Post by machen on Apr 29, 2023 17:24:17 GMT
I just wanted to express my sympathy for miniature companies like AA trying to navigate the material preferences of gamers today. It can't be easy.
My guess would be that many older gamers probably prefer metal, while many younger ones probably prefer plastic. That seems to be the way it plays out with my group of friends, anyway. Older gamers have a fondness for the metal, in part because of its durability, but also because it's the material of their youth. Personally, I think the chief benefit of metal is that you can always strip a metal miniature and start over from the beginning if you botch the paint job, so beyond bending and breaking, it's impossible to ruin one. With a plastic mini, depending on what kind of plastic is used, stripping the paint either ruins the figure or runs the risk of doing so. Sometimes you can strip PVC minis safely with Acetone and get immaculate results, but sometimes Acetone just destroys them. It varies a lot, perhaps due to the age of the PVC plastic or the figure's particular mix of PVC - I'm not a chemist, so I'm just guessing here. Polystyrene "hard plastic" just melts if you try to strip paint from it with Acetone, and I would assume resin minis would also disintegrate.
I'm an older guy myself, but even though I grew up with metal miniatures, I turned away from them in favor of polystyrene plastic for a long period because hard plastic is lighter and easier to work with. Then a couple of years ago I got nostalgic for "Oldhammer" hand-sculpted miniatures, and in the process I required my taste for metal - yep, after preferring polystyrene's lightness, now I prefer the heft and weight of metal minis again.
Nowadays I buy miniatures in plastic and metal. The only thing I try to avoid are brittle resins, as I don't trust myself not to knock them off the table. A couple of manufacturers have assured me in various forums that their resins are formulated to be more flexible and durable (namely, Gavin here and Annie of Bad Squiddo Games,) so I may expand my interest in resins. In principle, if I like the model enough, the material doesn't matter.
But I have a younger friend who is practically religious in his material preferences: he can't stand metal miniatures and never buys them. Far from being nervous about resins being too delicate, he and other people I've met consider resin the very best material, since it captures detail best.
I imagine that navigating gamer's personal and generational material preferences must be a headache for miniature companies. Good luck!
My guess would be that many older gamers probably prefer metal, while many younger ones probably prefer plastic. That seems to be the way it plays out with my group of friends, anyway. Older gamers have a fondness for the metal, in part because of its durability, but also because it's the material of their youth. Personally, I think the chief benefit of metal is that you can always strip a metal miniature and start over from the beginning if you botch the paint job, so beyond bending and breaking, it's impossible to ruin one. With a plastic mini, depending on what kind of plastic is used, stripping the paint either ruins the figure or runs the risk of doing so. Sometimes you can strip PVC minis safely with Acetone and get immaculate results, but sometimes Acetone just destroys them. It varies a lot, perhaps due to the age of the PVC plastic or the figure's particular mix of PVC - I'm not a chemist, so I'm just guessing here. Polystyrene "hard plastic" just melts if you try to strip paint from it with Acetone, and I would assume resin minis would also disintegrate.
I'm an older guy myself, but even though I grew up with metal miniatures, I turned away from them in favor of polystyrene plastic for a long period because hard plastic is lighter and easier to work with. Then a couple of years ago I got nostalgic for "Oldhammer" hand-sculpted miniatures, and in the process I required my taste for metal - yep, after preferring polystyrene's lightness, now I prefer the heft and weight of metal minis again.
Nowadays I buy miniatures in plastic and metal. The only thing I try to avoid are brittle resins, as I don't trust myself not to knock them off the table. A couple of manufacturers have assured me in various forums that their resins are formulated to be more flexible and durable (namely, Gavin here and Annie of Bad Squiddo Games,) so I may expand my interest in resins. In principle, if I like the model enough, the material doesn't matter.
But I have a younger friend who is practically religious in his material preferences: he can't stand metal miniatures and never buys them. Far from being nervous about resins being too delicate, he and other people I've met consider resin the very best material, since it captures detail best.
I imagine that navigating gamer's personal and generational material preferences must be a headache for miniature companies. Good luck!