Heroines Kickstarter

[Goblin-King]

Definitely cynthiale. Let's have more diverse miniatures. I don't really think anybody is against that.
We all like different things - and some of the same things as well. Don't like these, don't buy. Don't like the sex dolls, don't buy those.
What I have something against is the underlying tone... not form you, mind ... but the KS.
"Chainmail bikinis are wrong, and you should like these realistic adventurers more"
They could have gone the route of just selling them as awesome female adventurers, but instead they had to distance themselves from the evil tropes of chainmail bikinis and power armor.
The fact that we are even discussing them to this almost comical degree is a symptom of the way they are marketing them.

Anyways...
I showed these to my girlfriend (who is also into HeroQuest, fantasy and games) and asked how she would like to play one of them.
Her reaction was "meh". She didn't think they looked feminine enough and were indeed too "plain Jane".
We could both agree that the fighter was by far the best of the bunch, but nope, she wasn't impressed.
She likes her characters to be "pretty"
She has dismissed A LOT of miniatures through the ages...

This is the one I'd eventually like to get my hands on to proxy the female barbarian. Unfortunately it's some sort of anniversary miniature and rather expensive to acquire.
But we both really love it:

[Gold Bearer]

I always really liked the depictions of dark elf sorceresses, they remind me of Jasmin from Disney's Aladdin, the thinking man's Jessica Rabbit. Is it wrong to be sexually attracted to a cartoon character I should move to Iran and find myself a real life Persian princess. I wonder if she'd let me call her Jasmin.

[cynthialee]

But that does not mean that all products must be tooled to appeal to just one market.
The idea that because men spend more that only things desirable to men should be marketed is a sure fire way to limit the market and artificially keep it stagnant.
The fact that so many people have put money into this kickstarter shows there is a market.

[whitebeard]

Women should be more than just eye candy.

All of my minis are eye candy and I have yet to acquire a female figure. My monsters are ugly. My barbarian is a good looking big guy. My elf is thin. My Wizard is old. My dwarf is short with a big ax. Nobody is carrying a backpack (they left those at the door?) or a torch.

And when I add a woman to the party, she will fit right in. I've seen several minis on Reaper's site that are appropriately armored, in heroic stances, with heroic weapons. Of course there are many more who are basically falling out of their clothes. Point taken... But the minis in this KickStarter are simply uninspiring. If you're going for that, then great. But they really don't belong on a Heroquest board.

I did not see specifics about the scale so make sure you check this out before you buy.

EDIT: Actually the scale is on the pictures.

[tasoe]

I should move to Iran and find myself a real life Persian princess. I wonder if she'd let me call her Jasmin.

She will. She will let you do anything you want.

[Gold Bearer]

But that does not mean that all products must be tooled to appeal to just one market.
The idea that because men spend more that only things desirable to men should be marketed is a sure fire way to limit the market and artificially keep it stagnant.
The fact that so many people have put money into this kickstarter shows there is a market.

If there's a demand for something it will appear. It's about the only part of capitalism that actually works.

I should move to Iran and find myself a real life Persian princess. I wonder if she'd let me call her Jasmin.

She will. She will let you do anything you want.

Really? That is so awesome! Have you dated a Persian princess? Where did you find her and more importantly, where do i get one?

[Once was Mortimer]

Kind of creepy there GB.

Yeah, alright ... I'm a fan of the chainmail bikini admittedly, but Cynthia is right ... we don't need it on near every female fantasy mini, more choice of what the female playing pieces look like is always good, and no ones asking them to take away all sexy mini's or make you feel bad that you look at boobs, so stop being so defensive about it.

Yeah there is arguements 'But there are female mini's that aren't dressed like that!' ... okay, its getting better over the years, but we still have an overload of metal thongs and cleavage plates.
'But my Barbarian only wears a loincloth!' the Barbarian isn't really sexualised I'm afraid to say, not by most women I've heard from, plus a more appropriate equivalent would probably be the elf in a mithral banana hammock.
'Whats wrong with sexy?!' nothing in moderation, time and place all that, but a miniature is often there to represent a player in a game, and not everyone wants to have to be represented by stripperalla.
'My GF/Wife doesn't mind!!" cool, thats between you two, but what about others who do mind? Can't they have some options too?

Anyway, bad mood fueled rant over, I'm sure I'll enjoy the flak for it.

As for the miniatures I told the sculptor the heads and hair could use abit more work and variety to them, to give a more defined character, he acknowledged that but was generally pleased with the way he had the sculpts.

[Decipher]

when you use feminist as an invective it shows a lack of understanding of the underlying issues that inform feminist ideology
Why is it something to be dismissed when I want to have heroines that are not overtly sexualized? Why is it scandalous that women gamers might want products that conform to our wants? Not every female miniature out there needs to cater to the lowest common denominator of sex sells.
Women should be more than just eye candy.

I am not trying to take anything away from the boys, I just would like it if everything made isn't especially made with male wants in mind. My money spends just as well as a mans.

I was just teasing you. Didn't mean to start a war here. But, I wont make that mistake twice.

[Gold Bearer]

Kind of creepy there GB.

Kind of tongue in cheek. I thought that was obvious.

, the thinking man's Jessica Rabbit.

I don't give a crap what kind of female minis people prefer, that's down to personal taste and it's not what I was responding to. I was responding to these comments.

Some people (guys mainly I notice) may get off on storylines where their hero is more powerful than anyone else and wins by shear power of 'I am awesome'

Just remember that not all players of these games are steaming piles of testosterone.

How is that any more acceptable than a women hating misogynist posting generalised and ignorant slurs against one half of the population as if they're all the same, apart from the gay ones?

Jasmin is super pretty though. Perfect figure but I think it's the eyes that really does it.

[Decipher]

I have a female Barbarian, 2 female elves, a female thief, a female fighter and a female wizard all with square bases, each at proper HQ scale, all from HQ expansions or older TSR products. For the most part all of my female players use both male and female miniatures, even when given the choice of either sex. But even before I had the female miniatures, the female players never really made it a big deal at all. They were more concerned about playing the game than what sex their miniature was. I myself came up with the idea to give female players a choice, not once has anyone ever complained about the lack of female miniatures.