Wednesday 16 March 2011

Diddly Squat?

Most of us with an interest have probably noticed the rumour by now, and Bell of Lost Souls has just put it out for a much wider audience too. The suggestion is the Squats might finally be coming back to Warhammer 40,000. It's been a while.

Read this post at The Veil's Edge - from Tuesday - for an important idea, that bloggers are responsible. In this sense there's been little doubt for a while now the Squats will return in some form. I do disagree with one point though, that this rumour feels right.

For me what makes it seem like a rather crude joke, or an exaggeration on the part of the quoted source, is the idea they might have battle axes and be intoxicated. Yep, you read that right. If the impression given all those years ago was that GW wanted more than dwarves in space, why would they go back to the idea? This is the popular, comic image of the Squats, embellished in the telling over years, not the expected Demiurg.

I think the design studio at least would want to justify the anger and bitterness caused and give us a fuller development, and we ought to expect no less as older and hopefully more mature people. While it may be wonderful to see the Jokaero back, today's idea seems little more than a short step from the original concept. From the point of view of design, it can't have been much work. No one is really challenged by the new Jokaero. We got a surprise; GW earnt some kudos. But surely two decades ought to bring more?


We've been through this before. Take a look at the discussion at this post here. There are ideas in the comments that would make a fair starting point. And those are only mine. I hope the lack of imagination really does stop with the source of the rumour.

There's a passionate and potentially offensive post at FightingFantasist, here.

It makes at least one good point, that the 41st millennium nowadays has become a place of absurd extremes, without purpose. For me, and certainly not me alone, the humour today comes only in silly jokes with naming - 'Lady Malys' say for a Dark Eldar  - or supposedly 'cool' references - but none of the pointed comment along with it, no satire, or at least none it seems we're expected to find. Lexington puts it well.

Where's the real value?

We're intelligent adult human beings living at the leading edge of a complex history. Escapism or no, shouldn't we need more than what FightingFantasist calls "juvenile"?

Let's see what happens of course, and not believe all we read. Let's not take the easiest route out either. We can't step into the same river twice, and why would we want to?
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9 comments:

thekelvingreen said...

Why would they go back? One wonders if this might be a case of GW admitting that they were wrong, and that there was nothing wrong with the original concept after all? It would be uncharacteristic, but not impossible.

Bix said...

No, Porky is absolutely correct on this point; I completely missed the Axe & Intoxication details when I skim read the rumours(I tend to zone out on stats). My bad :(

Whilst I do think the Squats will be back in new form, I don't believe for one instant that they will return in the comedy guise they once had. It's the very reason they got canned by GW in the first place.

The Angry Lurker said...

Read and commented yesterday on Bix's post and like everybody else have heard these rumours before and I wandered around a few blogs for more conformation but the axe and intoxication details did piss me off and I still remain sceptic, from a former owner of squats, no bullshit will be tolerated when and if they re-release them with the Tau or ally to the Tau.

Porky said...

@ kelvingreen - It would be odd if they did, that's for sure. I think they'd look pretty silly though, and maybe bring more frustration out, with all the wasted years and alienation only felt more keenly. It also seems reasonable to expect the Demiurg concept would be involved in some way.

@ Bix - Not bad. It's quite possible I misunderstood you, and the point was the return in general feels right, which of course it does in the context. Your thinking on blogs making the difference is a powerful insight, and a very important one. That 'Squat clock', which supposedly gets reset every time someone mentions them, works in reverse now I'd say. The more we mention a thing, the sooner it'll be here.

@ The Angry Lurker - As a former owner, for a long time I wanted them back as they were. Now I realise they're always there if any one of us wants to recreate them in that form. We'll never lose anything in that respect, as long as we remember. Now I want something new, something reflecting the growing we've all done in the meantime. But none of that BS..!

Dave Garbe said...

perhaps simply a warm up for a cruel GW April Fools joke.

Game Master Rob Adams said...

bring back the zoat!

MIK said...

Three years ago I posted a bunch of info of Squat "rumors" centered around this same kind of thing. For me, I'll take Squats in any form, but whatever. I had a huge Tau army, now sold off, and if Demiurg do make a come-back with them, yeah I'll start over. It goes to show it would just make business sense on GW's part...and not be another Eldar/Chaos/Marine variation.

http://miksminis.blogspot.com/2008/03/long-live-space-dwarves.html

Porky said...

@ Dave G _ Nplusplus - You're right it's getting close enough to wonder. But if so, the joke might yet be on the joker. Look at how it's being taken even at a site like BoLS. Surprisingly well, with real interest and a sense of the time having come.

@ ArmChairGeneral - A vote for the zoat floats my boat.

@ Gyro - Good collection of snippets. I doubt I'd start over, but I've had the itch to do something for a while. To judge by the reaction in the past couple of days, it does look like there's money in it.

Here's a quick link to that page.

thekelvingreen said...

I'm not convinced that the squats ever were a "comedy" concept, but even if that were true, a bit of light-hearted fun is just what the 40K setting needs.