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So, just to put this out before I comment on the model:
I don't play Tau anymore, nor do I have any intentions of doing so. Also, my comment comes from the picture on the website and has nothing to do with the playability, stats, etc. of the model.

That being said, the model itself looks good, but for $85 I hope they give other options for the dude riding in the Riptide. Does it look silly to anyone else to have a tiny little fire warrior head popping out of the top of an anime-style robo-suit? It makes me think of a child behind the wheel of a very nice car. And now that I've seen it that way, I can't not see it that way.

Considering that the Tau himself isn't a giant, it makes a lot of sense really. Why give it a giant head for no reason?

 Andilus Greatsword wrote:
Considering that the Tau himself isn't a giant, it makes a lot of sense really. Why give it a giant head for no reason?

They could've done the kind of thing FW does with their titans, I think the model looks pretty cool though.

The Riptide model is truly horrific, and the little head takes the cake.

It is big, however.

Sigh, unless there is someone in the head, it being small makes sense, It optics and sensors are likely in there, so you dont want it big. You want it to be just big enough to make it accomadate the sensors and nothing else

Isn't that the theme of the Tau design, anime robotech? Why would it all of a sudden not fit with the flavor of the army to have a scaled up battlesuit?

They shouldn't even have his head sticking out in the first place.

I certianly would advise not putting that tiny head-thing on. Looks stupid.

I think that not putting any head would look worse.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I think that not putting any head would look worse.

On the contrary, it'd make it look much better. There's no need for the head, aesthetically or functionally.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
Isn't that the theme of the Tau design, anime robotech? Why would it all of a sudden not fit with the flavor of the army to have a scaled up battlesuit?

No it isn't, it's space communism with what appear to be the bastart children of eastern style mechas and western style mechs.
From mechas they get huge back mounted engines, sensor clusters for eyes and fancy looking energy shields.
From mechs they have sharp edges, no fists (new commander gives an exception) and weapons mounted on the outside of the chassis.

As with all the larger battlesuits, the pilot will be encased in the torso somewhere. The "head" looks like one of the commander heads and therefore could be considered to be a standardised sensor platform for use with battlesuits. Why make the sensor suite bigger if you don't need to. A smaller target is harder to hit.

To be fair, with the caste system their society resembles Indian culture far more than communism.

as for the riptide, why would you put a giant head on it that is merely an easy target and makes you top heavy? Even the ORKS are smart enough not to put giant heads on their titans, so why would Tau do something that stupid? Keeping it small makes it harder to hit, easier to look around with, and keeps it from Making the suit more top heavy.

That said though, I still think the model looks a bit ridiculous, I just think the head is the only sensible thing about it

Having no head at all would be more sensible.

Axe the head. Its like... why bother. Its almost like a goof that they left it on.

No need for a head on top when your whole torso can be a face!

Theirs is the railgun that can pierce the heavens...

I am just wondering how tall the model is.
I have a wall of Mecha I could use to proxy if I knew what size it was.
At least until I can get one myself

 conker249 wrote:
No need for a head on top when your whole torso can be a face!

Yes, that is much better, I think anyone with any sense of taste will agree.

They should come with giant sunglasses for the option, at least. Nice one, conker.

 Anpu42 wrote:
I am just wondering how tall the model is.
I have a wall of Mecha I could use to proxy if I knew what size it was.
At least until I can get one myself

Its about the same size as a Dreadknight. Except it can be posed.

The official GW pictures have it next to some drones so you could use that as reference.

It also goes on the oval base.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Anpu42 wrote:
I am just wondering how tall the model is.
I have a wall of Mecha I could use to proxy if I knew what size it was.
At least until I can get one myself

Its about the same size as a Dreadknight. Except it can be posed.

The official GW pictures have it next to some drones so you could use that as reference.

It also goes on the oval base.

I was hoping to get a mesument, I have not even seen a Dread Knight [I can only play out of my house]

Dreadknights are 4" tall.

The Riptide is about the same, maybe a little taller. Thats if its assembled standing up and not kneeling as one of the GW pictures shows.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Dreadknights are 4" tall.

The Riptide is about the same, maybe a little taller. Thats if its assembled standing up and not kneeling as one of the GW pictures shows.

Thank you very much

Anpu42
=0o0=

The Riptide is pretty ridonkulous. It looks like something from Transformers rather an anime mecha. The fact that it's actually posable is cool, but since I don't play Tau it's not anywhere near something I'd buy. That being said, I would by a Dark Eldar flyer even though I have no intention of playing them. It's nice that Tau now that really withstands things, but it just seems a little over the top. If you play it without using the nova reactor, it's a 5W dreadknight that acts as a massive fire base. I've played against Dreadknight lists and they trample me before they actually trample me, but against Nids, at least they don't shoot my wolfs into oblivion before CC. IMO, Monstrous Creatures should not be kitted out for ranged combat, that's what walkers are for.

I personally think the head looks just fine.

The head bothers me, but it's slowly growing on me I think. The more I realize that the Riptide's fluff actually makes it seem like it could be a feasible weapon system, with its size necessary to carry its heavy weapons and nova reactor, and not a ridiculous contraption like the Dreadknight.

As for the head. This is where battlesuit stuff confuses me. I don't know if Battlesuits are like a gundam mech where a cockpit opens up and the pilot jumps inside, or if the pilot instead has parts of the suit placed around him like oversized power armour. In the latter scenario, the head may have an actual tau head inside.

Halfway through the painting of mine at the moment. I thought the head was abit strange but i couldn't put my finger on why. Now its painted white (compared to my purple torso) it looks spot on! It's a beautiful model!

 Harriticus wrote:
The head bothers me, but it's slowly growing on me I think. The more I realize that the Riptide's fluff actually makes it seem like it could be a feasible weapon system, with its size necessary to carry its heavy weapons and nova reactor, and not a ridiculous contraption like the Dreadknight.

As for the head. This is where battlesuit stuff confuses me. I don't know if Battlesuits are like a gundam mech where a cockpit opens up and the pilot jumps inside, or if the pilot instead has parts of the suit placed around him like oversized power armour. In the latter scenario, the head may have an actual tau head inside.

Its definitly more like a gundam. The pilot is in a fetal position inside the cockpit and controls the suit with a neural interface.

The "head" is really just a sensor pod.


Its there most likely to make the use of the suit as much like controlling a body as possible. So the pilot can turn his head and look around like with his body.

If you look on the front of all the suits (from crisis on up), they all have a tiny vision slit on the upper part of the chest. That is approximately eye level for the pilot. Having some sort of sensor pod that can pan and tilt would pretty much be a requirement for a suit like this, otherwise you have almost zero situational awareness. It would be silly to make the sensor pod bigger than it would need to be to hold the sensors as you are just making it a bigger target at that point. Having it mounted at the "head" of the suit makes the most sense as you want it mounted high for best visibility, and I'd imagine that it would help with disorientation.

I just put mine together and its pretty hefty with alot of intricate parts. Now i wouldnt exactly say its wirth $85 (i only paid $65) but its definitely worth a decent amount. Its fully opposable and it has alot of extra wargear to boot. Additionally its probably one of the cleanest casts ive seen in years and had barely any mold lines on it