Scale 75 another time victim of PC by so called social media activists

[Viking Bob]

Personally, I don't care what people buy/paint, that's their choice, if I don't like it, I don't buy it but I don't tell others that they should not paint that or buy that cos it 'may' offend someone

 

[Babelfish]

The people I know of cut their ties with Scale75 for personal reasons which I respect and should do too.

That's a personal decision for them so no problem. But as I'm sure you recall from last time it went much further than that with demands for boycotts etc.

How many of the people complaining about this Kickstarter being cancelled actually were backing the Kickstarter? ........ It's all about marketing.

Well I wasn't even aware of the kickstarter until I saw this thread, but that's hardly the point. The issue is that a company felt compelled to withdraw its product after receiving abuse and threats.

Irrespective of what you think of their marketing technique, that sort of thing is totally unacceptable and there is no excuse for it.

- Steve

 

[Babelfish]

Personally, I don't care what people buy/paint, that's their choice, if I don't like it, I don't buy it but I don't tell others that they should not paint that or buy that cos it 'may' offend someone

Spot on Bob.

- Steve

 

[Nap]

Personally, I don't care what people buy/paint, that's their choice, if I don't like it, I don't buy it but I don't tell others that they should not paint that or buy that cos it 'may' offend someone

Agree there Bob

If you like it then you buy it , paint it and enjoy it

Nap

To ALL keep comments in relation to the topic

 

[akaryu]

Hopefully Scale75 will at least produce the busts of Pips Priller and Walter Ehle for they have never been done before as far as I know. Hartmann and Marseille have their busts done by MJ and Dolman respectively.

Pierre

 

[Martin64]

Just to ask...

How many of the people complaining about this Kickstarter being cancelled actually were backing the Kickstarter?

Also, if Scale75 just alter their approach they will still be able to release these figures and likely the book too. It's all about marketing.

At the same time too this has gained them a lot of free advertising and likely some new customers too.

If Scale 75`s withdrawal could have been regarded as "listening to customers" I could see your point.
Fact is that Scale 75 already had surpassed their goal on kickstarter and were succesful in marketing their product but were forced to withdraw it by threats and insults.
Not they have to alter their approach IMHO but the the people that interfered.
Scale 75 did certainly not ask for this kind of free advertisement and surely would have preferred to release their products.
One day this scum might be standing in front of your display and tell you what you can paint up and build and what you have to avoid. Hopefully you will then enjoy all the free attention and input by these visitors and gratefully remove all the pieces they tell you to better not leave on your table if you want to get out of it unharmed....

 

[Kevindunne]

Oh, how I hope that day comes soon.

 

[Dolf]

@dolf
It’s been happening in the wargaming community. But it’s Role Playing Games where the level to twattery has reached stratospheric heights. The online community is plagued my pretty much daily outrage cries over token issues coupled with ostracizing and banning of anyone who questions the insanity. One well known forum (the largest actually) has a policy to ban any Trump supporters. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a critic of his but that type of action is naziism at its finest. The hypocrisy makes me sick.

Someone mentioned the German laws against use of the swastika. If the German leadership thinks they can erase their shameful past by criminalizing something as benign as modeling, they’re mistaken and deluded.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the reply and clarifications

Fully understand what you mean and couldn't agree more with all your points.

I did play a couple of RPG on boardgames format many years ago (Dune, and Middle Earth RPG, both on French versions), and quite a few RP computer games, mostly back in the 90's, early 2000's.
Have never played some of the more wargames-like RPGs, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, etc.
As previously mentioned I'm on a more classic/traditional branch within the boardgaming community, WWII, especially the Eastern Front, and particularly the Battle of Stalingrad, being my main focus of interest.
On the main Forum where I read the news and post (CSW), as I say I haven't noticed nothing of this kind of PC maniacs spreading their BS. I was away from this hobby for a few decades, only very occasionally checking for updates on some games I have, and only recently restarted posting and re-playing a couple of games, and it all seems quiet, no big waves of "change", nor any PC nazism noticed so far. Thank God!


Anyway, back to the topic, I've read not long ago a thread here on PF about a (IMHO bad taste) figure depicting a female Doctor with a syringe and nazi symbols... Well, not my type of figure, so I'd never buy that one. But maybe others like or would enjoy painting it, so it's not up to me to criticize or launch some campaign against the release of that figure!
I've painted many nazi German figures, and so what? It definitely doesn't make me a nazi sympathizer! It's the historical side that interests me, not the ideologies.

I wasn't aware of this kickstarter that motivated all this hate chain of reactions, so don't even know which figures are the target of this PC minority.
But I do see them acting all over on many other issues, and it definitely worries me that a tiny minority of people are trying to impose their biased views on everyone else. The problem is that only a few among the silent majority are fighting back, and these few people don't have the financial support of some neo-liberal billionaires behind them, as the PC BS ones do!
Hence my fear that if we do nothing now, in the near future it might be too late to take action!... Just my 2 cents worthy rumbling At my age I'm mostly worried for the younger generations and what they may have to endure because our lack of action now...


Cheers!

Dolf

 

[Forté]

.
One day this scum might be standing in front of your display and tell you what you can paint up and build and what you have to avoid. Hopefully you will then enjoy all the free attention and input by these visitors and gratefully remove all the pieces they tell you to better not leave on your table if you want to get out of it unharmed....

People already try that.

I have a good friend who got flack for entering the 90mm Hitler figure from Andrea which he painted excellently. He is no Nazi follower and has also painted a bust of Anne Frank.

People should be allowed to paint miniatures they like without coming under attack. However; freedom of speech goes both ways so if you want to put something into competition which may offend some people then be ready for comments. And I don't just include Nazi related miniatures in that. Female figures with massive breast hanging out, Donald Trump, scenes of beheading, etc. can set someone off.

Scale75 made the decision to pull it (although some have mentioned Kickstarter actually stopped it) and that was their decision.

The people I know who cut ties with Scale75 over this are actually of Jewish heritage so that I can understand.
Many who have spoken out over it I feel have over reacted.
But to start threatening about "PC brigade" and "snowflakes" is honestly just as much an over reaction.

Scale75 could still release the sculpts.
Scale75 could still release the book.
Scale75 could even still release the plinth plates (which they marketed as medals and seemed to be part of the over reaction).

They just need to look at how they market things a bit better before launching.

 

[Babelfish]

However; freedom of speech goes both ways so if you want to put something into competition which may offend some people then be ready for comments.

That's just it though, it's not just comments. It's abuse and threats, which takes things to a whole new level.

And I don't just include Nazi related miniatures in that. Female figures with massive breast hanging out, Donald Trump, scenes of beheading, etc. can set someone off.

Yes, and the list seems to be growing ever longer. And not just in our hobby. We seem to have entered a new age of puritanism, censorship and historical revisionism, with everyone having to be increasingly careful of what they say and how they say it, lest they incur the wrath of these (self-appointed) custodians of this new social morality and the Professionally Offended. I find that troubling.

Even more troubling is how as a society we've sleep-walked into it and allowed these finger-wagging, virtue-signalling fanatics and their views to go mainstream, instead of staying fenced off on the lunatic fringe where they belong. And I reckon that things are only going to get worse before they start to get better.

- Steve

 

[Wayneb]

Confusion say...……"Never try to kickstart without jockstrap...….otherwise... nuts could get hurt."

 

[Dolf]

"Yes, and the list seems to be growing ever longer. And not just in our hobby. We seem to have entered a new age of puritanism, censorship and historical revisionism, with everyone having to be increasingly careful of what they say and how they say it, lest they incur the wrath of these (self-appointed) custodians of this new social morality and the Professionally Offended. I find that troubling.

Even more troubling is how as a society we've sleep-walked into it and allowed these finger-wagging, virtue-signalling fanatics and their views to go mainstream, instead of staying fenced off on the lunatic fringe where they belong. And I reckon that things are only going to get worse before they start to get better."

Wow! You really nailed it spot on, Steve!


Cheers!

Dolf

 

[Kevindunne]

Wonder what threats they leveled at Scale 75.

 

[kevininpdx]

Wonder what threats they leveled at Scale 75.

Probably a bunch of nonsense on Twatter.....eh Twitter.

 

[theBaron]

...Scale75 could even still release the plinth plates (which they marketed as medals and seemed to be part of the over reaction)...

Thank you for mentioning that detail, which no one else seems to have found.

This topic was raised in a toy soldier forum to which I belong, and someone noted that those plates resembled, or suggested, the NSDAP lapel pins that party members wore, and it was that which set the critics off, not the fact that the series depicted Luftwaffe pilots.

 

[akaryu]

At the time of writing, the people of Scale75 are not sure if they will produce the busts or not. I contacted them to point out that there are as yet no busts of Pips Priller or Walter Ehle on the market, that's about all one can do. Having to ponder every word, every initiative, even every thought to avoid the wrath of the self-righteous snowflake generation doesn't make one feel any younger! But then again, old soldiers never die, they just fade away. So I for one will keep painting what I like, PC or not!

Pierre

 

[Forté]

Thank you for mentioning that detail, which no one else seems to have found.

This topic was raised in a toy soldier forum to which I belong, and someone noted that those plates resembled, or suggested, the NSDAP lapel pins that party members wore, and it was that which set the critics off, not the fact that the series depicted Luftwaffe pilots.

And this was also why my original comment mentions about seeing how the original Kickstarter was marketed.

The whole thing really was a mistake in the way things were portrayed and wording. But if you hadn't seen it you wouldn't know.

 

[Ferris]

I think it’s also a matter of ‘lack of knowledge’. If someone is totally unaware of the hobby called figure painting I can actaully imagine someone frowning upon a finely painted ss soldier. One has to know the hobby and what kind of humble, quiet, peaceful (cliché alert) guy practices it before it can be given it’s harmless place.
This still doesn’t make it right to raise so many bells, but I wouldn’t only call it PC behaviour. Without any understanding of the hobby it can look odd.

Adrian

 

[akaryu]

Of course, wandering through the aisles at SMC or Euro or any other modelers convention and looking at the throngs of happy smiling people, hoarding their latest acquisition, eyes gleaming like kids in a candy store, you immediately sense the dreadful potential for violence and threatening terrorism hiding beneath these benign scenes!

Pierre
still pissed off but mending

 

[polyphemus]

Just wait until the PC brigade realise how many of these dreaded models are produced in the dreaded PLASTIC, OK I know it will mainly affect the AFV/vehicle part of the hobby but sooner or later the hobby will get blamed in part for global pollution.

Supress reality and sooner or later reality will be denied.

Thank God (your choice) I'm getting older.

Geoff