It seems like CB likes to leverage popular culture in some of their creations…A-Team, G.I. Joe, actor faces for Achilles and Galwegians. Do you think that the impending release of another Dune movie will lead to some new concepts/sculpts for Haqq?
I certainly hope so :P The aesthetic of the new Dune movie looks like it would align well with Infinity.
I'm pretty sure Dune is too 'niche' for them. It was mostly dumb pop culture character ripoffs so far. Still... quite possible they will make a model/unit cosplaying freemen if the movie gets popular. Maybe another Saladin...
They shows in the last video a new Saladin sculpt. Maybe CB can give us a playable profile with the sand worm that appears in TAGride. A little compensation for don't give us with a new TAG.
Wait, the TagRaid worm was not an Arrakis Spice Worm cameo??? Nope, they shown a new Saladin concept art You assume there wont be more TAGs. And Hassassin still needs to see their model produced....
I'd feel confident to say that we will see "new models" next year with the near certain release of Haqqislam for Code One.
What do you think the next 2 player pack will be? I am thinking Haqqislam (QK) versus Aleph (Steel Phalanx).
CB would take all my money if they did that, but I fear it may be much longer before we see QK return to the rotation :(
Hassassin needs some resculpt in certain models, and Saladin is there. Also, we are still waiting for the Hassa TAG, but it would mean to replace the Action Pack and the Hassa Starter, and we would get more Ghulam. As for Aleph, OSS is almost totally renovated (a few boxes and blisters are old sculpts, and we still have no Dasyus model in production), but I'm not sure the Steel Phalanx will come back as it is, I'd wager for a new Aleph sectorial, possibly more oriented to naval boardings and outside-Paradiso warfare. Mind you, I agree it would need to be an Aleph Vs Haqquislam, simply because there are no more options unless they want to relaunch Tohaa.
Regarding Operation Pack - well, that one is in next year, right? And we still miss some Ramah stuff in the meantime. My guess for the new sectorial-profiled Operation Pack is: QK comeback. There might be (and probably should be) some Hassassin and Ramah troops in the Haqq Code 1 roster, but since Operation packs of C1 era seem to be single-sectorial-themed in N4 terms, I wouldn't expect them in that box. Introducing Gabqar Khanate, the "Kum & Hunzakut" sectorial. The problem I have there is we don't have much troops that aren't part of the exisitng sectorials that could go into Khanate: Kum & Kum characters, Hunzakut, and perhaps Halqa, if they get reimagined somehow. Saladin is unassigned, but I would find it very strange if he ended up in Khanate sectorial of all places. We could, of course, add a hos of troops from the other 3 sectorials and make it fit somehow, but the effect would feel way like Dahshat IMO. Which is why I consider it to be #2 possiblity. Something totally out of the black we haven't thought about before, akin to the Crimson Stone's Kosmoflot. I mean, guys, have you anticipated this sectorial before it was annonuced? Since 2ed HS we knew that there should, eventually, be USAriadna nad Cossacks as sectorials. But dedicated Ariadnan space sectorial like the Kosmoflot - I haven't expected that! So, I'm leaving the 3rd spot for a surprise CB might be brewing up (knowing how they work, I'd suspect the general idea of next year's Code One Operation: Something has been already decided. Maybe more than just general idea). Keep in mind these only my guesses.
I think Dahshat is the the Khanate sectoral. If they just added Beg it certainly would be. It's got Kum, Hunzakut, Uyghur Yu Jing, Ghulam. Now even a throwback to the old uni-kum with Fiddler.
Last time I checked, Kasym Beg was dead, as was Izzat Beg. Seems the Kum have the Nazarova twins as their Beg now... As for the "Dahshat being the Khanate sectorial", I'm not seeing it this way - but I can't deny it ticks the boxes of addressing all the remaining Haqq troops as of date. So, well, I might not be a fan of that solution, but if it walks like duck and quacks like duck... Then again, this leaves me with options #1 and #3...
An average person probably only knows the Dune universe for sand worms. Okay, how about this: Dune-inspired design - what is it? Some desert dude in rugs and a suit underneath? Or you'll prefer to directly ripoff the movie?
They even have a bike doctor! Not as good as Ghulam but I can't see Kum doctor being that great. "spray this on it on it and get back on your bike!" There's always the odd ABH getting a bike too.
I wouldn't call it niche, but with the younger generations reading less and less, and with the latest Dune film having come out almost 30 years ago... Heck I'm 30 and some of my friends don't know what it is. Most of them have heard of it, but almost none of them have actually read it or are familiar with the setting. Pretty much all people know about it are the worms and "The spice must flow" memes. Hopefully the new movie coming out will get it back into the public eye again.
Not sure what signature designs have to do with whether an IP is niche or not. It's by far one of the most widely read and well known sci fi series in history. Over 20 million books sold, translated in dozens of languages,1 (soon 2) movies and a mini series, Hardly niche. Niche = "denoting products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population"