D&D Icons of the Realm: Mythic Odysseys of Theros - Booster Case (32)

Review of Mythic Odysseys of Theros Minis I have been a long time collector of D&D pre-painted minis. I started with the old and original Harbinger set. I have collected cases of nearly ever set released since. I primarily use minis for table top play so when I am rating a sets value its determined on design, quality and model choices. Design can encompass how a model is posed, weapon and armor choices, and overall appearance. Is it something I want to use on my game table? Is it going to have an “oooh” or “aaah” factor when I plop it on the table. Posing is important as relates the coolness factor as well as if the model can support its own weight and not be bent or leaning out of the box. Bad posing might also just be some goofy pose where the model looks like its in an unnatural position. Color choices also effect design. Quality encompasses some of the design choices, as in if there are a significant number (say 10% or more) of the models that are poorly designed this will adversely affect my overall opinion of the sets quality. Likewise poor paint jobs, poor execution of color choices, and missing parts or large gaps at joint lines will adversely affect quality raiting., Finally a note on model choices. When creating a set the design team needs to make solid choices in which models to include in a set based on usability in the game. Keeping all this in mind lets take a look at Theros I had very high hopes for this set. I have the Theros source book, and I have the Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign. I was looking forward to running a game in a Greek setting, probably Theros after reading that source book. Sadly though I was highly disappointed in this set. A lot of problems have plagued D&D minis over the years and chief among them has been bent minis. This typically occurs with weapons, ankles, and legs. It seems that WizKids has not learned from history. Its sad really because there are ways to easily mitigate this when designing the mini. In this set WizKids has failed on almost every medium sized mini, and one of the size large minis. The Theros set is probably the worst quality set WizKids has released thus far. This set was plagued with bent minis due to poor posing and poor design, poor color choices and execution of those color choices, and missing parts! As a side note WizKids has a terrible replacement policy for minis with missing parts. Rather than break this down mini by mini I am going to hit the worst offenders and highlight the prime offenders and finish off with what is good with this set. The Akroan Hoplite and the Centaur Ranger: expect lots of weirdly bent spears. Siona Captian of Pyleas: I got three of these in my case (I still don’t understand why they make named characters uncommons) -Out of the three I got two had bent swords, and one was weirdly bent at the ankles.The pose of this mini is poorly designed from the aspect of preventing these weirdly bent minis. Returned Palamnite and Triton Master of the Waves: Both of these minis and in particular the Master of Waves had ankles that were twisted into weird positions. Its clear that these minis were glued into the round bases, and for some reason the ankles were twisted to such a degree that it looks unnatural, and quite painful I might add. This cannot be fixed by the normal drop the mini in boiling water trick* The Oread Nypmh : The oread is another example of a poorly designed mini. The ankles are so thin and the mini is in a pose that lends itself to being tilted and bent over. Fortunately the boiling trick worked to straighten the two I got up. Otherwise the flame flowing around the mini looks really cool. I just don’t know if the ankles will support the top heavy mini over time. Nyx Fleece Ram: My daughter said this mini looked like it had a disease. She’s right. This mini doesn’t even belong in this set. This was a poor choice to include in the set, and its color execution is terrible. Its supposed to look like Nyx fleec and instead it just looks diseased. I would have rather had another anvil wrought, or another hoplite. Ghostblade Eidolon, Like the oread this mini has poorly designed ankles and pose lending itself to a mini that is going to be bent all over the place out of the box. Boil it though, it should straighten it up. Lampad Nymph, and Dryad Nypmph: Both of these minis just look horrible. Either could have been so cool. The kneeling pose is weird. I wish mini designers would just say no to kneeling minis. The designers were feeling very uninspired when they did these. Woe Strider: I love the artwork for the Woe Strider. This was one of my most anticipated minis from the set. But oh what a mess. I feel like they should have made this guy just a bit bigger. Still on a large base but just “bigger”. Perhaps if they had done that they could have put a bit more detail into what should be a creepy face. Instead the paint job on the face is just a blob. Perhaps if they made it just a bit bigger the arms and legs wouldn’t be so flimsy. Out of the box this mini was a twisted mess. Fortunately the boiling trick fixed it up. Fleecemane Lion: Out of the three that I got one of them was missing a bottom jaw. WizKids requires you to return a mini that you want replaced and you have to pay shipping. That’s right, their screw up, their crappy quality control and you have to pay for it. I wont be returning this mini to WizKids, its just not worth the cost to ship it back (figure about 15 dollars US). Their return policy is ridiculous. Doomwake Giant: This could have been so cool. Instead it looks like a frothy gray mess. Returned Sentry: Another mini with screwed up weirdly twisted ankles. So whats good about this set? While the basilisk mini is Theros specific its cool enough that it will see play outside of Theros at my game table. The medusa in this set is very cool. Definitely has that ooh and aaaah factor. Siona she has a really cool paint job on her cloak Leonins! The Nightmare is super creepy looking. Love it The Naiad Nymph is very nice, and is an example of how all these Nypmhs could have looked. Arasta – my daughter saw that and went “nope nope nope” lol. Its an awesome mini. The Night Hags have a very cool slightly translucent cloak that definitely looks Nyx. Looking through the Theros book monster section I definitely think they could have made some different choices for what to include in this set. Like I am really disappointed we didn’t get a three headed cerebus, or some more Theran harpies besides the Rare that came in this set. I also wish they would have made some different design choices for poses and colors. Overall I am fairly disappointed with this set. No where near the quality that was in Descent to Avernus, Dungeon of the Mad Mage or Dragonheist. Lets hope the Icewind Dale set is better.

Review of Mythic Odysseys of Theros Minis I have been a long time collector of D&D pre-painted minis. I started with the old and original Harbinger set. I have collected cases of nearly ever set released since. I primarily use minis for table top play so when I am rating a sets value its determined on design, quality and model choices. Design can encompass how a model is posed, weapon and armor choices, and overall appearance. Is it something I want to use on my game table? Is it going to have an “oooh” or “aaah” factor when I plop it on the table. Posing is important as relates the coolness factor as well as if the model can support its own weight and not be bent or leaning out of the box. Bad posing might also just be some goofy pose where the model looks like its in an unnatural position. Color choices also effect design. Quality encompasses some of the design choices, as in if there are a significant number (say 10% or more) of the models that are poorly designed this will adversely affect my overall opinion of the sets quality. Likewise poor paint jobs, poor execution of color choices, and missing parts or large gaps at joint lines will adversely affect quality raiting., Finally a note on model choices. When creating a set the design team needs to make solid choices in which models to include in a set based on usability in the game. Keeping all this in mind lets take a look at Theros I had very high hopes for this set. I have the Theros source book, and I have the Odyssey of the Dragonlords campaign. I was looking forward to running a game in a Greek setting, probably Theros after reading that source book. Sadly though I was highly disappointed in this set. A lot of problems have plagued D&D minis over the years and chief among them has been bent minis. This typically occurs with weapons, ankles, and legs. It seems that WizKids has not learned from history. Its sad really because there are ways to easily mitigate this when designing the mini. In this set WizKids has failed on almost every medium sized mini, and one of the size large minis. The Theros set is probably the worst quality set WizKids has released thus far. This set was plagued with bent minis due to poor posing and poor design, poor color choices and execution of those color choices, and missing parts! As a side note WizKids has a terrible replacement policy for minis with missing parts. Rather than break this down mini by mini I am going to hit the worst offenders and highlight the prime offenders and finish off with what is good with this set. The Akroan Hoplite and the Centaur Ranger: expect lots of weirdly bent spears. Siona Captian of Pyleas: I got three of these in my case (I still don’t understand why they make named characters uncommons) -Out of the three I got two had bent swords, and one was weirdly bent at the ankles.The pose of this mini is poorly designed from the aspect of preventing these weirdly bent minis. Returned Palamnite and Triton Master of the Waves: Both of these minis and in particular the Master of Waves had ankles that were twisted into weird positions. Its clear that these minis were glued into the round bases, and for some reason the ankles were twisted to such a degree that it looks unnatural, and quite painful I might add. This cannot be fixed by the normal drop the mini in boiling water trick* The Oread Nypmh : The oread is another example of a poorly designed mini. The ankles are so thin and the mini is in a pose that lends itself to being tilted and bent over. Fortunately the boiling trick worked to straighten the two I got up. Otherwise the flame flowing around the mini looks really cool. I just don’t know if the ankles will support the top heavy mini over time. Nyx Fleece Ram: My daughter said this mini looked like it had a disease. She’s right. This mini doesn’t even belong in this set. This was a poor choice to include in the set, and its color execution is terrible. Its supposed to look like Nyx fleec and instead it just looks diseased. I would have rather had another anvil wrought, or another hoplite. Ghostblade Eidolon, Like the oread this mini has poorly designed ankles and pose lending itself to a mini that is going to be bent all over the place out of the box. Boil it though, it should straighten it up. Lampad Nymph, and Dryad Nypmph: Both of these minis just look horrible. Either could have been so cool. The kneeling pose is weird. I wish mini designers would just say no to kneeling minis. The designers were feeling very uninspired when they did these. Woe Strider: I love the artwork for the Woe Strider. This was one of my most anticipated minis from the set. But oh what a mess. I feel like they should have made this guy just a bit bigger. Still on a large base but just “bigger”. Perhaps if they had done that they could have put a bit more detail into what should be a creepy face. Instead the paint job on the face is just a blob. Perhaps if they made it just a bit bigger the arms and legs wouldn’t be so flimsy. Out of the box this mini was a twisted mess. Fortunately the boiling trick fixed it up. Fleecemane Lion: Out of the three that I got one of them was missing a bottom jaw. WizKids requires you to return a mini that you want replaced and you have to pay shipping. That’s right, their screw up, their crappy quality control and you have to pay for it. I wont be returning this mini to WizKids, its just not worth the cost to ship it back (figure about 15 dollars US). Their return policy is ridiculous. Doomwake Giant: This could have been so cool. Instead it looks like a frothy gray mess. Returned Sentry: Another mini with screwed up weirdly twisted ankles. So whats good about this set? While the basilisk mini is Theros specific its cool enough that it will see play outside of Theros at my game table. The medusa in this set is very cool. Definitely has that ooh and aaaah factor. Siona she has a really cool paint job on her cloak Leonins! The Nightmare is super creepy looking. Love it The Naiad Nymph is very nice, and is an example of how all these Nypmhs could have looked. Arasta – my daughter saw that and went “nope nope nope” lol. Its an awesome mini. The Night Hags have a very cool slightly translucent cloak that definitely looks Nyx. Looking through the Theros book monster section I definitely think they could have made some different choices for what to include in this set. Like I am really disappointed we didn’t get a three headed cerebus, or some more Theran harpies besides the Rare that came in this set. I also wish they would have made some different design choices for poses and colors. Overall I am fairly disappointed with this set. No where near the quality that was in Descent to Avernus, Dungeon of the Mad Mage or Dragonheist. Lets hope the Icewind Dale set is better.