MaxSteiner
Mongoose
Yeah the novelties kinda wearing off by now to be honest.... see what I can do :?
Pics of the new Vorlon miniatures are up!!
- Thread starter Mouth of Sauron
- Start date
Chernobyl said:
Ahem, we only ever see two at once, but we do see a potential 5 distinct Vorlons...
(the two (identical looking) ones in "War Without End, Part 2" with Valenm, Kosh and Ulkesh (who is also the Vorlon Ambassador seen in "War Without End, Part 1" though in a slightly different paint job to how we see him later), and the one that looks like Kosh as seen in "Into the Fire" via the hologram.
But part of the "problem" with miniature representations of Vorlons is they can be entirely accurate and look cack because they don't have a director of photography to sort out their problems. We see them from unflattering angles, we see them in full lighting, and because they are miniatures they don't have the presence of the "real" props. The lack of arms looks "wrong" on the miniature because we expect miniatures to have appendages, plus they have static poses because the only point of articulation is the head.
The Shadows will have similar problems on the grounds you can't make them "half-phased", no matter how good the paint job.
MaxSteiner
Mongoose
My main problem with them is with the proportions of the whole piece, they seem far too narrow at the "shoulder", which makes them look like tubes wrapped in cloth, as opposed to something like:
or
You've got me on the spelling though, but they were only lower case letters
or
You've got me on the spelling though, but they were only lower case letters
frobisher said:
I'm not sure, but I think you can add another two to that tally: I can't remember the name of the episode, but I think it's season five where you see Lyta in a tank of some sort on the Vorlon homeworld (or a different planet if you go by 'Darkness and Light'). If you look in the reflection there are two Vorlons in encounter suits examining her briefly before walking off :0)
As for the miniatures... they're a bit rubbish I s'pose, mainly for why Max says in the post above. Broadening them might have been difficult though when you take into account base size and everything *shrugs* I dunno heh.
lastbesthope
Mongoose
Yes we do see potentially X vorlons, but we never see more than 2 at once, and even then we don't know that they are actual Vorlons, under that encounter suit, who's to know.
THe surest we can be of seeing any number of Vorlons is when Kosh and Ulkesh go all SPringer on each other in Season 4.
LBH
THe surest we can be of seeing any number of Vorlons is when Kosh and Ulkesh go all SPringer on each other in Season 4.
LBH
lastbesthope said:
Well I dunno, Chernobyl admits to only ever seeing two Vorlons at once and that second part about us not being entirely sure they're Vorlons is a pretty poor argument LBH. Why would people watching the show even begin to think they're anything other than Vorlons? Private joke of the writers? Unlikely mate ;0)
lastbesthope said:
I'd actually vote instead for the two that are with Valen. Those two squidy things aren't the whole Vorlon (clearly as Kosh came out of Sheriden, and Ulkesh after his encounter suit was blown apart - not a good indicator for physical survival given how robust the encounter suits were...) but their energy divested of their physical bodies
And the Vorlons do have a physical body (the important factor is Dr Kyle's examiniation of the "Blue Cells" in "The Gathering", plus jms says so...).
A naked Vorlon looks like an "angel" to any "prepared" observer (no choice in this matter BTW, given Kosh's comments about how tired he was after been seen so many) - after all this is how he appeared even when unconcious (just how do you spell that word..?) to Dr Kyle.
OK, even if we do see as many as 6 over the course of the show, I think my point was that they're exceedingly rare...I can't imagine using more than 1 at a time ever...after all, this is for a role playing game, not a minatures battle game right? All I need to do is occasionally reperesnt my players, some innocent bystanders, and the antogonists of the moment.
Figures you'd need a lot of - B5 Security, Gropos (or pretty much any military group - narn warriors, warrior caste, centauri guards - good start), Narn Security, lurkers, various civilians of various races (for those encounters in the Zocalo!), a few Psi Cops, a commercial teeps, maybe some ambassadors, officer crew, etc. There are lots of Arch-types in B5, so there's a lot they could be doing (and a lot they have planned!) but you can't even play a vorlon character, right? so why so many Vorlon figures. What I'd most like to see are some civilian characters. The traders, the lurkers - pretty much these could represent anything in the game.
Chern
Figures you'd need a lot of - B5 Security, Gropos (or pretty much any military group - narn warriors, warrior caste, centauri guards - good start), Narn Security, lurkers, various civilians of various races (for those encounters in the Zocalo!), a few Psi Cops, a commercial teeps, maybe some ambassadors, officer crew, etc. There are lots of Arch-types in B5, so there's a lot they could be doing (and a lot they have planned!) but you can't even play a vorlon character, right? so why so many Vorlon figures. What I'd most like to see are some civilian characters. The traders, the lurkers - pretty much these could represent anything in the game.
Chern
Ah yes, but you can never have enough Vorlons... or Shadows
Hell, I've got 4 of the Harlequin ones, and they only did two different ones...
The thing is, imagine the look on the players's faces when you set up an encounter with miniatures, and there's six Vorlons there...
Definate change of underwear time
Oh, and you can play a Vorlon...
Hell, I've got 4 of the Harlequin ones, and they only did two different ones...
The thing is, imagine the look on the players's faces when you set up an encounter with miniatures, and there's six Vorlons there...
Definate change of underwear time
Oh, and you can play a Vorlon...
dr-paradox
Mongoose
looking at the shots. The minis are not the best rendering of the Vorlons but I can put two reasons for this forward. One is the absence of Wide "shoulders" But this would make the mini top heavy (Never a good thing)
The position of the head. Looking at the referance shots of the Kosh and Ulkesh suits you will note that Vorlon suits put the head deeper in to the Collar. here they stand proud giving a slightly odd look to the mini. Still they look like Vorlons and the paint jobs good.
The position of the head. Looking at the referance shots of the Kosh and Ulkesh suits you will note that Vorlon suits put the head deeper in to the Collar. here they stand proud giving a slightly odd look to the mini. Still they look like Vorlons and the paint jobs good.
I can't say these are the worst minis I've seen in a while, and they're certainly better than the last few I've seen lately (EA Officers and Skinny Slave Leader). Overall, they look OK, then I realized they look too skinny, where's those huge shoulder pads! Perhaps a pic of a human along with it. I think the best thing about them is the paintjob, which is superb.
As cools as having a Vorlon mini, and painting them should be fun, is there a whole lot of use in the RPG for 5 Vorlons? I think a conversation with 5 beings, who's only dialog is 1 word responses would get old fast and probably result in someone drawing a PPG in frustration.
You know with the right head swap, they'd make good Skinny Lords, Nobles or Cheiftans for SST.
As cools as having a Vorlon mini, and painting them should be fun, is there a whole lot of use in the RPG for 5 Vorlons? I think a conversation with 5 beings, who's only dialog is 1 word responses would get old fast and probably result in someone drawing a PPG in frustration.
You know with the right head swap, they'd make good Skinny Lords, Nobles or Cheiftans for SST.
dr-paradox
Mongoose
CmdrKiley said:
And from Darkness and klight we know the guy drawing the PPG is dust before he can use it
2d10+25 damage
lastbesthope
Mongoose
Rambo said:
No I'm thinking of the fact that a lot of the time we see a Vorlon, all we can be sure we see is an encounter suit, who knows what;s under it?????
Nakaleen feeder anyone?
Ok it could be the inverse of 'zebra' syndrome, but still.
Remember, on babylon 5, noone is what they appears to be 8)
LBH
Greg Smith
Mongoose
dr-paradox said:
You have put into words eactly what I was thinking. The collars seem to be too flat, they should be angled upwards.
I would have liked to see a pointly-collared Vorlon like the nasty-looking Kosh II (I'm never sure of the correct nomenclature of the 'other' Vorlon).
lastbesthope said:
I just knew the feeder was gonna come up heh, the difference with that case is that it served a purpose concerning the viewers at home.
Looking at the other times we see Vorlons, you've got Kosh who... well c'mon, we know it's a Vorlon in that suit heh. Same with Ulkesh. Aswell as the interaction with other characters on the show, we see them both transferring themselves/fragment of their conscious from Lyta to their suits.
Then there's the two Vorlons with Sinclair/Valen: we know for a fact they're Vorlons, they're hovering above their suits!
The Vorlon apparition that appears alongside the Shadow on Sheridan's whitestar... he's speaking on behalf of the entire race so I would've thought it's safe to assume there's a Vorlon in that suit.
And then there's the two Vorlons in the episode where you see them in the reflection of Lyta's... whatever it is... *shrugs*... presumably a genetic modification tank or something. They're overseeing the telepathic alterations to Lyta on a Vorlon planet (either that or they were just taking a stroll through the area and were making a casual observance). What would they be other than Vorlons?
Looking at it from a scriptwriter's point of view, it serves no purpose for the encounter suits we see in the show to contain anything other than Vorlons, as it would have no impact whatsoever (whereas that was the whole point of the feeder), ie it would be ultimately pointless for them to be anything else (an odd concept when talking about a sci-fi show heh).
After all that though, when you think about it, you're still right LBH: when we see the encounter suits, we don't know for an absolute fact that there are Vorlons in them. But it's more in the same sense that we don't know for an absolute fact that G'Kar isn't wearing women's underwear beneath his machoman clothing or that Ivanova doesn't harbour hideously perverse sexual desires towards the Drazi ambassador.
But who knows if they're not the case really? In true B5 fashion, and as you so rightly say LBH, 'Remember, on babylon 5, noone is what they appears to be.'
Sadly, after this lengthy post about fictional million year old aliens it seems I'm exactly what I appear to be: a big nerd...
MaxSteiner
Mongoose
Well Im impressed Rambo, that is some near encyclopedial knowledge of Babylon 5! 8)
Heh, thanks Max... what can I say, it's the only show I find worth paying much thought too, nearly everything about it really is that good :0)
Some people like soaps... some like reality television... some wildlife documentaries... I just narrow it down specifically to Babylon 5 heh. Though I do enjoy most other types of programs to some extent.
Some people like soaps... some like reality television... some wildlife documentaries... I just narrow it down specifically to Babylon 5 heh. Though I do enjoy most other types of programs to some extent.
