My brief review for the M2E book

[PierceSternum]

Cover looks great and I like a rulebook with a little heft.

I do not share the hate for the format and layout of the book. It seems decently organized to me.

Basically, for playing the game, I find it to be very functional, which is its most important purpose for the game. (I found the first book for M1E to be VERY difficult to navigate to find different things)

Now comes my dislike.

I *HATE* most of the art in the book. I happened to open it up the first time and saw some sort of garish eye-shadow lilith staring back at me. I was VERY disappointed. I flip the page and Candy looks as bad or worse to me.

I am on the fence about the new sort of suckerpunch/punk/anime aesthetics that the game seems to be taking universally, but the execution of the actual art I just find bad. (With a few exceptions)

Seamus's face...

How would he EVER lure someone into an alley with him EVER.

And Perdita's picture makes me outright angry. I would rather there was white-space there. She looks HORRIBLE.

The aesthetics are what drew me to the game. Most of this art would not have done so. It feels... Cheap...

[Sevorin]

Art is subjective.

I absolutely love the new Candy. Waaaay better than the old candy. Not so much a fan of the new Vicks, myself, but they aren't bad. I love the new Ronin, however. At one point I didn't like the new Seamus, but he's growing on me; I like it now.

And it isn't Seamus that's doing the luring into the alleys.

[Iron Heel]

To each their own I guess.

I like the style although I find it a little humorous that everyone has a "fresh from the salon" look.

I'm curious...what is "cheap" about it for you that didn't exist before?

[zFiend]

I like some of them, don't like some at all. But then again at this point I like that you can pick the older ones you like and then see what to get in the future.

[Mike3838]

Art is subjective.

And in the case of M2E, we often see what we want to see. I've found that people's mental pictures of what Malifaux characters "should" look like are often out of step with the original art in the first place. The number of people complaining about M2E Gremlins having no noses is astounding, considering that's the look they started off with...

Case in point would be Lilith.

I happened to open it up the first time and saw some sort of garish eye-shadow lilith staring back at me. I was VERY disappointed.

If you check out the original Lilith art, she's *always* gone for heavy eyeshadow, so complaining about it now seems a bit odd:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lillith.jpg

http://www.malifaux.com/Images/Lilith.png

If we discount the first picture as being an early anomaly (most of that original box art is pretty dire), then in my opinion, M2E Lilith is actually a bit *more* stylish and a bit *less* garish than the "alt" art from a couple of years ago. Obviously YMMV

[PierceSternum]

Let me be clearer than I appear to have been.

I am not talking about hating the conceptual art-direction.

I am on the fence about it looking like mad max meets sucker punch. But I knew that going in.

What I dislike is the EXECUTION. I think that it looks mostly poorly done. Style preferences are certainly subjective, but I showed shots of it to a friend that is a professional illustrator and he said it looks bad to him as well.

I did not expect it to distract me as it did.

---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 PM ----------

If you check out the original Lilith art, she's *always* gone for heavy eyeshadow, so complaining about it now seems a bit odd:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Lillith.jpg

http://www.malifaux.com/Images/Lilith.png

I think those look good in their own ways. (Although I was never as much a fan of the alt as the original)

I do not care if lilith wears tons of eye makeup. I DO care that the new artwork makes her look like she has the makeup skill of a 12 year old trying to look like a goth.

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 PM ----------

On the "art is subjective" front...

Who likes Perdita's new art? I noticed a distinct lack of mention of her in the defenses of the art.

Edited September 2, 2013 by PierceSternum
Removed reference to some high school aged artists I know because it was a distraction.

[Squirrelfreak]

Well like it's been said before, pictures and art are subjective. I don't have the book, so I can't really give my opinion (yet). What I've seen on twitter and jpeg files though, everything looked quite nicely done.

Seems like a bit harsh to say that high schoolers could do a better job.

[Nathan Caroland]

Let me be clearer than I appear to have been.

I am not talking about hating the conceptual art-direction.

I am on the fence about it looking like mad max meets sucker punch. But I knew that going in.

What I dislike is the EXECUTION. I think that it looks mostly poorly done. Style preferences are certainly subjective, but I know many high schooler's that can draw and color better than much of what I see in the book and I showed shots of it to a friend that is a professional illustrator and he said it looks bad to him as well.

I did not expect it to distract me as it did.

---------- Post added at 12:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 PM ----------

I think those look good in their own ways. (Although I was never as much a fan of the alt as the original)

I do not care if lilith wears tons of eye makeup. I DO care that the new artwork makes her look like she has the makeup skill of a 12 year old trying to look like a goth.

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:48 PM ----------

On the "art is subjective" front...

Who likes Perdita's new art? I noticed a distinct lack of mention of her in the defenses of the art.

I'm going to toss the flag on this one and flat out say - if you know fellas that can do better in highschool as well as your friend that is a professional illustrator, then by all means, have them contact me and we'll see about getting them some work.

Besides, being in highschool, ought to be damn sight cheaper.

[Mike3838]

I prefer new Perdita art to 2/3 of the previous Perdita arts.

Original box cover was awful. Alt art was nice execution but awful pose. First M2E art (that was retracted) was a step up, and better captured her personality (for me) than the new one.

That's not counting her original model as one of the pieces of artwork, which of course trumps all.

[LordZombie]

Cover looks great and I like a rulebook with a little heft.

I do not share the hate for the format and layout of the book. It seems decently organized to me.

Basically, for playing the game, I find it to be very functional, which is its most important purpose for the game. (I found the first book for M1E to be VERY difficult to navigate to find different things)

Now comes my dislike.

I *HATE* most of the art in the book. I happened to open it up the first time and saw some sort of garish eye-shadow lilith staring back at me. I was VERY disappointed. I flip the page and Candy looks as bad or worse to me.

I am on the fence about the new sort of suckerpunch/punk/anime aesthetics that the game seems to be taking universally, but the execution of the actual art I just find bad. (With a few exceptions)

Seamus's face...

How would he EVER lure someone into an alley with him EVER.

And Perdita's picture makes me outright angry. I would rather there was white-space there. She looks HORRIBLE.

The aesthetics are what drew me to the game. Most of this art would not have done so. It feels... Cheap...

I would not be so harsh with my words, but overall I agree with you on the art. The over all tone of Malifaux has changed with the art, but the stories have not. If I were a totally new player looking at this game, I would most likely pass on it. And the models are going to look just like the art, so that doesn't help at all. That being said, that is my only one complaint about m2e.

[Sevorin]

In request about Perdita... I liked the first M2E pic of Perdita over the 2nd. I seem to recall a lot of hate for that pic for some reason, and I think it may have been the cause to change it to the current one.

[Jonas Albrecht]

On the "art is subjective" front...

Who likes Perdita's new art? I noticed a distinct lack of mention of her in the defenses of the art.

Compared to the alternatives...

http://i.imgur.com/FbSFWyQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/FGe7jvt.png

http://i.imgur.com/doqYCgu.jpg

...Yes. It's got the tone of her down, even if it's a bit underwhelming technically. All in All, even if my stance that There's No Good Perdita Ortega Art remains true, it's nice to see that "killer badass" Perdita made it to the book instead of "flirty gunbabe" Perdita.

[Grim]

Art is indeed subjective, and I subjectively dislike the new art direction. It seems one note (the fact that majority of the denizens have suddenly taken to dyeing their hair black contributes to this perception).

[Helm]

I'd agree with regards to the one-note nature of the art. I'd go a step further and argue that the female leaders we've seen are quite poorly represented in model form, but that's a topic for a longer post.

The new art also seems to take itself pretty seriously, especially in comparison to the 1st ed models. To my mind, this has two negative effects; it makes the emo makeup harder to take seriously, and it takes away from 1st ed's innate humour.

I do have the Hired Swords box, and the models look very stylish. I also appreciate that I don't have to paint on the aforementioned makeup, and that swordvik wears more clothes these days. However, my faith in the artist overall is at a pretty low ebb; not in a technical sense, but in his ability to represent the humans of Malifaux in his work.

[edonil]

So, I guess I'm going to be the voice of dissent and say that I really like all of the new art. I like the new direction of it, I like the changes to the way each of the Masters especially look. I especially like the transition from the art to the models. As I said elsewhere, I didn't like Viktoria of Blood's artwork, but when I saw the model, I liked it a lot better. Some of the new units, like the Monk of Low River, are my favorite bits of art in the game now.

[Mako]

So, I guess I'm going to be the voice of dissent and say that I really like all of the new art. I like the new direction of it, I like the changes to the way each of the Masters especially look. I especially like the transition from the art to the models. As I said elsewhere, I didn't like Viktoria of Blood's artwork, but when I saw the model, I liked it a lot better. Some of the new units, like the Monk of Low River, are my favorite bits of art in the game now.

Same. This book has some of my favourite art in it. Some of the pieces are just ok, but they're still typically ones I like better than the old stuff.

[FearLord]

I'm also a fan of the new art style. Some of the individual pieces don't really wow me, but some are great and most are superior to their original art... Some of the book 1 art especially was extremely poor in my opinion, and I'm pleased to see a more interesting take on certain characters as well as a consistent approach to the art for the whole game.

[rancor709]

I really like the new models, however I haven't always liked the m2e art. I'm no artist nor do I claim to be. But I really disliked the art for seamus then I saw the new plastic for him and yeah it sold me on the model. If I had just gone by the art I would never have gotten him. Again art is subjective and a base level personal. Now on the reserve I enjoy the neverborn aestic in m2e than I did in 1.5. And I like the Viks and most of the art direction for the outcasts in both editions.

If its distracting for some I can appreciate that one of things that kept me out of Warmachine for a long time is I loved the look of the jacks but hated the look of the infantry of most factions.

So over all the art if some big hits, some huge misses and some indifferents for me, which is pretty much how I was last edition. Your mileage may vary and that's the great thing about art, its personal.

[Rathnard]

There's actually only one piece of art that I really don't like (Hanged) and a few others that I'm somewhat neutral about. Other than that, I really like the majority of art in the M2E book.

Regarding Perdita - her new art is my favorite version of her thus far. I still think 'Ditas original sculpt is her best, but if the new plastic sculpt works out to be as good as her art, I think we'll have a real competitor for Perdita's best sculpt.

Edit - for the record, I didn't initially like Seamus's art at first either. But after seeing a full-body pic and seeing his actual sculpt, Seamus has definitely grown on me. I still prefer the alt sculpt though - Evil Dead Seamus is hard to top.

[hackdZ]

I'm actually enjoying the new art direction Wyrd are taking with M2E.

I think most of the characters artwork (I haven't seen all of it yet, just what's been spoiled on-line) makes them look more...dynamic? (not sure if this is the right word) The art from 1.5 always struck me as very static, just like the models themselves, it was hard for me to imagine how the characters would move just by looking at the art.

For example: Did Lilith move like a woman on a misson, strong & with purpose? Or did she move like a sultry fire-cracker, effortlessly hefting her greatsword like a parasol? Those were the sort of questions I asked myself, and without the background Fluff it would have been impossible.

I always enjoyed the art of Malifaux, but I think that had more to do with the setting than anything else. Who doesn't love demon cowboys!

That said, the new artwork looks amazing in my opinion, and I'm really enjoying the new direction Wyrd have taken. The characters look so much more "Alive".

/2c

[PierceSternum]

I definitely like the sculpts for many of the models more than their representative art.

In the sculpts is where I find my perspective more specific to personal preference of the art direction, but I can appreciate that they are cool looking even if I may not have liked some of the directions.

If I were to sum it up, I'd say that the new sculpts seem well-done, but some of them are just are not my style.

The art in the book for me is different.

There are pictures I like and think are well done. (LadyJ)

There are pictures I do not like stylistically, but think are well done. (Sonnia and Death Marshalls)

Then there are the others.

Edited September 3, 2013 by PierceSternum

[Helm]

I'm actually enjoying the new art direction Wyrd are taking with M2E.

I think most of the characters artwork (I haven't seen all of it yet, just what's been spoiled on-line) makes them look more...dynamic? (not sure if this is the right word) The art from 1.5 always struck me as very static, just like the models themselves, it was hard for me to imagine how the characters would move just by looking at the art.

For example: Did Lilith move like a woman on a misson, strong & with purpose? Or did she move like a sultry fire-cracker, effortlessly hefting her greatsword like a parasol? Those were the sort of questions I asked myself, and without the background Fluff it would have been impossible.

I always enjoyed the art of Malifaux, but I think that had more to do with the setting than anything else. Who doesn't love demon cowboys!

That said, the new artwork looks amazing in my opinion, and I'm really enjoying the new direction Wyrd have taken. The characters look so much more "Alive".

/2c

Taking the Lilith example, I'd argue that this isn't always the case. Original Lilith was static, standing in a strong position, but the hand playing with hair and the dominatrix outfit suggested a sultry personality and movement. There was authority in the pose along with the obvious sexual nature of the model.

New Lilith has more clothes on, and the sexuality seems to have moved to the pose itself, but it's at the cost of the authority. Take a look at the feet; she's not stable any more. The sword; that pose is useful for blocking and that's about it. She looks like she's posing for a photoshoot, or maybe stretched between two invisible hands. I'm worried that someone with no experience of Lilith 1.0 won't be be to pick up on her leadership and authority.

New Justice is in a similar nonsensical pose. I could push Misaki over with my hand, she's completely in midair. A new player looking at these models could well think 'Enforcer' and move on.

Tl,dr; dynamism in a pose can be great, but it robs some of these Master models of their previous authority.

[doubledragon]

ART IS SUBJECTIVE!!! Artwork will never please everybody. If you're one of those people who doesn't like the new art direction, too bad! Whining about it is not going to convince Wyrd to change it.

I REALLY REALLY like the new art direction.

For the most part, all of the art is very well executed. I am an illustrator by profession, and coming from a professional opinion, it seems to me that one person has done all the new art. Which is great, because you want the art to be consistent. And for the amount of illustrations at the high standard that this person has done in such a short time - WELL DONE!

For those people who are saying the new art direction has a "suckerpunch" feel to it, I have to disagree. The only crew that has that feel is the new Viks. If you don't like it, play another crew!

Again, WELL DONE to the illustrator! Ignore the haters.

[Jonas Albrecht]

What a perfect example of why I didn't put my review here.

[Ausplosions]

ART IS SUBJECTIVE!!! Artwork will never please everybody. If you're one of those people who doesn't like the new art direction, too bad! Whining about it is not going to convince Wyrd to change it.

I REALLY REALLY like the new art direction.

For the most part, all of the art is very well executed. I am an illustrator by profession, and coming from a professional opinion, it seems to me that one person has done all the new art. Which is great, because you want the art to be consistent. And for the amount of illustrations at the high standard that this person has done in such a short time - WELL DONE!

For those people who are saying the new art direction has a "suckerpunch" feel to it, I have to disagree. The only crew that has that feel is the new Viks. If you don't like it, play another crew!

Again, WELL DONE to the illustrator! Ignore the haters.

So art is subjective, but only someone with the same subjectivity as you should be heard?

Well done to the illustrators, ignore the hater haters.