"Victorian kraken hunter (NSFW in some countries?)" Topic

Victorian Darling, kraken hunter

A comely colleague of Ned Land
by Ax Faction
axfaction.com/#!shop
link
link

not safe for krakens

Annoying noise from the site, goes away when you close it. '32mm' figures.

It was commented that she looks from earlier in history than Victorian times.
Indeed -maybe because of the blue in her dress? The flat-topped hat? The blue & white stripes?- she has something of Nelson's or Surcouf's sailors, in more… charming.

A hat swap giving her a tricorne (and removing the goggles in the process) would turn her into a lovely Lacepulp / Lacepunk adventuress (NOT 'heroine': heroines scream and have to be rescued); skilled converters may add greenstuff garters for more 'period' look?
Then replace the harpoon with an amusette and you get a good 18th C. approximation of Victoria Seras of 'Hellsing' link

Not a fan.

Quiquakes' sister.

"What do you do with a drunken whaler…"

"Straight-en out her crook-ed bre-ast…"

Interesting concept. Pathetic pose and composition. Really cool mechanical kraken bits!

The arm looks a bit weird to me, apart from that she reminds me too much of Nikki Minaj.

That's my problem with the sculpt.

We live in pretty socially permissive times, yet the only women you see dressed like this sculpt today are pop stars on stage or streetwalkers.

So why do so many VSF/Steampunk/Lacepunk artists and sculptors assume that women in that *much* less permissive age would suddenly start getting huge breast implants, exposing acres of flesh, dying their hair, and wearing their undergarments on the outside?

And that's not to mention the stupid hat and ridiculous mid-battle pose, as others have already pointed out.

The whole thing is even worse than the chainmail bikini cliche', to me.

The clothes are pretty much "junior-school disco" attire round these parts.

The boobies and harpoon – not so much.

We live in pretty socially permissive times, yet the only women you see dressed like this sculpt today are pop stars on stage or streetwalkers.
So why do so many VSF/Steampunk/Lacepunk artists and sculptors assume that women in that *much* less permissive age would suddenly start getting huge breast implants, exposing acres of flesh, dying their hair, and wearing their undergarments on the outside?

For the present and the Real World™ you forgot goth girls and punkettes; and I can testify that by the late '60 early '70 times were more permissive than nowadays, fashion-wise.

But for the main point, you also forgot we are not discussing *historical* minis: steampunk is, literally, a *fantasy* setting. Victorian mores and prejudices are simply no more relevant than kosher taboos to Dwarves or Orcs.

As for silliness… what is more silly than bipedal warwalkers? Bipedal walk requires a hell of retro-controls (our own walk is a permanently controlled fall), even the most advanced 'robots' and experimental 'walking' vehicles to-day are at least quadripedal. And what could be more vulnerable than a war machine with only *two* legs? If one is disabled, not only it is immobilized like a tank having lost a track, but it *falls*. Yet it's a commonly accepted cliche from VSF to WH40K and SW through weird WWII….

"The boobies and harpoon – not so much."

Though a harpoon-wielding coed would have made my school dances a lot more interesting.

Abdul, I would argue that goth girls and punkettes are also "on stage" for all intents and purposes. And I loved the fashions of the '60s and '70s (well, most of them), and I never saw anyone walking down the street looking like that. Maybe a bikini top and an exposed navel with flared jeans, but nothing as fetishistic as this sculpt. And certainly not when showing up for work on, well, I guess a fishing boat. :)

FWIW, I equally find bipedal warwalkers ridiculous, and even "the rule of cool" can't overcome that for me.

At least in traditional fantasy, barbarian men are equally under-dressed. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The same isn't true for VSF etc. Other than John Carter and derivatives thereof, I can't think of any similarly uncovered male inventors, technicians, scientists, or "kraken hunters."

Victorian Kraken Huntress? Looks like some chick I saw on the walking mall in Helena at a Cosplay event.

"I can testify that by the late '60 early '70 times were more permissive than nowadays, fashion-wise."
And yet, today we still have people with their pants halfway down.
I get the top-that's-little-more-than-an-extra-layer-of-bra but the attraction of a gut flopping out or buttock cleavage in everyones face escapes me.
" Victorian mores and prejudices are simply no more relevant than kosher taboos to Dwarves or Orcs."
Unless you make it do so.
"FWIW, I equally find bipedal warwalkers ridiculous, and even "the rule of cool" can't overcome that for me."
"Rule of cool" would only apply if all the designs I'd seen weren't so cr@ppy.
"(NOT 'heroine': heroines scream and have to be rescued)"
Looks like she'd fit that bill.

"Other than John Carter and derivatives thereof, I can't think of any similarly uncovered male inventors, technicians, scientists, or "kraken hunters.""

It's because all the steampunk girls are still forbidden from colleges of science, technology and engineering so they work for circuses and burlesque houses, only getting to tinker between shows.

So why do so many VSF/Steampunk/Lacepunk artists and sculptors assume that women in that *much* less permissive age would suddenly start getting huge breast implants, exposing acres of flesh, dying their hair, and wearing their undergarments on the outside?

I suppose the Osprey on Victorian Kraken Hunters has much more realistic depictions…

At least in traditional fantasy, barbarian men are equally under-dressed. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The same isn't true for VSF etc.

In the late '60 girls wore miniskirts while boys did not routinely wore short trousers, so there is some historical precedent YouTube link
As for fetichist dress YouTube link

Now, I have to concede that a major difference between works of fiction (including miniature figurines) and The Real World™ is that, in the former, such light dress is worn only by persons deserving it; in the later, unfortunately…

Not all of us are allergic to the same clichés: I'm perfectly at ease with the chainmail bikini (as long as I'm not expected to wear one, I mean ) and its technologically advanced substitute the plate armor monokini TMP link. On the other hand I'm deeply irritated by the convention (the hat of the kraken huntress reminds me of it) that, from the Middle-Ages to Napoleonic times a (miniature) witch has to be an ugly crone wearing the Disney©®™ regulation Halloween uniform. Silly in two ways: the tasks of witchfinders / hunters would have be so much easier, a lot of younger women would have escaped the stake. And a competent witch, would it be by mere 'glamour' (illusion) or real physical embellishment and preservation of youth, looks young and attractive (unless she wishes otherwise)

Thus, for my favorite 18th C., Foundry Revenant female Elves TMP link (with 'normalized' ears) rather than, say,

I don't think that I can say it any better than jpattern2 did.

It is incredibly dumb.

I picked this one up and she is a corker!

Everything abdul666lw said. Also, having recently covered Steamcon IV, there is NO overarching grand inquisitorial board of pedants dictating what Steampunk is. In some cases, this results in rather unfortunate "club wear plus goggles equals Steampunk" incidents. In other cases, it leads to stunning and marvelous creativity; unstiffled by rivet and button counting armchair experts. Personally,I like VSF more than Steampunk in the way that I enjoy a bit of cream in my coffee rather than slightly brown milk. This is not my cuppa, as miniatures go, but it IS fantasy and should go over we'll with the intended audiences for this sort of thing…in much the same way that perfectly realized Napoleonics go over like a lead balloon with the same segment of the population.