Why there is not such thing on the market?

[dbang1988]

I am a Chinese but now studying in US. I have just come up an idea about figure modelling. I think this will have a big potential in the future market. But I don't know who and where should I talk about it, so I come to Hyperscale to discuss. I have been thinking why the current model market only focus on European or western culture and history. We don't really have many item on our Chinese History. What if we can have company making 1/16 (120 mm) resin figures based on Chinese historic character or some out standing people, such as Kung Fuzi, etc. And will it be interesting if we also have Chinese minitures in the scale of 1/35? Then we can have dioramas on Chinese culture. Imagine, for example, we have the products on the Qing Dynasty, then we can have a diorama about China back to hundred years ago. That would be cool and attractive to many Asian and foreigners who are interested in our Chinese history and culture.
I wish you may take this opion seriously and I am looking forward some Taiwanese or other countries' companies will produce more Chinese related minitures. For me I would like we start at the WWII era, when the Chinese fought back the Japanese. Then it would be easier to match up with many current appear WWII items. Furhtermore, we may need to think about the Qing dynasty era, which is also full of excitement.
I wish to hear opinon from who are really interested in this subject. And wish some companies will really hear what we are saying here.
Thank you for your time and looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely yours,

Bang

 

[Dan Morton]

Why not try sculpting some of these yourself, Bang? Folks that are doing sculpting on this forum are just following their curiousity, historical and artistic interests. The paths they are following are very individualised. You have a unique set of interests - follow them up and do some sculpting. There are some superb step by step guides on this forum as well as tools and commercial links to the best materials for sculpting. And this is the best place to get all your figure-making questions answered and hone your skills with helpful critiques.

Let's see some Chinese figures!

All the best,
Dan

 

[garyjd]

I agree with Dan. If there are a certain type of subject that gets little or no attention you may have better luck making them yourself rather than hope that a manufacturer will take up the "challange".~Gary

 

[quang]

I have been thinking why the current model market only focus on European or western culture and history. We don't really have many item on our Chinese History. What if we can have company making 1/16 (120 mm) resin figures based on Chinese historic character or some out standing people, such as Kung Fuzi, etc. And will it be interesting if we also have Chinese minitures in the scale of 1/35?

Hello Bang,

The model market focuses on what sells. Since the large majority of figure modellers come from European or western culture, it's only natural that most of the subjects covered come from that culture.

Even so, NOT every facet of European and western culture has been covered. Far from it!

Judging from the general output, it appears that all the figure modellers want is an endless line of WWII Germans and hooded crusader monks!

The Lord moves in mysterious ways. Even so in the mini-world.

There have been a few manufacturers like Alpha Image and Miniature Alliance who did try to 'break the curse' by introducing exotic subjects like China's First Emperor in 120mm but sadly their attempts have been unsuccessful.

So what's left to do is take Dan and Gary's advice: sculpt your own. Who knows, you may set a trend!

WELCOME TO THE PLANET!

Quang

 

[minimaker]

Hi Bing,

it's as the others say. It's what the market asks for. I'm in a sort of similar situation in my field which is small scale fantasy/science fiction figures. Chinese history is not that well known in the West and there is little in popular fiction on this (few know romance of the three kingdoms and other books). This opposed to Japanese History (specifically the samurai periods).

Also, there is not that much of a market in Asian countries. From what I can see there is not really a tradition in "toy soldiers" as we have over here in the West. One of the guys of the Frother's list lives in Singapore and he finds it harder to get other wargame players and figures. There are many figures there but they are mostly popular fiction based (Manga, movies, etc.).

Still, in the miniatures market you do see an increase in interest though. In wargaming you see more and more Chinese armies appearing and in Fantasy you see Chinese figures. Though the later are heavily influenced by Asian comics. MSB is a very good example of this. The later is quite interesting since you see MSB being sold in Japan which means the minaitures market there could be growing (they have some really good painters there by the way).

Right now, I would say that there is an increase in interest in Chinese/Asian figures though at the moment it's more popular fiction (including martial art movies) than historical. Perhaps this will change if that Chinese movie on one of the ROTK is released in Europe. If that happens there will be a market for Chinese figures too.

Bye, Ming-Hua (who wants to do China based fantasy figures by the way)

 

[minimaker]

Realistic? No. Still, details on clothing, uniforms, etc. can be correct in some movies. I ran into this article when checking for the year the movie Hero was placed in.

I'll have to watch the movie again to see which type you are referring too, but if it's siege crossbows, they were already used in China at the time. If you want to know more, have a look at this site.

The same author also has an interesting thread over at the China history forum.

By the way, the kingdom they attacked was Zhao. Bit of a surprise to me as that is my mother's side of family and I had not realised there was a link with that period (I only knew about Song). So, you do sometimes learn from these movies.

Now, since we are discussing Chinese figures, what would your really like to see in miniature?

Bye, Ming-Hua

P.s. as to colours and battle reports, there are original documents and art work of that time. And of course the terracotta figures. So there is actually quite a lot of information. It's just less known in the West. If you want to learn more, the China history forum is a good place.

 

[chinesepegaso]

Hi bang

one chinese lady bust has born before 8 months, it was sculpted by Pegaso models, now it had been sold out.
most of the miniture sculpter are european or western artist, they are so hard to understand or imagine a Chinese historical figure.
but, don't worry, another ancient Chinese general will be coming soon!

 

[minimaker]

By the way, another thing I've noticed with miniatures is that there are quite a number of sculptors who have problems sculpting non-western faces. Many "Chinese" miniatures don't look so at all.

 

[Paul Kernan]

There have been similar discussions in the past. Interesting point and one with which generally I agree with but I think this arguement extends to every ethnic group whether it be an African face being created by a Caucasian, a Caucasian being created by an Asian and so on. One would assume that a sculptor would reference the ethnic group that he/she is trying to portray but in some cases, it appears that he/she falls back to what they feel most comfortable and see most often, their own face in the mirror.

I cannot sculpt to save myself and so I truly respect those who can. Therefore, I will not use specific examples from any company as I do not wish to unintentionally insult anyone. However, there are a number of figures on the market of European and North American subjects that have a distinct Asian look to them. First Nation (North American) subjects are usually represented from the 18th and 19th centuries. By then there had been over 200 years of European influence and intermingling. So, even then this influence would be evident with one witnessing Eastern native people exhibiting western European (British/French) characteristics while the Southern/Southwestern tribes displaying more Spanish features.

Regardless, I am grateful there are those of you out there who continue to give us poor plugs a wider range of subjects to choose from.
Cheers

 

[minimaker]

I think you're right about it being true for all ethnic groups. One thing I noticed when I started sculpting is that my faces tended to end up a bit more Asian than European. More flat. Different eyes. It took me a while to get that correct.

 

[Johan]

If I understand correctly, this discussion is about "why not produce some 120mm (or other scale) figures which represent subjects from the history of China" ...

Well, I , for one, would be interested to see some good 120mm figure of a Chinese "mandarin" kind of figure, or anything else that represents a character from the "Forbidden City" in the 19th century; I find the period of the "last empress" (I always forget her name though) very fascinating.... plenty of good subjects there I think.
Or another so-called "Boxer" figure would be welcome too.
So, I vote for more Chinese subjects !

Cheers !

 

[minimaker]

Just a quick note. I just learned of this company. They make kind of China based fantasy figures. Execution is not great but the idea is nice. So, it's clear there is a growing intrest at least in the miniatures world.