tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-300995389438911591.post449727747934162633..comments2024-03-10T00:36:46.995-05:00Comments on Modern Synthesist: The Tyranid Archive - 4th Generation (2005)Mr_Pinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18057075789177712997noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-300995389438911591.post-30255669190278648922022-10-04T23:37:42.060-04:002022-10-04T23:37:42.060-04:00if i remember correctly, the torso, legs, and head...if i remember correctly, the torso, legs, and head were pewter. the arms were plastic. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-300995389438911591.post-69003003745068918442021-11-29T00:35:00.662-05:002021-11-29T00:35:00.662-05:00I might be the only Tyranid player on the planet w...I might be the only Tyranid player on the planet who isn't a fan of the plastic Carnifex. (Heresy!) <br /><br />This may have something to do with the fact that I was out of the country yet again the year it was released, so I never really had a chance to buy it and play around with it when I was still into the game. And the first photo I saw of it was the Studio one with the tusked head, which I thought looked stupid; it made a bad first impression. But mainly it just looks too different to the classic Screamer-Killer sculpt to be a 'real' Carnifex as far as I'm concerned. <br /><br /><br />Was the 4th ed Hive Tyrant pewter? My White Dwarf from that release says it was plastic. <br /><br /><br />I think the holes on the sides of the Raveners' chests were meant to represent the thorax weapons. <br /><br /><br />While the 4th edition model range is mostly superb on its own merits, it also finally completed an aesthetic change that I don't much like. (Warning, 'get off my lawn' grumbling ahead...) <br /><br />In Rogue Trader and 2nd edition--and to a lesser extent in 3rd--the Tyranids felt like a collection of different species all working together, like an entire alien ecology. The Earth equivalent would be if sharks, lions, crocodiles, bats, giant squid, bacteria and everything else on the planet all suddenly developed a rabid hive mind and went out into the galaxy to eat everyone else. <br /><br />David Gerrold's 'War Against the Chtorr' books (unfinished and largely forgotten now) were probably an inspiration, although I can't confirm this. Heck, the Tyranids were even painted red in 2nd ed Epic and 40K because they may have come from a world with a reddish sun, according to a throwaway line in White Dwarf--just like the Chtorrans. (Although the real reason was of course that it was GW's Red Period and everything was red except the Goblin Green bases.) <br /><br />In 2nd ed, Rippers didn't look anything like Warriors, and Epic slug-tanks didn't look anything like Carnifexes, in the same way that centipedes don't look anything like monkeys or blue whales. Why would they? <br /><br />From 4th edition onward, though, the Tyranid aesthetic has presented them more as a single species with wildly diverse forms. Like dogs. Chihuahuas, Great Danes and bulldogs all look very different--but they're clearly all derived from a basic proto-dog, just stretched and squashed into different shapes by selective breeding. Similarly, the Tyranids post-4th edition all look as if they were bred from Warriors. Including the things that showed up in 5th edition and later. Fat bulky Warriors (Carnifexes and the assorted bigger creatures), long thin Warriors with tails (Raveners and Trygons), tiny baby Warriors (Rippers), and so on. Even the revised Bio-Titans that Forgeworld did remind me of Godzilla-sized Warriors that have had their height/width/depth dials played with in a 3D modelling program. <br /><br />That's clearly the aesthetic that Jes Goodwin and team were aiming for, and they succeeded. But it diminishes them in my eyes. It turns the Tyranids into a single 'race' instead of an entire ecology. It's like Ogryns and Ratlings in the Imperium--both are just variants of human. I loved the old Tyranids because it felt like every single thing alive on their home planet had shown up on your doorstep to kill you.Zenithfleetnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-300995389438911591.post-7284693159291816252012-04-16T14:36:45.851-04:002012-04-16T14:36:45.851-04:00Man, I had no idea that there was another lictor p...Man, I had no idea that there was another lictor pose in pewter. The lictor is the most iconic tyranid creature to me. I may have to pick that one up if I can find it on eBay.<br /><br />I agree with you regarding the Carnifex. I have three devourer armed carnifex, three screamer killers, and one with the FW crushing claws. I love them.mugginshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10897915677573578644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-300995389438911591.post-21047460255527752132012-03-07T07:59:55.612-05:002012-03-07T07:59:55.612-05:00Great article!
I dropped out of the 40k loop just...Great article!<br /><br />I dropped out of the 40k loop just prior to this period, so its great to see a thorough breakdown of this 'nid release.<br /><br />Apart from a 1996 retool for Space Hulk 2nd ed that made some *very* minor changes to the models, the plastic Genestealer was in circulation since 1989 (SH 1st ed). <br /><br />Does that make it the longest serving GW plastic kit ever I wonder? I think that that it had a longer shelf life than the original Rhino (which was '87 to 2000 I think. Dont quote me).<br /><br />The Termagants from the Macragge box always looked a little large to me. Are they bigger than the standard plastics?sho3boxhttp://sho3box.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com