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Can be a character, model, unit, squad. Either from a visual or fluff perspective.

In no particular order for me:
Ghaz - enough said
Carnifex - both fluff and visual wise but mostly from oldschool fluff. Time was there was nothing bigger in 40k, cept maybe a Wraithlord.
Leman Russ tank - visual look of it

The Space Marine.

The space marine armour.
Nothing else quite like it

Squigs. Mostly present in WFB, though.

Before I got into 40K at all I was familiar that 40K was a thing. The easiest and earliest things I remember was the power armor and the Orks.

While every other armor was trying to look more realistic and high tech (Starcraft, Starcraft 2, Iron Man, Transformers so on) 40K remained very simple and rather primitive looking.

Orks really speak for themselves.

Power armor and terminator armor for me.

All the other armies, while I like most of them, are basically rip offs of someone else's IP....maybe the argument could also be made for Power and Terminator armor, but thats what says 40k to me.

Power Armour, Orks, Bolters

Also Nurgle and Nurglic daemons.

I remember those standing out before there was 40k.

40k to me will always be Dreadnoughts and Terminators; No one else does big, bulky, boxy killing machines quite like it.

if forgeworld count as GW then i'll pitch in the Warhound Titan?

or perhaps the imperator titan and gargant from the old epic artwork?

Terminators & Genestealers

The heads/helmets for everyone. They went through and made sure every faction had a very distinctive 'face' that they could turn into a logo to put on a box that immediately visually tells you what it is.

The Spess Muhreen.

The Space Marine.

another quote for the space marine. it's simply THE Iconic 40k unit

The Zerg.

 Paradigm wrote:
40k to me will always be Dreadnoughts and Terminators; No one else does big, bulky, boxy killing machines quite like it.

My exact thoughts. Nothing like a squad of terminators trudging along with bullets and missiles just dinking harmlessly away (we're talking fluff level of indestructible here).

And then the dreadnought just tops it all off for me. They look amazing, and while a lot of stuff says 40k to me dreadnoughts kick all the xenos butt (or whatever xenos have back there).

Boltgun, Power Armor, Deathwing fluff, Dreadnought, and most of the Xenos races are downright cool

Azreal13 wrote:The Space Marine.

Looks like a generic guy in armour to me.

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:Squigs. Mostly present in WFB, though.

... it's red pacman with legs. :p

Personally, for me, the most iconic things in 40k would have to be the Lord of Change... across all the IPs I love, I have yet to find another visual that quite matches it. Birds, yes. Imps, yes, but never quite that blend of the two that makes the Lord of Change so special.

... I'll admit that the first thing that jumped into my mind was the Space Marine Dreadnought though. The box one.

I'd have to say the dreadnought and the related psychosis with getting into and out of it. Everything else i can think of has already been done, but the idea that your mind gets shattered from linking into and out of a neural-interface over time is an interesting one.

Dreadnought. Carnifex (the old metal screamer killer one). Genestealer.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
... it's red pacman with legs. :p

Which is pretty unique!

 Azreal13 wrote:
The Space Marine.

And their bolters.
But I think that they have deserved a slightly better weapon.
After all, they are the saviors of mankind.

I'll agree with the general sentiment -- Space Marines. Specifically, beakie power armor on the Rogue Trader cover. That was like, love at first sight.

Terminators after that, because why else do I own like, 300 terminator models when they are all pretty awful?

"In the day" (when miniatures were lead and dinosaurs roamed the earth), I always thought Eldar had the nicest sculpts. I was so excited by Harlequin when they first came out. Now, I kind of hate Eldar models (the detail level of most models I find lacking), but I just love the Dark Eldar aesthetic.

I'll put this here:


And only because you can go and find pictures of the model because i don't want to =P

Iconic in its own way

 Furyou Miko wrote:

Personally, for me, the most iconic things in 40k would have to be the Lord of Change... across all the IPs I love, I have yet to find another visual that quite matches it. Birds, yes. Imps, yes, but never quite that blend of the two that makes the Lord of Change so special.

Meet the source:



I'm too Skeksi for my shirt, too Skeksi for my shirt, so Skeksi it hurts.

The White Dwarf and the Rogue Trader Land raiders and Beakies

 BlackTalos wrote:
I'll put this here:


And only because you can go and find pictures of the model because i don't want to =P

Iconic in its own way

Looks like such a geek! Adorable!

Two words: Matt Ward

 quickfuze wrote:
Two words: Matt Ward

Damn, you beat me to it!