are these new?? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter sammy719
- Start date
I have exactly the same doubt about what's gonne happen with the prices of normal FL figures. Easy to say: too expensive? - buy cheaper version.
I was collecting ACW Conte and Britains years ago, but after First Legion introduced completely new quality level, I got rid of these, and now I'm buing FL.
First Legion was till now synonym of the highest quality. If from any reason I decide to search for lower quality, I would simply buy Britains or K&C.
I have mixed feelings. For sure I stay with highest quality (and price) figures.
From other side I understand these who like new series. 10 years ago I would like it too.
Lo1863
Sergeant First Class
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2012
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- 1,074
I agree with you completely! One of the reasons I came to this company was because of the extreme detail of the paint quality. I can't tell you how many ACW figures I received from Britains where the painting, for lack of a better word, was sloppy. I had paint running onto areas where it should not have. This was several years ago and I have not seen the more recent figures from Britains as they may have improved. So, yeah I agree that this will hurt other manufactures. I for one will stick with the more detailed releases. Let's just hope they don't go up in price.
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Warrior
Lieutenant General
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- May 12, 2005
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- 15,273
This looks to be a range/series available exclusively through First Legion based on the wording at the top of the advert.
I might be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me.
"Available on line exclusively at First Legion"............................
I do like the new turtle formation shown in part at the bottom as well........
Current Aeroart figures are a shadow of their former selves... Newest Aeroart figures are not even close to what they were 15 years ago..
The difference between FL *prime* figures and the newest Aeroart stuff is so slim !
Actually, besides Russian Vityaz and N. miniatura, no other companies in the world are producing true *connaisseur* figures anymore.
The easiest way for collectors to obtain the cream of the cream in terms of toy soldiers is to contact directly the best painters.
Cheers
Alex
The difference between FL *prime* figures and the newest Aeroart stuff is so slim !
Actually, besides Russian Vityaz and N. miniatura, no other companies in the world are producing true *connaisseur* figures anymore.
The easiest way for collectors to obtain the cream of the cream in terms of toy soldiers is to contact directly the best painters.
Cheers
Alex
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FirstLegion
Sergeant Major
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- Dec 8, 2007
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- 1,906
Every advert we've ever created says that George. It's a holdover from our direct sales days. The MB figures will be available through dealers as well.....
Warrior
Lieutenant General
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- 15,273
Thanks for the clarification................and I still like the turtle.................:salute::
chemiebay
Corporal
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A Pz IV in desert version??? great!!!
thebritfarmer
Moderator
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- 10,444
It may not hurt WB and their figures are still $5.00 cheaper. The release of the FL AZW while very nice didn't make me switch. I have too much invested in the WB AZW series to switch anyway, I am sure that would be similar of the ACW series.............time will tell.
Hunter Rose
Master Sergeant
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You can say the Zulus didn't use mass formations with a straight face!^&grin
FirstLegion
Sergeant Major
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- 1,906
It's great to see that our new MB Series of figures is generating some interesting discussion. I thought I'd take a moment to provide some thoughts regarding our approach and to address some of the comments regarding our new Mass Battle (MB) series of figures.
Our normal, connoisseur products will still make up the vast majority of what we do and prices of these products will not be affected by the existence of the MB figures. So from that perspective, there is no relationship between what we are doing with our "MB" range and connoisseur level of products. Yes, the prices on our connoisseur figures has been higher on a few releases lately but that's in large part because of the complexity of the figures and the fact that we are pushing the quality of the painting higher and higher. For those who have received the Thirty Years War figures or Retreat from Russia Sledge for example, they will see that we have elevated the painting quality even higher than we have achieved before. This is a conscious choice and it's not a price increase across the board nor are the higher prices on these pieces without added value. On the contrary, once you see the figures you will see that it's been money well spent! We are a company that is always trying to innovate and elevate the level of our products. Our focus as a company has never really been on price, it's always been on achieving a quality level never before seen on a mass produced figure and then providing it for a price that is extremely reasonable relative to that quality.
For the MB Series of figures, we guarantee you won't ever see "sloppy" painting that sometimes can be associated with figures in this price range. Above anything else, the painting on the MB figures is incredibly crisp and neat and like our connoisseur figures do at the higher end of the quality scale, these figures represent a tremendous value in terms of the quality of painting and sculpting that you will get on a $38 figure. Simply put, they're really excellent figures. So don't think of them so much as $38 figures, think of them as First Legion $38 figures which means much the same as it does for our $65 figures (you get more than you pay for!). Here are some additional images, though they look better in the hand.
Some of the individual figures.
Why we created them!
There will not be a connoisseur version and a mass battle version of everything we create. Far from it and we will never release a new group of figures in both connoisseur and MB quality simultaneously. Connoisseur quality will always be the priority and most of our ranges will never have MB figures created for them. We are selecting very specific products for very specific periods to allow for the creation of larger dioramas at a more reasonable price point using figures that complement our connoisseur figures. People have often pointed out to us that First Legion figures can be used with much more expensive Russian figures in the same dioramas and not at all look out of place. Our MB figures can be used with our connoisseur figures and not at all look out of place as well. As a company, we have always had a very diorama-centric approach to what we do and how we do it. We have created some truly massive individual releases, for example 40 figures representing the French 18th Line infantry. We do this because it results in a very realistic diorama when there is a lot of individual variety, rather than many repeats of the same figure. These new figures are another step in assisting our customers to create such large dioramas. With these particular ACW figures, they use the sculpts of the 55th NC figures, but we've changed arm and head variants, changed all of the uniform colors, and converted a few of them to new standard bearers. So for folks who have the 55th NC figures, they can add these figures to them and are not simply getting a lower cost, simpler version of what they already have, they are new figures that can be used with those figures to add even more variety. So this gives a good example of what we intend to do with the new series.
We hope that these new figures will appeal to both our current customers as well as to collectors who purchase figures in this price range who don't currently collect First Legion. But if you love our connoisseur figures and collect them because they are the best available, by all means please continue to do so. The existence of these in no way changes the level of support or general approach to our connoisseur figures. However, if you love our connoisseur figures but love large dioramas, supplement those dioramas with these figures. And finally, if you have never collected our figures because the price point is a bit high, we now have a more entry level figure that will compare very favorably to figures that are available at the price point you collect. In the end, we are a company that wants to produce only the best products available at their price point and we feel we have achieved this with the new series of figures. We hope that for those of you who collect the new series that once you have them in your hands, you'll agree.
Thanks for listening and I hope this explanation has been helpful and given you a bit of insight into the new Mass Battle series. These figures will be available in our next pre-order grouping in about a week or so and shipping to customers in late March. We thank you all for your continued support!
Best,
Matt
First Legion
Our normal, connoisseur products will still make up the vast majority of what we do and prices of these products will not be affected by the existence of the MB figures. So from that perspective, there is no relationship between what we are doing with our "MB" range and connoisseur level of products. Yes, the prices on our connoisseur figures has been higher on a few releases lately but that's in large part because of the complexity of the figures and the fact that we are pushing the quality of the painting higher and higher. For those who have received the Thirty Years War figures or Retreat from Russia Sledge for example, they will see that we have elevated the painting quality even higher than we have achieved before. This is a conscious choice and it's not a price increase across the board nor are the higher prices on these pieces without added value. On the contrary, once you see the figures you will see that it's been money well spent! We are a company that is always trying to innovate and elevate the level of our products. Our focus as a company has never really been on price, it's always been on achieving a quality level never before seen on a mass produced figure and then providing it for a price that is extremely reasonable relative to that quality.
For the MB Series of figures, we guarantee you won't ever see "sloppy" painting that sometimes can be associated with figures in this price range. Above anything else, the painting on the MB figures is incredibly crisp and neat and like our connoisseur figures do at the higher end of the quality scale, these figures represent a tremendous value in terms of the quality of painting and sculpting that you will get on a $38 figure. Simply put, they're really excellent figures. So don't think of them so much as $38 figures, think of them as First Legion $38 figures which means much the same as it does for our $65 figures (you get more than you pay for!). Here are some additional images, though they look better in the hand.
Some of the individual figures.
Why we created them!
There will not be a connoisseur version and a mass battle version of everything we create. Far from it and we will never release a new group of figures in both connoisseur and MB quality simultaneously. Connoisseur quality will always be the priority and most of our ranges will never have MB figures created for them. We are selecting very specific products for very specific periods to allow for the creation of larger dioramas at a more reasonable price point using figures that complement our connoisseur figures. People have often pointed out to us that First Legion figures can be used with much more expensive Russian figures in the same dioramas and not at all look out of place. Our MB figures can be used with our connoisseur figures and not at all look out of place as well. As a company, we have always had a very diorama-centric approach to what we do and how we do it. We have created some truly massive individual releases, for example 40 figures representing the French 18th Line infantry. We do this because it results in a very realistic diorama when there is a lot of individual variety, rather than many repeats of the same figure. These new figures are another step in assisting our customers to create such large dioramas. With these particular ACW figures, they use the sculpts of the 55th NC figures, but we've changed arm and head variants, changed all of the uniform colors, and converted a few of them to new standard bearers. So for folks who have the 55th NC figures, they can add these figures to them and are not simply getting a lower cost, simpler version of what they already have, they are new figures that can be used with those figures to add even more variety. So this gives a good example of what we intend to do with the new series.
We hope that these new figures will appeal to both our current customers as well as to collectors who purchase figures in this price range who don't currently collect First Legion. But if you love our connoisseur figures and collect them because they are the best available, by all means please continue to do so. The existence of these in no way changes the level of support or general approach to our connoisseur figures. However, if you love our connoisseur figures but love large dioramas, supplement those dioramas with these figures. And finally, if you have never collected our figures because the price point is a bit high, we now have a more entry level figure that will compare very favorably to figures that are available at the price point you collect. In the end, we are a company that wants to produce only the best products available at their price point and we feel we have achieved this with the new series of figures. We hope that for those of you who collect the new series that once you have them in your hands, you'll agree.
Thanks for listening and I hope this explanation has been helpful and given you a bit of insight into the new Mass Battle series. These figures will be available in our next pre-order grouping in about a week or so and shipping to customers in late March. We thank you all for your continued support!
Best,
Matt
First Legion
jazzeum
Four Star General
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 38,428
Would you buy these in lieu of Britain's or in addition to Britain's (recognizing that there is only so much money in the budget).
braddinpa
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,628
It would depend on what Britains comes out with. For example. The Fences scenes are outstanding and they would compliment each other. But if the poses are similar. Then I would lean toward FL. I like the sculpts (just my opinion. Not saying they are better) overall better. seem more natural.