Warhammer in mainstream media

[Killer Angel]

I will develope asap some hypothesis on that.

 

[Warden]

Guys, do you read the same OP as I?

@Captaniser opened the thread with this premise:
"Imagine that warhammer (both universes) was a gargantuan universe, with the popularity of Warcraft or Star wars"

I know Warhammer is not as popular as Warcraft / SW, but this is the starting assumption for this sort of "alternate reality"

Oops. I can't read... sorry I missed the point of the thread mighty @Captaniser .

In that case... most of my first point stands I think. The movies would have to be sufficiently "dark" enough to really capture the feel of the universe on the big screen.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I don't think Warhammer is as popular as Warcraft, and Warcraft is no where near as popular as Star Wars.

I reckon it was in its prime. Warcraft, certainly Warcraft III, is a nice fantasy setting with an interesting storyline but the Computer players are ridiculously hard, even on easy level. You're trying to get enough gold to recruit your army an d all of a sudden the enemy attacks you in a massive horde with a level 5 or 6 hero where your hero is level 1 or 2. The weakness of Warcraft is the resource you need the most of is the resource where you can only get 3 or 4 workers on at a time. Conversely I find Starcraft (the original of course) easier and more fun because the resource you need most of (minerals) allows you to get 8 or 9 workers on at a time (at least if you play Zerg it does...).

Pretty much agree. I kinda like Warhammer but the lore is even more silly than Warcraft.

That's not a nice thing to say on a Warhammer forum...

Basically that. I started this thread hoping to hear what GW and Warhammer would look like, IF it was a titanic and well known universe, rivaling Star Wars and Warcraft. Not if the lore is silly or whether we should make movies about Sigmarines.

I was thinking discussions like:

Would GW lower their prices?
Would Warhammer become more childrens friendly?
Would Warhammer toys, not miniatures, exist?
Could there be major movies?
Would the End Times ever had happend?

And so on...

Well to those discussions I would say yes (GW are tight-fisted now but that's only because they're not that famous compared to PC game companies and stuff and they need to keep the prices high to survive), no (It would lose much of its appeal to older gamers), yes (It would probably expand to other markets including toys to try and get more younger gamers interested, perhaps as an 'introduction' to Warhammer before they move onto the game), yes (especially with Fantasy because there are so many points of view) and no (If fantasy was as successful as that, GW probably wouldn't have decided to kill it off. There would have been Bretonnian, Beastman and Skaven army book followed by 9th Edition instead of 40K 7th edition and GW would have stuck to their traditions).

 

[Killer Angel]

Basically that. I started this thread hoping to hear what GW and Warhammer would look like, IF it was a titanic and well known universe, rivaling Star Wars and Warcraft. Not if the lore is silly or whether we should make movies about Sigmarines.

I was thinking discussions like:

Would GW lower their prices?
Would Warhammer become more childrens friendly?
Would Warhammer toys, not miniatures, exist?

To a certain limit, yes.
Gw would be a different animal, with many new marketing areas that would have developed (movies, merchandising end so on).

SW got a large toys market, Warcraft much less... but with the release of big movie I don't see why not.
Plastic toys for diceless battles, school material (cover for copybooks, diaries and so on) focused on "nice" characters (Karl Franz, dwarfs and similar)

The prices for miniatures of "real" warhammer wouldn't be cheaper than actual ones, but we could have different games...
I can easily imagine GW to support the main games (WHFB and 40K), plus a very simplified "light version" (much simpler than AoS), as introductive game for child, with a lighter tone in the background (less gritty and grimdark) and lower prices for miniatures

The fluff of the main games will also evolve (supported by movies), to give more depths to many characters, other than battle-focused.

Would the End Times ever had happend?

Who knows? the point of End Times was to try to revive a stagnant market, this wouldn't be the case.
There could be a different "End Times", with a sort of mega cataclism to introduce SCE and sell even more.

Could there be major movies?

Not only those, but also cartoons.
Firstly, we would have movies about great battles (Macragge, siege of Altdorf), then we could have "side" movies: think to something as the "Birth" of the Tomb Kings, with the tragic rivalry between Khalida and Neferata...

 

[Aginor]

That's not a nice thing to say on a Warhammer forum...

...yeah. you are right, sorry.
I admit I never liked Warhammer lore. That is one of my reasons to not play it for all those years. Both the WHFB and 40K stories and background info I read were just of dire quality.
I warmed to them - to a certain degree - but honestly I think for a mainstream audience to enjoy them GW would have to ramp up the quality quite a bit.