I think it's their unbreakable (mostly) resolution to protect mankind. They basically sacrificed their lives, their freedom, to put their life on the line constantly or to ready themselves to die for people they have never met or even appreciate them.

Even outside of a warzone, they're constantly honing their skills. Really, as a person, Space Marines die as soon as the first organ is placed within them. Not only do they accept this burden, but they embrace it as an honor.

And quite frankly, that's why I love the Space Marines. They sacrifice themselves for the betterment of Mankind. And it's not a single moment's sacrifice where a man jumps on a grenade to save his fellows or a suicidal charge against an enemy fortification, but a life time (a life time that may last over a thousand years) worth of sacrifice and hardship.

 

Or on the other side, they can fully immerse themselves to the extreme on blood, power, lust etc, they go further then even humans, what im talking about is Traitor Legions and Renegade Warbands, Marines who have turned from the Emperor. They are those who still possess the potent skills of their loyalist counterparts, but who would not think twice about sacrificing Innocent humans to achieve there own goals.

What im trying to say is Space Marines are much more then just men on steroids in fancy armour, they can be more devote and unwavering then any normal human or they can fall further then any normal human, they belong in the extreme in all respects; Warfare/Skills, Biology, their devotion; whether to the Emperor or Chaos or their own goals. This is why there are the greatest warriors of the Mankind or the greatest Champions of the Chaos gods.

This is what makes Space Marines Awesome, the Extremity's of what Space Marines are.

 

yarp..what he said.

they are what every man wants to be...they represent the pinicle of what man could be.

 

I know I've mentioned (multiple times) about how Space Wolves are "Vikings in Power Armour", but when you see stuff like:

It helps set not only them apart from traditional Space Marines, but bolsters my (said in the voice of Randy "Macho Man" Savage RIP) "Ooooooooooooooooooh Yeah!" feelings towards the faction in the Warhammer 40k Universe.

 

Imagine how much each one could have been through when you live over centuries or even milleniums (in a dreadnought), and what each and everyone of them could possibly achieve with their wisdom, knowledge and experience!

 

That image makes me want to start a Space Wolves army. Damn you.

 

Also, don't forget that aside from being genetically-engineered for war, incredibly well-armed, eight-foot-tall gorillas who would barely feel a .45 at point blank range and who don't just wear power armor but are literally linked to it through the Black Carapace, they've got Librarians; aside from being all of the above, Librarians can reached into the warp and manifest its primal power as lightning or fire, can crush a man's mind with a thought, wreck a tank with a flick of their wrists or open a vortex in the fabric of reality and unleash the unbridled energies of the warp (which is a long drawn out way of saying "magic powers"). And they've got Dreadnoughts. And they've got battle barges with bombardment cannons that fire superheated death that can wipe out whole cities from orbit.

 

Yup the 40k SM (and CSM more so) are the baddest mofos in all of Sci Fi. The Brits did themselves proud with this masterpiece of a warrior. Then Americans made Halo with Master Chief whos also very Awsome!!!

 

And whos obviously influenced by Space Marines!

 

And don't forget that GW totally ripped Space Marines off from StarCraft! :wink:

It's true, though, that 40K owes a lot to several Americans, notably Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas (though technically, Asimov was born in Russia).

 

actually I belive that to be the other way around, Starcraft came after 40k.

 

yes but only the early version (ie rogue trader) and they expanded alot based off of starcraft. I think they really built off each other these passed (whatever it has been) years because in sc2 the dudes look like sm, in sc1 they look like smurfs with guns (there is a difference). zerg were the origional tyranids and protoss the eldar. It all makes sense now! Before dawn of war sc was the 40k video game (though unofficial) and is far superior to dawn of war. As i said they built off each other for ideas and motivation, and both got to a very happy place

 

Actually no JAMOB, second edition came out in 93 and expanded things, and third edition came out in 98 (the same years as starcraft) which further expanded things.

If memory serves, third edition came out before starcraft, beating it by a month or two. (I picked third edition up the week starcraft came out I think. Better buy as far as I am concerned.)

 

StarCraft originally came out in 1984 on the Commodore 64 and featured Space Marines, and though it was an entirely text-based RTS, it was very cutting edge for its day. Rick Priestley totally ripped them off.

 

Why are space marines so awesome?

Here's why:

1. You take a man and make EVERYTHING on him 1,5 your size! Suddenly almost every intelligent opponent he'll face will be at the size and strength of an 8 year old! It's not really hard to fight 8 year olds!

2. Even if these 8 year olds are armes with shotguns or ak47, don't bother! If the shots don't kill him instantly he will not bleed to death (the most common reason for dying from bullets!) Even if he loses an arm and a leg he just wont die!!

3. If they manage to capture him, he wont be a prisoner for long! He has acid saliva and can chew himself out of anything! When he does, those puny 8 year olds will taste his wrath!

4. Their combatskills/military skills are better than both Bruce Lee, spartans and navyseals TOGETHER! (Take THAT puny 8 year olds!!)

5. Now, give these guys an armor that is almost indestructible and enhances the strength even more! (TAKE THAT PUNY 5 YEAR OLDS!!) A chainsaw, a .75 cal automatic rifle with explosive rounds!

Now imagine yourself as a 5 year old trying to take down a trained navy SEAL that can take a huge amount of trauma without fainting and can almost not bleed to death, with a futuristic powerarmour that you can't penetrate with anything. Arm this man with an automatic grenadelauncher and a chainsaw!

Now imagine you trying to kill him!

There's the awnser! :chuffed:

 

Agree with everything here, well except the part where that 5 year old is Marbo who is the exact copy of Rambo and can shoot this said NAVY SEAL MOFO WITH INDSTRUTABLE ARMOR OF BADASSNESS in the eye. Thats how Tanith First and Only do it. Hell in some books they get Stabbed in the neck joint by wooden spears and die (First Heretic, cough cough), how pathetic is that?

There is no comparison between the super soldiers of other franchises and GW's, including the one with the most similarities being Starcraft's Space Marines.

So no, spes mereenz are not clichéd and it just goes to show how much you know about WH40k lore for you insinuate that they are simply drug-taking giants in power-armor.

Um Captain Amrica been around since 1942, and hes the first Super Soldier. SMs are Capt A with PA, height, and Acid Saliva. The Super Soldier thing been done to death, SMs are built upon it with a new twist, like Master Chief in Halo. I mean there is nothing uniqu in 40k.... Eldar are Elfs, Orks are Orcs, Humans are WW2 soilders with Laser Guns, Necs are Terminators, Tau is Japanese Mech Anime, Nids = Aliens, and Daemons are the bad parts of most Religions. SMs are Super Soldiers with PA. Simply that.

 

God Bless Games Workshop and The Space Marines!

 

Why are space marines so awsome?

because GW said so.

 

Space Marines are not awesome- they are cliched. If I had a nickel for every sci-fi with 'Super Soldiers' I could buy Bill Gates and make him my personal maid. Not that I'd want to, mind you.

 

There is no comparison between the super soldiers of other franchises and GW's, including the one with the most similarities being Starcraft's Space Marines.

So no, spes mereenz are not clichéd and it just goes to show how much you know about WH40k lore for you insinuate that they are simply drug-taking giants in power-armor.

 

i had a conversation about this the other day,

world of warcraft, my reply, ill blow up the whole planet with a fleet of 20km long ships that blot out the sun or if you really want i can stamp on you with a titan.

eve online, i have fleets of bigger ships and you cant even get out of a pod

rambo and captain america have no armour or guns, tanks, air support in the god like fashion that i can

iron man or the xmen, i out number you 100,000,000-1

even with no armour i win, i'm bigger, stronger, faster, i can recover easier and go longer, i have more redundancies then you, i would say you could tie my hands behind my back but you cant because ill brake the restraints, so say you chop my arms off, well i'll spit acid in your face or just bite your face off. try and assassinate me, bollocks can you, i mean you just cant, i can sleep and be awake and if you slip poison in my food not only would it not hurt me i could brake it down in my digestive system and tell you its genetic make up. the only way you can beat me is to join me, be equally bad ass and then it'd be an even fight if you trained for 200 years with equally bad ass guys or matrix style installed tactics into your head, the you MAY just almost be at my level

 

Everything you said is horse shit since BL authors have Chaplains getting killed from wooden sticks stabed thru the neck (First Heretic), Little Girls stabbing Alien Poisons thru a needle in the cap joints that kill a Capatin (Soul Drinkers), Drowning in the mud by skeletons (False Gods), SMs being brought down with Spears thru the waist cables (C:CSM 3.5), SMs killed thru a single Sword Thrust in the sweet spot (C:CSM 4th), Lasgun... LASGUN shot in the eye socket (ANY Tanith First and Only book)....... there is TONS more ways SMs have died "bitch" deaths like any person.

So where do you get this "I ALWAYS WIN CAUSE IM UNSTOPPABLE!!!" crap from? :no:

 

Which Chaplain died from a spear? The only one I recall is...the one at the end of the book. And he's felled by a Custodes hurling his halberd " as a spear". And that hit him with enough force to bull through the Chaplain's armor and flesh and blew out his chest so hard his lungs and hearts came with it. I think that's an okay death.

The only death by spears was when the Word Bearer's were making up lies to cover up their killing of a custode.

Never read Soul Drinkers (I've heard meh things).

It's been too long since I read False Gods.

Could you give me the page numbers for the CSM codices? I don't recall reading them specifically and I couldn't find them readily.

Lasguns can blow off people's limbs. Hitting a Space Marine in the eye is reasonable. That's why they have helmets, most of the time.

Though when they took out a half-squad of CSM it was pretty much bull crap. I'll agree to that. One of the few mistakes Abnett has made.

One of the worst deaths I've ever seen for a SM, though, was in Jonathan Green's "Conquest of Armegeddon". A Space Marine loses his arm to an Ork cleaver. Apparently his blood won't clot and he's bleeding out. There's an apothecary right next to him, but the Space Marine says it's "too late" for him, even though he just lost his arm in that particular scrap. So the Apocrypha takes his geneseed and kills the marine in the process. Stupid or what?

 

there is no accounting for the other guys luck

 

Thats true Snake Eyes suck.

 

A lot of good points have been brought up so far, but I think it's ultimately the humanity of these Space Marines that drives them farther than their cliche-ridden counterparts in other media. While they are always the extreme version of whatever, they can be rash, or proud, or wrathful, or any number of other emotions. Each chapter of Space Marines serves the Emperor in their own way, and conversely, each legion of Chaos Space Marines has their own brand of corruption. It's this diversity that is their biggest strength I think.

All this is spite of their frankly silly looking design.:laugh:

 

I like how you brand the SM as retaining some semblance of their humanity then go ahead and call them silly looking, two things that don't add up.

 

I think he was talking about their motivations and personalities are very interesting and shockingly human while their gear makes them look silly.

You can have a very immersive characters and have them look funny.

Though personally I don't think they look funny.