As for a little while now, Blizzard has been pampering its fans for many years with a whole bunch of goodies bearing the image of the extensions deployed on its famous MMORPG, World of Warcraft. And Dragonflight, whose release date is set for the end of November, is no exception since on this occasion the publisher revealed a new statue bearing the image of Alexstrasza, the Aspect of Life and leader of the Red Dragonflight!
Alexstrasza: Dragonqueen and Lifebinder
Alexstrasza is one of the five Dragon Aspects in the Warcraft universe, and one of the main protagonists of the Dragonflight expansion. Regularly taking an elven humanoid form, his true form is however that of a huge and powerful red dragon. She is the Guardian of Life, appointed by Éonar to breathe and protect life on Azeroth for millennia.
Here are the characteristics of this statuette:
- Pre-order only: the statuette will be shipped no later than September 2023
- 52 x 28 x 18cm
- 6.5kg
- Polyresin and PVC
- Hand painted by Blizzard artists
- Sculpted by Brian Fay and Natacha Nielsen
- Painted by Lewis Villamar
Beauty is not everything!
The arrival of the Queen-Dragon among the few iconic characters to benefit from an exceptional visual in the form of a statuette is rather a very good thing. Long relegated to the rank of a very secondary character, in the same way as most of the Draconic Aspects, Alexstrasza is nevertheless one of the emblematic characters of the Warcraft license and it was time for her to be entitled to a treatment worthy of the name!
But now, if this statuette is particularly sublime and equipped with quite amazing details, its price will undoubtedly quickly calm the ardor of many fans of the Aspect of Life. Until fairly recently, these collectibles were nevertheless relatively accessible, allowing collectors to afford them on certain occasions, Christmas for example since the famous holiday is coming soon. Admittedly, their price was already very high, but for a collector’s item, paying around $300 remained relatively affordable.
Except that for the occasion, Blizzard strikes once again very hard, and not in a good way after a replica of Frostmourne sold for $1,500 a few weeks earlier. Available for the modest price of €1,100, the statuette of Alexstrasza is illustrated not only by its bearing but also by the excess of the publisher. Isn’t that a tad too much? Major collectors will no doubt answer that this remains acceptable, yet spending not far from a minimum wage for an object intended to collect dust in the background in your living room is absolutely not unanimous, and we can understand it, as beautiful be it !
Worse still, converting the price into euros is once again not advantageous for Europeans, quite the contrary! Available for $900 across the Atlantic, it should logically be around €870 for the rest of us if we rely on the current exchange rate. So how to explain these 230€ in excess of the price displayed in the European Gear Store? No idea. One thing is certain: it seems to date more advantageous to pre-order it on the American Gear Store than the European one, even including the very expensive customs fees. Absolute nonsense.
- Alexstrasza on the US Gear Store
- Alexstrasza on Gear Store EU
Finally, the reason for such a price is quite difficult to justify. Once again, for a handmade collector’s item with finishes as clean as those offered by Blizzard on its statuettes, it is normal to pay a fairly high price. But €1,100 all the same! The price of these items has drastically increased over the past few years. As a reminder, here is the price of World of Warcraft statuettes offered by Blizzard in recent years at the time of their initial sale (excluding additional costs):
- $350 for Illidan in 2016 (Legion)
- $350 for Sylvanas Windrunner in 2017 (Battle for Azeroth)
- $350 or €350 for Jaina Proudmoore in 2019 (Battle for Azeroth)
- $139 for Arthas Menethil in 2020 (Warcraft III: Reforged)
- $600 or €715 for Thrall in 2020
- $1,100 or €1,300 for the Lich King in 2021
- $1,500 or €1,500 for Frostmourne in 2022 (WotLK Classic)
- $900 or $1,100 for Alexstrasza in 2022 (Dragonflight)
This statuette of Alexstrasza is nonetheless a sumptuous piece to add to your collection, especially since its dimensions are, like most of the aforementioned statuettes, more than generous. It will make a place for itself on your shelf, that’s for sure!
mmo
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