Author Topic: Cuirassiers and Vince Diamond  (Read 20824 times)

Offline Horned Owl

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Cuirassiers and Vince Diamond
« on: January 26, 2012, 09:42:15 AM »
Vince Diamond is a Cybertronic diamond (elite chasseur agent) first featured in the Cybertronic sourcebook of MC 1st edition ("The Empire of Steel and Stealth"). In the same supplement, on p. 26 and on the back, the large, impossibly-muscled man in the cover picture is identified as Vince Diamond.



It was much later that two other characters were linked to the picture. In a supplement for 1st edition Warzone, Dr. Diana was created, and this is also the first time that someone attributed the identity of Cyril Dent, a character from the paperback novels, to the man standing on the right.

If we surmise that Paul Bonner created the picture at a time when there still was no concept of Mr Diamond as a character, the man later called Vince Diamond looks much like the description of a Cuirassier covered in synthetic skin in the paperback novels:

"(...) when a hulking creature ducked its head and twisted its shoulders sideways to get into my apartment. The synthedermis covering it made the Attila a bit more pale than Beach (...) Aside from the robotīs size, and the stupid grin it wore (...)" (p.85, Dementia)

The pictures of cuirassiers in the MC rulebook, 1st ed. Warzone and Siege of the Citadel, also by Paul Bonner, have a similarly lopsided upper-body-and-arms to legs ratio, and the dumb grins of the Attila and Mr Diamond are also very similar (not to mention the blocky chin and narrow forehead on both).



There is the question of the huge shoulder assembly, which would not fit even into the impossibly muscled shoulders sported by Mr Diamond on the cover, but those could be additional armour:

"With (the cuirassier), the lack of armor did not really matter because of the armor he already wore beneath his plastic flesh. While there was armor made for Attila units, smuggling it (...) would have been difficult and would only have made him that much bigger." (p. 116, Dementia)

Dementia, where synthedermis was first mentioned, was published in 1994. Cybertronic: The Empire of Steel and Stealth came out in 1996, so Paul Bonner would probably have read the novel as background inspiration before starting on the painting.

I suspect that Bonner intended the character on the Cybertronic cover to be a cuirassier in synthedermis, and the writers and publishers just didnīt catch on. When they finished the book, I imagine they said, hey, this looks like a cool character, letīs give him a name and feature him in the fluff.

The similarity between the two was not lost on readers, and is lampshaded in later versions and home brews of Warzone, where rumours are mentioned that Vince is really a battle robot designed for media value and presented to the people as a human Cybertronic hero. Some even go so far as to class Mr Diamond as an Attila unit outright ( http://www.three-musketeers.net/warzone/cybertronic/Armylist/index.html ).

What are your thoughts?

« Last Edit: January 26, 2012, 01:24:09 PM by Horned Owl »
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Offline pinksuezo

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Re: Cuirassiers and Vince Diamond
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2012, 07:53:01 AM »
very interesting catch, and i think youre right on the money. i unfortunately dont have all my books available here but if i did i would search all over for that reference somewhere that hinted vince might actually be an atilla. i'm sure i've read it somewhere -published- as well.
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Offline Cirith

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Re: Cuirassiers and Vince Diamond
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2012, 10:34:37 AM »
I think you are right. Nicely present arguments as well.
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Offline Horned Owl

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Re: Cuirassiers and Vince Diamond
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2012, 11:55:23 AM »
Pinksuezo: I also think I read it somewhere. Somewhere in Warzone 2nd edition or UWZ? But no, 2nd edition painted Cybertronic as a sort of ultra-Communist combine, included no AIs whatsoever and even had Attila units redefined as soldiers whose battlesuits only looked like robots. (?)
"How was I supposed to know he was an unarmed man? His back was to me."