Thought you might like to know this: -

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43111/Worms-merchandise-incoming

Now to clarify, this doesn't mean you will be seeing things in shops next week, it could take a long time to get things sorted, but finally it looks like we are going to get some official Worms merchandise. :)

So what would you like to see?

I would like to see Worms art in the WA, WWP, or even Worms Blast art styles. The physical characteristics of the newer worms look wrong (underbites and impossible jaw angles) to me.

Some actual thought was put into these art styles:

http://i66.servimg.com/u/f66/14/26/47/18/wwp10.jpg

http://wormsblast.team17.com/images/mult/artw_1_lrg.jpg

http://wa.team17.com/images/screenshots/shot_11_lrg.jpg

I think we are in the desperate need of some plush worms.

There was an old merchandise thread years ago, but that has been eaten by the forum.
http://forum.team17.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21843

T17 already had some good ideas back in 1998:

http://wa.team17.com/images/hiband/hiband_29.jpg
http://wa.team17.com/images/hiband/hiband_32.jpg

But we definitely need:

T-shirts with iconic Worms characters/images (Valve are doing nice T-shirt designs in that regard, btw)
Condoms, again ("How hard is your Worm?")
Plush toys (Worms, sheep, mad cow, banana,...)
Collectible figurines
Card decks (Poker, Top Trump,...)

I would like to see Worms art in the WA, WWP, or even Worms Blast art styles. The physical characteristics of the newer worms look wrong (underbites and impossible jaw angles) to me.

Yes, more cartoony and exaggerated than the old boring styles ;)

Using the art style of the recent games makes more sense to me anyway. From Worms 3D onwards.

This reminds me of something... A long time ago, ten years to be exact, I found an appealing game in a local store: Worms 2. I bought it, and soon, my brother, my friends and I fell in love with it. Some time after an idea hit on me: "It would be great if we could have these little fellas as plush toys. Thus we went to get some pink socks, cotton wool and soft balls. We stuffed the wool into the socks and used the soft balls for the heads. Here's the result (I still got mine and my brother's worms):
http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt52/Thurbo1/fluffy_worm2.png?t=1298233149 http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt52/Thurbo1/fluffy_worm.png?t=1298233145

Yes, more cartoony and exaggerated than the old boring styles ;)http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpeek.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpbrth.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wtache.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/waccuse.gif
Not expressive enough for you? Cartoons don't have to look retarded to be brilliant and appeal to the masses.

There's something to be said about the Worms 2 generation being so popular that Team17 decided to abuse its generation's game titles to increase the sales of a later game (namely Worms 2 Armageddon, the most horribly-named sequel of any game ever). Popularity is what matters, isn't it?

http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpeek.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpbrth.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wtache.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/waccuse.gif
Not expressive enough for you? Cartoons don't have to look retarded to be brilliant and appeal to the masses.Retarded? The whole foundation of every cartoon are exaggerated expressions and body structures.

I know you jump out at every post even slightly coughing at WA like ants on a picnic, but worms furring their eyebrows isn't exactly a good counter-point. The Worms cutscenes are a much better example.

http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpeek.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wtache.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/waccuse.gif
Not expressive enough for you? Cartoons don't have to look retarded to be brilliant and appeal to the masses.?
You do realise those three worms are in the exact same pose with just their eyebows and pupils in different positions, right?


Edit: oh wait no. One of them is oh-so-very-slightly frowning. Dang, I guess he'd make a great figurine after all!

Plasma, I knew someone would take my small sample of intendedly-similar images and tell me that they're similar, taking my point almost entirely out of context.

Now, go back to the beginning and try reading again. I know you can do it. Just read post-by-post and you may understand.

You have a good point, SupSuper. The Worms 2 cutscenes are great examples of reasonable cartoony exaggerations. Even the Worms 3D cutscenes are great if one ignores the extreme lockjaw.

These styles are overboard, though, in my opinion:

[edit: This image's host no longer allows its images to be displayed on external, relatively-unpopular forums, so I've removed it.]

http://img.jeuxvideopc.com/artwork/apercu/8755-worms-4-mayhem-4.jpg

http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpeek.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wpbrth.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/wtache.gifhttp://www.yoda.arachsys.com/worms/wa/anims/gfx/waccuse.gif
Not expressive enough for you? Cartoons don't have to look retarded to be brilliant and appeal to the masses.

I didn't say anything about expressions. I said I dislike the style, and perhaps you realize how absolutely boring these 4 sprites are to look at. The style is way too simple imo. the artwork for Worms 2, however, looks okay to me:
http://wormsarmageddon.team17.com/images/artwork/artw_6_lrg.jpg
About expressions: I don't see how the new style looks any more retarded than the old one. It doesn't. In fact, the expressions in Worms 4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPjpJMc8t6w) are the greatest I've seen in all the series. And so is the artwork. I love Tom Gluckman's drawings and the style - the worms have so much personality, especially their cheekiness gets across perfectly.

About the popularity thing you mentioned: Show me just one fan artist who went with the Armageddon style instead of the new one. Sprites and copies do not count.

There's something to be said about the Worms 2 generation being so popular that Team17 decided to abuse its generation's game titles to increase the sales of a later game (namely Worms 2 Armageddon, the most horribly-named sequel of any game ever). Popularity is what matters, isn't it?

Well, the first Worms on XBla was simply called "Worms", so the sequel was called "Worms 2". Sounds reasonable to me, doesn't it? Anyway, the subheading "Armageddon" was given as the game reimplemented missing weapons and features from the old games, including Armageddon itself. If the aim was to confuse players about a sequel to Armageddon, as you said, you should be able to explain me why they named the PC version "Reloaded".

Obviously, the title was a bad decision. Not because it's actually a bad one, but because of people like you.

Obviously, the title was a bad decision. Not because it's actually a bad one, but because of people like you.

It's only a bad decision because Lex exists? What? Worms 2 Armageddon is a pretty confusing title any way it's looked at.

For uninformed W:A lovers, this title might be confusing, yes.

Thurbo, are you going for some kind of "Biggest amount of idiocy on a web forum" world record?

Well, the first Worms on XBla was simply called "Worms", so the sequel was called "Worms 2". Sounds reasonable to me, doesn't it? Anyway, the subheading "Armageddon" was given as the game reimplemented missing weapons and features from the old games, including Armageddon itself.
Dead right!

If the aim was to confuse players about a sequel to Armageddon, as you said
Dead wrong! Lex didn't say T17 used the name to confuse people, he just meant that T17 used the title specifically to associate the game with W:A. Which is what you just said too.
Of course, it certainly isn't a case of T17 trying to exploit a previous game's popularity by just slapping the title on another game. There is enough of a justification for the two games to be related. Buuuut still...

Of course, in any case when you already have a stand-alone expansion to Worms 2 called Worms Armageddon, having another game be called Worms 2: Armageddon just causes far too many problems. Hence the rename to Worms Reloaded.

Plasma, I knew someone would take my small sample of intendedly-similar images and tell me that they're similar, taking my point almost entirely out of context.
Blarg, you're right. I was thinking of something else.

The Worms cutscenes are a much better example.
A great example... of how basic movement can be very expressive. But it's very hard to tell what those guys were thinking from a still image, and that's perhaps even more important in a cartoon style.

Thurbo, are you going for some kind of "Biggest amount of idiocy on a web forum" world record?

I'm far away from that I guess, seeing all these posts about lockjaws, physical wrong characteristics and theories about Team17 making fun of W:A players. But I'm doing my best ;)