A sign-off: What deters me from the 40K fandom

Warhammer saved me long ago from the monotony of mainstream media.  It revealed to me there were some stories worth pursuing, there was an audience for grimdark fantasy, and as a right little edgelord, I was not alone in my taste for the insane and the outré.  I grew up with it, matured into as much of a man as I'm probably ever going to be with it, it was a pillar of my childhood's foundation.

But that was then.  Now the appeal is waning, and there are several reasons which I'll do my best to explain.

I will not bring up the price of miniatures as a reason, because that's easily remedied by toning down on purchases.  There are so many sides to this argument and it's obvious GW won't be lowering prices of existing kits in the near future, so I'd rather not address cost.
Here we go.


1: It is a community-driven hobby; and as a professional failure, I physically cannot people

Firstly this point needs to be got out the way, as of course the same thing could be said for every fandom.  Unfortunately it's just another point of several that deters me, and most importantly I'm the only one to blame here.

A fandom consists of a number of people who like the same thing, discussing it and creating or experiencing that same thing-- but the DISCUSSING I believe to be the biggest part of any fandom.  That's where I, the most socially backwards person ever can attest, falls short.
 Warhammer is a game, a game to be played with other people, with other people who like and understand the IP's concept, with friends. Friends some people don't-- or can't-- have.

My online presence has deteriorated significantly over the last while, despite me climbing on board new platforms left right and centre, that's really a fault of my being caught up in other stuff-- and a combination of rural locale and dodgy vehicle means I can't really extend my RL presence much farther than the workplace.  How I'm ever going to find a girlfriend at this rate is beyond me... That's beside the point.  Moving on.


2: What it once was vs What it is now

I don't believe 40K was ever this mainstream.
This I'm sure I've brought up before, because I'm a fuddy duddy stickler for old things.  Warhammer used to be a hobby, an art expression; now it only feels like an IP to exploit.  True, their miniatures have gotten more and more detailed and pretty in the last while,but is that really necessary?  I mean really truly?  Think about it, does detail enhance the game?  Or rather would it draw new people in?

Uninspired? Clearly one intolerant bugger thinks so

 Don't get me wrong, new people are great for an IP to make money and be more widespread; new people are good.  But at what point does an IP stop being itself, and start appealing to the widest audience possible at the cost of its individuality?





3:  Official art used to be more interpretative than this

I can't leave a rant without at least a bit of good old hobby horse time; I'll try and keep this short.  As a defeated artist, I appreciate an IP mostly through its aesthetic, through its art.
Compare these two tech-adepts, a skitarii and a myrmidon:

Much in the same way I love the inaccurate nature of medieval art, I found the older 40K art inspiring.  It gave me ideas for kitbashes and painting methods, it added depth and character to a story already rich with character.  The miniatures were simple templates for you to build on and develop your own style.
Nowadays I see more and more art taken directly from the miniatures, and to be brutally honest, some are not much more interesting than studio photographs with their subject matter.  Alright, I might have gone and chosen that skitarii image purposefully, but the fact remains; there's less up for interpretation.  The majority of modern artwork seems less of telling a story, as presenting a range of products.


4: What it was for me vs. What it is now

 This harks back a lot to point 2.
Coming into the world of 40K long ago, what the 12-year-old me perceived was a huge, terrifying galaxy filled with such insane darkness and dread you couldn't hope to survive long; the morbid side of me latched on instantly.  This was a fantasy story set in a time so ridiculously far in the future it was obvious they weren't going to pull any stops on the madness.  Guns and vehicles were venerated instead of repaired, religious worship was directed here there and everywhere, aliens nobody even knows the origin of are streaming into the galaxy, man-made gods have taken form but are completely out-of-control...
Maybe I liked it for the wrong reasons; there might have been more fitting IPs to pursue... that weren't anime.  You know, it was the religious part of the Imperium I believe drew me in the strongest, and in the toning down of the archaic, the gothic, the pagan, I've been left hanging.
Like I said before, it was a pillar of my childhood's foundation; it should be left as such.  I don't want it spoiled by washed-out miniature design, lame narrative, and... people.


5: What GW has done/is doing with the IP

If you don't know about WH adventures, it's basically proof that GW have gone full sellout mainstream.
Do I recall a time when warhammer was age-restricted, or is that just a fanciful dream?  Also way to push the primarine shtick, I still don't like the buggers.


6: The memes

Yes, in the long run I hate memes.  So sue me.
 Personal experience has shown me the following; the majority of people are more drawn to funny things than scary things.  Whether they don't like a thing, like it too much or don't understand it because it's too creative or different they'll make it funny.  This mentality I can't stand, and connected to something I took so seriously as a child is oddly painful.

7: people in the community
 
In every fandom full of great people, there will always be the "badd'ns" .  My tolerance of who I'd consider to be a "badd'n" just happens to be WAY lower than most people, again due to my social ineptitude-- which I should stop wearing on my sleeve as if fishing for pity.
These badd'ns are what give the sane folk a bad name, I'm sure a good deal of you have a story.  Mine is of a guy who couldn't go on holiday without taking his entire (multi-faction) collection with him; so instead of not going on holiday at all, he put everything into a hundred ice cream containers and had them rattle about and fill up his camper.  Funny story, but how does it reflect the community as a whole?

It's not just the badd'ns either, I see a lot of unnecessary stupidity.  I've seen terrible crossovers and ship wars-- yes, ship wars concerning primarchs, ship wars concerning astartes heroes, all sorts.  I've seen people who can't enjoy an IP if they can't poke their diddly-stick in it, so they oversexualise.  I've heard of-- not misusing the word either-- truly retarded behavior of every sort, I've seen animal abusers, thieves, and some real mental cases who give the Columbine shooters a run for their money, all connected in some way to the 40K fandom.

It's all getting a bit much.


You sound pretty sick of it, D.  Can't you just ignore all that and stick with it alone?
You've always been alone.

I could shut myself in, yes.  I could lock myself away and nobody would know where I'd have gone, but the damage has been done.  If I withdraw to try and enjoy 40K by myself, I'll be withdrawing with all those awful stigmata attached to the IP I once loved.  I'd much rather leave it off for a while and let it heal a bit, even if the reasons I hate 40K will never go away.


What are you going to do?

What I'm going to do is move away from the fandom for a while.  2018 has been rough and slow, with illness and busyness and RL, and sadly 40K isn't quite as appealing as it used to be; it doesn't draw me like it used to.
I've got so many other projects I want to do in the future-- short films, puppets, art, not to mention the apocalyptican fairytales I'm writing-- all those things I seem to get more enjoyment out of.  I used to be able to make 40K my own thing, but as time's gone on and the aforementioned reasons have made it more and more difficult to focus on what I once liked.

Where will the dream take you, Lonely?

My biggest following has been generated by my activity in the 40K fandom, so I shall fade and go into the west, which may be for the better.
Sago-altar.com will still advertise my commissions painting of course, that's a part of my life now and a source of a few extra dollars.  This blog, if I do continue with it, will more than likely be related to things other than 40K, so if you're wanting to clean up what blogs you follow, it'd be best to take this one off for now if you're here for the 40K content.

Who knows, maybe this is just a rough patch for 40K.  Maybe it's just a rough patch for me, I don't know.  I might come back once things have sorted themselves out, I might not: So I guess I'll sign off with a final

FINÉ.


Bye bye for now.

***

For so long

I have wandered, I have fought

Now the road is at an end;

I've climbed the highest mountains, seen the sea beyond the hill,

I'm Alone with a Dream...

Urien & grotesques WiP: also Nurgle almost had me

So for the last while (not including the past few days... you'll know why in a moment) I've been scouring my bits box to make three grotesques and Urien Rakarth for a client.  If anything, it's made me realise I need to restock on unorthodox purchases like vargeists and such! 

Introducing (from left) Tom, Bert and William.  Please don't laugh at Tom, he was part of a subway accident.

For Urien himself, I've used several poxwalkers as a base.  Still working on what I should use for his tentacley bits, and OH NO I'M OUT OF GREENSTUFF!!!!!1!!1!!AGAIN!!!!!1

And that wasn't the end of the week's bad luck.

So last Wednesday afternoon I think it was, I started getting an odd sort of pain when I walked.  By the time I left work I almost couldn't sit on my motorbike, and that night I couldn't sleep for the magnanimous fever which had literally taken minutes to spring upon me, however fevers work.
Turns out, come Thursday morning, I had the most horrible infection ever a man could get.  Oof.  And don't think I picked it up from anyone, I'm what they call "grey ace"; look it up.

Once my immunity had dropped, old Pappy Nurgle found out I was unwell and he started sending me all these presents to make me feel... loved, I suppose, if not better.  It was like a bunch of "Don't Get Well" presents.

Before long it felt like I had every ailment The home physician describes and was hopelessly stuck in bed; only this morning (Tuesday) have I been able to hobble out and do a bit of constructive stuff.  Thanks, Nurgle.  No, my Chapter is STILL loyalist, and no I WON'T collect Death Guard.

If there was one good thing that came of the fevers, it made for some, um... unique characters for my second novel, like this chap below, the Blue Scissorknight.

And that's that!  I'm hoping to be well enough to get back to work on Friday (thank Throne for understanding employers!!) and by that time I will be clean enough to approach the Sago altar once again and continue kitbashing.  Here's hoping, anyway.

Bye bye for now.

What the fevered mind of a madman thinks is a decent suit of armour

Commission work: C'tan shard finished!

WOW he was a challenge and a half!  He's been the bottleneck in a lot of things, but the result isn't half bad if I say so myself.  Photo time!

The client was after something particularly Egyptian for this chap, with a sort of Vishnu/Shiva duality.  I went with a jackal head and plugged him full of Necron effects to reflect his slavery to the race he once held dominion over.

I also found out I'm DREADFUL at freehand!!!!  As if I didn't know already.
So that's that!  Just a quick one this time around, I'm so sorry for my sporadic posting nature... Hopefully with this chap off the bucket list thing will pick up again.

Bye bye for now.

I'm drilling my barrels now

It was a hard decision whether to finally do what I KNEW was best for me and the hobby as a whole, but after years of servere deliberation, I have done the right thing.

Yeah, as the title says, I'm drilling my barrels.

 The simple brilliance of it astounds me, really.  I thought it's take some drastic experimentation (like using body parts or, heck, real blood) to improve my kitbashing skills... This, however, was quite unprecedented!  Look at this picture, a side-by-side of three weapons with their barrels whole, then the same options below with barrels drilled:

The improvement is uncanny!
And you know what?  It's even improved my morale and skill in general!  Who would have thought I would start assembling masterpieces just based on a simple trick as a few holes?

THE IMPROVEMENT IS UNCANNY

 Bye bye for now.

I've got a dirty thumb.

Possibly the world's most unnecessarily complicated assault marine

 So what, you say.  The mentally unstable D just put together another ridiculously expensive kitbash, what's new?  Well, today I think I'll tell you exactly what went into this 1st company veteran; maybe it'll confirm my insanity, if nothing else.
First, let's strip the paint off and have a look at the bits for what they are.

The body is the cybernetica datasmith with the front torso half from the Black Templar's upgrade kit.  Bit of gold necklace chain across shoulder, trophy spike from WHFB crypt horror; new Cypher's bolt pistol on one hip, DA incense-burner on the other.  Double purity seal from the special sprue from the old tactical squad kit, and hourglass from the WHFB flagellants kit.
Head is from the finecast Imperial Fists upgrade kit, bionic is from Canoness Veridyan and the hair is a Custodes topknot.

Backpack is (mostly) from the old assault squad kit, nozzles from DA veteran kit.  The book is a GK icon with chain from an earring, and the tree is a charm.  Two pouches from the old assault squad kit, skull buttons are taken from the icons on a GK incinerator tank and marksman's honour from sternguard veteran kit.

Left arm is a plague marine's from the Dark Vengeance box, tilt shield is off a pillar from the garden of Morr and pipes are guitar wire.  The hand (and chainsword engine) is from aforementioned special tac squad sprue with a Templar cross from the scroll/pouch bit from the upgrade kit.  The chainsword itself is plasticard with teeth from the second sword on that sprue; the handle is from the honour guard's axe and the tree icon is a silver earring.

Right arm is from an Ultramarine Honour Guard with a 7th ed chest aquila; right hand is a 7th ed BA hand, the bolgun an edited sisters of Silence one with a purity seal from Guilliman's right shin.

Never will you see another uselessly fiddly and expensive assault marine.

Bye bye for now.

Commission work: orky plasma obliterator finished

Um, yeah!  This is a thing.  I guess when you're commissioned to make a "looted plasma obliterator", I suppose this is what happens.

I started off with the base of the aquila strongpoint's turret, then started piling bits on; all the bits I could find, really.  There are even bits of spider carapace, as this is to go with the spider themed orks I began with the tank.

This would be a lot harder to pull off without the power of fire; a lot of these bits I melted into place.  Twenty points if you can guess all the bits.  Go on, have a crack! (commences villain laugh.)

I figured that instead of these orks commandeering any large plasma weapon, all they managed was to do was scrape together a swag of plasma pistols, then wired them all up together with a few bits or ordinary dakka to make up for inaccuracy.  I'd hate to be anywhere within a fifty mile radius when this thing fires...

And that's that!  In other news I've finished that set of IK banners, and there's rumours of a C'tan shard on the near horizon...

Bye bye for now.

My novel is published!

After a rather hectic year'sworth of deadlines, Welcome Home: A half-childe losted was is a published work at last! Preview and info on purchase are available over at my site sago-altar.com/welcome-home, and email me @ lonely.kitbasher@yahoo.com if (and WHEN) you'd like a copy!

Okay, how'd I do?  Sorry, I'm crap at marketing... I've never had to do it before, and this is about the best I can do for shpeal.  You get the idea, I guess?

What is this so-called novel about exactly, D?

Put simply, it's a "point A to point B" kind of plot; a 90,000-word grimdark fantasy with an apocalyptic setting, hence the subtitle "An Apocalyptican Fairytale".  It's illustrated with about 30-odd colour images and I've forgotten how many monochrome ones, all done by yours truly.
It is so far into the future that time has almost worn itself out and has begun to fluctuate. Seasons have merged, stars wander, quite often the Sun forgets to get up in the morning-- and despite all this, the mutated remains of humanity still try to keep living, knowing they should not be alive.

You'll find a plot summary over at Sago Altar.com, but I'll copy it here for ease of access.

***

Aelfric, an ageing lumberjack trained in the illegal art of charcoal-burning, stumbles on a fight between several fenrians, sorcerous wolf-like anthropoids.  The object of their fighting, a baby's basket, falls into the charcoal-burner's hands and he takes the child within to raise as his own.  Rygnir, as he names the child, is exposed to the horrors of a dying world despite his "grandfather's" reclusive lifestyle, and after witnessing the death of one he realized to be more important to the world at large than he once knew, decides to set out and find the one "Wingdale" of which Aelfric spoke.

​

Welcome Home follows Rygnir as he leaves the claustrophobic confines of Boar's Wood and travels east with a series of (hopefully!) interesting characters; it introduces us to the world he lives in and the friends he makes along the way, and follows him down through the Witches' Thoroughfare deep below the Fimbulforn, to where his resolve and faith will be strained to the uttermost end.

***

Where and how is it up for buying?

So far, it's really only via email/Facebook messenger, and paypal.  I've spammed the hell out of both those forms of contact, so they shouldn't be too hard to find lol.  Never mind, email's the usual:

lonely.kitbasher@yahoo.com

And I'm Dee Power on Facebook.

Oh yeah, and If I REALLY SHOULD get a twitter account, I need to be told.

Well, that's that I suppose.  I don't think I can sell you any more on the book than that.  If you liked classical Warhammer Fantasy before GW AoS-isized it, who knows-- maybe you'll like this story too!

Bye bye for now. 

 

The Sago Altar site gets a much-needed update

In light of recent circumstances (that being, oh, I don't know, MY BOOK GETTING AN ISBN AND PRACTICALLY ON THE BRINK OF PUBLICATION!!!)  I resolved to sit down, bite the bullet and make the Sago Altar my own.  Holy Throne, but domain names are expensive...

I've updated everything about it.  Everything.  Come and have a look, I'm even working on a bio ATM!  There's a gallery of completed commissions, a gallery of personal favorites (with a good many familiar faces), updated contact details and ALL the social media.  Most importantly, though, there's the first-ever public information on my novel Welcome Home, including a preview of the first chapter!

So come on and have a gander!

Bye bye for now.

www.sago-altar.com

Commission work: many things completed

This is why I shouldn't start eight hundred projects at once... it takes forever to complete them, and then I have eight hundred things in a bunch to show.  Ah well, photo time!  Extremely bad photos, I might warn you; all the cameras are flat and my phone can't cope with any light LESS than five miniature suns.

I'll jam a flikr link in here once they're up with some proper photos.

First up is the looted rhino I made a while ago, in its slightly mad and very-difficult-to-paint glory.

 Second is the commander for that kill tank I recently finished.  As I probably mentioned before, I wasn't sure where in the top hatch he was supposed to fit, so here he is on foot.

And lastly, sister Celestine and retinue!  Yeah, I took a rather much more differenter route with her design than most kitbashes I've seen-- I wanted to go with the cape/curtain wings, but alas, the material I was using didn't want to work with me, so here we are.
Very, very pleased with how she turned out, all the same.  Ya know, I've had that metal torso sitting in my bitz box for about five years, and more than once I had the mind to do away with it!  Fancy that.

And that's that!  I'm a little worried my style is turning more and more vanilla as time goes on... I can't let that happen!

Bye bye for now.