M units scaled to L and XL

[Cocofang]

XL units are very popular as they represent the peak of the power fantasy in Skylords. Seeing how the game is set up from the ground up to reuse assets I have been wondering how M units would fare if they were repurposed as XL units. There are many surprisingly good models! Especially with some great texture work there could be all sorts of new XL units. So I went through all M units and scaled them up to see how they hold up.

This is just a little personal project I did out of curiosity and I figured I might as well share. Enjoy the show and maybe some people get inspired to come up with fun concepts for these entities if they were actual L or XL units for specific factions and with different textures.

Amazon-Types
Amazon, Amii Phantom, Gladiatrix, Stormsinger, Nightguard

Spoiler

Overall decent models and variations. Could serve as ranged XL units, skewering things with spears the size of tree trunks. And would allow the exploration of the existence of giantess warriors. Or half giants in L format.

Big Gun-Types
Bandit Sniper, Nox Trooper, Firesworn

Spoiler

Rough to say the least. They start looking janky in L format already. Low poly count and odd proportions make these a hard sell as XL or even L units. They also highlight a problem with animations when scaling up. The giant-model of Dreadnought or the Warlord-type XL units sell the weight of their weapons and armor very well when walking. These guys swing their weapons around like they weight very little, so they aren't spectacular in that department either.

Dancer-Types
Bandit Sorceress, Firedancer, Frost Sorceress, Lost Dancer, Dryad, Winter Witch, Moon, Viridya

Spoiler

Another tough sell. Especially the dancers and dryads have problems when scaled up. If you look closely at them in-game you can see that the fluid motion of their hands is actually them wobbling their fingers up and down as if they were made of rubber. These sort of visual tricks work when they are small but fall apart when scaled up and it just looks weird. They don't have a lot going on either, the models are relatively plain.

Dino-Types
Bandit Stalker, Icefang Raptor, Firestalker, Razorshard, Swiftclaw, Scavenger

Spoiler

Now here is something! How about giant war dinosaurs? Swiftclaw is pretty ugly but the other guys have lots of details to work with on their models and could look even better with a detailed texture.

Flyer-Types
Crystal Fiend, Magma Spore, Mana Wing, Energy Parasite, Deathglider

Spoiler

Of the bunch I think Energy Parasite actually has the most promise. Very unique and detailed model that could serve as the template for lots of things when re-textured.

Insect-Types
Scythe Fiends, Witchclaws, Twilight Crawlers, Drones, Burrower, Nightcrawler, Shadow Insect

Spoiler

My favorite models. They look and move amazing when scaled up! Pretty much all of them are prime stuff to serve as crazy new XL and L units. Especially Witchclaws look rad. Re-textures could open up even more possibilities.

Ogre-Types
Eliminator, Enforcer, Slaver, Executor, Knight of Chaos, Lightblade, Mauler, Twilight Brute, Mountain Rowdy, Shaman, Warlock

Spoiler

A big but very weak group. Most ogres are just blobs. But Lightblade looks slick, like a living tank. And even Mauler isn't half bad. Textures would definitely have to carry here but there is some potential at least.

Popsicle-Types
Earthkeeper, Ice Guardian, Lost Wanderer, Wrecker, Giant Slayer, Rogan Kayle

Spoiler

These start falling apart in L size. Put something like the Earthkeeper next to Avatar of Frost and it's just unconscionable.

Rider-Types
Dreadcharger, Lyrish Knight, Nomad, Silverwind Lancers, Bandit Lancer

Spoiler

On top of pretty low-poly models and plain riders, this is another category that has issues with communicating the weight of that scale. And they would imply the existence of giant horses.

Torso-Types
Frost Mage, Grove Spirit, Shadow Mage, Twilight Hag

Spoiler

Pretty fun, I think. Although a bit fragile looking so definitely nothing you'd see on the frontline. The models are kind of plain but compensate with the fluid and mesmerizing animations.

Wormpeople-Types
Cultist Master, Lost Priest, Timeless One, Timeshifter Spirit

Spoiler

Those are so cool. Enough details to do some great magic with textures and just a very interesting design to look at in general. Also three very distinct looking models.

Which ones do you think could work well?
For which faction?
What abilities and playstyle could they have?
And how could their theme change entirely with clever texture work?

I think there is a lot of potential here, many of these could become some amazing additions to the L and XL roster, leading to even more variety.

[Deadman]

Big Mauler looks scary 

[Majora]

Very cool to see. I could definitly see an XL dino working out. 

[Blashyrkh]

Pretty cool! Some things look less good in my opinion but others are fantastic.
Amazon types, dino-types, insect types and rider types are awesome. These xl types would really give the game a new touch visually somehow .

Dont like: big gun types, dancer types, flyer types, ogre types, popsicle types and torso types.

[Sacriefice]

XL Amazon and L sized Dino would be great

Also like to see
- a L or M sized Construct which is fast or at least normal speed (a bit spider like movement)
- M sized archer (maybe a pair unit, when one dies the other becomes stronger)
-a M sized Knight of Chaos and Nightguard as pair unit and if one dies the other grows to L size 

Spoiler

ok, don't take the last one seriously

I don't think we need a terrible lot of XL units right now, downsizing them to a new unit is also an option.
Also I prefer if not every unit gets reused (4 times, like Amazon), but if anything some variations in size, weapon, speed would be neat, with reasonable effort.
With variation in weapon I mean different sticks (weapon model) like for ogres, or corsair using the battleship ability as a normal attack. The wrathgazer disintegration beam could be used as a normal attack on an ashbone or thunder wagon clone.

[Metagross31]

Small Easter Egg squad when?

[Sacriefice]

3 hours ago, Metagross31 said:

Small Easter Egg squad when?

hire this man.

Your Avatar is fitting, it reminds me about another thing; Seeing a Deepcoil Worm today I though how neat a small worm squad would be

[Mynoduesp]

Meanwhile I'm sitting in the S-Worm-Squad waiting room. 😆

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Amazing idea. 

How about XL Magma Hurlers? Or squad of six S-size Hurlers... We could call them Fire Hurlings O:)

Edited October 11, 2022 by Hrdina_Imperia

[Draconnor]

To be honest  - I always wanted to see M or even S size Forest Elder 😉

Edit
XL snipers looks quite scarry 😉

Edited October 17, 2022 by Draconnor

[SpiritAlpha]

Love Dinos, Insects and Amazon models! Would love to work with those 😄

[JarodDempsey]

xl stonekin critter looks perfect for t4 stonekin flyer 🙏, just give it it very low range to compliment grinders

some ogres look too big at xl, the ones with a shorter weapon might be ok but the longer weapons look crazy but they look great at L

most amazons, worm people, torsos, bugs, flyers,  and dinos look fine

popsicle, dancer, gunner, and rider not so much

[Riviute]

I agree that out of all of them the Dino looks the best. Having a XL T-Rex like unit in you arsenal would be friggin amazing. 

[Blitzling]

Even upsizing M to L would add a lot of potential. How do S look when upped to M?

[SpiritAlpha]

On 11/5/2022 at 10:04 AM, Blitzling said:

Even upsizing M to L would add a lot of potential. How do S look when upped to M?

Very terrible low polygon models.

[Hrdina_Imperia]

Maybe there is also possibility of reducing the size of XL units down to L/M/S? I remember suggesting a squad of six S-size Juggernauts somewhere.

Edited November 7, 2022 by Hrdina_Imperia

[SpiritAlpha]

On 11/7/2022 at 8:37 AM, Hrdina_Imperia said:

Maybe there is also possibility of reducing the size of XL units down to L/M/S? I remember suggesting a squad of six S-size Juggernauts somewhere.

That’s totally possible.

[Hrdina_Imperia]

On 11/9/2022 at 4:47 PM, SpiritAlpha said:

That’s totally possible.

Nice! 

Think that could open some nice possibilities, especially for designing more squad-based units, small or bigger.

[DefAnske]

love the XL Magma-Spore

Could be some kind of suizide unit, slow moving and not able to attack but exploding hard if killed^^

Edited November 12, 2022 by DefAnske

[Bkingn]

Amazon and Dino HELL YESS! 😄 they look sooo sick!

[Xamos]

I like Amazon, Dino-Types and Flyer-Types a lot! With this its easy to imagine the new suggested Amii-Core T4 unit as an XL 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Xamos

[TimmieTuinbroek]

These look great! I hope the attacks can translate well to their new size but I figure it should be doable.

What about the other way around? XL units to fit into L and M categories? I'd love to see some experimentation with this.