The MkVII marine - living its last life?

[SickSix]

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

 

Only to people that grew up with it.

 

Try to find current marketing material that features Mk VII.

[Robbienw]

 

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

 

Only to people that grew up with it.

 

Try to find current marketing material that features Mk VII.

No it’s far more than that, it is truly iconic. The mk7 image with the characteristic faceplate just says 40k by looking at it. Even people who aren’t into miniatures and warhammer know what it is and what it represents.

 

Marketing materials is a very broad term, but I’m sure you’ll still find classic marines in it.

 

Don’t feel upset that people still love and prefer classic marines, others are allowed to like things you don’t.

[Malakithe]

Ive been saying for a while now that GW has a 5-10 year release plan for Primaris. As more is released more old stuff will go to Legends. My thoughts were 'how will they balance a Primaris only line vs points/power cost?' As Primaris everything is magnitudes more expensive points wise, over time the overall points of SM armies would go up while actual model count would go lower...and then 9th was announced with points going up, rather then down, for every faction in the game. Ha ha..well played GW.

 

Its going to happen eventually once the are satisfied they have enough direct comparison or replacement units. Primaris will completely replace the entire SM line and all the old stuff will go to Legends.

[Medjugorje]

It will happen but MK7 is already over. There are just a few thins avaiable anymore. MK3 and MK4 is newer and (as I think) more often used.

[Elzender]

 

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

 

Only to people that grew up with it.

 

Try to find current marketing material that features Mk VII.

Well, the trailers and promotional images for the upcoming Blood Angels animated series featured firstborn marines, and I think it is set before the Gathering Storm events so all marines there will likely be firstborn.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Elzender

[BitsHammer]

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

I'd argue the helmets are, but the armour has always been a mix and match of things a bit too much for us to really see a proper "MkVII" suit instead of parts mixed in with other marks.

 

We're seeing more Crusader pattern helms, and we've gotten MkVI helms lately, so I could see the MkVII helms making a return as a kit standard over time.

[Robbienw]

 

 

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

I'd argue the helmets are, but the armour has always been a mix and match of things a bit too much for us to really see a proper "MkVII" suit instead of parts mixed in with other marks.

 

We're seeing more Crusader pattern helms, and we've gotten MkVI helms lately, so I could see the MkVII helms making a return as a kit standard over time.

The standard mark 7 suit, without other marks added in, is actually very clear and well represented in art and models. The helmet is the most prominent part of course, but the whole suit is iconic.

[BitsHammer]

 

 

 

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

I'd argue the helmets are, but the armour has always been a mix and match of things a bit too much for us to really see a proper "MkVII" suit instead of parts mixed in with other marks.

 

We're seeing more Crusader pattern helms, and we've gotten MkVI helms lately, so I could see the MkVII helms making a return as a kit standard over time.

The standard mark 7 suit, without other marks added in, is actually very clear and well represented in art and models. The helmet is the most prominent part of course, but the whole suit is iconic.

Except the suit is a mix of other Marks. Old GW standard was that, up until Cawl mass rolled out Mix, there were few complete marks of power armour of any kind, leading to MkVIIs with MkIV legs, or MkIV shoulder pads, ect.

 

And it's not like MkX is breaking from the mold like people claim. Its largely based on MkVIII, which is a more armoured MkVII, with a MkIV helmet standard.

 

Phobos is just Scout Carapace redone as power armour, and Gravis is a mass produced Terminator equiv since actual Terminator suits are so rare and hard to make. The rest is just mixing and matching those three variants to fit different combat roles.

[Robbienw]

It’s not a mix of marks at all. The mk 7 specific parts are well known. You can make a mix of marks from the current marine kits, but you can also make pure mark 7, and the look is well defined.

 

There is plenty of art and models of pure mark 7 in the GW canon over the years.

[Gederas]

The mk 7 space marine look is too iconic to go away.

Only to people that grew up with it.

 

Try to find current marketing material that features Mk VII.

Hmm...

 

 

(this one even has both Firstborn in several Marks of Power Armour and Primaris, side-by-side)

 

Those are just three examples

Edited June 22, 2020 by Gederas

[Master Commander Ajax]

They’re continuing Warhammer Fantasy with Warhammer the Old World. If that’s setting a precedent then surely there’s room for a Classic/Heresy Marine refresh? Set during the scourging where you could have the Chaos and loyalist sides using the same kits. Perhaps take the opportunity to ‘True Scale’ them? As time has gone on I’ve become more and more convinced that at some point we’ll see something like that happening.

[jaxom]

I'm pretty sure that should the old school marines get phased out of the rules then it'll a process of removing heavy and special weapons from squads and saying they're just short Primaris. The base sizes are the same. And who knows, maybe the Firstborn will be around for 20+ years with their current kits *looks at Eldar*.

[Volt]

It’s not a mix of marks at all. The mk 7 specific parts are well known. You can make a mix of marks from the current marine kits, but you can also make pure mark 7, and the look is well defined.

 

There is plenty of art and models of pure mark 7 in the GW canon over the years.

 

Only a couple models in the Tac Kit have full MK VII armor. Most have either MK VI greaves or MK VII cuirasses.

[Robbienw]

 

It’s not a mix of marks at all. The mk 7 specific parts are well known. You can make a mix of marks from the current marine kits, but you can also make pure mark 7, and the look is well defined.

 

There is plenty of art and models of pure mark 7 in the GW canon over the years.

 

Only a couple models in the Tac Kit have full MK VII armor. Most have either MK VI greaves or MK VII cuirasses.

 

 

 

That's wrong. 

 

You can make 5 full Mk7 marines from the tactical kit with no other Mk parts, and the majority of parts in the kit are Mk7.  

 

Lets take a look at the parts breakdown:

 

Helmets: 13  -  10 Mk7, 3 Mk6

 

Backpacks: 10  -  all Mk7

 

Shoulderpads:  22   -  20 Mk7, 2 Mk5/6 (Mk5 and 6 have the same shoulderpads)

 

Arms:  10 firing arm pairs, 5 individual arms for pistol/ccw, 2 missile launcher arms   -   all Mk7

 

Chestplates:  11 - 6 Mk7, 2 Mk6, 2 Mk5, 1 Mk8

 

Legs:  10  -  5 Mk7, 4 Mk6, 1 Mk4

 

 

Its actually not possible to make a full suit of non-mk7 from the tactical kit.  For example, your 'Full MKVI' marine there has Mk7 arms, a Mk7 backpack and a Mk5 chestplate.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Robbienw

[Volt]

 

 

It’s not a mix of marks at all. The mk 7 specific parts are well known. You can make a mix of marks from the current marine kits, but you can also make pure mark 7, and the look is well defined.

 

There is plenty of art and models of pure mark 7 in the GW canon over the years.

 

Only a couple models in the Tac Kit have full MK VII armor. Most have either MK VI greaves or MK VII cuirasses.

 

 

 

That's wrong. 

 

You can make 5 full Mk7 marines from the tactical kit with no other Mk parts, and the majority of parts in the kit are Mk7.  

 

Lets take a look at the parts breakdown:

 

Helmets: 13  -  10 Mk7, 3 Mk6

 

Backpacks: 10  -  all Mk7

 

Shoulderpads:  22   -  20 Mk7, 2 Mk5/6 (Mk5 and 6 have the same shoulderpads)

 

Arms:  10 firing arm pairs, 5 individual arms for pistol/ccw, 2 missile launcher arms   -   all Mk7

 

Chestplates:  11 - 6 Mk7, 2 Mk6, 2 Mk5, 1 Mk8

 

Legs:  10  -  5 Mk7, 4 Mk6, 1 Mk4

 

 

Its actually not possible to make a full suit of non-mk7 from the tactical kit.  For example, your 'Full MKVI' marine there has Mk7 arms, a Mk7 backpack and a Mk5 chestplate.

 

No, that's a MK VI cuirass, a MK V cuirass has circular tubing, while the tubing on MK VI is flat. The existence of a grill on the cuirass is immaterial to its status as MK V-VI, as GW art shows both, such as the Index Astartes art of MK VI.

 

 

 

Also, MK VI upper and lower canons are functionally identical to MK VII, making the ability to tell them apart impossible.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Volt

[Robbienw]

Nope, its Mk5, and always has been since the 1998 Tactical squad came out.  Its exactly the same as the chestplate in the Mk V legion armour set:  https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Legion-MkV-Heresy-Armour-2016

 

Plus the marine still has Mk7 arms and backpack.  I've also just noticed there are 4 guys in your image in full Mk 7, not 2 :)

 

You can almost make a full mk6 plastic marine from the various plastic kits, there is a single mk6 backpack in both the Assault and Sternguard sets.  No proper mk6 arms though, they are only in FW resin sets.

[Volt]

Nope, its Mk5, and always has been since the 1998 Tactical squad came out.  Its exactly the same as the chestplate in the Mk V legion armour set:  https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Legion-MkV-Heresy-Armour-2016

 

Plus the marine still has Mk7 arms and backpack.  I've also just noticed there are 4 guys in your image in full Mk 7, not 2

 

You can almost make a full mk6 plastic marine from the various plastic kits, there is a single mk6 backpack in both the Assault and Sternguard sets.  No proper mk6 arms though, they are only in FW resin sets.

Like I just said, that's a MK VI cuirass. The difference is that the tubes are flat, not curved. GW literally posted the same MK VI model in a WarCom article as being 100% MK VI, which was the intention with the design. MK VI and MK V simply share similar aesthetics/MK V literally being made from MK VI.

[Robbienw]

Nope, its still Mk5.  The tubes are rounded exactly the same on the FW Legion Mk5 chestplate as on the tactical squad chestplate.  You can see that in this picture from the Mk5 legion FW set  https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Legion-MkV-Heresy-Armour-2016

 

The mk5 assualt squad ones are a variant, like you get variants in Mk7 helms and chestplates.

 

The actual Mk 6 chesplate is the one with the sort of Y shaped tube arrangement, as seen in this picture here http://www.bitzbox.co.uk/product_info.php/space-marine-tactical-squad-mkvi-torso-front-p-2225  Its the same cable arrangement as the orginal RTB01 beakies :)

 

The article you are referring to on warcom does *not* show entire suits of all the armours, and it does *not* say they are entire suits.  Its perfectly acceptable to refer to a suit Mark by the majority of its pieces.  For example, the Mk2 and Mk5 suits clearly have Mk7 arms, Mk7 shoulderpads, and Mk7 backpacks.   Your Mk6 there clearly has Mk7 arms, backpack and Mk5 chestplate.  The Mk8 has a Mk7 backpack and helmet.   The only pure suits in that article are the Mk4 and Mk7.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Robbienw