REAL-LIFE BIOTRANSFERENCE: the Multiple REDESIGNS of the NECRONS! | Warhammer 40,000 Retrospective

[@iceniwargames6347]

I miss the sense of the unknown from the 2nd / 3rd edition era version. Mysterious race of killer robots raiding isolated backwater worlds was cool. Back when the universe seemed big and a named character didn't crop up all over the galaxy for every major conflict.

[@Thesallerud]

What about Stargate as an influence? The movie came out in 1994, with Egyptian themed bad guys using staff energy weapons?

[@alexhamilton6188]

Was thinking that

[@odeegrotsniffer4166]

Probably not much my dude.

[@singtothesilence]

I always thought someone marathoned Terminator and the Mummy before going "I've Got It!"

[@euansmith3699]

@@singtothesilence "I've got it! The Mumminators!" 😄👍

[@grantpark9093]

I feel like they had a flying/hovering pyramid in that movie too... and the ancient alien skimmer craft are kinda like the Necrons flying croissants of doom... plus the whole "tech so advanced it may as well be magic" trope...

[@midorixiv]

man that 3rd edition necron codex art is still one of my absolute favourite pieces of 40k art, really sold the whole faction for me back then

[@LordOffal]

It’s still used all over the place. Also I’m not surprised, we had to look at it for 9 years 🤣

[@nakenmil]

It's a masterclass in mood building.

[@gabe9346]

Not to mention those 3rd/4th edition Necrons were game breaking OP.

[@steverogers3696]

Ian you have just dated for me my entry into the hobby. January 1998 my dad took me to WHSmiths in Kings Lynn and brought me this very issue of white dwarf. I was 10 years old. I remember the shop, the necron on the front holding his rifle in the air looking very terminator. Thank you, absolutely made my day. Cheers Ian!

[@rhelyk7893]

I distinctly remember that issue being one of the first ones I borrowed from the kid in High School that introduced me to Warhammer. I bought the Eldar codex of of him and was thinking about getting started when 3rd edition was announced and we split the box. An amazing time to get into the game

[@Nukefandango]

Same here buddy!! Except it was later that year, here in the states, and I was nine haha.

[@MartyFreeze]

I love these features discussing iterations of lore and models through the years. Please do more!

[@robertmcelligott5223]

hard agree. I find the history and evolution of the game more interesting than the lore itself tbh

[@tombouric]

I second this, the retrospectives on how Warhammer evolved in real life are always a treat to watch.

[@Bluecho4]

It's some of my favorite videos to see from Ian. It's easy to just represent the lore as depicted in any given book. It's another entirely to show how "The Lore" is a living document, subject to change and revision as new writers appear and priorities shift.

[@andreasfallman9217]

I concur!

[@TeddysBoomgates]

Agree with this! These are my fave videos from Ian.

[@Teiz83]

Necrons predate WD 217 in Jan 1998. They actually make their first appearance in Gorkamorka's "da uvver book" from 1998. A necron is pictured on page 17 with early lore about them in the sections about the Diggas and a bit about a Mechanicus expedition to some Necron tombs in the appendices.

[@friskydingo9024]

Necrons were my first army back in 2005. My buddy's started playing and after asking about the different armies I thought having the chance to not die when killed was pretty OP. Now I have a Blood Angel's army but I'm thinking about heading back to the Necrons again. Love your videos Ian, please keep them coming!!

[@JJR_01]

Loving the incredibly telegraphed puns.

[@PRAISE_HASHUT]

The use of translucent green plastic in the 3rd Ed range was absolutely inspired!!

[@martinconway8174]

Ian: “Yeah History of 40K is all well and good, but what about Historiography?”

[@alastaircollins1145]

What's the 40K equivalent of a Dramaturge? Hobbyturge? Nerditurge? Gorkamorkaturge? ... Hammerturge?

[@cslassiea839]

You went the whole video without mentioning the Gorkamorka - Angelis link. There's a necron head in some artwork for the Diggamob expantion, and it is strongly suggested that the human faction were digging up a Necron tomb when the hulk crashed. Great video though!

[@PRAISE_HASHUT]

There’s a great finale scenario for Gorka, where all your warbands team up in an unwinable battle against endless Necrons. Beautiful.

[@PRAISE_HASHUT]

There’s a great finale scenario for Gorka, where all your warbands team up in an unwinable battle against endless Necrons. Beautiful.

[@ScooterinAB]

I think there's a Necron skull in some art in the other Gorkamorka books as well.

[@Gh0stClown]

The 3rd edition Necron codex is still one of my favourite codices ever just because of the amount of menace and atmosphere they managed to put into all the fluff and artwork.

[@ismael9914]

I'm curious about a timeline where instead of characterizing the necrons, they worked on the C'tan as characters They would be hard to parse as they are almost equivalent to chaos gods, but having gods on the table would be quire cool

[@Gh0stClown]

@@ismael9914 They tried that a bit with the Deceiver in some of the novels, but they kinda put themselves in a corner with there only being 4 confirmed surviving C'tan, of which one was purely genocidal, one was insane, and one was asleep. I understand the lore change since they probably couldn't have kept up the mystery forever, and they did kinda tread on the toes of the Nids as the "faceless unfathomable evil" faction, but I do still miss the old days.

[@ismael9914]

@@Gh0stClown Yeah but looking at the 5ed rewriting of necrons they could've redo them a bit, and make it so its not only 4 C'tans (maybe working on the shards thing and how each have a Nightbringer shard that kills to deny chaos of souls, while another is conquest and power) Again I love current necrons, but the what if shall forever be in my mind

[@bigpoppa1234]

@@Gh0stClown I always preferred the terminator + matrix original lore focus, I always felt that was a lot more sinster and 'scary' than the bug hunt of the tyranids. The difference between an animal eating you for food, vs the malevolent sentience of the Necron Lords working to torture the lesser races for their nefarious purposes, and doing it with massed ranks of implacable robotic nightmares. Flayed Ones were my favourite of the necron models. In the 3rd ed codex there's a smallish piece of art in the corner of a story piece, that has a few necrons pushing around some shackled people (probably human), and leading them into a pyramid, and it doesn't feel to me as 'grimdark' or over the top violence like chaos or dark eldar have got, but a grounded, realistic horror like the evils of concentration camps of WW2, or a prisoner being lead down the green mile to the electric chair.

[@KiwiSpartan01]

As a long time necron player, I still prefer the old lore with the continued Red Harvest. I've kept that lore with my dynasty where they still worship the Nightbringer and their goal is to cleanse the galaxy of the lesser weeds and sacrifice their souls to the Nightbringer. Hence why I prefer Destroyer Cult units

[@uninvolvedthirdparty]

Always love the meta retrospectives of the game itself and not just the lore.

[@Squirrelsquid]

I still remember the White Dwarf issue that came with a free metal Necron warrior to promote them. good times!

[@seanaustin2965]

Space skellingtons! I was originally a necron player back in 4th then had a big ole break from the hobby. Imagine my surprise when it turns out that the hecrons suddenly had personalities!

[@JamesHodden-rk6ks]

If we're going to mention influences on the Necrons, it's probably worth mentioning Tomb of the Cybermen from Dr Who.

[@nightshade2313]

One of the big complaints at the time with the 5th edition codex was that a lot of people felt like it had stripped a lot of the horror out of the faction and in many ways it had but more recently, particularly with the 9th edition indomitus launch, GW has made a lot of effort to inject those horror elements back into the faction which I am personally extremely grateful for.

[@nekrataali]

I always liked having multiple "soulless drone" factions (Tyranids and Necrons) because it showed just how big the galaxy is and just how much of it remains unexplored. There isn't just one group of aliens set on consuming all life in the galaxy, there's two (maybe more!). It lends itself well to concepts like the Dark Forest in 40k. How many other aliens are out there hiding from the Necrons? Are there other races that evolved into efficient killing machines because that's what survives in the Milky Way? That's fucking horrifying. It's like finding out there's multiple active serial killers in your hometown. Backtracking on the "mindlessness" of the faction in 5th. always felt like a cop out, instead of trying to come up with telling stories of the truly alien.

[@terraneaux]

No, the horror remains stripped out of them. They were made less imposing so space marines so they could be just more chumps for the boys in blue to beat up, having worse tech than the Imperium despite being the lore.

[@ScooterinAB]

@@nekrataali I can sit somewhere in the middle. I agree that this is a whole galaxy that's trying to kill all humans and thus should have multiple threats trying to kill all humans. I think though that they did need something more to make them more individually interesting. With Vampire Counts, the vampire led their shambling drones into battle. I don't see why that couldn't have been done in order to add more personality while also keeping that Dark Forest horror element.

[@bruhb7611]

You and codex compliant are probably the only channels to cover the meta development of warhammer. Love your work.

[@ianalexander7082]

Don't forget Jordan Sorcery!

[@dr.feelgoodmalusphillips2475]

They sometimes gloss over certain details to fit their bias but then who doesn't.

[@bruhb7611]

@@ianalexander7082 yeah he’s also great

[@pgael7196]

I wasn't part of the online whining about the new necron lore, I understood the need for such an evolution. But I will simply say this : I miss the necron Pariahs. Loved the model and the idea

[@alexandrebelinge8996]

love a repair ability called "I'll be back" brilliant !!!

[@rugbymeat]

Man I remember when the Necron Codex came out, one of my mates had the Nightbringer, that thing was scary on the tabletop!

[@frankieh]

It still is. Which is funny because the scale has changed so much. He's still a bringer of death on the tabletop. Hopefully he and the Deceiver get a glow up and join big brother Void Dragon in modern plastic.

[@GayRage707]

Amazing video! Necrons were my first army, and I grew up pouring over that 3rd edition codex. The art in there is really exquisite and they do an excellent job emphasizing what an ageless and alien horror the necrons were in that iteration. My opinion is certainly bias, but I think something not touched on in this video was the drastic change in design philosophy the 5th edition codex brought and how the most recent necrons releases are returning to something closer to their original theme. The 3rd edition models had an element of body horror. Why drive a vehicle when you could be the vehicle? The old wraiths and destroyers are great examples and the monolith was basically a sentient pyramid with guns. The 5th edition revamp definitely brought character to necrons but it also made them very human. All the vehicles had pilots, the wraiths were big spider things now, and the necrons with modified bodies were the outcasts. The newest models have been fantastic and definitely go in the direction of the original aesthetic and feel for the necrons. Decrepit warriors, enhanced destroyers, twisted and alien cryptects, war of the worlds walkers. From an old guards perspective, it's been great to see the necrons get back a bit of that alien/body horror and lean into the idea of why drive a killing machine when you can be a killing machine. Again, really enjoyed the video! Great work!

[@kienesel7]

As someone who only got into 40k semi recently, I love seeing how things have changed irl over the years.

[@brya9681]

SHout out to Ian for agreeing on the fact that The Mummy is one of the best movies of all time. We all have a little Rick O'Connell in us.

[@davydatwood3158]

Personally, I think that Rick's "none taken" response to all the "Bloody Yanks! No offence." comments is because he's Canadian. Also, my library school class of 2002 voted it the best "librarian" movie of all time. :)

[@jamescameron-clarke2560]

I still remember bobbing in to a Games Workshop on a school trip to Chester and having one of the redshirts tell us about the new Codex rumours coming out... We'd seen the earlier stuff, but cool new Necrons? STAR GODS? All we could talk about on the coach home.

[@TheKrenshar]

This was a fun trip down memory lane and you've filled in the 5th-7th edition knowledge gap for me too, thank you. While facing Necrons in 3rd ed was horrendous, their "expanded" lore actually made me like the Tau more. The appearance of a short-lived xenos species with little/no warp signature to their souls who had advanced faster than naturally credible made far more sense when soon after, up rose an ancient xenos species with short life-spans (until becoming immortal robots), little/no warp presence and a distinctly more lively unit called Pariahs with face plates that were oh-so-similar to Tau heads. For me it added a sinister undertone to the Tau as potentially the unwitting pawns of the outnumbered Necrons too; my assumption was that the ethereals were necrons in new bodies, just like Da Wreckers of Angelis/Gorkamorka came back from the depths of the pyramids ... changed. But then I really enjoyed the little implied lore connections of that era, such as the Tau codex's linguistics page suggesting heavily that they were the makers of Necromunda's Spyrer suits. Maybe that tendency is still there, like with the link you make between Votann and the Men of Stone in your Men of Iron video, but the price of the hardback codices means I buy fewer and so don't see these tidbits first-hand. So im all the more grateful for your lore videos, thanks again!

[@michaelgernes5583]

I suspect the 90's GW team heard the Judas Priest song 'Metal Gods' at least once before creating the Necrons. Love these retrospectives!

[@Misadventures_85]

head canon accepted. it's one of their best songs

[@ScooterinAB]

It was 90sGW. They probably did coke to that song.

[@lloroshastar6347]

I remember when the Necrons first came out, there was so much mystery behind them, virtually little to no information. It was around that time I dropped out of collecting Games Workshop models, moved on to other interests. It wasn't until about 20 years later I dived back into the hobby to discover the Necron's couldn't have been more different. I guess for a lot of people that change may have been unwanted, I bet a lot of people would have felt too much had been revealed. For me, it was like finding the answer to an age old mystery from my past, made it more fun in a sense.

[@matthewthomas5657]

Ian this is yet another series you are smashing out of the park! Really looking forward to more factions and tidbits

[@OldSardine]

3:47 - Peak presenting!!! Love it!

[@leaguesmanoframsgate]

I would love to see a video like this for the changing nature of the T'au, including the addition of the Apostrophe Of Much Controversy

[@Ashura_Lex_Veda]

Necrons were my second ever faction in 40K, and it was because of White Dwarf 217 and my Aunty's copy of Space Crusade. Really good video and trip down nostalgia lane!

[@AaronOfYell]

I loved how the Necrons were incorporated into Gorkamorka and the Cthulhuesque nature of their first codex. I would have liked GW to have developed them more in this direction since I think that would have been more interesting than the Egyptian comedians that we ended up with. But maybe I'm just one of a certain group of people

[@dr.feelgoodmalusphillips2475]

You're not alone. There's a bunch of others that hate the way they've been portrayed recently.

[@mikelavigne1370]

You’re becoming my favourite Warhammer KZbinr, keep this format up

[@Leinad44]

Looking at how lore has been changed and iterated upon over time are my fav videos you do. It's so interesting.

[@hakonsgaming535]

god I actually remember a lot of this, I was just getting into the game in 97. I feel old now.

[@DexGattaca]

That was enjoyable. Thank you for that bit of lore history.

[@Veles343]

I still think of the Tau as the new guys, quite shocking how old they are :D

[@shaunmorrison6448]

I remember the OG Necron models and I always thought they looked like Preston from Wallace & Gromit, only just realised they were both riffs on Terminator.

[@turtlemop8712]

While I totally understand why they wanted to give the necron more personality, I really loved the mindless mysterious horde of 3rd edition. While tyranids were like fast wild animals consuming every bit of biomass, necrons were like the slow methodical sociopathic killer constantly walking towards you. Their vibe really gave off a feeling of existential dread that the tyranids don’t. Everyone can understand an animal eating things, but watching a skeleton with empty eye sockets methodically slaughtering everything in sight while seemingly feeling nothing and having no purpose to its slaughter, and then all of them suddenly vanishing is a real special kind of existential horror.

[@gawkthimm6030]

cant you just RP your necrons as "mindless" due to their lords being eccentric madmen with dysfunctional or sabotaged mind Engram electro-brains, also in the lore I think its mentioned that some Tomb worlds are partially ruined due to random super novas or some catastrophic asteroid impact, while the defense malfunctioned and the Necrons slept in eons past

[@turtlemop8712]

@@gawkthimm6030 I mean sure I could rp them as such, but I feel like that misses the mark. Because it’s not them being mindless that I miss, it’s the MYSTERY which made them so compelling to me. Seeing all that methodical slaughter and not knowing why they are doing it is what is so terrifying to me. Are they mindless husks killing at random? Or is there a pattern to these seemingly random attacks? Do they want? Do they feel? Is there humanity trapped inside those metal bodies? Where do they come from? Why are they waking up now? Why did they just slaughter so many in our platoon but then just vanish when they could have killed us all? Is there a purpose to any of this? Not knowing the answers is what is terrifying, and what can drive someone insane. But like I said, I totally get why they changed it, because you can’t really expand on the lore or bring out new models if you are never allowed to answer these questions.

[@gawkthimm6030]

@@turtlemop8712 during my years of reading 40k books there is a sort of niche of enemies which can be used which lies outside the commonly depicted but is there in the background lore; minor xenos, chaos tainted xenos tech misused, age-of-strife human experimental archeotech -those types of things have been mentioned and used by various authors in a myriad of "mysterious" ways.

[@dr.feelgoodmalusphillips2475]

@@turtlemop8712 Not all were mindless. They did have some personality but it was fractured and fragmented and would come and go over time.

[@joeyoung431]

The Necrons and the Tau reached New Zealand pretty much on top of each other and I remember saying at the time that the Necrons fitted into the game way better than the Tau. These days I'm haunted with a niggling suspicion that I was wrong; the War in Heaven seems to upset the strategic balance between humanity and Chaos, whereas the Tau fit into the mythos well as idealistic ninnies who don't realise what they've gotten themselves into.

[@karlarden6260]

Historiography at its best. Fantastic video, Arbiter!

[@megapizzadragon2397]

This is great. I started playing 40k when necrons were new. They were my first army. Honestly I really enjoyed the first codex. They were so scary and perfect and advanced that they didn't need chapters. Like the Terminator movies. The lack of factions feels very soulless and creepy like a machine. And the lack of personality just kinda worked. Their only units with personality were the gods of death and deception. That isn't a mistake. That's a souless machine to a tee. Idk, maybe I'm in the minority but the first real interpretation of these guys were so creepy. The lack of info made them feel so much more powerful. And they were just waking up. Not even at full power and already terrifying.

[@DoomStroller]

Really enjoyed the terminator look of 2nd edition. Definitely agree with the Stargate influence comment. And I believe it was a 60 million year nap not thousands. Not trying to be a dick. Enjoyed the vid Ian!

[@nakenmil]

I'm one of those who never quite got onboard with the "newcrons". I think it's mainly because I wanted them to use Necrons to explore the phenomenon of artificial life instead of making them yet another faction of, well, dudes. I was influenced by a tabletop minis gamed called AT-43 at the time, which had this horror-themed posthuman cyborg faction called the Therians. They had a bunch of lore talking about how they mostly existed in their own cyberspace, then would download into individual bodies to fight, etc. There were stories of new individuals emerging from different code builds from others merging and splitting, and how combat was almost like a game to them. I thought was really interesting, and more unique than what we later got with Necrons. I REALIZE I AM A WEIRDO.

[@davebowman9000]

Thank you for this! As someone who discovered Warhammer as the 8th Edition pettered out, I find this incredibly interesting! Please keep doing videos of the Meta history of 40k!!

[@alastaircollins1145]

Great video, loving the retrospectives. I'll point out that, at least in Australia, there was a massive interest in Egypt at that time (which, asking around, no-one remembers why) which properties like Stargate and the Mummy (also, yes, best film) capitalised on. For a while in early primary school, this cultural obsession was so prevalent that most of the kids in my year level, including me, were determined to be Egyptologists when we finished school... the one (1) other option was Marine Biologist. I blame "Ocean Girl".

[@m41282]

There was a big Tutankhamun that came to the Australian museum in I think in the late 90s? I believe it was huge because the actual death mask was on display and was one of the few times it had been loaned out. I remember the huge lego exhibit that was done at the same time which was massively popular with schools.

[@alastaircollins1145]

@@m41282 Y'know, I vaguely remember that... you might be right, but it might have been like a "Cool Japan" type tourism push by the Egyptian government which culminated in the loan or something? I dunno, hard to say given how young I was.

[@gandalf1379]

Wow I had forgotten about those Space Crusade models. Still remember being a boy and seeing that Space Crusade advert for the first time it was my introduction into the world of 40k. Ah nostalgia

[@LazyPictures]

What a wholesome video! I wish this could be a series for other factions

[@davydatwood3158]

I remember the 3rd edition codex coming out and thinking it was all brand new. I'd no idea there was as much history behind the Necrons as there actually is.

[@hallstuart6604]

You know Ian I really enjoy your videos! Thank you.

[@Salixhartlepool]

I'm 90% certain the first instances of necron was in gorkamorka. Also I remember a white dwarf short story about a year before the first necron model from the point of view of an eldar trying to get humans to stop digging into a pyramid incase it wakes the ancient enemy. This is hazy memory stuff to be honest. Will do research when I get a chance

[@ArbitorIan]

IIRC the first mention of evil robots in Gorkamorka was in the Digganob supplement, and that came out the month AFTER the original 'Free Necron' in White Dwarf!

[@Salixhartlepool]

@ArbitorIan yeah I was just doing some googling as I had a feeling this wasn't right. Thanks.

[@thomasparker6124]

Likewise I remember the "Awakening of the Shining Ones" mentioned from the POV of an Eldar Farseer in the story piece with a battle report. Trying to find out which one it was.

[@SC1ENCEP1E]

Oooh perfect. Love some Chaos Androids

[@joshgrillo2482]

We need to see them again.

[@marrvynswillames4975]

​@@joshgrillo2482the recent Genefather novel got a chaos android

[@05Rudey]

I, from time to time dig out my Amiga 600 from the mid 90s and the game I gravitate towards is Space Crusade (Among others), I still can't believe how much the lore has changed since that game.

[@tomtelford3435]

Love a cheeky bit of retrospection. Real world influences and changes. Phwor!

[@sean4929]

I love these retrospectives about the history of warhammer 40k. With the recent release of the end and the death, perhaps you could do one on the portrayal of emperor or the imperium.

[@masonfoster151]

3rd edition necron art and lore > than anything that came after. Having two armies like nids and necrons being similar is great. I love how the issue was they were to similar to nids. So they game them personally and sub factions, and now they are just like every other army. Also, them having funny amd quirky characters that are sprinkled into more lore fundamentally goes against the grim dark of 40k.

[@bigpoppa1234]

7:41 - There was at least one reference to Necrons in the 3rd edition Rulebook, on page 116 (it's not numbered though) in an art/lore section on xenos, there's a necron in a picture along with a Kroot, Hrud and a couple other creates. It's only labelled as "unknown". Considering that the 3rd ed necron codex took four years post-3rd edition to come out, I wonder if GW weren't sure if they actually wanted to make them a faction when they were putting together the early stages of 3rd. edit - Oh, there it is right at the end of the episode.

[@barryhall1109]

Great stuff. But I'd assumed the Doctor Who story Tomb of the Cybermen (1967) had a pretty big influence on all this. British sci-fi, whether 2000AD, or Moorcock's novels of the '60s and '70s basically informed Rogue Trader. That's in no way a criticism, just demonstrably true. And it explains the whimsy of the early days.

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

Stargate the movie was probably the influence. Early 90s film. Space Egyptians.

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Nice video. It was nice to learn about space robot skeletons. Thank you for making this video concise. Keep up the good work.

[@WIGHT_METAL]

Glad we finally got this video! Very interesting legacy. One of my mates and I were really big into Necrons during 3rd and 4th. We were very happy about the change and often sighted that they were no different than Tyranids (my other army at the time.) Good stuff as always Ian, keep it up!

[@proyectoutopia]

I've been collecting necrons since 3rd ed. Now that i have a 3D printer i'm really looking for the first terminators, it's really teh best design the unit ever got, but they are so few online and never cheap.

[@Amdor]

Just fun fact: chaos android (in dormant state) appears in quite new book Genefather :)

[@mozzy207]

I will always love that 3rd edition Necron Codex, it was my first that I picked up on my very first trip to a GW with my dad. Including fabulous things such as how to have a battle against Warhammer Fantasy lizardmen (??) and the nonsensical Pariahs

[@AvgJoeHobbyShow]

Chaos squats as a faction now please; it’ll be the new “reset the clock” meme! 😂

[@ScooterinAB]

Maybe ape the original lore and have the Necrons create them.

[@krzysztofkoacz8078]

This channel is a very interesting thing for me, personally. I love all the work put into the videos and all the details presented. But so very often I have different opinion on the particular topics. Like her - for me the 3rd edition Necros were way better. They had a specific character, and later just became similar to other factions. Super advanced aliens with little traits that differentiate them. Eldars are also super advanced, ancient aliens. Now we have Leagues of Votann, who are also super advanced, but not really alien. Having named characters and sub factions indeed defines the 40k factions, but it also makes them very similar to each other. I liked the idea of nameless undead machines. And I always feel a bit sad when this kind of opinions (like, some past things had character) is described as bickering. Or being old. Well, maybe I am old. Either way, a lot of great work was put into this video, as always!

[@volkarve]

Man I still have a pile of those old chaos androids! Great video as always cheers all

[@elainegallagher6015]

I have some of those old metal skellies, including the lord and a scenery piece with a scarab on a dissecting board. I don't know where it fits in the timeline but they show up vaguely in Gorkamorka as a source of gubbinz

[@haircutdeluxe]

Looking forward to this, thanks for all you do, Ian.

[@tomukuruzu]

great series! would love to see an admech retrospective!

[@kieranbeecroft8414]

I was a Necron player in 2nd, and the Dark Times of 3rd when I stopped playing. I saw the new Necron stuff in the Recent edition and could not mirror that with my shambling hordes, as I had missed their evolution. This explanation was great and makes me want to dust off my "Terminator" models and see how well they compare to the newer stuff

[@D0pam1n]

Yeah, I remember being very excited seeing my old Space Crusade androids coming back as something quite different and I was absolutely one of the people who disliked the change from evil, quiet waves of Terminators to Tomb Kings in space. But I also thought there always was a bit of the Stargate movie in the early Necrons, so I eventually was kinda OK with the sweeping changes to the faction. It certainly helped that through the Total War video games, I started to like the Warhammer Fantasy lore of the Tomb Kings a lot more. Still, I want my standard Necrons to be mindless and hopeless thralls of a conniving ruling cast.

[@andreasfallman9217]

Love this format, I want more!

[@euansmith3699]

"Necrospective", nice. I like the note on the cover of Whitedwarf #217, "No Blister Pack? It is probably just a coincidence, but the shop staff have lots of Necrons - why not ask them for one?" (or maybe it is a bit passive-aggressive management bollocks?)

[@PrincessOzaline]

The Ciaphas Cain novels get a bit of the "we are leaning more," where Cain has a conversation with a Necron in one book and he was like, "never met a Necron that had a personality and wanted to do anything but kill. And Inquisitor Vail does state this as recently learned information.The odd thing is it chronologically comes before anther book where the characters don't bring this up (Vail says she wonders why, but she doesn't either)... and the latter book also mentions Sanctuary 101 as the first confirmed encounter with the Necrons.

[@phantasmrain]

Excellent history video, Ian!

[@Lumen_Obscurum]

I still haven't gotten back into Necrons since the second codex, which is probably a shame. I love their new lore, but what I enjoyed about playing Necrons was the vibe of steadily increasing threat their awakening posed. The idea that the Galaxy had to deal with a threat that to me reprensented entropy as well as one that is basically a galactic scale introduced species. Two threats that ultimately have the same outcome but from completely different directions. Ultimately, I feel for the business the Necrons turning into Space Tomb Kings is the better option. You can't have stories about C'tan and have them interact with your normal scale people. It blows the entire story out like a birthday candle and an LED light in the same shot blows out the brightness, you can't clearly see either because of the vast difference in capabilities. There is a lot more ability to have characters in the modern Necron faction than there was in their first codex, it's why in Dawn of War they had a Pariah as the narrator for the Necron faction. They couldn't have anyone else.

[@dr.feelgoodmalusphillips2475]

Thing is, the Lords and Nobles DID have personality but it was fragmented and would come and go over time and some of them would speak if they felt the need to. A lot of people just tend to overlook specific things said in the Codex just to suit their "generalised" presentation.

[@paulcollett762]

Loving this approach to lore. Great work!

[@terencefitzgerald1693]

I'm glad you're doing retrospectives on 40k armies. Lore is easy to find, but production history is obtuse and I always feel left out of conversations with gamers who saw how factions changed and evolved in earlier editions.

[@jackson1471]

Love this series. Would be great to see the Tau featured next!

[@gr8tbigtreehugger]

Many thanks for this fascinating video!

[@jeanvonestling7408]

O love the retrospects. I like to learn how some ideas evolve inside franchises.

[@RufusEggers]

Great video Ian!

[@terraneaux]

I remember in 5th or 6th grade me and some friends were passing around the Necron release for 2nd edition, thinking how cool it was. My brother had a little Necron army that I would fight my orks against. Really liked the Lovecraftian vibe of the C'tan, and wish they stuck with that instead of the current lore, though I understand why the current lore has its fans.

[@timothylyons5686]

It was mentioned in third edition that the Necrons commanders were merely bronze level lords. Silver, gold and platinum lords had yet to be discovered. Take your pick as to what levels the named characters are but lmotekh is definitely platinum.

[@sonicwingnut]

I have to admit while I left the hobby toward the end of 2nd edition I was aware of the Necrons becoming a full faction shortly after, but coming back in 9th edition was the first time I thought they were actually cool.

[@boduke8175]

Trying to remember the book about the Death Korps and a Necron awakening on a hive world. Can't remember the name for the life of me, but lord that was good.

[@funnydreadking9237]

Book:Dead Men Walking.

[@whogoeshere]

I remember buying that White Dwarf with the free Necron in store when i was still a teenager . I wish I knew what I did with it. Good times.

[@alejandrorp5160]

@ArbitorIan, we need your take on biotransference and souls both being very real in 40K. I cannot be the only one finding the idea confusing or needing some further development. I don't expect full coherence, but... -How come are they tricked into Biotransference (I know Szarekh and Szaeras had a hand on it, but...)? They built bodies for the Ctan and they supposendly gave the necrontyr the secrets of biotransference? -If most of their souls were lost, what are those Necrons aiming to revert the process hoping to achieve? -Blanks being a thing... what's a soul then? Mind? Personality? Memories? -Their sleepover being over, their minds damaged. Is this quest to revert biotransference just some kind of grimdark wild-goose chase?

[@Nukefandango]

All good questions. Unfortunately, the black library writers aren't very good at philosophy and metaphysics 😁 Which is totally understandable, this is cheesy space opera, but it's also why there's a lot of incoherent ideas of what a "soul" is.

[@alejandrorp5160]

@@Nukefandango All true. I merely ask for a morsel of in-universe consistency

[@Nukefandango]

@@alejandrorp5160 I agree, that'd be great.

[@nicholasstark4771]

Enjoyable video, thank you! I will say, I’m one of those that wasn’t thrilled with the lore redirect of 5th ed although i loved the models. I think part of it wasn’t just inserting personality, but that they were suddenly loaded with what felt like goofiness in the place of ominous terror, which was a major curveball. I’ve come to appreciate them more, and the 8th ed. readjustments helped a little more, but yeah, the screeching veer into a different direction was rough, although has produced some cool things (i love the skorpehk stuff for example) and they’ve tempered it since.

[@sonicwingnut]

You know if you haven't already I think a retrospective on the Inquisition would be cool.

[@JackieBot3000]

I’d love to see one of these videos about the orks! WAAAGH!!!

[@JoshBorlase]

That was great!

[@raincoast_bear]

Ian, if you are looking for the Necrons predecessors in miniature, then you should google The Machines faction in the game Legions of Steel. Many of the Machines leader units also have an Egyptian styling. And they appeared in 1992.

[@basileerla]

Lovely video as usual!

[@Shaderaygun]

I got into the game around the tail end of 5th edition and remember the release of the Necrons codex and the big lore change. It’s funny how the so-called Old-Crons really only existed for one codex. I definitely prefer their new direction and plan to make an army of them at some point.

[@istooptoconcur1593]

love the channel, great deep dive here, though I might have hoped for some spurious detail like the controvesy around the green transperent plastic guns (the agony) etc. and, perhaps a breif discussion of the cultural influences had on the necron backstory, c'tan etc. I always look forward to your deep dives keep up the good work

[@StudioOwlbear]

as one of the grognards of the era who was actually playing Necrons (kinda. I had an army of robot orks using the necron rules) I fell somewhere in between the two. On the one hand, I'd already Made My Own Characters and Given My Robots Little A Awareness (As A Treat) I didn't object to that part a whole lot (although again, it didn't feel like "Oh here are new options we're giving you" it felt very "This Is How It Is Now, and we stuck a little footnote in there in case you need your robots to be kinda robotic in nature, you buffoons") I didn't like that my Badass C'tan went from being "One Of The Scariest Things In The Galaxy' (and damn was the third ed version of that model a beast even in 5th ed) to "Something Duped And Captured By The Race So Daft As To Trust Space Vampires To Make Them Into Space Undead" Mostly though, as you say, the Tau had just happened (and while I have come to appreciate them more recently, at the time I did not like their tonal impact on the setting) so to have one of the other races (not to mention, a race whose entire schtick was built around words like Unchanging and Eternal) and perhaps more importantly, the Oldest Known Elements Of History In The Setting, completely upended to what seemed, at the time, a more Hopeful tone (plus of course, this was around when they shifted from "Space marines lose A Lot" (and probably not coincidentally "Space Marines Aren't Supposed To Be 'The Good Guys'")) felt like they were intent on shifting the entire setting away from the stuff I liked about it (plus I was, at the time, still realling from the change from 2nd ed, and the tonal shift in orks away from Goofy Football Hooligans to Raging American Football Rioters. Hypocritical of me? Nah, a girl can Contain Multitudes!) so the ret-cron really did feel a bit like The Sky Was Falling. Also, the "this race is now a mover and shaker, becoming more important and making bigger and bigger impacts on the setting" is something I -currently- don't like much. I don't think the Necron based storylines are particularly good, I don't like any of the established necron personalities, and I really wish the mechanicus would occasionally engage in something that Doesn't Turn Out To Be Necrons once in a while.