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[darkhorse0607]

Circling back because I'm still not over it 

 

I rest my case 

[wecanhaveallthree]

I liked Titus in SM1. I am very suspicious of Newriel Ventris. 

[Nagashsnee]

On 11/9/2025 at 2:11 AM, Lord Nord in Gravis Armour said:

 

 

Otherwise, as I said - the Blood Angels lost four of their company captains along with their two non-company captains who led the chapter fleet. They lost their Deputy High Chaplain and almost all of their Sanguinary Guard. The survival of most of the rest was due more to completely avoiding the Devastation than surviving it.

 

 

So if i am reading you right, they lost all the characters on baal who were wearing red shirts armor? 

 

Dante-Gold so died but got better in a classic spock twist.

Mephiston red but trapped off screen (he wasnt available for filming).

Astorath red but not there.

Corbulo white so safe.

Lemartes black so safe.

Karlean red but not there.

 

If only the rest of the chapter characters had know the Tyranids were playing by Star Trek rules (this is a joke please dont @ me about how the sanguinary guard died or the death company wear black, etc). 

 

Jokes aside they lost everyone who doesnt have a mini/doesnt get novels. Some of them make more sense then others, but really it cements the Named Special Characters are the safest job in 40k. If you have a mini your practically impossible to kill, best case you get kidnaped or 'reported lost'.

 

 

 

 

[DarkChaplain]

9 hours ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Circling back because I'm still not over it 

 

I rest my case 

 

Damn, that actually put into perspective why I have such a "meh" feeling about Titus becoming more prevalent since the SM2 success. I liked him a good amount in SM1, but it's definitely retreading a lot of the Ventris beats at this point, while egging out established characters who should be doing those jobs instead.

 

Considering that the Uriel Ventris mini was pulled from sale, too, just before Titus gets his second (after the awful first model), it leaves a bad taste. Frankly, anything to do with the Nightbringer should have been Uriel's job. Heck, Swords of Calth is basically opening that arc for him already!

[theSpirea]

And it might explain why McNeill wasn't asked to write more for Uriel. Titus is the name now that people are familiar with, especially those new to the hobby so of course that's going to sell better

[darkhorse0607]

35 minutes ago, theSpirea said:

And it might explain why McNeill wasn't asked to write more for Uriel. Titus is the name now that people are familiar with, especially those new to the hobby so of course that's going to sell better

 

Yeah I was thinking about that last night after I posted the meme. I don't think they went to McNeill and said "yeah, thanks for your work but we're taking this for someone else"

 

but 

 

It does kind of feel like that a little bit, and regardless if it was said or not, McNeill isn't blind and tends to be online quite a bit, so I doubt he's going to go long without seeing the comparisons. I can't imagine that writing a character since 2002 just to have another one basically take his story would feel great, especially as he's waiting for the greenlight to do another Ventris trilogy. And then even if he does get the go ahead, there's going to be a lot of "oh this guy is just like Titus" even though it's the reverse

 

_{in my conspiracy theory mode, they're going to take the proposed trilogy and have it be about Titus instead}

[cheywood]

8 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

 

Yeah I was thinking about that last night after I posted the meme. I don't think they went to McNeill and said "yeah, thanks for your work but we're taking this for someone else"

 

but 

 

It does kind of feel like that a little bit, and regardless if it was said or not, McNeill isn't blind and tends to be online quite a bit, so I doubt he's going to go long without seeing the comparisons. I can't imagine that writing a character since 2002 just to have another one basically take his story would feel great, especially as he's waiting for the greenlight to do another Ventris trilogy. And then even if he does get the go ahead, there's going to be a lot of "oh this guy is just like Titus" even though it's the reverse

 

_{in my conspiracy theory mode, they're going to take the proposed trilogy and have it be about Titus instead}

I think part of working in IP fiction is accepting that you have minimal to no control over your creations. Lots of creators couldn’t do it. Can you imagine someone like James Cameron or Thomas Pynchon surrendering control of their work? But McNeill’s spent decades working across various IPs, I can’t imagine this is the first time he’s experienced being a cog in a much larger creative machine. 

[wecanhaveallthree]

Quote

I think part of working in IP fiction is accepting that you have minimal to no control over your creations.

 

I think it's a little different when your authors often come from in-house rather than being 'mercenaries', so to speak. Numerous BL authors have been present for many years in the company outside of the fiction. I think it's also reasonably clear that certain authors have been able to stake out space, for various reasons. Is anybody else going to write Gaunt's Ghosts or Eisenhorn? Seems unlikely (and attempts like Honourbound to recapture that lightning in a bottle appear to have gone nowhere, for no visible reason). Is somebody else going to write Black Legion 3? Hell, there was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth re: Bile getting a big release in Genefather beyond Reynolds. Nobody's eating Kyme's lunch re: Salamanders or the Marines Malevolent. So on and so forth.

 

We've seen a long-running history of loyalty to BL from GW, particularly to those who came from in-house. We've heard a lot from the authors themselves about talking to other authors when they're writing established characters or factions. There is a clear and well-documented effort to collaborate.

 

I'm really wrinkling my brow on this now. Swords of Calth, as mentioned, was the 'return of Uriel Ventris'. It was pretty standard comfort food - I felt like McNeill, like Abnett with his return to Gaunt, struggled a little to regain his authorial 'voice' for the character, but it wasn't bad. Now we put Titus and Ventris side-by-side, Titus truly does feel like he's stepping into the shoes of a legacy character (two of them, really, though Cato has obviously gotten a lot of development and his own direction e.g. Iron Kingdom). Where does Ventris fit into the Ultramarines hierarchy post-Titus? I think, just as importantly, where does McNeill fit into the greater weave of Black Library? He's the Ultramarines guy - he doesn't seem to have been tapped for a Titus story (which one assumes we'll get). What's going on with McNeill, and why?