1 hour ago, MasterShake2 said:TL:DR, painting for money sucks
Yes it does. There's no standard for what professional quality really is, it's all in the eye of the beholder. I always tell people if you want to see true "tabletop quality", go to museums and really look hard at the dioramas of Hopi Corn Dances or of The Battle of Such & Such. The dioramas look amazing, but any one model's paintjob looks... kind of shoddy. A museum can pay a design firm enough for that diorama to make all the dollars and sense add up. But a hobbyist can not usually pay a freelancer a price that will actually work for everyone. The freelancer lacks the economy of scale of the design firm, and the gamer is going to be comparing the finished product to 'Eavy Metal photographs in White Dwarf.
Honestly if I had no other hobbies and pulled in 6 figures, I'd spend $1000 apiece on 2 really well painted core sets if I could include a character swap in that price for the extra Luke's and Vader's with Boba Fett and Leia. Then I'd commission a set of Priority Supplies, a box of operatives per side, a Scout Walker and some rebel Fleet Troops. I'd also happily spend $200-$500 on scenery that's ready out of the box. I'd have all the models and scenery I needed to play awesome Star Wars games. Compared to [not boardgames] it's a reasonable price tag for a grown-up hobby. The problem is many of us are 1) teenagers and 2) we do tend to compare this to the price of a copy of Settler's of Catan when it should be more realistically compared to golf clubs or fishing gear.
I compare Legion to reenacting and it's dead cheap by that comparison. 3 core sets, 2 spare commanders, and a $50 trip to AC Moore can set you up in Legion quite happily... for the same money you've BEGUN to save up for a musket and still need a uniform and camp items.
If you really want painted armies and can't paint worth a tinker's dam, the best thing to do is trade skills with someone. When money gets involved people get very easily upset.
The problem the Falcon seller is going to run into is supply vs. demand. They are quite correct that supply is low: this is a one of a kind art object with many hours of labor in it. But if demand is even lower , it won't sell. I was amazed at how pricey old WEG minis are on eBay. I also happened to have tons of sealed packs in my basement. Just wanting to get them to good homes, I listed loads of them at half of (apparent) market value. I got no sales. Yes they are rare cool old things, but buyers for them are even rarer.
Edited by TauntaunScout