New marilith/balor pictures

[Davelozzi]

The balor looks pretty good.

I don't like the marilith at all. I prefer the one on the cover of Necromancer Games' Demons and Devils.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I h ave more qualms with the Balor than the Marilith.

That loincloth on the balor totally throws me off. Big red gargoyled with flames!....but he's embarassed to show his wee-wee.....if Balors wore clothes, they should be the clothes crafted of the souls of innocents, not something they wrap themselves in like some Tarazan from Hell....

The Marilith is fine...but I have no idea why she's carring a spear that she can't even wield without dropping a weapon, really. I've got no qualms with the thinness, as it leads to a more exotic, foriegn, unhealthy, unnatural look to the creature, and her head does look more bestial, but who's to say that's a bad thing?

I actually like her better than the Marilith in the DMG, a lot. Definately more monster-ish.

So, yeah, explain the Balor's Loincloth to me, and why Marilith is weilding something she can't actually wield, and I'll be content.

 

[Gez]

The Balor of celtic myth is a Formorian wizard, eventually slain by the Demon-God Crom-Cruach. He doesn't bear much resemblance to the D&D Balor/Type VI demon. The D&D balor, however, resembles the Balrog in spades.

Balor's name was ripped for the "Balrog-like" demons because the name sounded close. Balor himself was then ripped for Gruumsh, the god of orcs, who has an evil cyclopean eye too, and wield a spear too, and is the divine leader of a whole race of rather monstrous and somewhat misshappen humanoids with great strength too.

The orc/elf antagonism similarly echoes the fomorian/tuatha de danaan one.

 

[Jeremy]

I don't like either for some reason. Neither evokes fear or awe or anything in me. They look like I'd expect poor quality animation to look (i.e. low detail, easy to produce quickly and easily).

 

[Richards]

Originally posted by JeffB:

{mild rant}I really don't understand why WOTC is trying SO HARD artistically to tear the classic images down..the images that were pioneered by D&D....That would be like Lucas re-doing Darth Vader "Yes, I know he USED to be all black, and had a big helmet, but now he's sorta-kinda blue, and has just a small helmet where you can actually see his eyes and face!.. Cool huh?"{end mild rant}

You should see what Marvel Comics is doing to Doctor Doom over in recent issues of Fantastic Four...

Johnathan

 

[kenjib]

I think I have a better grasp on why I dislike the Marilith now.

1. It used to be a very distinctive monster, a six armed woman with a snake's torso. It was very unique and the only monster that looked like that. Very memorable. Now it's just another random scaly/spiky creature like all the others. It no longer stands out or is distinctive in any way.

2. The tension between sex and repulsion in earlier versions of the Marilith was part of what made it so great. Making it now have almost no resemblance to a human ruins this completely.

In all, a cool old creature that used to have an exotic Indian Weird Tales era vibe is now just another generic creature along with destrachans, renders, ethereal filchers, and all the others that are supposed to be strange but end up all being "strange" in exactly the same way.

 

[Voadam]

Balor's name was ripped for the "Balrog-like" demons because the name sounded close. Balor himself was then ripped for Gruumsh, the god of orcs, who has an evil cyclopean eye too, and wield a spear too, and is the divine leader of a whole race of rather monstrous and somewhat misshappen humanoids with great strength too.

The orc/elf antagonism similarly echoes the fomorian/tuatha de danaan one.

Eh, I always thought of Gruumsh as a dumbed down Odin, another one eyed spear wielding pantheon leading war god.

Odin fought a war against the Vanir, from whom came Frey god of the elves.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I think I have a better grasp on why I dislike the Marilith now.

1. It used to be a very distinctive monster, a six armed woman with a snake's torso. It was very unique and the only monster that looked like that. Very memorable. Now it's just another random scaly/spiky creature like all the others. It no longer stands out or is distinctive in any way.

2. The tension between sex and repulsion in earlier versions of the Marilith was part of what made it so great. Making it now have almost no resemblance to a human ruins this completely.

In all, a cool old creature that used to have an exotic Indian Weird Tales era vibe is now just another generic creature along with destrachans, renders, ethereal filchers, and all the others that are supposed to be strange but end up all being "strange" in exactly the same way.

This post managed to perfectly sum up my feelings. Bravo!

I think the art director for the 3e books must have been a really skinny guy who had a lot of tats and piercings. Since that seems to pretty much sum up the art style to me.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Originally posted by JeffB:You should see what Marvel Comics is doing to Doctor Doom over in recent issues of Fantastic Four...

Johnathan

Beyond Walt Simonson's short run on FF it died after Byrne left. Anything after that should be looked at with horror and revulsion!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I guess I see this with the eye of a rising artist rather than that of a gamer. I love both of those pictures. Its a state of detail I find myself never able to get to, and seeing it just makes me want to keep trying harder. I don't really see them as "bad" or "wrong", I just see them as very very well drawn and colored. Maybe its a good thing I can't seem to get past that.