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 Big Mac wrote:
That space wolf flying brick, wolf riders, Santa Claus, and their FW terminators; Cadian and catachans are old and outdated, but they are universal and good for their time.

As someone who started them in 2nd this is all I can think about the vast majority of the releases from 5th on:

I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it, but I loathe the FOMO SM Librarian in Terminator armor.




I feel like he is comically misproportioned. Why is the top half of his body so big? Why are his arms so long?

Or maybe he's not much worse than any other unhelmeted SM in Terminator armor. Maybe the problem is that this is an under-par sculpt that was announced at the same time as 2 really great sculpts... but rational or not, I hate that Librarian.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
This utter utter utter utter utter utter fiddly sodbiscuit.

Sure, he looks great on the box. But having just (not quite accurately) built him?

Never. Again. Give me metal Hive Tyrants and Penitent Engines. Just not this awkward, fiddly, easily bent kit.

Hah! Yes those old.metal hive tyrants. Probably second only to the old metal Fantasy dragons, in terms of how likely they were to fall to pieces on the tabletop during a game (to the cry of "not again!")

I worked for GW during the ear of the last metal Tyrant.

Oh gods the number I had to assemble which were not my own.

How cruel fate mocked me!

 Ouze wrote:
I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it, but I loathe the FOMO SM Librarian in Terminator armor.

I feel like he is comically misproportioned. Why is the top half of his body so big? Why are his arms so long?

I don't like any of the unhelmeted Terminators, or at least I haven't seen one I like.The more stuff they have behind and above their head, the worse it looks imo.

Statistx wrote:

 Ouze wrote:
I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it, but I loathe the FOMO SM Librarian in Terminator armor.

I feel like he is comically misproportioned. Why is the top half of his body so big? Why are his arms so long?

I don't like any of the unhelmeted Terminators, or at least I haven't seen one I like.The more stuff they have behind and above their head, the worse it looks imo.

That's pretty much it. Terminators don't work, anatomically. The proportions are way off and the body position would be impossible. If you put a helmet on the model it obscures that by removing any identifiable body parts so your brain sort of fills in what should look right. Once you put bare heads in there it starts to look bad. It's the same as the Centurion models, but they're a lot worse IMO.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I worked for GW during the ear of the last metal Tyrant.

Oh gods the number I had to assemble which were not my own.

How cruel fate mocked me!

Ah brilliant - yes I had a fair few of those, mums coming in with a box of bits and "my little lad is so upset, any chance you could... ?"

I may have accepted foodstuff bribes upon occasion

Tyrants weren't the worst - the worst was Hormagaunts! The old metal "I'm not an alien but I am" type ones that had no hope at all of standing up without modification.

 Overread wrote:
Tyrants weren't the worst - the worst was Hormagaunts! The old metal "I'm not an alien but I am" type ones that had no hope at all of standing up without modification.

Don’t you go saying mean things about Tippy! She’s sensitive about her center of gravity.


I put together an old Hive Tyrant for a friend. Not fun. Actually have an old metal one in parts in a box I need to build for my own swarm. Not looking forward to it.

Back in the days of metal, minis falling over was an issue. Plastic lets them do some nice things that would be impossible before, but sometimes just because you can do something does not mean you should. Like all the held up on smoke and ribbons models they love to do. Lovely on the shelf, murder to transport and play with.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
This utter utter utter utter utter utter fiddly sodbiscuit.

Sure, he looks great on the box. But having just (not quite accurately) built him?

Never. Again. Give me metal Hive Tyrants and Penitent Engines. Just not this awkward, fiddly, easily bent kit.

Yes, this, GW has also a bit more of an obssession these days with extremely fiddly.

Personal favourite is the splintered Fang warband, it looks great, can be used for a lot of things, but BUT, the bloody net is just EEUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I mean the bloody arm with the net has 4 ! seperate bloody connections you need to clip on a net that IS highly bloody fidly beyond all reasonable standards.

Tycho wrote:
There's a pretty big gulf between a truly terrible model (Starship Troopers Brain Bug complete with .5lb of extra metal flashing)...

Hey, I actually lliked my brainbug.

 Nevelon wrote:
Plastic lets them do some nice things that would be impossible before, but sometimes just because you can do something does not mean you should

This should be the first rule of modern miniature design. I really hope the craze with particle effects and fragile base attachments would just end. The former looks gak 90% of the time, and the latter is an impracticality.

Yeah, someone needs to get Dr. Ian Malcolm in to talk to the GW CAD Team, pronto.

Tycho wrote:

A giant cow-man with an actual mountain on it. I mean, the whole range of new elves leaves me cold, but this abomination takes the cake.

That one is rough for me too. I like the idea of it, but the execution is a little rough. It's a little confused and all over the place for me. He's a mountain, but also a bull, but he's got a vaguely lion/cow face, and croquet mallets for weapons? And his stance is oddly unbalanced. It looks like you could tip him over easily. The proportions are just awkward.

I actually like the idea of a bull-headed mountain-god, sounds rad, but the proportions just throw the whole thing off: the arms and especially the legs look far too thin compared to the bulk of the torso. If the limbs were thicker, I'd probably like it a whole lot more. Look at the Sons of Behemat; regardless of what other complaints you may have about those, at least the legs look like they could support the weight of the rest of the body.

Still, the concept is actually pretty cool.

 thegreatchimp wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
Plastic lets them do some nice things that would be impossible before, but sometimes just because you can do something does not mean you should

This should be the first rule of modern miniature design. I really hope the craze with particle effects and fragile base attachments would just end. The former looks gak 90% of the time, and the latter is an impracticality.

#


I don't like them either. I much prefer if dynamic fx like that are kitbashed or not included at all than being the hidden stand.

Tycho wrote:


It doesn't necessarily bother me, it's just (for some reason) a surprise everytime I come across someone who can't separate "That's well done but I personally dislike the aesthetic" from "that's terrible because I don't like it", (which is a pretty poor and limiting way to look at things).

Even in ostinsibly subjective fields of taste, there are generally agreed upon guidelines and preferences and things that work. We all have our own taste, but aesthetics are not purely personal taste.

Personally, I think the conversation is a lot better when there are actual reasoned debates. So for example, to say you don't personally like a style or a look is always interesting because it illustrates different likes/tastes/dislikes etc and can help you see something in a new way. So if someone likes something I dislike or vice-versa, there's a base for conversation now. There are some truly, objectively bad models, but in this day and age they are not as plentiful as they used to be. Take the Mechanicus horses for example - from a design standpoint they are actually very well thought out, they are well sculpted, and they have a very unique aesthetic that harkens back to old school calvary models. If you don't like that, it's cool, but they aren't "the worst models in recent history" because of someone's personal distaste of the art style.

Ironically my first thought was that they were almost too on the nose.

On the other hand, there are truly BAD miniatures. Poorly made, poorly sculpted, just plain bad. I just wish people could learn more to seperate the two things. Something can be very well done but still not appeal to you. That doesn't mean "it sucks" lol

I think people jsut cannot understand that criticism, when done even semi well, isn't just an opinion. It's an analysis.

Miniature design might not be a truly mature artform, but it's developed enough that we know what a good miniature should have. Proper proportions, plausible design, playability, ease of building, proper level of detail, and especially for faces, weapons, and other key elements, just looking like the correct thing.

I think I found the winner of the "impractical sculpt" category. The sphinx itself is a graceful sculpt, but it's ruined by that leaping weirdo on it's wing. I can't think why he should be up there except:
-To make the model as spindly and fragile as possible
-To take up as much space in a transport case as possible

Easy enough to fix, but for feth's sake...

Ignoring the fact too it looks nothing like Teclis.

Seriously, go look at his previous incarnation's faces and compared it to that model. They look nothing alike. Practically every time when they've redone a special character they've retained at least some aspects of their facial structure.

That? Nope.

It's conceptually less terrible in the 360 where you can tell he's attached by his cape and floating out in front of the Sphinx and not connected by his feat the way the angle of the picture makes it look.

Granted, in terms of what you were actually referring to (impracticality), realizing all of that makes it much much worse.

I'll be bloody surprised if this monstrosity hasn't been mentioned yet:



I mean, what the hell is it? I admit I don't know much Necromunda lore but even then, it just looks like a lazy attempt with a ball of green stuff and whatever bits they had to hand.



As much as I like the new Sisters, they've gone a bit OTT in my opinion with the Immolator. I know it's meant to look all Gothic and such, but you've got half a bloody cathedral on that turret!



His uneven bra straps irk me more than the godawful head, which at least can be swapped out.



Now this is controversial but hear me out. I love the new Abaddon, I love that they've finally updated him from the old metal chunk. There is one detail that irks me however, and that's the overall condition of his wargear. This guy is a Warmaster, burner of countless worlds and slayer of trillions, and yet his armour is tattered, exposed cabling and shattered pieces here and there. I would imagine his armour to be near pristine, little bit of battle damage here and there sure, but it looks like a Mekboy's been maintaining it for 10,000 years.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I worked for GW during the ear of the last metal Tyrant.

Oh gods the number I had to assemble which were not my own.

How cruel fate mocked me!

I built one and a half for a winged conversion commission - the half being because there was some miscommunication about the required pose, so I had to start over. They released the plastic kit before I had a chance to go back and finish the half-built one for my own use, and so it's been sitting in a drawer ever since because I just couldn't.

 thegreatchimp wrote:
I think I found the winner of the "impractical sculpt" category. The sphinx itself is a graceful sculpt, but it's ruined by that leaping weirdo on it's wing. I can't think why he should be up there except:
-To make the model as spindly and fragile as possible
-To take up as much space in a transport case as possible

Easy enough to fix, but for feth's sake...

So disappointing I made my own and I don't plan on pursuing the line beyond that. (With the exception of Eltharion, being the opposite end of the spectrum from this thing)

 Valkyrie wrote:
I'll be bloody surprised if this monstrosity hasn't been mentioned yet:

Spoiler:

I mean, what the hell is it?

Given the image doesn't seem to load for me, that's a very good question...

 Dysartes wrote:

 Valkyrie wrote:
I'll be bloody surprised if this monstrosity hasn't been mentioned yet:

Spoiler:

I mean, what the hell is it?

Given the image doesn't seem to load for me, that's a very good question...

This thing

For some reason FW seems to keep getting rather novice painters (by GW standards) to do their product painting. Some internal politics or something in GW I suspect. IT makes models like that look far worse than they do in reality.

In defence of the Necromunda Floaty Fat Boy?

He’s straight out of Blanche’s artwork, which has long been proper wacky and visionary.

Just needs a better paint job.

 Valkyrie wrote:
I'll be bloody surprised if this monstrosity hasn't been mentioned yet:

Spoiler:

I mean, what the hell is it? I admit I don't know much Necromunda lore but even then, it just looks like a lazy attempt with a ball of green stuff and whatever bits they had to hand.

I can see why you dislike this model, but it certainly fits the description from the books:

[...] the product of one of Lord Helmawr's Psakanariums; inbred from [...] dozens of Psyker bloodlines to create a [...] psychic weapon. Unable to stand or even feed itself, and of indeterminate gender, [it]'s mutated form is augmented with suspensor implants to facilitate movement, [...] rigs to keep its organs functioning and a neural-crown that both enhances its psychic powers and keeps it in a docile and pliable state

It's basically a weaponized psyker-servitor.

Edit: I'm convinced the design document just reads "So the Imperium saw a Zoanthrope and went 'Yeah, I can make those too!'"

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
In defence of the Necromunda Floaty Fat Boy?

He’s straight out of Blanche’s artwork, which has long been proper wacky and visionary.

Just needs a better paint job.

Agreed. The mini is not to my taste, but I warmed to it a bit more with a good paint job on it.

Here's the guy from Convert or Die's go at him. Makes it look far better than the FW one.

There's a lot of models whose perception of quality is based on the paint job. Harlequins are a good example of very nice model that still disappoint when people realize the texture on them is almost entirely painted on. You see similar things where people think there's texture in hair and stuff that is entirely freehand.

 LunarSol wrote:
There's a lot of models whose perception of quality is based on the paint job. Harlequins are a good example of very nice model that still disappoint when people realize the texture on them is almost entirely painted on. You see similar things where people think there's texture in hair and stuff that is entirely freehand.

Infinity do this a lot, though its also that a lot of the detail on their minis is also very fine as well. So its a double hit. Couple that with some good photos and most of their models always feel surprisingly tiny compared to the photos.