Forgeworld New Release: Proteus Land Raider

Well, it's been said by a friend of mine that Forgeworld does know how to excite the 40K community, and the newest Land Raider edition to their line certainly does exemplify that seemingly cerebral connection they have with us old timers as well as getting the younger generations who have only ever heard of the original plastic Land Raider, but never actually held one.

The new Proteus Land Raider, available in limited quantities (along with a bunch of other new awesome goodies that can be seen here) at the 2011 UK Games Day, is Forgeworld's answer to the question of "How do I get an original style Land Raider that I won't have to tear apart, strip onerous coats of paint off, then rebuild, add detail, replace the missing and broken components, like the lascannons and such, without busting the bank too much?"

Forgeworld's Land Raider Proteus

And boy do they do it in style. The new 'old school' kit from Forgeworld harks back to the day of the original Land Raider not by suggestion, but by near replication, then improving upon the original design, and adding loads of extra detail. At 85 Pound Stirling, this isn't a cheap kit, but considering how much original plastic MK1 Land Raiders are going for these days on e-bay (some of my latest experiences were for over $150 US) this seems like a fairly decent price - especially considering all the additional detail and the fact it's a brand new kit without the requirement of salvaging the old kits if you happen to get lucky enough to find one for cheap.

Games Workshop's original plastic Land Raider

I would love to see one side by side with the original plastic kit for scale comparison, but this one definitely appears to be larger, more on the scale of the current Land Raider kits. I would love if it was close to the same scale as the original Land Raider, as it would mean I could field old and new without visual scale differences. However, just by looking at the side door and sponson details, I'm certain it's longer, if not taller.

Now, how will this affect those of us old grognards who own one or more of the originals, and are looking for more? Well, if it's bigger, and you want consistent scale, you will either need to keep scouring the internet for old plastic kits and rebuild them, or you can replace the old kits with new.

With the price point of this new kit, and the shear awesomeness of the detail, I can see a couple things happening. 1. The cost is low enough that there may suddenly be an increase in cheaper MK1 Plastic Land Raiders. 2. The cost is high enough, but it's also desirable enough that people will forgo the plastic kit in favor of this kit, potentially driving prices down on the old kit as there is lower demand for those models.

Of course, that's a very narrow view of the impact this model may have on resell value of the original, and there will always be variation due to changing demand, collector completionists, quality of the used models, amount of work needed, etc.

So now I face a dilemma myself. I currently have a plastic MK1 that I got in a trade from a good friend. I have managed to disassemble it, and that was a hell of a chore. And I'm getting ready to strip the paint off it... but now I wonder if I should continue and build it stock, (the damaged guns do require replacement unfortunately) or do I wait, get a new one, and then either sell the original or upscale it to match?

Because this was a trade from a good friend, my heart wants me to restore it as much as possible, then add detail. But doing so definitely puts me in a situation where I need to scour for more of the old kit if I want that consistency in my army, or just keeping it as a display piece, or a one off for that army...which I'm not opposed to at all. Though the theme of that Space Marine army is that it has a lot of OLD kit. Bless Forgeworld for their retro looking view finders!

Regardless of what I decide to do, I love the new Forgeworld version and must have at least one, and it has been added to my wish list!

What's next? Perchance old school rhino hulls and old school round turreted predators? If so, I'm all for that!

Games Workshop's original plastic Predator

Links:
Games Workshop
Forgeworld

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