Latest news with #Faerun
Gizmodo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Wizkids Apologizes After Its Dodgy ‘Baldur's Gate 3' Miniatures Hit With Vicious Mockery
After pictures of in-hand copies of Wizkids' new pre-painted Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures emerged and were promptly ridiculed last week, the toymaker has announced plans to offer complete refunds to players disappointed by the horrifying paint jobs that turned Faerun's finest into eldritch abominations. The controversy around Wizkids' new $50 Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 went viral last week, when players who had pre-ordered the set of seven pre-painted miniatures of the main party from Larian's hit D&D video game found them arriving with almost comically bad paint applications—significantly worse than the production images used to sell the set promoted, which were themselves already significantly worse than the images used for the highly anticipated set's reveal last year. Although no one expected seven mass-market miniatures to hit the quality of, say, a Golden Demon entrant, when Karlach's eyes start slipping halfway down her face, Lae'zel's hair is half Githyanki-skintone colored, and Gale looks more like a Dollar Tree Matt Berry, something has gone clearly wrong. Thankfully, Wizkids agrees. In a statement released to the company's official website today, Wizkids offered an apology for the quality of its Baldur's Gate 3 minis. 'As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play. We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products,' the statement opens. 'Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Character Boxed Set.' Wizkids will offer complete refunds to anyone who purchased the set directly from the company, but also offered that anyone who purchased the box set through their local game store can return it to point of purchase for a complete refund as well. Should anyone be brave enough to want a replacement instead, they can also fill out an online form to receive a set that Wizkids will 'ensure that it meets the standards expected.' Wizkids has also removed the Icons of the Realm set from its webstore, so anyone looking to try and buy a questionable piece of Baldur's Gate 3 history might find themselves out of luck. 'Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers. We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner,' the statement concluded. 'Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this.' Hasbro's broader stewardship of Baldur's Gate 3 in the wake of Larian officially moving on from the game after its latest patch has been marked by a series of unfortunate public mishaps as it seeks to capitalize on the immense success of the 2023 smash hit. In a much less funny situation than badly painted miniatures, earlier this year Wizards of the Coast scrapped its much-vaunted virtual tabletop project Sigil, which had extensively leveraged the ability to use characters like Baldur's Gate's Karlach and Astarion in promotional material. Hopefully we get a few more critical hits rather than natural 1s, whatever the company decides to do with BG3 next.
Gizmodo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Oh Dear, Wizkids' Baldur's Gate 3 Miniatures Rolled a Natural 1
As Larian winds down its extensive post-launch support plans for Baldur's Gate 3, Hasbro has been keen to remind Baldur's Gate 3 fans that they have That Game You Like, Too as often as possible. Karlach and Astarion became the big digital faces of D&D's ambitiously gamified virtual tabletop Project Sigil, before it was effectively scrapped earlier this year. Not to worry though, Wizkids were getting ready to offer a Baldur's Gate 3 experience for the physical tabletop. Things should be good, right? … right? Last year Wizkids unveiled a series of pre-painted miniatures inspired by the character designs of Baldur's Gate 3, set to release this year. The 40-miniature-strong collection, alongside a box of just the main characters of the game, was set to bring a veritable host of both named characters and generic minions and creatures from Larian's vision of Faerun to your desk or your next gaming night for everyone who wanted to drag themselves away from their PC or console and imagine if the game behind Baldur's Gate 3 was real. What a concept! But now those miniatures have started getting in people's hands and, oh no. Alarm was sparked this week by, funnily enough, a Larian employee, when Baldur's Gate 3 senior cinematic artist Elodie Ceselli shared pictures of the horrifying paint applications on the final minis they received. Shadowheart has seen things not even Shar would have put her through. Withers is more withered than usual. Gale looks like he's about to tell someone they're the most devious bahstard in nyew waterdeep citaaaaaay. Frustrated gamers likewise chimed in Ceselli's thread with their own examples of dodgy paint apps and damaged minis. Not even samples sent out to press are faring better–GamesRadar's gallery of miniature mishaps is just as worthy of a Vicious Mockery or two, as well. To be fair to Wizkids, mass-marked pre-painted miniatures are not going to exactly be at the standard of seasoned miniature painters. $50 for a box of seven miniatures is a hefty price tag, but experienced hobbyists would know that that kind of money pales in comparison to what someone spending dozens of hours hand-painting their own models might spend in supplies or labor, or what you might pay getting a custom miniature made of your character. But that's a tough argument to make especially when what's getting out to gamers in-hand doesn't even match up with the samples being used to promote these miniatures–which themselves are a significant downgrade from the early renders shown to announce the miniatures last September. Baldur's Gate 3 is going out on a high note as a video game with its last patch bringing a ton of new subclasses and enhancements, but it seems like Hasbro's own handling of the franchise needed to make some better perception checks so far.
