Waldo's Weekly - The Less I Know, the Better

[Kyle]

Hey Wyrdos,

This week, we had some trouble finding Waldo. We looked everywhere: the ash piles, the sewers, the warehouse rafters…

Of all places, we found him beneath the conference table, eating coffee pods and beta files. If it wasn’t for the smell, I’m not sure we would have ever found him. We’re still recovering some of the lost data. Ironically enough, we did manage to find one of the most well-hidden characters in all of Malifaux, and this week, we’re going to talk about what we found.

Lucius’ eyes and ears span across all of Malifaux, but even he has his blind spots, especially on Earth. As soon as he caught wind about forgotten Neverborn meeting in the forests and caves across Europe, he had to know more. But with Marlow taking power after the last Governor-General’s near ascension, the mimic’s grip on climbing the Guild ladder has weakened, so he has requested that his most trusted and unknown agent return to directly aid him once more.

Agent 46 is an unnatural menace that strikes from the shadows; both his Stealth and Inhuman Physiology Abilities ensure that he is difficult to see and to hit. When we sat down to think about the types of characters that Lucius surrounds himself with and trusts, the vision became clear relatively quickly. A shadowy figure that no one has seen before because Lucius hadn’t willed it was a more than fitting approach when introducing this new, unseen assassin.

Even if his enemies don’t always know where he is, Lucius, always does, which is reflected in Agent 46’s Following Orders Ability. Lucius, similar to Second Edition, is still ordering around his Crew, but he now has a surgical knife in the form of Agent 46 to take care of his… problems. Agent 46’s Following Orders Ability helps emphasize his role in the Elite Crew while simultaneously keeping cards in his hand.

This highly mobile assassin has the tools he needs to get the job done. By the time his Twirling Blades are cutting through his target’s flesh, he is likely already attacking another nearby enemy with his Pouncing Strike Trigger.

One of the most understated and valuable Actions in Malifaux Third Edition is Analyze Weakness, which Agent 46 utilizes to study his opponent before he strikes, giving him and his allies the opportunity to take down even the tankiest of targets. If he has trouble finding vulnerabilities, he’ll just take a closer look with the On Your Heels Trigger.

Agent 46 rarely shows his true colors (or form), but sometimes he just can’t help but Mimic his target, which is exactly what his Bonus Action does. Depending on the situation or opponent, Agent 46 (along with the other Mimics in Lucius’ Crew) brings a ton of flexibility to each game.

Next week, Waldo gets in the dirt to dig up an old friend.

[Stranglelove]

😍

[Boomstick]

Yes. Yesyesyes. Yes please. He shall commence with Operation: SneakStab. And then, again!

[Strangedane]

When can we hope to buy this awesome model🤩 

[Haagrum]

I'm quietly hoping that "Agent 46 Facts" becomes a thing...

[yool1981]

Art and pose are uninspired and uninteresting.

It is as static as a GW chaos warrior plastic sculpt from the early 90s.

Where is the secrecy, mystery and menace we should feel from Lucius’ lieutenant?

He must be very agile not to trip on his coat...

[J4bberw0ck]

Love everything about this model, from the stats to the backstory. However, that pose just feels so oddly static. The models' rules and flavour imply a ton of movement and fluidity, and yet the render has him just standing there, awkwardly holding knives like he doesn't know what to do with them. Am I alone in this? If so, I'll just have to re-sculpt his arms and legs, I guess.

[trikk]

Art is meh. 

Render would be nice, if the position would be changed. Right now he's awfully static. 

[necroon]

I like the model, rules approach, and story blurb. The mask in the art and sculpt look different? I'd prefer a cross blades across the chest pose, personally. 

[Clockwork_Fish]

Agree that the pose is a bit static but otherwise love the art.  I like the art mask more than the render one.  But that’s an easy fix with green stuff.  The art mask looks unnatural but in a good way.  Sort of reminds me of Silent Hill. 

The pose is also an easy fix, as it’s really just the position of the arms that’s at issue.

[Paddywhack]

47 minutes ago, yool1981 said:

He must be very agile not to trip on his coat...

I think that's actually part of him and prehensile....

[Rufess]

Is it only me thinking that his scabbards are facing to the wrong direction. In the render image he has to rotate the swords after pulling out from the scabbards.

[Maxooo]

8 minutes ago, Rufess said:

Is it only me thinking that his scabbards are facing to the wrong direction. In the render image he has to rotate the swords after pulling out from the scabbards.

Oh yeah! you got good eyes, couldn't see that but now that you say it, it may contribute to that "meh" feeling about the pose. I agree that he looks a bit static and also i find the cape a little too "GW thick"

I find that the mask in the art and the one in the render both look cool ! I just wonder why they went a totally other direction with the style of it in the render but at least it still ended up looking gud

[Saduhem]

Those are some teeny tiny arms for a guy with such long legs.

He's secretly an Emu

[Butterknifer]

Honestly I kind of feel the pose kind of resembles Lucius’s pose abit. Both have their legs straight, a cape behind them, and are holding an object infornt of them. I think personally instead of it just being a static pose for the sake of it being such, that it’s really trying to mimic Lucius’s look and feel and while it works for him I’m not sure how well this guy pulls it off. Maybe I’m making connections that don’t exist. I don’t know. 

[Scatterbrain]

It looks okay to me. It makes sense that a mimic might have odd proportions and be able to rotate his knives with deft swiftness. His solid stance also makes sense. Lucius' man (or creature?) is confident and ready for instructions as to his target.

[catbat07]

The art is going for a Neil-Gaiman-esque graveyard book feel to me. Anyone else reminded of the Man Jack with his long thin knife? While that slightly warped, long legged, low-hanging shouldered look is awesome when 2d, the transition to miniature form feels very off to me. The cloak looks too thick, and the mask too human. The whole point of the mask is to suggest that anyone could be behind it, if it looks like a mario villain the effect doesn't really carry through. As for the pose, he looks like he's at a party where he knows no-one and has no idea what to do with his hands. Also are the knives too long? I find they look really large and clunky for a deadly assassin. 

I actually really like the art, as it makes him look like he really is part of Lucius's crew. Also the new direction with more humanoid mimics is awesome, and I understand how hard it can be to capture something that's creepy because it could be anything. Maybe he looks weird because we're seeing him from the bottom, which is probably never how you're going to see him. I hope this is the case. Hate to be negative, but.........

[lusciousmccabe]

I'm fine with the static pose given that he's Hitman, a character best known for walking inappropriately casually and dressing inappropriately formally.

There is something weird about the arms though. I can think of any reason he'd be holding then that way, except maybe if you convert the blades to pints and pretend he's waiting for his mate to come back from taking a piss. One up, one down would be a better look imo, or even both of them down or in their sheathes while he considers his next move.

Also dislike the cloak, but that's a given since the switch to plastic. Those Malifaux tailors care not for physics and that's just how it is.

[yool1981]

6 hours ago, Scatterbrain said:

It makes sense that a mimic might have odd proportions

That or this artist has a specific way when it comes to the proportions of adult human-shaped characters... This is very common for him/her to draw smaller heads and long legs, as if the character was seen by a child.

Floating and/or very long capes, robes, coats... are also a thing it seems...

8 hours ago, Rufess said:

Is it only me thinking that his scabbards are facing to the wrong direction. In the render image he has to rotate the swords after pulling out from the scabbards.

You have very good eyes.

[Haagrum]

8 hours ago, Rufess said:

Is it only me thinking that his scabbards are facing to the wrong direction. In the render image he has to rotate the swords after pulling out from the scabbards.

Agent 46 might draw them across his/her/its body?

Alternately, perhaps Agent 46 is simply that good that it doesn't matter... or its scabbards know better than to protest.

Either way, my wallet is ready.

Edited January 31, 2019 by Haagrum
Mitigating risk that Agent 46 was displeased with the earlier post.

[Haagrum]

3 hours ago, catbat07 said:

I actually really like the art, as it makes him look like he really is part of Lucius's crew. Also the new direction with more humanoid mimics is awesome, and I understand how hard it can be to capture something that's creepy because it could be anything. Maybe he looks weird because we're seeing him from the bottom, which is probably never how you're going to see him. I hope this is the case. Hate to be negative, but.........

I like how it's rocking the uncanny valley vibe - as though it's really close to human but still giving off the creepy feeling that it's clearly not human. The legs are just that bit too long, the set of the arms and shoulders just slightly... off.

Remember, if you can see Agent 46, Agent 46 can see you. If you *can't* see Agent 46, it's already too late...

[Tors]

Hey, at least it's pretty easy to find an actually good looking assassin model to Proxy this thing 👎

[yool1981]

6 minutes ago, Tors said:

Hey, at least it's pretty easy to find an actually good looking assassin model to Proxy this thing 👎

You can even go back 15-20 years ago for a few more dynamic assassin poses. Although some weapons are a bit thick for my taste, Rackham did make interesting minis.

[trikk]

When you see Stealth and Twirling Blades and expect a Assasin-Ninja-agent but get a well dressed Slenderman

[Da Git]

Agree with a lot of what has been said.  I really like the artwork (took less time to grow on me than usual, so that's a win!)  However, I don't think it translated to the render very well...

I much prefer the strange 3-eyed mask and the slight twist at the hips/neck (although I'd prefer this to be a tad more pronounced) so his looking to (our) left.

The Render's mask is boring, his cape is way too thick, and his pose to straight for my liking.

Also, please turn the scabbards around. (drawing crossbelt while holding the knives blade-down without cutting off a hand is actually really difficult!)

Just trying to provide some constructive criticism! If the model comes out like the artwork, I'll be very happy!