Redesigning ork glyphs

[Brother Monty]

Most glyphs are fine, but there are 2 that desperately need change, the Orky glyph is just a swastika, and the family and crew one is a different swastika, what symbols could be replacements for them? I want to use them but you can tell why I don’t want those.

[apologist]

Interesting – that set of glyphs differs from the ones I'm familiar with – though the question you have stands in each case.

 

Here's the original, from Waaagh! The Orks:

 

 

Note the glyphs for Orky and Nar. Back then, the orks – like lots of 40k – was openly satirical and mocking of WWII Germans; drawing as the 70s/80s designers and artists were from post-war British culture. Lots about the early orks was making fun of and subverting the iconography and ideology, much like contemporary stuff on telly like Dad's Army and comics like 2000AD. The orks were 'the baddies' as the Germans were the baddies in war films; bikers, punks and other subcultures commonly subverted fascist symbology, and so forth. Just look at the Stormboyz of the time as a great example; and the helmet shapes of a lot of RT orks.  I suspect that the glyph designs were partly-intentional and partly simply the fact that simple shapes tend to echo things. 

 

... Compare this with the version from the 3rd edition: Codex Orks, released in the early 2000s when GW had transitioned to set itself as a family-friendly company. The audience  had shifted from the designer's peers to a younger demographic, and some slightly more risqué or distasteful things were tweaked. Daemonettes have covered up, and Nar and Orky have been redesigned. Still evocative of the originals, there's a bit more distance, which is fitting as the background for the orks themselves has developed and the WWII movies inspiration has (probably wisely) withered a bit.

 

 

Anyway, coming back to your question, no-one should feel uncomfortable with their models, so if the glyphs make you feel uneasy, I'd suggest using the ork skull symbol below as a substitute for Orky:

 

 

... and using a modification of Urd with just four squares, or one filled in a different colour; as a substitute for Nar.  Hope that helps.

[Brother Monty]

52 minutes ago, apologist said:

Interesting – that set of glyphs differs from the ones I'm familiar with – though the question you have stands in each case.

 

Here's the original, from Waaagh! The Orks:

 

 

Note the glyphs for Orky and Nar. Back then, the orks – like lots of 40k – was openly satirical and mocking of WWII Germans; drawing as the 70s/80s designers and artists were from post-war British culture. Lots about the early orks was making fun of and subverting the iconography and ideology, much like contemporary stuff on telly like Dad's Army and comics like 2000AD. The orks were 'the baddies' as the Germans were the baddies in war films; bikers, punks and other subcultures commonly subverted fascist symbology, and so forth. Just look at the Stormboyz of the time as a great example; and the helmet shapes of a lot of RT orks.  I suspect that the glyph designs were partly-intentional and partly simply the fact that simple shapes tend to echo things. 

 

... Compare this with the version from the 3rd edition: Codex Orks, released in the early 2000s when GW had transitioned to set itself as a family-friendly company. The audience  had shifted from the designer's peers to a younger demographic, and some slightly more risqué or distasteful things were tweaked. Daemonettes have covered up, and Nar and Orky have been redesigned. Still evocative of the originals, there's a bit more distance, which is fitting as the background for the orks themselves has developed and the WWII movies inspiration has (probably wisely) withered a bit.

 

 

Anyway, coming back to your question, no-one should feel uncomfortable with their models, so if the glyphs make you feel uneasy, I'd suggest using the ork skull symbol below as a substitute for Orky:

 

 

... and using a modification of Urd with just four squares, or one filled in a different colour; as a substitute for Nar.  Hope that helps.

This is definitely going to help, I'm going to use those instead and now my orks will be able to have their language and not have swastikas.

 

Thanks dude 

[Grotsmasha]

I would just centre the strips,

 

 

[Wormwoods]

2 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

I would just centre the strips,

Which would give you an excuse to paint checkmarks, which is, as always, the most fun you can have with a paintbrush! 

[The Neverborn]

8 hours ago, Brother Monty said:

Most glyphs are fine, but there are 2 that desperately need change, the Orky glyph is just a swastika, and the family and crew one is a different swastika, what symbols could be replacements for them? I want to use them but you can tell why I don’t want those.

 

 

There were some "unfortunate" choices in 2nd edition, Second edition Strom Boyz are also... problematic