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Some time ago, GW announced (and briefly showed off) a plastic Balrog, which was to be included in a 'Denizens of Moria' boxed set that so far as I'm aware was never actually released.

Well, the plastic Balrog has raised it's sexy, flamerific head once more, and is up for Advance Order on the GW UK online store...

Clickety Goodness

Woot, I say. Time for that Bloodthirster conversion

Might accually be worth the £35.00 too... /sarcasm

Mmmm, not for that price, thanks. But those wings would be just great for a winged hive tyrant, so anyone planning on making a non-winged Balrog should call me...

PS what's with GW releasing all the coolest LOTR models now after all the interest in the films has died down?

They're trying to salvage their stupidest undertaking of all time in a foolhearty attempt to save their dieing company.


Wow. That was almost sig worthy...

Same thoughts about the plastic wings...but...35 pounds? That's over 50?...nope, thanks.

Greets
Schepp himself

A plastic model for the same price as a largely metal one?

Did someone say "ripoff"?

well....i think i'll stick to my Daemon Prince for a little longer...
35?not worth it for plastic(minus maybe the hyper-convertability)

I just ordered and received a set of plastic Balrog wings ($10.00 US) by making a bitz order at my local GW store. Apparently GW will now do bitz for LOTR figures.

I just saved money on car insurence by realizing I have no car, and that I live in my moms basement.

Posted By Megalodon on 06/28/2006 2:21 PM
I just ordered and received a set of plastic Balrog wings ($10.00 US) by making a bitz order at my local GW store. Apparently GW will now do bitz for LOTR figures.

How is the scale of those wings compared to, say, a Hive Tyrant?

 

 

Personally, I think the Balrog wings are a little too long for the current Hive Tyrant.

I have already added wings to the immediate predecessor of the current model and I found the BloodThirster wings to be the best scale for that model. For the current Tyrant model I think the plastic Dragon wings are the right scale.

I am working on converting a pair of the plastic Dragon wings by adding the Scything Talons-like bones into the wings similar to that done by ForgeWorld for their Tyrant wings.

I have already straightened the outer portion of the wing tips to remove the upswept curve at the tip. I will use plasticard for the talons by cutting the wings current bones out and leaving a gap where the plasticard talon can be seen from the top side. From there it should be green stuff.

If the design doesn't work out then I will consider the Balrog wings. A little reshaping should help with the perception of being too long.

They are actually fine on a Hive Tyrant, my buddy has already done his up. They need some putty work around the edges, but look pretty sweet when done.

Posted By 2.0 on 06/30/2006 1:20 AM
They are actually fine on a Hive Tyrant, my buddy has already done his up. They need some putty work around the edges, but look pretty sweet when done.

Any way you can snap a pic of it and post it up?

If you don't have a photo hosting service I'd love it if you even just emailed it to me (PM me if that's the case).

 

 

not a great pic, but gives you a sizing idea...

http://www.medford.net/felix/armypics/tyrant.jpg

That looks kick arse 2.0 but I think there could be a couple issues with using it in a game-- mostly the width of the beast!

yeah, but you should see the opponents face when it comes onto the table

Oooo get pics of that too!

I have to say, this has got to be one of the most stupidly priced models ever.
It's the same cost as a friggin' Monolith! (2nd largest Plastic mini currently made, IIRC)

Reasonably nice looking, plus I'd be happy to take the spare weapon arm for a Daemon Prince. But at £35.00, it's just a ridiculous cost. £25 and I'd have grumbled as I handed over my cash, but there's no way this guy is worth a tenner more than my precious Carnifexes. How on earth GW are justifying this is beyond me.

there must be some crazy price variances
in Canada, the Balrog is $55, and the Monolith is $85

According to Alliance Games, the new plastic Balrog is $40 ($5 cheaper than the current Balog) while the Monolith is $55. Hardly what I call the same price.

How on earth GW are justifying this is beyond me.

Why would they need to justify it?

They make a model. They set the price. If you like the model, and don't object too badly to the price, you buy it.

According to Alliance Games, the new plastic Balrog is $40 ($5 cheaper than the current Balog) while the Monolith is $55. Hardly what I call the same price.

Both the metal and plastic versions are retailing for £35 a piece in the UK. Looks like you guys a getting slightly less ripped-off than us Brits!

Don't like the price, don't buy it. Simple as that. There is no "ripping off" going on. No one is forcing you to buy it.

No ripping off? WTF?

A company reduces its unit production costs (and undoubtedly reduces the pdouction quality of the model too) by an enormous percentage yet passes none of those cost savings on to its customers? What planet are you on mate? How on earth is that *not* ripping off (for which read "taking unfair advantage of") its customers?

Sure, no-one *has to* buy this stuff, but when they reduce the quality of a product and dramatically reduce the unit costs of it too but still keep the end price the same as it was for the old higher quality and higher cost model then IM (not so) HO GW have all the business ethics of a slug if they somehow don't think that's a con!

They may as well make all the kids who play in their stores wear big signs on their backs saying "kick me!"

How on earth is that *not* ripping off (for which read "taking unfair advantage of") its customers?

Do they not make you aware of the price before you buy it?
Do they trick you into buying it when you didn't want to?
Do they take your money and then not provide what they promised for the price?

If you are aware of the price, aware of what you are getting for the price, and choose to hand over the cash anyway, you most definitely have not been 'ripped off'

I completely agree with you insaniak. There is no relation between cost of production and the cost you pay for something.

You see a movie for 10$ and it cost 100 millions $!
You get a Coke for 1$ and it cost .04$!
The cost of production of a computer game is under 1$ and it sells for over 50$
Why complain? Because it is made by GW?

You have the choice, you buy or you do not. Nobody will get a gun to your head to make you buy. We are lucky enough to live in a free world, make the most of it and vote with your $$$

There is no relation between cost of production and the cost you pay for something.

That's not entirely true. The production cost sets a minimum price that the company could sell the item for, assuming they only wanted to make their cost back.

It's entirely up to the company how much of a profit margin they put on top of their production cost, though.


You movie ticket example is completely different, though... The cost of production in that case is directly related to the cost of purchase... It just happens in reverse to most other industries. Movies generally only receive funding based on how much money the producers think it will make. So since movie ticket prices are more or less set (you pay the same for the ticket, no matter which movie you're seeing) the more tickets they think they will sell, the more money they can put into the production of the movie...

All overly simplified, of course. We now return you to your regular programming...

Of course, thining about it, the movie analogy works for miniatures as well. GW price their minis partly based on how many of them they are going to sell. If they only expect to sell a model in comparitively small quantities (say for example a large plastic model for a game that is slowly sinking into obscurity) they need to set the price higher in order to recoup their initial production fees.

Well, insaniak, it appears we have different definitions of the word "rip-off".  Where I come from wherever a company tries to sell something for more than it is worth people will say "nah, not buying that, it's a rip-off"!  By that definition, selling a reduced-quality product (plastic always loses definition compared to metal) for the price you used to sell a higher-quality product constitutes a rip-off.  You don;t actually have to buy the product to consider it a "rip-off" just think it over-priced for what you get!  Of course I haven't been "ripped off" (past tense) until I purchase the goods - which I won't do because I consider it a rip-off....

It's all in the language!

Anyhooo ... for the record I won't be buying a plastic one because I have had the metal one sitting in my cabinet for the last 4 years, so it's pretty academic to me.  My main "concern" (such as it is) is for those that were thinking "I'd like a Balrog but can't afford one, so I'll wait until they release the plastic one, coz I'm prepared to sacrifice quality for affordability" only to find that the plastic one is no cheaper!

On a slightly tangential note: this is of course assuming the plastic molding results are still as wonky as they've always been - large flat areas on the side, that sort of thing.  And of course I recognise that there is a certain amount of subjectivity in my preference for lead over plastic in that it "feels" like a more substantial product purely because of the weight.  Are there any others out there who would actually prefer the plastic version just because it is plastic?  Is a plastic version of an otherwise identical metal model in anyones eye's ever going to be better?  I'm obviously not talking about vehicles here as they are totally acceptable in plastic as the large flat areas on them are just fine for the material.  It's more the rounded "animal" shapes that I am talking about really where because of the steel molds some definition can be lost.

I accually prefer plastic over metal. I can mess with plastic. Metal is harder to convert with. Can't cut it, can't remove much without alot of effort, and is a shear pain in the a** to glue together. Besides, generally Metal and plastic have the same level of detail--that which metal keeps is negligable.