alpharius/what happened to Rob MacFarlane

[Petitioner's City]

Hi all, some of you were mentioning Rob MacFarlane had left Forge World - I tried to google this and didn't have much  success. Can anyone tell what happened or point me to something about it online? Best, Alex 

[Indefragable]

Ditto.

[Mango Polo]

Bananabolterwolfgate happened. Whether that is the cause (small vocal group going rabble rabble RABBLE) of him leaving or not I don't know, but certainly isn't how someone who's made some of the best models of the range should have been treated.

[1ncarnadine]

He may have been harassed by Fans (capital F) to the point that he left his position at Forge World.

 

He left the company in January, before the Weekender and the release of the Varagyr and Grey Slayers. But the Varagyr had been fully previewed at that point, and the Space Wolves Praetor had been released first week of January and immediately taken back down off the webstore after the initial response. It got worse after the Weekender, so at least he missed that.

[StruManChu]

Bananabolterwolfgate happened. Whether that is the cause (small vocal group going rabble rabble RABBLE) of him leaving or not I don't know, but certainly isn't how someone who's made some of the best models of the range should have been treated.

 

 

I've only heard rumours, but ^^ That.

 

The word going round the wider community was that the person responsible for Space Wolf Praetor and Varagyr models had left Forgeworld as a result of the backlash the models received. Many assumed this was the sculptor, but I've also read somewhere (I'll try and find the link) that it was one of the QC guys that went, rather than the sculptor.

 

If it was indeed Rob who fell on his sword then that's a huge shame, because his other stuff is really, really good. Rules aside, the Vorax models are some of the best in the Mechanicum range. It's also a shame because that likely means that the Deathsworn and Hvarl Red-Blade models will also be delayed by some distance, as Rob was the one who originally confirmed those. It's also a shame because that's a truly awful way to end your career (potentially) with the industry's leading company.  

 

[m_r_parker]

I don't think there's an official story as to exactly what happened - the only thing we can confirm is that on his facebook page there was an entry on 1st January this year that he is no longer working for Games Workshop.

 

However, the prevailing theory is that he endured quite a lot of vitriol from the online 30k / HH community regarding his sculpts on the Space Wolf Varyagar Terminators, Praetor and Great Slayer kits. There where some elements of the designs that were not taken well, and there were other elements that just did not obey the laws of physics. In particular:

• On the Praetor and some of the Varaygar there were no visible grips on the combi-bolters. In particular for the Praetor the model resembled a fist that was held up with a bolter placed on top, no visible grip, no index finger through a trigger, and no logical space for the grip to exist in in the models fist. The Praetor was resculpted to address this, but I think the Terminators still have this in places.
• The sculpting of the fur on cloaks and pelts was not done as finely as many would have liked. Some people have commented that it looked matted like dreadlocks, others making a call that they resembled the size and shape of bananas. Regardless, they did not look good.
• The bolters of the Great Slayers had a dubious design call that made them look like the front portion of the weapon was upside-down, with what is commonly considered the iron-sight residing underneath the weapon. FW confirmed that this was the intended design, and those elements are not considered to be used for iron-sight aiming - but if you look at closeups of the weapon, and hold your hand over the rear of the weapon - it very much looks like an upside-down bolt gun. 

This isn't to say he's a bad sculptor. He was with the company for a long time and up until last year he was one of the most experienced sculptors still working the Heresy range (with a large proportion being distributed across the Specialist Games ranges), and has done some great work. It's difficult to tell from recent years who has done what without actually speaking to the guys direct, but as an example of one of the best sculpts he's done is Archmagos Draykavac which in my eyes is still one of the best pieces in the FW range.

 

I will re-iterate that nobody here knows the full story, and the reason why he left the company could be completely unrelated. He may have decided to set up his own shop, he may have decided to make a full career change, heck there could be any number of reasons as to why he left. But there was a massive backlash towards the Space Wolf upgrades that he bore the brunt of. It didn't help matters that they were held back nearly a year after Inferno was released, pretty much after the 1k Sons and Custode ranges got filled out, so a lot of players were left in a "If I have to wait this long they better amazing" mindset. Then they got drip fed across a number of events in very small numbers, such as the FW Open Day last year where there was a single Terminator there instead of the whole unit, and Tony Cottrell showing off the same single miniature on Warhammer TV.  The initial responses weren't great, and I think when they weren't coming up in previews there was hope that the direction of the models was going to change, which it wasn't, which I think left a lot of Space Wolf players feeling like they were 1) not being listened to, and 2) being relegated to the bottom of the pile in terms of model priority. 

 

The funny thing is, whilst writing this I've remembered that there are other SW units that Rob was making that we haven't seen anything from. When I spoke to him last year at the Open Day he mentioned that he had either completed or was working on the Deathsworn and that he was happy with the way they were looking. I seem to recall that one of the models was throwing an explosive much like a discus thrower. He also mentioned that there was also going to be another another Power Armoured Praetor which was possibly going to be one of the named characters out of Inferno. We might still see these, seeing as we're still seeing work of his being released.

 

This isn't to say that this is primarily the fault of Space Wolf players, and I don't want people piling in saying that I'm incorrectly blaming all Space Wolf players for the actions of a minority, or that it wasn't wholly within the Space Wolf player community either. However, a lot of the backlash was around the models for the 30k Space Wolf range rather than any other elements of his work.

 

Equally It's not entirely Rob's fault that these models ended up like this - there is only a single individual within FW who can operate with minimal oversight (Simon Eagan), and everyone else has to have their designs assessed and approved along the way. No doubt these were OK'd at a concept level, followed by the early design level, and then finally at the Pre-Production runs before the models get passed along to the team who manage the moulds and dividing up the models for casting. Anecdotally he mentioned to me previously that he was the designer for the 6 sets of Legion Cataphractii shoulder pads that were released, as there were another 12 Legion sets that he had produced which had been side-lined because Tony Cottrell didn't approve of their aesthetic. Somewhere along the way these models were either rubber-stamped as being good enough to move along to the next stage as they were, or maybe there were conditions around rework that were never completed. 

 

Ultimately we'll never know the full story as to what went on, and we can only speculate on what we've seen. He's done some amazing work during his tenure, and if it is indeed Rob that did Alpharius then in my eyes he did a stand-out job that comes close to Simon Eagan level of quality. 

[Gorgoff]

Or maybe he found a better job.

[depthcharge12]

Or maybe he found a better job.

This could be entirely the case. While I enjoyed some of his stuff, those space wolf sculpts were...let’s just let that one go.

 

Though would you really want a developer/co worker that can’t handle criticism if it was the other case? And I also agree to the people who said QC was also to blame on that one.

[m_r_parker]

 

Though would you really want a developer/co worker that can’t handle criticism if it was the other case? 

 

Having seen some of the 'feedback' on various online forums, I wouldn't call a lot of it 'criticism'. There are those of us who will turn around and say that we don't like the appearance of the boltguns and they appear to be upside down, or that the fur pelts needed to be less clumpy - however there were a lot of people who were taking it far too personally.

Far too many people were reading far too much into things and were specifically calling him out as having an anti-Space Wolf agenda, and ForgeWorld as a whole also having similar viewpoints. A number of people were out-right saying that he had no skill and shouldn't be employed by Games Workshop at all. I've seen players who have cited these models as the very reason that they quit playing 30k and buying from FW ever again, and I've even seen a couple of cases of people actually threatening violence against him should they ever meet. Not to mention the numerous "I could have done a lot better" and more insulting versions.

 

I suspect he's probably perfectly ok with criticism, even if it isn't constructive, provided it's been given by someone who's speaking somewhat respectfully. I don't think anyone can ever be ok with criticism from large sections of a community who only seem intent on taking a massive   on you and your work for half a year. Especially with the ForgeWorld guys over the main design studio. The ForgeWorld guys generally have a bit more leeway over the work they want to do, versus what the higher-ups want to support, so a decent portion of the time they're actively working on projects that they're engaged in and want to do - so when a largely negative reaction comes back it probably hurts more than something you didn't want to do or had too much of a say in. 

[Lucerne]

I'll be honest- someone's head needed to roll over the awful newer models. The only pity will be if the wrong person got axed over it.

[Marshal Rohr]

I'll be honest- someone's head needed to roll over the awful newer models. The only pity will be if the wrong person got axed over it.

That’s the stupidest :cuss thing anyone could possibly believe. How many professional miniatures sculptors are there in the whole world? Not many. Less than a hundred at most. They all float between companies. In the next ten years everything will be done in CAD and all the sculptors will be gone. You don’t punish a master violin maker because he :cuss up a guitar. The guy made excellent Mechanicum models and now we will never get anything like them again because he’s gotta go find work? This isn’t a video game, with a dime a dozen wannabes waiting for their shot. You can’t fire people and demand resignations in such a niche community.

[Gorgoff]

 

I'll be honest- someone's head needed to roll over the awful newer models. The only pity will be if the wrong person got axed over it.

That’s the stupidest :cuss thing anyone could possibly believe. How many professional miniatures sculptors are there in the whole world? Not many. Less than a hundred at most. They all float between companies. In the next ten years everything will be done in CAD and all the sculptors will be gone. You don’t punish a master violin maker because he :cuss up a guitar. The guy made excellent Mechanicum models and now we will never get anything like them again because he’s gotta go find work? This isn’t a video game, with a dime a dozen wannabes waiting for their shot. You can’t fire people and demand resignations in such a niche community.

Easy, buddy, easy.

You don't now why he left FW.

[Marshal Rohr]

I know, that's why I'm saying believing heads should roll over a miniature release is not equivalent to a video game sucking or a smart phone not working right. When the 'community' gets up in arms and tries to take down a miniatures sculptor they could more productively use that energy to slam a hammer into their models, because they are essentially damning the game to a slow death as no one wants the hassle of dealing with the fans for the pittance salaries creatives in the miniatures industry makes. 

[Lucerne]

 

I'll be honest- someone's head needed to roll over the awful newer models. The only pity will be if the wrong person got axed over it.

That’s the stupidest thing anyone could possibly believe. How many professional miniatures sculptors are there in the whole world? Not many. Less than a hundred at most. They all float between companies. In the next ten years everything will be done in CAD and all the sculptors will be gone. You don’t punish a master violin maker because he up a guitar. The guy made excellent Mechanicum models and now we will never get anything like them again because he’s gotta go find work? This isn’t a video game, with a dime a dozen wannabes waiting for their shot. You can’t fire people and demand resignations in such a niche community.

 

If "hand crafting" means turning out those wolf pelts, then bring on the tide of progress and the CAD. Personally, I seriously hope the person responsible for the Angelos sculpt is no longer with FW and has moved to a different line of work, regardless of this drama.

 

It's all very well to call for artistic merit and loving craftsmanship, but there was obviously a failure at some point in that process. The only question was if this was actually the point to cast the blame- and citing a small pool of candidates as a reason to accept horrible sculpts is self-evidently absurd.

 

If the "master violin" studio churns out defective violins that can't carry a tune, they deserve to be raked over the coals for it- or replaced by newer methods of making violins.

[Marshal Rohr]

Again, you’re missing the point. His Mech work was great. He got tasked to do wolves because they’re already hemmoraghing sculptors. Losing any sculptor is setting them back massively. If you think CAD is the answer you only need to look at the horror that is the Valdor model

[Lucerne]

Again, you’re missing the point. His Mech work was great. He got tasked to do wolves because they’re already hemmoraghing sculptors. Losing any sculptor is setting them back massively. If you think CAD is the answer you only need to look at the horror that is the Valdor model

Then they need to get burned for models that don't work until they figure out how to get it right again.

 

The point begins and ends at "something needed to be done about the FW design and vetting process after Wolves". Anything else is details- your issue seems to be with complaining at all, which I disagree with in the strongest possible terms and arguably is how we got into this mess. There were plenty of disasters before shoddy sculpts crept from limited issue models into the core releases.

[Lucerne]

In any event...

 

 

 

 

 

• I really want to know who did the sculpt. My gut from the final product says it's Simon Eagan, especially when he's done the vast majority of the Primarch models. My only hesitation is that there's a lot of scale work on that model, and it looks very uniform. Simon sculpts by hand and doesn't use the CAD programs the rest of the studio use, so either he's done the miniature including all the scale work by hand, or this is somebody else's work. If it is by someone else, then I would very much like to shake that person by the hand and buy them a drink, because it's beautiful work.

It was Rob McFarlane. It's a shame he was bullied by community and left studio...

 

 

He left the studio in January, before the Varagyr were released and the fans started responding. Not sure why he left...

 

 

 

[Soldier of Dorn]

Easy, brothers. I can feel meltas charging and it wouldn't do well to be caught in the line of fire.

 

It is a pity that he left. Great sculptor despite his missteps.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

Again, you’re missing the point. His Mech work was great. He got tasked to do wolves because they’re already hemmoraghing sculptors. Losing any sculptor is setting them back massively. If you think CAD is the answer you only need to look at the horror that is the Valdor model

Then they need to get burned for models that don't work until they figure out how to get it right again.

 

The point begins and ends at "something needed to be done about the FW design and vetting process after Wolves". Anything else is details- your issue seems to be with complaining at all, which I disagree with in the strongest possible terms and arguably is how we got into this mess. There were plenty of disasters before shoddy sculpts crept from limited issue models into the core releases.

 

 

Well, see here I agree with you (except the part about getting burned). I think the Varangyr were not strong sculpts, but they weren't bad sculpts. I think that is a subtle, but important, distinction that needs to be made. Take for example, the Sons of Horus Command Figures set. They are great looking, but out of scale with everything - to include the already small Mark IV resin kits. I think instead of calling for heads to roll, if the same energy had been put into constructive feedback the way people did after the Mark 4 models, we could see an improvement. 

[Lucerne]

 

 

Again, you’re missing the point. His Mech work was great. He got tasked to do wolves because they’re already hemmoraghing sculptors. Losing any sculptor is setting them back massively. If you think CAD is the answer you only need to look at the horror that is the Valdor model

Then they need to get burned for models that don't work until they figure out how to get it right again.

 

The point begins and ends at "something needed to be done about the FW design and vetting process after Wolves". Anything else is details- your issue seems to be with complaining at all, which I disagree with in the strongest possible terms and arguably is how we got into this mess. There were plenty of disasters before shoddy sculpts crept from limited issue models into the core releases.

 

 

Well, see here I agree with you (except the part about getting burned). I think the Varangyr were not strong sculpts, but they weren't bad sculpts. I think that is a subtle, but important, distinction that needs to be made. Take for example, the Sons of Horus Command Figures set. They are great looking, but out of scale with everything - to include the already small Mark IV resin kits. I think instead of calling for heads to roll, if the same energy had been put into constructive feedback the way people did after the Mark 4 models, we could see an improvement. 

 

People did point out the bolter handles, but frankly, that alone was a black eye for a studio whose whole brand is based on selling higher quality, higher detail models in a more fiddly material.

 

Sorry, but the Varangyr were actively mediocre. The likes of Angelos, though? That sculpt quality is actively insulting to its intended fanbase- just look at how it fails on everything from scale to design, to even the details compared to random third party models or even greenstuffing a plastic terminator kitbash- and you can tell it was probably done by the same person who did other "greatest hits" like the Primus medicae. For sculpts like Angelos- and I suspect Space Wolf players feel the same way about their recent releases- I honestly would have rather had nothing at all than what they were selling, because a bad model effectively prevents a proper release at some point from FW- or GW- down the line.

 

SoH command sculpt may have had scale issues, but that was easy to overlook because the designs were good. That didn't apply to a lot of the recent black eyes for FW.

[Skaorn]

If people don't like models then the ultimate thing that will tell is the money they actually get from selling the models.  Going after a sculptor, saying you want them fired, will not produce anything constructive.  Say you don't like something on the other hand is fine.  For instance, Alpharius's nose (particularly that it glows red in the photos) bothers me.  I don't think I would bother buying this model but the fact that others seem to love it so it might be a successful model.  I definitely wouldn't go after the sculptor for it.

[Marshal Rohr]

I think most of the issues with the studio products are because of staffing issues (and, frankly, inept demands from GW main). They're asking too much from the wrong people, and not using the right tools for the right jobs. They seem to be going with a 'whoever is free' way to divide the jobs instead of focusing on the talents of each sculptor, and you can't run a creative enterprise like that. Other jobs don't function that way, and because this is such a niche market, we need to encourage Forge World to be better about utilizing their employees and less focused on just getting it done. 

[Lucerne]

Speculation about what specifically- or what combinations of factors- is fine, but at the end of the day, the message needs to be "this is not okay, change it now", and grumbling about inept sculpting communicate that quite clearly while a simple boycott wouldn't lead a company infamous for being hidebound to make changes in any relevant timeframe.

[carlisimo]

If the story is true, I feel terrible for the guy. Miniature design is more of a team effort than it looks, and a lot of the criticism was too personally directed and rather over-the-top.

 

Generally speaking though, we should be critical when we don't like a release. It's then up to FW and GW to figure out what went wrong and how their process needs to be adjusted.

 

My guess is that they got stretched thin between losing Alan Bligh, shifting to 8th ed. 40k, and (mostly, for the sculptors) taking on Specialist Games, and tried to release Space Wolves sculpts that were 90% done. Adding hilts and grips after the studio photos were taken got them another couple of percent. (I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to paint and post models that weren't the final version, due to scheduling.) But they never had time to add more detail to the fur or take a second look at those leg proportions. Maybe they ran out of time to add little details to the bolt pistols, so they rotated the front sections as a quick differentiator that they hoped people would like.

 

In this case, half the problem was that the color plates in Inferno presented a different aesthetic from what the miniatures team had in mind. Not just FW's miniatures team - Geigor in the Burning of Prospero box was reportedly done by the main GW studio, and he's sculpted and painted a lot like FW's Space Wolves. It's Inferno that stands out... but it's Inferno that a lot of people wanted. Then there was the long wait, and FW's usual high pricing.

[Fenbain]

Take with salt:

 

I was told that Rob didn't leave Forgeworld directly because of the criticism/negative feedback/abuse, but instead because he was forced to release models he wasn't happy with. Apparently whoever is in charge of the overall release schedule at FW (I was told Tony Cottrell, but I don't know much about the inner workings of FW) pressured Rob to release the Varagyr/Praetor in order to fill a gap in the schedule, despite him saying they weren't ready/he wasn't happy with them. This was compounded by the subsequent community backlash and caused there to be more bad blood than there might otherwise have been.

 

This is what I was told but as I didn't hear it myself, I don't know how true it actually is.