Malika2 wrote:How so? Not that I don't believe you, but so I could pass that comment on to the sculptor who will then learn from it.

Absolutionis wrote:LunaHound... that's not a katana...

Not everyone in Japanese-looking armor uses a katana...

She got held back,

What happened was I got spam email from someone claiming to be a GW represenative and threatening me with legal action.

I had Ed send my pieces back (so they missed their turn in the queue) before challenging the spammer in a reply email (asking for a phone number and office address). I got no response so sent the pieces back to Ed to be put back in the castin queue.

My fault really I should have checked from the start, the other down side is Ed got rather a lot of unfair comments and emails from people pestering him to get a move (completely out of order as it was my fault and Ed practically eats, breaths and sleeps casting)

Any more complainers or people getting impatient please forward them my way as it has nothing to do with Ed.

Can't remember fully, or even the name he gave.

All I remember for the whole thing was that he had structured it quite well, but was very vague, saying things like "representatives" rather than a specific person, once I had calmed down I re-read it and realized just little information was actually provided.

I then emailed him back asking for furth information, specific people, phone numbers, legal contacts, etc and I got nothing back since then.

No idea why someone would bother doing it to be honest.

Thanks for that malika.

Yep, that was helpful. In fact, I went over to their forum to get a clearer picture of what lunahound was trying to say.

My thoughts:
It is true that I sculpted the samurai in that position to draw out the sword, not put it back. To capture the idea of a fighting model, drawing out the sword would be more effective than sheathing it.
Also, before I sculpted, I did read up on the quick draw which some of the samurai used and the position they needed to achieve the quick draw. I'm also aware that realistically speaking, drawing the odachi out of its sheath in that particular arc on the mini would be physically impossible without breaking the blade on the floor or failing that, getting the blade stuck in the sheath trying to wiggle it out

What other thoughts went through my mind?
Well, firstly, I'm relatively certain (after researching how the odachi was used before I sculpted it) that the odachi is not suited for the quick draw. They were huge weapons ( I saw one life-sized replica in a store) in the hands of relatively small-sized Japanese of that time. They were used more like clubs with a longer reach, so there was probably no quick draw, no matter how you position the weapon around the waist. The weight and length of the weapon does not look like it lends itself well to that kind of move. I'm not certain about this next bit, but I believe the odachi was unsheathed way before any engagement so that they will not become stuck in an awkward position while trying to pull it out. Finally, these weapons were considered rather unwieldy and were seldom used.

Secondly, the samurai weapon of choice was also mainly the bow and arrow in the earlier periods, not the katana. They only used their swords in close combat when they really had no choice. They rode on small steppe horses, not the huge chargers you see in movie 'The Last Samurai'. The smaller horses gave them the stability (not speed) they needed to shoot their arrows more accurately. So the early samurai were horse archers, not the romantic swordsmen of popular culture. In the later periods, the pikes were the predominant close combat weapons, not the katana, simply because they had a longer reach. The katana became more an important symbol than a weapon for the samurai in later periods, when they were already using guns in increasing numbers.

So why did I sculpt a model that seems to detract so much from reality? What was I trying to achieve?
Well, mainly the romanticized Hollywood idea of the samurai, not the historically accurate one. I was sculpting for the Fantasy genre after all. So the ideas in my head:
1. The samurai today is famous for their quick draw. I wanted to suggest that idea in the mini.
2. Visually, 'bigger is better'. I was sculpting an elite unit, so I wanted to sculpt the odachi rather than the regular katana.
3. I tried to suggest a subtly veiled threat in that particular model, hence the low draw rather than the chest-high draw.

So as you can see, I took certain liberties while sculpting this model. I guess the main question is: Does the stance and impracticality of the draw offend the sensibilities so much that it would prevent people from liking the mini or is it barely noticeable? Also, in taking these liberties, did it help add to the overall feel of the model?

What do you guys think? Malika, maybe you can help ask the guys at Dakka too?

Thanks much in advance.

Malika2 wrote:I think Ed was busy with the casting process, but things have been very hectic since he is a one man show when it comes to that.

Let me get back to you on that once I've got more info!

LunaHound wrote:Glad to be helpful yay!

Also tell him , remember the katana's sheath is usually tied to his side , so at most it can move like half a feet?

So try to picture the "arc" of which the katana is draw at from . At the current stance shown in the green sculpt , the arc would be slicing the floor or his feet , or it wont be unsheathed at all because remember his legs are bent?

But if its done from the side , he have a whole side free to unsheathe from. Not to mention the force of impact most efficient from a draw like that , is around like 110-130 degree of his upper torso.

If he is miraculously able to unsheathe from the sculpted position , his sword will be out at like ... 180 degree + , then of course his whole front will be exposed while he draw his sword....