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[Laiza]

Forgot about the nanosuit

Nanosuit is my favorite, just because of these badass demonstrations of its abilities:
https://youtu.be/lJK-Uns31ho
https://youtu.be/P6W_FcUpOig
Oh, and I actually prefer the design from the first Crysis, though a slimmed-down version of the Crysis 2/Crysis 3 suit certainly wouldn't be unwelcome. It's a remarkably simple design when you get right down to it, but that simplicity works in its favor. They have so much versatiliy within that simplistic framework as well. With speed, strength, stealth, and armor, you can adapt to so many different situations on the fly. There are other suits in sci-fi that prioritize aspects of these, but few that allow the user to specialize in any area at-will.

It's a great design. From a functional standpoint, nothing else comes to mind that matches this. It's just too good to beat.

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

The Grey Knights Aegis Terminator Power Armor. This armor was made to fight demons.

 

[quackamole]

Does this count? Grey knights nemesis dreadknight. Basically a space marine wearing power armor, wearing a bigger set of power armor. Made for manly one on one melee with greater demons.

 

[elrechazado]

Does this count? Grey knights nemesis dreadknight. Basically a space marine wearing power armor, wearing a bigger set of power armor. Made for manly one on one melee with greater demons.

Hulkbuster?
Or
Xzibit.gif

 

[Seraph_Nicholas]

I dunno if the stillsuit counts, but that's my first pick. Samus' chozo armor is second.

 

[Cvie]

I was gonna post glitterboy, good job.

my choice too always liked them

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I dunno if the stillsuit counts, but that's my first pick. Samus' chozo armor is second.

From Dune, right? If so, then no.

 

[blummer102]

As someone who grew up reading Batman in the early 90s, I have a huge soft spot for Azrael's Batman armor. Excessive by today's standards, sure, but it was cool at the time and gives me a lot of fond memories of reading Knightfall as a little kid.

Glad to see the Azbats armor is going to be coming back in DC Rebirth comics, too.

 

[BKatastrophe]

[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Batman_Beyond_soundtrack.png[/img]

Y'all know what it is.

Also I realize it's probably cheating, due to the fact that he's already a robot, but X's Ultimate Armor is pretty dope (and the first that came to mind, but there's a lot of great ones):

[img]https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/7/76/Ultimate_ArmorX.png/revision/latest?cb=20090424012212[/img]

GOAT Toku armor.

Gold Zeo Ranger was my shit

I just want to post this.

Thay first arc was so good. We are not worthy of Marquez's art.

 

[Not]

How do people say this kind of thing with a straight face. Do you actually think Samus Aran has the same level of recognition with the general public as any of the relevant characters to this discussion from Star Wars, Halo, or the MCU?

I'm 12 and what's Halo?

 

[deim0s]

At least we should disqualify Gundam and any piloted mecha or "real" robots. Almost human-size, powered, and augments the user wearing it.


And needs more Chaos in this thread, loyalist scum is proliferating:

 

[Keasar]

And needs more Chaos in this thread, loyalist scum is proliferating:

 

[EdwardTeach]

Not to sidetrack, but do you find it true that Warhammer classic is more popular in the U.K., and 40k in the States?

Always assumed it to be a fairly large and popular brand; even if 40k is more low key it seems to be fairly influential

40k is more popular by default now, as Warhammer fantasy battle has been scrapped.

I think 40k sales gave been higher in the uk for years.

 

[Einchy]

Helm suit from LOW.

 

[Fallout-NL]

If anybody remember the '80s cartoon "Centurions", their suits were a huge influence on me as a kid.

Each guy was a specialist in either land, sea, or air operations the would call in different attachments to their suits depending on the situation.

I also like the looks of the power armour in Anthem that was shown at E3, seems like there will be a good visual variety between the different armours.

Yeah, I remember that cartoon. It was great.

There was another one that's similar. Exo suit or something like that. No, it was Exo Squad.

 

[Kinyou]

StarCraft 2 had a legendary reveal trailer focusing on the power armor: https://youtu.be/aVtXac6if14

I just love the idea of someone being forged into the armor.

Talk about long term commitment

Bonus points if the person is kept alive by the armor

 

[Tacitus_]

Does this count? Grey knights nemesis dreadknight. Basically a space marine wearing power armor, wearing a bigger set of power armor. Made for manly one on one melee with greater demons.

We do not speak of the baby carrier.

 

[Vastag]

.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Yeah, I remember that cartoon. It was great.

There was another one that's similar. Exo suit or something like that. No, it was Exo Squad.

Yeah, it was actually people mentioning that one that reminded me of Centurions. Don't seem to be many decent pictures that show off the suits when kitted out.

These were they toys I really wanted, but never got as a kid, so I made do with recreating them with Lego.

 

[Fury451]

From my own experience 40k is still bigger than Warhammer fantasy here but I'm just going off of my own experiences with what myself and my friends like.

40k is more popular by default now, as Warhammer fantasy battle has been scrapped.

I think 40k sales gave been higher in the uk for years.

Interesting, thanks.

I thought Warhammer fantasy had a rebirth story after End Times, but I am not an expert. More just a casual interested party who has never been able to track with all of the lore lol.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Does this count? Grey knights nemesis dreadknight. Basically a space marine wearing power armor, wearing a bigger set of power armor. Made for manly one on one melee with greater demons.

The baby carrier does not qualify as asskicking or iconic. Thank god.

That whole codex was a mistaaaaaaaake

 

[Ebris]

This thread clearly needs more HERESY.

 

[Biske]

Honourable mention to the power armour from the Fallout series of games. Star of course being the original and best T51b.

This is mine.

 

[Chmpocalypse]

Iron man
Master Chief
Samus

Lol, I read too fast and the first two blended together into "Iron Chef" armor.

(Also, OP, Science Fiction fiction? : p)

 

[RoninChaos]

Just in terms of who I think most anyone would recognize, I think if you're talking video games then it's definitely Samus' suit and Master Chief's armor.

If we're taking pop culture in general it's definitely iron man's armor.

For my personal favorites, I really love the 343 master chief armor. I'm also hugely dating myself but I always really dug DarkHawk's armor. Some of the variants of that they had during the five dark hawk storylines or whatever in the 90s were great.

 

[HStallion]

Just in terms of who I think most anyone would recognize, I think if you're talking video games then it's definitely Seamus' suit and Master Chief's armor.

Ahh yes the legendary Irish power armor.

 

[RoninChaos]

Ahh yes the legendary Irish power armor.

Gotta love autocorrect.

 

[Keasar]

Interesting, thanks.

I thought Warhammer fantasy had a rebirth story after End Times, but I am not an expert. More just a casual interested party who has never been able to track with all of the lore lol.

Rebirth...kinda.

They basically had the whole Fantasy universe go through a End Times scenario which culminated in the entire world being annihilated which marked the end of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, which is now no longer supported. Then they released a new thing called Age of Sigmar which "continues" the story but now plays out in a Doctor Who setting of different "bubbles" of universes and your faction lives in one of these bubbles invading other bubbles which "gives freedom to who fights who" (which was never really a problem before). And then they rewrote the rules, made all figures bases round to emulate Warhammer 40K and one of the factions consists of these bastards:

Which is what it looks like, a Space Marine but with a hammer that shoots lightning bolts instead of a Bolter (get it!?). It reeks of Matt Ward.

It's weird and really not my kind of setting, I loved the Fantasy universe and thankfully it still lives through books and games like Total Warhammer.

 

[Dr. Carroll]

The nanosuit is fantastic, but it was retconned multiple times so it's hard to be sure what exactly its capabilities and limitations are. Crysis: Warhead treated them as a something that was vulnerable to a glorified tazer/tuning device. Crysis 2 turned it into this slightly malevolent second skin that ate you alive if you weren't wearing a protective layer. Crysis 3 went even further, with the nanosuit being able to take human form.

 

[Sony]

By no means iconic, just awesome

 

[HStallion]

By no means iconic, just awesome

A new anime would be gladly welcomed.

 

[SubjectNineteen]

I know this topic's a few days old, but as a huge sci-fi enthusiast and fan of power armor, I have to toss my two cents in.

I personally think that the Warhammer 40K power armor is more true to the concept of power armor codified by Heinlein in Starship Troopers, and by proxy, to the likely progenitor of the concept, being E. E. Smith in his Lensman series.

Iron Man is great, sure, and may sport the most widely recognized power armor, but it was by no means the first. Heinlein popularized the concept through Starship Troopers in 1959, as has been said, but even then he was building on a foundation set by Smith, whose work began in 1937. Iron Man himself didn't debut until 1968. I'm sorry if this has already been said, but I haven't thoroughly read the whole topic.

Anyway, my idea of power armor is that it is a widely used military tool, available at the very least to units of elite soldiers. So, in my mind, it's somewhat mass produced and not restricted to a single individual or handful of individuals.

Iron Man (and War Machine, etc.), conversely, from my admittedly limited understanding of the Marvel Universe, seem to be exceptions to the norm in their universe in that they are basically defined by their armor; it's unique, it's special. No one else has it, including the military. Though, I could be wrong about that.

As I said earlier, this contrasts with the power armor in Starship Troopers, Warhammer 40K, and the Fallout series, etc., where it is pretty much standard issue. There are grades and variants of it, sure, even exclusive models, but in and of itself, power armor in the aforementioned universes is just military hardware, used by many soldiers and not relegated to a few individuals, basically like the M16 used by US forces in Vietnam.

That said, I think Iron Man is cool, but I generally prefer the power armor in Starship Troopers, 40K, and Fallout. Those types of power armor are more iconic to me, personally. That's just my take, though.

Anyway, though it's more of a powered exoskeleton than power armor, my (sarcastic) nomination for most iconic power armor goes to:

Behold! The BGC-19, Joel Robinson's mobile drum kit from Mystery Science Theater 3000!

 

[DreadfulOmen]

That's just a walking iron lung, not a power armor

I guess it depends on how you look at it. Sidious created that suit to not only keep vader alive, but he made it to be painful.

That pain, frustration, and anger made vader stronger with the dark side of the force. So in a way, it does power him up.

 

[Mephala]

Halo Reach was the pinnacle of Spartan design, and MJOLNIR is my all time favorite armor.

I agree. The regular Chief armor is pretty good and I actually also really like some of the Covenant's Elite armor but Reach's custom Mjolnir's are both distinguishable yet recognisable. Some of the parts are also a little silly such as scratching the skull into your visor but I love it never the less.

 

[milkham]

Cyclones from Mospeada/Robotech

They're also motorcycles

 

[Principate]

If 40K is that big, there should'd been alot more outcry when Blizzard made Starcraft. This considering Blizzard got flak for "ripping off" Kungfu Panda.

Blizzard rips off EVERYTHING. The barley a spoken line of unit in the game that isn't either a parody or reference/heavily influenced by another well known popular work. It's an unabashed staple of theirs.

Through really the protoss is race is probably one of the most unique aesthics/motifs in the game. While you could say it's generic high tech fantasy race with a lot of influences as a whole they stand apart very well and are pretty distinct as far as blizzard is concerned.

 

[SargerusBR]

Best Kamen Rider

 

[Keasar]

As I said earlier, this contrasts with the power armor in Starship Troopers, Warhammer 40K, and the Fallout series, etc., where it is pretty much standard issue. There are grades and variants of it, sure, even exclusive models, but in and of itself, power armor in the aforementioned universes is just military hardware, used by many soldiers and not relegated to a few individuals, basically like the M16 used by US forces in Vietnam.

You could argue a kind exclusivity though of the Space Marine armour as they are only used by genetically enhanced and holy sanctioned humans of the...well...Space Marines.

While the common soldiers of the Imperium are clad in Flak armour and wields easy-to-manufacture-and-maintain Lasguns.

Which in my personal opinion makes the men and women of the Guard way more badass.

 

[SubjectNineteen]

You could argue a kind exclusivity though of the Space Marine armour as they are only used by genetically enhanced and holy sanctioned humans of the...well...Space Marines.

While the common soldiers of the Imperium are clad in Flak armour and wields easy-to-manufacture-and-maintain Lasguns.

Which in my personal opinion makes the men and women of the Guard way more badass.

Holy shit! I had no idea the Imperium had run of the mill foot soldiers. That's pretty cool. I've only ever seen the Space Marines as representing the Imperium. I bet the members of the guard get jealous of the Marines' power armor.

Still, I'm assuming there are at least hundreds of Space Marines, so power armor may be exclusive to them, but it's not necessarily unique in the world. Whereas only a handful of people have power armor in the Marvel Universe, for example.

Regardless, I am not at all familiar with the world of 40K beyond the Marines' (and Chaos') power armor and general aesthetic of the universe, which I've always adored, so I didn't know there were other Imperium soldiers at all. I always imagined that the wars between, say, the Imperium and Chaos were basically waves of power armored soldiers crashing against each other in a huge tsunami of steel.

I really need to immerse myself in the world of 40K. I suck at painting miniatures and found the medieval Warhammer sets to be prohibitively expensive for me as a hobby, so I doubt I'd get into the tabletop game. But, I do have the first two Dawn of War games and all their expansions, but I haven't played them yet. I should start there. I'll probably get the rest of the games and get into the books, too. I just love the whole aesthetic of the 40K universe.

Heh. I just remembered I have Space Hulk on the Amiga:

That isn't my particular copy of the game, but that's the box and all I have. I really should play that, too. I have an Amiga 500 and 1200.

 

[HStallion]

Holy shit! I had no idea the Imperium had run of the mill foot soldiers. That's pretty cool. I've only ever seen the Space Marines as representing the Imperium. I bet the members of the guard get jealous of the Marines' power armor.

Still, I'm assuming there are at least hundreds of Space Marines, so power armor may be exclusive to them, but it's not necessarily unique in the world. Whereas only a handful of people have power armor in the Marvel Universe, for example.

Regardless, I am not at all familiar with the world of 40K beyond the Marines' (and Chaos') power armor and general aesthetic of the universe, which I've always adored, so I didn't know there were other Imperium soldiers at all. I always imagined that the wars between, say, the Imperium and Chaos were basically waves of power armored soldiers crashing against each other in a huge tsunami of steel.

I really need to immerse myself in the world of 40K. I suck at painting miniatures and found the medieval Warhammer sets to be prohibitively expensive for me as a hobby, so I doubt I'd get into the tabletop game. But, I do have the first two Dawn of War games and all their expansions, but I haven't played them yet. I should start there. I'll probably get the rest of the games and get into the books, too. I just love the whole aesthetic of the 40K universe.

Heh. I just remembered I have Space Hulk on the Amiga:

That isn't my particular copy of the game, but that's the box and all I have. I really should play that, too. I have an Amiga 500 and 1200.

Most of the fighting done by the Imperium of Man is done by the Imperial Guard, aka conscripted troops from the millions of planets across the Imperium. Some IG regiments are from specific planets and even have very specific skills such as some being masters of desert warfare or others the best jungle fighters around. Some are even more specialized depending on the planets personal history as some planets produce far superior soldiers by the very nature of their society and government's focus.

There are also mechanized units that are the tank's, fighter pilots, and so on. Basically most of the actual fighting across the galaxy is done by, mostly, ordinary men and women. The Space Marines are very very small in number because of the huge investment of time and resources needed to create them and the fact they often go into the most dangerous and fatal situations so they often die quite a bit as well. They are only used when its absolutely necessary or the threat is just that dire. Even still the Imperial Guard is usually fighting alongside the Space Marines.

That said being in the Imperial Guard is rarely glorious as often the Imperium's idea of fighting against a lot of enemies is a veritable meat grinder where they throw as many men as possible at a problem and hope that solves it. With as large as the Imperium of Man is this works in a lot of situations but means the IG are dying by the millions nearly every day across the Galaxy. The Space Marines are the scalpel used to remove the most dangerous of threats while the IG are the fists and boots used to smash everything else into a pulp.

 

[Tawpgun]

Halo came to mind instantly as well but I'm a huge fan.


honorable mention

 

[redcrayon]

Not to sidetrack, but do you find it true that Warhammer classic is more popular in the U.K., and 40k in the States?

Not at all. The space marines are the most recognisable part of GWs IP, their head office has a giant statue of one outside it, and variants of the power armour make up more collectible army factions and are on the covers of a far larger portion of its games, model kits and books than anything else. I worked in a UK GW store (and later head office for a while), and we sold more space marine/chaos marine kits than everything for Warhammer Fantasy Battle combined, and several times that at Christmas.

Part of the appeal here is the 'medieval gothic parody/satire craziness' aesthetic is recognisably British in origin (via 2000AD, Monty Python etc) and associated with them, part of the appeal worldwide is that the dysfunctional imperium offers a horrific, extreme and twisted analogy for everything even mildly broken in our world. It's why in the social media age 40k jokes and comics are far more prevalent than their other IP. That's why they relaunched Warhammer as Age of Sigmar, changing the names and designs to be something more distinct to them.

To answer the OP, 40k Terminator armour has been my favourite sci-fi power armour for 30 years, Space Hulk has been my favourite of their board games since I was a kid.

 

[Keasar]

Holy shit! I had no idea the Imperium had run of the mill foot soldiers. That's pretty cool. I've only ever seen the Space Marines as representing the Imperium. I bet the members of the guard get jealous of the Marines' power armor.

Still, I'm assuming there are at least hundreds of Space Marines, so power armor may be exclusive to them, but it's not necessarily unique in the world. Whereas only a handful of people have power armor in the Marvel Universe, for example.

Regardless, I am not at all familiar with the world of 40K beyond the Marines' (and Chaos') power armor and general aesthetic of the universe, which I've always adored, so I didn't know there were other Imperium soldiers at all. I always imagined that the wars between, say, the Imperium and Chaos were basically waves of power armored soldiers crashing against each other in a huge tsunami of steel.

There are actually thousands upon thousands of Space Marines across the Imperium. As many thousands as there are chapters, with some exceptions to the Chapters to circumvent the usual rule of a 1000 marines per Chapter by being in a perpetual crusade against EVERYTHING and therefore allowed being over the limit (See Black Templars).

Space Marines remain of course, as others have mentioned, the most elite force of mankind while the men and women of the Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum now due to Games Workshop being a bit pissy about trademarking) form the humongous bulk of the Imperial forces with billions of troops across the galaxy. Often expected to loose millions of troops every day in the war against xenos and chaos.

That said, despite their expected expend-ability, the Guard are not without its heroes and noteworthy soldiers like Lord Solar Macharius, the only man who ever to lead a Crusade in the Imperium comparable to The Emperor:

Or Commissar Yarrick who ripped off the arm of a Ork warlord then using that same arm as a replacement for his lost one. He is considered legendary among Orks, which is damn mystical for a human to achieve, and is the only real worthy challenger according to the mightiest Ork to ever live Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.

Or Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium, swaggiest fucker in the galaxy, and awesome dude for completely different reasons than the ones above (read the books, they are great)

Despite this though, the Space Marines steal all the thunder and glory, especially Ultramarines, cause they are more often than not complete assholes and have their iconic power armor that is featured on the box of everything Warhammer.

Except the Salamanders, they are pretty nice dudes who likes sharing with the people. Primarch Vulkan being the nicest dude to ever walk the galaxy. Like, really nice.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Gonna go with Bio Booster Armor Guyver. Some of the later designs in the manga get CRAZY.

Other honorable mentions would be Elementals from BattleTech, Bubblegum Crisis suits, and Tekkaman Blade.

 

[Tacitus_]

Still, I'm assuming there are at least hundreds of Space Marines, so power armor may be exclusive to them, but it's not necessarily unique in the world. Whereas only a handful of people have power armor in the Marvel Universe, for example.

Regardless, I am not at all familiar with the world of 40K beyond the Marines' (and Chaos') power armor and general aesthetic of the universe, which I've always adored, so I didn't know there were other Imperium soldiers at all. I always imagined that the wars between, say, the Imperium and Chaos were basically waves of power armored soldiers crashing against each other in a huge tsunami of steel.

There are a ~million space marines in the Imperium, which is a hilariously low number since the Imperium claims to control a million planets. Of course, they aren't the only ones who get power armour, just the most famous. Sisters of Silence and Sisters of Battle both outfit their warriors with power armour and the occasional Inquisitor or other powerful and well connected individual will have a suit as well.
But the brunt of the fighting (and dying) will be done by the Guard. Armed with an amped up flashlight and armoured with plates that basically only stand up to their weapons and 20th century hard rounds. And tanks and artillery. Lots of tanks and artillery.

SoS:

SoB:

Inquisitor:

 

[Faiz]

Cyclones from Mospeada/Robotech



They're also motorcycles

Came to make sure Ride Armor/Armor Cycles got a mention. Glad to see it did.

Spoiler

even if you had to invoke Robotech

 

[Faiz]

Best Kamen Rider

Black RX is great... but not power armor. I'm can't think of any Kamen Rider immediately that really qualifies.

 

[sturgboski]

Does Warframe count? Lore Wise it's a bid hazy, but if they do then all of them. Well most of them. Newest frame Harrow looks awesome.

 

[M3d10n]

Lol

 

[Version 3.0]

I'm gonna have to disqualify all the ones with no head cover. Especially the ones where it looks like someone glued a barbie doll head to a tank.