Minis as Fetishes

[horati0nosebl0wer 19645xp 1]

We are the epic heroes we were shown when we were spongy brained children and wanted to become. If what we imagined the greatness of heroism to be is what we see in minis, we have found it in doing hobby. The underlying thought of the stuff we play with is probably that we want to do the epic stuff which runs wild in gaming. The fantasies outside of the humdrum everyday life makes gaming fun. Our minis, if you dig into the thought, act as fetishes like ones seen in general anthropology (or, in gaming terms, the ones frequently used in Werewolf the Apocalypse).

Ideation, idolized imagery/form and association of idea to things in the material world are part of the aesthetics of our figures. What do these things say about us as reflections of who we are individually? How do we develop our collections of tiny fighting men; does our hobby develop on the aesthetics or the sales model of a company selling models?

Self reflection on our hobby just struck me as a segue thought from an observation of anime/comic/movie figure collectors. Its related as those collectors glom onto the feeling they get from certain characters or series. Do we in the tabletop gaming hobby do similar?

[bvandewalkerParticipant 2078xp 3]

Short answer: yes its a lot like the figure collectors, but perhaps more like the action figure and doll collectors in particular  since we like moving them around to enact  scenes and play war.

[sundancer 42973xp 1]

First: where is the fetish the headline promised?

Second: I’m not sure I grasp the question completely. Things I loved as a kid where mostly action toys. Miniature tabletop came to my life waaaaay later. so “maybe”? Or my fever ridden brain isn’t just able to crack through the layers of words.

Will have to contemplate on this.

[soulman 2945xp 3]

Thought it was a thread about people pushing toy soldiers up there butts… glad I`m wrong..!

[sundancer 42973xp 0]

well you never know what happens once House Of Water gets wind of this…

[blinky465 17028xp 2]

I hardly ever get to push minis around a table – but happily print and paint them, even if they’re just for “display” (i.e. end up on a shelf in my workshop). I choose minis almost exclusively on their aesthetics and – particularly in recent years – how much fun they look to paint. I can nothing about the characterisation of the “person” the model is supposed to represent.

I used to love Unit9 minis (sci-fi, cyberpunk, realistic, highly detailed etc.) but after subscribing to Cyber Forge a few years ago, fell out of love with Unit9 and now love painting Cyber Forge (and Papsikels) minis. I don’t really give much thought to the characters, but that’s mainly because I know I’m unlikely to ever get them into a game of any type – so I just paint minis that look like they’ll be enjoyable to paint.

Unit9 are simply too small, fiddly and detailed to be much fun. Cyber Forge has that perfect mix of “simple shapes” coupled with great “heroic style” that make them really fun to paint, without being too arduous.

Maybe what this says about me as reflections of who I am individually, is I haven’t time to waste doing stuff I don’t particularly enjoy any more? I’ve been giving away loads of minis (again) as the year draws to an end. If painting a mini isn’t fun, it doesn’t get done! It’s actually quite cathartic to admit “I’ll never get this dude painted” and get rid of it. (but maybe that’s because it means I don’t feel bad about printing another batch?)

[horati0nosebl0wer 19645xp 0]

Leave a thread alone and all the mayhem begins. As we know from the life lesson ‘Fight Club’ gave us “Stuffing feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken”.  Here I think minis could be added to the list for warlords.

As far as an advertisement for things more along the lines of your German “dungeon crawls” @sundancer this was not meant to start yout reminiscing on your days as a bouncer.

In making the decision on figures and aesthetics I considered the idea of what we see as important. Do we play with bedraggled weary looking armies (undead not included) or do we seek out a motif/theme to them? Is there a narrative in our force composition?

I find that there is easy assembly to make an army in units for well known big army battles with eatablished factions. The freedom to write up headcanon (not refering to a portion of the original Deus Ex game) is fun and might be where the player/collector/hobbyist shines a little light on their personality. Could this be another aspect of how we might ‘game in the gaps’?

[doomzombie 5478xp 0]

Hang around long enough Sundancer, and you will find out.

[sundancer 42973xp 0]

@doomzombie

Sounds like a threat XD

[horati0nosebl0wer 19645xp 0]

Threats will not be tolerated! We need full on manifestations of action. Alert the proper messenger squirrels and see that crispin is woken up to the matter. We can all be sure that by now the Disco Ball is dancing to our merry tune.

[sundancer 42973xp 0]

80ies disco ball glitter SPAZ MARINEZ!

 

And then we play some Earth Wind And Fire.

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