Inspiration for the Vong

These guys have an awful lot in common with the Vong, and they've been around since 1987. Coincidence?

I think not.

 

Silly Jose - they were inspired by Thai food.

 

No, they're quite a bit cooler than the Vong. The Vong are what Tyranids or the Zerg would be if the Zerg were just *tools* being controlled by a humanoid and humanlike race that acts basically human with political struggles and religious beliefs and such basically like humans and some weird customs ripped off from the Aztecs and from Klingons.

 

Yes, the Tyranids would have been much better.

 

I've always figured it was the Yevetha. Quite alot of similarities.

 

I have to say, the Vong are a lot more interesting than the Tyranids seem from that article.

 

And I'd have to agree.

They actually reminded me more of the Killiks.

 

Well I'll be darned...

Baraka from Mortal Kombat is a Yevetha! So now Star Wars and Outworld are connected...[image=http://www.leedberg.com/MotaroFTP/graphics/baraka.jpg]

 

Thai food might have inspired the name, but I've never heard of any restaurant serving organic, world-destroying, hive-minded, vicious beasts before. Unless you count tofu.

It's not the Tyranids themselves that are interesting, so much as related things.

They're more of a sort of freaky Verpine/Killik/Vong/Assembler/Garden slug hybrid.

 

I've always suspected the real inspiration for the Vong actually rhymes with Vong.

 

On wookieepedia, it says:

 

I read an interview once, don´t know with whom, but someone who was involved and they said that the Vong were actually inspired to the galaxy invading - death worshipping - look alikes . . . Kra`Hen from Imperium Galactica II!

I hated Kra`Hen.

But I am too old for these boards, am I?

Does anybody know whom I am talking about?

 

No idea. Now I feel very young

 

Oh my!

Well, you played the usual space-strategy game but at some point an invasion began. An alien race, scarred, terrible and with no interest in diplomacy attacked under the guidance of their overlord "the imperator" and they had good ships, strange weapons and began to slaughter into the galaxy. Geniocide for breakfast attitude. Usually they finished you off. Sometimes one was strong enough to hold them back, but impossible to win then. And once I even forged an alliance against them. Only to be batryed in the end.

A warrior-culture, Genicidal and with a hierarchy exactly like the Vong. An Imperator and a warmaster. In the game these interacted and the warmaster could be replaced. Huge fleets, brutal ground warriors, diplomacy was obviously an unknown word in their culture.

Well, they were very YV in style. First time i saw an YV and read about them I thought . . . oh . . . not in this universe, too!

Well, they had Jedi. Did help.

[image=http://www.digitalreality.hu/files/games/wallpaper/upload/IG2_wallpaper3.jpg]

Best pick I could find. They guy on the left is the Kra´hen, I think. Strange pick of him, though.

And I am ancient

 

Hmm, very Vong-ish. Is it a book or comic or game?
What year was it released?

 

What the feth does a race of barely sentient ancient androids who are returning to harvest the galaxy for their star god masters have to do with the Vong?

They're more of a sort of freaky Verpine/Killik/Vong/Assembler/Garden slug hybrid. [/quote]

'Nids have very little in common with either the Vong or the Killiks. Just because they both have organic technology and originate from outside a galaxy does not make them alike. The Vong came to conquer a new home, the 'Nids are here for a all you can eat buffet. The Vong are individuals, the 'Nids are controlled by a Hive Mind. The 'Nids are a hyper evolving race that exists solely to consume and may already have devoured every other galaxy already. They arent even much like killiks beyond the number of legs they have. It really is a stretch to link the two together.

If you really want to link 40k to Star Wars, maybe you should start with Inquisitor Eisenhorn wielding a lightsaber in the first Eisenhorn novel.

 

The Yuuzhan Vong actually have a lot of points of similarity to the Eurasian - the archetypal "barbarians" of the "barbarian invasions", from the Huns through to the Mongols.

The basic idea of terrifying invaders from outside the frontiers of known civilization is pretty broad, but there are enough detailed points of contact that it's deliberate.

1.) The use of a word for "peace" that implies "submission to our rule": this is a feature of the Turkic languages (the lingua franca of the barbarian invasions), but it's particularly associated with the Mongols.

2.) Surgical deformation of the cranium in infancy to create tall, sloping foreheads. This is particularly associated with the Avars, but it's found archaeologically in a wide number of barbarian group.

3.) The distinction between the Supreme Overlord and the Warmaster. The roles of the Kagan and Beg were divided like this among the Khazars, and it seems that the difference between Thiudans and Reiks among the Ostrogoths was similar, suggesting that the dual rule was a more general concept.

4.) The use of the bones of important enemies as jeweled objects (typically drinking-cups, but Elegos seems close enough).

In other words, the Yuuzhan Vong are actually a more detailed and interesting reference to the same real-world source as all these rather cheaper pop-pulp knock-offs.

- The Imperial Ewok

 

I'm sorry, there is only one TRUE precursor to The Yuuzhan Vong...

[image=http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/153/COBRA~G-I-Joe-Cobra-LA-Posters.jpg]

COBRA-LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!

 

Who pretty much have to be inspired by:

HYDRA! IMMORTAL HYDRA!

CUT OFF A LIMB AND TWO WILL TAKE ITS PLACE!

 

Hahahaha.....I forgot about that mess. Didn't Cobra Commander turn into a snake in that gawd awful movie?

 

The Imperium, the Necrons, and the Tau are significantly more interesting (the Orcs are also for entirely different reasons) and I didn't mean it as a shot at 40k as I find parts of it interesting.

And yeah, McEwok's right.

 

Not a thing. Just an aside.

As far as the superficial (omnicidal race from another Galaxy that uses organic technology) they have quite a bit in common with the Vong (though, as McEwok said, Vong organization is another matter entirely) Killiks and Verpine are similar to Tyranids because of the hive-mind and insectoid nature. And the Assemblers' tendency to make Nodes is pretty similar to the Tyranids' fast evolution (not sure which of those came first thoug).

Meh. I'd rather replace lightsabers with powersword, or better yet, replace powerswords and lightsabers with chainsaw lightsabers.

 

I don't.....but...that doesn't...

::brain caves in::

 

Think about it: a chainsaw is a rotary chain with teeth attached. You just replace the teeth with mini-lightsaber blades.

 

I'm so glad the Cobra-la section was removed from the Wookieepedia article.

(I have an in-joke that my Yuuzhan Vong OC could beat Pythona in a catfight...)

I have to agree with McEwok on the ancient barbarian influence. I mean, the Maya had the sloping head fashion, and the sacrifices, and the ziggurats. Most alien culture stems down to "alien" human cultures and the diversity of terrestrial animals. It's more credible (and logical) to borrow from real life than from imaginary civilizations because the source is first-hand.