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Saw District 9 yesterday and aside from striking me as the one of the outstanding films of the year, I noticed that the alien guns look very similar to Tau guns.

Anyone else seen the film? What do you reckon?

No not really.

Although I havn't seen the film, I know what you mean.

Flashman wrote:Saw District 9 yesterday and aside from striking me as the one of the outstanding films of the year, I noticed that the alien guns look very similar to Tau guns.

Anyone else seen the film? What do you reckon?

Tau weaponry are from 90's anime designs.

It dosen't matter really, I mean Star Trek Troopers(I think that's what it's called) has an entire race of aliens based of the Tyranids. If anything, there's the problem.

Tim the Biovore wrote:It dosen't matter really, I mean Star Trek Troopers(I think that's what it's called) has an entire race of aliens based of the Tyranids. If anything, there's the problem.

Which themselves were taken from Alien.

Bio-Organic or Bio-Tech weapons

vs

Tau Weapon.

Not same.

But I know what you meant by it.

Wasn't really accusing D9 of ripping off GW designs (everybody steals from everybody), it just amused me as I was watching it. Regretably, I can't turn to my wife mid film and say "Hey, that gun looks just like a Tau pulse rifle", so I turn to you guys instead

Enjoyed it anyway. One of those films that really earns its "big fight at the end".

Tim the Biovore wrote:It dosen't matter really, I mean Star Trek Troopers(I think that's what it's called) has an entire race of aliens based of the Tyranids. If anything, there's the problem.

Starship Troopers? The movie that was derived from the book of the same name written in 1959 that basically introduced Power Armor to SciFi?

This might be more appropriate to 40K discussions. Moving.

LunaHound wrote:

Flashman wrote:Saw District 9 yesterday and aside from striking me as the one of the outstanding films of the year, I noticed that the alien guns look very similar to Tau guns.

Anyone else seen the film? What do you reckon?

Tau weaponry are from 90's anime designs.

Tau design is more likely from a lot of the 70's / 80's Sci-fi artist in fact there is a painting that was done in 1985 for a game called Bataccas by an artist called Roger Dean which looks uncannily like a Fire Warrior with a Sword (Picture Below).



Funnily GW tries to deny any resemblance what-so-ever.

Tau architecture seems to resemble the picture of the domed building in this Asia Album Cover also by Roger Dean


What is more interesting, the description of the planet Vespid with floating rocks on a gas giant is also what many of Roger Deans early work depicts. Albeit a more placid and less Grimdark version.




Coincidence… Possibly, you decide

Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

Flashman wrote:Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

This is true.

My grumble is that GW totally deny any resemblance at all, which just seems blinkered to me.

There should be a Crisis Suit that looks like this

They need a prawn crisis suit.

Obsidian wrote:

Flashman wrote:Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

This is true.

My grumble is that GW totally deny any resemblance at all, which just seems blinkered to me.

Agree there's a definite resemblance and GW are daft to say otherwise

@ n0t_u - Agreed Prawn Crisis Suit was amazing. Never mind the Tau, I want one and will imbide any amount of alien goo/DNA to get one (see the film to understand this comment).

It's not always outright theft, it's perfectly reasonable for a company like GW to have licensed the images from the artwork, hell, they might have hired the guy to do some design work for all we know.

Personally, I think the movie's weapons more of a tau/ork influence. While the suit and the effect of most of the weapons make you think of Tau, the jury-rigged nature of most of the weapons plus the fact that only the aliens can use them (like the fluff that states orks make ork weapons work due to their unique mindset, sorta different from the movie but in a similar vein) makes me think of ork 'tech'.

Obsidian wrote:

Flashman wrote:Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

This is true.

My grumble is that GW totally deny any resemblance at all, which just seems blinkered to me.

Which would basicly be asking for a lawsuit or settlement.

RxGhost wrote:It's not always outright theft, it's perfectly reasonable for a company like GW to have licensed the images from the artwork, hell, they might have hired the guy to do some design work for all we know.

I think this is most likely because recently while I was in a charity shop I spied some jigsaw puzzles produced by games work shop with images of some simular works by other artist of the same era, so it is plauable that they may have perchaced the rights to the images for this use as these pictures were commissioned by the same computer games company (Psygnonis).

Psygnosis used to make the best stuff...

I was at one stage going to make a 'couts as' race called the Aarbron (a character from Shaow of the Beast) for my Tau army.

I still may do at some point.

Fafnir wrote:

Obsidian wrote:

Flashman wrote:Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

This is true.

My grumble is that GW totally deny any resemblance at all, which just seems blinkered to me.

Which would basicly be asking for a lawsuit or settlement.

Or it is just coincidence. Rounded sci-fi buildings and alien tech, and floating islands are hardly rare concepts in sci-fi art. Going as far back as you like, with book covers, album artwork, comics, and art portfolios, you can probably find a pretty close match to anything anyone does these days - and it's quite possible that the modern creator has no idea the previous work existed, and is merely an example of convergent ideas.

n0t_u wrote:There should be a Crisis Suit that looks like this

They need a prawn crisis suit.

This looks similar

I want a Carnifex that looks like this:

Why is that armadillo humping that land raider?

LunaHound wrote:Tau weaponry are from 90's anime designs.

I love how every single one of Luna's many Avatars perfectly fit her style of writing

on-topic: the thought never really crossed my mind to be honest.

Tim the Biovore wrote:It dosen't matter really, I mean Star Trek Troopers(I think that's what it's called) has an entire race of aliens based of the Tyranids. If anything, there's the problem.

I think you mean Star Ship Troopers.

Edit: Vaktathi beat me to it.

n0t_u wrote:There should be a Crisis Suit that looks like this

They need a prawn crisis suit.

eh. . . sorry but that would be just to "insect-like" for the tau, . . . maybe a vespid battlesuit???

RxGhost wrote:I want a Carnifex that looks like this:

OMG some one else who knows about ELPs Tarkus!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Bookwrack wrote:

Fafnir wrote:

Obsidian wrote:

Flashman wrote:Cool pics, but I say again, everybody steals from everybody.

Part of the role of artists is to "inform" different styles of design, architecture, fashion etc etc.

This is true.

My grumble is that GW totally deny any resemblance at all, which just seems blinkered to me.

Which would basicly be asking for a lawsuit or settlement.

Or it is just coincidence. Rounded sci-fi buildings and alien tech, and floating islands are hardly rare concepts in sci-fi art. Going as far back as you like, with book covers, album artwork, comics, and art portfolios, you can probably find a pretty close match to anything anyone does these days - and it's quite possible that the modern creator has no idea the previous work existed, and is merely an example of convergent ideas.

The main artist that I refer to is Roger Dean, who probably did most of the album art work for prog rocl bands in the 70's

I agree that it is possably all coincidence, its just that some of the pics seem to have just a little more than a passing resemblance. It is possable that it has to do with the jigsaw products they had in the 70's / 80's?

Who knows.

RxGhost wrote:I want a Carnifex that looks like this:

I feel the sudden urge to play Donkey Kong 64 again.