Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Dylan ~ Rub-a-dub-dub.




Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
All put out to sea.

Monday, 26 March 2012

Chloe ~ Happy Birthday!


...another year passed by. The kids grow before my eyes...

Sunday, 18 March 2012

Muse.





Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

Starlight
I will be chasing the starlight
Until the end of my life
I don't know if it's worth it anymore

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

My life
You electrify my life
Let's conspire to ignite
All the souls that would die just to feel alive

But I'll never let you go
If you promised not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms

Far away
This ship is taking me far away
Far away from the memories
Of the people who care if I live or die

And I'll never let you go
If you promise not to fade away
Never fade away

Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations
Our hopes and expectations
Black holes and revelations

Hold you in my arms
I just wanted to hold
You in my arms
I just wanted to hold
~ Starlight.

Monday, 12 March 2012

Jean "Moebius" Giraud.













8 May 1938 – 10 March 2012

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was a French comics artist, working in the French tradition of bandes dessinées. Giraud earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Mœbius, and to a lesser extent Gir (used for the "Blueberry" series), the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings. Esteemed by Federico Fellini, Stan Lee and French politician Jack Lang among other notables, he was one of the few francophone comic strip artists to receive international acclaim.

Among his most famous works are the Western comic series "Blueberry" he co-created with writer Jean-Michel Charlier, one of the first Western anti-heroes to appear in comics. Under the pseudonym Moebius he created a wide range of science fiction and and fantasy comics in a highly imaginative and surreal almost abstract style, the most famous of which are Arzach and the Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius, and the The Incal. Blueberry was adapted for the screen in 2004, and in 1997 Moebius and cocreator Alejandro Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson for using the Incal as inspiration for his movie The Fifth Element, a lawsuit which they lost.

Moebius contributed storyboards and concept designs to numerous science fiction and fantasy films, including Alien, Willow, and Tron. Giraud's artwork for the Dan O'Bannon short story comic "The Long Tomorrow" was a key visual reference for Blade Runner. George Lucas used one of Giraud's designs for the Imperial Probe Droid in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Lucas's later Star Wars films also share many visual characteristics with Giraud's work, particularly the depiction of the city-planet Coruscant.

source : wiki.
..........................

Perhaps one of the, if not the only, most influential comics artist of all time. First got aquainted with his works in the fantasy/sci-fi/erotica Heavy Metal magazine of which is the US version of Métal Hurlant, the French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories, co-created in December 1974 by Jean Giraud.

Friday, 9 March 2012

Coldplay.






Come up to meet you
Tell you I'm sorry
You don't know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart

Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh let's go back to the start
Running in circles; coming up tails
Heads on a silence apart

Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start

I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science; science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Oh it's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I'm going back to the start
- The Scientist.

Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Oasis.






I need to be myself
I can't be no one else
I'm feeling supersonic
Give me gin and tonic
You can have it all but how much do you want it?
You make me laugh
Give me your autograph
Can I ride with you in your B.M.W ?
You can sail with me in my yellow submarine

You need to find out
'Cos no one's gonna tell you what I'm on about
You need to find a way for what you want to say
But before tomorrow

'Cos my friend said he'd take you home
He sits in a corner all alone
He lives under a waterfall
No body can see him
No body can ever hear him call
No body can ever hear him call

You need to be yourself
You can't be no one else
I know a girl called Elsa
She's into Alka Seltzer
She sniffs it through a cane on a supersonic train
And she makes me laugh
I got her autograph
She done it with a doctor on a helicopter
She's sniffin in her tissue
Sellin' the Big Issue'

When she finds out
No one's gonna tell you what I'm on about
You need to find a way for what you want to say
But before tomorrow

'Cos my friend said he'd take you home
He sits in a corner all alone
He lives under a waterfall
No body can see him
No body can ever hear him call
No body can ever hear him call
~Supersonic, Oasis.

Looking for the essential Oasis compilation of songs? Easy. Just get their 1994 debut, "Definitely, Maybe", then the 1995 staggeringly successful sophomore album, "What's the Story? (Morning Glory)" which catapulted them into the Britpop super group stratospheric status, which in the process inflated both Noel and Liam's egos bigger than the size of the infinite universe, and finally, the 1998 B-sides compilation, "The Masterplan". Brotherly feud and fighting, front page headliners for right and wrong reasons, bad mouthing with honest to the bone opinions about how "shite" other bands was of their time, rebutting the fatalism of "grunge", embraced life and with confidence as tough as British steel, Oasis captured the essential (northern) souls of every person globally at the height of their popularity. So go supersonic with cigarettes and alcohol, live forever with champagne supernova so that we don't have to look back in anger and with acquiesce because we have the wonderwall to talk tonight as part of the masterplan. Swaggering has never been so kewl....

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

The Verve.



I wander lonely streets
Behind where the old Thames does flow
And in every face I meet
Reminds me of what I have run from

In every man, in every hand
In every kiss, you understand
That living is for other men
I hope you too will understand

I've got to tell you my tale
Of how I loved and how I failed
I hope you understand
These feelings should not be in the man

In every child, in every eye
In every sky, above my head
I hope that I know
So come with me in bed
Because it's you and me, we're history
There ain't nothing left to say
When I will get you alone

Maybe we could find a room
Where we could see what we should do
Maybe you know it's true
Living with me is like keeping a fool

In every man, in every hand
In every kiss, you understand
That living is for other men
I hope you know that I am me so come on
I'm thinking about history
And I'm living for history
And I think you know about me
Cause I am

And one and one is two
But three is company
When you're thinking about the things you do
And you're thinking about the things you do
I want to tell you my tale
How I failed in love and jumped out on my bail
Do you understand there's more in a smile than in a hand
In every sky, in every kiss
There's one thing that you might have missed

Why am I going to
A place that now belongs to you
But you are me and so am I
Let's pick it up, let's even try
To live today, so why not smile
Don't dream away your life coz it is mine
Is that a crime this life is mine
But the bed ain't made but it's spilled full of hope
I've got a skin full of dope
~ History, The Verve.

During the Britpop heydays of the 90s, I personally felt The Verve steamrolled through most of the bands which shared their music genre and category with the released their second album, A Northern Soul (1995), and one of the most quintessential albums in musicdom, Urban Hymns (1997). And through lead vocalist, band co-founders and as one of the two (or was it three? :P) ape walking rock gods of his time, Richard Ashcroft, The Verve gave the music world some of the most epic, bittersweet strings laddened, sentimentally full filling and emotional overture yet to be matched till present.

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

ThreeA ~ A.B.C. Warriors : Mongrol.












MONGROL SMUSH!!!

A (mis) interpretation :

Category : Cyborg.

Unit type: Mass production close assault cyborg.
Model type: A.B.C. Warriors.
Designation : Mongrol.
Manufacturer: The Ro-Busters Industries.
Affiliation: A.B.C. Warriors, 101st Airborne Division, United Americana (former), The Meknificent Seven (former); The Robot Islands Sanctuary (current). 
Height: 7 feet.
Weight: 5000 kg.
Power plant: Hydrogen fusion fuel cell x 5.
Armour type: Plasteel ceramite rare metals composite alloy - inner armour; armaplus ceramite composite alloy - outer armour; Luna Titanium Hyper alloy - cranium.
Armour thickness: 300mm - inner armour; 300mm - outer armour; 200mm - cranium armour.
Armaments : Cybork Body -  modified cybernetics, bionics implants  x 1; Bionik Arms and Legs - modified cybernetics, bionics implants x 2; Killkrusha Fists -  customised energy weapon x 2; Mega Armour - reinforced built-in bionic armour x 1; Mega Boosta - customised power booster x 3; Iron Gob - reinforced facial armour x 1; Da Zzap Kannon - customised built in energy cannon x 1.


1979. Arch Deacon Molotov Vaskhov succeed in a coup which made him the Cardinal of Eurasia Mars Advocate (MARSA) diocese. Caiedius, the previous Cardinal, is found dead in his bed, suspected to be poisoned. The discovery of oil in the North Sea lead Cardinal Vaskhov to mount a military invasion against Europa Union. After the fall of Euro City, the invasion cultimate in the Eight Hours War of which the Eurasian Frateris Templar, Frateris Militia and Adepta Sororita  army of Vaskhov succeed in occupying Albion City after eight hours of intense fighting culminating  in the decisive Battle of Holyhead. Prior to the war, Vaskhov has made a deal with the Cardinals of other diocese nations under occupation by the Ecclesiarchy of Mars, of which they remain neutral and adopt an isolationism policy. This is partly due to the political and economic issues cropping up within their own diocese nations after the end of the Great War, in particular the Anti-Mars Coalition of Terra (AMC) and the Independent Countries Group (ICG). The High Lord of Europa Union, key politicians, aristocracies, and military commanders are charged with heresy, executed and replaced. The population of Europa Union's hive cities, Albion City and Euro City are reduced to abject slavery, task to built a massive defence line which stretches across Atlantic, known as "The Wall" to defend the occupied nation against the United Americana forces. The discovery of oil gains the attention of the High Lord of United Americana himself, and the nation began to secretly fund the AMC forces within the hive cities and provide them with weapons, warbots and droids. By 1984, the United Americana, under the pretext of liberating Europa Union, but with actual intention of capturing the oil reserves for themselves, sent a landing force at Iouernia  sector, deploying waves of warbots against the occupational forces, of which the latter retaliated with their own warbots forces. As the war turned static, United Americana unleash the A.B.C. Warriors, a technologically advanced, cybernetic engineered cyborg soldiers on the various battle zones across Albion City. These cyborgs are manufactured by the Ro-Busters Industries, owns by Viscount Howard Quartz, itself a proxy corporation of the former mega conglomerate, the Rothchild Corporation. As exercised in the Great War, driven by profits and shares, another proxy Rothchild Corporation subsidiary, the Thurxton Industries, led by Viscount Richard "Dicky" Thurxton, supply equally advance cyborgs to the Eurasia diocese. These cyborgs are devoid of any intelligence, and have to be remote controlled by humans. The designer is Harry "Flash" Lowder. Down and out, he is about to destroy the prototypes when by chance Quartz passes by The Boneyard and in his own words, sees the potential of "these bastards:. He purchases the prototypes, design and patents from Flash for a nominal sum of 10,000 bucks. The cyborgs are used as expendable soldiers, cheaply produced, but designed to fight in any form of environments, and absolute resiliency against atomic, bacterial, chemical warfare, as abbreviated in their official category, the A.B.C. Warriors. 
As the war grinds on, eventually the much more numerically superior A.B.C. Warriors overruns their Eurasian cyborg equivalents and repulse them all the way to Megagrad defence belt. Howard Quartz has mis-calculated the war demands, forecast and production numbers of the A.B.C. Warriors and actual shipping schedule which results in the "premature" end of the war. The failure of Vaskhov lead to his assassination by his one of his own military advisors and subsequently an armistice is signed between the three nations. The rights to the oil reserves, neither Europa nor United Americana are unable claim for it, as another Rothchild Corporation proxy mega conglomerate, the Cordoza Corporation, immediately outmanoeuvred both nations in a series of talks, becoming the sole ownership of the raw resources.  A new Cardinal is appointed by the Holy Synod to rule over Eurasia diocese. The Eurasian cyborgs are re-programmed and shipped back to the Eccelsiarchy of Mars as hard labour while all ministorum priests under the late Cardinal are charged with heresy and executed.
The A.B.C.Warriors are designed and engineered by Quartz with maximum 10% organic matter and 90% cybernetics. He has the nickname "Mr. Ten Percent" because he believes that to qualify as a living organism, at least 10% organic, biological substance must be present. Howard himself has been cybernetic augmented to the extent that only his brain remained organic. He applies this design on all the A.B.C. Warriors artificial intelligence, that is all the cyborgs contain the living brain tissue which has been undergone genetic enhancement and modification. The organic brains are procured in abundance from Re-syk centres and Butcher's Bay penal colonies. Quartz calls this cybernetic brain, the positronic e-brain and patented it. All A.B.C. Warriors are highly autonomous, capable of making their own decisions and carrying out their objectives based on direct orders without any intervention from their more human commanders. The humans view these cyborgs as meat to the grinder while they lay back, enjoyed the "tasty" Soylent Green while sipping Café Fine coffees or get laid with the locals at the command quarters. The human commanders from both factions often find faults with these cyborgs, ranging from diverting from an objective to capture an insignificant hill of no military value to not filing in the line up fast enough. These "rogue" cyborgs are dealt with severely by their human commanders, who will disabled them on the spot, unlock the cybernetic enhanced brain and squash it with their boots on spot. The A.B.C. Warriors have a built in safety device which makes them unable to harm any human commanders.
After the war ends, Quartz has a fallout with Thruxton, whom subsequently rat him out to the High Lord of United Kingdom of Afrika, the equally cybernetic enhanced aging Führer, Idi Amon on Quartz's extra-marital affair with the C. Chaplin moustachioed beast's fourth wife, Eva Brown. Amon charges Quartz for tax evasion during a Terra High Lord Council meeting and demands payment for the forge lines and factories built in Eko-Lagos and Kongo hive cities.
Quartz balks, and to make good to the feared dictator, he decides to destroy all the A.B.C. Warriors and claim insurance money from it. All are destroyed outright, with the exception of seven. These remaining A.B.C. Warriors, having beating their safety device programmes and evolves further in terms of their artificial intelligence, escapes to the Northern Frontier of Apulia Sector, Accadia Corridor, Europa Union. They settle within one of the 1,300 islands in the Adriatic Sea collectively known as the Robot Islands. They become mercenaries for hire, and become infamous for undertaking black ops and covert missions. As years go by, they become known as the Meknificent Seven. Even Quartz hires them at one point to protect him from a bunch of his own creations from murdering him under the orders of Idi Amon, whom never quite forgive nor forget.
One of the Meknificent Seven is Mongrol. He is a former CO of an A.B.C. Warriors paratrooper platoon. He, along with another cyborg, Zippo, is the only survivors of the Operation Market Garden during a disastrous drop into Eurasian held Arnhem town, Gelderland sub-sector.  During the battle, a bolter round tore into Mongrol's head, destroying 30% of his skull and pulped a good portion of his brain. Only his head is left. His entire body is destroyed by a plasma cannon. Lara, a Scrapper whom is a former M.O.D. member and daughter of an executed robot tuner finds his head and rebuilt him in a undisclosed forge line. Lara uses Luna Titanium Hyper alloy she salvaged from a destroyed Caesar warbot and bolts it onto Mongrol's cranium, making it impenetrable to most forms of weaponries but she lacks the knowledge to repair the damage done to Mongrol's positronic-e brain although Lara made bionic reinforcement to it upon erasing all the viral contamination and deterioration. Lara refabricates a massive facial appliances which are bolted directly onto Mongrol's face and jaw, giving him a fearsome appearance of an ape, an extinct species said to be once found abundance on United Kingdom of Afrika. Mongrol's cyborg body is rebuilt using a composition of plasteel, ceramite and rare metals over powered exoskeleton, enclosed with massively thick and heavy ceramic armaplas composite alloy, reinforced with bionics. It enable Mongrol to withstand incredible amounts of punishment, shrug off hits from most energy and projectile based weaponries. The piston-enchased metal limbs of the armour give Mongrol phenomenal strength. It involves the use of built-in bionics and is very complex. Due to the increase in weight of the armour, Lara incorporates three power boosters into Mongrol, devices which are attached to the armour and generally increase the power available to the suit. This allows the Mongrol a better chance of getting to a fight quickly. Bionic arms and legs are rebuilt.  Lara adds a pair of power weapon in a form of fists, which  are  essentially an over-sized, armoured gauntlet that generates an energy field around it that disrupts any solid matter it touches. The technology is salvaged from the time of the Great War. Nevertheless, it is large and slow in combat, and so Mongrol must be willing to risk the blows of his enemy before he can strike back. The benefits of the power fists are that it increases the Mongrol's strength further, much as his armour and bionic limbs do due to the power provides by the mechanical servos that allow the power fists to move as Mongrol desires. The disadvantages of its unwieldy nature are often well worth the limitations, however, as the combination of the disruptive power field and sheer physical strength afforded by a power fist allows Mongrol to pulverize and tear apart armour plate from the most well-protected of vehicles, and to wound and kill even colossal monstrous creatures in close combat. Its brutal effects against more mundane foes goes without saying. Rounding up the rebuilt process is the incorporation of laser weapon within Mongrol throat. An extremely powerful weapon, the Zzap gun serves a role not dissimilar to a Martian lascannon during the time of the Great War in that it fires concentrated beams of energy effective against vehicles. It consists of a wire-bound tube and a powerful generator at the back end of it with a lot of customised parts. Although powerful, this weapon suffers from unpredictability and as such can vary to have such devastating power that it is stronger than anything in the Imperium, but some unlucky shots won't be strong enough to even scratch an enemy's armour.
Both of them are eventually caught by the Frateris Templar and sent to the notorious Unit 731 Complex , a covert cybernetic, biological and chemical warfare research and development unit that undertook lethal human experimentation based in Siberia parish. Lara is brutally experimented upon and died from the process. Mongrol, who was deactivated and unconscious, was subjected to a series of horrific tortured by the Confessors for information. The extent of the brutality suffered under the captors hand inadvertently awakens Mongrol consciousness, and upon seeing the mutilated body of Lara, Mongrol's anger activates himself and he breaks free of his captors. He immediately unleashes an unbridled act of furious brutality, a nigh unstoppable, rampaging juggernaut. He intentionally seals off the entire Unit 731 Complex and levels it to the ground with no survivors. Mongrol mounts the Eurasian complex commandant, Shirov Tsirinsky's head on a pike in front of the devastated scene and gives out a mighty roar which echoes through the frozen wasteland. He then picks up what remains of Lara and buries her. He mourns her death for seven days and seven nights, killing any Frateris Militia or Templars in sight. 
The sight of Lara's violent death, combines with his unstable psyche due to the pulped positronic e-brain, has reduced him to near bestial-like behaviour. Mongrol becomes highly wanted outlaw by both Terra and Eccleasiarchy of Mars occupied nations. He is given amnesty after being recruited by Hammerstein, another veteran of the North Sea Oil War, whom earned Mongrol's respect by defeating him in hand to hand combat. Mongrol's subscribes to the belief that he would eventually go to heaven and meet his beloved Lara once more, and this becomes the driving force of the metal ape in carrying out his duties. After being told by the virtuous Deadlock that all cyborgs have "souls" and only good cyborgs go to "heaven", a place which all sufferance and despair do not exist, he becomes determine to live a hero's life, hopefully died in a glorious combat and see his beloved again.
After the deadly covert mission on Mars of which the Meknificent Seven is hired to rescue seven Terran hostages during the Olympus Mons Crisis at the Holy Synod, Mongrol leaves the Meknificent Seven due to a misunderstanding and is duped into signing a contract to work with Pee Wee Barnes 'Death Circus' on one of the Robot Islands, Mekka. He plays the part of Iron Kong, a giant metal monster that would be defeated by the heroic Sparktekus in every show. So long has he been playing that role, Mongrol eventually forgotten who he really is. He is eventually located by Nemesis the Warlock, an anti-Chaos cyborg technomancer, and brings back into the ranks of the Meknificent Seven to help save the Northern Frontier from a massive incursion of techno-daemons and the Zombot hordes lead by King Thumb. After the event, Mongrol and the rest of his team members, under the command of Hammerstein further undertakes a series of covert operations, secretly sanctioned by the High Lords Council of Terra. Amongst these are the Black Hole Incident of which they plug into the Melchizedek network to prevent the corruption of the mainframe by the Queen Mortis. During their journey home to Scrapyard IV, their fortress headquarter and sanctuary, the treacherous Blackblood, as part of a wider, nefarious scheme, breaks the news to Mongrol that cyborgs simply go to the smelter rather than heaven, and as such he could never see Lara again. As a result, Mongrol turned to his 'father' - a screwdriver and attempted to destroy his own brain before being stopped by Hammerstein whom managed to talk some senses into him. Blackblood was severely reprimanded by Hammerstein for his act and began to suspect the former's real motive and intention. Unknown to anyone, Blackblood had been corrupted by the Dark Gods from the warp during the Black Hole Incident, and secretly serve the Queen Mortis from then on.
After saving Leviathan 1 from self-destruction during a mission, Mongrol follows the others to the space colony, Salem, to collect the Seven Seals needed for a ritual that would prevent the Heart of Darkness from consuming New Andria. In the event, Mongrol is freed of the power of speech, but as compensation, is bestowed with even greater physical strength, instant reactions and speed with the personality of a natural born beast. During the Temple of the Night Maras mission, Mongrol becomes entranced with a nymph called Morrigun, and becomes nothing more than her mindless (and overly protective) pet. It turns out that the nefarious technomancer, Viktor von Verbeden of the Red Corsairs is involved and wants Mongrol as a keep sake trophy as well as to use him as part of his expansionist plan. The intervention of the Ferrus Legionis vigilante group and Hammerstein thwart Dr. Doom's plan. A member of the Legionis, the Iron Man Ezekiel Starke, also fully re-stores Mongrol's personality and speech, reactivates long-dormant circuits, giving him back his original intelligence (and a taste for XL Macanudo cigars). He is still suffering from deep-seated emotional issues over Lara, and when her memory is mocked by a Shadow Warrior known as the Warmonger, Mongrol ripped him to pieces without hesitation.
As part of the Blackblood's scheme to eliminate the Meknificent Seven, he recounts the North Sea Oil War experiences and confesses that it is him whom reveals their locations to the Eurasians which results in their capture and Lara's death. Mongrol goes into a berserk fury. He is stopped by Nemesis the Warlock using techno sorcery. Once Mongrol calms down as much as he could, he states to Hammerstein that either Blackblood leaves the Seven or he will. However, the traitorous Blackblood has already planned and schemed ahead which results in the release from imprisonment and hibernation, Volkhan, the mightiest Eurasian cyborg and overall commander of Eurasia during the  North Sea War, from one of the Robot Islands. Volkhan has also been fused with daemonic warp entities, mutated into a multi-limb bio-mechanical monster. Mongrol fights with his team mates against Volkhan, severely damaged in the process. The Meknificent Seven, except for Mongrol, Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws, are annihilated in the combat. Blackblood is killed by Mongrol, choking him and severed his head before pulping it. Mongrol currently remains on Scrapyard IV with the remainder of the mercenary elite group, still answering to Hammerstein, maintaining his cherish memory of Lara and tries to keep the beastial, berserking fury within him under control. He is also given more responsibility and role within the group, in charge of looking after the remains of the late Steelhorn or the Mess, contain within a vacuum flask, a fellow member whom is reduced to a mass of molten metal of which only a small quantity of him is retrieved during Volkhan's assault. Another reason is because although the Mess still maintained sentiency, he is basically just a pile of goo, lacking any physical capability to communicate coherently, with the exception of Mongrol, whom ironically understand perfectly what the former physical remainder of Steelhorn wants to say, having established a psychic link with the beast. The Mess now acts as Mongrol's closest ally and advisor. Mongrol also forms comradeship with the New Andria's Adventure Kartel  collective and often assists them in repulsing any Zombots assault.  
 
..............................................................................................................................................................

ThreeA's Mongrol is one huge figure, but the joints are quite tight and once adjusted for posing, some of it would become "loose", like the fingers and the lower jaw, which slacks easily. Otherwise, it is easily one of my favourite robot figures. Mongrol is one of the characters from ABC Warriors, a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in "prog 119" in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of the team. Since then they have been illustrated primarily, though not exclusively, by Bryan Talbot, Simon Bisley, SMS, Kevin Walker, Henry Flint and Clint Langley. Admittedly, I "plagiarised" most terms from Games Workshop's WH40K rich universe and Lexicanum, the Orks in specific, for Mongrol's specs.