Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

underfire wargaming wrote:
awesome ideas

No need to say sorry, you said a lot of awesome stuff Again, I like both kinds of anthropomorphic, both nekomimi and "full anthro" like Grace. Hell, I grew up with plenty of stories and games with both kinds.

underfire wargaming wrote:
I will say I think this is a fantastic idea, lets be honest to those who are complaining, Anthro Aliens are always much more interesting and better looking than the typical "Earth Worm Jim" aliens or aliens that look almost 100% human with a different skin color, those two usually are not very attractive of alien concepts. Ones that do well that are not Anthro like in some way are very difficult to create new concepts of, such as Aliens and Predators, Tyranids , Zerg and such are not easy concepts to produce and take a lot of concept art and polls from the targeted community to get an idea of what people like and always come with some risk.

Not all of us have HP lovecraftian imagination levels to create such unique races. I think as long as the anthros are done with a more animal focus and less humans with cat ears style approach ( sorry Draconic Lord, but its just my taste just like the different colored human aliens)

I would defiantly recommend making them more gritty and less high and happy like, these two links are images from a project were I was searching for sci fi race ideas came across and I think It would be something you can take great inspiration from for a more gritty near future look on them if you go with that .

http://25.media.tumblr.com/a9198caf6a3feecab33fe25b454effb8/tumblr_mzu5ssPSyF1sgpjb4o9_r1_1280.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/5f3dc9de6ac3e4f281af8108702d4c28/tumblr_mzu5ssPSyF1sgpjb4o2_r1_1280.png

I would like to see something that is more near future or sci fi or a hybrid of the two with some fantasy elements, but not a fan of Grim dark fantasy future settings as keeping your range more visibly open to other settings I think would help greatly for sales with the growing diversity of the miniature market place.

Please also do with true scale for your miniatures, "Heroic" goofy portions are something that is no longer needed in the market with the wealth of capable and great sculptors we have in the market now adays, and also the market is moving towards true scaled miniatures and is something I would highly recommend for you to consider with them as I can almost guarantee going with true scale will make for many more sales.

Also I would like to ask do you plan to do a game system with these miniatures? Also what material will you be using? Metal or Resin are both fine with me, if you plan a larger production I would go with metal a smaller one I would go with resin , It also counts on the size of your miniatures as well as I am sure a massive dragonborn like character may be better off in resin than metal.

Whao, thanks for all of the great input and suggestions! I appreciate it.

The choice for heroic is because conversion bits are cheaper to start with, and most popular plastic mini's are in the more heroic scale such as thows you seen made by industry leaders such as Reaper Bones and Games Workshop. Full figures are more expensive for me to get sculpted and produce, so they are most risky for me starting off. I also wish for my current offerings to be in line scale wise with people's existing collections, and other bit companies like Victoria Miniatures and Anvil industries.

The best I can say is that I am trying to get the best sculpts I can, and I wish for them to be in scale with modern offerings.

The only True Scale plastics I'm aware off would be Perry miniatures, and maybe Wargames Factory? These aren't kits people normally reach for when converting fantesy or sci-fi mini's so I never even thought of them when putting this project together. I will include these ranges in future survey's for completeness.

To answer some of your questions, The Material will be resin, and their are no plans for creating my own game system. Their are plenty already on the market, I would rather just try produce my neice figures for people to use in their own games.

Not a fan of furrles myself, but I'm always interested in anthropomorphic animal lines. I've got a couple of SBH warbands based around these kind of figs, but it'd be cool to see more. I'd really like to see figs in the vein of "Elepantmen" and "Hip Flask" comics.

 RatBot wrote:

Brushfire has the whole Medieval/Renaissance thing down, and Crocodile Games has a very specific Ancient Egyptian Gods line.

Brushfire makes cool minis, but they're kind of in a scale of their own. The very smallest is around 28mm, but from what I've seen, they run pretty big after that. Big enough that most weren't a workable option for adding to my warbands.

Piece of helpful advice: please take the time to edit any future business correspondence/writings. While I am interested, when you don't take the time to ensure that your survey/advert uses proper spelling/grammar, it fails to instill potential customers with confidence. It conveys the impression (whether true or false) that you aren't taking the endeavor seriously, which makes it less likely people will trust you with their money, especially if you intend to secure advance funding via Kickstarter or the like.

 Lockark wrote:
apologies to Boggy Man and Stevefamine that you are so disgusted by the idea. But like it or not anthropomorphic charaters and races have always been a part of traditional gaming. The original pigfaced orcs of early D&D to the DragonBorn and Kitsune of latter D&D and pathfinder.

I'm sorry that the fact I have no problem also selling to and catering to furies offends you.

Please don't call them furry or furies or associate them in that context because it tends to leave a negative association. There is nothing wrong with anthropomorphic creatures, werewolves, bastet, etc are in lore, horror and used in various scifi settings and games from roleplaying to miniatures (Gamorreans from Star Wars anyone). However they are not typically refereed to as furies and you shouldn't label them that way. If the customer base wants to call them that, then that would be fine but from a marketing standpoint I wouldn't refer to them as that. I'm not saying that it is evil but ultimately that is what the issue you will have is. The minute you start referring to it in that manner, it starts people debating on what it is, beliefs, etc and distracts everything from what you actually want to do ... design, create and sell anthropomorphic miniatures.

 Dark Severance wrote:

 Lockark wrote:
apologies to Boggy Man and Stevefamine that you are so disgusted by the idea. But like it or not anthropomorphic charaters and races have always been a part of traditional gaming. The original pigfaced orcs of early D&D to the DragonBorn and Kitsune of latter D&D and pathfinder.

I'm sorry that the fact I have no problem also selling to and catering to furies offends you.

Please don't call them furry or furies or associate them in that context because it tends to leave a negative association. There is nothing wrong with anthropomorphic creatures, werewolves, bastet, etc are in lore, horror and used in various scifi settings and games from roleplaying to miniatures (Gamorreans from Star Wars anyone). However they are not typically refereed to as furies and you shouldn't label them that way. If the customer base wants to call them that, then that would be fine but from a marketing standpoint I wouldn't refer to them as that. I'm not saying that it is evil but ultimately that is what the issue you will have is. The minute you start referring to it in that manner, it starts people debating on what it is, beliefs, etc and distracts everything from what you actually want to do ... design, create and sell anthropomorphic miniatures.

I wouldn't call the figures "furry fox" the same way I wouldn't call the miniatures "anthropomorphic fox". It just sounds strange and unoriginal. They will probably have silly names like "Underwood kitsune" or "The vulpine" for example, silly names like that.

But I won't let people who actively go out of their way to put down the furry community bully me into calling a orange a pear. Furries are just the name people who are fans of anthropomorphic characters call themselves, the same way Star trek fans are trekies, and my little pony fans are bronies.

Once I have proper names set in stone it's up to people if they want to call my mini's furry or not. At the end of the day doesn't matter to me. But as I start trying to collect feedback, and continue planning my business I do need to know people's reactions and opinions. It's the reason I'm also trying to find out how much of a over lap exists between the two communities.

I'm also unashamed to admit I attend the local furry convention in my city every year. No, I don't dress up as a animal. I play D&D and RPG's every year in their gaming room. lol

 Lockark wrote:
They will probably have silly names like "Underwood kitsune" or "The vulpine" for example, silly names like that.

They should have their own names and/or classifications, even if it is something like Spirit Animals in reference to Kitsune, Bastet, etc.

 Lockark wrote:
But I won't let people who actively go out of their way to put down the furry community bully me into calling a orange a pear. Furries are just the name people who are fans of anthropomorphic characters call themselves, the same way Star trek fans are trekies, and my little pony fans are bronies.

I'm also unashamed to admit I attend the local furry convention in my city every year. No, I don't dress up as a animal. I play D&D and RPG's every year in their gaming room. lol

That isn't entirely accurate nor is completely inaccurate but again that is the issue. That is like saying BDSM is only about pain, dom and subs when it is a much broader culture than that. You want to start a business and typically business matters are separate from own personal beliefs or ideas. A person may be highly religious but it doesn't mean they won't make wargame miniatures or demons because of it, it also usually means they aren't talking about their beliefs when they are trying to sell their products. You don't want to blur that line unless you are dealing with a multi-genre item or connecting with certain fans. Yes Star Trek fans are Trekkies but Star Trek: Attack Wing players who may be Trekkies but aren't typically refereed to as Trekkies because they are miniature gamers. It is a more specific name instead of a the broader market. If they were playing at a Star Trek convention that would probably changing but that all depends on setting. In this case you on posting on a gaming forum so yes you will get varied feedback, positive and negative because of how you are representing the product. Another example would me trying to ask people what they think about this car I'm selling, on a car website, but the car is complete customized to look like the shuttle, complete with Star Trek paint job of Kirk on the side of it. There will be feedback, some positive and negative but they will mostly be talking about the features that aren't carlike. It also narrows the target market because its now specifically targeted to Star Trek fans... as opposed to creating a car that looks like a generic scifi spaceship, modern and then letting fans determine how they'll use it. You've sort of defined its role which isn't associated normally with gaming.

Miniatures traditionally have 3 genres that would be your target market:
- Collectors, which can consist of both painters and gamers. They buy, paint and/or collect miniatures because they like the look, background or something about it says great.
- Gamers, which may or may not be painters and/or collectors. They love games, board games, miniatures games, all games and like to play them.
- Painters, which can be both gamers and collectors. They love to paint all sort of interesting miniatures.

You are trying to sell miniatures with a different design idea. Nothing wrong with that, they can be used for various things and are represented in many games from WH40K to Infinity. However they know them as different names, lizardmen, aliens or something else. When you define it by naming it as such you did, you've locked the first perception into that group, that is just part of Marketing 101. A good portion of people will be repulsed by it because of how it was represented and only imagine a couple things associated with that name, thus alienating your potential target audience.

Business sense aside, I have friends that are furries and despite that I do call them friends (that is meant as a joke). There are some that are extreme and others that are not. However when we game, talk, play with others or are out we don't talk about it unless someone specifically has questions about the culture. Just like one of my best friends happens to be gay. He neither flaunts with his husband in front of us, nor when out in public... just like my wife and I aren't making out in public either (well unless we're in Vegas ^_^). He isn't ashamed about who he is, nor does he feel he has to explain it or make excuses but at the same time when he does business (Marketing Director) it is about business, his clients and products. In talking with him you could probably make a guess what his preference is, but he also doesn't limit himself by labeling it or talking about it. That is personal life, beliefs and interests that are outside the realm of business.

Again I have no issues with what someone believes. However you are on a gaming forum, talking about miniatures that you are trying to sell for miniature gamers, painters, rpg players, etc. That doesn't mean that gamers don't exist in that culture but that isn't what this forum is. Although it is a fairly vocal community in all extremes across many subjects, ultimately it is still a gaming forum.

But this isn't a official product announcement, and this is my own personal account trying to gather information. I have not even officially announced the name of my company, because I am still finalizing my business plan and marketing strategy. believe it or not, I do have a understanding of these things.



Also no need to make the furry community sound like a creep religious thing, they can do that on their own as is! lol
XP

While they may be out there already but head and arm conversion bits for Space Wolves "mark of the wolven" could be an idea for werewolf conversion bits.

Another idea I would like to see is different positions for the ears on the head. Otherwise a good head and tail combo for a female fox nekomimi would probably get a purchase from me.

Yeah it would be amazing to have the heads have different 'expressions' and animals are generally easier in some regards to show emotions. On felines for example, snarled, teeth showing, ears flat, and tail swishing = pissed.

A grimacing human could be 9 thousand different meanings from horribly wounded to just constipated.

That said, the D&D and RPG community DESPERATELY needs minis for all the 'animal' folk races and being able to make furry space marines and such is just a lure I'm going to toss money at the first chance I get.

Filled in the Survey, the grammar mistakes where not that damning, and people who made an issue about that, spell-check your post!

You could do some beast-man for 40K and as GW don't make them anymore, or parts to use on current Imperial guard to "Bestify" them.


Also parts for WW2 miniatures to make them more beastly would be cool
Or are you thinking something like this?

Have you already surveyed other furry forums? Reaper Miniatures' forum should be interested, as mouslings are a popular line.

Dark Sword Miniatures is the only anthro line I'm familiar with. Impact Miniatures has some chibis which sorta fall into anthro / furry.

You might also want to have a painting service set up, for any customers who don't want to paint the miniatures.

Good luck!

Skaven, Lizardmen, Beastmen, are all good inspirations if necessary.

I could potentially support this endeavour, it would be interesting to write up or find rules for a "RedWall Table Top Strategy Game" inspired by the writings of Brian Jacques! I loved the books as a youngling and have still been intrigued by the idea, even experimenting with "Mouse Guard" for inspiration in making a "RedWall-like" RPG.

You could go many ways with the models as far as builds and proportions, but I'd like to see a lot of models with similiarity to character-builds from Wind-in-the-willows and RedWall.

While I may not be a "furry" or whatever, I still see the fruit that can be produced from such an undertaking.

The Chimera from Infinity is also another good example.

Of the races you listed in the survey, the lamia are the only one that interests me. I dislike [animal]man races on principle because they are the least interesting form of hybrid. Fantasy races like centaurs, harpies, mermaids and lamia take aspects of animals that objectively mean something and have interesting implications about how these creatures would function. For example, a lamia's anatomy means that there is no hard line between ground fighting and fighting while standing, so lamia martial arts might favour takedowns followed either by a constricting grapple or a swift return to an upright position for a coup de grace. A centaur would be a natural cavalryman with far greater control over his "mount" than any human. Merfolk could only use fire or electricity by beaching themselves, and that would shape how their civilisation would develop. And so on. Merely sticking a snake's head on a man's body does not say anything about how the race functions without resorting to what is basically racist stereotype ("You look like a snake, so you must think like a snake").

I do like some [animal]man art like this one from Magic: the Gathering, but it's an exception.

It is incredibly unlikely that I would be buying your miniatures in either case - I far prefer the reliability and customisation available in multipart HIPS/ABS to any other material - but that's my view on the matter. If someone is going to make [animal]man races, I'd rather it was you than Mantic.

I just want to say thank you again for all the great ideas and feed back! I've been reading everything, and taking notes.

I was never aware of dark sword miniatures, and it's very cool to see what is on the market already.