After receiving some great feedback here and on Dakka-Dakka, the general consensus, (two or more mentions of the same issue) so far seems to be.
Make for easy weapon swaps:
Will do…. I will make a few blank arms without weapons.
Make all three helmets available as options for each figure:
Yep, all three will be included with each mini, for both heavy weapon and assault minis.
Energy heavy weapons need to be supported by free arm:
I will rework this, I agree the left arm needs something to do
Some issues with the size or design of the shoulder pads:
I probably won’t make huge changes to these, it’s a design decision that defines the minis silhouette but I think they could use some tweaking to make the minis less top heavy while maintaining a heavily armored look.
Need to re-design the sword to more medieval two handed sword look:
Easy fix… will do. I will show an option and you can give a thumbs up or down.
Need to redesign the auto-grenade launcher to be more interesting:
Agree, but I’m completely uninspired here…. If you have examples of what you would like to see or a direction for me to take these in please speak up. (More input please) I will show an option and you can give a thumbs up or down.
There are a couple of comments that reference them feeling like CAD models or stiff or what I call wooden. Simply meaning, that they lack life and movement or individuality. I must agree to some extent that this is true. It’s a side effect of making what I call a troop choice model rather than a character model.
I can pose these as dramatically as any hand sculptor but the nature of making a multi-part, posable mini to represent a mass troop means that there is a certain amount of generic feel to them. I could make these as dynamic as a character figure but then you would have sixty minis that all look over posed, like a space ninja attack. I would also need to charge a bit more for each mini because I would not be able to swap parts from one mini to another, so every mini would be an individual print. This would likely quadruple the cost for each print and mold.
Keep in mind that the ability to pose these will gives you the freedom to make them more dramatic if you choose, and it also keeps a line of twenty from looking like clones. Making accessory packs will allow me and you to add bits, pouches, etc. that will also humanize the minis. I don’t mind doing dramatic character models if you don’t mind paying the price the market is charging for them.
Overall, so much great feedback, thank you!
Reading the posts here and on Dakka, there have been a few mentions of shoulder pads and the foot size. I don’t want oversized clown feet but there was a great suggestion for an overshoe or ankle armor that I think worked out well.
I widened the stance, added ankle armor and made some very slight tweaks to the shoulders. My desire was to ground the mini a bit and deal with some top heavy issues.
Which grenade launcher do you like for the assault troops?
1 2 or 3?
Next up, the sword.... which do you prefer?
Please let me know what you think, nothing is set in stone so if I make changes that you don’t like, just say so :)
All the best!
Mark-