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Post by GhostofLandar on Jan 31, 2021 7:47:08 GMT
Something that's been on my mind over the last few years (not every day, I have a life lol) is the video game portrayal of Giaks and the RPG material. It occurred to me that I really detest the Lone Wolf video game portrayal of the more goblin/gremlin looking Giaks.
For me, the best portrayal of Giaks is not even Brian Williams (surprisingly) but Gary Chalk's, particularly that one illustration of the Giaks being dropped onto The Green Scepter (I think they are seen in FFtD as well.)
For me, Giaks were, in spite of their stature, more like deformed, brutish looking grayish-green humanoid men than like gremlin-goblin hybrids. I think the brutish, fanged appearance in Brian Williams illustrations work fine too, but I think there is something distinct and iconic about Chalk's illustrations of Giaks.
Anyone else share this preference? I think if there were ever a TV show, movie or future video game (or illustrations in any future approved books) that they should hew more closely to something between Chalk and Williams' illustrations. They are a distinct "orc-like" race and that adds to my immersion in the setting. When they look like goblins from Tolkien or even mini-Uruks, it breaks that somewhat.
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Post by rhygar on Jan 31, 2021 18:34:58 GMT
Yes, the Gary Chalk Giaks. First and best.    Their armour reminds me of that of the Mongols. |
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Post by rhygar on Jan 31, 2021 18:44:09 GMT
Certainly I prefer this:  to this:  but of course I can appreciate the latter as a good piece of artwork, it's just they are not in keeping with the books. As a stickler for canon it grates a bit. |
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Post by lorddarkstorm on Jan 31, 2021 19:04:10 GMT
Yes, Chalk's giaks are tops. I think this is the sceptre drop being referred to:  |
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Post by GhostofLandar on Jan 31, 2021 23:47:40 GMT
Yes, exactly that and Rhygar's first illustration. It occurs to me there aren't a ton of Giak illustrations until Williams joins. But Rhygar's first illustration has always been how Giaks look to me. Always liked the one Giak on the right looking to the side. Chalk is how I knew Lone Wolf first, but I love Williams' illustrations overall for sure and now the new ones have gotten really good too (can't recall name off the top.) But he absolutely nailed the Giaks and they are distinct from Warhammer's greenskins and at least popular versions of Orcs and Goblins in Lord of the Rings (though there are some similarities of course.)
If we ever get them depicted again, they need to look like that.
The new versions not only don't match the descriptions in the text but the ones from the game and RPG books look like they'd have a tough time riding Doomwolves and Kraan or being "Mountain" Giaks at all. Even their hands seem ill-suited to their work as the slaves who (mostly) built the Darkland cities and used humanoid weapons.
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Post by rhygar on Feb 1, 2021 22:01:00 GMT
The new versions not only don't match the descriptions in the text but the ones from the game and RPG books look like they'd have a tough time riding Doomwolves and Kraan or being "Mountain" Giaks at all. Even their hands seem ill-suited to their work as the slaves who (mostly) built the Darkland cities and used humanoid weapons. As you say. Vat-spawned servants deliberately designed through a cruel and accelerated form of evolution to serve in the armies and work-forces of the Darklords. They serve as infantry, as cavalry, as users of tools, operators of machinery, they are wearers of clothing and armour, with a tongue in their head which makes sounds which human beings are capable of making too. Their weaponry is able to be used by human beings. They have the sense or the wherewithal to dig fortifications and take part in a siege.  So yes, they are quite close to human beings in appearance and physique. |
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Post by lorddarkstorm on Feb 13, 2021 16:01:59 GMT
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Post by rhygar on Mar 17, 2021 14:12:49 GMT
That giak has 1) been working out bigtime 2) overdone it with the agdana leaves.
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Post by lorddarkstorm on Mar 17, 2021 23:29:53 GMT
That giak has 1) been working out bigtime 2) overdone it with the agdana leaves. As you run forward, you stumble as you notice that a massive Giak bars your path. Its cruel eyes gaze at you as it holds aloft a curved blade. As this veined monstrosity walks towards you, it utters the following in its gutteral tongue: "Ash okak kag, lug?" Your kai skill of tracking vaguely translates this as "do you even lift bro?". You do not. Your life and your quest end here. |
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Post by GhostofLandar on Mar 24, 2021 3:34:39 GMT
That giak has 1) been working out bigtime 2) overdone it with the agdana leaves. As you run forward, you stumble as you notice that a massive Giak bars your path. Its cruel eyes gaze at you as it holds aloft a curved blade. As this veined monstrosity walks towards you, it utters the following in its gutteral tongue: "Ash okak kag, lug?" Your kai skill of tracking vaguely translates this as "do you even lift bro?". You do not. Your life and your quest end here. lol That illustration is a bit over the top but it is somewhat closer to the old Chalk Giaks than those video game (and even the Bestiary or whichever RPG supplement has the newer depiction of giaks, it looks awful.) It actually makes some sense that Giaks be short and stocky (except the Moggadorim and captains being relatively taller) and muscular since they had to build the Darklands cities and survive there. But not that muscular. |
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