Right on - Thank you for this 🙏

on our website or on esty: armaturenine.com armaturenine.etsy.com

puts a significant amount of pressure on the ball joint to keep it steady at multiple angles. And it looks cool :D

@@Armaturenine your right it does look cool also do you sell these on Etsy?

@@Kalebquiles yep, right here: www.etsy.com/shop/armaturenine/

Ok thanks

Thanks for weighing in. I don't believe their new models have changed besides color and perhaps the fitting, but range of motion has stayed the same. I guess I'll have to buy a new model to confirm.

Sorry if I sounded a little harsh. I just really like the sticky bones and I do think you should give it a try also I want to know the difference between the $50 one that you guys have and the $130 ones

@@Kalebquiles The main difference is size. The more expensive figures are 1:6 scale and the smaller ones are 1:12. Both of these are industry standard conventions, so you can find all kinds of props and costumes online that will fit the figure nicely. I explain the difference in detail in my help page on armaturenine.com

Sticky bones and ranger Collaboration????

yes, you can find a complete in-depth review on A9's range of motion here:

armaturenine.wordpress.com/2017/02/05/ranger-vs-the-competition/

Thanks for weighing. How about the range of motion? Has that changed, or are the points I made still valid today?

@@Armaturenine Thanks, the range of motion has improved somewhat as well I'd say but yours goes to the full extant which is plus for you but then again StickyBones goes mostly as far as an ordinary person would and not an athlet in gymnastics 🙂🙂 I commented on another video of yours, I think it was an update of your product and it looks amazing! I like your asthetic as well and I will get them down the line if the cost is a bit favourable for the surviving artist and animator. I appreciate your dedication and its fantastic you've kept going with it for so many years and you will succeed in making them one of the best if not THE best puppet for stop motion experimentations. Thank you.

@@No_Plastic Thanks! So I do have a $50 figure (Rider). I mention that in the video toward the end. It's the one shown me handling at the very beginning. Regarding range of motion SB can't do a sideways reclining pose or even fundamental spine positions (see full video for more)

Yeah, very true. I'm adamant about solving it with mostly pressure fitted pieces, however (except knees). I will probably resort to that for the peanut and neck (like the former universal joint design).

Yep, actually a full half scale figure called Titan. I unveiled it here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z96HnaWAqc2XlY0.html

Oh wow, what a cool memory, thank you so much for sharing that! That is so heartwarming!! <3

One of the reasons for it being skeletal is so that artists can put clay or foam over the figure and shape it any way they like. Monster clay works really well.

It's truly a tragic state of affairs. As far as I can tell these people are WEF acolytes and dream of the "You'll own nothing and be happy " paradigm. So it seems in line with their disdain for property rights. We must fight back, however. Build property and hold onto it. I made a deliberate choice to depart form the digital long ago when I started Armature Nine in 2012 because I felt the digital world going in a toxic direction. It seems more important than ever for us to return to grass roots involvement and building local relationships and fostering local businesses and local growth. My hope is to get as many figures out into the world for people to have in their hands before they pull the plug. Having something physical that you can touch with your hands, seems more valuable than ever to me.

Hi Zanimations45, no, because the way we keep the lights on is by making them and selling the physical parts. Reproduction of the pieces by others is not something we allow or part of the business model. At least not at this time. Perhaps when we become as big as the LEGO company, we offer such options :D ... one can dream right?

@@Armaturenine totally understand, thank you!

Indeed! This technology could usher in a sort of entrepreneurial renaissance by empowering everyday people to forge their own paths, provided regulations don't stifle its potential with a restrictive 'AI power for me but not for thee' approach. Regarding the layoffs, do you think AI may be the direct cause? Even if not, it certainly seems poised to have an impact. As you mentioned, companies might increasingly seek only the top talent, reducing the need for the lower 80%. To be fair, this trend was already in motion with the rise of outsourcing abroad. However, with AI, even the need for outsourcing might diminish, potentially leading to the obsolescence of all entry-level roles in favor of positions like prompt artists, prompt engineers, and prompt assistants. Ultimately, it might be those who ask the best questions and possess the finest discernment who will thrive in the future, while traditional notions of talent and skill could become relics of a bygone era. And if that's the case, Shouldn't we at least pause for a moment and talk about this loss? Even grieve? This thing called "progress" never seems to give us the opportunity to feel what we lose in the process and as a species we just burry our emotions from one generation to the next. I don't think this is healthy for us. And largely why I feel it's important to have this conversation.

@@Armaturenine I don't think AI has much to do with it. It can't really create concept art. The best you can do with it is to generate ideas and then you would have to clean it up and make sketches based off of it. That's what everybody in the gaming industry says. And they also won't risk using it because of the copyright. That's why steam bands the use of it. As soon as they see anything AI they immediately take it down. I believe there's just a lot of artists now compared to what there was before and a lot less projects. So the few projects that there are they want the highest quality so they only seek out 8/10 People for the job. In comparison to 5 to 10 years ago there was a lot more projects so they would give the jobs to people who 6 or 7/10. The top freelance people have even had to lower their rates. They used to like charge like $1,000 an hour. Now they have to charge around $700. And because there's not enough projects, they're outsourcing a lot of the work to third world countries. So they'll pay somebody in Germany or Africa or India $200 an hour. The companies are saving a lot of money and $200 an hour is a lot of money to someone in Africa. And the quality of their work is just as good or even better than the people who are living here, so they usually go with out sourcing

@@williammclean6594 I'm not sure concept artists ever made $1K an hour XD. I think most are making $30-50/hr (salaried positions). And at the very top (non-salary) maybe $150/hr.

@@Armaturenine Oh, I was mostly like talking about freelance artists that companies hire. Like the top ones that live in LA that get calls from the major studios. That's what they usually charge. They're not on contract. They only work for like a couple days for a company. So they're charging for the piece. Not really an hourly thing. It's like those famous artists. If you go on their website, that's what they usually charge for a commission about $800 for a drawing because they can't be bothered with $50 commissions. It's just not worth it to them

@@williammclean6594 I see. Well these are very much a tiny minority of professional artists. They're more like celebrities (Craig Mullins, Ralph McQuarrie, John Howe, etc). Not something most professional artists can relate to. I can certainly see how individuals like them whom have cachet in an industry will be fairly safe from AI though I wonder if they're the last of a generation. I can imagine a future where we may have new artists that will develop the same level of cachet but by building their own custom proprietary neural networks for new and innovative forms of art. So you don't believe most professional artists jobs in the games industry will be disrupted by AI? Concept artists may not be using the technology but art directors will and probably be able to avoid needing to hire concept artists to begin with. Don't you think? They'll be able to get around the issue with copyright by training their own internal neural networks on artwork their former artists have done for them over decades. I would think one has to be careful (as an employee) because it wouldn't surprise me if companies start to covertly train on people's work at the office until they have everything they need and then let them go. Kind of like when they would have domestic workers train foreign replacements and then they'd let the locals go. Scary stuff.

Woah, that is so cool!! Thanks for sharing that :)

My Rider figure which has the same articulation costs $50. How much do you think I should lower it to? they are each individually made here at home by me and my son. And they come fully assembled.

@@Armaturenine maybe like 30 for rider and 70 for ranger but idk cus it is a lot like sticky bones and lowering the price of the figures could bring your sales closer to theirs. Just a suggestion

@@Armatureninealso how long is delivery and how much does it cost?

@@UKCL1PS235 Thanks for your suggestion. I'll make that my goal. International delivery costs $25 and takes about 1 week to arrive after it ships. But you may have to pay your country's import taxes upon arrival. We started using DHL last month and the quality of delivery has gone way up from previous years.

@@Armaturenine what country do you ship from and in that country would shipping be cheaper?

It was the one they sent directly from their $1million dollar indiegogo campaign.

Oh blast, sorry to hear that! Please email me if you could and send me a photo of the model you have. I'm more than happy to send you replacements that will fit your figure (the new feet are much better). There was a brief period of time where I used a material that ended up becoming brittle over time. It's possible that's the model you got? Kind of a greenish brown color.

@Armaturenine yeah they are kind of green. I'll send you that email for sure! Also knowing that you've been looking into injection molding. Have you considered trying smooth ons molding and casting instead? I use a syringe to inject 2 part liquid plastic into the a silicone mold to make teeth. It hardens in as little as 15 minutes too

@@wreckingball8881 Right on. I'll keep an eye out for that. I'm actually in the process of working on my first silicone molding for my new set of head designs (working on a large series of animals, dragons and dinosaurs). If it goes well I may apply this technique to other pieces as well.

@@Armaturenine I look forward to seeing that!

Rider's used to come with articulated hands but as of this year they are optional. You can find them on the parts page for the small figures. They also feature all five fingers and an opposable thumb.

Really? Thanks for reporting this. I haven't noticed issues here. Out of curiosity which figure and year do you have?

Thanks for sharing that! The "classic" variants (Rider and Ranger Classics) used to come with the flexible clavicles but starting this year (v.2024) I decided not to include them and make them optional. One reason was that I wanted to drop the price of the figures overall. Main reason, however, was that I personally prefer the default clavicles because they're more rigid and stable and I find when having to make a decision between range of motion and stability, stability wins imho. This way, I believe, I'm giving customers a better experience (by not including them). In fact, I was so paranoid about this that when I was including them last year I would also include a set of the regular clavicles in the event customers wanted to switch back. Then this started to create a production bottleneck so I decided I'd just not include them at all and make them optional for those customers who really wanted to have that extra range of motion. I think that if at some point I could make them become just as rigid/stable and easier to manufacture, I'd at that point include them by default; not only for classics but for all variants. Who knows, that day may come.

Also remember, that because I sell all the pieces individually, you can always get a figure now and buy the new feet and hands when they come out :)

​@@Armaturenine entonces vendes esas claviculas mejoradas por separado?

@@kevinrafaelpaitandelacruz6463 sip, en esta pagina para las figuras grandes: armaturenine.com/products/clipslarge Y aqui para las figuras mas pequeñas : armaturenine.com/products/clipssmall

Thanks for weighing in. I believe the newer versions are only different in color, not design. But let me know if you have the same problem with the lower spine joint and fingers popping off? What about the magnets on the feet. Did they fix the caps not holding them in properly?

@@Armaturenine Yeah, I believe so. I never had any issues with mine.

@@TheFlashStickman Good to know. It might be one of those issues where some figures come with issues and others do not (irregularities in the manufacturing) . This is one of the reasons I've found I still need to assemble the figures before shipping them because even if a part looks good, it's only when I assemble it that I discover problems I wouldn't have detected otherwise.

I never had any of the issues that you were showing on vid on my SB figures

@@hensolo10 Good to know. How about the range of motion? Can your sticky bones raise its leg to the head or tuck the leg under the pelvis, or bring the head fully backward under the legs?

You can get them on our website: armaturenine.com or build a custom model on armaturelab.com The "crane" has been replaced with a clip stand which also allows you to get extensions for it. And there's also a new chroma-green stand designed for the smaller figures. armaturenine.com/collections/a9-accesories

@@Armaturenine thank u so much i aint think u would really respond back im deff gone check it out i do claymation and is hard to make them stand and jump around when i do stopmotion i seen the crane and it looks structured to hold the charaters

You might consider our $50 model (Rider). It's well suited for stop-motion also. Especially the latest version. There's a great chroma green stand you can get for it also.

@@Armatureninethanks

We sell a chroma green stand that fits our animation figure (Rider). You can find it here: armaturenine.com/products/chroma-green-stand

For the forward and back movement you can add flexible clavicles to your order. They are sold separately in the pieces page of the website. Also, there's more range of motion there than you might think. Check out this demonstration: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b7iqfbhn3tfboY0.html

Thanks :) Yeah, I think we could all use a smile these days

That's good to know, thank you! I also opt for minimalism and I've found the figures look beautiful posed in minimalist environments. Up on a mantel or a shelf with a few books on it. They stand out and have a nice presence about them. Great decorative items and perhaps even an item that will accrue in value some day if A9 ever becomes mainstream :) It won't be long now before these being handmade will be a thing of the past.

@@Armaturenine yeah I bought five of them and my mom likes them as a decoration

@@williammclean6594 oh wow! Thank you! :) You might enjoy these photos I just posted on pinterest featuring Titan: www.pinterest.com/armaturenine/

The issue of theft via training is truly a major ethical concern. However the buck stops with each of us because the ethics extends to users as well. When google image search came about, for example, many entitled themselves to using the results of those searches to photo-bash their own artworks into existence with no attribution to the original creator, let alone permission. I noticed this downward trend of theft among artists over a decade ago. It bothered me so I published my own photo library for artists so they could photo-bash ethically. And later the Armature Nine figure to aid in more 3d character work. Ultimately though, we can't control how people behave and when something becomes culturally endemic, all bets are off. Are you a digital artist, John? If so, how has AI affected you?

@@Armaturenine to be honest I'm at a beginners level at using Blender and so far I'm enjoying the difficulty it brings. But right now I am mostly learning to draw and trying to build my own armature out of wood and ball joints. As for how A.I affects me usually go on DeviantArt but I'm never going to post my works/progress there after the stunt they pulled with A.I. implementation on the website.

@@JohnJohn-yl4ko Very cool! I'm glad you're still feeling motivated to learn and create. I hadn't heard about the deviant art debacle. I read up on it just now. Apparently they're using stable diffusion, not their own artists (granted stable diffusion may have used them as a source without them knowing it). I can see why it would cause a rift between them and the community there.

@@Armaturenine thank you it means a lot. but yes the community would have been less angry and more welcoming if they didn't use underhanded tactics to implement those changes such as not being Opt-out by default.

Awesome! Thank you so much for your feedback, support and encouragement. A positive review would be wonderful ❤️ Yes, please reach out about any issues and i’ll gladly help address them 🙏

@@Armaturenine No problem, I'm really happy with your product and I wish you well. 😊 I wrote the review. I wish I could write more, but I was limited to 840 characters. I also included a picture with my figure next to my most recent book cover. I believe it's okay to do so as I blurred the title to avoid advertising the book. I'm going to look for other places to post other more detailed images I had, and write a little more about my experience.

@@CozyRealmDream oh wow, thank you so much for sharing such a thoughtful review! And your art looks beautiful!! Feeling so blessed. Thank you!

Wow!! thank you so much for your support over the years! ❤️ Remember to reach out if any parts have become unusable. Especially if you got any of the ones that came with lifetime warranties.

Thank you! :)

Yes, I currently have three upgrade features listed here: armaturenine.com/collections/large-pieces/products/large-biped-replacement-trip?variant=47355505180969 The full upgrade is the safest. The partial upgrade might work but you may need to thicken the sockets inside the pelvis and torsos so that the new peanuts aren't too loose.

@@Armaturenine thank you

That should work. Although the new version is made of metal so best to get spray paint designed to adhere to metal. The one in the video is plastic.

@@Armaturenine could you make one in that chroma green color at the manufacturer level and sell them like that? I definitely think that would be a great product.

@@jeremiah1059 I do actually, but for the smaller figures because the smaller ones are better suited for stop motion. Here's the chroma-green stand for the A9-Riders: armaturenine.com/collections/a9-accesories/products/chroma-green-stand There's a link to a video there as well (skip to 10:30)

@Armaturenine that's great thanks