This feels like a good opportunity to point out how well the Mechanicum serve 40K's parody of fascism in the Imperium. In his classic essay attempting to define the essential qualities of the ideology Ur-Fascism, Umberto Eco's first point is that there exists a cult of tradition that abhors searching for new knowledge and believes all truth can be found in the knowledge of the ancestors. To quote: "As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth has been already spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message." That's literally the religious doctrine of the Adeptus Mechanicus and their endless quest for STCs. But, in the setting, that ideology has been one of the key things that's kept the Imperium in stagnation for ten millenium. No one's learned anything over that time and they barely understand how their equipment works. And the few times they do, it's people like Cawl pretending that they've pulled their new discovery from the past to help push things forward while staying ideologically consistent despite committing massive tech-heresy to do so. It's such a strong part of the satire that it'd be hard to water down without breaking the faction entirely
I'm sure it's not an accident (on behalf of the authors) that the Mechanicum are the faction the Emperor "had to" betray his principles for in order to take over the galaxy. They're the radicalizing element common to many far-right power structures.
As he moulders on his Golden Throne, the Emperor clutches a grubby piece of velum in one skeletal hand, inscribed with a spidery script, "I Ate'nt Dead."
I love the idea that the Emperor defeats the Void Dragon and then is like “I’ll just stash this on Mars in case it turns out to be useful.” 10,000 years later when the Tec Priests have taken over the planet the Emperor sees what has happened and thinking on his feet says “of course I totally planned this. No more questions.”
i'm still not convinced that Nioth is the "Emperor of mankind". my guess is, Nioth was subdued or killed and A THING CLAIMING TO BE NIOTH CROWNED HIMSELF EMPEROR OF MANKIND.
33:50 - "what's that, Lassie? There's heretics in the well?" EDIT: 49:30 - AdMech & Necrons are a great foil to each other, 'cos AdMech are aspirants to steel omniscience; while Necrons yearn to discard their steel omniscience and return to the time of flesh. EDIT EDIT: bring in Guilliarme David (Mexhanicus soundtrack guy), call it "let it code".
Great deep cut by Graham on the reference to the Akhashic Record, a real thing believed in by pseudo-mystic and proto-fascist Madame Blavatsky (though I don't think she was a cyborg)
I was convinced when I first read this, when it first came out, that the akashi reader plot was relevant to the golden throne. I thought that some or any of the character that were still alive would end up on terra and be part of the delegation of mechanicum who would have to hook the now dying emperor to the golden throne. Adding bits that would help sustain his dying form. Then right at the end one of them would shove in a piece of tech that would give the emperor all knowledge and therefore lay his path on becoming omnipotent and more god-like.
I'm loving this HH series - currently reading through it for the first time and loving listening to your thoughts on them!! 😁 Keep up the great work guys!!!
Regarding "body horror" or modifications of the Priesthood, it is exactly why I love images of the Mechanicum/Mechanicus and why I love drawing them; it allows so much room for creativity because have the excuse you can add or change so many parts of the body and still have it make some sense, where as for an Astarte, sure you can add a lot of decorations and stuff, but the general shape and form has to stay. And the weird science-y machinery, all the pipes and cables, monitors and blinking lights, you don't even need to be able to visually explain what they are for, and that adds to the esoteric and mysteriousness of the technology they augment themselves with, advance technology as we in the 21st century do not understand, and poetically perhaps they do not understand much either.
I like how the dragon is set-up as this super ancient and powerful being and then we learn that the Emperor single-handedly trashed it and imprisoned it. If we define a "god" as "something that is crazy powerful" then it seems he would fit. What I've always thought about is the part where the Emperor says (and I may be misremembering) that the dragon is too powerful for him to destroy so he has to lock it up. Was he being truthful? Or was that just an excuse to save it for later? Also we need more of Mira doing the Emperor voice she debuted in the Legion video.
Been looking forward to this review; Mechanicum is in my personal top four of the whole series. In a 54 book series that is quite an accolade. Great book following all of the revelations (void dragon) and twists of how they fell to chaos with the greed of Kelbor Hal and scapcode really made it believable and relatable how his quest for forbidden knowledge damed him.a Really enjoy your chats. Great chemistry between you two, looking forward to the next one.
My favourite Heresy book! Koriel Zeth is the absolute coolest character, between her design and her intriguingly unique view for a Mechanicum character. I only wish she’d gone on to appear in future books! Also a shame that a period all about the giant civil war barely has any other books entirely about the Mechanicum!
It's also definitely worth noting that the akashic reader, in its domed room covered in psyker pods, is basically a throne upon which the subject of the experiment sits so that the power of the surrounding psykers can be funnelled into the subject... It's a copy of the golden throne.
I really love the perspective of seeing someone newer to all this reading these books I just kind of take for granted and have become desensitized to. Part of me wants to suggest the Night Lords Trilogy but I honestly don’t think Mira would be able to handle the truly awful actions they take.
I've been waiting for this one! Mechanicum! One of my favorite HH books, and one that I'm thrilled to see you guys talk about. Killed it! This one was very fun. I read the book over a year ago, so it was nice to have a walk back through it.
I remember, years ago, asking eagerly about the status of this part 10, then checking every couple months before finally giving up. Now I see that there's MULTIPLE follow-up parts! Awesome! I am a bit concerned that the question, "What was the point of Snake if Peace Walker was just going to destroy itself?", because the text on display (as the question was asked) did say that, because Snake destroyed the major brain, that just left the reptile brain, which was able to operate on a level more susceptible to the personally it was based on. So, Snake DID make the self-destruction possible, right?
It's funny, I remember reading this years ago when I was like 14 and not liking it that much. I think I really didn't understand the importance of the revelations, though the "getting punished for actually inventing and improving technology" bit at the start stuck with me. But hearing you guys's thoughts on it, I'm probably gonna dig it out and give it another read now I understand some of it a bit better.
Talking about so much happening in this one book, I do feel this book dated form that era where they didn't know quite how many books they would be able to spin out of the Horus Heresy. I am fairly sure I remember talking about how many there would be at the point this was published, and one theory was that there might be 12 (in hindsight, lol), or maybe one book for each legion and a *little* bit extra, so it wasn't *expected* there to be the space to spend lots of time on this part of the story.
@@miramanga Just you wait. The more you learn about The Emperor the more you'll realize how deranged he really is. Blessed is the mind too small for doubt 😀
I feel it worthy to bring up the two forgotten Disney animated movies of the 2000s, Atlantis the Lost Empire and Treasure Planet If you made a Mechanicum movie equivalent to them it would be solid as a Disney film Just be sure to have the points where the teens interact with the major combat stay in because nothing says "my kid is watching this over and over" like an Imperial Fist mulching cyberthrawls in sprays of gore and oil
So I agree that Mechanicum is a secretly great intro to Warhammer. I'd probably sequence a Mechanicum TV show after making two Heresy movies, as this is the kind of story that will convince the general public it's okay to love the gnarly parts. But. I went on a big emotional journey with the idea of a 30k musical after watching the documentary about Howard Ashman and I think Angel Exterminatus is the ideal candidate. The vibe of Beauty and the Beast but with Fulgrim and the entire supporting cast is made out of Gastons. Imagine Perturabo's "I Want" song!
Thank you so much for doing this. I started the series when I was in middle school and it’s really hard to accept that it’s over. I kind of wish I could go back and read them all again, but I don’t have the time so I’m really happy that you’re doing it. Keep up the good work.
My favorite Heresy books are 1 Legion, 2 Mechanicum, and everything else comes after but I will say that I quote liked Deliverance, mostly because I stan Raven Guard tbh, and also Fulgrim because it is legitimately disturbing in ways that 40k often hints at but seldom fleshes out. I wouldn't want to read that in every book about Chaos because it would become a bit of a edgelord thing, but it's good to be reminded of just how horrible it's effects can because Chaos can sometimes fall into the "oh well the demon farts blue flames, so we know it's from Tzeentch, and that means x,y, and z" "oh that demon looks horny/hungry, must be from Slaanesh, and that means x,y, and z." And it can feel a bit formulaic in ways that Chaos really shouldn't. But now I'm not talking about Mechanicum lol. One of the reasons I like it so much is because I read it when I was getting into Dark Heresy and I loved the idea of the Tech-priests but there wasn't much fluff to go off of for character background, like alls I really knew was that they were religiously cyborgs and liked that rusty red color a lot, this book and the dark Heresy supplement "Forges of the Lathes" are still my go to sources for info on the nitty gritty of Mechanicus life.
If you ever want to see Mechanicum-style tech-superstition in action, spend time in a casino's poker machine area. I used to work at a casino and I've seen some R I T U A L S. My favourite was the person who would trace a pattern like they were casting a rune on the front panel of the machine before every spin.
I love this series, but I'm even more invested now for the tea choice in each episode. Next time Fulgrim shows up, may I suggest a black tea with rose in it? 😇
"But it's much much... WORSE! "🥰 sung in ascending tones! Mira you are so much FUN! 🤣 I can't wait until Mira reads Echoes of Eternity for some more Skitarii action....
mechanicum is kind of a weird book to read nowadays, since half of it is dedicated to the c'tan stuff that was basically abandoned with the great necron retcron of 5th edition, while the other half is basically all of the martian civil war we get
So glad you guys finally got to this. I’m currently reading Corax, and Mechanicum is still one of my favorite entries in the series. My verbatim review of this book when I read it: “Giant Mecha? ✅ Psychotic Murderbots? ✅ Mutant cyborgs? ✅ Ancient space dragons? ✅ Giant space castles floating on a lake of lava? ✅ Mechanicum might be my favorite entry in the Horus Heresy so far…all of them that I’ve read so far are pretty good. But Mechanicum feels like it was written for me specifically.”
Approx 30:00 this raises the interesting question of which Chaos god would make the best kebabs. I fear Khorne would source lots of mystery meat but not have the patience to cook it consistently or well. Nurgle‘s would be mushroom heavy, and i doubt the kitchen could oass a hygiene inspection. Slaanesh is a tough one. Possibly nsfw. And Tzeentch as trickster would embody the „how the sausage is made“ maxim, because trickery. So doner/sujuk that leads to slight unease.
@@MyShadowstrike i wonder also if there is a threat you are skewered. If Vlad the Impaler as sybaritic vampire would fit his bill. Plus she who thirsts would probably ensure you enjoyed your grisly demise, no matter how horrified any onlookers might be. The vamp analogue may mean no garlic.
I would like the USB stick to be preserved for the 41st millennium. The sacred ritual of putting it in one way, then the other, then the original way should be our lasting legacy.
As I understand it, skitarii we're only a thing on Mars, besides the titanguard, which we're a thing with the titan legions. The other forgeworlds adopted the skitarii with the post-heresy reorganisation of the adeptus mechanicus, the orthodoxy of Mars and all that jazz.
It's easy to write off the Martian religion as being silly superstition but their idea of a "machine spirit" is still a real thing, most notably with titans and starships
Ultron can't form complex machines. Guns and explosives have chemicals in them. Moving parts. It doesn't work that way, but it can form solid metal shapes. Conner: Like what? The Terminator: Knives and shagging weapons.
So usually I read the books along with this book club, before the video comes out, it's been a lot of fun. Except for the Horus Heresy series, because, you know, life is too short. But you guys make it sound so good, would it make sense just to read Mechanicum as a one-off?
disney movies are already adapting around horrific violence and torture! those fairy tales that the classic animated movies were based on were definitely pretty grimdark..... and dont even get me started on the post-apocalyptic dystopia that is the pixar cinematic universe...
Kelbor-Hal's like the only dude in the entire setting pushing for real scientific inquiry. Yeah he's a prick, but you gotta side with him just to stave off ignorance alone.
1. That's not just _an_ Imperator titan it's _the_ Imperator titan; _Dies Irae_ the titan that broke the walls of the Imperial Palace during the Siege of Terra. It also shows up again in a 40k book called Storm of Iron. Can you guess which legion that one follows? 2. Scrapcode isn't just Chaos virus, it's actual daemons in data form. Thats why it's so hard to counter but sort of also why the noosphere couldn't be invaded. 3. The C'tan shard being on Mars is so canon that the Necrons raided 40k era Mars, broke into the Noctus Labyrinth and stole back said shard. That means our heroine is most likely now dead sadly.
I feel like I'm the only person who hated this book so much, it makes me hesitate to read another Heresy novel. No other Heresy book made me feel this way, but this one was such a bad experience, I'm not sure I can read another. Watching this video made me realize I missed half the plot of this book. I had no idea what was going on during the titan battles, didn't even know what the Kaban engine was until I watched this video, and didn't understand any of the Mars politics. Everything seemed to plod along so slowly, so repetitively, and with what felt like tons of meaningless filler scenes. I was so bored, I missed all the major plot points and must be too stupid for them to have any meaning to me. Watching this video made feel like it was for an entirely different book. I actually checked more than once that I was watching a video about Mechanicum and not another Heresy novel. That's how clueless I was when I read this book as even watching this video confused me and I had to watch it more than once to understand everything. Makes me wonder how much of this video I actually understood. But since everyone loved this one, then maybe I'm just too stupid to understand the Heresy. Makes me feel pretty terrible since I have two college degrees and Black Library books are not what most people would call complex literature that's hard to understand. I have never read a book that made me feel like such a terribly incompetent and stupid person. It's not an experience I want to repeat as this book is genuinely making me rethink how smart I am and how I ever made it through my master's. Wish I'd never picked this one up because I was really enjoying Heresy novels until now.
Lapsang Suchong is the one that smells of a bacon sandwich right? Had a colleague who was really into it and would keep wondering who had got a bacon sarnie. Have to say I was disappointed by the taste, personally find it tastes of liquid smoke... ie, not very much at all, even if it smells wonderful.
It's a RODE Wireless Go II set. Two mono transmitters that can have optional lavaliers attached, and one receiver that can either mix the mics or put them on split stereo channels.
I have a theory as to why the Emperor was happy with the Mechanicum worshipping Him as the Omnissiah but utterly hostile to any other expression of religion. It has to do with the nature of the Chaos Gods and a supposition of the Emperor's true ambition. What are the Chaos Gods? They are reflections and magnifications of emotion in the Warp. It's why Chaos worshippers have to commit progressively more extreme acts of worship to gain power; the Chaos Gods take the power of that act and give a small portion of it to their follower. The Emperor planned to sever humanity from the Warp for travel by using the Webway Project. Removing the emotional stimuli also explains why the Imperium was so xenophobic. Border disputes with rival sapient races or even recalcitrant branches of humanity would foster generational hatreds and would feed the Gods. As for the Mechanicum, they are removing their ability to feel any emotional stimuli altogether. As such, they would be theoretically incapable of feeding the Warp. That's proven to be less than perfect in Master of Mankind, but it's definitely a plan to create a branch of humanity that is inured, if not immune, to the Warp's influence. Basically, it seems that the Emperor planned to redefine the human experience by limiting or even removing the ability to feel emotion. Could such a plan work? It's Warhammer, so maybe. Would it be worth it? Definitely not, but it's Warhammer.
This feels like a good opportunity to point out how well the Mechanicum serve 40K's parody of fascism in the Imperium. In his classic essay attempting to define the essential qualities of the ideology Ur-Fascism, Umberto Eco's first point is that there exists a cult of tradition that abhors searching for new knowledge and believes all truth can be found in the knowledge of the ancestors. To quote: "As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth has been already spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message." That's literally the religious doctrine of the Adeptus Mechanicus and their endless quest for STCs. But, in the setting, that ideology has been one of the key things that's kept the Imperium in stagnation for ten millenium. No one's learned anything over that time and they barely understand how their equipment works. And the few times they do, it's people like Cawl pretending that they've pulled their new discovery from the past to help push things forward while staying ideologically consistent despite committing massive tech-heresy to do so. It's such a strong part of the satire that it'd be hard to water down without breaking the faction entirely
It gets to the point where they almost out Imperium the Imperium
I'm sure it's not an accident (on behalf of the authors) that the Mechanicum are the faction the Emperor "had to" betray his principles for in order to take over the galaxy. They're the radicalizing element common to many far-right power structures.
Mechanicum. One of the best books of the entire series. Much drama. Much depth. Much war and titans and pandas. Love it.
As he moulders on his Golden Throne, the Emperor clutches a grubby piece of velum in one skeletal hand, inscribed with a spidery script, "I Ate'nt Dead."
Are you equivocating granny weatherwax and the god emperor of mankind?...
@@nikolailucyk Well, the Emperor can dream of reaching such a level of greatness. 👍
"HANDS OFF MY ARMOR!"
@@nikolailucyk She’d take him.
Headology>Psyker shenanigans
I love the idea that the Emperor defeats the Void Dragon and then is like “I’ll just stash this on Mars in case it turns out to be useful.”
10,000 years later when the Tec Priests have taken over the planet the Emperor sees what has happened and thinking on his feet says “of course I totally planned this. No more questions.”
I mean, that IS the most likely thing!
i'm still not convinced that Nioth is the "Emperor of mankind". my guess is, Nioth was subdued or killed and A THING CLAIMING TO BE NIOTH CROWNED HIMSELF EMPEROR OF MANKIND.
Bastard Scale Update!
Lucius: 27
Fabius: "blown up the scale"/contested by Ian
Erebus: 12
The Lion: 9
Bequa: 9
Fulgrim: 8.5
Kelbor Hal: 8.5
Wsoric the Demon: 8
Remaire: 7
Brynngar Sturmdreng: 7
Julius EC: 6
Khorneban Machine: 6
Koriel Zeth: 6
Zadkiel: 5.5
Marius EC: 5.5
Solomon EC: 3
Unification Wars Emperor: 3
Everyone else in Descent of Angels: 3
Valdor: 1
Iacton Cruze: 1
Thanks for remembering to specify the numbers! Love you guys!❤
I'd bump up the Emperor by at least 4 or 5 for basically manipulating Mars into worshiping him. Bit of a dick move.
"Machine, heal thyself". That single line is one of my favorite lines through all of the Black Library books.
The Emperor: What is your fascination with my forbidden closet of mystery?
😆😆😆😆
33:50 - "what's that, Lassie? There's heretics in the well?"
EDIT: 49:30 - AdMech & Necrons are a great foil to each other, 'cos AdMech are aspirants to steel omniscience; while Necrons yearn to discard their steel omniscience and return to the time of flesh.
EDIT EDIT: bring in Guilliarme David (Mexhanicus soundtrack guy), call it "let it code".
Highlight of the video, Mira explaining to Ian weed slang and the quote is "Oatmilk, because we're not barbarians." -Ian 2024
Great deep cut by Graham on the reference to the Akhashic Record, a real thing believed in by pseudo-mystic and proto-fascist Madame Blavatsky (though I don't think she was a cyborg)
Fantastic video yall! I will never get tired of Mira's optimism about a nice story development and Ian always having to say"well... see.. " 😂
The Mechanicum on Mars version of “Frozen” is callled “Molten”
“Do you want to build an iron man?”
Skitarii singing to its rad-weapon: ‘Let it glow, let it glow!’
Build a Man of Iron?
So much more beautiful in the original binary
@@willumbermarchant5510 beep
@@iandoddsblah ah a contralto are you?
I was convinced when I first read this, when it first came out, that the akashi reader plot was relevant to the golden throne.
I thought that some or any of the character that were still alive would end up on terra and be part of the delegation of mechanicum who would have to hook the now dying emperor to the golden throne. Adding bits that would help sustain his dying form. Then right at the end one of them would shove in a piece of tech that would give the emperor all knowledge and therefore lay his path on becoming omnipotent and more god-like.
And instead, not one bit of it is relevant to anything at all!
@@ArbitorIanyet….!
Omg it would make so much sense. Wow. This is my head canon and I refuse that it isn't official
@@miramanga yeah, scouring series maybe :)
I love all episodes with Mira and the book club soooo much!
I'm loving this HH series - currently reading through it for the first time and loving listening to your thoughts on them!! 😁
Keep up the great work guys!!!
Regarding "body horror" or modifications of the Priesthood, it is exactly why I love images of the Mechanicum/Mechanicus and why I love drawing them; it allows so much room for creativity because have the excuse you can add or change so many parts of the body and still have it make some sense, where as for an Astarte, sure you can add a lot of decorations and stuff, but the general shape and form has to stay.
And the weird science-y machinery, all the pipes and cables, monitors and blinking lights, you don't even need to be able to visually explain what they are for, and that adds to the esoteric and mysteriousness of the technology they augment themselves with, advance technology as we in the 21st century do not understand, and poetically perhaps they do not understand much either.
seeing Mira's obsession with the Emperor, I can't wait for Master of Mankind book and the siege (but holy cow both are so far away in the pipeline)
I like how the dragon is set-up as this super ancient and powerful being and then we learn that the Emperor single-handedly trashed it and imprisoned it. If we define a "god" as "something that is crazy powerful" then it seems he would fit.
What I've always thought about is the part where the Emperor says (and I may be misremembering) that the dragon is too powerful for him to destroy so he has to lock it up. Was he being truthful? Or was that just an excuse to save it for later?
Also we need more of Mira doing the Emperor voice she debuted in the Legion video.
Man Ian and Mira are setting the bar high, with these videos. I would go as far to say this is the best Warhammer channel on YT right now.
Been looking forward to this review; Mechanicum is in my personal top four of the whole series. In a 54 book series that is quite an accolade.
Great book following all of the revelations (void dragon) and twists of how they fell to chaos with the greed of Kelbor Hal and scapcode really made it believable and relatable how his quest for forbidden knowledge damed him.a
Really enjoy your chats.
Great chemistry between you two, looking forward to the next one.
My favourite Heresy book! Koriel Zeth is the absolute coolest character, between her design and her intriguingly unique view for a Mechanicum character. I only wish she’d gone on to appear in future books!
Also a shame that a period all about the giant civil war barely has any other books entirely about the Mechanicum!
It's also definitely worth noting that the akashic reader, in its domed room covered in psyker pods, is basically a throne upon which the subject of the experiment sits so that the power of the surrounding psykers can be funnelled into the subject... It's a copy of the golden throne.
I really love the perspective of seeing someone newer to all this reading these books I just kind of take for granted and have become desensitized to. Part of me wants to suggest the Night Lords Trilogy but I honestly don’t think Mira would be able to handle the truly awful actions they take.
omg New book club, a Jenny Nicholson video and a Grimbeard video within 1 day!? My cup doth runnith over!
so close to The Thousand Sons. Lets goo
I've been waiting for this one! Mechanicum! One of my favorite HH books, and one that I'm thrilled to see you guys talk about. Killed it! This one was very fun. I read the book over a year ago, so it was nice to have a walk back through it.
Tea and a book can really be the cure for what ails you. Its a magic combination.
26:54 that's not why the magma city is safe. It's because the Emperor's light went through the wires.
It’s not the only reason - it’s explicitly stated that every settlement hooked up to the Noosphere was insulated from the scrap code.
I'd love to have to seen a sentient Gen 1 iPod come out of the Vaults of Moravec
Nobody can figure out how the clickwheel works because everyone of sufficient import to handle it has metal fingertips.
or several minor enginseers poking a mini-disk player with their mecandrites in the darkest deepest chasms of Mars....
I remember, years ago, asking eagerly about the status of this part 10, then checking every couple months before finally giving up. Now I see that there's MULTIPLE follow-up parts! Awesome!
I am a bit concerned that the question, "What was the point of Snake if Peace Walker was just going to destroy itself?", because the text on display (as the question was asked) did say that, because Snake destroyed the major brain, that just left the reptile brain, which was able to operate on a level more susceptible to the personally it was based on. So, Snake DID make the self-destruction possible, right?
It's funny, I remember reading this years ago when I was like 14 and not liking it that much. I think I really didn't understand the importance of the revelations, though the "getting punished for actually inventing and improving technology" bit at the start stuck with me. But hearing you guys's thoughts on it, I'm probably gonna dig it out and give it another read now I understand some of it a bit better.
Talking about so much happening in this one book, I do feel this book dated form that era where they didn't know quite how many books they would be able to spin out of the Horus Heresy. I am fairly sure I remember talking about how many there would be at the point this was published, and one theory was that there might be 12 (in hindsight, lol), or maybe one book for each legion and a *little* bit extra, so it wasn't *expected* there to be the space to spend lots of time on this part of the story.
What an absolute delight this episode was - loved every moment from the tea service to the Disney musical proposal!
If you like smokey teas, the Fortnum and Mason Smokey Earl Grey is really good.
(I didn't know I needed a Mechanicum Musical until today, but now, this somehow must happen. It has to!)
Consider: a don bluth animated movie rather than a disney one. I think the kaban machine would look incredible in that style
Good book. Towards the end an explosion is described as a "miniature super nova" which is just a nova. Gave me a chuckle
Ian brainwashing Mira into 40k in general and Heresy in particular is among the best things ever happening in the community. Love your book clubs!
Mira is no longer an Emperor-Botherer, since The Last Church she’s now following the path Lorgar took… 😅
Never!!! 😮😅😂
LIES!!!!! Heretical lies!!!
No way, we Slaaneshies claim her
@@miramanga Just you wait. The more you learn about The Emperor the more you'll realize how deranged he really is. Blessed is the mind too small for doubt 😀
@@Elbuarto true!
I feel it worthy to bring up the two forgotten Disney animated movies of the 2000s, Atlantis the Lost Empire and Treasure Planet
If you made a Mechanicum movie equivalent to them it would be solid as a Disney film
Just be sure to have the points where the teens interact with the major combat stay in because nothing says "my kid is watching this over and over" like an Imperial Fist mulching cyberthrawls in sprays of gore and oil
Mechanicum was an excellent book 9, the intro scene with the Knights was written before the Knights kit ever happened. Super interesting
Agree it was definitely the best book 9
So I agree that Mechanicum is a secretly great intro to Warhammer. I'd probably sequence a Mechanicum TV show after making two Heresy movies, as this is the kind of story that will convince the general public it's okay to love the gnarly parts.
But.
I went on a big emotional journey with the idea of a 30k musical after watching the documentary about Howard Ashman and I think Angel Exterminatus is the ideal candidate. The vibe of Beauty and the Beast but with Fulgrim and the entire supporting cast is made out of Gastons. Imagine Perturabo's "I Want" song!
Book 9 ??? how did you rope Mira into this lol :) loving every seconds !!
IT WAS HER BLOODY IDEA!
Plenty of people are curious about 40K, who haven't felt okay getting into until recently. And books are more affordable than the armies.
Thank you so much for doing this. I started the series when I was in middle school and it’s really hard to accept that it’s over. I kind of wish I could go back and read them all again, but I don’t have the time so I’m really happy that you’re doing it. Keep up the good work.
My favorite Heresy books are 1 Legion, 2 Mechanicum, and everything else comes after but I will say that I quote liked Deliverance, mostly because I stan Raven Guard tbh, and also Fulgrim because it is legitimately disturbing in ways that 40k often hints at but seldom fleshes out. I wouldn't want to read that in every book about Chaos because it would become a bit of a edgelord thing, but it's good to be reminded of just how horrible it's effects can because Chaos can sometimes fall into the "oh well the demon farts blue flames, so we know it's from Tzeentch, and that means x,y, and z" "oh that demon looks horny/hungry, must be from Slaanesh, and that means x,y, and z." And it can feel a bit formulaic in ways that Chaos really shouldn't. But now I'm not talking about Mechanicum lol. One of the reasons I like it so much is because I read it when I was getting into Dark Heresy and I loved the idea of the Tech-priests but there wasn't much fluff to go off of for character background, like alls I really knew was that they were religiously cyborgs and liked that rusty red color a lot, this book and the dark Heresy supplement "Forges of the Lathes" are still my go to sources for info on the nitty gritty of Mechanicus life.
My first Horus heresy book. Brilliant
Mira having her head exploded by the C'tan revelation was both hilarious and adorable :D
Mechanicum is also one of my favourite Heresy books - I like to read it and Titanicus close together.
If you ever want to see Mechanicum-style tech-superstition in action, spend time in a casino's poker machine area. I used to work at a casino and I've seen some R I T U A L S.
My favourite was the person who would trace a pattern like they were casting a rune on the front panel of the machine before every spin.
I love this series, but I'm even more invested now for the tea choice in each episode.
Next time Fulgrim shows up, may I suggest a black tea with rose in it? 😇
Personally, despite the description including wheels, I cannot imagine the Kaban Machine as anything other than the Omnidroid from The Incredibles.
Mira's amazement at the existence of the Black Library Childrens books is the best
lol “Yo dude let me screw nuts” is the catchphrase of this book review 😂
Love the tea making at the start, oat milk always the best choice :)
"But it's much much... WORSE! "🥰 sung in ascending tones! Mira you are so much FUN! 🤣
I can't wait until Mira reads Echoes of Eternity for some more Skitarii action....
mechanicum is kind of a weird book to read nowadays, since half of it is dedicated to the c'tan stuff that was basically abandoned with the great necron retcron of 5th edition, while the other half is basically all of the martian civil war we get
Tea and Heresy a serie !
So glad you guys finally got to this. I’m currently reading Corax, and Mechanicum is still one of my favorite entries in the series.
My verbatim review of this book when I read it:
“Giant Mecha? ✅
Psychotic Murderbots? ✅
Mutant cyborgs? ✅
Ancient space dragons? ✅
Giant space castles floating on a lake of lava? ✅
Mechanicum might be my favorite entry in the Horus Heresy so far…all of them that I’ve read so far are pretty good. But Mechanicum feels like it was written for me specifically.”
Approx 30:00 this raises the interesting question of which Chaos god would make the best kebabs. I fear Khorne would source lots of mystery meat but not have the patience to cook it consistently or well. Nurgle‘s would be mushroom heavy, and i doubt the kitchen could oass a hygiene inspection. Slaanesh is a tough one. Possibly nsfw. And Tzeentch as trickster would embody the „how the sausage is made“ maxim, because trickery. So doner/sujuk that leads to slight unease.
Slaanesh makes the perfect kebab, so long as you don't ask about the 'special sauce'
@@MyShadowstrike i wonder also if there is a threat you are skewered. If Vlad the Impaler as sybaritic vampire would fit his bill. Plus she who thirsts would probably ensure you enjoyed your grisly demise, no matter how horrified any onlookers might be.
The vamp analogue may mean no garlic.
I think Arken Land is gonna be a big hit when you get to them
I'm binging your book club and Mira's hair is first thing I look at lol
A ctan shard at least. It's unclear if the Emperor would have stood a chance if he'd encountered a full Ctan on Terra!
Mechanicum is such a great book.
I would like the USB stick to be preserved for the 41st millennium. The sacred ritual of putting it in one way, then the other, then the original way should be our lasting legacy.
As I understand it, skitarii we're only a thing on Mars, besides the titanguard, which we're a thing with the titan legions. The other forgeworlds adopted the skitarii with the post-heresy reorganisation of the adeptus mechanicus, the orthodoxy of Mars and all that jazz.
Waiting for the next Gaunt's Ghosts episode!
"I'm calling the machine spirits!" *main theme rising*
"The flesh is weak, but (FRIENDS) endure!"
It's easy to write off the Martian religion as being silly superstition but their idea of a "machine spirit" is still a real thing, most notably with titans and starships
"Anyone can be yoinked" sounds like a tagline for a book in the Warhammer Romance imprint.
If Mira wants Mechanicus and Necron to be friends she will love the belisarius Cawls book series
I once read a very different "Mechanicum," a fanfiction between Ultron and the Terminator, but this is neither here nor there.
Ultron can't form complex machines. Guns and explosives have chemicals in them. Moving parts. It doesn't work that way, but it can form solid metal shapes.
Conner: Like what?
The Terminator: Knives and shagging weapons.
"Jazz cigarettes"
Mira is such an anachronism 😂
Mira and the Martian: A Trilogy.
How to Restrain Your Dragon
been waiting for you to talk about this one 💪💪💪
Terraforming Mars has always been a dream of mine.
There’s a board game for that!
I forgot the slang "Jazz-Cigarets". I'm gonna start using that all the time once again :D
Hello from the magic tavern merch woo!
the Scooby Gang goes to mars.... but it still works.
Mira whispering “jazz cigarettes” and “oobie doobies” made me laugh so hard I dropped my joint.
"Do you want to build a Titan?"
“And end up in a tank of goo?”
Mira is an absolute simp for the Emperor.
Posted from The Eye of Terror
Finally! I was so tricked by the video named "Mechanicus" and thought this was it...
So usually I read the books along with this book club, before the video comes out, it's been a lot of fun. Except for the Horus Heresy series, because, you know, life is too short. But you guys make it sound so good, would it make sense just to read Mechanicum as a one-off?
Why not? 😊 a fair few of the heresy books are definitely worth reading - First Heretic and Know No Fear for sure out of the ones coming soon
The art for Remiare is flipping scary, she'll well creepy
disney movies are already adapting around horrific violence and torture! those fairy tales that the classic animated movies were based on were definitely pretty grimdark..... and dont even get me started on the post-apocalyptic dystopia that is the pixar cinematic universe...
Kelbor-Hal's like the only dude in the entire setting pushing for real scientific inquiry. Yeah he's a prick, but you gotta side with him just to stave off ignorance alone.
Mira always has happy energy ✨️ ✨️
Thank you.
Emperor is the -Lisan al Gaib- Omnissiah!!
Been waiting for MIra's reaction to this 1. Honestly 1 of my favourites out of the series =)
1. That's not just _an_ Imperator titan it's _the_ Imperator titan; _Dies Irae_ the titan that broke the walls of the Imperial Palace during the Siege of Terra. It also shows up again in a 40k book called Storm of Iron. Can you guess which legion that one follows?
2. Scrapcode isn't just Chaos virus, it's actual daemons in data form. Thats why it's so hard to counter but sort of also why the noosphere couldn't be invaded.
3. The C'tan shard being on Mars is so canon that the Necrons raided 40k era Mars, broke into the Noctus Labyrinth and stole back said shard. That means our heroine is most likely now dead sadly.
Dies Irae isn’t in Mechanicum, it is in False Gods/Galaxy in Flames though
@@HistoritorJimaldus Isn't Dies Irae the "flagship" of Mortis though? Am I misremembering?
Oh shit I love the haircut! Looking so fresh & clean :D
I love how Mira always wants so badly for Big E to be "the good guy." Sweet summer child.
Call it the body horror picture show.
“Skittering” means something VERY different here in Scotland 😂
Wait til Mira meets Heresy era Cawl...
I feel like I'm the only person who hated this book so much, it makes me hesitate to read another Heresy novel. No other Heresy book made me feel this way, but this one was such a bad experience, I'm not sure I can read another.
Watching this video made me realize I missed half the plot of this book. I had no idea what was going on during the titan battles, didn't even know what the Kaban engine was until I watched this video, and didn't understand any of the Mars politics. Everything seemed to plod along so slowly, so repetitively, and with what felt like tons of meaningless filler scenes. I was so bored, I missed all the major plot points and must be too stupid for them to have any meaning to me.
Watching this video made feel like it was for an entirely different book. I actually checked more than once that I was watching a video about Mechanicum and not another Heresy novel. That's how clueless I was when I read this book as even watching this video confused me and I had to watch it more than once to understand everything. Makes me wonder how much of this video I actually understood.
But since everyone loved this one, then maybe I'm just too stupid to understand the Heresy. Makes me feel pretty terrible since I have two college degrees and Black Library books are not what most people would call complex literature that's hard to understand.
I have never read a book that made me feel like such a terribly incompetent and stupid person. It's not an experience I want to repeat as this book is genuinely making me rethink how smart I am and how I ever made it through my master's.
Wish I'd never picked this one up because I was really enjoying Heresy novels until now.
Reading while in a headspace that wasn’t conducive to taking stuff in? Did you carry on?
@@HistoritorJimaldus
No, the book got me so upset I abandoned it and probably won't read any more Heresy books again.
Lapsang Suchong is the one that smells of a bacon sandwich right? Had a colleague who was really into it and would keep wondering who had got a bacon sarnie. Have to say I was disappointed by the taste, personally find it tastes of liquid smoke... ie, not very much at all, even if it smells wonderful.
Could I ask you guys a production question? What brand are your lapel mics?
It's a RODE Wireless Go II set. Two mono transmitters that can have optional lavaliers attached, and one receiver that can either mix the mics or put them on split stereo channels.
@@ArbitorIan Thank you very much!
I have a theory as to why the Emperor was happy with the Mechanicum worshipping Him as the Omnissiah but utterly hostile to any other expression of religion. It has to do with the nature of the Chaos Gods and a supposition of the Emperor's true ambition.
What are the Chaos Gods? They are reflections and magnifications of emotion in the Warp. It's why Chaos worshippers have to commit progressively more extreme acts of worship to gain power; the Chaos Gods take the power of that act and give a small portion of it to their follower. The Emperor planned to sever humanity from the Warp for travel by using the Webway Project. Removing the emotional stimuli also explains why the Imperium was so xenophobic. Border disputes with rival sapient races or even recalcitrant branches of humanity would foster generational hatreds and would feed the Gods.
As for the Mechanicum, they are removing their ability to feel any emotional stimuli altogether. As such, they would be theoretically incapable of feeding the Warp. That's proven to be less than perfect in Master of Mankind, but it's definitely a plan to create a branch of humanity that is inured, if not immune, to the Warp's influence.
Basically, it seems that the Emperor planned to redefine the human experience by limiting or even removing the ability to feel emotion. Could such a plan work? It's Warhammer, so maybe. Would it be worth it? Definitely not, but it's Warhammer.
If you listen to the YA books as audiobooks, the reader is someone you might enjoy