Review: Blacktalon “Reforged,”; “Undying,”; “Murder”

After Interrogator, I expected very little in regards to Warhammer Storyforge actually announcing when new shows come out. Lo and behold, three episodes into Blacktalon, and we finally get a notification of release…by finding the show on WarhammerTV. Well, time to more of my god damn hair out. The fact that this is the first Age of Sigmar animated series has me excited though, so let’s see what the big deal is.

Blacktalon’s premise is actually pretty cool. This squad of Age of Sigmar’s Stormcast Eternals is like Cyclops’s X-Force from the early 2000’s through to today. They’re more like a wet works team tasked to get the deeds done that can’t officially get done. The fact that there’s a level of grime and shade on what’s supposed to be a really pristine faction is really fascinating to me.

“Reforged” goes into detail about what happens when a Stormcast Eternal dies and comes back from the dead. Watching what happens and the struggle Neave goes through to remember what happens is unique. If the lord giveth, the lord will taketh his pound of flesh. You get a great look into what the Stormcast Eternals can do in generalizations. Mostly, it’s using Sigmar’s power and influence to enhance their martial abilities.

Next up, “Undying” starts to pull back the veil and show more of the murky side of what this Blacktalon team is about. You see how Ulrich is willing to shitcan his entire team and the people he cares about just to make sure his cultish agenda is secured and done. Ulrich puts Neave in a situation where she’s in a fight by herself, and the other two members are fighting a lich and an entire undead army. Utlimately, Ulrich’s plan comes to fruition where he can have his friend alive, yet the threat is taken care of.

Finally, there’s “Murder.” “Murder” is that shady wet works team business in full swing. They’re tasked with taking down an ally in a Daughters of Khaine Hag Queen. This was a significant episode for two reasons. Firstly, there’s strings put into place where Blacktalon feels like a cohesive serialistic story instead of an episodic series. Second, we’re seeing possible consequences to the team’s actions.

Up to this point, if they died, they came back to life by riding lightning and coming back to the planet. One of the team didn’t make it. She was brought into the sky, but she still didn’t come back down because of the blighted sky. I’m interested to see where this goes, because seeing the consequences catch up to the seemingly infallible faction.

The story is very interesting. I know next to nothing about Age of Sigmar, outside of it being a Warhammer Fantasy replacement, and there’s a loose overlay with 40K. Plotwise, Blacktalon so far is pretty damn good. However, the animation is a huge let down. Angels of Death was a crazy looking CG show. Interrogator has a beautiful film noir vibe. Blacktalon has a shitty, early 2000s flash animation feel. the character models feel very stiff at times, like the models are made out of cardboard boxes. However, the battle scenes look beautiful.

I expected a lot more from the visuals of Blacktalon, especially being Age of Sigmar‘s first animated series. The plot is there, but the animation needs to step up.