Your observation is correct of course. There is recycling of certain parts of the sculpts. It is a decisive factor for me when ordering my figures and I avoid ordering two figures in one shipment that appear to be too close. But if you look at the two units of Napoleonic Westphalians and the Templar and Hospitaller Crusaders, the recycling the way FL does it in those ranges does not hurt. Discussing this with Matt, this sensible way of using modified sculpts is very economic and allows the production of less popular units (like the Westphalians).
Andanna makes a good point. The way First Legion 'recycles' is still bound to make a wide variety of figures in any release. I found this to true with the AWI militia I purchased. Even though a number of sculpts are 'recycled', I still have a wide variety of figures, since sculpt is not the only thing a person notices about them. The different paint/color combinations, arm posing, ect. still make a great release.
hope you understand that it would be better for you to point out the recycling rather than trying to show us the figures from different camera angles which makes it seem like you are hiding the twice used figures. at the prices you folks charge i'd personally think unique sculpts might be in order. that said your painting is terrific!! [/I]
Not sure what the problem is here. There is no attempt to hide anything, as the pics on FL's site show the figures as they are. If you were able to spot the 'recycling' so readily, I feel that shows FL isn't hiding anything.
The fact is that all companies do use many of their sculpts for more than one figure and there are several reasons behind this .
Speaking about First Legion they use world class figure sculptors and because their sculpting is so expensive, they often have to create a second unique figure from a single sculpt in order to bring the sculpting cost per figure down. The alternative would be raising the price per figure by $5-$10 (which is one reason their specialist figures are often more expensive than their rank and file).....
... I really don't have a problem with companies doing this and they all do , it offers us as collectors more choice . You are free to choose the ones you like or not to choose any at all...
A couple of good things from my friend Gebhard. I think the main point is this: I would rather have a company like FL 'recycle' sculpts and give me a wider selection of figures with each release, than to have a company do a more limited release of figures. Put another way, wouldn't a release of say 20 figures, even with some 'recycles', be better than a release of only 6 or 8 completely unique figures?
Also I disagree with your comment that all companies recycle their figures. I dont think this is true at all for most companies and from what I have seen only a few companies recycle as noticeably as FL has done in this case.
You are right, not all companies 'recycle' some of their sculpts. But again, isn't a larger release with a couple 'recycles' better than a smaller release with none? I mean, what looks better: a line of identical figures, or a line with figures in similar poses, but with different arm poses, headsculpts, ect?
Noah
