Cool One-Off Halfling sculpt on BB Tactics

[bound for glory]

or give him, say, a tiny head. see how that looks...

[Virral]

I know you're too close to this to be even remotely objective Giraffe, but I never said He-Man = Thrud. I said they share some distinctive visual identifiers, identifiers that you claimed were unique to Thrud.

Spubbbba is right, to me Thrud looks like nothing more than the generic embodiment of a Barbarian Stereotype... a stereotype that originated with Conan. It's little wonder that I see similarities between him and other such stereotypes like He-Man. It doesn't mean I think they're all identical, but you're not going to get me to agree they have nothing in common either when they so obviously do.

[Darkson]

Right - 'cos Conan was a pinhead...

I sure as hell on't remember Arnie looking like this: http://6d6fireball.com/wp-content/uploa ... sthrud.jpg
Though that would explain a lot.

[Virral]

Right - 'cos Conan was a pinhead...

I sure as hell on't remember Arnie looking like this: http://6d6fireball.com/wp-content/uploa ... sthrud.jpg
Though that would explain a lot.

My very first comment on this topic:

I'm torn over this... on the one hand the similarities are clear *but* Thrudd is soooooooo generic to start with. I was just googling Barbarian images and I saw half a dozen similar designs, the only thing that really separates Thrudd from the rest is his undersized head. I think if this figure was re-worked with a different head that was more in proportion with his body it'd be fine.

And from memory, it's ages since I read a Conan book, while Conan himself was far from stupid he was often assumed to be stupid in the book because he was a "savage barbarian", people underestimated him. On top of that Arnie himself isn't exactly renown for his intelligent characters, although I believe that started as mostly a language barrier... he had to be seriously coached in order to deliver the speeches in Conan, which was one of his earlier films. There are truckloads of stupid barbarians in fiction, and giving someone a literal "pin head" is just a visual pun on that stereotype.

[bound for glory]

how much money would carl lose if jorge(or anyone, for that matter) cast the figure? we are talking about a miniature that will sell small numbers. what if it were cast with a wacky hat? i remember years ago, a 15mm sci fi manufactorer made star wars stormtroopers and to get by the ip, made bunny ears that buyers could snip off. they sold a load of them.
my point is, this is a 28mm ff figure that will appeal to a tiny group of people playing a game that even ROLE PLAYERS and HISTORICAL WARGAMERS (most anyway) have no idea of.
and what happened with gw making the figure and then being told to stop?

[Darkson]

how much money would carl lose if jorge(or anyone, for that matter)

Carl would lose some, Jorge would lose more (from the IP court case Carl would have to bring to sue him), and the lawyers for both side would make some.

and what happened with gw making the figure and then being told to stop?

Read Tom's and Andy from Heresy's replies.

[Giraffe]

The character of Conan the Barbarian was so successful that he formed the basis of the fantasy barbarian archetype.

If you were to describe the classic look of the fantasy barbarian without using pictures there would be little to differentiate between it, he-man, conan, the barbarian from heroquest or warhammer quest and thrud.

To someone outside the small geeky circle who know of Thrud they would all look pretty much the same, in fact they may well assume he was Conan. I’ve seen plenty of comic book artists draw very different versions of the same character and that’s not even factoring them changing the outfits/costumes over the decades.

Geeky? I'll have you know i resemble that remark...besides, people in nerd houses shouldn't throw stones, we're all geeky board gamers here....

I think if you're going to use this "ask anyone who doesn't know thrud" argument, try asking a Greek, he may well say "its hercules..."

Everything looks like everything else if you broaden the parameters of your imagination far enough, and ask the right person to get the answer you want. Politicians and statisticians are weavers of this black art, I hope you're not trying to tar yourself with the same brush just to keep arguing a point you've already lost.

"Put enough spots of black in white and it looks grey"...good grief!

The whole point of IP is it's got to have unique qualities to it to be able to make a claim.

Carl's success with his Thrud Graphic Novels (Eagle Award Winner for Favorite British Small Press Title 2005) proves his work is unique and well known, not to mention side-splittingly funny.

True Thrud hasn't had the exposure to the general public that Conan had, but we're in a forum where 99% will have seen many white dwarf mags. There's still an AWFUL lot of White Dwarf readers who know and love Thrud, and any one of them would laugh you out the pub if you try to compare him to Conan or He-man, either anatomically or in terms of content.

Thrud is unique, and instead of trying to argue otherwise, I'd recommend you actually try reading one of Carls' Graphic novels.

Unless you are as unemotional as Arnie... , when you've finished rolling about laughing (in defeat), I'll give you the co-ordinates to "small geeky circle " HQ.

[Giraffe]

I know you're too close to this to be even remotely objective Giraffe, but I never said He-Man = Thrud. I said they share some distinctive visual identifiers, identifiers that you claimed were unique to Thrud.

Spubbbba is right, to me Thrud looks like nothing more than the generic embodiment of a Barbarian Stereotype... a stereotype that originated with Conan. It's little wonder that I see similarities between him and other such stereotypes like He-Man. It doesn't mean I think they're all identical, but you're not going to get me to agree they have nothing in common either when they so obviously do.

You just want a slurp from his bucket of beer!

No, you are right that I'm unobjective, but that doesn't mean I'm not right

The more you mention He-Man, the more I win this argument, keep going...

I don't mean to offend, but as you say those who see it my way will see it my way, those who don't will agree with you. There's no fence to sit on here...I'll agree to disagree with Spubb and you (but this in no way means I'm buying you a bucket of beer).

Ask yourself this though...would you wager a bucket of beer on a survey of 100 TFFer's?

[Norse]

if you asked a Greek, he would more likely say "Herakles" and not "Hercules", just to be pedantic..

can I be one of the 100 TFFers please?? Please???

[Virral]

We have a dog called Hercules that we rescued from the pound, and when we took him home and checked his papers it turned out his name was actually Herakles and the people at the pound had apparently thought it was a typo and called him Hercules instead. By then the name had stuck though so we kept using it

Giraffe, I'm happy to accept that you can't see the similarities that I do between Thrud's visual design and certain other barbarian characters, but I think all that really proves is that there is no "right" or "wrong" when discussing something so subjective. Purely because I find this topic quite interesting I'd love to hear you actually address the points of similarity that I noted rather than just announcing yourself victorious, but either way I think it's abundantly clear that we're not going to agree on this point

Just in case it was unclear though, I was only ever talking about Thrud's visual design and I don't think that detracts from his uniqueness or appeal as a character in the slightest. Using another example from comics, Bat-Man and Spider-Man both wear tights and have similarly uninventive names, but that doesn't mean they're not distinct and different characters, just that from a design point of view they share some points of comparison.

[Norse]

you mean the people who work in Aussie dog pounds haven't read Homer's Illiad??? Egads man!

was the dog always trying to make up for something by doing impossible tasks? did he look wracked with guilt over having eaten his own puppies?

[Virral]

Shocking, isn't it? Mostly these days he tries to break long distance sleeping records, he's an old man now

[txapo]

Poncho has created another halfling this time called "Madug" and is a tournamet miniature for Madbowl in madrid next december... You can see it at his blog as usual

[Giraffe]

Giraffe, I'm happy to accept that you can't see the similarities that I do between Thrud's visual design and certain other barbarian characters, but I think all that really proves is that there is no "right" or "wrong" when discussing something so subjective. Purely because I find this topic quite interesting I'd love to hear you actually address the points of similarity that I noted rather than just announcing yourself victorious, but either way I think it's abundantly clear that we're not going to agree on this point

Just in case it was unclear though, I was only ever talking about Thrud's visual design and I don't think that detracts from his uniqueness or appeal as a character in the slightest. Using another example from comics, Bat-Man and Spider-Man both wear tights and have similarly uninventive names, but that doesn't mean they're not distinct and different characters, just that from a design point of view they share some points of comparison.

It's not the similarities in visual design that are obvious to me, it's the differences, that is where we differ.

Looking at whether the model in question had too many "similarities in visual design" to thrud was the original question, and in this regard my bucket of beer is safe.

My point was you had digressed from the original argument (as you were losing it ), even I look like conan if you're short sighted enough...well, if you're EXTREMELY short sighted!

I can only assume you are a teetotaller, as anyone else would had JUMPED at the chance of winning a Bucket of Beer ...

This is my FINAL post (to let you have the last word, of course) as we cannot change each others minds on this, and whoever is wrong is only making themselves more wrong by saying they are not wrong...

[Gaixo]

Poncho has created another halfling this time called "Madug" and is a tournamet miniature for Madbowl in madrid next december... You can see it at his blog as usual

I didn't realize he was responsible for that goblin team from Gaspez. What a disappointment. I guess I'll have to hold out hope that Fran produces some gobbos.