, and if you allow yourself to be suckered into thinking you have some sort of emotional attachment to them, their marketing department already won.
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut




I think there was a period several years ago where their business model revolved too heavily around making new sculpts of old ideas, yes.

But I think the nostalgia hits we've been getting lately (genestealer cults, the Blanche Castellan, the Gibbons Helbrecht) are borne out of genuine love for those old ideas rather than a sense of mining the old IP. When you hear people like Darren Latham talk (or look at his Instagram) you find a real hobbyist sense of enthusiasm for these old ideas. Things that the sculptors themselves grew up with but were abandoned over time or never quite done justice to are being dusted off and made new. I think it's great and there is enough new stuff as well that I look forward to every release and rarely am I not at least tempted to buy them.

(I started the hobby in 1988 btw)
   
 
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