Printing Figurines- how to make it rich with nerds

Well the post title isn't entirely accurate. Copyrighted stuff can't be sold, the only people who'll be able to do this are people who have original custom ideas or are making them for their own usage. This came to my attention the other day while I was complaining about the fact that my Formlabs printer is now delayed due to shortage in production. While I believe in large part tabletop games are mostly dead there are still the few and dedicated who enjoy games like D&D and such. They drive a not new but definitely interesting form of business forward. HeroForge is just one example of a kickstarter company that gives players the ability to customize their own tabletop figurine via the usage of 3D printers.

By offering a service instead of a hard product it gives consumers the ability to customize and make a miniature to what they wish. However, like all services there are differences in levels of service. The old saying you get what you pay for holds true here. While HeroForge offers you the ability to use its software to customize a miniature with pre-rigged and posed figurines; 3Distributed hosts an even more intricate service. They allow you to customize multiple things down to the last detail. Of course this service is a bit pricier.

3Distributed offers these customization options for their figures and because they're not borrowing from a pre-made list of options the figurine that comes out will be purely unique in its own right

1. As detailed a visual description as possible (sketches and pictures, however rough, are always useful) 
2. A personality description to help our sculptors know who they're bringing to life
3. Weapon choices
4. Stance 
5. Clothing/armour and other equipment 
6. Colour scheme and ground description (if choosing 'painted')
7. Height (prices below are based on 28mm scale 

This opens up not only a previously closed market of design, but offers insight on what direction future 3D print franchises and artists might wish to do with their machine. People like to get exactly what they want. Even if they have to pay a little more. I've included links below to both websites.

• STORMBEARDS from http://www.3distributed.com/pages/stormbeards-emporium
• Hero Forge from Kickstarter.com