Cool Tau?! What?!

[Folken]

I was at my local shop and was looking threw a box full of old WD's. And low and behold I found the one that was all about the Tau and thier new look. I saw some sketches of the Tau Ehterals, drones, suits, and drops that I had never seen before. And I must saw, WTF WAS GW THINKING!!!!!!!!!! (excuse the yelling but I really got ticked) The suits and the Ehterals actually looked like something that could be feared. I mean for crying out loud what where the guys at GW drinking/smoking/both when they settled on the design of the Crisis suit.....honesly can you seriously fear something that has 3 toes.....and has a box for a head....and is the same size as a FireWarrior!!! ( in terms of outnumbering. I.E. like how a dread counts for 10 modles)
Then we have the Etherals. The ones GW has out now are meh. We have the one that looks like he is holding moracas, the the one that is actually attacking, the the one just standing there....the the last one which is just one staring up at the sky.....His probly thinking " .....mm.... that cloud looks like a bunny..hehe bunny cloud...who? What?? CC!? (please do not swear)!!!"
But in ye old WD they look all evil and crazy! If anything they looked scarier than Commishners (please excuse the spelling)
And the drones looked cooler in the WD too, there guns where a bit bigger and differnt somehow from the one's we have now. That and the stealth suits reflected thier pilots " lone wolf" status in the Cadre, the where equiped with a merry ad of sensors and antannas (sorry for spelling here ).
So in short, the Tau could have looked really really really cool. And to some they might look cool now....but I think they look pretty gay....in a universe of war shiny armor ain't going to help out a lot....

[CylonDorado]

I don't know, I'd say they look decent .

[Aux]

dude

Tau are one of the most retarded models I've ever seen, they are japanese robots and look like gundom or mechwarrior guys

[CylonDorado]

Ok... I still don't see anything wrong with them. I've seen some modeled badly, but they don't seem inherently retarted. I'd say they're just differnt.

[malevoiyslayer]

Personally I have to agree on the three toed thing. It really bothers me. always has. Also, the Ethereals are supposed to be all boss-like hardcore and instead they look like froggie-men in bathrobes. I don't know how I came to that conclusion but that's just what pops into my head when I see the models. Maybe there's just something wrong with my head.

[CylonDorado]

I thaught they had hooves...

[Utah Jak]

auxellion said:

dude

Tau are one of the most retarded models I've ever seen, they are japanese robots and look like gundom or mechwarrior guys

Please to not sully Battletech by comparing it to Gundam 'aka 15 year old effeminate looking guys taking out legions of highly trained military suits in their rainbow samurai giant robots'** and to the Tau the collectivist facists with a smiley face.

**Note: Only refers to Gundam Wing, 00, Seed and Turn A Gundam. Universal Century and G Gundam are exempt from the above description.

[Enigma]

They do. Tau were designed to please manga lovers

[carnogaunt]

folken said:

The suits and the Ehterals actually looked like something that could be feared. I mean for crying out loud what where the guys at GW drinking/smoking/both when they settled on the design of the Crisis suit.....honesly can you seriously fear something that has 3 toes.....and has a box for a head....and is the same size as a FireWarrior!!! ( in terms of outnumbering. I.E. like how a dread counts for 10 modles)

I can't blame them. The Tau were started from scratch, with no background, no previous models or anything to work from. Considering what the original models for Space Marines, etc. looked like, I think GW did well on their first try. Their real mistake was not revising the models for the new codex, especially the Crisis suits. The new plastic Stealthsuits were almost a step backwards as well.

I think the Tau being made un-scary was intentional. Partially because scare tactics are not part of the Tau battle strategy, partially because GW wanted an army that parents wouldn't hesitate to buy for their 11- and 12-year-old children.

Personally, I have nothing against Tau. I have about 1500pts of a Tau army myself. And I have nothing against them having no noses, blue skin, and three toes either. I think it's good to have another 40k alien race that has anatomy a bit different from a human. Being pale and having pointy ears is not enough to convince me that the Eldar evolved on an entirely different planet.

[Wrath]

Yea, I did all ways find it odd that our perspective of "Alien" is something slightly different. "Well, there green and mold, these guys are blue with hooves. It nearly boggles my mind..." Is it so hard to believe an advanced civilization could have evolved from something similar to a squid? A bug? Hell, there could be a plant based life form with something other then bipedal motion as a platform some were. I think it's funny that we hold ourselves in such high regard, and model our image of what might be "out there" accordingley.

That aside, I all ways thought Tau looked so so. Not to bad, but nothing exceptional. Hammer heads look kind of cool in my opinion. But, space commies that they are, I really wouldn't expect something to flashy or intimidating. It's not ther M.O. So, there current look suits them. Literally. Looking cool is objective any way.

[kronoflex]

Have to agree about the Ethereals being weak (in play and in appearence) which is why I have stuck with Battlesuit commanders for so long. I'm only now considering getting an Ethereal with Honour blade so that I can get an Honour guard to go with him, so they get the + 1 BS and become fearless when he joins them.

[Folken]

Auxellion said:

**Note: Only refers to Gundam Wing, 00, Seed and Turn A Gundam. Universal Century and G Gundam are exempt from the above description.

Okay first off Gundam Wing kicked ass and the characters didn't look "girly". I agree that some Gundam series where total (please do not swear). Like G Gundam or SD. But have respect for the ones that where good. I.E. Gundam Wing, The 8th MS Team, G Gundam, and Universal Century.

Moving on I still just can't buy into it. The whole freaking universe it at WAR! Honestly I'm curios to see what GW will do when they go back and re-due the Tau. Because frankly if they don't make them seriously hard core I don't think I will play my Tau and longer. But one thing they could do is run with thier farsight idea. I don't know if this would ever work or hell, if they have even thought about this. But what about making differnt models for Farsights players. I mean think about it, we could have crisis suits that actually looked like they could hold thier own against Orks. They could have special weapons that they have developed on thier own ( come on say it with me: " We whant Power Weapons!!!"). Hell they could even go nuts have differnt HammerHead varients and new Pirhanas. Hell we could get rid of the Sky Ray (which I believe is useless after it gets its shoots off, or haha if it gets its own Seeker Missles blown off by a lucky shot)
And maybe thier Bounding Knifes would actually doing something in CC! Like give an extra attack or something.
And maybe some new gun drones? OoooOOoo maybe some new alien race that has/is befriended/ employed( Merc. style)/ enslaved to do Farsights will...OoooOOhh...now thats a good idea.
So yeah I have more to rant on about but I think this is enough for today lol! ;D

[mumbo12]

I've never understood why people bother to moan and complain about the design of any models. If you've got an idea for how to make them look cooler don't whine about it, (and here's the good part) make it yourself! Modify or scratch build your own crisis suits to fit your whims. Not skilled enough? Practice. Can't just wait for GW to hand you the perfect model. (What are the chances they'd get it just right anyway?) Also, to all the people complaining about the Tau's CC shortcomings, duh. Of course they suck at CC, it'd be just a touch bit game breaking if they were any good. An army with the best guns in the game and they can hold their own once you close the distance? No thanks.

Sorry for the rant but that's my two cents.

[Utah Jak]

Folken: I said that Universal Century (8th MS, the original, Zeta Gundam, etc) was exempt. Universal Century Gundam is some of my favorite anime EVER. Gundam Wing was ok. The Character Design, I didn't have a problem with. The feel just seemed... off. I liked the functional look of the UC stuff.

And G Gundam was frakking awesome. It was so over the top that you couldn't take it seriously. If you watched G Gundam expecting it to have the same style drama of a UC era show, its no surprise that it wasn't one of your favorites.

On topic: Even though I don't like the Tau designs that much, I have to admit that it fits the Tau. The blocky designs of the battle suit are very utilitarian which meshes well with the Tau's overriding philosophy of the Greater Good.

[CylonDorado]

I actually like the Tau look. They look like they have functional new weapons and armour that came off an assembly line. I think its a nice contrast to all the other races that havnt made anything new in X000 years, like space marines, eldar, orks (debatable), chaos, and what have you. I never really thaught about it like "GW needed to make them look cooler", I just kind of thaught "Oh no, those fire warriors have 30" guns, and I only shoot 12"? " (first game . I'm rather confused to where all this animosity is comming from. I just don't see a problem with them.