Astartes has by far the best depiction of the Space Marines in any piece of media, both in the particulars and in overall tone. Space Marines should always be simultaneously indestructible, unstoppable killing machines and way in over their heads dealing with forces totally beyond their understanding

The creater of this short film said it took him over 4 years worth of weekends to complete. Now that is dedication to his hobby, passion and craft!

The Henry Cavil 40k team ought to hire this guy, he's nailed the atmosphere and feel 100%.

"I want to see a full feature film of this" is the exact feeling that everyone has when watching this series. Syama Pedersen's talent is absolutely stunning.

KAI: "Hopefully by the end of todays video you learned something....." 40K fans :"You already fallen into our trap. Welcome in our world."

He's not on his own in the end, if you look closely you can see his battle brothers being transported to the other pedestals by a flash of light.

"don't mess with these guys!" exactly the thing the creator was going for and how he wanted to portray the space marines - even someone unfamiliar with 40k understood the archetypical Astartes which is just a testament to how amazing this animation is. Really a good primer for the franchise in general imo.

Honestly, Astartes is not only one of the best pieces of W40k to ever exist, it's also one of the best digital pieces to ever be made. It's wild on so many levels. Technic, cinematographic, narrative, choreographic... Everything lines up perfectly, it's maddening that a single person did this. What incredible vision power must someone have to orchestrate all of this as a solo project. Absolutely love it! Very motivational for any artist in my opinion.

In the shot where the camera follows the running Space Marine you will notice that the Space Marine is moving slowly across the frame in the direction that he is running. This gives the impression that the camera is having trouble keeping up with him, which further emphasizes his speed and gives a feeling of effort to the audience.

I think its ingenious how the size difrence of a space marine and normal soldier is shown in the first few seconds. Makes it easy to undestand even for people who dont particularly know the franchise.

That shot with the plasma pistol taking out the multi laser gun team is one of my favorite single shots of any animated thing I've ever seen. The choices of framing that were made are superb in the entire series, but that one is arguably the best.

One of the best things in Astartes is, in my opinion, the sheer sense of power on the part of the Space Marines. Their human soldier enemies are neither stupid nor cowards. They seize high ground, set up proper ambushes with overlapping fields of fire, deploy sappers and snipers. They dig in at choke points and bring heavy weapons to bear. They do everything right...and it *doesn't matter* The Astartes smash through them like tissue paper.

I still can not believe that it was only one person that created this masterpiece.

This is the beauty of 40k. Today alone I`ve seen an opera singer, a painter, a composer, an armor historian and now a filmmaker get introduced to 40k through their respective fields of expertise.

I absolutely love people who are unfamiliar or have never heard of Astartes or in Warhammer in general react to this master class of animation. It literally gives me chills watching them in awe of it. They clearly see what is happening but yet don’t fully understand it. Shit is awesome!

One of my favourite things about the audio in Astartes is how they use the audio to show focus, in particular in part 5 with the orb. The scene at 8:57 shows the space marine staring at the orb with the sound of his allies footsteps being quiet and only the thrumming sound from the orb being heard right up until his ally goes to give him the equipment he needs at which point the rest of the sounds quickly cut back in. It does it again at 11:24, most of the sound is drowned out by the whispering as the orb takes all of his focus until he snaps out of it, the whispering stops and the rest of the audio comes back. As another note on the audio and lore, Astartes typically communicate through vox (basically a radio) as their suits are fully sealed which means people on the outside can't hear them speaking to each other unless they want them to hear. When the Inquisitor (the guy who got his head removed via punch and was subsequently shot to make sure he was dead) turns to the Astartes, you can just about hear him yelling "Recall the Astartes immediately" followed by the leader turning to one of the other space marines and making a gesture, there's no outward speach here because it's all done through vox. (You can actually see the Astartes receiving orders to retreat at 11:05 which is why his head tilts) Short version, there's an absurd amount of lore details packed into this series especially when it comes to details on how space marines fight and function.

this animation got me into the franchise i went from not knowing a thing to buying all the books just to learn more

Astartes is THE Warhammer 40k animation gem. I have lost counts of how many times I watched it, either directly from its own link or through someone's reaction video. It truly is a spectacle for the eyes, ears and, for all Warhammer fans, hearts too ❤

I love the little detail of the Space Marine blessing his weapon at the beginning. A little bit of foreshadowing there as to the nature of the evil they are dealing with

The fact it tells such an excellent story without any dialogue too.

The guns that the Space marines/Astartes use are called Bolters they fire a 75 calibre rocket propelled armor piercing explosive rounds that turns normal humans into a red mist or blown to bits. The guys with the force powers are Pyskers, people who are able to basically do space magic shoot lighting, summon fire, read your mind or control things with their minds, luckily those two weren't Alpha level Pyskers because that poor space marine would have been turned inside out with mere thought.

Astartes, despite its relatively short runtime, really benefits from a slower frame by frame dissection. There's a lot going on that a first time, even a fifth time view misses. The attention to detail was amazing.

The way he gets the weight of stuff right is impressive... There's never a cgi moment where things feel floaty or clipped ... the sound effects add to the feeling of powerful impacts... Like bolters sound heavy ... The steps into the boarding ship deflect under load ... Really adds to the immersion...

Not only is it brilliantly shot, but it’s also extremely lore accurate to the most minute details. This dude has insane talent. I do wish we’d get a film or series from him

You have no idea how much I want a full featured film like this. It would instantly be my number 1

fun fact, on the end you can see flashes on the other pilars, those are maybe his combat brothers been teleported there. So that place is massive.

A minor detail i do so dearly love, in the cloth animation. The way it shifts as the priest in red is jerking about and twitching from trying in vain to fight the possession is so subtle, yet incredibly well animated. Not to mention, when the priest is shot. Most people miss the fact the shoulder cape flys back a little more with every shot. Its a subtle detail most don't even really acknowledge, but it really puts some heft to the implied power of the shots, without showing the actual result.

I captures it perfectly, the feeling of what its like to go up against an astartes and how terrifying and hopeless it must be, while also the feeling of being an astartes having to deal with chaos and demons and necrons and shit. the look, the tone, the sounds, the atmosphere. You also had the same reaction everyone had "i want a feature length film of this".

We waited months/a year between parts. And I'm not even a hardcore WH40K fan. I'm a fan though. I still get goosebumps watching these. I don't remember if the teaser after 13:12 came out after he got hired. But we all hope to see more from him. I'm glad you were able to experience this.

I love how well he tells the story without using dialogue at all. The very first shot showing the space marines were they walk by the normal guardsmen on their ship really hammer home just how massive and bulky astartes are, it's such a cool and simply detail. I think the overhead lights (a halo) also is a small nod to the notion in-universe the astartes are sort of viewed as the god-emperors "angels".

To add to it, on second viewing you'll notice that every detail is accounted for, adding to the world building or story. One of my favourites is in the hallway scene of the first part. There are normal crewmembers in that hallway and they are 1) so much smaller than the marines and 2) they get out of the way for them. Its a gift that keeps on giving, even after

this is what i consider to be a purest depiction of space marines in the lore as in they are not always the shining "heros" often portrayed in the books they are living weapons of destruction and devastation deployed when the imperium is basicly saying "yea were done playing nice"

Possibly the best analysis of Astartes from a filmmaking/audiovisual storytelling perspective, kudos.

I've watched this film so many times that now I have to watch other people's reactions to freshly relive the first time I saw it. It's not just the best 40k animation ever, it's one of the best scifi animations ever.

Something else to keep in mind is that there's no spoken words until far later but no doubt the marines were talking to each other through comms, which made the scene with the inquisitor being corrupted even more startling because now you can hear the chant through his helmet. Just how loud must that chanting have been for it to be just barely muffled like that.

What blew my mind were the smaller details. Such as the space marine on the balcony bracing himself to fire, amd the weapon pushing him back with the recoil until they lean down and into the weapon even more. That little detail helped passively express the power of the weapon but also how determined the space marines are at fulfilling their mission. Just small things like that are so intrinsic yet overlooked often times, that I was rather quite impressed by those details. It felt like it was you doing it. Like when it showed the amount of effort in lunging the blade even

Well, to give you some background: The masked guys using "the force" seem to be automatons (notice NO blood after being stabed, and the metallic clank as they fall, that's not just from the masks, but they may have been possesed humans). You may also see similar masks (and a lot of them), as the Astartes walk towards the sphere (at 7:46, when the statue shows up, they are two both its sides). A bit earlier you can see and hear something resembling ice breaking, as they walk in. Ice is supposed to represent the presence of warp energy (for the moment just assume warp is another dimention, from which some entities can draw "magic force" from). That means that those two in masks were "puppeteered" by the creature in the sphere, as it is highly skilled psyker (warp magician). The incomplete statue can be anything, even something along the lines of a vessel, through which the creature may be able to manifest even more of it's power (the masked guys were... weak in terms of what a really powerfull psyker can do). As the astartes were getting near you can see and hear how the creature tries to take over their minds (pay attention to the "whispers" as it emits those puffs of air - it tries to get into their heads). This comes up again in the highly distorted dialogue between the sphere in the attecked ship, and the one we see chained up (and rigged with explosives, propably melta mines?), as the the dialogue goes something like this: "Who is there?" "I have failed brother, the astartes deny our touch (aka. being dominated and mind controlled)". "You must return. Break your seal" "Impossible, we'll never survive". "You must take them (those 5 astartes). The guy eavesdropping on the psychic communication is a human psyker, and an Iquisitor, he then shouts to the astartes captain (?) near him "Recall them immediately", orders are given, one astartes runs out to relay them, and this is where the inquisitor slips, looses his focus, and the chained up sphere gets into his mind. What follows is a summary execution (of one of the more powerfull in terms of political power and influence people in this universe human wise non the less). And propably not a moment too soon, as he may have been turned into a portal to the warp, and there are demons there. Literal demons. And they are all too happy to jump into real space, and do demon things. That involve horrible time for humans. The 5 astartes are sucesfully "taken" and what you saw after "absorbtion" was the warp. The creature in the sphere tried to flee through warp, as this dimention is used for faster then light travel in this universe, but you need special protective fields etc. to survive the journey. It had none, so the purpose of taking the marines was for them to be bait for demons. It didn't work, and the creature was blasted and killed by something. This has returned the astartes into real space, but into a totally different place, perhaps light years away (it's even possible into a different time), kinda like being teleported into a random place. The guy coughing blood is not alone - you can see short burst of light on other pillars around him, this is propably the others being thrown in there with him.

Honestly my favorite parts are the subtle stuff you barely notice, such as the Inquisitoral Psyker shouting to the Astartes Captain/Seargent *"return them immediately"* which led to his corruption due to losing concentration. The muffled sound of it due to his helmet really makes it hard to hear but its an awesome thing to include. Another is near the end when the space marines are pulled into what looks like warpspace, with the beast that grabs them with its tendrils, something smashes into it to free them, though its hard to catch the first time around.

Watching various people completely nerd out or otherwise just go "holy f..." over Astartes never gets old for a person like me who loves 40k and adores animation as a whole even more. edit: That "Oh good theres more." gave me a great big smile.

I love how there's almost a rythm to it. Especially in the last moments in the fight agaisnt the psyker dudes. Face stab, electric shock, neck stab, spine pull. It goes in beats, and it's so damn satisfying.

You started at the top. This is literally the best representation of the 40k universe in a cinematic medium.

12:52 You can actually see the flashes of his battle-brothers teleporting/appearing on the other pillars in the distance if you look closely.

The sound design is absolutely crisp. I love how you stated that, "Each movement felt critical" it really emphasizes how space marines operate with purpose.

I think we all had the same expressions at the same moments in the short. Any the same disbelief that this was all done by just one person. It's the best animated short I've ever seen. Great reaction!

The original version of Astartes is absolutely incredible. I was beyond flabbergasted when Games Workshop procured the rights and proceeded to make the baffling changes it did.

Every time I watch Astartes, I notice how great every single camera angle and movement is.

The detail on this film is insane, while the space marine is sprinting if you carefully listen you can hear the actuators in the power armor

i love how he doesn't ever hang on to a beat for too long. I know that I wouldn't have that strength, the details and effort put into some of these shots, and then show it for less than a second. just a masterpiece in pacing his beats.

A central concept of the Warhammer universe is The Warp. A parallel dimension, the sea of souls, the emotional energy field of the galaxy, hell. The Warp is the energy source that psykers, the “force” users, draw on for their abilities. It’s also the shortcut used to travel faster than light, with ships tearing holes in reality and travelling through hell itself to get places. It’s unclear whether those balls were demons of some kind, entities native to the warp, or some other being who just uses the Warp. At the end we can see the Astartes getting dragged into the Warp, only for their kidnapper to get eaten by a bigger fish, so to speak, and the Astartes getting forced back out of the warp.

Apparently 'Games Workshop', the owners of the 'Warhammer 40k' franchise later employed the maker of this cinematic after they were so impressed by the caliber of his work. Also I do believe Amazon Prime is in pre-production of a live action Warhammer 40k series starring Henry Cavill, who is a massive fan of Warhammer.

“The best team running” and “Proper team work” are absolutely my new favorite way to describe this faction now

I recall from one of the novels (I forget which) that somebody, a Guardsman I think, remarked about the Astartes that nothing that big has any business being able to move that fast or that stealthily. Fun fact: that "vehicle" they rode in the beginning wasn't a boarding vessel, it was a boarding _torpedo._ The squad didn't fly to the ship, they were _shot at it._ Because that's just how the Astartes do.

Time to go down the Warhammer 40k rabbit hole. Join us.

honestly the fan version of the 40k make the space marine felt more like space marine lore wise than the stuff that the official 40k make themself, in lore this guys have super human reflex and speed and the official 40k movies series the armor doesn't hold up or the space marine move slow as hell

The thing you touched on that i love about the action is how readable it is. So much modern action is too busy or, as you put it, too tight with too many close cuts. I remember stopping Quantum of solace halfway through because the fight scenes were completely unreadable yet here, despite being dark, you can follow the action so well!

I like how at no point they thank or acknowledge eachothers acts of both selflessness and teamwork. They just deal with the situation and instantly keep moving. Its not acknowledged, just expected.

It's well worth checking out the other 40k animations. Stuff like Armouring, Mechanicus, The New Edition, Space Marine 2 Oh and there's an amazon show set in 40k that's being worked on with Henry Cavill spearheading the project. No one knows what it'll be about tho Btw, because the creator got picked up by GW, the Retributors (the dudes in the film) are now part of official canon.

17:01 the wall shot stood out to me as well because it connects the shot of the Astartes to the guy who shoots through the wall. It helps understand the context of where everything is and how it's connected. It's not a random guy shooting and then there's holes in the wall somewhere else. It's like "look at this wall! It's important. Because now I'm gonna make something happen on the other side!"

This has to be one of the best reaction videos i've seen on KZfaq! You really broke everything down to the smallest detail and truly helped me understand the film making process. Thank you so much! I learned a lot from this video :)

I'll never get tired of people breaking down why the astartes cinematics were so good. Just shows his complete dedication to bring his idea to life,! as close to the picture he had in his head.

I watched this purely as a 40k fan not expecting to learn anything. I am thrilled to have walked away from this learning something. I feel like I can appreciate works like this even more now, thank you!

Part of the design of WH40K is that it's a sandbox, so not everything in the universe is covered by the 'canon' information and something I LOVED about this series is that they leaned into this to create mystery even for people elbows deep in lore. The more you know, the more elements you'll recognise, but unless it's something I've not come across before (very possible), no-one will watch this and, from the outset, know what's going to happen.

You know, sometimes you accidentally stumbled upon something, or in this case, a video that you watched barely seconds into it, then you get "WOW!". You mind were blown away, and got goosebumps all over. More so when you read into the description and it said it's a one-man fan project. This is exactly what happened to me when I found the 2nd part of this Astartes project. The 2nd part was newly uploaded at that times, I think the views didn't even reach 1k yet. Immediately I went to his channel, saw the 1st part, and watched it. From that moment, I subscribed to his channel, and have been waiting for his videos with much anticipation, and each new release didn't disappoint. I didn't even knew anything about Warhammer at that time. When he revealed that GW reached him for a special project, I was so excited hoping for a full film of the Astartes project. It's so good it's a no brainer move imho. But little did I know that people at GW don't even have a brain. I hope when his (Syama's) contract and deal with GW is done, some company would offer him a well deserved opportunities.

Been waiting for years for a full movie like this.

hell yeah man. glad you loved it. i didnt know anything much about 40k when i watched this at first but it got me watching lore videos and cruising comments for a while trying to figure out whats going on. i feel like i miss that mystery. i dont know if we'll ever get an astartes 2 but im really holding out hope - stuff like this is so special and hard to come by i feel like since space marines are so big and hulking, its difficult to animate them believably. but in astartes, they just had this weight to them, and they moved so effortlessly but it didnt look 'floaty' or 'weightless'. the SFX were great on them. armor plates shifting, big footsteps. it all came together to give whats in my opinion, the best rendition of space marines ive seen anywhere online. i love it i love it. power suits, man. so cool love your content brother, looking forward to more!!

I really like how you breakdown all the aspects of film making in this and explained it very easily to understand as well. The guy who made this did get hired by games workshop and has worked on several trailers for their games. One such trailer is called the Horus Heresy Trailer. So it you would like to see how he transitioned his fan film to official work it would be awesome to see how you breakdown and react to that.

I have watched Astartes sooooooo many times. I think it's magnificent work. I love there is no dialogue but you see small gestures that show their intention. If I won the lotto or came into some money I would invest it into making a full film. Love it.

The Melta gun shot across the room is one of my favorites. And the way the fragments around the shielding is amazing for showing the spherical element.

And now you've become a Warhammer 40k KZfaqr. Welcome, you'll be deep diving 40k lore for years to come as we all watch you react to our universes

Every time i watch Astartes or a reaction video to it, i discover/learn something new. And every time i am again amazed at what Syama Pederson created! It not only captures the tabletop, the lore and the 40k universe brilliantly, but it´s also a masterpiece of animation. True Art! And with everything you, @KZ, discribed, the lighting, the shots, the angles, i am even more amazed. Not only is Syama a true fan, who invested years into this, but he is also a genius at his craft! He made something truly unique!

You know how amazing the story telling is when you realize not a single word was spoken.

Astartes and Helsreach are my favorite animations of 40k so far

I'm super happy to be seeing people react to this amazing Astartes video. Having a full length movie or a tv series that's animated to that level would be an absolute dream.

I would like to recommend the video "Armouring of a Space Marine" for your next 40k reaction. Loved the video and insight you gave!

The gold "statue" they pass is actually the body of a necron god. A very big thing is happening on this ship. Also when the helmet comes off and you see the 3 small metal studs.. you get 1 for every 100 yrs of service. The lore in this is amazingly good and will take many many hours to piece together and understand

The fact that one person made this series, never fails to blow my mind. It's the perfect example of what is possible with the right amount of passion, dedication and commitment. And all of that is apparent in every single second of it. I was never into 40K before watching this series and now I'm obsessed with it because of it.

If I'm not mistaken, the creator of this went on not only to be hired on to Games Workshop, but I believe he was given a senior lead position if not a director position in their animations department.

Another feeling that i really love from those hallway shots is the claustrophobia. Because your view is above them and the ceiling is so close you get a sense for just how massive these space marines are.

To this day, Astartes is literally one of the most quality things I've ever seen in my life.

Netflix should pay the guy who made this to make a full tv show with a warhammer writer

Astartes is the gift that keeps on giving. Timeless. Peerless. Ground breaker that dragged 40k into the main stream.

In the last scene, if you watch the other pillars in the distance closely, you can see small beams or pops to display the other Astartes being teleported to the same place, just very far apart, hardly visible to each other. This is the best 40K cinematography and filmmaking we in the community has ever seen. It's absolutely a work of art, and a masterpiece at that. Appreciate hearing your take on it, was interesting to listen to. Have a great day and thanks for sharing. Welcome to the Grim Dark.

Such a fantastic breakdown, loved how you broke down basically every single technique and how they worked together. If you haven't seen Star Wars the Old Republic's "Sacrifice" and "Betrayed" videos, you totally should. They had 4k re-releases a while ago, and they're one of the best short form storytelling I've ever seen. They're also peak Star Wars, of a kind we haven't really gotten in years outside Andor.

I love watching reactions to Astartes I'm a fan of 40k, and this film is everything i ever wanted as a fan You came up on my recommended, you have a new subscriber

One of the most well rounded breakdowns of 'Astartes' i've seen. Genuinely great elaboration on filmmaking techniques, camerawork, and in a way even I, with the monkey brain, can understand. I absolutely learned stuff watching you today! Take my sub! :D

Every. Single. Time. Every time I watch Astartes, or a reaction video like this, I learn or notice new details. Not only did he capture the essential spirit of the setting of the Astartes and their capabilities, tactics, equipment, he also created a technical masterpiece.

I think the creator of Astartes is a one in a generation person.So much conviction and love for their work. It's amazing and I could watch it a hundred times and never be bored.

Epic breakdown. Was really looking forward to this one, and it doesn't disappoint.

There is a very short trailer that you can find for Astartes 2. It's awesome to watch and then go back and look at frame by frame because it packs alot of really cool shit into a very small package.

The creator is Syama Pedersen from New Zealand and his Space Marines chapter now have a name, they are The Retributors a successor chapter of the Imperial Fists, They were founded during the Indomitus Crusade

"guys that big shouldn't have moved that fast" must be the default description of the Astartes 😂😂😂

Astartes does such a brilliant job of showing the 40k universe without a single word of dialogue. You know the space marines are huge and powerful from the first shot where they pass some normal people in the hallway scene. The visual storytelling is so perfect that someone without any knowledge of 40k would know what is happening.

He has been hired by Games Workshop and I believe is working on Astartes 2 (Fingers crossed) I completely agree, this is THE most phenomenal piece of film making I've ever seen. its truly incredible, especially for one man.

Good to see this in my feed again, watched this so many times and it never ceases to amaze me.

this makes me so happy :) Great to see the utter dedication and skill to pull this off.

"These guys have got to be the best team going!" As you soon saw when they fought the duo of Psykers, this isn't true, not by a long shot. Space Marines are on a very similar level power wise to Spartan IIs in Halo, but organize them into Chapters of around a thousand each, then make a thousand of said Chapters. 40k is a universe where everything is so stupidly, absurdly powerful, but because everyone has super weapons, everything more or less balances out. Also, basically any time you ask "who are these guys?" or "what is that thing?" the answer is usually a resounding "we aren't sure, but..." On the tabletop, (which, granted, is decently far removed from canon in terms of how strong the units would actually be, otherwise you'd need to paint up a few hundred normal human soldiers with some vehicles to boot to have a prayer of taking out half a dozen Astartes) Space Marines are usually considered to be the standard bar by which things are judged. The 8' tall genetically modified super soldiers with two hearts, three lungs, essentially bulletproof bones, guns that shoot rocket propelled grenades the size of a toilet paper tube, and a few thousand pounds worth of powered armor that is neurally connected to them so that their reaction times are not the least bit slowed down while wearing it are seen as BASIC. This universe is extremely silly, and that's before you even look at the Space Elves, Angry Fungal Football Hooligans, Sleepy Terminators or 4 Flavors of Satan and their mostly mortal followers.

"I wanna see a full feature-film of this caliber'' you and me both. Sadly, with the time it took this man to make just these 5 small parts, it'll never happen. And I don't trust Games Workshop to make one with him and other people in a shorter timeframe because it'll definitely suffer. It's awesome he was picked up by Games Workshop though.

Thank you for the detailed analysis. This was fun to watch and quite informative.

Such a kewl vid by a fan!! Luved it and not even remotely surprised he was snapped up by the company and now works for them. Amazingly talented!! What a vid to review for your first reacts!! Luved the breakdown and you explain it so clearly. Cheers again and look forward to more of your vids.... lol just saw you showed Boyka. Kudos for using such an obtuse reference and I luv that film too

Search for the original version. When GW hired the creator they striped out some of the sounds that had copywrite. Makes a huge difference.