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I have a few of the 2nd ed Ork models and I find their modeling rather odd and out of place. To me at least, they most resemble Mongolian armour.

Is there a fluff reason for this rather exotic armour as a apposed to their usual T-shirts?

Its a time / culture thing. Just look at other pop culture imagery of those times. The exotic stuff, and noble savages where a general themes. The shift away from the fun eccentric hippy background to the grim dark brutes is what is really interesting.


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Also it isn't just mongolian. Its exotic in general. They used a specific arab style for buildings.



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Native American style symbolism for Snakebites




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And the general punk / alternative look for most other stuff.

Yeah the eldar of that era are interesting too. Punk-rock mohawk space elves

When did the grimdark proper set in?

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Yeah the eldar of that era are interesting too. Punk-rock mohawk space elves

When did the grimdark proper set in?

Mostly between 1st and 2nd editions, most of the armies got a proper history and most of his lore properly sourced in a mostly narrative cohesion.

A sad time when the grimdark set in, and the comedy and stangeness of the 40K universe disappeared

Different ork clans used to be very different thematically, and each one had certain units associated with them that displayed their visual theme. Goff boyz and grots had very anachronistic armor and melee weapons that looked practically medieval, (the grots looked really really stupid too, which is why you can find them for sale for really cheap) meganobs were associated with Bad Moons, and had looted SM armor. Blood Axes had kommandos, which wore modern military gear. Snakebites had boar riders, which like the Goffs eschewed most technology. At least this is what I assume based on the models I've seen.

TL;DR the different ork clans used to be much more divergent from each other than they are now, and each one looked very different. GW used stuff from a lot of different cultures to make them look less modern.

... the "Goffs", as an Ork Klan, are a direct reference to the "Goths" as a post-punk social scene. The black-and-white color scheme of the Klan and its attire are a nod to this.

Back in 2nd edition the Orks were far more diverse. Each "clan" had a distinct aesthetic and had minor changes in the way they played on the tabletop. You could easily mix and match clans but each one was essentially a "role". You had some guys with huge crazy weapons (Deathskulls I believe), the guys aimed at close combat (Goffs - the most basic of the Orks). The Stormboyz had fluff reasoning that Orks were the inverse of humans -- being more mature at a younger age and rapidly growing into a ravenous beast ---- so your Stormboyz were all "young" Orks and fashioned after WW1/WW2 Germans and British WW2 commandos etc.

Snakebites rode bikes or boars, etc. The type of clan also determined what you could take in your army list. Certain clan squads allowed you to take additional grots, or psykers etc.

So, yes. There was a whole crap ton of fluff/lore to the original clans.

I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

 General Kroll wrote:
I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

Not grimdark enough.

And it required more model ranges. Now they can just sell one box of "boyz" and that's all you need, etc.

 General Kroll wrote:
I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

They aren't Space Marines. What's an entire Ork clan compared to a glorious company of snowflakes?

 General Kroll wrote:
I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

Moving out of a Europeancentric market. It's all and well to sell themes based on east asian, native american, or middle eastern motifs if you are only selling to white folks in North and Western Europe. When you try to expand beyond that some of the exotic stuff loses its appeal.

 Exergy wrote:

 General Kroll wrote:
I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

Moving out of a Europeancentric market. It's all and well to sell themes based on east asian, native american, or middle eastern motifs if you are only selling to white folks in North and Western Europe. When you try to expand beyond that some of the exotic stuff loses its appeal.

But you still have the other exotic stuff and some people want a home feel anyway. Orcs are largely based around European soccer hooligans.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Exergy wrote:

 General Kroll wrote:
I wonder what made them move away from that diverse fluff and theme.

Moving out of a Europeancentric market. It's all and well to sell themes based on east asian, native american, or middle eastern motifs if you are only selling to white folks in North and Western Europe. When you try to expand beyond that some of the exotic stuff loses its appeal.

But you still have the other exotic stuff and some people want a home feel anyway. Orcs are largely based around European soccer hooligans.

That made me chuckle.

All fairly reasonable explanations I suppose, I do kind of miss the old orks though. Especially the boar boys haha.