Connoisseur Figures (2 Viewers)

[joesgis]

Thanks oozlum, Alex, Ray and Chris for your kind words. Glad you guys enjoyed the pics! It sure makes the hobby A LOT funner when you're able to share collections amongst each other.

Yes Chris, I've seen the Aeroart Dark Ages figures, and I think they are great and definitely among Aeroart's finest figures. I have two of the Dark Ages figures, one of which is in the group of pics posted here. (It's the kinda closeup pic of the red-headed, bearded warrior w/a spear and the real elaborate shield.)It's so coincidental that you mentioned the figure who is trampling a Roman shield. That was my latest purchase, and it should be in transit to me now. I can't wait to receive that one!
And yes, your glorious Spartan is indeed with fine company. He is stationed right alongside Leonidas himself!!! I didn't realize the figure I got from you was such a seasoned and respected warrior! Leonidas took him into the troop right away!
Thanks again

 

[Gebhard]

Very nice collection ,
Some nice vintage St Pete/ Aeroart , battle honors is a true classic . Thanks for sharing .. Regards Gebhard

 

[Jackaroo]

Joe, some fantastic pieces and pictures there, thanks for sharing. Alby

 

[theweinz]

That is one nice group of barbarians! Thanks for the photos. New to see some action under connoisseur figures!
jw

 

[joesgis]

Thank you Gebhard, Alby & JW! Glad you enjoyed the pics. This really is such a fun hobby. Anybody else excited to see what FL creates "barbarian-wise" to compliment their forthcoming Roman range? This could really be something special. I hope it turns into a flagship type range that continues indefinitely. Looking forward to see if the initial FL Roman pre-sale includes a barbarian or two. Lot's of fun stuff to look forward to!

 

[Jackaroo]

Thank you Gebhard, Alby & JW! Glad you enjoyed the pics. This really is such a fun hobby. Anybody else excited to see what FL creates "barbarian-wise" to compliment their forthcoming Roman range? This could really be something special. I hope it turns into a flagship type range that continues indefinitely. Looking forward to see if the initial FL Roman pre-sale includes a barbarian or two. Lot's of fun stuff to look forward to!

Completely agree Joe, I don’t own any Aeroart figures, however I am keen to see their style/size compatibility with FL Glory of Rome range. It would be fantastic to augment a Germanic “barbarian” charge or a Roman line with some of Aeroart’s figures. I would imagine that they would be relatively compatible/ complementary? Alby

 

[chasbo]

Is there any way back, once you've crossed over into connoisseur figures? Besides alcohol and strange women, then going broke.

 

[Gebhard]

Completely agree Joe, I don’t own any Aeroart figures, however I am keen to see their style/size compatibility with FL Glory of Rome range. It would be fantastic to augment a Germanic “barbarian” charge or a Roman line with some of Aeroart’s figures. I would imagine that they would be relatively compatible/ complementary? Alby

Thank you Gebhard, Alby & JW! Glad you enjoyed the pics. This really is such a fun hobby. Anybody else excited to see what FL creates "barbarian-wise" to compliment their forthcoming Roman range? This could really be something special. I hope it turns into a flagship type range that continues indefinitely. Looking forward to see if the initial FL Roman pre-sale includes a barbarian or two. Lot's of fun stuff to look forward to!

Hi guys ,
I did take some pictures of a few of my Aeroart, Kolobob ect next to FL for a friend who was asking about the compatibility between the companies . Its in with my other albums in my profile under the title "eye to eye " please feel free to have a look ( sorry my pictures suck ) . If you take into consideration the variance of poses ie crouching and such you can see that they are just about eye to eye . I think so far Aeroarts Germanic Warriors are the best down to the correct hairstyles (3791 with hair knotted on the side ).. some guys think the shields are to elaborate , but I love em {sm4}.
FL figures are sculpted in Russia by master sculptors so its not hard to see why they are of similar style . I'm really hoping Mr Thor will one day expand on his Germanic Tribes line as I have them all and would gladly buy more .:salute::.. Best regards Gebhard

 

[Gebhard]

Is there any way back, once you've crossed over into connoisseur figures? Besides alcohol and strange women, then going broke.

I find one of the Great things about collecting Connoisseur level figures is that there is no rush or pressure to buy now or miss out . I have been collecting for many many years and pick up a figure here and there , some of these have been available for over ten years allowing you to build a very nice collection over a period of years without going broke :wink2: Regards Gebhard

 

[Jackaroo]

Hi guys ,
I did take some pictures of a few of my Aeroart, Kolobob ect next to FL for a friend who was asking about the compatibility between the companies . Its in with my other albums in my profile under the title "eye to eye " please feel free to have a look ( sorry my pictures suck ) . If you take into consideration the variance of poses ie crouching and such you can see that they are just about eye to eye . I think so far Aeroarts Germanic Warriors are the best down to the correct hairstyles (3791 with hair knotted on the side ).. some guys think the shields are to elaborate , but I love em {sm4}.
FL figures are sculpted in Russia by master sculptors so its not hard to see why they are of similar style . I'm really hoping Mr Thor will one day expand on his Germanic Tribes line as I have them all and would gladly buy more .:salute::.. Best regards Gebhard

Gebhard,

Appreciate your response and advice, it was very useful to see some comparisons, cheers … Alby

 

[joesgis]

Completely agree Joe, I don’t own any Aeroart figures, however I am keen to see their style/size compatibility with FL Glory of Rome range. It would be fantastic to augment a Germanic “barbarian” charge or a Roman line with some of Aeroart’s figures. I would imagine that they would be relatively compatible/ complementary? Alby

Hi Alby,

I'm hoping they're in a similar size range that would allow them to work together, but I can't be certain because i do not own any FL figures, and I have only seen some of FL's earliest figures in the flesh. But my best guess would be, yes they could be used together, even if they are slightly different in size. You would just have to arrange them accordingly in your dio if space and depth allow. But I should also point out that among my Aeroart Romans, a few are rather diminutive (but still quite nice), and yet another one is on the larger end of 54mm. They use a lot of different sculptors, so this is bound to happen now and again, especially since AA has been around for 19 years. But I certainly find observable size variances w/in the Aeroart line to be well w/in "acceptable limits" when you consider likewise proportionate human variance. I just thought I should mention this because when looking for a match among AA and FL, sometimes a true, consistent match does not always exist within one manufacture's product line itself. I believe this is true at some point among all toy soldier makers. One last point (I know I can really ramble when it comes to toy soldiers!:tongue, if FL's figures are slightly larger than the general size of AA's Romans, that may be closer to historically correct then if they were a perfect match IN TERMS OF THE "Barbarians" specifically. Because I believe Roman soldier's, in their own journals, mentioned how large the Germanics were. The Roman's would always seek the strategic higher ground in battles, but perhaps when fighting physically larger people, it became more important than ever. One thing is for certain, I'm really excited to see so many Romans and "Barbarians" about to hit the market! This will be a lot of fun!

 

[Jackaroo]

Hi Alby,

I'm hoping they're in a similar size range that would allow them to work together, but I can't be certain because i do not own any FL figures, and I have only seen some of FL's earliest figures in the flesh. But my best guess would be, yes they could be used together, even if they are slightly different in size. You would just have to arrange them accordingly in your dio if space and depth allow. But I should also point out that among my Aeroart Romans, a few are rather diminutive (but still quite nice), and yet another one is on the larger end of 54mm. They use a lot of different sculptors, so this is bound to happen now and again, especially since AA has been around for 19 years. But I certainly find observable size variances w/in the Aeroart line to be well w/in "acceptable limits" when you consider likewise proportionate human variance. I just thought I should mention this because when looking for a match among AA and FL, sometimes a true, consistent match does not always exist within one manufacture's product line itself. I believe this is true at some point among all toy soldier makers. One last point (I know I can really ramble when it comes to toy soldiers!:tongue, if FL's figures are slightly larger than the general size of AA's Romans, that may be closer to historically correct then if they were a perfect match IN TERMS OF THE "Barbarians" specifically. Because I believe Roman soldier's, in their own journals, mentioned how large the Germanics were. The Roman's would always seek the strategic higher ground in battles, but perhaps when fighting physically larger people, it became more important than ever. One thing is for certain, I'm really excited to see so many Romans and "Barbarians" about to hit the market! This will be a lot of fun!

Hey Joe,

Thanks for your comprehensive response; I really appreciate your advice on AeroArt’s figures. You raise some very pertinent points, I find myself gravitating to some of their barbarian/Dark age figures … they look fantastic. I may put a couple down for a birthday wish list as I imagine they are special pieces to have in a collection. I did view Gebhard’s pictures of FL/AA and that very useful indeed. You are spot on though, if you are a fan of Rome, heaps of choice at present. Regards, Alby

 

[joesgis]

Is there any way back, once you've crossed over into connoisseur figures? Besides alcohol and strange women, then going broke.

Hi Chasbro,

Yes indeed there is a way back to other types of figures once you've crossed over into connoisseur type figures. Collecting connoisseur figures here and there has never affected my enjoyment and collecting patterns of non-connoisseur figures. The overwhelming majority of my collection are not connoisseur figures. But I do treat myself time to time if a figure really catches my eye, especially when the Westcoaster rolls through town and Thor has all the temptations impressively laid out. But I've never felt at all that my smattering of Russian figures put my K&C, Figarti, WB, CS, etc in an unflattering light. I enjoy them just as much as I always have. In fact, the only reason I am buying less non-connoisseur figures these days is because of the price increases, which has made it a little easier for me to justify the high prices of connoisseur figures. Even though they are very expensive, they have not seen the skyrocketing cost increases that most of what comes from China has. Although I must say even though I don't collect First Legion, their figure prices appear to have not risen much if at alll, and the same can be said for Figarti's vehicles but not their figure sets. Anyways, I just look at it as a little extra bonus to treat myself to an Aeroart figure here and there, just like you could treat yourself to special tickets for a sports event or concert, or dining at a real nice restaurant, or a whole myriad of special yet pricey entertainment endeavors. And like Gebhard says, you just pick up an Aeroart figure here or there; there's typically no rush to buy a particular piece. It's usually a slow process, enjoyed at a different pace then one may find w/ non-connoisseur figures (now more so than ever). Then one day you realize that you can fill a little display shelf with these little works of art. And that's a really fun process! That being said, as much as I love connoisseur figures, I doubt they will ever replace or cast a shadow on the heart of my collection. Even if it's the most aesthetically pleasing branch of my collection, it's still just one branch of my collecting tree. I hope this helps Chasbro!

 

[Combat]

Some interesting new Napoleon in decline figures from Andrea - St. Helena (1820-21)

 

[Gebhard]

Some interesting new Napoleon in decline figures from Andrea - St. Helena (1820-21)

These are pretty cool and part of a set of 10 chronicling his life ..Very cool idea , would like to check em out .. Regards Gebhard

 

[joesgis]

oe, you got a great collection there- glad to see my Spartan found such a distinguished collection to jump in with.

Have you ever looked at their dark ages figures- there are some Vikings in that line that are really neat- one is running over a legionaires shield.

Hi Chris,

Aeroart's 6208 you mentioned has arrived, and the darkness is beginning to fall across Rome...

One man's darkness, another man's light...

 

[marco55]

Great figure.
Mark

 

[Gebhard]

Hi Chris,

Aeroart's 6208 you mentioned has arrived, and the darkness is beginning to fall across Rome...

One man's darkness, another man's light...

Great figure I have this one and your photo's show this figure for what it FANTASTIC love the shield work :wink2: and painting on the face is just incredible .. Thanks for sharing can I ask what kind on lens you are using ? Thanks again Gebhard

 

[MC BOWEN]

HI GUYS I POSTED THESE SCALE SIZE PHOTO'S ON THE FIRST LEGION NEW ROMANS THREAD AND THOUGHT SOME OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE RUSSIAN MAKERS OPPOSITE FL. KOLOBOB

AEROART

IMG]http://i64
C00982.jpg[/INEWTEMPLE BY FIGARTE--
/mcbowen123/DSMG]
HM

 

[MC BOWEN]

ONE PHOTO DID NOT TAKE SO--FIGARTE-AEROART TEMPLE --NEW.