This is sort of minor for me, but it'll be a fucking heartbreaker elsewhere.
So months back, on the euro wargaming forum I go to, I put up a cartoon character image and was basically "Hey does anybody make a mini like this?" That's not a super-uncommon thing to do at all. I liked the character design and it actually looked similar to some of the existing game figures, so I figured, hey maybe there's a licensed version or a knockoff or something.
For some reason, one of the younger guys on the forum, a German kid, got all excited. He really liked the character image and said he wanted to practice sculpting and that not only would he sculpt one, he would send me a copy when he was done. Well, I was impressed. Custom mini's something people charge a lot of money for! I didn't think much of it though... I figured eventually he'd lose interest or get frustrated with things not working, or whatever as usually happens.
But months later, the same kid messages me, showing me a finished sculpture. Now, it looked a little crude, but it was really well done for a guy just starting out. But... he's not really going to send me one, is he? Casting stuff is it's own horror show.
And indeed, the kid had all kinds of trouble casting up the mini - most of his attempts were a write off. His amateur efforts also had him using a polyester resin which was quite fragile. But finally, after many tries, he had some good copies. How many, I don't know. It's certainly possible that he only managed two good ones.
Well, now I was amazed and really flattered. This kid, who I had never talked to previously, had spent months labouring to produce a custom made mini that I asked for. He had followed through at every step of way, apologizing for delays, and never asked for even a cent for postage. I swore to myself I was gonna paint that fucker up and do the best damn job possible and put up the pics in all the places I always do, because I suspected if there was anything that kid wanted to see, it would be that. Somebody really valuing all the hard, careful work he'd poured into this thing.
Well, I got the mini today. And this is a post in Shit Days, so this ain't no happy ending.
It was perhaps not packed as securely as it might have been. He was very careful and had hand-shaped a very nice little styrofoam form to carry the mini. Only it wasn't very strong. Somewhere in the mail, the head had been obliterated. Like, dust chips.
I... don't even know what to do here. Do I tell him? I mean that's a case of "break his heart now or later" but maybe he's gonna try and send me another! He might send me his own copy and I don't want him to do that if that's all he has left! Do I try to swap heads (that'd be pretty noticeable!)?
Fuck!
