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I might be getting my facts jumbled, but I was under the assumption that the reason why the Thousand Sons made the leap from red armor to blue armor was due to Ahriman breaking away from Magnus the Red, the whole Rubric of Ahriman, etc.

So why is it that when we see Magnus the Red in 40k is he dressed like Ahriman and his dudes?

Large portions of the Legion adopted it after the Heresy and the start of the Legion Wars in the Eye of Terror.

In the same way that the other Traitor Legions had their armour changed to show their new allegiance, so too did many within the Thousand Sons.
Some warbands kept the Prosperine ruby, just as some in the Death Guard kept their "white" and green, or the Emperor's Children their royal purple and gold.

The problem arises from the Ahriman series, where it's stated that all those loyal to Magnus kept their armor red. This would imply that every single piece of art or lore featuring any blue Thousand Sons meant they were loyal to Ahriman, which is, of course, total nonsense, as everyone hated him.
In Black Legion, Iskandar Khayon is noted as wearing blue armour when he tries to stop the Rubric on the Planet of Sorcerers.

Long and short is that the Thousand Sons' main colour scheme is blue because it's the colour of Tzeentch.

 Gert wrote:
Long and short is that the Thousand Sons' main colour scheme is blue because it's the colour of Tzeentch.

I've always gathered that it changed over time as Tzeentch's influence warped their armor, much as the World Eaters went from white to red and the Death Guard went from off-white to green.

When you see changes in Chaos-aligned forces, it's easy to just hand wave it away as, "it's Chaos." I'm far more interested in why the Dark Angels changed from black to green.

maybe Im mistaken, but I thought the red to blue thing was a direct result of the rubric? As in the rubric turned the non-sorcerors of the legion to dust-filled suits of armor/automatons, and in the process also turned their armor blue, etc?

 BorderCountess wrote:
I'm far more interested in why the Dark Angels changed from black to green.

Erasure of the colours that are a reminder of the shame at the betrayal of Luther and the Fallen, coupled with a sign of remembrance for lost Caliban.

I'm sure Tzeentch would go out of his way to make sure that Magnus the Red is wearing blue armor, just to mess with everybody.

Do I really have to point out that Magnus never actually wore red armor? Based on the official 'Eavy Metal paintjob of his 30k mini, it's all gold. The only thing Red about Magnus is his skin and hair.

Look, I’m just here to cause trouble.



Gertcha! Magnus the….Blue.

Ah he's still got his red hair though, and as naming goes he would still be Magnus the Red thanks to his glorious red beard and mohawk.

Yeah, in the Warhammer 1k lore (the so-called "real world"), Erik the Red was named thus due to the colour of his beard. Naming someone after their skin is just silly; he wasn't "Eric the Peach". Makes sense that the giant blue monkey with a red mohawk would similarly be called "the Red".