I went for Mongols - surprise, surprise.
No offence, but personally speaking and for the life of me, I simply can't understand why on this poll in particular, anyone would vote for AWI, FIW, ACW, or
any WWII subjects, or even Boxer Rebellion, (which I'm sure will come as no surprise whatsoever to my friends here - actually has an interest rating of 10/10 as far as I'm concerned).
These eras are already well covered by other mainstream toy soldier manufacturing companies, indeed WWII is at saturation level - just my opinion "green tank guys".
Over the past 6 weeks or so we've seen a brand new TS company go the WWII route with a splendid debut set of figures, and good luck to them.
Indeed, we've just seen the masters of another well-established toy maker's superb new mounted WWI range, so why should FL even go there?
Or Romans, for that matter? Another manufacturer already has an excellent range of figures for this era which are available for those who want them.
My questions, that will hopefully be food for thought, are;
Why should an innovative miniature figurine company like First Legion go down these well-trodden routes as illustrated above - and then run the risk of attracting negative comments related to scale, incompatability with other toy makers products, and all the rest of it?
Looking at the poll results so far, aren't we just seeing collectors voting for their favourite eras instead of applying just a wee bit of "out of the box" thinking? Surely, given FL's stellar level of sculpting and subtle paintwork, it would be far preferable for us to be suggesting and voting for some of the more unusual and colourful choices in the poll? Something like a historical Vlad the Impaller range as suggested by Mark? Or an El Cid range? Or a Trojan War series with all the characters and personalities from Homer that fire the imagination?
I'm not having a "dig" at any collectors choice of era, and I'm a big fan of "green tanks" myself. I just feel it's a bit disappointing that we as a group of individuals appear to keep voting for the same old stuff that, as I've previously pointed out, is already available. Sure, fans of WWII "can never get enough Tiger Tanks" but I feel its such a waste of the talents of First Legion's team of sculptors and painters, and the level of realism exhibited by the figures they produce, that
when we get the chance we can't ask that they do something a bit
less mainstream than the poll results suggest. Especially when there's so many interesting alternative choices provided in the poll itself.
Granted, my own collecting focus tends to jump around from era to era as the whim takes me - and I fully understand why people may want to vote for the conflicts that interests them the most and they prefer to collect.
This post is not intended to be confrontational in any way and believe me, to ensure I don't "offend" any overly-sensitive wee souls reading it, I've applied a bit more care to the composition and wording than I can usually be bothered paying much attention to; but it is certainly intended to promote some additional thought and general discussion concerning the direction we might prefer First Legion to take.
I look forward to participating in any reasonable discussion and responses, whether they be positive or negative, that these comments may generate.
Regards
Harry
