white_rabbit wrote:
Oh come on. A one-off Forge World Shas'O model (which unless I'm mistaken isn't even in the fluff anywhere) is hardly a fair representation of the attitude of the entire Tau Empire.
I think its pretty obvious you are mistaken, about a great many things
He's got his own book, its the Tau commander for the Taros campaign, thats his personalised suit, not to mention the entire range of alternate Tau battlesuits, and the plastic battlesuits themselves.
Ok, I was mistaken about him. I know about the other battlesuits (I've got what, seven or so), but I don't see much resemblance between them and that Gundam thing.
If you weren't being so daft, you'd realise that there is a distinct tinge of anime stylings to the Tau hardware, as well as other asian influences like those weird hats the Tau ethereals sometimes wear, the almost stylised look of some ethereals, (ancient asian sage type thingy)
In fact, I may even have a photo of the "inspiration" board they put up when the tau were first introduced at Gamesday, with the
giant picture of Wing Zero in the middle.
Hardly Gundam mecha-wank.
What are you fucking talking about ?
You know, naturally assuming that mecha are intrinsically better than tanks and that sort of thing.
On the other hand, I suppose you didn't actually mention it, so it was wrong of me to assume that you were implying it. Sorry.
As for the Tau Empire as a whole, I don't see so many Anime influences as Indian-Asian cultural influences. The whole Castes thing, Fire Warriors as elite ranged fighters (the original Samurai, IIRC), Battlesuits bearing some similarity to horse archers in terms of tactics and what not.
And then, there's the Modern influences you can see; their shiny toys, guided munitions, good understanding of their equipment and its workings, emphasis on mobility and firepower, etc.
