An Idea

[Oh Yeah! I'm Here]

Alright, we all know this is the end of HeroScape as we know it. But I want to make a proposal. The cynics will laugh their heads off, the optimists will scoff, and the crazy ones will turn the other way, but here goes:

We're a rather large community of fans, and there are probably many more fans out there that aren't apart of this HeroScapers community. So why are we throwing in the towel? Yes, we admit we'll make customs, and we will continue to come to this site just for that, but why not just take up the reins?

Yes, I just proposed that we take over the entirety of the HeroScape product line. Now, it would be tought, because I'm sure we have to go through the whole idea of buying the rights to the brand, and then marketing, packaging, creation, and distribution would all be a problem.

But we're the community! We already have marketing. I bet if a fraction of us put out flyers, and advertisement for HeroScape and the such, maybe asked our FLGS for sponorship, we could have the marketing aspect somewhat covered.

And then creation would be a no brainer. We're a creative community, and we could create large amounts of new units! Classic Scape would return! But there is still the problem of Packaging and Distribution.

Maybe some of us have a few friends in high places, and we could get packaging taken care of, or even distribution, and with donations, we could certainly get this idea off the ground. I'm not saying that my idea is the correct way to go, but hey, I at least wanna try fighting to save a product I love.

But that is just my take on this. I don't want to give up without a fight, and I want to continue to give the Joys of HeroScape to the rest of the world out there.

Please, if you have any comments, ideas, criticisms, concerns, rude remarks, and anything else I forgot, just go for it. It's all out there now.

['Scaper94]

I like this. Sure, it needs to be tweaked, but I'm liking the idea. I'd help out any way I could.

[flameslayer93]

There is the CMSP(linked in my sig).

[Sport351]

Yes. Heck, I'm 15 so I can't help much with the business aspect, but if we really come together we could do something like this. Flameslayer's figure and KaiserCat's terrain threads would become more than the offical customs, but would be the offical figures and terrain. Something like this...it is far from impossible!

[Flame Gryphon]

This could be a good idea. And flameslayer-we get it. You want the cmsp to take the reins, but I'm not so sure about that. What OY! is talking about would be us buying the brand, not creating a Customs Project.

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by Flame Gryphon

This could be a good idea. And flameslayer-we get it. You want the cmsp to take the reins, but I'm not so sure about that. What OY! is talking about would be us buying the brand, not creating a Customs Project.

It's not exactly to take the reins, mostly a project that is available for ClassisScape. With several projects popping up in one day, I only mean to try to help out by mass advertising on such threads. If it's not, then well at least I can say I tried

[Robber]

1. Propose insanely awesome idea

2. Start a petition and put it in our signatures

3. watch Onacara yell at us because 400 other people have threads like this

4. WotC recontinues heroscape and comes out with a worse version

5. Repeat

Seriously though, awesome idea. I'm in support of this.

[scorpiusx]

Oh Yeah, your proposal is, evidently, fracking crazy. The only question remaining is if its crazy enough to work.

-scorp

[machinekng]

This could work.

Every Heroscaper who invests would recieve shares of the stock.

We could get venture capitalists to buy into the idea, and with their money, the molding/packaging would be outsourced.

As for marketing, that would be part of the job, as every Heroscaper would be an employee, in effect.

Distribution would be tough. We'd have to convince game retailers that the idea would work well enough.

Everyone who owns stock would recieve a dividend check as their pay for working on this.

My only worry is that things designed by comitee generally do not work very well. Most likley, only the best figure makers would be emploued in the figure creation, while the majority works in marketing.

Heroscapers Incoporated

I like the sound of that.

[freudianslip27]

There was another thread where someone mentioned an idea of us buying the molds and rights to reproduce for some of the rarer stuff. Think about if we could produce new volcanic pieces! The profit from that could be used to expand what we could do.

Start small with stuff that already exists

Matt

[freudianslip27]

Yes, coordinating this stuff would be impossible on any other forum, but the people on here are amazing. Look at all that has been accomplished so far

Matt

[delphic]

We need to get the rights, the moulds, and the backing.

Production can be scaled to the market. One injection molding machine can kick out all the production you need to get Scape back on the shelves, using the already well known online distributors.

Packaging: Vacuum forming is fast, simple and cheep don't worry about it, I can make a vacuum former out of a shop-vac, plywood, and a decent heating element from an oven in an afternoon, small potatoes compared to buying the rights and the moulds. Cardboard printing ... Also cheep and easy. Start with a 3rd party producer and then buy your own press once you get running and making money.

Artwork: Hire some good, fast, dedicated artists ... I think there might be a few on Heroscapers. Paging AliasQtip and friends.

Design Team: Any Volunteers??? "Stampede"

The idea is not crazy, it actually could make sense, the biggest problem is getting the rights and the moulds. Will WotC sell them and for how much?

Starting off as Cottage Industry with a Heroscape takeover could work, most game companies start that way. They also can live with 10-15% profit margins that larger corporations like WotC can't, they need 20-30% to see a product as viable due to overhead and investment returns.

I'd be more than happy to help, I have 5 years of plastic moulding experience, I'm a Mechanical Engineer, and I specialize in Lean manufacturing. I'm also a structural EIT, so I could even design the building.

I'm all for HeroScape Inc.

Cheers,

Delphic