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Is it just me or does anyone else find that the WHFB line is getting more and more cartoonish-looking? (Maybe with the exception of TK.) The O&G and now Ogre Kingdoms stuff has a weird clunkiness to it (see the mastodon tusks or the giant spear of the feral orcs) that is to my eyes pretty consistent across the newer ranges but seems a bit out of place against the "established" look of Fantasy. Anybody else notice this?

Orcs have always been a kind of 'cartoony' race in terms of the ideas that they have. I mean, if you think the Savage Orcs coming up with a giant honkin' spear is silly you must think the Snotling Pump Wagon and Doom Divers were ridiculous.

Yeah, I've always vied Orcs/Ogres as a bit more cartoony than most, but as the newer models come out some things might feel a bit out of place with the "older" stuff.

I think it will depend on the race (I thought TK were quite baroque), but GW may be toning down the grimdark of fantasy to appeal to the kiddie market (and their parents).

...Have you seen the zombie dragon?

Flaps of skin hanging off, internal organs exposed, severed heads on chains hanging off the flaps of skin, etc.

It just might be the armies, to be honest. Ogres have mainly been done in a more "modern" Fantasy tone, while the other armies have roots that GW has been trying to stay true to perhaps.

I find the older models to be far more cartoon like.

In fact I may have to propose that High/Dark Elf Spearmen get Thunderstomp to represent them smacking thier foes with thier rediculously over-sized hands.

I tend to agree with the OP
With the caveat that it is hard for heroic scale not to look cartoon like.

The OK look like Ice Age III stylee
The paint jobs are becoming more stylised too imho.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:The paint jobs are becoming more stylised too imho.

Good point -- a lot of hard lines on the models complimented by hard lines in the paint. Please see the aforementioned tusks as one example.

In like 2nd Ed they looked awesome!!!!

Take a look at the feral orcs. Not just the OTT spear but look at their muscles, too: they're all squarish and boxy like something you'd see in a cell-shaded Zelda game.

Manchu wrote:Take a look at the feral orcs. Not just the OTT spear but look at their muscles, too: they're all squarish and boxy like something you'd see in a cell-shaded Zelda game.

That bright green doesn't help at all with that. They went over the top on painting the lines, rather than letting washes do the work for it.

Yeah, the paint style seems to be adopting a pseudo 'cell shaded' look while the sculpts themselves are getting angular, etc. Its not just Fantasy, its 40k too, the Daemon Prince mini (which I guess is arguably a dual line mini) and the Possessed are prime examples of this.

As for 40k: You can even see it on the Ur-Ghul, where it is especially out of place and inappropriate.

Hate to say it but I think the World of Warcraft style affected Orcs and Ogres to a lesser extent. And I suspect that was even conscious. A new generation of gamer-types have come up with a conception of those races and were likely introduced via the online game even though WHFB is much older, obviously.

I don't want to see Ogres too cartoonish. But some of their new stuff does look a bit silly.

Lord of Baal wrote:In like 2nd Ed they looked awesome!!!!

You weren't alive in 2nd edition. Just sayin'.

I can see Manchu's point to some extent, but I don't think the TK, new VC, or the new sorcerers that came out with Storm of Magic seemed all that cartoony.

Ignoring price for a second, I think the quality of releases has been pretty outstanding for fantasy of late (with a few notable exceptions).

It's all been uphill(as far as I'm concerned) since the planet of the apes atrocity known as 7th edition Empire.

VC are good and gritty, Orcs are in pretty much the same shape(savage orcs are a little cartoonish, but all orcs are in some way).

Biggest problem, I think, is the paint jobs of late. They tend to be very bright, rather than dark.
Even the Necromancer and Chaos Sorcerers were rather colorful I thought.

Indeed. Let's just hope that we don't trend back to the old 5th edition ways of highlighting to white and adding blood red to every model.

I agree the painting seems to have gone over to bright colors from what I see online and in White dwarf.

That really isnt a problem since most of the big painters play evil armies as in daemons skaven and chaos DE beastmen and such and the guys that paint them up make them go with their colors of their army and their armies are dark bloody and pretty much everything you expect from the dark side.

Personally I dont mind the bit of brightness mixed in gives things better contrast like having dark capes and furs on chaos warriors and having blue swirling armor.
Or bit of bright red with khorne stuff works really well with the brassy and red gore look.

O&G seem to be the ideal cartoony race tho thats what everyone thinks of them but who donst love a giant 2 man spear.
Its nice to have that along with the seriousness of other armies if that makes sense.

If you think things are bright now, I remember in the 80s when it seemed like everything was hot pink and neon blue. Space Marines? More like Space Transvestites.

Ogres are hardly cartoony and the new models are very crisp looking.


just look at some of the models GW made during the 80s. you will rapidly change your mind.

But the crispness looks like over stylisation to me GT

Its more detail to me.

for me, cartoony signifies slimplification and exaggeration of the visual. less stuff, but the stuff there is is exaggerated.

Sorry have to disagree with your assessment.
There is more to cartoons and animation than simple forms.

Adding more detail does not necessarily equate with greater realism. To me the proportions of the animals, the forms of tusks are still highly stylised. To me the figures have exaggerated features.

To be fair I am more drawn to the miniatures sculpted by the likes of Tre at Red Box Games and others that imho knock GW into a cocked hat because they are not heroic scale.
If you like GW's style am not trying to gainsay that, is just personal preference.

Grey Templar wrote:Ogres are hardly cartoony and the new models are very crisp looking.

I think it's more the subject. Not the detail. Cartoony doesn't necessarily mean smeared or low-detail. It means more silly/goofy.

Silly? Goofy?

this is a Fantesy game we are talking about. Its all silly and goofy.

Or even Fantasy

My fantasies have little to do with GW and more to do with cheese strings and whipped cream and....
best stop right there!

As long as the silly levels are based on the armies I'm fine.

Let me say that I don't mean "bad" or "dumb" when I say "cartoonish." I'm actually going to start ogres. It's just a neutral observation.