What "segment Of The Market" Are You In ?

[Johan]

Hello,

purpose of this poll is : coming to a better understanding of each other and our interests. Reason : many times when a new release of a WWII German figure or bust is announced, the thread is somewhat "hijacked" for a "yes - no" debate, which sometimes escalates ...
Yet, despite the many "not for me thanks" remarks that WWII German figures get, sales stats prove that they sell well. That's because they are most probably purchased by modellers who are mainly in the WWII segment of the market (plastic tanks and aircraft) and I suppose also in the zone where the two segments - figures and WWII aircraft/tanks - overlap ...
So, please cast your votes, and after a week we'll analyze how big each segment of the market is on Planetfigure. Maybe this will help to understand eachother better in the future, and why some like WWII Germans, and others don't.

 

[Johan]

I explain the three voting possibilities :

1) is if you are really mostly a "classic" figure painter, of , say, medieval or napoleonic or crimea or wild west or other historical subjects.

3) is the "opposite" : your main interest is WWII, you regularly buy plastic kits of tanks by Dragon and aircraft by Tamiya or Trumpeter or Revell etc. ; figures are mainly an "accessory" to a tank or an aircraft for you, a figure displayed on itself is less likely but not impossible.

2) the second possibility of vote is when you're actually something like 50/50 interested in both ... when you have at least a couple of times purchased a Pegaso (for example) figure as well as a Dragon tank plastic kit or a Tamiya plastic aircraft kit ...

I hipe this is clear, I apologize for my English, it's not my own language ...

 

[Gaudin]

Johan

I think there are active members of this forum that express their views frequently as Like / dont like and debate about it, after a while you recognise their avatars etc. they are quite vocal, but there is about 100 of them, if not less.

I bet you there are scores of members that are silent, dont participate and dont share any views, but happily collect german busts and dont give a monkey. Or even non-members, just guests.
Same argument can be applied to historical accuracy debates - there are crowds of people who buy figures and dont bother, as long as they like it, whilst polls on PF show owerhelming majority of active responders say they are really hot on historical accuracy.

Its the silent non-voter that creates the majority and the sales. Just my view.

 

[Osebor]

May I complain? You forgot we poor old salts! What about ships & boats? I'm a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, but I exchanged planes for figures, for an spatial reason: they occupy less shelf space!
So, I'm mainly ships, figures, military and cars (this order). AS a mammter of fact, I'm now engaged in two building groups on Kitmaker Network: German Beauties (not like Claudia Schiffer, but the four wheels sort ) and Dive! 3 (Guess? it's about subs,really!)

As for the historic period, regarding figures, I have not preferences. For ships, mainly the steam era (modern ships are absolutely ugly for me, nothing but floating boxes, like our last big warship, the "Juan Carlos I". In the military area, mostly WWII.So following your explanations, I'll cast my vote in option 3. (But you will be cursed to row to the infinity and beyond 'cause you forgot all things floating... other than amphibious tanks! )
Seroiusly, good poll, otherwise!
Regards
Javier

From Wikipedia:

 

[Johan]

Agree with what you say, you have a point with the "silent majority" (is it a majority indeed ?) factor.

Nevertheless, even if not 100% accurate then, I do believe that the above poll will at least be an indication of a trend; as it stands now with 7 votes I see 50% for purely the "classic" historical miniature, 50% for mix WWII/historical figures.

Say what you want, but if that trend now continues until next sunday, the end of this poll, then I would conclude that what you see the last 15 years at Euro Militaire - more and more WWII tanks, figures and aircraft in the competition and on the trade stands - also is present and reflected here on Planetfigure.

While many of us may be thinking Planetfigure is a forum for the "pure" "classic" historical miniature lover, + some fantasy figure painters, let's not forget them, .... surprise, surprise, the "hybrids" who also build panzers and like miniature Germans also participate here ! who would have thought ! Maybe when all realize this and understand this then the childish debates about war criminals that result when merely an opinion is asked of how a German officer in the Ardennes offensive would have dressed will cease.

I hope that this understanding will result in a more open-minded attitude when WWII subjects are presented in the new releases section, or when Waffen SS uniforms are discussed. There are people who are actually interested in the history of WWII without being a Nazi or a fascist.

So, that is somewhat the purpose of this poll ...

 

[Johan]

May I complain? You forgot we poor old salts! What about ships & boats? I'm a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, but I exchanged planes for figures, for an spatial reason: they occupy less shelf space!
So, I'm mainly ships, figures, military and cars (this order). AS a mammter of fact, I'm now engaged in two building groups on Kitmaker Network: German Beauties (not like Claudia Schiffer, but the four wheels sort ) and Dive! 3 (Guess? it's about subs,really!)

As for the historic period, regarding figures, I have not preferences. For ships, mainly the steam era (modern ships are absolutely ugly for me, nothing but floating boxes, like our last big warship, the "Juan Carlos I". In the military area, mostly WWII.So following your explanations, I'll cast my vote in option 3. (But you will be cursed to row to the infinity and beyond 'cause you forgot all things floating... other than amphibious tanks! )
Seroiusly, good poll, otherwise!
Regards
Javier

From Wikipedia:

My sincerest apologies Dear Sir ! Indeed I forgot to mention plastic ships and boats, my bad ! How could I forget about for example the magnificent 1/72 scale U-Boot Typ VIIc by Revell !!!!!

You are right, and I hope my sincerest apologies will avoid somewhat the curse of the seven seas coming down on my head ... Hope I'm not for Davy Jones' locker next time I sail !

 

[Silversurfer]

Hi Johan,

can´t vote for an option, because WW 1 is forgotten. I´m a Jack-of-all-trades, too. Figures, tanks, planes, ships of all scales and times, but my interest stops 1918!!

Sorry Thomas

 

[Osebor]

Well, Well,Well! Next time I see Mr Poseidon I'll tell him to lift the curse!

Regards

 

[Mark S]

I'm not sure of the difference between 2) and 3).
And I'd also like to complain!! What about those of us who are into modelling miniature Georgian furniture in the early Rococo and mid Neo-classicist style for dolls houses and the like....Jeez, us guys are always left out of things, and ignored at parties.!!

 

[Silversurfer]

Mark, you have my deepest sympathy!! It´s a shame!

Cheers Thomas

 

[Osebor]

Horror! maybe the curse will descend upon me! I opened Pandora's box...

BTW, I agree also about the silent majority, in many facts of life, it's the "Dark matter" of every society ...

 

[Gaudin]

There are people who are actually interested in the history of WWII without being a Nazi or a fascist.

I wasnt aware that such accusation was ever made . Mind you there are forums where any WW2 german subjects/ figures/ discussions are banned outright ( chen-la.com as example)

I am not sure I follow you and what connection you are trying to show.
My understanding at the moment is that you seem to be trying to establish a link between vehicle modellers ( for argument sake) who are into ww2 to account for large? proportion of sales of German busts, which may or may not be true.

Where as I am saying that 10 people that say " too many german busts, not for me " dont make a difference to 50 people who buy german busts and say nothing, regardless whether they collect busts alone or whether they also model armour ( it seems like modellism in this is a confounding factor).

I think bust sales are mostly due to bust collector miniaturists that buy what they want but dont get involved in any discussion - so on face value it seems that there is alot of people who dont like German busts, but that means sample is too small and not statistically significant.

Reality and sales say there are alot of people who collect German busts/ figures, but minority is fed up with variety on offer - which adequatly caters for large demand of people that are interested.

Sorry - thats a statistician in me has woken up I am interested in critical appraisal of medical trials you see

 

[bagelman1952]

In my view the 'oh not another WW2 German' argument is very often taken too far with politics and ethics brought into an argument that is. in essence, just about the sheer volume of German WW2 figures. This debate has been going on for years. When I was doing display models back in the early 70's there was a plethora of WW2 German armour from Tamiya and Itallieri etc and I can clearly remember the excitement when Tamiya finally brought out the Matilda tank kit and then (oh joy) the Churchill tank (not sure if I got that in the correct order but certainly remember the kits well). So nothing has really changed over the years in terms of what sells and as long as there are punters ready to part with the cash it will continue.

 

[Johan]

Gaudin,

It's possibly due to the difference in language that you don't exactly follow what I try to show. Sorry but it is sometimes difficult to explain something in another language my English is somewhat too clumsy for this

OK, well first I am not talking about that Young Miniatures bust only - rather about WWII German subjects in general

In that thread about the new Young bust, there was an interesting remark about people buying things German WWII being in a different market. So with this in my head, I was thinking, then maybe there's people from different market segments here on Planetfigure. That's one thing.
Second thing : you will not have failed to notice that in recent threads about WWII German subjects debates develop - "another German, pfff ..." or even such as was the case long ago, remarks about war criminals.
Now what I try to figure out with this poll is if there could be a connection with the fact that we have two segments of the market represented here on pf, who not always agree with each other's point of view ...
I myself came to figures when discovering an issue of Military Modelling Magazine with Bill Horan's Gandamak on the cover - but I must mention I made that discovery while buying a Hasegawa plastic aircraft kit. So, I'm a mix of a WWII plastic kit modeller and a figure painter, and because of that interest in WWII, I can perfectly understand why there are German figures on the market, without having any "sympathy for the devil".
But, there are also people who came straight away to the hobby of figure painting, and not via WWII plastic modelling; I understand perfectly that they are less or not at all interested in Germans, and I wonder if the remarks of "Pfff another German !" don't come from these people, who have another point of view.

And as for the rest, it's fun these polls

I'm not saying that this "statistic" will yield perfect results from which conclusions must be drawn - but maybe they can yield nevertheless an indication of some sort, a hint of any trend, without this being the definitive word on the matter ?

 

[old grumbler]

I seriously don't understand, why are German WW2 subjects banned from sites?

 

[Johan]

Hi Johan,

can´t vote for an option, because WW 1 is forgotten. I´m a Jack-of-all-trades, too. Figures, tanks, planes, ships of all scales and times, but my interest stops 1918!!

Sorry Thomas

You're right, sorry about that; nevertheless you see WWI biplanes and some AFV's (there aren't many I thought ?) mostly at plastic modelling shows where the emphasis is on WWII stuff ... so my guess is that if you do WWI planes and if you attend modelling shows it's mostly the kind of show where you see WWII Panzers in plastic ?

 

[Johan]

I seriously don't understand, why are German WW2 subjects banned from sites?

Haven't got a clue, it's all in Russian or something : http://www.chen-la.com/

Can't read that - my head already aches from constantly switching between three languages, sorry.

 

[Gaudin]

I seriously don't understand, why are German WW2 subjects banned from sites?

I am not too sure - some personal preference of site owners I think, possibly some family tragedy during ww2 or just strong ethical view- I really dont know.
But on chen-la.com any picture of a german ww2 will be removed, even of you were to post a diorama of russian tank - and there will be one german dead lying about. No clue why - but a fact nonetheless.
"Forbidden - any miniature of 3d reich and their allies, use of any images to illustrate sculpting painting or casting techniques and any nicknames/ avatars or signatures that contain any reference to 3d reich"


Johan,
I think we are talking about same thing from different angles, dont worry, its Ok. I think the poll you use doesnt answer the question you ultimately set off to answer. I wont distract the discussion further. We can continue via PM if you wish as I dont want to distract people from your poll which may be usefull.

 

[Tubby-Nuts-REMOVED]

Hi, Johan!..... there is another element, to this thread!... of preference! which is what can be achieved!... I started modelling with, 1/35, AFV,.. and then some 1/48 Aircraft!... but had to stop! fingers won't allow it anymore!.. but that does not mean I lack interest in these subjects. I just can't do them anymore. Eg, I have a, 1/48 th Lancaster, and a Fairey Swordfish,.. a box full of 1/35th AFV's, etc.. which I would love to build, but simply can't. . The Figure element has allowed me to continue my painting etc. But even that has now been, adapted to 'Busts'. .. However this is 'Planet-Figure',... ! if I had room for a 1/16 th Tiger tank surrounded by figures.... Oh!.. my!

 

[Johan]

if I had room for a 1/16 th Tiger tank surrounded by figures.... Oh!.. my!

... exactly my feelings too !