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{{delete|"Created by one fan", who is trying way too hard to advertise his shit here. Quit it.}}
{{topquote|A Warhammer 40,000 fan-film project. Mini-episodes released as a five part series. 100% unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop.|Description of the Astartes Youtube Channel. [[Awesome|The unofficial part didn't age well]]}}
An utterly amazing set of youtube videos.


It covers the story of a combat squad of Space Marines from the Retributor Chapter (around 5-10 Marines) making an assault on a Traitor Space vessel and using its skills, experience and stupendously cool equipment to overcome (kill) all opposition (as they are damn heretical traitors).
'''Astartes''' is the name of a short, entirely fan-made and totally fuckin' awesome set of videos depicting an orbital boarding action by the [[Retributors]] chapter of [[Space Marines]] (not to be confused with the [[Sisters of Battle]] [[Retributor Squad]]s). The official description promises five videos, the last of which was released on April 2, 2020. The channel may be found [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFMtdiQILuTZr22sKUeAOOA here] BUT his main videos are hosted by Warhammer Community.


==Why the fans love the animation and story==
==The Premise==
[[File:ASTARTES.jpg|450px|right|thumb|We are the Emperor's angels of death, not his angels of mercy.]]
Following a series of incidents cataloged as the 'Argosa Uprisings' in 482.M39, the Retributors Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes is tasked with assisting in the hunt for fleeing renegades and their leaders, and bringing down the [[Emperor]]'s justice for their crimes.
*The animation quality is simply fantastic, you expect top end animation houses to create this.
*Theres no dialog - its just visuals and sound affects - this carries the story perfectly.
*This shows what Space Marines would be like in a real world setting (unlike the table top game and other games), theres only 1000 marines in a Chapter so why so few? This animation shows why their numbers are restricted by the Codex Astartes. There used to be a legions numbering up to 100,000......
*These are utterly professional in their combat and tactical skills. They move without hesitation, shoot with fantastic accuracy and communicate only when needed. Theres no crazy yelling and shouting.
*Space Marines are HUGE compared to baseline humans, their power armour makes them even bigger and imposing.
*Space Marines are FAST and AGILE, a lot of other fictions make them lumbering and cumbersome. With their reactions they can avoid a rocket launched missile as they saw the gunner fire it a distance away 
*Space Marine Power Armour is really really tough, small arms ping off, Autocannon rounds dent, Multi lasers drill small craters but the marine inside is fine and fighting.
*Space Marine Bolter and Bolt pistols are brutally effective to soft skinned targets, they simply get blown apart from the rocket propelled bolts reactive explosive charge. Semi-auto and fully automatic settings (ROF is very high, empties a 31 round magazine around 1.5 secs). The marines do not waste ammunition: one bolt to one target
*Space Marine helmet technology - it shows the helmet visors/eye slits are actually multiple cameras and auspex sensors(ie: its not going straight to the eyeball). It provides a full tactical HUD for the user (Giving a type of thermal/infrared/night vision highlighting of targets).
*They use combat knives, smoke grenades and the Sergeant (insigia/rank cannot be seen so we can only assume) uses a Plasma Pistol with very cool effect when firing (gas venting)   
*The enemy are no walk overs, they have trained ship armsmans with lasguns, autoguns, twin linked multi lasers, autocannons and shaped charge explosives. They make best with what they have when the marines attack but are simply overwhelmed.


==List of Videos==
==In Review==
There are currently a teaser and 4 videos:
A surprisingly high-quality series of videos from such a small outfit (And by that we mean a ''one-man team''), with equally surprising attention to detail from art and designs to sound. The animation is masterful, fluid, and impactful, while models and props are beautifully detailed - even more such details can be seen only by carefully pausing (for example, names can be seen etched on the left [[pauldron]] of some of the Marines in part 4). By contrast, the cinematography and storytelling focus on the strengths of minimalism, such as using negative space and darkness to draw the eyes, or silence to heighten the following sound effects. Because the videos lack dialogue, most of the audio component is either music or the sound of the weapons and equipment the characters are using.


* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcTZrrtdAUM Teaser trailer]
Done almost entirely without dialogue and showing how the Retributors Marines and their [[heretic]] adversaries duke it out, [[RAPE|it goes about as well as you'd expect for the heretics]]. Despite the rather one-sided nature of the action, [[Awesome|there are equal demonstrations of good tactics and responses by both sides]], which quite clearly illustrates why you [[Anal_circumference|don't mess with]] [[Gets_shit_done|someone who does this as a day job.]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-MteECxZUY Part 1: Prepping for the assault]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfGPMJ8A0QY Part 2: Launch and Insertion]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMGRa4_UjE4 Part 3: Purge the heretics]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2B6de1Geks&t=0s Part 4: To the vault] - [[Awesome|trending at #3 on youtube 13/6/2019 1 million views]]


==Analysis of Part 1==
It also showcases many smaller, more humble elements of the 40k universe, or expands on how they might be used [[Reasonable Marines|practically and effectively]]. Examples include a [[Caestus Assault Ram]] (launched from a [[Space Marine Fleets|Cobra Destroyer]] for some reason, probably because no one expects Space Marines to board from such a vessel), blind grenades, [[CS_Goto|multi-lasers]], [[Bolter|boltguns]] and a few others besides.
A squad of Marines check their gear, shuffle past some ship crew/chapter serfs, and load up in a boarding ram. The episode lacks action, but sets the mood and atmosphere for the season to come and shows off the animation and detail well enough.


*Imperial Cobra Class destroyer (Cannot see any Marine Insignia) - we assume the Marines are being assisted by the Imperial Navy or it is a Marine operated Destroyer?
Episode 1 establishes the time and place, as well as the animating chops of the creator; consisting mostly of the Retributors boarding their Caestus with short flashes of other scenes, it's less than a minute long. This episode is notable for giving a size comparison of the Space Marines to regular human Navy personnel who pass them in the hall.


==Analysis of Part 2==
Episode 2 features the Retributors boarding the traitorous ship, and it's a clear example of how even simple and logical actions can still be awesome alongside 40k's usual dose of crazy. The Retributors' assault ram makes a beeline for their target while a [[Thunderbolt Fighter]] (<s>which is a little strange, seeing as the Thunderbolt is an AIR rather than space-superiority fighter</s>most likely the Kestral class variant that's void capable) draws fire to make sure they arrive and later takes out the ship's engines. The ram itself has a [[Twin-Linked|twin-linked]] [[lascannon]] on the top used for point defense against incoming missiles and deploys a pair of (most likely [[servitor]]-controlled) defensive drones that protect the ram by throwing themselves in the path of oncoming missiles before exploding to prematurely detonate them. Then we see the ram doing what it's designed for: Firing off it's concentrated magna-melta beam while simultaneously slamming into the hull of the ship so the 5-man team of Astartes can board and capture it. The poor armsmen who get to the ram's position before the marines emerge stand zero chance, most getting off only a single burst from their [[autogun|autoguns]] before a bolt shell rips them in half. The Astartes, for their part, are cool and collected aimbot killing machines that feel entirely unconcerned with the incoming autogun fire and never waste a single bolt shell; each armsman takes ''one'' hit and dies instantly. Things fade to black as they move further into the ship.


*Imperial Navy Thunderbolt superiority fighter was flying point - it launched a diversionary attack to draw away the enemy ships point defense guns.
Episode 3 starts off with the traitors clearly putting all hands on deck to stop the Astartes, while a couple of huge men in script-covered gold masks stand in front of a massive vault door while goading the armsmen on. This is where we really see the Astartes in action, and it is ''glorious''. The ship's defenders are clearly acting with intelligence and knowledge of the terrain, setting up:
*Two servitor type counter measure drones were deployed from the boarding ram - they intercepted incoming homing missiles
*Boarding ram has its own point defense guns which detonate several incoming missiles
*Boarding ram takes several hits from the defending ships guns, then activates its melta weapons to ram and penetrate deep into the enemy ship hull
*Traitors try to secure the entry point, setting up fireteams on the gantries and scaffolds.
*Space Marines waste no time getting into combat, eliminating the first-response teams with brutal precise Boltgun fire.


==Analysis of Part 3==
'''A''' - a barricade at a choke-point with a [[heavy stubber]], [[lasgun|lasguns]], and a [[missile launcher]].
*Traitors using lasguns, shotguns, autoguns, a heavy stubber and a missile launcher
'''B''' - an ambush from a maintenance passage with an [[autocannon]].
*Traitor 2 man weapon team operating an Autocannon
'''C''' - a twin-linked [[multilaser]] on the other side of a chasm that a corridor opens into, effectively drawing one of the marines into a perfect kill-box.
*Traitor 2 man weapon team operating a twin linked Multi laser
*Traitor using a type of shaped charge/explosive (wasnt activated so unknown type)
*Traitors die to the Marines as if a white hot knife was slicing through butter


==Analysis of Part 4==
And ''absolutely none of it works'' because the Astartes are ''just that damn unstoppable''.


*They noted the 2 targets were not in cover. Conclusion: they were either very stupid or had unseen defenses (also they were to protect the vault door) – don’t underestimate the enemy
The men at the barricade die to bolter fire before the marines are even visible, with the rocket one of them manages to fire casually sidestepped before it can hit them, while the autocannon causes the marines to pause their advance ''just'' long enough for their comrade following them inside that very maintenance passage to kill the men operating it. Because the marines saw that coming a mile away.
*They set up 3 angles of attack left/right and head on
*Sergeant starts attack with a nod/ internal vox communication to his team
*3 marines begun with full auto bolters, they will empty magazines multiple times
[[File:ASTARTES3.jpg||right|thumb|Phew! these 31 rocket propelled bolts may have stung me a bit.]]
*Bolts had no affect – shields too powerful and hold the bolts in mid air
*So they distracted on one flank with the bolter fire, then moved to the opposite flank to confuse the enemy as long as they could.
*Whilst distracted – attack with one marine (assumed Sergeant) head one. Close the distance as quickly as possible and fire as many plasma pistol shots as possible
*Plasma bolts also had no affect and it looked like it had overheated/out of ammunition  and thus redundant and then discarded
*Begin CQC with bolt pistol and combat knife but now its evidant they have telekinetic powers
*Attempt to overcome by power armour/muscle – get within the shield threshold and fire – injure one But 2nd one stops the lunge
*Whilst distracted by 1st marine – CQC attack with 2nd marine , again it tries with bolt fire first but is disarmed, but its follow up lunge to head is successful and disconnects the brain and the ‘hood’
*1st target is distracted by death of 2nd target – and a neck lunge kills target. ‘Hood’ is ripped out
*Quickly check companions condition by looking/internal vox and then approach the vault door in tactical order (3 in back and 2 on point) - end


*Bolt gun design –at the rear end there is an ammo count of 31 rounds in a magazine, with a semi auto and full auto fire selectors
The team operating the twin-linked multilaser does the most damage to one of the marines by scoring his armor, but are still dispatched with contemptuous ease in a sequence that words simply cannot do any justice. Go watch it and you'll understand just what I mean.
[[File:ASTARTES2.jpg||right|thumb|It will kick 'a little' on full auto so i'd should  better prepare.]]
 
*Whilst on full auto, the recoil may become ‘excessive’ for the user and affect accuracy , the marine will then brace the gun against terrain to assist accuracy
Episode 4 is where we see the Astartes meet their first real challenge: those masked guys, who turn out to be [[psykers]]. This ''entire episode'' is one long, glorious sequence of the Astartes thinking and behaving tactically against two opponents with [[psionics|psychic powers]] and managing to come out on top. Once again, words cannot do the sequence justice. Why haven't you watched it yet?
*When one of empties his bolter at an enemy – you can see the bolts bounce/deflect around the target, this was possibly just as the target was using a force push attack. This push flew the bolt rounds all over the place
 
*When the bolts held by the shield auto detonate after a set period they explode like firecrackers 
==Episode 5==
*The bolt pistol has a unique straight set design magazine (i.e box), most bolters and pistols use a sickle shaped magazine.  
The 5th episode is the longest (and most glorious) episode at a shocking 7 minutes and 33 seconds but has a lot of unclear and cryptic questions, some of which were answered in an AMA the creator had on Reddit. The scene opens with a strange orb floating in chains with an Imperial Psyker wearing robes of the [[Inquisition]] psychically monitoring it while a Retributor veteran and a [[Beakie]] marine standby. The scene cuts to the OG squad of marines, walking down a corridor and passing by a massive golden construct in the shape of a man, obviously still under construction. The marines enter a large room and find another orb unchained and illuminated by a central light source. The orb attempts to resist the marines approaching by unleashing some psychic waves but the marines give absolutely no fucks.  The marines take out some bladed energy draining devices and stab into the orb. Back with our inquisitorial friend, he can hear the chained orb speaking to the unchained orb through the [[warp]].
*The plasma pistol fired 2 times before it became redundant. This could possibly be the unstable/fickle nature of plasma weaponry /the overuse of it before he got to this battle or simply out of ammunition.
 
*Marine numbers are unclear, on the left is lower and upper gantry, 2 marines were firing from top and 2 were firing from bottom. Then another marine on right flank. 2 were attacking head on - thus 7 Marines (but possibly the 2 on upper gantry then moved to the lower level? thus there were only 2 on the left flank, so in total 5 and not 7)
''"...no escape. I have failed brother."''<br />
''"We have all failed. The Astartes deny our touch. You must return, break your seal."''<br />
''"Impossible, (I) will never survive."''<br />
''"You must! Take them!*"''<br />
 
*May also say "Take the Alpha!", referring to the inquisitor psyker, meaning he's pretty powerful.
 
The psyker immediately warns the veteran marine of impending doom and this break in concentration results in a failed Stealth roll as it draws the attention and the words ''"At last"'' from the chained orb before [[Daemon| his mind ends up becoming overcome by whatever warp monster decided to eat it]] (or more likely the [[xenos]] within the ball did it). As is the way with [[Grimdark]], the veteran Retributor gives him a George Foreman right cross before Beakie Marine dumps a handful of bolt rounds into him for good measure, although the guy whose soul was being incinerated was probably pretty grateful for it. Back with the squad, the orb activates, reveals an absolute WTF of a creature, and begins absorbing the marines into itself while all of them struggle in vain. [[Brother-Sergeant|Sergeant]] of the squad pulls out his trusty [[plasma]] pistol and.... blows off his own hand trying to wound the orb. A+ for effort I guess. Once all the marines have been absorbed, we see the xenos creature living inside the orb is some tentacle monster and has teleported them into the warp with all 5 marines constrained by the tentacles. Almost immediately, some shadowy warp creature attacks the tentacle xenos and it fades to black. Sergeant Handless suddenly appears in a desert environment surrounded by strange skeletal statues with horns that tower above him, some flashes of light appearing on stone platforms similar to the one he is standing on (presumably the rest of the squad being teleported in).
 
At the end of the video, we are treated to a quick action sequence of another [[homebrew]] chapter "Death Hands", fighting an off-screen enemy and struck on his [[pauldrons|pauldron]] by some needle weapon (Perhaps [[Shuriken]]s?). A [[Predator Tank|predator]] rolls into frame and unleashes some glory for the Emperor. Also shown in the ending title screen are [[Angels Sanguine]] and another homebrew chapter "[[Star Dragons]]".
 
===Extra Information from AMA===
* The xenos were supposed to be an original creation, one half of a now-extinct xenos/human empire. Similarities to the [[Yu'Vath]] were undeniable but coincidental, due to "lack of research."
* The orbs around the xenos were originally designed to protect them while traveling in the warp. Hence the one who "broke free" was eaten by some creature lurking there.
* The unfinished giant metal construct was designed as a more preferable alternative to the orb for the xenos to inhabit.  
* The one-armed psykers belonged to the inner cabal of the rebellion in cahoots with the being in the orb.
* The planet that Sergeant Lefty was teleported to was confirmed as a planet once used by the ancient xenos.
* Imperials had already captured two of the xenos and were using them to hunt any others they could discover, to learn more of their origins (to kill them), and how far they might have already spread, subverting other planets/systems.
 
'''Main Squad's Names:'''
* Kohren (Sgt) has the plasma pistol
* Hahken
* Hassig
* Monos
* Jael
 
'''Inquisitorial Scene:'''
* Veteran Marine 'Commander' = Hakael
* Beakie Marine = Unnamed (Some fans were saddened with no name beakie but hes already famous for being such a classic icon of original [[Rogue Trader]] marine design)
* Other Retributor standing behind was also unnamed.
 
==The hacking debacle==
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSc7cnUHKYA The channel was hacked] in November 2019 by a [[Dark Mechanicus|scummy YouTube channel reseller]]. The guy who bought the password tried to promote his own channel, and host livestreams of the supercut (in shitty 360p for some reason) to steal ad revenue. Obviously this didn't work because 40k fans [[Get shit done|get shit done]] [[Butthurt|and spread the word about the injustice.]]
 
The Emperor protects, because the shitty hacker(s) thankfully never bothered deleting the videos themselves (possibly, the idiot who got his personal Facebook account exposed attempted to steal ad revenue from the millions of views, which they probably [[Fail|failed to make a profit on what he bought it for]]). At one point the scum closed the channel (a sort of reversible deletion) then sold to another guy who re-opened it. And finally in December the original creator [[Administratum|finally navigated the labyrinthine YouTube bots to get an actual moderator]] to restore his access. All's well that ends well.
 
Hacking is bad but it happens to the best of us despite our best precautions. That's why it's called hacking. Thought for the day, be a good internet browser and enable two-factor authentication today.
 
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
 
All Hail the [[Omnissiah]], for by His hand is the Machine made Pure.
 
==New work post-Astartes Nov 2020==
CEASED since now working for GW. The creator has released a trailer of various Marine Chapters on his Patreon account.
 
==Hiring by Games Workshop March 2021==
As it turns out, [[Games Workshop]] has noticed Syama's animations and realized that they were extremely good, even better than most of their library. Not knowing when to leave a good thing alone, they've officially contracted Syama to start making animations exclusively for them.
 
Unfortunately, unlike with the Helsreach series, this has caused the original videos [[Fail|to be deleted from the main channel,]] and now they're being exclusively hosted on warhammercommunity.com. Direct link to new location video:
[https://www.warhammer-community.com/warhammer-animation-astartes/?utm_source=WarhammerCommunity&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=WarhammerAnimations10032021&utm_content=WarhammerAnimations10032021 (its hard to find)]
 
[[FAIL|Also unfortunately]], they butchered the movie, overlaying everything with Nurgle's green fart gas, adding unnecessary audio elements and brightening the video in places, ultimately watering down a lot of the minimalist atmosphere that made the original so great. For a while, everyone was stuck with a 720p version instead of the HD 1080p on a video player that only works with Google Chrome. Recently it's been upgraded to 4k.
 
On the bright side, this means the Retributors are now canon! Also GW can't really be blamed for at least some of the audio and music issues due to copyright bullshit. Do note this only covers some of it. They made sure to slather generic action-film dubstep over every millimeter of every scene, even original scenes that had not had any background music.
 
On the dark side, Syama will not be able to tell any of the stories he had lined up, as now GW is calling the shots. Betting on whether or not he'll ever be able to produce anything 40k ever again or if he's just being held with golden handcuffs are ongoing. Payouts for his first GW project being an Ultramarine Primarus story is currently standing at 1:1.
 
A supercut of the original has been made and can still be downloaded : https://mega.nz/file/z951AIwb#1ap2FzWfrGbjjNA7tNAuctc8LfVI0Uag8Ll-skTLTpk
 
== The Videos ==
 
The OLD links to teaser and 5 videos. These no longer exist as GW has exclusive rights to the video hosting now 10 March 2021 - new links at the very bottom.
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcTZrrtdAUM Teaser trailer]</s>
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bko5GgK5v8 Part 1: Prepping for the assault]</s>
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfGPMJ8A0QY Part 2: Launch and Insertion]</s>
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMGRa4_UjE4 Part 3: Purge the heretics]</s>
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2B6de1Geks Part 4: To the vault]</s>
* <s>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoCcpMW8fSs Part 5: The End..and the Beginning] </s>
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hgjuFfn3A Full old version that was posted on Youtube before going official]
* [https://www.warhammer-community.com/warhammer-animation-astartes/ Now exclusively hosted on Warhammer Community.]
 
== Conversions ==
Good news for people with no originality; [[Kromlech]] has released pauldrons and chestplates for the Retributor Chapter. Hopefully GW doesn't slam them with a copyright strike (though they probably will, considering they're now an official Chapter). Anyways here is a link.
https://bitsofwar.com/prime-legionaries/1325-retributor-chapter-shoulder-pads.html
 
[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]
 
[[Category: Imperial]]
 
[[Category: Space Marines]]
 
[[Category: Approved Media]]
 
[[category: Awesome]]

Latest revision as of 19:54, 17 June 2023

"A Warhammer 40,000 fan-film project. Mini-episodes released as a five part series. 100% unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop."

– Description of the Astartes Youtube Channel. The unofficial part didn't age well

Astartes is the name of a short, entirely fan-made and totally fuckin' awesome set of videos depicting an orbital boarding action by the Retributors chapter of Space Marines (not to be confused with the Sisters of Battle Retributor Squads). The official description promises five videos, the last of which was released on April 2, 2020. The channel may be found here BUT his main videos are hosted by Warhammer Community.

The Premise[edit | edit source]

Following a series of incidents cataloged as the 'Argosa Uprisings' in 482.M39, the Retributors Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes is tasked with assisting in the hunt for fleeing renegades and their leaders, and bringing down the Emperor's justice for their crimes.

In Review[edit | edit source]

A surprisingly high-quality series of videos from such a small outfit (And by that we mean a one-man team), with equally surprising attention to detail from art and designs to sound. The animation is masterful, fluid, and impactful, while models and props are beautifully detailed - even more such details can be seen only by carefully pausing (for example, names can be seen etched on the left pauldron of some of the Marines in part 4). By contrast, the cinematography and storytelling focus on the strengths of minimalism, such as using negative space and darkness to draw the eyes, or silence to heighten the following sound effects. Because the videos lack dialogue, most of the audio component is either music or the sound of the weapons and equipment the characters are using.

Done almost entirely without dialogue and showing how the Retributors Marines and their heretic adversaries duke it out, it goes about as well as you'd expect for the heretics. Despite the rather one-sided nature of the action, there are equal demonstrations of good tactics and responses by both sides, which quite clearly illustrates why you don't mess with someone who does this as a day job.

It also showcases many smaller, more humble elements of the 40k universe, or expands on how they might be used practically and effectively. Examples include a Caestus Assault Ram (launched from a Cobra Destroyer for some reason, probably because no one expects Space Marines to board from such a vessel), blind grenades, multi-lasers, boltguns and a few others besides.

Episode 1 establishes the time and place, as well as the animating chops of the creator; consisting mostly of the Retributors boarding their Caestus with short flashes of other scenes, it's less than a minute long. This episode is notable for giving a size comparison of the Space Marines to regular human Navy personnel who pass them in the hall.

Episode 2 features the Retributors boarding the traitorous ship, and it's a clear example of how even simple and logical actions can still be awesome alongside 40k's usual dose of crazy. The Retributors' assault ram makes a beeline for their target while a Thunderbolt Fighter (which is a little strange, seeing as the Thunderbolt is an AIR rather than space-superiority fightermost likely the Kestral class variant that's void capable) draws fire to make sure they arrive and later takes out the ship's engines. The ram itself has a twin-linked lascannon on the top used for point defense against incoming missiles and deploys a pair of (most likely servitor-controlled) defensive drones that protect the ram by throwing themselves in the path of oncoming missiles before exploding to prematurely detonate them. Then we see the ram doing what it's designed for: Firing off it's concentrated magna-melta beam while simultaneously slamming into the hull of the ship so the 5-man team of Astartes can board and capture it. The poor armsmen who get to the ram's position before the marines emerge stand zero chance, most getting off only a single burst from their autoguns before a bolt shell rips them in half. The Astartes, for their part, are cool and collected aimbot killing machines that feel entirely unconcerned with the incoming autogun fire and never waste a single bolt shell; each armsman takes one hit and dies instantly. Things fade to black as they move further into the ship.

Episode 3 starts off with the traitors clearly putting all hands on deck to stop the Astartes, while a couple of huge men in script-covered gold masks stand in front of a massive vault door while goading the armsmen on. This is where we really see the Astartes in action, and it is glorious. The ship's defenders are clearly acting with intelligence and knowledge of the terrain, setting up:

A - a barricade at a choke-point with a heavy stubber, lasguns, and a missile launcher. B - an ambush from a maintenance passage with an autocannon. C - a twin-linked multilaser on the other side of a chasm that a corridor opens into, effectively drawing one of the marines into a perfect kill-box.

And absolutely none of it works because the Astartes are just that damn unstoppable.

The men at the barricade die to bolter fire before the marines are even visible, with the rocket one of them manages to fire casually sidestepped before it can hit them, while the autocannon causes the marines to pause their advance just long enough for their comrade following them inside that very maintenance passage to kill the men operating it. Because the marines saw that coming a mile away.

The team operating the twin-linked multilaser does the most damage to one of the marines by scoring his armor, but are still dispatched with contemptuous ease in a sequence that words simply cannot do any justice. Go watch it and you'll understand just what I mean.

Episode 4 is where we see the Astartes meet their first real challenge: those masked guys, who turn out to be psykers. This entire episode is one long, glorious sequence of the Astartes thinking and behaving tactically against two opponents with psychic powers and managing to come out on top. Once again, words cannot do the sequence justice. Why haven't you watched it yet?

Episode 5[edit | edit source]

The 5th episode is the longest (and most glorious) episode at a shocking 7 minutes and 33 seconds but has a lot of unclear and cryptic questions, some of which were answered in an AMA the creator had on Reddit. The scene opens with a strange orb floating in chains with an Imperial Psyker wearing robes of the Inquisition psychically monitoring it while a Retributor veteran and a Beakie marine standby. The scene cuts to the OG squad of marines, walking down a corridor and passing by a massive golden construct in the shape of a man, obviously still under construction. The marines enter a large room and find another orb unchained and illuminated by a central light source. The orb attempts to resist the marines approaching by unleashing some psychic waves but the marines give absolutely no fucks. The marines take out some bladed energy draining devices and stab into the orb. Back with our inquisitorial friend, he can hear the chained orb speaking to the unchained orb through the warp.

"...no escape. I have failed brother."
"We have all failed. The Astartes deny our touch. You must return, break your seal."
"Impossible, (I) will never survive."
"You must! Take them!*"

  • May also say "Take the Alpha!", referring to the inquisitor psyker, meaning he's pretty powerful.

The psyker immediately warns the veteran marine of impending doom and this break in concentration results in a failed Stealth roll as it draws the attention and the words "At last" from the chained orb before his mind ends up becoming overcome by whatever warp monster decided to eat it (or more likely the xenos within the ball did it). As is the way with Grimdark, the veteran Retributor gives him a George Foreman right cross before Beakie Marine dumps a handful of bolt rounds into him for good measure, although the guy whose soul was being incinerated was probably pretty grateful for it. Back with the squad, the orb activates, reveals an absolute WTF of a creature, and begins absorbing the marines into itself while all of them struggle in vain. Sergeant of the squad pulls out his trusty plasma pistol and.... blows off his own hand trying to wound the orb. A+ for effort I guess. Once all the marines have been absorbed, we see the xenos creature living inside the orb is some tentacle monster and has teleported them into the warp with all 5 marines constrained by the tentacles. Almost immediately, some shadowy warp creature attacks the tentacle xenos and it fades to black. Sergeant Handless suddenly appears in a desert environment surrounded by strange skeletal statues with horns that tower above him, some flashes of light appearing on stone platforms similar to the one he is standing on (presumably the rest of the squad being teleported in).

At the end of the video, we are treated to a quick action sequence of another homebrew chapter "Death Hands", fighting an off-screen enemy and struck on his pauldron by some needle weapon (Perhaps Shurikens?). A predator rolls into frame and unleashes some glory for the Emperor. Also shown in the ending title screen are Angels Sanguine and another homebrew chapter "Star Dragons".

Extra Information from AMA[edit | edit source]

  • The xenos were supposed to be an original creation, one half of a now-extinct xenos/human empire. Similarities to the Yu'Vath were undeniable but coincidental, due to "lack of research."
  • The orbs around the xenos were originally designed to protect them while traveling in the warp. Hence the one who "broke free" was eaten by some creature lurking there.
  • The unfinished giant metal construct was designed as a more preferable alternative to the orb for the xenos to inhabit.
  • The one-armed psykers belonged to the inner cabal of the rebellion in cahoots with the being in the orb.
  • The planet that Sergeant Lefty was teleported to was confirmed as a planet once used by the ancient xenos.
  • Imperials had already captured two of the xenos and were using them to hunt any others they could discover, to learn more of their origins (to kill them), and how far they might have already spread, subverting other planets/systems.

Main Squad's Names:

  • Kohren (Sgt) has the plasma pistol
  • Hahken
  • Hassig
  • Monos
  • Jael

Inquisitorial Scene:

  • Veteran Marine 'Commander' = Hakael
  • Beakie Marine = Unnamed (Some fans were saddened with no name beakie but hes already famous for being such a classic icon of original Rogue Trader marine design)
  • Other Retributor standing behind was also unnamed.

The hacking debacle[edit | edit source]

The channel was hacked in November 2019 by a scummy YouTube channel reseller. The guy who bought the password tried to promote his own channel, and host livestreams of the supercut (in shitty 360p for some reason) to steal ad revenue. Obviously this didn't work because 40k fans get shit done and spread the word about the injustice.

The Emperor protects, because the shitty hacker(s) thankfully never bothered deleting the videos themselves (possibly, the idiot who got his personal Facebook account exposed attempted to steal ad revenue from the millions of views, which they probably failed to make a profit on what he bought it for). At one point the scum closed the channel (a sort of reversible deletion) then sold to another guy who re-opened it. And finally in December the original creator finally navigated the labyrinthine YouTube bots to get an actual moderator to restore his access. All's well that ends well.

Hacking is bad but it happens to the best of us despite our best precautions. That's why it's called hacking. Thought for the day, be a good internet browser and enable two-factor authentication today.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

All Hail the Omnissiah, for by His hand is the Machine made Pure.

New work post-Astartes Nov 2020[edit | edit source]

CEASED since now working for GW. The creator has released a trailer of various Marine Chapters on his Patreon account.

Hiring by Games Workshop March 2021[edit | edit source]

As it turns out, Games Workshop has noticed Syama's animations and realized that they were extremely good, even better than most of their library. Not knowing when to leave a good thing alone, they've officially contracted Syama to start making animations exclusively for them.

Unfortunately, unlike with the Helsreach series, this has caused the original videos to be deleted from the main channel, and now they're being exclusively hosted on warhammercommunity.com. Direct link to new location video: (its hard to find)

Also unfortunately, they butchered the movie, overlaying everything with Nurgle's green fart gas, adding unnecessary audio elements and brightening the video in places, ultimately watering down a lot of the minimalist atmosphere that made the original so great. For a while, everyone was stuck with a 720p version instead of the HD 1080p on a video player that only works with Google Chrome. Recently it's been upgraded to 4k.

On the bright side, this means the Retributors are now canon! Also GW can't really be blamed for at least some of the audio and music issues due to copyright bullshit. Do note this only covers some of it. They made sure to slather generic action-film dubstep over every millimeter of every scene, even original scenes that had not had any background music.

On the dark side, Syama will not be able to tell any of the stories he had lined up, as now GW is calling the shots. Betting on whether or not he'll ever be able to produce anything 40k ever again or if he's just being held with golden handcuffs are ongoing. Payouts for his first GW project being an Ultramarine Primarus story is currently standing at 1:1.

A supercut of the original has been made and can still be downloaded : https://mega.nz/file/z951AIwb#1ap2FzWfrGbjjNA7tNAuctc8LfVI0Uag8Ll-skTLTpk

The Videos[edit | edit source]

The OLD links to teaser and 5 videos. These no longer exist as GW has exclusive rights to the video hosting now 10 March 2021 - new links at the very bottom.

Conversions[edit | edit source]

Good news for people with no originality; Kromlech has released pauldrons and chestplates for the Retributor Chapter. Hopefully GW doesn't slam them with a copyright strike (though they probably will, considering they're now an official Chapter). Anyways here is a link. https://bitsofwar.com/prime-legionaries/1325-retributor-chapter-shoulder-pads.html

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