The Nonofficial Official Non-Gencon Exclusive '09 Unit Step1

[mrkurtb]

The Mi-Go 13 had an excellent idea in reaction to the news of no official GenCon Exclusive this year which is to do it ourselves.

While I have never attended GenCon I am still disappointed because of all the excitement the Exclusives bring: the speculation, the strategy, and perhaps an excellent blog entry by Rÿchean or others.

So let's get the ball rolling to determine if this idea has any legs. The way I see it there are some questions that must be answered before any unit contest starts:
1. Determine interest from the HSers community. If little interest, the process stops here.
2. Determine if Truth, the HSer Community, and especially WotC/Paul Barclay would allow it to be listed in the forums as an "official" unit as opposed to a "custom" unit. If no, then the process stops here.
3. Given sufficient interest and approval, determine whether if such a figure were developed, would it be accepted as a official unit at tournaments. More specifically, if a contest were run and the winning unit was overwhelmingly approved, would it then be considered an accepted unit almost unanimously by existing tournament directors? If no, the process stops here.
4. If tournament directors overwhelming agree to accept such a unit then a judging committee should be named.
5. Rules for the contest should be laid out.
6. Run the contest.
7. Committee picks the winner with emphasis on proper costing, flavor, boosting dusty units, etc.
8. I believe there should be a final veto or check to the process where if the final winner isn't up to snuff it gets flushed before becoming named nonofficially official.
9. If it passes all of the above steps, then repaint instructions should be listed.

In closing, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves that we don't get something for free, let's improve the process. Let's insure that Heroscapers have something to look forward to every year regardless what WotC does. While HS is a steamroller, someday it may be put out to pasture. Wouldn't it be cool if this community became so self impowered that it wouldn't really matter?

[IAmBatman]

I think you're gonna have trouble getting past step 2 ... if you really think that needs to be on the list, I'm not sure if it's worth me voting as part of step 1.

[mrkurtb]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I think you're gonna have trouble getting past step 2

I agree, that is going to be the toughest part.

The way I see it for any such "Exclusive" to have any real long-term benefit to the community, the game, and to a lesser extent WotC it must be nearly universally accepted. If it isn't, then such a unit would be just another custom. A custom unit (as opposed to an official unit) can be great, even amazing, but such units just wouldn't advance the meta-game or the community as much.

[IAmBatman]

The powers that be on this board are too intimately attached to the actual official product to ever call a community custom, no matter how accepted it is, an actual "official" product. I don't think it's them trying to be jerks or anything, I just don't think that, legally (and in terms of what the WotC would be OK with), that's going to be something they can or should do.

[mrkurtb]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

The powers that be on this board are too intimately attached to the actual official product to ever call a community custom, no matter how accepted it is, an actual "official" product. I don't think it's them trying to be jerks or anything, I just don't think that, legally (and in terms of what the WotC would be OK with), that's going to be something they can or should do.

And that's precisely why I said...

Originally Posted by mrkurtb

especially WotC/Paul Barclay

I'm not saying that's likely, but I will say stranger things have happened.
Consider:
1) Using a "Golden Deathstalker" for sake of argument, such an Exclusive would generate sales from HSers snatching up low demand Deathstalker packs to create their own customs.
2) Such an Exclusive would generate sales by increasing the value/demand for Deathstalkers themselves.
3) Plus throwing their die-hard fans (HSers), some of whom are a bit peeved about the perceived lack of respect, a bone isn't always a bad idea either.

[Manatee]

I'm not sure that I get #3 (and yes, I've read the other thread). How is not releasing an exclusive at GenCon showing a lack of respect for the community on WotC's part? As someone (sorry, forgot who) noted in that thread, they don't OWE us an exclusive. Sure, it's a nice bonus and creates a bit more buzz about 'scape, but if times are tough, then times are tough. I'd rather that WotC was fiscally conservative (ensuring more 'scape down the line) than sunk resources into something that, comparatively speaking, has little impact on the game.

And yeah, I can't imagine a fan-created custom ever being ruled "official" either.

Sorry to rain on your parade--just call me Eeyore, I guess.

[Simpsons Scaper]

I think it's a good idea, but step 2 is hard.

[Retlaw]

I voted yes, but then after reading the step 2 requirement, I am pretty sure this will never happen.

[Onacara]

I voted no because there is nothing EXCLUSIVE about it.

[nyys]

Even if it were universaly accepted, it would still be a custom unit. If it's not released by Hasbro/WotC, then it's a custom, no real way around that.

This also opens a new can or worms in that, if this did get all the way to universal acceptance, many custom creators would be clamoring about getting more custom units accepted. Much like the TNT thread.

[MegaSilver]

I would like to see a black version of the Venoc Warlord, called the Onyx Warlord. He would fit perfectly with the reissue of Wave 1.

[The Mi-Go 13]

First off, thanks for taking up the cause!

When I first thought of this I wasn't intending it to be officially added to the line by anyone at WotC. My intention was to just get the community to come together and pick an exceptional entry for a unit created by Heroscapers and tested by Heroscapers who know how to test these things will skill and impartiality (not wowed by the cool factor into giving approval to a 'broken' figure).

I also didn't think of this as exclusive, just promotional. What it would be promoting is the game in general, this site specifically, and the whole community by proxy.

I vote yes for this but please consider dropping the more restrictive parts of your plan such as the 'WotC Stamp of Approval". This should be for the whole community, which is part of the reason I even suggested that the contest use a specific figure from the Wave 1 re-release. This would be easy for folks to get and it would be neat to see what folks come up with and how they paint it.

For example, "Ok gang, the Official Unofficial Promo figure for 2009 is a unique hero using the Omnicron Sniper figure who has his pistol up in the air. What we need everyone who wants to enter the contest to do is:
- repaint this fig and take a picture.
- Create a card or at least the stats, powers, name, and alliance.
- Send it to <xxxxxxx> at hsers.com by <xxxxxx> date

Then the playtesters would test out their favorite 2-3 figs, tweak the stats etc as need and decide on a final fig for 2009. From there they would announce the winning fig, release the stat card for download and a pic or two of the repainted fig so that folks could make their own.

This way some creative member of the HSers.com community can have the pride of making our 'official' (official for hsers.com NOT WotC) 2009 promo fig., promote the game and the community. That's as 'official' as we need to be, and that's what I intended, but folks can run with this as they feel comfortable.

If I can help, please let me know.

Thanks gang,

M13