Post/Author/DateTime

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#1 Grimcleaver Oct 22, 2008 6:40:43

It's not that I hate the new ogre minis. They actually look pretty nice. It's just they look so...3rd edition. I loved the new artistic slant on the ogre we got in the Monster Manual. Now it feels like the art is backpeddling. That's a shame, really, because a lot of what really sells 4e for me are the bold new directions they're taking with classic things. Interesting reinterpretations. The more the art feels like it's backsliding into comfortable old niches, the less exciting the new takes feel. Biggest example (slight tangent here) demons and devils. The point behind changing their mythology and origins was to make them bleed together less, and to give each of them their own iconic style. Demons are all RAARGH and rotten nastiness, coming from a place where elemental fury has rotted away by exposure to pure entropy and evil. Devils are supposed to be fallen angels, servants of a god who were cursed for taking his life. In art? They all look the same as they always have--and as much like each other as ever. A real shame. I guess the moral of this story is I'd wish for a real push to keep with the new visions of the D&D universe we've seen in the Monster Manual. I love it. And beyond that to push even further with the art, to make things fit their flavor text more, even if it means having to experiment with changes to the historical look of something--to push toward something really iconic, but that matches the new themes and mythologies and purposes of the new edition.