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Astartes has by far the best depiction of the Space Marines in any piece of media, both in the particulars and in overall tone. Space Marines should always be simultaneously indestructible, unstoppable killing machines and way in over their heads dealing with forces totally beyond their understanding
@@ilesalmo7724or landing into the enemy in drop pods. Marines are shock troops. It’s how America established the idea of marines. It’s a hammer that you crash into the enemy to try and break them. If that fails, then you need to call in army navy air force etc. marines go in first and they go in hard.
@@ilesalmo7724I mean, with hundreds of chapters across thousands of years there's bound to be a degrees of divergence over time lol. But yes, it should be remembered that their primary role is and has always been shock assaults and void combat.
@@ilesalmo7724 Ah okay, I assumed you meant in general but were relating it to 40K. Can't say I know much about modern military history. Ancient history is more in my wheelhouse.
Games workshop hired the dude that made this fan short film. they were suppose to make it a full on real thing but shelved it. and quietly put the dude in the corner. they have done it countless times
@@craziedzombiehaven't you heard? There's a new law out forbidding anyone from making good movies. At least I assume that's the Case. How else do we explain this film made by one person being better than anything else Hollywood has put out recently?
Someone needs to make sure Henry Cavil has seen this (I figure he must have) and gets this guy working on his team for the WH40k project for Amazon. Like freaking now. If he is not already... lol
The Legion shall claim all! The 40k Brotherhood shall grow in their number of fans! We must welcome our new brother to the ranks, from which there shall never be escape!! *Ah-hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!*
"I want to see a full feature film of this" is the exact feeling that everyone has when watching this series. Syama Pedersen's talent is absolutely stunning.
eh unfortunately he was poached by a shit company and has to make lesser things forlesser creatives. they should have just put him on a permament payroll and been like "freedom, as many people as you need your vision. go"
Honestly, Astartes is not only one of the best pieces of W40k to ever exist, it's also one of the best digital pieces to ever be made. It's wild on so many levels. Technic, cinematographic, narrative, choreographic... Everything lines up perfectly, it's maddening that a single person did this. What incredible vision power must someone have to orchestrate all of this as a solo project. Absolutely love it! Very motivational for any artist in my opinion.
@@kaizammit im surprised that he is considering that i heard he was hired by -relic entertainment- for his outstanding work. i wonder what happened..? 🤔 edit: not relic entertainment, games workshop*
In the shot where the camera follows the running Space Marine you will notice that the Space Marine is moving slowly across the frame in the direction that he is running. This gives the impression that the camera is having trouble keeping up with him, which further emphasizes his speed and gives a feeling of effort to the audience.
Space Marines can sprint up to 50-60 mph. It has been said of them that nothing that big should move that fast. Imagine a full ton of angry superhuman barreling down on you in tank-level armor and a chainsword. I'd shit myself instantly
"don't mess with these guys!" exactly the thing the creator was going for and how he wanted to portray the space marines - even someone unfamiliar with 40k understood the archetypical Astartes which is just a testament to how amazing this animation is. Really a good primer for the franchise in general imo.
What undelines it is, that the Cultists are not dumb. They are actually very competent. Trying to ambush them, get them in bottlenecks with anti armour weapons, lead them on, lead them into ambushes, trying multiple tactics, even getting close with an anti tank grenade when shooting them from a distance does not work. It´s just that the Cultists are so outclassed they manage nothing more than scarring the armour of one Marine.
I think its ingenious how the size difrence of a space marine and normal soldier is shown in the first few seconds. Makes it easy to undestand even for people who dont particularly know the franchise.
In the opening seconds of a film/story you have to get across a bucket load of information, this film definitely did that. I may have left that part of the cutting room floor but I found it impressive. Thank you for watching and commenting, hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
This is the beauty of 40k. Today alone I`ve seen an opera singer, a painter, a composer, an armor historian and now a filmmaker get introduced to 40k through their respective fields of expertise.
@@kaizammit Aye, very informative with your breakdown(which many dont do), learned quite a bit @JimL85 the channel is MarcoMeatball , an opera singer talking about the Mechanicus soundtrack and composition
@@joshwimbley698 it hurts especially when you’re a new fan entering the fandom and you missed some of the greatest things to come out of it, some of the best fan works are no longer available to view and many older fans will talk fondly about them.
@@Omnivorous1One Death of Hope if I remember correctly wasn't stopped because of GW at the time but because of conflicts between the community and the creator or something to that effect.
That shot with the plasma pistol taking out the multi laser gun team is one of my favorite single shots of any animated thing I've ever seen. The choices of framing that were made are superb in the entire series, but that one is arguably the best.
You know what, now you've said that, I think he did break the 180 rule there. I'll have to go back and see it but when I read your comment, I could see it in my head. Good spot. KZ
@@caseco4979 I disagree. When he takes cover, he goes to the right. When he aims to shoot the plasma pistol, he is coming from the right to left, to shoot with his left hand. The movement is right from left, so it is natural to the plasma shot also go from right to left.
@@kaizammit I might be wrong, but I seem to recall talk of that shot having been mirrored at some point for those reasons. Maybe in a compilation, or the original 5 before they got removed/changed when he was hired by GW...
I absolutely love people who are unfamiliar or have never heard of Astartes or in Warhammer in general react to this master class of animation. It literally gives me chills watching them in awe of it. They clearly see what is happening but yet don’t fully understand it. Shit is awesome!
As someone who only had a passing familiarity to Warhammer from playing a few of the games, I randomly found this series and it inspired me to research the lore to understand everything that is happening. Also, after watching other videos and comments from devout Warhammer fans, a big credit to the creator that he clearly is a big fan himself and threw in a ton of details that display his knowledge of the lore (or at least he did his research well and talked to chapter members, as denoted by his credits in the 5th video). The series alone is amazing and the lore details just add to it. The fact that I had to rabbit hole into the lore purely off of this series is testament to how stellar it is.
I guess you could consider me one of those people I had only read one book and that was so many years ago but I remained extremely interested because what I did read was crazy and after seeing this video I'm only going to dig deeper into this hole lore
The way he gets the weight of stuff right is impressive... There's never a cgi moment where things feel floaty or clipped ... the sound effects add to the feeling of powerful impacts... Like bolters sound heavy ... The steps into the boarding ship deflect under load ... Really adds to the immersion...
@@mergenocide ya that's something i don't see them trying anytime soon lord knows 40k has the perfect chance to be the next big franchise since everything else has gone to hell
Astartes is THE Warhammer 40k animation gem. I have lost counts of how many times I watched it, either directly from its own link or through someone's reaction video. It truly is a spectacle for the eyes, ears and, for all Warhammer fans, hearts too ❤
@@kaizammit There's SO much more Warhammer animation, and especially fan animation, out there! We talking Helsreach, we talking The Siege of Vraks, we talking Death of Hope, we talking The Lord Inquisitor. AND THEN there's also all the official media from GW like the two trailers for Warhammer 40k 9th and 10th ed (10th is very new, you might wanna hit the iron while it is hot!), and videogames like Darktide, and Total War: Warhammer. I have no expectation of you to hit everything, but I do really hope that you will feature some more Warhammer because it is a franchise that has been growing EXPONENTIALLY in the past few years and needs all the love and support it can get 😁
@@kaizammit Also, forgot to mention, that I love watching professionals talking about what they love to bits, especially cinematography, animation and music, and seeing all the love an excitment and the depth of insight that you bring is truly marvelous. So yeah, great content mate, keep it coming ❤💪
Thank you for the awesome words! I hope you stick around with the channel, you seem like a cool chap! If you want me to cover more Warhammer then so be it. I want this channel led by viewers like yourself. KZ
@@kaizammit This was the first video of yours I watched and I'm even happier to see that you are at your first steps in the content creation on RUclips, which makes me even more excited to see your future works, so I couldn't but sub immediately ;) cheers mate!
Important point though, minimal or no dialogue, no emphasis on faces, gore, and the respect to controlled behavior. They do what they do because it needs to be done, and for glory. It’s not meant to focus on representation or consideration to feelings for freedom, this is a culture separate from ours and our values, it’s dystopian but they fight for glory and the emperor. It’s nuanced and amazing..
@@kaizammit When you mentioned you wanted to see a full feature film, I said aloud. "We all did." Unfortunately that's not going to happen anymore. But we still get this absolutely wonderful work.
I love the little detail of the Space Marine blessing his weapon at the beginning. A little bit of foreshadowing there as to the nature of the evil they are dealing with
This may be a reply to a old comment but oh well. Hes not "blessing" it in a religious sense for deamons. Hes bluetooth syncing it haha. Space marine bolters have machine spirits (Programing/low-grade AI) and hes performing a Rite to connect it to his suit. You can tell this in part by the little red LED, its first off, then blinking, then solid. Which is how "syncing" is depicted in almost all devices.
The guns that the Space marines/Astartes use are called Bolters they fire a 75 calibre rocket propelled armor piercing explosive rounds that turns normal humans into a red mist or blown to bits. The guys with the force powers are Pyskers, people who are able to basically do space magic shoot lighting, summon fire, read your mind or control things with their minds, luckily those two weren't Alpha level Pyskers because that poor space marine would have been turned inside out with mere thought.
One of my favourite things about the audio in Astartes is how they use the audio to show focus, in particular in part 5 with the orb. The scene at 8:57 shows the space marine staring at the orb with the sound of his allies footsteps being quiet and only the thrumming sound from the orb being heard right up until his ally goes to give him the equipment he needs at which point the rest of the sounds quickly cut back in. It does it again at 11:24, most of the sound is drowned out by the whispering as the orb takes all of his focus until he snaps out of it, the whispering stops and the rest of the audio comes back. As another note on the audio and lore, Astartes typically communicate through vox (basically a radio) as their suits are fully sealed which means people on the outside can't hear them speaking to each other unless they want them to hear. When the Inquisitor (the guy who got his head removed via punch and was subsequently shot to make sure he was dead) turns to the Astartes, you can just about hear him yelling "Recall the Astartes immediately" followed by the leader turning to one of the other space marines and making a gesture, there's no outward speach here because it's all done through vox. (You can actually see the Astartes receiving orders to retreat at 11:05 which is why his head tilts) Short version, there's an absurd amount of lore details packed into this series especially when it comes to details on how space marines fight and function.
What I just love is that there's no brash bravado, no wasted energy. Not only does it make for incredibly tight choreography and film-making, but it communicates just how deadly Astartes are. There are no hesitations, no wind ups, no monologuing. They are efficient and exacting in their actions. Their movements are swift and precise. These guys are engineered killers with a job to do and they waste no time getting down to business. It's so intense, so tense - it really feels like a real fight in a life or death situation coming down to the wire. Milliseconds could make all the difference.
The best part is you can theorize which chapter of astartes this is by their tactics, too. These look like Grey Knights, because they seem to know what they're doing against Pyskers and other entities. Not every chapter fights the same way.
Astartes, despite its relatively short runtime, really benefits from a slower frame by frame dissection. There's a lot going on that a first time, even a fifth time view misses. The attention to detail was amazing.
It took me a lot of times watching it before I caught the flashes on top of the pillars in the ending shot, signifying the other Marines arriving as well. It's so goddamn subtle.
The bolt pistol round skipping off the multilaser shield and scoring a headshot on a gunner was where I realized just how deeply deliberate this project was.
Not only is it brilliantly shot, but it’s also extremely lore accurate to the most minute details. This dude has insane talent. I do wish we’d get a film or series from him
One of the best things in Astartes is, in my opinion, the sheer sense of power on the part of the Space Marines. Their human soldier enemies are neither stupid nor cowards. They seize high ground, set up proper ambushes with overlapping fields of fire, deploy sappers and snipers. They dig in at choke points and bring heavy weapons to bear. They do everything right...and it *doesn't matter* The Astartes smash through them like tissue paper.
Astartes depicted what really should be a space marine, grim calculating and near invincible. Whereas GW showed space Marines very poorly by having them die so easily and their armor so weak despite being so bulky, not to mention they were screaming like amateurs all the goddamn time like deluded manchild lol, an insult to the characteristics of a space marine. Kudos to this creator
Yeah this is the perfect depiction so far that I have ever seen. It's also awesome that the enemies weren't just bullet sponges for SM to shoot at, They were actually quite competent but it was just too much against SMs. Also love that SMs weren't depicted like basic heavies walking across gunfire and just tanking everything while shooting back. While they do here but they also have the awareness to dial it back a bit and attack back in a different manner. Like that SM retreating to cover from the laser machinegun and popping a smoke/flash and returning fire from that blind sight. Just great. Also that SM just straight up gritting a psyker to get a shot off just portrays their pure grit and resilience for the cause.
@@HistoritorJimaldus Yeah, entirely different person with an extremely different art style and vision. Helsreach is fucking phenomenal, but Astartes is ascendant. There's really no comparing the two.
I love how well he tells the story without using dialogue at all. The very first shot showing the space marines were they walk by the normal guardsmen on their ship really hammer home just how massive and bulky astartes are, it's such a cool and simply detail. I think the overhead lights (a halo) also is a small nod to the notion in-universe the astartes are sort of viewed as the god-emperors "angels".
He told a story without telling a story, I'm a fan of W40k and have been for years, but I have absolutely no clue what happens in the film. A quick text wall at the start to explain what is going on would be great. Rather than sitting here, going, who's that, what's that, what's going on?
@@smally8499234 well it does say at the beginning that there’s an uprising that has been defeated, and from that we can surmise that this ship is the remnants of it trying to flee and the Marines are a kill team sent to clear the ship. After that the mission shifts to securing that Xenos orb like they did to the one on their ship.
@@MattR8605 So that's what the chained orb thing is! I was sure that thing is important, but was unable to connect the dots with the speaking orb. Thank you!
A minor detail i do so dearly love, in the cloth animation. The way it shifts as the priest in red is jerking about and twitching from trying in vain to fight the possession is so subtle, yet incredibly well animated. Not to mention, when the priest is shot. Most people miss the fact the shoulder cape flys back a little more with every shot. Its a subtle detail most don't even really acknowledge, but it really puts some heft to the implied power of the shots, without showing the actual result.
You can also just barely see the blood splatter fly up from the results, just barely but it's there, which again just overall adds to the feel of just how brutal that (completely necessary) execution was
I captures it perfectly, the feeling of what its like to go up against an astartes and how terrifying and hopeless it must be, while also the feeling of being an astartes having to deal with chaos and demons and necrons and shit. the look, the tone, the sounds, the atmosphere. You also had the same reaction everyone had "i want a feature length film of this".
I've watched this film so many times that now I have to watch other people's reactions to freshly relive the first time I saw it. It's not just the best 40k animation ever, it's one of the best scifi animations ever.
We waited months/a year between parts. And I'm not even a hardcore WH40K fan. I'm a fan though. I still get goosebumps watching these. I don't remember if the teaser after 13:12 came out after he got hired. But we all hope to see more from him. I'm glad you were able to experience this.
Yeah it took him about 2.5 years to make this 15 minute and his patreon pulls in about 9,000 dollars a month. So it took around a quarter of a million dollars and almost 3 years to produce 15 minutes of animation without a studio behind him. So yeah it was made by 1 man, but it took a long time and a lot of money.
This has to be one of the best reaction videos i've seen on RUclips! You really broke everything down to the smallest detail and truly helped me understand the film making process. Thank you so much! I learned a lot from this video :)
I love how there's almost a rythm to it. Especially in the last moments in the fight agaisnt the psyker dudes. Face stab, electric shock, neck stab, spine pull. It goes in beats, and it's so damn satisfying.
Well, to give you some background: The masked guys using "the force" seem to be automatons (notice NO blood after being stabed, and the metallic clank as they fall, that's not just from the masks, but they may have been possesed humans). You may also see similar masks (and a lot of them), as the Astartes walk towards the sphere (at 7:46, when the statue shows up, they are two both its sides). A bit earlier you can see and hear something resembling ice breaking, as they walk in. Ice is supposed to represent the presence of warp energy (for the moment just assume warp is another dimention, from which some entities can draw "magic force" from). That means that those two in masks were "puppeteered" by the creature in the sphere, as it is highly skilled psyker (warp magician). The incomplete statue can be anything, even something along the lines of a vessel, through which the creature may be able to manifest even more of it's power (the masked guys were... weak in terms of what a really powerfull psyker can do). As the astartes were getting near you can see and hear how the creature tries to take over their minds (pay attention to the "whispers" as it emits those puffs of air - it tries to get into their heads). This comes up again in the highly distorted dialogue between the sphere in the attecked ship, and the one we see chained up (and rigged with explosives, propably melta mines?), as the the dialogue goes something like this: "Who is there?" "I have failed brother, the astartes deny our touch (aka. being dominated and mind controlled)". "You must return. Break your seal" "Impossible, we'll never survive". "You must take them (those 5 astartes). The guy eavesdropping on the psychic communication is a human psyker, and an Iquisitor, he then shouts to the astartes captain (?) near him "Recall them immediately", orders are given, one astartes runs out to relay them, and this is where the inquisitor slips, looses his focus, and the chained up sphere gets into his mind. What follows is a summary execution (of one of the more powerfull in terms of political power and influence people in this universe human wise non the less). And propably not a moment too soon, as he may have been turned into a portal to the warp, and there are demons there. Literal demons. And they are all too happy to jump into real space, and do demon things. That involve horrible time for humans. The 5 astartes are sucesfully "taken" and what you saw after "absorbtion" was the warp. The creature in the sphere tried to flee through warp, as this dimention is used for faster then light travel in this universe, but you need special protective fields etc. to survive the journey. It had none, so the purpose of taking the marines was for them to be bait for demons. It didn't work, and the creature was blasted and killed by something. This has returned the astartes into real space, but into a totally different place, perhaps light years away (it's even possible into a different time), kinda like being teleported into a random place. The guy coughing blood is not alone - you can see short burst of light on other pillars around him, this is propably the others being thrown in there with him.
Another viewer told me about those flashes, I thought it was a glitch on the downloaded video (palm to face). Thank you for the information, I hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
Damn I've watched this at least 50 times and never caught the flashes! You're 100% right, the main Marine is standing on top of a pillar like the others where the flashes appear.
Honestly my favorite parts are the subtle stuff you barely notice, such as the Inquisitoral Psyker shouting to the Astartes Captain/Seargent *"return them immediately"* which led to his corruption due to losing concentration. The muffled sound of it due to his helmet really makes it hard to hear but its an awesome thing to include. Another is near the end when the space marines are pulled into what looks like warpspace, with the beast that grabs them with its tendrils, something smashes into it to free them, though its hard to catch the first time around.
Something else to keep in mind is that there's no spoken words until far later but no doubt the marines were talking to each other through comms, which made the scene with the inquisitor being corrupted even more startling because now you can hear the chant through his helmet. Just how loud must that chanting have been for it to be just barely muffled like that.
The Melta gun shot across the room is one of my favorites. And the way the fragments around the shielding is amazing for showing the spherical element.
I think we all had the same expressions at the same moments in the short. Any the same disbelief that this was all done by just one person. It's the best animated short I've ever seen. Great reaction!
The sound design is absolutely crisp. I love how you stated that, "Each movement felt critical" it really emphasizes how space marines operate with purpose.
Watching various people completely nerd out or otherwise just go "holy f..." over Astartes never gets old for a person like me who loves 40k and adores animation as a whole even more. edit: That "Oh good theres more." gave me a great big smile.
7:20 The significance of that ice-crack on the floor, Is because in 40k the Source of... What is essentially their version of magic, The Warp, Causes anything it is exposed to for a prolonged period, To start being covered in Frost and Ice, So even if you've got someone blasting another person with a stream of fire, The room itself is going to start freezing over, So the significance of that moment is essentially a prelude to "There some magic BS going on, And its been going on for a while"
The original version of Astartes is absolutely incredible. I was beyond flabbergasted when Games Workshop procured the rights and proceeded to make the baffling changes it did.
hell yeah man. glad you loved it. i didnt know anything much about 40k when i watched this at first but it got me watching lore videos and cruising comments for a while trying to figure out whats going on. i feel like i miss that mystery. i dont know if we'll ever get an astartes 2 but im really holding out hope - stuff like this is so special and hard to come by i feel like since space marines are so big and hulking, its difficult to animate them believably. but in astartes, they just had this weight to them, and they moved so effortlessly but it didnt look 'floaty' or 'weightless'. the SFX were great on them. armor plates shifting, big footsteps. it all came together to give whats in my opinion, the best rendition of space marines ive seen anywhere online. i love it i love it. power suits, man. so cool love your content brother, looking forward to more!!
OMFG! I saw a little flash when I was editing the video together, I thought it was a bad video download aka glitch. Now I've watched that part again with your knowledge... I saw them, my mind has been blown even further! As I said in the video, best content I've seen in years. It's made me want to pick up the games again. Thank you for watching and commenting again fella, it really means a lot! Hands down my top subscriber and I hope you keep enjoying the content plus learn something, even if it's something small. Uploading when I can so definitely more to come. KZ
@@kaizammit Yeh, Astartes has been lovingly handcrafted and filled with things to see every second, finding new ones each time you rewatch it. There are so many little things you can miss just by blinking or trying to comment on something during the video. 😅Even something as miniscule as the warp manifesting for a single frame when the Astartes got thrown out of the warp onto the pillar.
i love how he doesn't ever hang on to a beat for too long. I know that I wouldn't have that strength, the details and effort put into some of these shots, and then show it for less than a second. just a masterpiece in pacing his beats.
One of the most well rounded breakdowns of 'Astartes' i've seen. Genuinely great elaboration on filmmaking techniques, camerawork, and in a way even I, with the monkey brain, can understand. I absolutely learned stuff watching you today! Take my sub! :D
Loving your comment about the monkey brain, then I see your display picture! Favourite animal a monkey by any chance? Thank you for watching and commenting. KZ
this is what i consider to be a purest depiction of space marines in the lore as in they are not always the shining "heros" often portrayed in the books they are living weapons of destruction and devastation deployed when the imperium is basicly saying "yea were done playing nice"
A central concept of the Warhammer universe is The Warp. A parallel dimension, the sea of souls, the emotional energy field of the galaxy, hell. The Warp is the energy source that psykers, the “force” users, draw on for their abilities. It’s also the shortcut used to travel faster than light, with ships tearing holes in reality and travelling through hell itself to get places. It’s unclear whether those balls were demons of some kind, entities native to the warp, or some other being who just uses the Warp. At the end we can see the Astartes getting dragged into the Warp, only for their kidnapper to get eaten by a bigger fish, so to speak, and the Astartes getting forced back out of the warp.
the Spheres are much like spacesuits for the Warp Entities as it's well known they can't exist in our reality just as much as we can survive in the Warp
@@Echidna23Gaming No. the Psyker was dead. The black mist thing was a predator warp entity that attacked the orb alien as it tried to escape through the Warp.
17:01 the wall shot stood out to me as well because it connects the shot of the Astartes to the guy who shoots through the wall. It helps understand the context of where everything is and how it's connected. It's not a random guy shooting and then there's holes in the wall somewhere else. It's like "look at this wall! It's important. Because now I'm gonna make something happen on the other side!"
Every time i watch Astartes or a reaction video to it, i discover/learn something new. And every time i am again amazed at what Syama Pederson created! It not only captures the tabletop, the lore and the 40k universe brilliantly, but it´s also a masterpiece of animation. True Art! And with everything you, @KZ, discribed, the lighting, the shots, the angles, i am even more amazed. Not only is Syama a true fan, who invested years into this, but he is also a genius at his craft! He made something truly unique!
You know, sometimes you accidentally stumbled upon something, or in this case, a video that you watched barely seconds into it, then you get "WOW!". You mind were blown away, and got goosebumps all over. More so when you read into the description and it said it's a one-man fan project. This is exactly what happened to me when I found the 2nd part of this Astartes project. The 2nd part was newly uploaded at that times, I think the views didn't even reach 1k yet. Immediately I went to his channel, saw the 1st part, and watched it. From that moment, I subscribed to his channel, and have been waiting for his videos with much anticipation, and each new release didn't disappoint. I didn't even knew anything about Warhammer at that time. When he revealed that GW reached him for a special project, I was so excited hoping for a full film of the Astartes project. It's so good it's a no brainer move imho. But little did I know that people at GW don't even have a brain. I hope when his (Syama's) contract and deal with GW is done, some company would offer him a well deserved opportunities.
Found you today on your Space Marine 2 video! I figured you HAD to have done this one. I was pleased to see I was correct. I love the videos and the breakdowns.
I'm super happy to be seeing people react to this amazing Astartes video. Having a full length movie or a tv series that's animated to that level would be an absolute dream.
honestly the fan version of the 40k make the space marine felt more like space marine lore wise than the stuff that the official 40k make themself, in lore this guys have super human reflex and speed and the official 40k movies series the armor doesn't hold up or the space marine move slow as hell
Agreed. There is certainly room for the kind that stand in the open, impervious to enemy fire while mowing down daemons/xenos/heretics in droves, but this sort of animation makes them actually seem like SUPERHUMANS rather than just really big, angry guys in power armour.
I mean if they showed Astartes as they were then Warhammer lore would be incredibly boring. It'd basically be "Chapter of Space Marines goes here. Kills a whole bunch of stuff. Some space marines die but slaughter tens of thousands, if not millions for every space marine dead" Keep in mind enemies that match space marines can kill off entire armies basically by themselves.
@@xxhowisuxx they already do that like "heart of iron" or "blood angel" on those the space marine movement seem slow like ZZmonkeys said angry dude in armor. They don't felt like they have super human at all. actually most of game workshop official 40k movie is just that angry dude mowing down bunch of stuff but they never nailed down the super human aspect of the space marine.
@@averageeughenjoyer6429 That's generally how the space marines work, yes. There are some enemies that can match them, and they can still be killed, but outside of the books they generally just go around solving issues with very limited dead.
I love watching reactions to Astartes I'm a fan of 40k, and this film is everything i ever wanted as a fan You came up on my recommended, you have a new subscriber
3:16 One thing I never noticed during my first few viewings was that there were two guys. A gunner and a loader. That's why he fired twice. Look for two sets of circles for their goggles.
I watched this purely as a 40k fan not expecting to learn anything. I am thrilled to have walked away from this learning something. I feel like I can appreciate works like this even more now, thank you!
To add to it, on second viewing you'll notice that every detail is accounted for, adding to the world building or story. One of my favourites is in the hallway scene of the first part. There are normal crewmembers in that hallway and they are 1) so much smaller than the marines and 2) they get out of the way for them. Its a gift that keeps on giving, even after
I think the creator of Astartes is a one in a generation person.So much conviction and love for their work. It's amazing and I could watch it a hundred times and never be bored.
Apparently 'Games Workshop', the owners of the 'Warhammer 40k' franchise later employed the maker of this cinematic after they were so impressed by the caliber of his work. Also I do believe Amazon Prime is in pre-production of a live action Warhammer 40k series starring Henry Cavill, who is a massive fan of Warhammer.
It's more like they threatened to sue him into oblivion if he didn't delete his channel and everything he'd created that related to their IP, then when they realized he was extremely loved by the fans, they gave him a job to diminish the backlash. He made a lot more money with his Patreon than he'll ever make working for them and despite being years since it happened, we haven't seen anything of this caliber come out of GW+. They probably have him working on some cheap crap and we lost an awesome creator that was trying to show us his vision of 40k.
I really like how you breakdown all the aspects of film making in this and explained it very easily to understand as well. The guy who made this did get hired by games workshop and has worked on several trailers for their games. One such trailer is called the Horus Heresy Trailer. So it you would like to see how he transitioned his fan film to official work it would be awesome to see how you breakdown and react to that.
In the last scene, if you watch the other pillars in the distance closely, you can see small beams or pops to display the other Astartes being teleported to the same place, just very far apart, hardly visible to each other. This is the best 40K cinematography and filmmaking we in the community has ever seen. It's absolutely a work of art, and a masterpiece at that. Appreciate hearing your take on it, was interesting to listen to. Have a great day and thanks for sharing. Welcome to the Grim Dark.
Such a fantastic breakdown, loved how you broke down basically every single technique and how they worked together. If you haven't seen Star Wars the Old Republic's "Sacrifice" and "Betrayed" videos, you totally should. They had 4k re-releases a while ago, and they're one of the best short form storytelling I've ever seen. They're also peak Star Wars, of a kind we haven't really gotten in years outside Andor.
I recall from one of the novels (I forget which) that somebody, a Guardsman I think, remarked about the Astartes that nothing that big has any business being able to move that fast or that stealthily. Fun fact: that "vehicle" they rode in the beginning wasn't a boarding vessel, it was a boarding _torpedo._ The squad didn't fly to the ship, they were _shot at it._ Because that's just how the Astartes do.
Another feeling that i really love from those hallway shots is the claustrophobia. Because your view is above them and the ceiling is so close you get a sense for just how massive these space marines are.
And the regular human crew flattening themselves against the wall to let the Astartes pass always makes me chuckle. Excellent show-not-tell for both their literal size, and how they command a religious degree of deference from regular humans. So much storytelling right there in the first few seconds of the animation!
Such a kewl vid by a fan!! Luved it and not even remotely surprised he was snapped up by the company and now works for them. Amazingly talented!! What a vid to review for your first reacts!! Luved the breakdown and you explain it so clearly. Cheers again and look forward to more of your vids.... lol just saw you showed Boyka. Kudos for using such an obtuse reference and I luv that film too
The Matt Damon/Bourne reference.. I kind of disagreed as I really liked those fight scenes and how they gave such a realistic edge to the scene. Too fast and frantic for a normal person to follow the blows clearly, which highlighted the difference between a scripted blow by blow fight like the Boyka fights and a real time fight by professionals. Not all blows land or are clean hits. Improvisation. I have read that serious professionals rated the Bourne fights amongst the best depictions of what a true fight would really look like. I enjoy Boyka style and Bourne style equally as they both offer fantastic energy and different ways to showcase a world that I will never enter.
That noise you heard when they stepped into the vault was their boots crushing a layer of frost on the floor, which formed because the temperature is being lowered by the presence of warp energy.
I'll never get tired of people breaking down why the astartes cinematics were so good. Just shows his complete dedication to bring his idea to life,! as close to the picture he had in his head.
The thing you touched on that i love about the action is how readable it is. So much modern action is too busy or, as you put it, too tight with too many close cuts. I remember stopping Quantum of solace halfway through because the fight scenes were completely unreadable yet here, despite being dark, you can follow the action so well!
I think it's okay sometimes for like a shot or two but no more. What's the point? If you can't work out what's going on then the audience/viewer will look away or take them out of the experience, absolutely not! Don't do it! Thank you for watching fella. KZ
There is a very short trailer that you can find for Astartes 2. It's awesome to watch and then go back and look at frame by frame because it packs alot of really cool shit into a very small package.
It's well worth checking out the other 40k animations. Stuff like Armouring, Mechanicus, The New Edition, Space Marine 2 Oh and there's an amazon show set in 40k that's being worked on with Henry Cavill spearheading the project. No one knows what it'll be about tho Btw, because the creator got picked up by GW, the Retributors (the dudes in the film) are now part of official canon.
You have a fantastic eye for the art and aesthetic and nature. Really appreciated you showing the basics, because as amazingly beautiful this is, it only works because of the traits and technique you pointed out. Ive seen this dozens of times, but it was interesting to hear the technical side. The choice of lighting. Shot angles. The senses of movement. Where the camera is. Made me appreciate the artist more, and you for keeping the craft. Cheers.
If I'm not mistaken, the creator of this went on not only to be hired on to Games Workshop, but I believe he was given a senior lead position if not a director position in their animations department.
Part of the design of WH40K is that it's a sandbox, so not everything in the universe is covered by the 'canon' information and something I LOVED about this series is that they leaned into this to create mystery even for people elbows deep in lore. The more you know, the more elements you'll recognise, but unless it's something I've not come across before (very possible), no-one will watch this and, from the outset, know what's going to happen.
This was such an honest fun and professional review of one of the greatest animations ever made I immediately subscribed to your channel. …and I cannot say how much I would like to see a sequel to this.
What a video!!! 1. I got to rewatch the masterpiece that is The Astartes project, 2. Seeing your reacting to the video was magical, felt similar on my first watches, and 3. Having a really great direction of the cinematic artistery done by a professional. Great work man, really enjoyed it :)
He has been hired by Games Workshop and I believe is working on Astartes 2 (Fingers crossed) I completely agree, this is THE most phenomenal piece of film making I've ever seen. its truly incredible, especially for one man.
"I wanna see a full feature-film of this caliber'' you and me both. Sadly, with the time it took this man to make just these 5 small parts, it'll never happen. And I don't trust Games Workshop to make one with him and other people in a shorter timeframe because it'll definitely suffer. It's awesome he was picked up by Games Workshop though.
It'd be really hard. You'd have to gut a lot of the grim darkness stuff otherwise it'd never get into theaters. You couldn't even BEGIN to show how terrible Chaos actually is without causing an absolute outrage amongst non 40k fans. (Remember that Chaos is the ones with rape-murder cults, who literally creates Chaos Space Marines through the most evil process of misery making), Orks would have to have their indiscriminate brutality gutted because showing them murdering thousands of innocent civilians while laughing wouldn't fly, Tyranids would have to be gutted because most of their weapons are gross, and extremely brutal, and the Imperium would have to be...not the imperium, AKA not just as likely to indiscriminately murder its own people for the slightest defect, not willing to use servitors. The average public would likely view either the Tal or Aelderi as the "good guys" simply because they're not absolute scumbag murderers who are just as happy causing misery as saving their own people. Basically grimdark wouldn't work with the American public, they could make a made-for-internet movie, though.
@@xxhowisuxx I think you could show it but you probably would have to be tasteful about it and imply the absolute debauchery rather than show its excesses directly, which if done well, would in fact be scarier simply because showing a little bit and implying a lot leaves a whole lot of room for the viewers mind to imagine the horrors they are glimpsing. Same principal is why showing a monster in a film typically lowers the level of tension.
@@Arkimedus I dunno man. If you were going to, say, do Orks, Orks killing everything is literally all of what Orks are, it's in their very DNA/RNA (If Orks indeed have that) and they are therefore extremely crass, often very stupid. Tyranids are just as brutal and hopeless. Aeldari are something you could make a story about, but it'd be hard for people to understand. Same with Tau, but Tau are probably the weakest major faction of Warhammer due to their size.
@@xxhowisuxx I dont really think itd be as difficult to do as people think, there are a lot of disturbing films out there that imply more than show, of course, not everything could be implied, youd basically have to show the daemonculaba because people arent going to understand what is going on without being shown. But theres plenty of stuff you you'd ne able to imply moreso than show, chaos murderrape cults barging into random innocent peoples houses on an invasion only to torture them for days on end could very easily be implied with the right cinamatography and lighting, though it would take skilled filmmaking to portray it well. Even non horror movies can portray horrific events in a way people understand whilst still remaining tasteful about it, that new film 'the sound of freedom' is about child trafficking, abuse, and pedophiles, nothing needless is shown yet it is very clear exactly what is occuring. That said, I can agree that it depends on the context, certain particularly difficult to understand factions and situations probably would need to be directly shown depending on how difficult the horror is for the average person to understand through implication. It definitely would have to be an R rated film./
I have watched Astartes sooooooo many times. I think it's magnificent work. I love there is no dialogue but you see small gestures that show their intention. If I won the lotto or came into some money I would invest it into making a full film. Love it.
The person who made Astartes is more talented than 95% of the people in all of the Western entertainment industries of animation, film and sound effects.
another that came out just abou the same time was "death of hope" but be warned its quite more gory and dark, so maybe not stream material. your choice. i find it great because it really brings the dark vibe of wh40k, which is lately beeing nutered for wider audiences
This was great. Seeing reactions from this from other "industy people" they all highlight different features like both the artistic aspect but allso the technicality of actually making it, that i guess show just how talented this guy is
from what ive picked up but im still fairly new to 40k that glass cracking sound is a sign of demonic presence & the orbs are demonic orbs and they talk to each other while that guy watches in but because he let his guard down he got possesed thats why they killed him otherwise the ship would be lost (last part something i read by some1 who knows more then me by a mile) p.s that opening sceen also allows you to see just how big the space marines are compared to a normal human
Thanks for the information and commenting. I mentioned the size difference in an offcut from the video, It's a great opening shot giving loads of information. I try to keep these videos under 30 minutes now so not everything I say stays in. Hope you stick around with the channel KZ
Psychic energy often manifests as ice/frosting, the glass cracking was that The orbs were probably not daemonic, but the physical bodies of a psychic race, sort of like a shell they use to hide from the warp, not everything warp is daemonic/chaos The entity seems to have broke its shield (the sphere) and grabbed the Astartes, probably trying to take them over as new hosts The black presence that killed the monster in the warp was probably the inquisitor, he has that same black smoke emanating from him before he listens into the orbs conversation His last act was to save the astartes
What I imagined, was that the warp have the same effects as typical ghost signs. So fast frost, that cased the air to freeze. That was at least the same sound as you get when thin ice is cracked. But I am just guessing.
@@ragnarian The orbs are relics of the Yu'vath. A now extinct warp-worshipping xenos(alien) empire. Their technology merged warp sorcery and material science. Those orbs are basically daemon powered computers.
![FILMMAKER REACTS: SPACE MARINE 2 | [ALL CUTSCENES] | WARHAMMER 40K](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/oTfEc7PxuXI/mqdefault.jpg)
If you have a suggestion or a piece of content with an amazing story, please let me know, I would love to see it!
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Would you say that this is the best single party made piece of animation ever?
Astartes has by far the best depiction of the Space Marines in any piece of media, both in the particulars and in overall tone. Space Marines should always be simultaneously indestructible, unstoppable killing machines and way in over their heads dealing with forces totally beyond their understanding
But most of all, the term "marines" is supposed to mean soldiers who do ship-boarding combat. Most depictions of the term have forgotten the meaning
@@ilesalmo7724or landing into the enemy in drop pods. Marines are shock troops. It’s how America established the idea of marines. It’s a hammer that you crash into the enemy to try and break them. If that fails, then you need to call in army navy air force etc. marines go in first and they go in hard.
@@ilesalmo7724I mean, with hundreds of chapters across thousands of years there's bound to be a degrees of divergence over time lol. But yes, it should be remembered that their primary role is and has always been shock assaults and void combat.
@@armata_strigoi_0 what I mean is IRL marines, though even today what we call marines have become just another type of ground-soldier
@@ilesalmo7724 Ah okay, I assumed you meant in general but were relating it to 40K. Can't say I know much about modern military history. Ancient history is more in my wheelhouse.
The creater of this short film said it took him over 4 years worth of weekends to complete. Now that is dedication to his hobby, passion and craft!
Now imagine how much he could acomplish by doing on daily basis with funding - omg
Games workshop hired the dude that made this fan short film. they were suppose to make it a full on real thing but shelved it. and quietly put the dude in the corner. they have done it countless times
@@craziedzombie yeah, which is damn sad :/
@@craziedzombiehaven't you heard? There's a new law out forbidding anyone from making good movies. At least I assume that's the Case. How else do we explain this film made by one person being better than anything else Hollywood has put out recently?
Someone needs to make sure Henry Cavil has seen this (I figure he must have) and gets this guy working on his team for the WH40k project for Amazon. Like freaking now. If he is not already... lol
KAI: "Hopefully by the end of todays video you learned something....."
40K fans :"You already fallen into our trap. Welcome in our world."
ONE OF US
Was I able to teach you something about filmmaking? I like this 40K world, KZ.
The Legion shall claim all! The 40k Brotherhood shall grow in their number of fans! We must welcome our new brother to the ranks, from which there shall never be escape!! *Ah-hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!*
Sounds fun...
@@kaizammit Speaking about "sounds fun" the last two trailers for the new editions are FIRE
"I want to see a full feature film of this" is the exact feeling that everyone has when watching this series. Syama Pedersen's talent is absolutely stunning.
100000000% agreed
Is that the guys name? Finally, someone to search for
eh unfortunately he was poached by a shit company and has to make lesser things forlesser creatives.
they should have just put him on a permament payroll and been like "freedom, as many people as you need your vision. go"
Unfortunatly that will never happen since Games Workshop forced the creator of "Astartes" to shut everything down.
absolutely.
Honestly, Astartes is not only one of the best pieces of W40k to ever exist, it's also one of the best digital pieces to ever be made. It's wild on so many levels. Technic, cinematographic, narrative, choreographic... Everything lines up perfectly, it's maddening that a single person did this. What incredible vision power must someone have to orchestrate all of this as a solo project. Absolutely love it! Very motivational for any artist in my opinion.
I'm excited about the AI tools that will allow anyone to do their own twist on their favorite content, without the interference of Hollywood.
wonders me what the guy is doing now and if it lead him somewhere cool
Apparently from what I've read in the comments section is that he is working on a Gundam series or something. I don't know the full details. 👍🏻
@@kaizammit im surprised that he is considering that i heard he was hired by -relic entertainment- for his outstanding work. i wonder what happened..? 🤔
edit: not relic entertainment, games workshop*
@@kaizammit He's also (apparently) working for Games Workshop on Astartes 2
He's not on his own in the end, if you look closely you can see his battle brothers being transported to the other pedestals by a flash of light.
in all the times i've rewatched this, I never once noticed that until you mentioned it, that unravels a whole other layer of things for me.
@@darkman30200same here, my mind 🤯
Yep easy watched this 50 times and never noticed that 😅
i dont see it. Can you tell me more details?^^
@@moersertrupp 12:52 - 12:54 look at the 2nd pillar from the right you will see a flash of light
In the shot where the camera follows the running Space Marine you will notice that the Space Marine is moving slowly across the frame in the direction that he is running. This gives the impression that the camera is having trouble keeping up with him, which further emphasizes his speed and gives a feeling of effort to the audience.
It's also lore accurate given that Space Marines are described as being inhumanly fast for how large they are.
He also dropped the camera after every run cycle which emphasised the weight. Devil in the details! Thanks for watching and commenting, KZ
Space Marines can sprint up to 50-60 mph. It has been said of them that nothing that big should move that fast. Imagine a full ton of angry superhuman barreling down on you in tank-level armor and a chainsword. I'd shit myself instantly
@@lordmortarius538 Good old Transhuman dread, seeing something that big moving faster than your brain thinks it should be capable of.
I mean theses fucking demigods can run at like 60-100 kph from what i remember, no human ALIVE TODAY would be able to remotely keep up lol xD
"don't mess with these guys!"
exactly the thing the creator was going for and how he wanted to portray the space marines - even someone unfamiliar with 40k understood the archetypical Astartes which is just a testament to how amazing this animation is. Really a good primer for the franchise in general imo.
What undelines it is, that the Cultists are not dumb. They are actually very competent. Trying to ambush them, get them in bottlenecks with anti armour weapons, lead them on, lead them into ambushes, trying multiple tactics, even getting close with an anti tank grenade when shooting them from a distance does not work. It´s just that the Cultists are so outclassed they manage nothing more than scarring the armour of one Marine.
@@pierre-mariecaulliez6285 I'm subscribed to arch and have seen that video 😊
@@knight_lautrec_of_carim One for each episode, just search it and you get at least the last 2 in the first results ;7
right I was thinking 'dude has no IDEA' He clearly has no foundational knowledge of the lore. That he clearly loved it is a testament to the story.
Chaos Space Marines Mess with Space Marines heh..
The Henry Cavil 40k team ought to hire this guy, he's nailed the atmosphere and feel 100%.
Oof I almost forgot Henry's busying himself with 40k o: Syama working with him would be God tier!
he's gonna do a live action version
Gw did hire the animator and they made him disappear and never work again, because his work was too good and they couldn't compete fairly
@@ignaciocambero931440k doesn't work with live action it's a ridiculous idea
@@PeachDragon_ Really, where did you hear that ? I'd like to look into it. pls put your source in a reply.
I think its ingenious how the size difrence of a space marine and normal soldier is shown in the first few seconds. Makes it easy to undestand even for people who dont particularly know the franchise.
In the opening seconds of a film/story you have to get across a bucket load of information, this film definitely did that. I may have left that part of the cutting room floor but I found it impressive.
Thank you for watching and commenting, hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
This is the beauty of 40k. Today alone I`ve seen an opera singer, a painter, a composer, an armor historian and now a filmmaker get introduced to 40k through their respective fields of expertise.
I hope I gave you the most value in watching!? ;)
Opera singer?
@@kaizammit Aye, very informative with your breakdown(which many dont do), learned quite a bit
@JimL85 the channel is MarcoMeatball , an opera singer talking about the Mechanicus soundtrack and composition
Amazing to hear! Thank you 💪🏻
Who were they? I can guess the Opera singer was MarcoMeatball.
I still can not believe that it was only one person that created this masterpiece.
There use to be some batshit crazy animators and creators in the 40k fandom but then the purges came and they had to stop all their work.
@tVt2000 its very sad because I'd definitely throw money to see a movie
@@joshwimbley698 it hurts especially when you’re a new fan entering the fandom and you missed some of the greatest things to come out of it, some of the best fan works are no longer available to view and many older fans will talk fondly about them.
I was also sad the Death of Hope animation was stopped. Another really good one.
@@Omnivorous1One Death of Hope if I remember correctly wasn't stopped because of GW at the time but because of conflicts between the community and the creator or something to that effect.
That shot with the plasma pistol taking out the multi laser gun team is one of my favorite single shots of any animated thing I've ever seen. The choices of framing that were made are superb in the entire series, but that one is arguably the best.
Its a cool shot but it feels backwards, you expect the plasma to come from the left
You know what, now you've said that, I think he did break the 180 rule there. I'll have to go back and see it but when I read your comment, I could see it in my head. Good spot. KZ
@@caseco4979 Interesting because it never felt that way to me. The rest of the shots we got were either from directly in front of or behind the gun.
@@caseco4979 I disagree.
When he takes cover, he goes to the right.
When he aims to shoot the plasma pistol, he is coming from the right to left, to shoot with his left hand.
The movement is right from left, so it is natural to the plasma shot also go from right to left.
@@kaizammit I might be wrong, but I seem to recall talk of that shot having been mirrored at some point for those reasons. Maybe in a compilation, or the original 5 before they got removed/changed when he was hired by GW...
I absolutely love people who are unfamiliar or have never heard of Astartes or in Warhammer in general react to this master class of animation. It literally gives me chills watching them in awe of it. They clearly see what is happening but yet don’t fully understand it. Shit is awesome!
I was also taken back by the animation and cinematography, everything else was cream and sprinkles, that was a good day! Thanks for watching, KZ.
As someone who only had a passing familiarity to Warhammer from playing a few of the games, I randomly found this series and it inspired me to research the lore to understand everything that is happening. Also, after watching other videos and comments from devout Warhammer fans, a big credit to the creator that he clearly is a big fan himself and threw in a ton of details that display his knowledge of the lore (or at least he did his research well and talked to chapter members, as denoted by his credits in the 5th video).
The series alone is amazing and the lore details just add to it. The fact that I had to rabbit hole into the lore purely off of this series is testament to how stellar it is.
at the end of the clip i was really pissed. ”What is this awesomeness?! More!!!”
@@kaizammitq1 we by. P
I guess you could consider me one of those people I had only read one book and that was so many years ago but I remained extremely interested because what I did read was crazy and after seeing this video I'm only going to dig deeper into this hole lore
The way he gets the weight of stuff right is impressive... There's never a cgi moment where things feel floaty or clipped ... the sound effects add to the feeling of powerful impacts... Like bolters sound heavy ... The steps into the boarding ship deflect under load ... Really adds to the immersion...
this animation got me into the franchise i went from not knowing a thing to buying all the books just to learn more
Emperor protects
That's such an amazing effect! GW should take lessons
@@mergenocide ya that's something i don't see them trying anytime soon lord knows 40k has the perfect chance to be the next big franchise since everything else has gone to hell
There´s also a Wiki, might be cheaper than buying all books XD
@@danillo.eu.rodrigues the emperor protects all but the bank account...
Astartes is THE Warhammer 40k animation gem. I have lost counts of how many times I watched it, either directly from its own link or through someone's reaction video. It truly is a spectacle for the eyes, ears and, for all Warhammer fans, hearts too ❤
As you could tell, I enjoyed my time with it very much! Thank you for watching and commenting. KZ
@@kaizammit There's SO much more Warhammer animation, and especially fan animation, out there! We talking Helsreach, we talking The Siege of Vraks, we talking Death of Hope, we talking The Lord Inquisitor. AND THEN there's also all the official media from GW like the two trailers for Warhammer 40k 9th and 10th ed (10th is very new, you might wanna hit the iron while it is hot!), and videogames like Darktide, and Total War: Warhammer. I have no expectation of you to hit everything, but I do really hope that you will feature some more Warhammer because it is a franchise that has been growing EXPONENTIALLY in the past few years and needs all the love and support it can get 😁
@@kaizammit Also, forgot to mention, that I love watching professionals talking about what they love to bits, especially cinematography, animation and music, and seeing all the love an excitment and the depth of insight that you bring is truly marvelous. So yeah, great content mate, keep it coming ❤💪
Thank you for the awesome words! I hope you stick around with the channel, you seem like a cool chap! If you want me to cover more Warhammer then so be it. I want this channel led by viewers like yourself. KZ
@@kaizammit This was the first video of yours I watched and I'm even happier to see that you are at your first steps in the content creation on RUclips, which makes me even more excited to see your future works, so I couldn't but sub immediately ;) cheers mate!
You have no idea how much I want a full featured film like this. It would instantly be my number 1
Mine too I think... KZ
to bad, its in Game Workshops hands. so we are not getting anything good ever.. its honestly sad that such an amazing IP is in hands of turds.
Important point though, minimal or no dialogue, no emphasis on faces, gore, and the respect to controlled behavior. They do what they do because it needs to be done, and for glory. It’s not meant to focus on representation or consideration to feelings for freedom, this is a culture separate from ours and our values, it’s dystopian but they fight for glory and the emperor. It’s nuanced and amazing..
@@BuuGz86Henry Cavill is developing the IP for Amazon. The emperor protects!
@@kaizammit When you mentioned you wanted to see a full feature film, I said aloud. "We all did." Unfortunately that's not going to happen anymore. But we still get this absolutely wonderful work.
I love the little detail of the Space Marine blessing his weapon at the beginning. A little bit of foreshadowing there as to the nature of the evil they are dealing with
This may be a reply to a old comment but oh well.
Hes not "blessing" it in a religious sense for deamons. Hes bluetooth syncing it haha.
Space marine bolters have machine spirits (Programing/low-grade AI) and hes performing a Rite to connect it to his suit.
You can tell this in part by the little red LED, its first off, then blinking, then solid. Which is how "syncing" is depicted in almost all devices.
@@dancinshroom7735 technically getting shit to work in 40k IS religious shit.
Your toaster ain't working? rite of maintenance then smack it!
The fact it tells such an excellent story without any dialogue too.
Well, it has _minimal_ dialogue that’s pretty distorted in the warp.
The guns that the Space marines/Astartes use are called Bolters they fire a 75 calibre rocket propelled armor piercing explosive rounds that turns normal humans into a red mist or blown to bits.
The guys with the force powers are Pyskers, people who are able to basically do space magic shoot lighting, summon fire, read your mind or control things with their minds, luckily those two weren't Alpha level Pyskers because that poor space marine would have been turned inside out with mere thought.
And luckily there were only two of them, when there were a ton of those spine-helmet things in the room with the unfinished golden big boi. 😵
They are Theta level psykers, Delta level at most
And luckily that the inquisitor didnt has time to fully turn.
The psyker of that caliber would rekt the whole ship
@@shindoukyoukithey wernt even that powerfull by psyker standards
@@vid101. Doesn´t need much to wreak havoc on something as vulnerable as the inside of a ship.
One of my favourite things about the audio in Astartes is how they use the audio to show focus, in particular in part 5 with the orb. The scene at 8:57 shows the space marine staring at the orb with the sound of his allies footsteps being quiet and only the thrumming sound from the orb being heard right up until his ally goes to give him the equipment he needs at which point the rest of the sounds quickly cut back in.
It does it again at 11:24, most of the sound is drowned out by the whispering as the orb takes all of his focus until he snaps out of it, the whispering stops and the rest of the audio comes back.
As another note on the audio and lore, Astartes typically communicate through vox (basically a radio) as their suits are fully sealed which means people on the outside can't hear them speaking to each other unless they want them to hear.
When the Inquisitor (the guy who got his head removed via punch and was subsequently shot to make sure he was dead) turns to the Astartes, you can just about hear him yelling "Recall the Astartes immediately" followed by the leader turning to one of the other space marines and making a gesture, there's no outward speach here because it's all done through vox. (You can actually see the Astartes receiving orders to retreat at 11:05 which is why his head tilts)
Short version, there's an absurd amount of lore details packed into this series especially when it comes to details on how space marines fight and function.
What I just love is that there's no brash bravado, no wasted energy. Not only does it make for incredibly tight choreography and film-making, but it communicates just how deadly Astartes are. There are no hesitations, no wind ups, no monologuing. They are efficient and exacting in their actions. Their movements are swift and precise. These guys are engineered killers with a job to do and they waste no time getting down to business.
It's so intense, so tense - it really feels like a real fight in a life or death situation coming down to the wire. Milliseconds could make all the difference.
The best part is you can theorize which chapter of astartes this is by their tactics, too.
These look like Grey Knights, because they seem to know what they're doing against Pyskers and other entities. Not every chapter fights the same way.
@@SSD_Penumbra they are actually a homebrew chapter called the retributors, and they were made by the creator of the series.
Astartes, despite its relatively short runtime, really benefits from a slower frame by frame dissection. There's a lot going on that a first time, even a fifth time view misses. The attention to detail was amazing.
It took me a lot of times watching it before I caught the flashes on top of the pillars in the ending shot, signifying the other Marines arriving as well. It's so goddamn subtle.
The bolt pistol round skipping off the multilaser shield and scoring a headshot on a gunner was where I realized just how deeply deliberate this project was.
@@aaronmalay5497 Every frame is just CRAFTED.
Not only is it brilliantly shot, but it’s also extremely lore accurate to the most minute details. This dude has insane talent. I do wish we’d get a film or series from him
One of the best things in Astartes is, in my opinion, the sheer sense of power on the part of the Space Marines. Their human soldier enemies are neither stupid nor cowards. They seize high ground, set up proper ambushes with overlapping fields of fire, deploy sappers and snipers. They dig in at choke points and bring heavy weapons to bear. They do everything right...and it *doesn't matter* The Astartes smash through them like tissue paper.
Astartes depicted what really should be a space marine, grim calculating and near invincible. Whereas GW showed space Marines very poorly by having them die so easily and their armor so weak despite being so bulky, not to mention they were screaming like amateurs all the goddamn time like deluded manchild lol, an insult to the characteristics of a space marine. Kudos to this creator
Yeah this is the perfect depiction so far that I have ever seen. It's also awesome that the enemies weren't just bullet sponges for SM to shoot at, They were actually quite competent but it was just too much against SMs. Also love that SMs weren't depicted like basic heavies walking across gunfire and just tanking everything while shooting back. While they do here but they also have the awareness to dial it back a bit and attack back in a different manner. Like that SM retreating to cover from the laser machinegun and popping a smoke/flash and returning fire from that blind sight. Just great.
Also that SM just straight up gritting a psyker to get a shot off just portrays their pure grit and resilience for the cause.
Possibly the best analysis of Astartes from a filmmaking/audiovisual storytelling perspective, kudos.
Thank you so much, means a lot! KZ
@@kaizammit *SAME GUY WHO DID THIS, DID HELSREACH.... AND IT'S AS CLOSE TO A WARHAMMER 40K MOVIE WE HAVE.*
@@tonyyul703Helsreach was someone else (Richard boylan?) this was Syama Pedersen
@@HistoritorJimaldus Yeah, entirely different person with an extremely different art style and vision. Helsreach is fucking phenomenal, but Astartes is ascendant.
There's really no comparing the two.
@@raifsevrence Helsreach had its moments, but ultimately it was too pompous for its own good.
fun fact, on the end you can see flashes on the other pilars, those are maybe his combat brothers been teleported there. So that place is massive.
I love how well he tells the story without using dialogue at all. The very first shot showing the space marines were they walk by the normal guardsmen on their ship really hammer home just how massive and bulky astartes are, it's such a cool and simply detail.
I think the overhead lights (a halo) also is a small nod to the notion in-universe the astartes are sort of viewed as the god-emperors "angels".
He told a story without telling a story, I'm a fan of W40k and have been for years, but I have absolutely no clue what happens in the film.
A quick text wall at the start to explain what is going on would be great. Rather than sitting here, going, who's that, what's that, what's going on?
@@smally8499234 well it does say at the beginning that there’s an uprising that has been defeated, and from that we can surmise that this ship is the remnants of it trying to flee and the Marines are a kill team sent to clear the ship. After that the mission shifts to securing that Xenos orb like they did to the one on their ship.
@@MattR8605 So that's what the chained orb thing is! I was sure that thing is important, but was unable to connect the dots with the speaking orb. Thank you!
Well, aside from the ending which made zero sense at all.
A minor detail i do so dearly love, in the cloth animation. The way it shifts as the priest in red is jerking about and twitching from trying in vain to fight the possession is so subtle, yet incredibly well animated. Not to mention, when the priest is shot. Most people miss the fact the shoulder cape flys back a little more with every shot. Its a subtle detail most don't even really acknowledge, but it really puts some heft to the implied power of the shots, without showing the actual result.
You can also just barely see the blood splatter fly up from the results, just barely but it's there, which again just overall adds to the feel of just how brutal that (completely necessary) execution was
not a priest. thats an Inquisitor. that big I with the skull in it? dead give away
also, when the second psyker blast goes off at 5:18 you can see the bolter round being blown away by the incoming blast. Such cool detail
I captures it perfectly, the feeling of what its like to go up against an astartes and how terrifying and hopeless it must be, while also the feeling of being an astartes having to deal with chaos and demons and necrons and shit. the look, the tone, the sounds, the atmosphere. You also had the same reaction everyone had "i want a feature length film of this".
I've watched this film so many times that now I have to watch other people's reactions to freshly relive the first time I saw it. It's not just the best 40k animation ever, it's one of the best scifi animations ever.
We waited months/a year between parts. And I'm not even a hardcore WH40K fan. I'm a fan though. I still get goosebumps watching these. I don't remember if the teaser after 13:12 came out after he got hired. But we all hope to see more from him. I'm glad you were able to experience this.
Yeah it took him about 2.5 years to make this 15 minute and his patreon pulls in about 9,000 dollars a month. So it took around a quarter of a million dollars and almost 3 years to produce 15 minutes of animation without a studio behind him. So yeah it was made by 1 man, but it took a long time and a lot of money.
@@nullakjg767 Thx. But I knew all this already : ) I subscribed to his channel even before it was hacked.
Teaser was there. Remember watching it in March-April of 2020. But then was leaked another teaser.
The wait in between clips was absolute torture.
The teaser was always there.
You started at the top. This is literally the best representation of the 40k universe in a cinematic medium.
This has to be one of the best reaction videos i've seen on RUclips! You really broke everything down to the smallest detail and truly helped me understand the film making process. Thank you so much! I learned a lot from this video :)
I love how there's almost a rythm to it.
Especially in the last moments in the fight agaisnt the psyker dudes. Face stab, electric shock, neck stab, spine pull.
It goes in beats, and it's so damn satisfying.
Well, to give you some background: The masked guys using "the force" seem to be automatons (notice NO blood after being stabed, and the metallic clank as they fall, that's not just from the masks, but they may have been possesed humans). You may also see similar masks (and a lot of them), as the Astartes walk towards the sphere (at 7:46, when the statue shows up, they are two both its sides). A bit earlier you can see and hear something resembling ice breaking, as they walk in. Ice is supposed to represent the presence of warp energy (for the moment just assume warp is another dimention, from which some entities can draw "magic force" from). That means that those two in masks were "puppeteered" by the creature in the sphere, as it is highly skilled psyker (warp magician).
The incomplete statue can be anything, even something along the lines of a vessel, through which the creature may be able to manifest even more of it's power (the masked guys were... weak in terms of what a really powerfull psyker can do).
As the astartes were getting near you can see and hear how the creature tries to take over their minds (pay attention to the "whispers" as it emits those puffs of air - it tries to get into their heads). This comes up again in the highly distorted dialogue between the sphere in the attecked ship, and the one we see chained up (and rigged with explosives, propably melta mines?), as the the dialogue goes something like this: "Who is there?" "I have failed brother, the astartes deny our touch (aka. being dominated and mind controlled)". "You must return. Break your seal" "Impossible, we'll never survive". "You must take them (those 5 astartes). The guy eavesdropping on the psychic communication is a human psyker, and an Iquisitor, he then shouts to the astartes captain (?) near him "Recall them immediately", orders are given, one astartes runs out to relay them, and this is where the inquisitor slips, looses his focus, and the chained up sphere gets into his mind. What follows is a summary execution (of one of the more powerfull in terms of political power and influence people in this universe human wise non the less). And propably not a moment too soon, as he may have been turned into a portal to the warp, and there are demons there. Literal demons. And they are all too happy to jump into real space, and do demon things. That involve horrible time for humans.
The 5 astartes are sucesfully "taken" and what you saw after "absorbtion" was the warp. The creature in the sphere tried to flee through warp, as this dimention is used for faster then light travel in this universe, but you need special protective fields etc. to survive the journey. It had none, so the purpose of taking the marines was for them to be bait for demons. It didn't work, and the creature was blasted and killed by something. This has returned the astartes into real space, but into a totally different place, perhaps light years away (it's even possible into a different time), kinda like being teleported into a random place. The guy coughing blood is not alone - you can see short burst of light on other pillars around him, this is propably the others being thrown in there with him.
Another viewer told me about those flashes, I thought it was a glitch on the downloaded video (palm to face). Thank you for the information, I hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
Damn I've watched this at least 50 times and never caught the flashes! You're 100% right, the main Marine is standing on top of a pillar like the others where the flashes appear.
Some people have said that the creature holding the marines was killed by the human psyker in one shot
Appreciate the assistance with the dialogue. I've always wanted a version with subtitles but could never find one 👍
@@dc-vw4qm unlikely, more likely just a random warp entity
12:52 You can actually see the flashes of his battle-brothers teleporting/appearing on the other pillars in the distance if you look closely.
Honestly my favorite parts are the subtle stuff you barely notice, such as the Inquisitoral Psyker shouting to the Astartes Captain/Seargent *"return them immediately"* which led to his corruption due to losing concentration. The muffled sound of it due to his helmet really makes it hard to hear but its an awesome thing to include. Another is near the end when the space marines are pulled into what looks like warpspace, with the beast that grabs them with its tendrils, something smashes into it to free them, though its hard to catch the first time around.
Something else to keep in mind is that there's no spoken words until far later but no doubt the marines were talking to each other through comms, which made the scene with the inquisitor being corrupted even more startling because now you can hear the chant through his helmet. Just how loud must that chanting have been for it to be just barely muffled like that.
The Melta gun shot across the room is one of my favorites. And the way the fragments around the shielding is amazing for showing the spherical element.
Every time I watch Astartes, I notice how great every single camera angle and movement is.
I think we all had the same expressions at the same moments in the short. Any the same disbelief that this was all done by just one person. It's the best animated short I've ever seen. Great reaction!
The sound design is absolutely crisp. I love how you stated that, "Each movement felt critical" it really emphasizes how space marines operate with purpose.
Watching various people completely nerd out or otherwise just go "holy f..." over Astartes never gets old for a person like me who loves 40k and adores animation as a whole even more.
edit: That "Oh good theres more." gave me a great big smile.
7:20 The significance of that ice-crack on the floor, Is because in 40k the Source of... What is essentially their version of magic, The Warp, Causes anything it is exposed to for a prolonged period, To start being covered in Frost and Ice, So even if you've got someone blasting another person with a stream of fire, The room itself is going to start freezing over, So the significance of that moment is essentially a prelude to "There some magic BS going on, And its been going on for a while"
The original version of Astartes is absolutely incredible. I was beyond flabbergasted when Games Workshop procured the rights and proceeded to make the baffling changes it did.
What changes did they make? I can't tell if you're making a sarcastic remark or not.
hell yeah man. glad you loved it. i didnt know anything much about 40k when i watched this at first but it got me watching lore videos and cruising comments for a while trying to figure out whats going on. i feel like i miss that mystery. i dont know if we'll ever get an astartes 2 but im really holding out hope - stuff like this is so special and hard to come by
i feel like since space marines are so big and hulking, its difficult to animate them believably. but in astartes, they just had this weight to them, and they moved so effortlessly but it didnt look 'floaty' or 'weightless'. the SFX were great on them. armor plates shifting, big footsteps. it all came together to give whats in my opinion, the best rendition of space marines ive seen anywhere online. i love it i love it. power suits, man. so cool
love your content brother, looking forward to more!!
also, in the last shot where you say 'hes on his own', check out the tops of the pillars in the distance
OMFG! I saw a little flash when I was editing the video together, I thought it was a bad video download aka glitch. Now I've watched that part again with your knowledge... I saw them, my mind has been blown even further! As I said in the video, best content I've seen in years. It's made me want to pick up the games again.
Thank you for watching and commenting again fella, it really means a lot! Hands down my top subscriber and I hope you keep enjoying the content plus learn something, even if it's something small. Uploading when I can so definitely more to come. KZ
Mind blown!
@@kaizammit Yeh, Astartes has been lovingly handcrafted and filled with things to see every second, finding new ones each time you rewatch it. There are so many little things you can miss just by blinking or trying to comment on something during the video. 😅Even something as miniscule as the warp manifesting for a single frame when the Astartes got thrown out of the warp onto the pillar.
i love how he doesn't ever hang on to a beat for too long.
I know that I wouldn't have that strength, the details and effort put into some of these shots, and then show it for less than a second.
just a masterpiece in pacing his beats.
One of the most well rounded breakdowns of 'Astartes' i've seen. Genuinely great elaboration on filmmaking techniques, camerawork, and in a way even I, with the monkey brain, can understand.
I absolutely learned stuff watching you today! Take my sub! :D
Loving your comment about the monkey brain, then I see your display picture! Favourite animal a monkey by any chance? Thank you for watching and commenting. KZ
this is what i consider to be a purest depiction of space marines in the lore as in they are not always the shining "heros" often portrayed in the books they are living weapons of destruction and devastation deployed when the imperium is basicly saying "yea were done playing nice"
A central concept of the Warhammer universe is The Warp. A parallel dimension, the sea of souls, the emotional energy field of the galaxy, hell. The Warp is the energy source that psykers, the “force” users, draw on for their abilities. It’s also the shortcut used to travel faster than light, with ships tearing holes in reality and travelling through hell itself to get places. It’s unclear whether those balls were demons of some kind, entities native to the warp, or some other being who just uses the Warp. At the end we can see the Astartes getting dragged into the Warp, only for their kidnapper to get eaten by a bigger fish, so to speak, and the Astartes getting forced back out of the warp.
the Spheres are much like spacesuits for the Warp Entities as it's well known they can't exist in our reality just as much as we can survive in the Warp
@@brothersgt.grauwolff6716 it’s certainly a possibility
It seems as if the Psyker in the big ship sent a final counterattack that hit the entity when it absorbed all of the Space Marines
@@Echidna23Gaming No. the Psyker was dead. The black mist thing was a predator warp entity that attacked the orb alien as it tried to escape through the Warp.
17:01 the wall shot stood out to me as well because it connects the shot of the Astartes to the guy who shoots through the wall. It helps understand the context of where everything is and how it's connected. It's not a random guy shooting and then there's holes in the wall somewhere else. It's like "look at this wall! It's important. Because now I'm gonna make something happen on the other side!"
Every time i watch Astartes or a reaction video to it, i discover/learn something new. And every time i am again amazed at what Syama Pederson created! It not only captures the tabletop, the lore and the 40k universe brilliantly, but it´s also a masterpiece of animation. True Art!
And with everything you, @KZ, discribed, the lighting, the shots, the angles, i am even more amazed.
Not only is Syama a true fan, who invested years into this, but he is also a genius at his craft! He made something truly unique!
Wish we would get an update from him. He’s a legend in my eyes!
You know, sometimes you accidentally stumbled upon something, or in this case, a video that you watched barely seconds into it, then you get "WOW!". You mind were blown away, and got goosebumps all over. More so when you read into the description and it said it's a one-man fan project. This is exactly what happened to me when I found the 2nd part of this Astartes project. The 2nd part was newly uploaded at that times, I think the views didn't even reach 1k yet. Immediately I went to his channel, saw the 1st part, and watched it. From that moment, I subscribed to his channel, and have been waiting for his videos with much anticipation, and each new release didn't disappoint. I didn't even knew anything about Warhammer at that time. When he revealed that GW reached him for a special project, I was so excited hoping for a full film of the Astartes project. It's so good it's a no brainer move imho. But little did I know that people at GW don't even have a brain. I hope when his (Syama's) contract and deal with GW is done, some company would offer him a well deserved opportunities.
Found you today on your Space Marine 2 video! I figured you HAD to have done this one. I was pleased to see I was correct. I love the videos and the breakdowns.
I'm super happy to be seeing people react to this amazing Astartes video. Having a full length movie or a tv series that's animated to that level would be an absolute dream.
honestly the fan version of the 40k make the space marine felt more like space marine lore wise than the stuff that the official 40k make themself, in lore this guys have super human reflex and speed and the official 40k movies series the armor doesn't hold up or the space marine move slow as hell
Agreed. There is certainly room for the kind that stand in the open, impervious to enemy fire while mowing down daemons/xenos/heretics in droves, but this sort of animation makes them actually seem like SUPERHUMANS rather than just really big, angry guys in power armour.
I mean if they showed Astartes as they were then Warhammer lore would be incredibly boring. It'd basically be "Chapter of Space Marines goes here. Kills a whole bunch of stuff. Some space marines die but slaughter tens of thousands, if not millions for every space marine dead" Keep in mind enemies that match space marines can kill off entire armies basically by themselves.
@@xxhowisuxxdon’t they do that already?
@@xxhowisuxx they already do that like "heart of iron" or "blood angel" on those the space marine movement seem slow like ZZmonkeys said angry dude in armor. They don't felt like they have super human at all. actually most of game workshop official 40k movie is just that angry dude mowing down bunch of stuff but they never nailed down the super human aspect of the space marine.
@@averageeughenjoyer6429 That's generally how the space marines work, yes. There are some enemies that can match them, and they can still be killed, but outside of the books they generally just go around solving issues with very limited dead.
I love watching reactions to Astartes
I'm a fan of 40k, and this film is everything i ever wanted as a fan
You came up on my recommended, you have a new subscriber
What a great tutorial into the art and techniques of the filmmaker. Thank you.
3:16 One thing I never noticed during my first few viewings was that there were two guys. A gunner and a loader. That's why he fired twice. Look for two sets of circles for their goggles.
I watched this purely as a 40k fan not expecting to learn anything. I am thrilled to have walked away from this learning something. I feel like I can appreciate works like this even more now, thank you!
Amazing, thank you! KZ
To add to it, on second viewing you'll notice that every detail is accounted for, adding to the world building or story.
One of my favourites is in the hallway scene of the first part. There are normal crewmembers in that hallway and they are 1) so much smaller than the marines and 2) they get out of the way for them.
Its a gift that keeps on giving, even after
Epic breakdown. Was really looking forward to this one, and it doesn't disappoint.
Marvellous!
“The best team running” and “Proper team work” are absolutely my new favorite way to describe this faction now
I think the creator of Astartes is a one in a generation person.So much conviction and love for their work. It's amazing and I could watch it a hundred times and never be bored.
Apparently 'Games Workshop', the owners of the 'Warhammer 40k' franchise later employed the maker of this cinematic after they were so impressed by the caliber of his work. Also I do believe Amazon Prime is in pre-production of a live action Warhammer 40k series starring Henry Cavill, who is a massive fan of Warhammer.
Oh I'm ready for that!
It's more like they threatened to sue him into oblivion if he didn't delete his channel and everything he'd created that related to their IP, then when they realized he was extremely loved by the fans, they gave him a job to diminish the backlash. He made a lot more money with his Patreon than he'll ever make working for them and despite being years since it happened, we haven't seen anything of this caliber come out of GW+. They probably have him working on some cheap crap and we lost an awesome creator that was trying to show us his vision of 40k.
what @SeaRaven227 said
@@SeaRaven227 Yep. They saw him as competition, and removed him from the board.
Wow, that's terrible.
I really like how you breakdown all the aspects of film making in this and explained it very easily to understand as well. The guy who made this did get hired by games workshop and has worked on several trailers for their games. One such trailer is called the Horus Heresy Trailer. So it you would like to see how he transitioned his fan film to official work it would be awesome to see how you breakdown and react to that.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and sure thing, I'll add it to my list. Thank you for watching and commenting my friend. KZ
In the last scene, if you watch the other pillars in the distance closely, you can see small beams or pops to display the other Astartes being teleported to the same place, just very far apart, hardly visible to each other.
This is the best 40K cinematography and filmmaking we in the community has ever seen. It's absolutely a work of art, and a masterpiece at that. Appreciate hearing your take on it, was interesting to listen to. Have a great day and thanks for sharing. Welcome to the Grim Dark.
You know how amazing the story telling is when you realize not a single word was spoken.
Such a fantastic breakdown, loved how you broke down basically every single technique and how they worked together.
If you haven't seen Star Wars the Old Republic's "Sacrifice" and "Betrayed" videos, you totally should. They had 4k re-releases a while ago, and they're one of the best short form storytelling I've ever seen. They're also peak Star Wars, of a kind we haven't really gotten in years outside Andor.
Thank you for watching and commenting! Means a lot. I'll add them to my list so keep an eye on the channel. KZ
And now you've become a Warhammer 40k RUclipsr. Welcome, you'll be deep diving 40k lore for years to come as we all watch you react to our universes
I recall from one of the novels (I forget which) that somebody, a Guardsman I think, remarked about the Astartes that nothing that big has any business being able to move that fast or that stealthily.
Fun fact: that "vehicle" they rode in the beginning wasn't a boarding vessel, it was a boarding _torpedo._ The squad didn't fly to the ship, they were _shot at it._ Because that's just how the Astartes do.
Oh wow, that's cool! Thanks for letting me know.
Another feeling that i really love from those hallway shots is the claustrophobia. Because your view is above them and the ceiling is so close you get a sense for just how massive these space marines are.
And the regular human crew flattening themselves against the wall to let the Astartes pass always makes me chuckle. Excellent show-not-tell for both their literal size, and how they command a religious degree of deference from regular humans. So much storytelling right there in the first few seconds of the animation!
Such a kewl vid by a fan!! Luved it and not even remotely surprised he was snapped up by the company and now works for them. Amazingly talented!! What a vid to review for your first reacts!! Luved the breakdown and you explain it so clearly. Cheers again and look forward to more of your vids.... lol just saw you showed Boyka. Kudos for using such an obtuse reference and I luv that film too
The Matt Damon/Bourne reference.. I kind of disagreed as I really liked those fight scenes and how they gave such a realistic edge to the scene. Too fast and frantic for a normal person to follow the blows clearly, which highlighted the difference between a scripted blow by blow fight like the Boyka fights and a real time fight by professionals. Not all blows land or are clean hits. Improvisation. I have read that serious professionals rated the Bourne fights amongst the best depictions of what a true fight would really look like. I enjoy Boyka style and Bourne style equally as they both offer fantastic energy and different ways to showcase a world that I will never enter.
That noise you heard when they stepped into the vault was their boots crushing a layer of frost on the floor, which formed because the temperature is being lowered by the presence of warp energy.
I would like to recommend the video "Armouring of a Space Marine" for your next 40k reaction. Loved the video and insight you gave!
It's way worse then this, this is high end art in my opinion
@@malloott I never said it was better, I was just recommending a 40k video for him to react to and discuss.
@@malloottIt's definitely not better but the aesthetic of it is really cool like with the look of the tech priests and cherubs flying around.
I'll never get tired of people breaking down why the astartes cinematics were so good.
Just shows his complete dedication to bring his idea to life,! as close to the picture he had in his head.
The thing you touched on that i love about the action is how readable it is. So much modern action is too busy or, as you put it, too tight with too many close cuts. I remember stopping Quantum of solace halfway through because the fight scenes were completely unreadable yet here, despite being dark, you can follow the action so well!
I think it's okay sometimes for like a shot or two but no more. What's the point? If you can't work out what's going on then the audience/viewer will look away or take them out of the experience, absolutely not! Don't do it! Thank you for watching fella. KZ
The detail on this film is insane, while the space marine is sprinting if you carefully listen you can hear the actuators in the power armor
There is a very short trailer that you can find for Astartes 2. It's awesome to watch and then go back and look at frame by frame because it packs alot of really cool shit into a very small package.
It's well worth checking out the other 40k animations. Stuff like Armouring, Mechanicus, The New Edition, Space Marine 2
Oh and there's an amazon show set in 40k that's being worked on with Henry Cavill spearheading the project. No one knows what it'll be about tho
Btw, because the creator got picked up by GW, the Retributors (the dudes in the film) are now part of official canon.
Also the "The Lord Inquisitor - "Grey Knights" Teaser" is a wonderful treat from Warpgazer Animations.
Not just a show on prime, it's an entire cinematic universe, with Henry cavill as executive producer and starring in one of the series
@@Akhaandir Oh yeah. Idk why I didn't think to mention that.
To this day, Astartes is literally one of the most quality things I've ever seen in my life.
You have a fantastic eye for the art and aesthetic and nature. Really appreciated you showing the basics, because as amazingly beautiful this is, it only works because of the traits and technique you pointed out. Ive seen this dozens of times, but it was interesting to hear the technical side. The choice of lighting. Shot angles. The senses of movement. Where the camera is. Made me appreciate the artist more, and you for keeping the craft. Cheers.
For the record Netflix, this is the bar of quality the fan base has come to expect with your 40k stuff you are making.
I thought Amazon was making something with Cavil? KZ
If I'm not mistaken, the creator of this went on not only to be hired on to Games Workshop, but I believe he was given a senior lead position if not a director position in their animations department.
Astartes is the gift that keeps on giving. Timeless. Peerless. Ground breaker that dragged 40k into the main stream.
Part of the design of WH40K is that it's a sandbox, so not everything in the universe is covered by the 'canon' information and something I LOVED about this series is that they leaned into this to create mystery even for people elbows deep in lore. The more you know, the more elements you'll recognise, but unless it's something I've not come across before (very possible), no-one will watch this and, from the outset, know what's going to happen.
This was such an honest fun and professional review of one of the greatest animations ever made I immediately subscribed to your channel.
…and I cannot say how much I would like to see a sequel to this.
Thank you for subbing, means a lot. I hope you enjoy my future content too! KZ
What a video!!! 1. I got to rewatch the masterpiece that is The Astartes project, 2. Seeing your reacting to the video was magical, felt similar on my first watches, and 3. Having a really great direction of the cinematic artistery done by a professional. Great work man, really enjoyed it :)
He has been hired by Games Workshop and I believe is working on Astartes 2 (Fingers crossed) I completely agree, this is THE most phenomenal piece of film making I've ever seen. its truly incredible, especially for one man.
"I wanna see a full feature-film of this caliber'' you and me both. Sadly, with the time it took this man to make just these 5 small parts, it'll never happen. And I don't trust Games Workshop to make one with him and other people in a shorter timeframe because it'll definitely suffer. It's awesome he was picked up by Games Workshop though.
It'd be really hard. You'd have to gut a lot of the grim darkness stuff otherwise it'd never get into theaters. You couldn't even BEGIN to show how terrible Chaos actually is without causing an absolute outrage amongst non 40k fans. (Remember that Chaos is the ones with rape-murder cults, who literally creates Chaos Space Marines through the most evil process of misery making), Orks would have to have their indiscriminate brutality gutted because showing them murdering thousands of innocent civilians while laughing wouldn't fly, Tyranids would have to be gutted because most of their weapons are gross, and extremely brutal, and the Imperium would have to be...not the imperium, AKA not just as likely to indiscriminately murder its own people for the slightest defect, not willing to use servitors. The average public would likely view either the Tal or Aelderi as the "good guys" simply because they're not absolute scumbag murderers who are just as happy causing misery as saving their own people.
Basically grimdark wouldn't work with the American public, they could make a made-for-internet movie, though.
@@xxhowisuxx I think you could show it but you probably would have to be tasteful about it and imply the absolute debauchery rather than show its excesses directly, which if done well, would in fact be scarier simply because showing a little bit and implying a lot leaves a whole lot of room for the viewers mind to imagine the horrors they are glimpsing. Same principal is why showing a monster in a film typically lowers the level of tension.
@@Arkimedus I dunno man. If you were going to, say, do Orks, Orks killing everything is literally all of what Orks are, it's in their very DNA/RNA (If Orks indeed have that) and they are therefore extremely crass, often very stupid.
Tyranids are just as brutal and hopeless. Aeldari are something you could make a story about, but it'd be hard for people to understand.
Same with Tau, but Tau are probably the weakest major faction of Warhammer due to their size.
@@xxhowisuxx I dont really think itd be as difficult to do as people think, there are a lot of disturbing films out there that imply more than show, of course, not everything could be implied, youd basically have to show the daemonculaba because people arent going to understand what is going on without being shown. But theres plenty of stuff you you'd ne able to imply moreso than show, chaos murderrape cults barging into random innocent peoples houses on an invasion only to torture them for days on end could very easily be implied with the right cinamatography and lighting, though it would take skilled filmmaking to portray it well. Even non horror movies can portray horrific events in a way people understand whilst still remaining tasteful about it, that new film 'the sound of freedom' is about child trafficking, abuse, and pedophiles, nothing needless is shown yet it is very clear exactly what is occuring. That said, I can agree that it depends on the context, certain particularly difficult to understand factions and situations probably would need to be directly shown depending on how difficult the horror is for the average person to understand through implication. It definitely would have to be an R rated film./
Loved astartes. But also really loved the breakdown. I know nothing about film making so learned a lot from this vid. Thnx.
I have watched Astartes sooooooo many times. I think it's magnificent work. I love there is no dialogue but you see small gestures that show their intention. If I won the lotto or came into some money I would invest it into making a full film. Love it.
Search for the original version. When GW hired the creator they striped out some of the sounds that had copywrite. Makes a huge difference.
The person who made Astartes is more talented than 95% of the people in all of the Western entertainment industries of animation, film and sound effects.
another that came out just abou the same time was "death of hope" but be warned its quite more gory and dark, so maybe not stream material. your choice. i find it great because it really brings the dark vibe of wh40k, which is lately beeing nutered for wider audiences
"guys that big shouldn't have moved that fast" must be the default description of the Astartes 😂😂😂
This was great. Seeing reactions from this from other "industy people" they all highlight different features like both the artistic aspect but allso the technicality of actually making it, that i guess show just how talented this guy is
from what ive picked up but im still fairly new to 40k that glass cracking sound is a sign of demonic presence & the orbs are demonic orbs and they talk to each other while that guy watches in but because he let his guard down he got possesed thats why they killed him otherwise the ship would be lost (last part something i read by some1 who knows more then me by a mile) p.s that opening sceen also allows you to see just how big the space marines are compared to a normal human
Thanks for the information and commenting. I mentioned the size difference in an offcut from the video, It's a great opening shot giving loads of information. I try to keep these videos under 30 minutes now so not everything I say stays in. Hope you stick around with the channel KZ
Psychic energy often manifests as ice/frosting, the glass cracking was that
The orbs were probably not daemonic, but the physical bodies of a psychic race, sort of like a shell they use to hide from the warp, not everything warp is daemonic/chaos
The entity seems to have broke its shield (the sphere) and grabbed the Astartes, probably trying to take them over as new hosts
The black presence that killed the monster in the warp was probably the inquisitor, he has that same black smoke emanating from him before he listens into the orbs conversation
His last act was to save the astartes
What I imagined, was that the warp have the same effects as typical ghost signs.
So fast frost, that cased the air to freeze. That was at least the same sound as you get when thin ice is cracked.
But I am just guessing.
@@ragnarian The orbs are relics of the Yu'vath. A now extinct warp-worshipping xenos(alien) empire. Their technology merged warp sorcery and material science. Those orbs are basically daemon powered computers.
@@Fakk2 I know that was a theory from arch and others
But I thought the maker said the orbs were an original creation, not the yu'vath