Why do fantasy armours focus so much on pauldrons? It's even quite common to see characters having a bare chest, legs, head and neck but always wearing these massive, useless chunks of steel on their shoulders?
The isometric view from Warcraft and StarCraft
>>64709299Also old pewter Warhammer minis. They didn't have great detail so you needed big blocky design details to distinguish different units.
>>64709292warhammer started it.blizzard was negotiating a license to do WH/WH40k games but GW pulled out so blizzard just renamed shit a bit and made it into warcraft/starcraft, but kept the same overall design approachWoW in particular popularized the chunky almost-cartoonish sylized design that then seeped into a multitude of games, including most western phone gamesa couple of generations of gamers grew up on WoW so they were heavily influenced in propagating the same design aesthetics pretty much far and wide
>>64709292>uselessThey'd definitely stop shit.
>>64709292>Why is Voltron made out of robot lions????Because it looks cool. Simple as.
I had a whole tech tree backstory to explain why power armor with oversized pauldrons was the most logical progression of personal protection within my setting. That being said, its pretty much the only thing I had nailed down in that setting.
>>64709318Yep, same reason space marine officers have the red stripe on their helmet, so you don't have to look at the entire squads weapon loadout to figure out which one is the Sargeant when your opponent says "OK my sniper is going to target that sqaud's leader."
>>64712705To be fair, if you’re “hip firing” firearms because of targeting technology, large small arms proof pauldrons combined with a small arms proof cuirass would provide stellar protection because you wouldn’t need to expose yourself much to fire.
>>64709292Fantasy armor is always designed to emphatize the character's body feature to an extent that wouldn't be practical in real life. Huge pauldrons are more common in male fantasy armor, as having broad shoulders is considered masculine, and make the wearer feel strong and badass. Female armor on the other hand is more likely to be designed in a way that highlights the chest and hips, as those are more prominent sexual feautres in women. That is when the armor in question isn't just a chainmail bikini of course...
>>64709292In addition to the other answers here, an armored shoulder is a complicated joint to model (both on tabletop and computer) when it's moving and it's easier to just have a huge pauldron that covers everything.
>>64709292Warhams pauldrons in particular are great open surfaces for painting your own insignias and heraldry, since the original intent was for you to make up your own warband with its own history and characters and special logo. Now of course GW tries to sell you overpriced water-activated stickers becuase the canon groups are more marketable, but the design intent was there at one point.
>>64712802You can still do that, no one but autistic tourney fags will try to stop you.
>>64712748Look! It's a reddit faggot whining about boob armor! Look at him and laugh!
>>64714222Boob armor is dumb though. Big frilly lady knight armored dresses is where it's at.
>>64712802>Now of course GW tries to sell you overpriced water-activated stickers becuase It's way fucking easier than handpainting insignia on every single guy? It's not like GW didn't happily provide lists of canon forces and say how cool they were and you could use them too, as well.>>64712805And that's even the opposite, they've decoupled chapter rules from chapters. They're all generic now.
>>64709411Reminder that this is what Tyranids looked like before Blizzard. The Warhammer style is taken from Blizzard, not the other way around. Green as the default color for orcs was also a Blizzard thing originally.
>>64714604People post this as some kind of beboonking but zerg are still just tyranids at home, same with the rest of the setting.
>>64714722>Warhammer Tyranids look like goofy clowns flailing around with swords>StarCraft Zerg look like scary monstrous aliens>After the release of StarCraft, Warhammer Tyranids look like scary monstrous aliens almost identical to the SC designs>This means that StarCraft copied Warhammer design work
>>64714222The only thing to laugh at is your lack of reading comprehension. I wasn't even complaining, just stating facts goddamnit...
>>64714735See, zerg invented aliens-style ridged headcrests, whereas tyranids invented pretty much everything about zerg, leaving zerg the uh, victor!
>>64714735>Warhammer Tyranids look like goofy clowns flailing around with swordsI liked the alien clowns.
Pauldrons are an armour's most important part
>>64714722Zerg executed the idea than the Nids though. The Nids carrying Half-life style bug guns was always goofy versus having integrated weapons like the Zerg.
Because you want to make RPG character progression rewarding. Helmets, weapons, pauldrons, and shields are how you make a character stand out visually. It creates a sort of inflation where you need to keep giving the player new stuff that is cooler than what they already have. In this process, pauldrons become more and more extravagant and ridiculous.
>>64714488>Big frilly lady knight armored dresses is where it's at.... which also emphasizes the chest.
>>64718548He doesnt have a point he just wants to be a cool third positionist because he's been programmed by media to think that's always the cool thing to be.
>>64714722Isn't it more that Tyranids are "we have Zerg at home" given that Zerg are the OGs and far more famous, and GW ripped off Blizzard's designs for them? Zerg are the name brand and Tyranids are the jank ass no name discount version.
>>64714722And warhammer's just aping other fantasy/scifi settings stuff, a lot of them are european comic book knockoffs.
>>64719815No, I just like lady knight armor dresses, I think they're neat.
>>64709292Other anons have already mentioned the WH40K origins of the trend. The funny thing is that besides unit distinction/manufacturing detail constraints on small models, the bigass pauldron is actually 100% practical for the specific combo of full-body armor and combat with long guns.In a usual firing position, the leading pauldron gives a lot of cover to the head.
>>64719834If Zerg are Oreo, Tyranids are Hydrox.
>>64714604>>64714735Rogue Trader Tyranids are goofy, sure, but they were much more Ridley Scott "Alien" by 1989, predating Starcraft by 9 years. The WH40K 2nd Edition Codex Tyranids are even closer to modern Tyranids by 1995. To say that the Zerg are why the Tyranids are the way they are is ignorant.
>>64723654Those early versions of terminators look so fucking goofy like a Judge Dredd character
>>647237032000AD comics had huge influence on British SciFi of the 80s and 90s. Here's the first depiction of Leman Russ, one that predates the idea that the Primarchs were created by the Emperor.
>>64723703No way anon I wonder why
>>64723654>Tyranids>Posts GenestealersYou blew it, anon.>b-b-but technically, genestealers are a specific tyranid bioform!That just makes it all the more embarassing that GW went so long before unfuckening the tyranid sculpts.
>>64723703The RT/2e era was just super goofy in general.
>>64709292I heard U talkin' shit.But since the primary offender is warhammer which was imitated by others. 1) Many of the designs were based on American football pads in Rogue Trader, mostly because of Mad Max I think.2) It was supposed to look stupid because everybody was repurposing shit which was never supposed to be used for armor.3) Hides model joints, just like big clodhopper feet make it eaiser4) Laserburn from which 40k was derived also had shoulder pads on some models. From 40k it was then retroactively added to fantasy, mostly to warriors of chaos.5) Manly man have HUGE shoulders.Warcraft and Starcraft were developed at Geedubs behest before they dropped out of the project, and thus the general models weren't changed much. Of course since the settings had a very different tone the goofy nature of the pads became an aesthetic choice external to the narrative. Basically they thought they were genuinely cool rather than ironically cooly stupid. Add 40 years of bullshit on top and you get paudlonitus.
>>64726822>Warcraft and Starcraft were developed at Geedubs behest before they dropped out of the projectWarcraft was. They started working on Starcraft much later as a "Warcraft in space", but yes, obviously heavily inspired by WH40K.
>>64726617why are you so gay
>>647267472e was 1995, Spacehulk 1e was 1989. I even mentioned the improved sculpts of 2e predating StarCraft, but because of the 7 year product life cycle, Spacehulk illustrates best the speed with which Games Workshop moved past the old Tyranid design language.
>>64726747Original termagants are just aliums with guns, shitty sculpts aside. And the original unproduced model was a longcat mixure of a lizard and an alien to begin with. >>64723703>>64724998The original bullgog terminator design was ripped off of a 200AD comic(i think Nemesis the Warlock spinoff). The guys in the armor weren't called terminators, those were the goonsquad of the Torquemada character, but the armor was the same complete with bulldog helmet pianted in bulldog colors. The old geocities Nemesis fansite had twenty years ago it but its gone from the internet forever now.
>>64714604There were several other video games with aliens in 1998, as well as movies.. Tyranids got a revamp in like 2004 with the introduction of 4th edition. Also the revamped 'nids don't really share hardly anything in common with the zerg, they're more like a homologation of Aliens (of Aliens fame) and horse-ish features. Dumb argument. I'm pretty sure GW went to extreme pains to come up with a unique tyranid asthetic in a swarm (haha) of notable scary ET franchises
>>64726851Man, whoever was in charge of them pulling out of that deal has got to be the most fired man ever, equaled only by the guy that let George Lucas keep the merchandising rights.
>>64709292It was really computationally expensive to animate moving shoulders and clothing in gaymes. So they slopped those huge pauldrons to hide it.
>>64723654>>64726760idk they're cute
>>64727625They're no match for my deadly garthim!
>>64726866>Spacehulk illustrates best the speed with which Games Workshop moved past the old Tyranid design language.So why didn't you post a picture of a Space Hulk Tyranid?
>>64727014You have to understand that until around COVID or so, GW saw games as something that could potentially cut into their mini sales if they invested too heavily into them, so they intentionally played wishy-washy with lending out their license until it became abundantly clear that people would still buy physical models even if they didn't intend to engage in the games, simply so they could have a representation of their favorite vidya.
>>64709292Tabletop minis. Huge pauldrons hide the shoulder enough that you can pose minis with any arm position if you use enough clay to hold it underneath the pauldron.
>>64714604>Reminder that this is what Tyranids looked like before Blizzard.Pretty good bait, tbqh.
>>64726822> Many of the designs were based on American football pads in Rogue TraderIt boggles me how this simple fact eludes most 40k secondaries. I mean, space marine chapters have tacky insignias and stupid names in lieu of irl football teams, how can you not see that?
>>64714604>Green as the default color for orcs was also a Blizzard thing originally.Factually incorrect. You might be thinking of black orcs, but that’s just always have been green warhammer fantasy orcs that are older, bigger, stronger, and a darker green not actually black.
>>64714604>>64733671Earliest concept art for Warcraft Orcs had them proportioned just like GW's.
>>64714604Now post the epic scale nids
>>64723654the way Gerry Grace depicts the red paint on the terminator armor, giving it a texture that perfectly captures the way the light reflects off the semi-gloss enamel surface created by the paint, is just amazing. Like, you can perfectly imagine just how that armor would feel to touch.the funny part is that it makes the picture look and feel uncanny because none of the other details of the painting are done that perfectly, nor are they intended to.
Videogames largely popularized it because its easier to read at lower resolutions. Same reasons why plumes on helmets are popular in fantasy. Its useful for a commander when hes looking down on his forces from above. Because its videogames you dont have to go with practical visual markers on practical armor.
