47 replies to this topic

[Nathan Foxbane]

Joseph Mallan, on 04 May 2015 - 05:29 AM, said:

Do sourcebooks trump TROs in canonicity?

It was the art of TRO 3025 that hooked me into this Universe. Most of the art in the original print of TRO3055 lacked. There were exceptions The Stone Rhino for one. But the 1992 art... No sir, my least favorite TRO art.

I think the answer is it depends. I am actually not sure whether CGL gives precedence to the 'Mechs description, the first official image, or most current official image of a particular variant (for only that variant) and what publications take primacy over others. Many source books other than some of the weird stuff like the Jihad Conspiricy Theories series are canon.

Normally I think primacy is given to minis. In the Wolfhound's case it does not help as the BP: 4th SW, Wolf's Dragoons Source Book are both WLF-1s.

[Bishop Steiner]

Joseph Mallan, on 04 May 2015 - 05:29 AM, said:

Do sourcebooks trump TROs in canonicity?

It was the art of TRO 3025 that hooked me into this Universe. Most of the art in the original print of TRO3055 lacked. There were exceptions The Stone Rhino for one. But the 1992 art... No sir, my least favorite TRO art.

For me, usually the first "official arts" are canon, regardless of Sourcebook or TRO. Imp, Shogun, etc all existed in sourebooks well before being in a TRO. That said, the WLF-1 existed in fiction fluff before any official arts were published. Not sure if Stackpole designed the WLF or not, but he had the "honor" of being the first to reveal it. And all subsequent fluff has stuck by that description. Just think it's a shame that no Btech artist has captured it. Was really thinking Alex would be the first.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 05 May 2015 - 01:53 PM.

[RoboPatton]

Alex Iglesias, on 01 May 2015 - 10:07 AM, said:

The cockpit glass will stay in the mouth area, but yeah, some pointy ears in the back, plus some other stuff on the head n body.

You better tell Russ to thank you... you may have just made another sale with that post.

[Bishop Steiner]

RoboPatton, on 05 May 2015 - 07:42 PM, said:

You better tell Russ to thank you... you may have just made another sale with that post.

have you looked at the updated sales page? It looks pretty hawt

[Brody319]

Bishop Steiner, on 01 May 2015 - 02:54 PM, said:

looks a bit more like a bat....tbh.

The batmech!

[Zoberraz]

The Resistance II page has had the concept art of the mechs updated to show off Resistance colors... and the planned geo for them.

I must say, I quite like how the Wolfhound turned out, after all.

[Burktross]

Zoberraz, on 01 May 2015 - 08:13 AM, said:

I'm thrilled to see the Wolfhound finally make it into Mechwarrior Online. It has been a favorite battlemech of mine since my teenage years. I eagerly went to look at the concept art and... well, I'll let the observation of someone from Reddit speak for me:



That last word resonated with me. The torso was perfect, but the head struck me as generic. And this cooled my ardor to buy it (and the rest of the pack) much more. I guess I am disappointed. I wanted a Wolfhound with a lupine-stylized head... not with a 20-ton Stinger's head.

I get how the TRO were inconsistent and showed off two different kinds of Wolfhound designs. One is... uninspired.


While the other made a better effort of sticking to the paper novel description of the Wolfhound.



The actual book description from Lethal Heritage describes the Wolfhound so:


Litterature beyond the two paragraphs above have not been shy of comparing the Wolfhound's look with the Egyptian God of Death, Anubis. I even saw a modded model trying to come closer to that:

Which looks nice, I guess, but takes the twin viewport/eyesocket theme too far - cockpit view then would be downright horrid.

So, I still think the best compromise was this design:

Ears, muzzle, a very functional cockpit.

A good amount of the hype surrounding the Wolfhound will come from older MWO players whom will have read the books and value the Wolfhound in the symbolism of an iconic hero mech. I'm shamelessly part of that group. I am quite surprised to see how the ball seems to have been dropped with the Wolfhound when such a fantastic job had been done with the Panther.

I would beg PGI to revise the head's aesthetics. Please try to give it the semblance of a muzzle and upthrust ears; otherwise it'll feel much less like a Wolfhound (at least less so to us bookworms). Thank you for your consideration.

OP, I agree with your last image, the TRO artwork.
But only if the ears move around according to newly acquired targets, just like my husky's ears do. if it doesnt, thats unrealistic and ill sue PGI.

Alex here is an image for reference. Notice the ears in the direction of focus.
/sarcasm

[Ratpoison]

No, the rounded head looks way too clan, not to mention cartoony. Alex's design looks much better and more like a mech built in the IS.

Following novel descriptions is a terrible mistake.