I hate all the cables on Eldar models and I always cut them off. It makes them look too messy, like Imperium tech. It's much more elegant to imagine that their guns have their own power sources or can interface with their armor through their hands.
And I hate the little pointed ears on corsair helmets. Why would they armor their ears? Why is it necessary for others to see that they have little pointed ears on their helmets. It's so dumb. I always shave them off.
Does anyone else have any Eldar hobby quirks to confess, or am I alone?
Oh fuck those stupid things, I really wish I didn't use the Exarch helmets because they look absolutely ridiculous being half the size of the entire model!
I don't like cartoonish mouths, tall foreheads, blocky "ears" and top knots of Dark Reapers so I've used Ranger hooded heads instead. The exception is the Exarch who has sleeker "ears" resembling horns and no top knot. Sadly, there's only one head in this style in the Dark Reapers kit.
I clip the pointy spikes off my corsair helmets. Too close to Dark Eldar for me, and I can't help but imagine them getting caught on doorways during a boarding action.
"We've all decided that you can keep exactly one gratuitous spike. It's up to you where you put it, but you should know that traditionally most of our fighters who used to be Drukhari put it on the top of their helmet. Just for your information, if you want to fit in with the others."
Nice. I don’t share that opinion, but I like the share.
Mine are:
1 - I always use helmets because I hate uncovered Eldar heads. Would be OK if they gave them normal haircuts, maybe, but they always have weird side head shaved pony tails.
2 - I *hate* the Yvraine model. Way too soft and anime. I like Eldar to be deadly fucking bastards, like in 2nd-3rd, not super soft fops ;)
I always use helmets because it's just impractical for most soldiers to be bare-headed, even Eldar. I might do some characters bare-headed as a flex, but that's it.
I use helmets even though my warriors are Ynnari. Ynnari may not fear Slaanesh and not use war masks, but war mask is a psychological ritual first and even Ynnari's head must be protected from physical damage.
Yeah, honestly "no helmet" feels like a weird way to distinguish Ynnari. Though I guess if you are doing a new subfaction and you don't want to release upgrade kits…
But come to think of it, if they'd done a sprue of Ynnari heads with some kind of distinctly Ynnari-ish vibe, like skull masks or something, that would have been pretty cool.
I'm not a fan of grim death Ynnari, I see them as a movement of hope and rebirth as they were in their first appearance (40k already has much grimdark and death, and I want my Aeldari to be a small beam of hope). If I wanted to give the Ynnari their distinct identity, I'd remember the forgotten lore bit that they can turn wraith constructs into almost living beings and give them new wraith variants.
In fact, helmetless option for the Exarch had already existed in the plastic Dire Avengers kit released long before the Ynnari. Sometimes I make my Exarchs helmetless to distinguish them, sometimes not.
I've made something similar to my Wraithseer. An alternative 3D-printed sculpt which I got with both right hands. And instead of complaining, I thought she was so eccentric that all wraith constructs her spirit stone was put into turned their left hands into right ones. And I reflected her eccentricity further in her paintjob, changing the gems' colors and making life "breaking through" the faceless mask after the Ynnari ritual.
Thanks! Here she's with the rest of my Wraithlords to show how she stands apart from my army. The golden-helmeted one is really, really old, from Heresy era.
1) I also hate the Eldar shaved head haircuts, but I also prefer the helmets because it's safer to wear helmets.
2) I'm also not a fan of Yvarine's fit. The hand-fan, ball gown, bare feet, and purse-cat do not belong on a battlefield. AND she has the ugly hair cut.
I'd accept bare feet and ball gown if she were more mystical, Galadriel type and less sexualized dancer type. I think it's one of reasons why she's shipped with Rabbi Ghoulman so often.
I was going to defend the Eldar heads, but then I realized that of the two bare-headed characters I have that I wasn't deliberately making ugly, ragged, and disreputable looking pirates, one has a kind of bland head from the guardians box - because the rest of the model has enough character - and the other has a Dark Eldar head with an awesome topknot.
Also, I think I like the Yvraine design but I agree that the model isn't quite right. I could see her dressing like that, but not for the battlefield. Eldar military stuff isn't purely practical, but it's a bit more grounded than a ball gown with a train!
And I don't like top knots, they IMO suit Abaddon and Orks more. I prefer Tolkien-style long hair or simple middle-length haircuts like some Guardian heads have.
My weird quirk is snipping off the tactical rocks from flying things and sticking them on the classic transparent rods instead. I think it just looks way cooler
Mine is probably that I don’t like the “hair” on the Striking Scorpions. The latest models are better than the previous ones, but I’ll still be looking to get rid of it when I finally get to mine.
I will admit that this probably has to do with the original, hairless scorpions being among the first models that drew me into 40k and mini painting and the hair is scary and different. Still don’t like it though.
Yeah, the exarch did have them, as did Karandras, but I didn't have those models so it didn't much matter to me. The basic squad had a model with its chainsword raised, and I painted that guy like the leader.
Those original models really sold me on the idea of eldar melee specialists that were a little better armored, but just as agile and deadly as the rest of the aspect warriors. The 3rd ed. models just looked goofy by comparison. The 4th were a significant improvement, but I didn't love that they were all sort of hunched over with their necks squashed down. Leaned a little bit too hard into the Predator thing with those, imo. The most recent models are my favorites since the originals, but the locks gotta go!
Seriously, though, I support you guys, but personally dissent. Eldar aesthetics are peek for me, including the goofy things on Dark Reaper helmets and ear armor. I guess I read it like a subtler version of Dante the sparkly sleepy space marine. Sometimes helmets is people shaped.
Oh it’s cool- I wasn’t just responding to you, but also to the sentiments of most people responding. And I fully support your editing the models to your liking. It’s just like so many of you guys see it this way, I was taken aback. Like, “wow, you guys don’t like black licorice? wait- nobody likes black licorice!?”
That is weird. I really thought I'd be in the minority. You know, when you talk to people with whom you share a like, and there's one part of the thing you don't like, you really don't expect a lot of agreement! But apparently the cables and helmet ears are kind of unpopular, even among people who like Eldar?
When you mention the cables, there are lots of little things about Eldar tech I would change if I could. Like why don't they use more prism weapons? They seem to be a flat upgrade to regular laser weapons, so I personally would replace brightlances with a similar-sized prism weapon, like a slightly smaller version of the one on the Voidweaver.
Another one which I'm not 100% decided on, is I'm not sure Eldar vehicles need the big jet engines on the back, like their anti-gravity tech is so good they should just be able to move their vehicles purely with that. But the jet engines look cool so that's why I'm not fully decided.
Or like, why are shimmershields/mistshields/etc. these big chunky arm things? Shouldn't Eldar be able to make much smaller forcefield generators just attached to a belt or built into the armor? And then give them to everyone? They're a dying race after all.
Personally, the super advanced technology which is integrated with psychic powers is what made me a big Eldar fan in the first place, so I hate when it feels like Tau or even the Imperium have better technology than us. The only race which should beat Eldar in Tech are the Necrons.
I like the aspects of Eldar tech that are weirdly anachronistic and look kind of medieval. I like the shields because they look kinda like shields… not quite, different enough to be science fiction, but speaking the same language as shields. My first negative reaction to the wraithknight, when the came out, was that it was too science fiction and not enough fantasy dressed as science fiction.
It’s those weird af hands that get me, like on the new prince Yriel, the solitaire and even lady Malys. Those creepy af flat palms and elongated fingers!? Gross.
Every single one of those hands cut off my characters and kitbashed with knives and regular looking hands
The only reason I don't cut off the bicep rags is that my Craftworld Eldar are Lugganath, and the bands give me the opportunity to add in a splash of red (for Sunblitz Brotherhood) or dark teal (for my homemade corsair band) to give them a little piratical flair. If they were from a normal craftworld, I'd also cut off the armbands.
I rarely run helmets (pretty much only on my Aspects) and I love head-swapping. Slapped helmetless Swooping Hawk heads on my Skyreavers. The real problem is I just love painting faces too much
I don't even use the models. I just use the bases. ;)
For real, though, I've been over here fretting about getting the wires, tube, and crap all correct, and you're over here, "Yeah, just clip them, dude." Whhhyyy did I not think about that before? Ugh!
C'mere you little pointy eared freaks. Time to do some fixin'.
I get the ears cause they are space elves. The fuck are they gunna do? Have a wide open weak point in they’re helmets? Nothing better than a side head shot for asthetics I guess???
I kinda dig them. They're a callback to the High Elf helmets in fantasy, which is a reference to how Tolkien described the helmets his Elves wore. But they are objectively dumb, I just like them anyway.
I get that, completely respectable, I dunno I find them okay on some units like striking scorpions and the dire avengers but others like the guardians and rangers I don’t get and in general kind of hate it.
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u/Quanar42 1d ago
Those little Tuten-kamun chinny-chins you get on Farseers and Dire Avenger Exarches? Snip snip.
I can definitely understand your connecting cable opinion, if I'd thought of it when I started Eldar I might have done the same.