spotted at this year's GenCon auction, from 1983
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/q71/s720x720/993988_10201382864709563_1440791729_n.jpg)
That is definitely one product it would not have occurred to me to get a license for.
I'd say it was for lunch money, but let's face it - there wasn't a lot of lunch money that actually made it from the playground to the classroom in a wallet like that in 1985... :-\
Products like that are part of the reason why TSR is not around any more. They expanded their production from RPG publishing, to toys, paperbacks, miniatures and computer games, then saturated the market and simply could not offload warehouses full of crap to the consumers of a niche market, especially once some other gaming companies brought competition.
Plus they bought the rights to Buck Rogers for an insane amount of cash, an action which some view as a money loop, as the CEO at the helm of TSR personally held those rights.
TSR didn't make that one - they licensed it to Larami. Most of the non-game stuff, like the lunchboxes tied into the Staurday morning cartoon, was licensed by TSR to someone else. THe problem wasn't that they didn't make any money. The problem was that they diluted the brand at a time when the first generation hardcore fans were hitting their mid-20s and had competition their gaming dollars from things like their first cars and kids. Many of them walked away from D&D for a variety of reasons, but one of them was clearly that D&D had skewed too "kiddish"
Quote from: bayonetbrant on August 15, 2013, 10:30:56 PM
spotted at this year's GenCon auction, from 1983
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/q71/s720x720/993988_10201382864709563_1440791729_n.jpg)
Damn that's sweet! And I need a new wallet.
Quote from: mirth on August 19, 2013, 12:46:54 PM
Damn that's sweet! And I need a new wallet.
It's NOT a wallet, and you DO NOT want it...it's a cursed Envelope of Money Holding. Any gold pieces (including Benjamins and VISAs) that you put into it will magically disappear on purchases at local gaming merchants. If you have a female companion and halflings in your party, expect to lose additional gold pieces to Fancy Shoes of Walking (+1 charisma, -1 dexterity), Painted Nails of Beauty (+1 in Charisma), Trousers of Roadrash Protection (+2 dexterity vs falling off a two-wheeled carriage) and flavoured iron rations (Chocolate Chip Granola Bars).
You have been warned,
Jack "Druid of Barley and Hops" Nastyface
^ Nice one.
How much was that wallet selling for, out of curiosity?
Oh, wait. 59.90 Euros? What a bargain:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Advanced-Dungeons-Dragons-WALLET-AD-D-LARAMI-EXCELLENT-/160437081529