Wizkids Apologizes After Its Dodgy ‘Baldur's Gate 3' Miniatures Hit With Vicious Mockery

Gizmodo

19-05-2025

After pictures of in-hand copies of Wizkids' new pre-painted Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures emerged and were promptly ridiculed last week, the toymaker has announced plans to offer complete refunds to players disappointed by the horrifying paint jobs that turned Faerun's finest into eldritch abominations.
The controversy around Wizkids' new $50 Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 went viral last week, when players who had pre-ordered the set of seven pre-painted miniatures of the main party from Larian's hit D&D video game found them arriving with almost comically bad paint applications—significantly worse than the production images used to sell the set promoted, which were themselves already significantly worse than the images used for the highly anticipated set's reveal last year. Although no one expected seven mass-market miniatures to hit the quality of, say, a Golden Demon entrant, when Karlach's eyes start slipping halfway down her face, Lae'zel's hair is half Githyanki-skintone colored, and Gale looks more like a Dollar Tree Matt Berry, something has gone clearly wrong.
Thankfully, Wizkids agrees. In a statement released to the company's official website today, Wizkids offered an apology for the quality of its Baldur's Gate 3 minis. 'As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play. We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products,' the statement opens. 'Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Character Boxed Set.'
Wizkids will offer complete refunds to anyone who purchased the set directly from the company, but also offered that anyone who purchased the box set through their local game store can return it to point of purchase for a complete refund as well. Should anyone be brave enough to want a replacement instead, they can also fill out an online form to receive a set that Wizkids will 'ensure that it meets the standards expected.' Wizkids has also removed the Icons of the Realm set from its webstore, so anyone looking to try and buy a questionable piece of Baldur's Gate 3 history might find themselves out of luck.
'Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers. We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner,' the statement concluded. 'Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this.'
Hasbro's broader stewardship of Baldur's Gate 3 in the wake of Larian officially moving on from the game after its latest patch has been marked by a series of unfortunate public mishaps as it seeks to capitalize on the immense success of the 2023 smash hit. In a much less funny situation than badly painted miniatures, earlier this year Wizards of the Coast scrapped its much-vaunted virtual tabletop project Sigil, which had extensively leveraged the ability to use characters like Baldur's Gate's Karlach and Astarion in promotional material. Hopefully we get a few more critical hits rather than natural 1s, whatever the company decides to do with BG3 next.