I didn't come back from OTSN with much money. But to defend myself, why would I travel 4 hours to simply window shop? So, because I came back with a trunk full of plastic, there ain't too many toy soldier item's on my list to Santa this year. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the Conte Spartans would be ready, but alas, it wasn't meant to be I guess. Have you seen the pictures on their site? I think the colors look good. The silver and bronze are absolutely rockin'. I still haven't wrapped my mind around the whole "poseable figure" idea yet. In fact, let's talk about that...
I'm all for change. Change is a good thing. I love change in most regards. If it ain't broke, it's a good time to see if we can make it better. Just like my computer... it's running really well right now, so let's take it apart and see if we can make it run even faster!!!
I don't know. They are what they are. I mean, there are action figures, and there are toy soldiers. When does a toy soldier become an action figure? Can they be one and the same? If someone would have told me they were making poseable spartan figures, and not mentioned the name Conte, I would have assumed they were going to be action figures, much like my beloved Star Wars and G.I. Joe figures from the 80's. But squash em' down to 1/32 scale, and all of a sudden, poseable or not, they become "toy soldiers". Why do we make a difference between them? Are they played with any differently? Do action figures, with poseable limbs and detachable weapons, dissuade imaginative prowess? Do we as hobbyists consider the "Snake Eyes" action figure with the patented Karate-Chop-Action cheaper, and beneath our realistic "scale miniatures"?
Please understand, I'm not trying to decide whether it is a good thing or a bad thing that Mr. Conte has "changed the game" on us. I've already decided, and have in fact decided that it is a spectacular thing!!! Any fresh air to the hobby is appreciated. But I'm still trying to decide whether for me, myself, poseable arms and limbs stray from my preset notions of the concept of "toy soldiers", which I have already imbued with my own particular perceptions.
But you know I'm gonna buy a ton of em' :)
1 comment:
Man, it's good to have you back... these are finer aspects of the hobby that are definitely worth pondering... Innovation is good, but in this case, like my grandma used to say, "I'll have to get used to it..." then again, as I write this I kinda recall that the old plastic britains had movable arms, and what about those 'swoppets' (I believe they were called that way)? Not quite articulated action figures, but the waist was seprable and could be turned couldn't it? Anyhow, I have not seen the conte figs in question so I can't picture how 'articulted' they might be considering that they are 1/32 after all... Hope they don't break too easily cause my troops can get banged up pretty badly in the battles! I guess if they do, you could always use them as casualties!
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