Saturday, September 2, 2023

StickyBones - High Performance Poseable Figures

I have not been current with these kinds of poseable figures. I recall from some years ago, there was a line of poseable very small toy figures called Stikfas. This one, is another brand known as Stickybones. They are not the action super hero figure types, but instead, these are designed with ideal human anatomical proportions. Stickybones figures are produced as a reference poseable figure for artists & illustrators. It is a more sophisticated version of the old school Artist Manikins (Link). From what I see, these figures can be very expressively posed, similar to what a real human person can do, mimicking action poses of ... athletes, dancers, martial artist, etc.

One of my observations - I do not see any mention whether Male or Female figures. Stickybones just calls them 'human high performance poseable figures'. They are basically all the same anatomical form ... a somewhat androgynous design ... perhaps reducing manufacturing costs. Actual measurement is 8.5"(215mm) height. If an artist were using these figures as drawing / sketching reference of a female anatomical form, I suppose that you can add clay to the 'chest and hips', to give it a more curvy appearance.

The price is on the higher scale at $71. (US) for one figure. Stickybones are sold as kits, and so, you have to assemble them. If you are a drawing / sketch Artist, it would be a one time investment  ... a tool to aid in producing your art works. At Amazon (Link), there are various similar jointed figures at much less cost but quality maybe not so good, according to some of reviews. Also, the figures are small at about 6 inches (152mm).  

For Stop Motion: I have seen some reasonably good animation using these Stickybones. They are very useful for practice animation, but it might be restricted to more realism human motion. IMO, not ideal for stylized or cartoon-esque animated characters. It depends on the animators skill & talent if they can get some creative animation with these figures.

Some have also modified the look of the Stickybones and made miniature clothing or turned them into an action figure. Stickybones figures appear to be made from mold injected plastic resin. The joint tension relies on the plastic balls being pre-compressed by the plastic sockets ... the balls snap into the sockets. If the joints loosen, you can maybe use a heat gun to bend the plastic sockets for tighter tension, however there is the risk of damage ... or maybe use Tacky Putty (Link) in the Sockets.

 If you add clothing to the figures, the ball tension might not hold in certain poses. If you are animating the figure 'as is', just the bare figure form ... the joints seems to hold the tension during animation posing. It has magnetic feet, tie-downs and of course, you can use a simple animation support rig to hold and stabilize the figure.


Stickybones started as an Indiegogo Funded Campaign back in 2016 (Link). They received over $ One Million Dollars $ (Usa) in contributions 😮

You know ... searching briefly, I could not find that much stop motion use of Stickybones ... it is minimal. Mostly out there, it is from beginners doing only a few quick seconds of stop motion. The better stop motion examples are actually from the Stickybones Company. They hire experienced animators for their promotional ads! So, I'm guessing that the primary consumers are perhaps Artists who are using these poseable figures as human anatomical body form reference ... which was the original design & purpose of this product.

Stickybones

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