Much Better Leader Design!

[cosmicmangobear]

I’ve noticed so far that the leaders in GS all look fantastic, especially considering how far we’ve come from Walrus Teddy and E.T. Gandhi in the base game. In general, the cartoonish look everyone freaked out over in 2016 seems to have evolved into a more streamlined aesthetic. Kudos to the art and animation team at Firaxis!

 

[Greywulf]

Tamar of Georgia looks disproportionate to me, though she is not a leader from this expansion, she wasn't in the base game either. I wonder if they will edit any of the older ones?

 

[Weraptor]

The only leader which stands out to me is Pedro II. I wish they'd make him look like the actual Pedro.

 

[Villager720]

It's kinda the same as Civ V - some of the vanilla leaders (Ramses with his weird, boneless fingers comes to mind) couldn't hold a candle to the BNW models/animations.
I think, like most people, the animators slowly get better results with each iteration of their job.

 

[Icicle]

I wish they'd fix Saturday-morning-cartoon-villain's-bird-sidekick Monty myself.

But yeah, Kupe especially is just fantastic and the design has definitely improved quite a lot.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The only leader which stands out to me is Pedro II. I wish they'd make him look like the actual Pedro.

Pedro is one of the three worst Civ 6 models (with Ghandi and Qin) and belongs in a Tropico game.
Vanilla did have a couple some really good character models like Hojo Tokimune. Cleopatra, Philip and Gilgamesh are really cartoony, but I love how expressive they are.

 

[Starwars]

Vanilla is really all over the place, like they couldn't find a good "middle road" so to speak. And even while keeping in mind that it's supposed to be "cartoony", leaders like Ghandi or Qin are downright repulsive to me. And that's just not a good thing, lol.

I wish they had done the leaders in the same vein as Poundmaker. He doesn't look realistic per say but he also doesn't look... non-human.

Definitely agree that the Gathering Storm leaders look great so far. Though I will probably switch off the animations again after my first few games.

 

[Zaarin]

Kupe and Pachacuti look fantastic. Matthias looks okay but a little off. The leaked picture of Eleanor, however, looked horrible. So I expect GS will be the same hit-and-miss as vanilla and R&F. (Also Teddy may have looked rather Taft-esque in his First Look, but the release version remains one of the nicest leader models in the game.)

 

[AriochIV]

Tamar of Georgia looks disproportionate to me, though she is not a leader from this expansion, she wasn't in the base game either. I wonder if they will edit any of the older ones?

Yeah, Tamar with her little T-Rex arms and mask-like face, she looks like either she had massive botox injections or she escaped from Team America: World Police.

 

[Ziad]

Tamar looks like a normal human to me.

 

[Morningcalm]

I agree with Zaarin: many leaders are hit-or-miss. I especially hate how ahistorical Pericles is (looks like Solon with a lopsided and nonfunctional helmet, and does NOT look like a general; Assassin's Creed Odyssey did a much better job with his portrayal, as did Civilization IV). I quite like Gorgo's model though, and there are a select few others who are decent (reworked Teddy Roosevelt for example).

Tamar looks like a normal human to me.

But her hands are MASSIVE, and the rest of her shape is a bit out of proportion...

 

[Ziad]

But her hands are MASSIVE, and the rest of her shape is a bit out of proportion...

You know what they say about big hands.

 

[Greywulf]

Tamar looks like a normal human to me.

No, she's an alien...

You know what they say about big hands.

...what do they say about big hands?

 

[Vandlys]

I love how some people say "this one looks rubbish, but this one looks okay", and the next person will say the opposite. So, it might just be, and this is just some food for thought, that we all have a different opinion on what looks good. : ) Personally I don't mind Tamar that much. In fact, even though some of the leaders look more extreme than others (Gilgamesh, I'm looking at you and your massive arms), personally I think they all fit well together. Most of them are a bit of a charicature. I don't mind they moved away a bit from that with Kupe and Pacha, but I also don't think they look all that realistic.

 

[Lord Lakely]

Tamar has a disproportionally large head and massive hands, yes, but i mean so do many other leaders? I personally find CdM's and Rey Felipe's hands to be significantly more off-putting than Tamar's.

 

[Morningcalm]

Tamar has a disproportionally large head and massive hands, yes, but i mean so do many other leaders? I personally find CdM's and Rey Felipe's hands to be significantly more off-putting than Tamar's.

I didn't say other leaders didn't also have massive hands. I was specifically countering someone who said she looked normal, lol.

 

[Kimiimaro]

Tamar does look rather weird to me. There is just something strange about her head...

I personally find CdM's and Rey Felipe's hands to be significantly more off-putting than Tamar's.

Especially Philip. His hands are giant, and I wonder how on Earth could they get through his rather tight sleeves.

 

[Disgustipated]

dammit, now you guys have me looking at people's hands. I don't normally pay attention the leaders hands, but now I can't stop looking at them. Now I'm reminded of the Seinfeld episode Man hands.

Tamar is fine. Not one of the more interesting leaders, but her design is adequate. Now if they can fix her civilization abilities and UB, that would be nice.

 

[DWilson]

I think Tamar looks like a roughly and quickly reskinned Tomyris. I think she would've turned out better if they had done the full head wrap like some of the mockups.

 

[Zaarin]

I think Tamar looks like a roughly and quickly reskinned Tomyris. I think she would've turned out better if they had done the full head wrap like some of the mockups.

Yes, that gauzy headscarf she's typically portrayed with is both pretty and iconic, and as you say was also included in her concept art. I have no idea why they left it out, but it's a shame--though the biggest problem with her model IMO is the oversized hands. She's not the only one, but I'd say it sticks out more on her since her model is otherwise fairly realistically proportioned (as opposed to Philip, whose proportions in general are more exaggerated).