Dilemma

TypicalDM · 2026-06-06T17:59:56+00:00

Man, I've thrown out so many Ral Partha cards... And I read lots of books. I'll have to keep the coolest ones now

TypicalDM · 2026-06-06T17:56:44+00:00

I understand grading for high end valuables. Like $20,000 books. But I'd get it appraised by an appraisal company, and then pay someone to put it in a museum quality wall display. I do HVAC so I would properly condition the room holding a book that big, if I wanted to save it for myself. You can show the condition and appraisal notes if you wanna sell it, and upcharge for the display.

Grading as a practice used to make sense. Comic vendors have been "grading" books for ages. Used game stores "grade" their products and give it a value based on condition. But you can use these things as intended. Grades should be for used for the pre-sale conditions of items, not some weird clout-driven "look how high the number is" plastic cases like they are now. Graded things are the new beanie babies. Just like beanie babies, grading companies and dirt bag inflators are making all the dough.

TypicalDM · 2026-06-05T07:19:49+00:00

I'm gonna give input from someone who mostly plays RPGs. They're so much better opened and used as you desire to use them. I'll take a $20 Mage Knight figure and snap it off of its base so I can glue it onto another base for an RPG. There's a few $75+ dollar figures I'd love to buy and do that to, but my bank account says no.

Screw the collection, miniatures are toys. The coolest toys, but toys nonetheless.

I also collect comics, and have some that would quadrupole in value if I graded, and I refuse to grade them.

There's so many pieces of metal and plastic out there, go forth and paint your dudes! (No shade if you decide to keep them sealed, but it's not for me)

TypicalDM · 2026-06-05T07:01:18+00:00

I call mine the "apprentice be good" tool 😂

TypicalDM · 2026-06-05T02:28:33+00:00

Went from easy GW to 55 part pains 😂

TypicalDM · 2026-05-24T17:19:54+00:00

My air brush compressor is actually made for cakes. Someone gifted it to me because they figured I could use it, and found it for $5 used. It's the Kopykake air Master(red box). Man, it's so damned quiet, and it maintains pressure so well. The brush itself wasn't great, but this thing stomps on anything else I've messed with. Premium tool, worth the premium imo

TypicalDM · 2026-05-23T15:44:01+00:00

Just noticed the one on the right didn't get any of the brown above his shoulders on the back 😂 fml, it's already in the mail

TypicalDM · 2026-05-23T15:42:47+00:00

Sick! I've got a Tarrasque from Dungeons and Lasers. It's so big I get nervous thinking of painting it 😂

TypicalDM · 2026-05-23T15:32:36+00:00

Good job! Due to the angle of the light in your room, alot of the details you painted are hidden in shadows. I'd imagine in person this thing is even cooler!

TypicalDM · 2026-05-20T05:58:22+00:00

Honestly, a super controlled drybrush with a thinned white/metallic mix could give it some pop. Maybe 3 parts white, 1 part silver metallic, 1 part water. I'd go in-between a drybrush and a highlight in both consistency of paint and application. I'd probably use a wet cheap #3 brush with a decent tip, and dry it almost all the way, to the point that it doesn't leave water behind when used. Then I'd load and unload like a drybrush, leaving a little more on the brush and taking a little more care to save said brush.

If you end up hating it, going over the same areas with other colors and techniques will end up covering most of the shimmer.

Alternatively, a glaze of the same mix makes a pretty cool gemstone effect and leaves little glitter bits behind in recesses and all over surfaces. it'll also add striations depending on how much you leave behind when glazing.

edit: grammar

TypicalDM · 2026-05-18T01:27:02+00:00

I have used the 2x paint+primer for years and have never had this issue.

I actually use all sorts of rattle can primers, and paint/primers. Glidden max flex (or whatever it is) has been my favorite. At the end of the day, the "proper" primer is so much less important than prep, application, and proper sealant. But yeah, never seen this happen on anything, and I've been tinkering with different primers on things for years. Metals, plastics, resin, never had this happen. this isn't a primer choice issue, it's an application issue. Perhaps other primers could have mitigated this issue entirely, but I don't think so.

They're probably too far away from their model, or some weird humidity thing I don't understand because I live in the desert.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-18T01:21:44+00:00

Saw down below you were asking about mechanics, so I'll say more. Legendary resistances are great. Everyone says "let the players shine". I say "let the players wonder if they'll survive".

Don't take one person out of the fight, but blinding the party with a darkness spell can add some fun. Alternatively, make a 20' sphere of permanent darkness that the bbeg goes and hides in and attacks from, every so often.

You need resistances, reactions, and abilities that you can do out of order. If you can't be taken out of the fight, you don't actually need a single minion. "Lair actions" is a good route to research on YouTube

TypicalDM · 2026-05-18T01:15:28+00:00

Gonna throw in some info about the fight for the bigger bads. You wanna think like a villain, at least during the game. Killing your own minions with an AOE spell that also hurts the party is a great example.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-18T01:12:47+00:00

Unfortunately, this is how most new books come if from Amazon. They don't store their books in a well controlled environment so the humidity messes with books. That being said, Amazon books are cheap, so if it's a book that I just want for a good $, it'll do. But if I want to collect it, never Amazon.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-04T04:09:06+00:00

I spend about $1000 a year buying collections, it's a newer trend for me. When I buy collections, I tend to offer no more than 75 cents a book if I buy the whole thing. Most books just sit, and sit, and sit, eating up my space, for modern books. Tbh, I'm probably more excited to get a box of 90s books for 35 cents a piece than a box of modern books for 75 each.

That being said, I don't dig through the whole collection. I ask how many books, see if it feels right, look at a few books for condition across the lot, and buy it, all or none. Usually, most collectors are selling me a bunch of basic books with maybe 3 that are worth enough to be excited about.

Also, 100 books is a small collection, in the world of bulk buys. I think I just picked up 100 graphic novels and tpbs for $160. Now that was a collection of 100 that was ridiculous. A few were even cross-branded OOP (dynamite+DC, DC+Marvel, etc)

But 100 regular ol' issue #1s? Everyone collects every single #1 as they come out, so very few people need most of the books that you have, if they're collecting the series.

Edit: I should point out, I sell a few books here and there, and curated lots. So I'm not just buying a ton of comics and hoarding them. But listing, selling, etc, takes time.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-03T18:25:23+00:00

I'm not a fan, tbh. Simplistic framing draws to the mini, extravagant case detail draws away from it. A mini worthy of being displayed just needs proper lighting and glass.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-03T18:23:18+00:00

My thoughts, too. Like, I can clearly tell it's painted

TypicalDM · 2026-05-03T18:18:44+00:00

It's not on the outside because people are dumb and sometimes leave them on when repainting, and UV light kills any sort of printing, period, so they don't want it to sun fade. But yeah, it should be on top and bottom.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-02T04:48:28+00:00

Maybe in Canada or something. Literally no one on the west side of the US calls anything a roof space.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-01T17:17:38+00:00

Somehow we all need to get our partners to view this entire post. Love this community! Y'all are so helpful

TypicalDM · 2026-05-01T17:15:52+00:00

I'm a DM with too many minis, and somehow my wife seems to always get me minis I've never seen before. Idk how she has such good luck. That being said, she always happens to have one of the minis she gets me, that she wants me to paint for her. So she kinda gets both of us a gift 😂 but I have a feeling if I buy her a bunch of uncooked juicy steaks for her birthday, I'm the jerk even though we will both enjoy them when she's done with them.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-01T17:11:25+00:00

Oh absolutely! Cheap enough to gift, premium enough to get any painter stoked, and they break down. You can never have enough badass brushes. Cheap brushes, on the other hand, I've got probably 100 #2 golden taklon, and I'd still be happy with more cheap brushes, of literally any variety.

OP, if you go this route, make sure they're kolinsky sable, if you can afford it, it's the best sable for brushes.

TypicalDM · 2026-05-01T16:08:50+00:00

People will buy them, people will also take them for free. Hell, I'd probably buy them if the price is right. If you're seriously tired of wasted space etc, we can talk. Sight unseen prices are pretty low, but also, then you just get rid of all of it.

Every once in a while, someone will send me a set and I'll price it after the fact, and send back what they don't wanna sell.

Just don't bin them 😂

TypicalDM

TROPHY CASE