¡Minions pt. Tres!

As promised, the next installment in the never-ending saga of my obsessive angst....

I decided to change out the uniform for a German "M45" (or is it 44?) uniform in the Leibermuster camouflage scheme. I'm not sure if this is the direction I'll ultimately go but I thought it looked interesting and it provides an obvious contrast to the previous entries. As I mentioned earlier, I also decided to try the Steyr AUG rifle and an alternate web gear configuration. This is a quick "bash" but I think I like the over-all look.

For the "gear heads", here's the breakdown of what I used.

• Dragon- Boots and Uniform
• 21st Century Toys- Helmet and Rifle
• Sideshow Toys- Web gear

The Sideshow gear deserves some note as you typically find these on eBay or through online retailers for way more that it should cost, IMO. This is the web gear from their GI Joe "Stalker" figure and while it's quite adequate, it seems a bit "old school" (say, Dragon quality from the early 2000s) for something that comes from a figure retailing for well over $100. I bought a few sets when Monkey Depot had them parted out back in Summer 2011 and they were just under $8 a piece at the time. I don't think I would want to pay much more than that considering the "just OK" quality and my need for multiple sets.

 I still wouldn't mind picking up a few SMERSH rigs from the Cobra Trooper or Officer but those have become difficult to find and typically expensive. Again, the quality of the one set I own is OK but not quite up to the standards of say, Soldier Story, Playhouse, etc. Having a few SMERSH rigs would've probably led me to stick with an AK74 for my troops' primary weapon. It's cool though because this equipment set up seems to work pretty well, too. I'll live with it a few days and see if I still like it.

Minions, pt. Dos

Oh yeah, some additions to my previous post. I mentioned that I had already "bashed" some prototype figures of the more Eastern Bloc/ Warsaw Pact style version of the Minions. This first guy is based on a different copy of the same figure shown in the previous post. Yeah, sad to say that there actually SIX of these Hasbro "Indiana Jones" German Officer figures who play the rank and file troopers.

I was actually pretty happy with the way this guy turned out so I'm not sure why I kept buying gear and looking at other alternatives. Just to be sure, I even bashed a senior NCO/squad leader, as seen here.

I was genuinely happy with these guys. The only real problem I had was a lack of a squad machine gunner and that is mostly due to a lack of post-WW2 Soviet or Warsaw Pact light and medium machine guns on the 1/6 scale market. Even that isn't entirely insurmountable since the RPK squad light machine gun is basically just a "hardened" AK that can handle sustained full auto fire. Externally, the main differences are a long barrel, bipod, larger buttstock and either a drum or extended length magazine.

I'm not sure why I didn't pursue this course because honestly, I like these guys a lot more than the late WW2 German soldier seen in the previous post. They would all use the same basic service uniform as seen on the previous guy (the so-called "M43" German uniform) while the camouflage seen here would serve as the field or combat uniform.

Minions, etc.

The problem with the way I write is that it's often done in small burst and then saved for later completion. When I look at my list of blog posts, I always find a few that are still in draft form and I ask myself "Where was I going with that?" For finished posts, I often discover upon review that the editing is choppy and occasionally makes no sense. I just finished an overhaul of my post "Writing Against Type, part 2" because there were some amazing verbal gaffes in it. Heck, there probably still are! Sorry about that but hopefully it flows a bit better now.

As mentioned in that post, I have been working on some antagonists that basically look like WW2 Germans. To re-hash, this was done for comedic effect and as a commentary on what we as a society are willing to accept. It's also dead easy to make up (or "bash") 1/6 scale figures this way since there's so much 1/6 WW2 German equipment on the market. My original idea for the minions had been to make them a bit more post-war, generically "Eastern Bloc" looking. For inspiration, I looked to the Cold War-era militaries of countries like Yugoslavia, Poland and especially East Germany. In the end, the figures looked somewhat like East German soldiers from the late '50s-early '70s, except for the AK 74 rifles, which would place them in a later time period (the "74" is the smaller caliber younger sibling of the AK 47/AKM family). Just for sake curiosity however, I decided to see what they would look like "bashed" as a somewhat idealized but plausible late WW2 German soldier.

The first thing that strikes me is that the helmet, although it fits, seems way too big. I'll admit I'm not an expert on WW2 German subjects (haven't watched enough History Channel "Those Darn Awesome Nazis" marathons, I guess) but WW2 era Stahlhelme (plural) seem smaller than their WW1 ancestors. This version (from 21st Century Toys) is allegedly the WW2 "M1935" but looks more like the size of the WW1 "M1916(?)". It doesn't have to be perfect and in fact, I can still think of others projects to use this helmet for, but it just looks "off" to me. I think I still prefer a more post-WW2, East German/Warsaw Pact appearance. The other issue I have with this guy is that he would reset my project in to an alternate WW2 style setting. That could be fun and I could even include some overtly Sci-Fi elements but I'm just not feeling it right now. I'm going to give this another try with the basic uniform but replacing the helmet with East German "M1956". I've "bashed" this style before and liked the look of it but this time, I might swap out the AK74, "Chi-Com" chest rig and related gear I used for something more "Western". The back story I've worked out is that, while they keep their old-style "Germanic" uniforms and helmets, they switch to NATO small arms, including perhaps the Steyr AUG (rifle) and the FN Minimi light machine gun (known in the US as the M249). Since I already have a couple of these basic dressed troopers on hand, it shouldn't be much to put together a quick test "bash" to see how that looks. Hopefully I should be able to post a follow up and a photo in the next day or two.

From the compost pile... uh, ARCHIVES!

I may have mentioned this before but RoG is the successor blog to an earlier effort here on Blogger that I eventually divided in two. I decided to save the old blog to my desktop but I didn't save it as a file that could be readily uploaded back to Blogger. Reason being that some of the information was no longer current, some of the complaints no longer relevant and much of it just wouldn't make sense or be in context here. Still, it's interesting to visit the saved file and see what was on my mind "back when". In particular, one thing that has bothered me for a few years and still bothers me today, leads me to offer this delicious copypasta from May 17, 2010.

I've been on the internet since the late '90s and, in that time, I've participated in a number of forums covering my various hobby interests. In more recent years, I've also been a board admin and a moderator, so I understand the challenges faced by people who run message boards. I've seen both the good and bad of board administration and the behavior of board members. My complaint is that, I'm beginning to feel that two boards where I've participated for several years are becoming increasingly regimented and even a bit capricious. I get that both of these boards are big and probably need a larger degree of formality to keep them in check. However, both are beginning to feel a bit stifling in the sense of being in a small room where the heat has been set a bit too high.

In one particular case, a well-known board devoted to 1/6 scale action figures that severely limits criticism of controversial subjects. While I get that you don't want every post to have the potential to erupt in to a 20 page pissing contest, there are times when posters, especially manufacturers announcing new products, clearly don't have a clue. Without the ability to offer any criticism of a figure based on subject matter, you're left to stuff a sock in it while your hobby gets taken down a path you'd rather not see it go. I keep wondering if there's a limit beyond which even the staff of this board will say enough is enough. Beloved American Serial Killers of the 20th Century, perhaps? No, I doubt it.
At what point do I, as a member of the hobby community, finally get to say "enough"? How tasteless do 1/6 scale manufacturers get to be, and how long do they get to push "controversial" subjects in the faces of people who object to them before they finally lose the protection given them by the staff and owners of major on-line hobby forums? As of now, I really have to wonder if that point can ever be reached.

At the time I wrote this, I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with two message boards where I was an active participant. The one I discuss but didn't name in the above post is One Sixth Warriors. They've had a ban in place on current events political discussions for many years and, sometime in the couple years or so, decided to extend that rule to cover discussions of the subject matter of the figures various manufacturers release or members post. I don't feel that the year and half or so since I wrote this has seen any great change in this situation (not just about Nazis but any potentially controversial or antagonizing subject) and in that time, I have largely stopped participating at that particular forum, aside from an occasional, bland "drive by" response that I never return to once I've offered an opinion.

This also touches, tangentially, on a subject that never fails to rile me up. The concept that a fight isn't a fight until someone has been pushed into a response. That's really a subject that deserves its own post, rather than allowing this one to veer into "tl;dr" territory. So until next time, and whenever I get around to writing that post, I'll say "adios"!

Writing against type, part 2

I should've subtitled this "Does this outfit make me look Fascist?"

A few of my regular readers might recognize these two but as a refresher, they (L) Chancellor Alrich Stahl and Commissar Seraya Reichhart. Commissar Reichhart has served as a primary antagonist in my doll/action figure back story since 2006, going through several head and body combinations before finally assuming this form in 2009 after I had purchased her head (manufacturer unknown) from a Hong Kong-based seller on eBay.

 Chancellor Stahl came about as the result of a conversation I had with an online pal, Elizabeth aka the lovely Android Raptor. While I knew that there had to be some "higher up" to whom Seraya was ultimately a subordinate, I had never really considered making a figure of such a character. I had this GI Joe figure that had never really "fit" with the rest of the guys- I've heard other Joe fans/collectors refer to his head sculpt as "Boy Band Joe"- but he seemed well suited for the role of a charismatic, good-looking, smug dictator!

While I wanted these two (and possibly some other future functionaries and minions) to look sort of generic, they obviously ended up looking rather, well... Nazi. Several reason for this include the ease with which 1/6 scale WW2 German uniforms and gear can be obtained and the fact that we seem to have such an ingrained cultural response to this particular style. Yes, it's a cheap and easy ploy that has been used by all manner of people in all manner of popular entertainment for close to 3/4 of a century now. True, there was a time that various communist regimes could also be demonized but that seems to have become less popular and acceptable since the late 1960s brought about a more "tolerant" attitude towards leftism in entertainment, media and academic circles. 

Not that I'm insinuating anything about such people's personal ideologies, mind you! After all, this is just a blog about toys and models, not world social-political stuff. ;)

Anyway, in my personal life, I have a deep aversion to ANY sort of totalitarianism, no matter how benign and utopian it is promised to be. Heck, even the governments of most modern day "free" countries are way too excessive by my standards. And yeah, I've heard the stupid "you'd LOVE Somalia then" retorts until I'm ready to puke. There's a vast difference between violent lawlessness and having to name your child according to a government "approved names" list. While the latter is more benign, neither is healthy for the long term growth of humanity, IMO! But again, we're not her to discuss such things.

A big part of creating these two characters and the fictional "world" they live in is to comment on many of the absurdities of the world and popular culture as I see it. And while I want it to be enjoyable for my readers, I'm trying to be respectful of the characters' beliefs and world views. It would be easy to do ridiculous slapstick, ala The Producers... extremely easy and a constant temptation. But I'm not satirizing the historical Nazi regime, this is a commentary on TODAY'S world with some definite nods to the past. While these folks are brutal, militaristic and inhumane, they are still probably pretty benign compared to many real-world regimes. Well, so far, at least! Even so, it has proven difficult for me to create these characters with the degree empathy they deserve if they are to be anything more than cardboard maniacs. I just can't "walk a mile in their shoes" as the old admonishment goes. And if I DO manage to present them as fully formed and relatable people, I'm concerned that it opens me to attacks by the narrow-minded and those who love to play "gotcha" and search for subtext and hidden meanings that aren't there. But let's face it, a "good bay guy" isn't one who revels in how bad he is. If he even agrees that what he does is "evil",  he sees this evil as necessary and in a relativist view, ultimately a good thing. It's just those "other" people who label his actions "evil" in order to undermine his work and the ultimate utopia that will arise from it. And thus, my conundrum.... I can laugh at it, I can fear it but it's extremely difficult to feel empathy or understanding for it.

Writing against type and the "Heinlein Effect".

A number of years ago, I noticed that you could almost never mention author Robert Heinlein on certain message boards without some flaming idiot uh, enlightened superior intellect flying off on a tangent about Heinlein's alleged "latent fascism". I had been aware of this debate since I was a mere young 'un back in the late '70s and knew that it had been raging for a good number of years prior to that (and prior to me, thank you! hehe). This near- knee jerk reaction is part of what I've dubbed "The Heinlein Effect" and essentially it is the (I believe dubious) contention that an author only writes what he or she knows or believes. The supposedly "logical" conclusion is that an author's writing reveals their true nature or beliefs. In the case of Heinlein, the story goes that readers in the 1960s who were enthralled by his more mature novels of the era (such as Stranger In A Strange Land) went back to read his "juvenile fiction" of the '50s and were appalled by the brutal, simplistic, anti-utopian tales they found. In particular, Starship Troopers drew their ire for it's apparently positive depiction of a harsh, militaristic and seemingly fascist future society on Earth. Never mind that Heinlein espoused and tried to live a highly individualistic and libertine life, or that many of his stated philosophies are essentially "Libertarian" in nature. Clearly, having written one book from the point of view of a heroic character who serves a militaristic world government, the reader must conclude that Heinlein is (or well, was) some sort of jackbooted Neo-Nazi.

Obviously, lacking any other solid evidence to substantiate this claim, I have taken the position that it is total crap. Norman Spinrad faced similar accusations after the publication of The Iron Dream in spite of its obvious satirical nature and Spinrad's long stated Anarcho-Syndicalist political philosophy.

My bottom line belief is that a good author can write against type. Many do use their work for a philosophical "soap box" but not necessarily everything someone writes should be taken as a window into the deep, hidden recesses of their soul. Having attempted to write against type myself a few times, I have gained a good deal of respect for those who can do it well. I tend to get bogged down in disliking protagonist characters with whom I would normally disagree or even find reprehensible. I see where cardboard villains with bumbling subordinates and cannon fodder minions come from. It's hard NOT to write such characters as silly, maniacal, violent but wretched buffoons who ultimately destroy themselves with a bit of help from "our hero".

In part two of this little diatribe (dear God, a part two? NOOOOOO!), I'll discuss my own descent into madness while attempting to create a believable and maybe even somewhat likable "good bad guy" that has consumed a fair amount of my limited spare brain power over the last year or so. Stay tuned and keep some extra strength aspirin handy!

Poking my head in

Back from my extended and unintended summer break. I have some hobby-related thoughts and rants but I'm not in the mood to get in to them at the moment. I did want to let my readers (both of 'em) know that RoG is merely resting and not dead.

My first big rant is the entrenched persistence of brand loyalty and how it ultimately harms hobbies as a whole. I hope to get to that in the next few days. I've also had this idea floating around about discussing why I blog more and participate in message board and similar "social network" groups less and less. I've actually written a few drafts of that but I haven't been happy with the results. This isn't Twitter but it still pays to communicate your thoughts in as concise a manner as possible. Rambling manifestos turn readers off and have a funny way of being connected to authors who are, frankly, often nuts and possibly homicidal.

I'll try to spare you from that!