(Beware, some of the talkback comments on the link are not suitable for work or minors! )

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50549

Well the good Judge basically is an Arbites, so yes?

Or maybe the Arbites look like Judge Dredd? It is very possible they were based off of him in concept.

This just looks like a guy in some kind of leather/protective gear with much to big helmet.

If this looks like Arbitrator, a major deal of figures in 80er Italien "apocalypse"-movies look like Arbitrators....if you add some oversized helment.

I think some of the 2000AD artists used to moonlight for GW back in the 80's-90's, so the Arbites ended up looking... and fluff wise, taking up more or less the role of Megacity Judges, which in a way are just hive cities.

Before GW even came up with Arbites, they held the rights to the Judge Dredd RPG back in the 80s. That's why Arbites look like Dredd - because they took the idea of Judges and used it in their own setting.

Other than the the lack of Green piping, the costume and look of Dredd looks very 2000AD JD.

Aye as was said, GamesWorkshop (back when they did ALL games, and Citadel Miniatures did the models ) used to hold the rights to the Judge Dread stuff, so copied into their new sci-fi game Warhammer 40,000. In fact nearly everything in the Rogue Trader era was stolen from other settings and systems.

As said, the Arbites were basically inspired by the Judges from Judge Dredd (which, along with 2000AD generally inspired much of the visual style of 40k at the very beginning, ie either very punky or very weird and disturbing). Some of the themes also inspired 40k (repressive society, but they aren't the "bad guys", as if the repression didn't exist society would fall apart).

Frankly I feel those helmets are too big. They look like bobble heads. If, as I have heard, they are trying to create a more grounded, less weird film than the world of Judge Dredd then they really need to update the visuals properly. A weird image is fine in a comic (or a weird film), but if you are not trying to translate that onto film, then you need to do the translation properly. The eagle shoulder pads are gone, for example, and they were kinda over the top, but they helped balance out the oversized helmets. With those gone, they needed to tone down the helmet further than they have.

Terrible version of the costume - what a shame. I just don't see why Hollywood can't trust 30 years of success and leave the costume as it should be.

Helmet and belt buckle aside, this version could be any-old future cop body armour, there was a reason the Judges were draped in American iconography, it should have been left as it is in the comics. It can still look cool, check out the Judge Minty fan film pics - those guys have done a far better job of making 'real looking' versions of the Judge uniform imo than either the (terrible) old Stallone movie, or apparently this new movie.

What a shame.

EDIT - Also I see the plot involves Dredd training Anderson-as-a-rookie ... that smacks of DREADFUL to me. Like someone who doesn't know the comics has picked up one or two issues and gone;

'Ah okay, like this hawt sexy chick Anderson, let's have Dredd training her.'

Also the whole idea of 'grittying up' Dredd is BS imho, Dredd always had a hard edge to it. The costumes are iconic damnit, they stress the ludicrous Americano-fascism of the Judges.

One of my DH players recently told me that he wanted to get the Voice Activated upgrade to his pistols. I didn't recall what this did; when I asked him, he said "It makes you more like Judge Dredd!"

One of my players and good friend, Jock, did the costume designs and some concepts for the new film. I am such a name dropper! He is a long time comic artist and currently works for DC comics but started out as a 2000ad artist. Look him up on wikipedia. I find some of the comments on how the new stuff works (or doesn't) very interesting indeed. We talked about the helmet issue one day, as this he felt would be the thing that would divide the officianados more than anything else.

Yes, the classic arbite does look a lot like Dredd, probably for the reasons already given in the thread, however I would think of it as imitation being the highest form of flattery- there is, after all, nothing new under the sun... I remember hoping that Clint Eastwood would finally be cast as Dredd in the most perfect film ever, bearing in mind that the original character of Dredd was based on Dirty Harry, and named after a Prince Buster track.

p.s. Did you know that Sylvester Stallone's helmet was too small to put on and off like a conventional one and had to be taken apart in two sections? That's how they got around the issue on that production...

p.p.s I care less about the size of the helmet and more that they make him keep the bloody thing on, for drokks sake.

Bad Birch said:

Karl Urban (best known for his roles as Eomer in The Lord of The Rings, and Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek), who's playing Dredd, has gone on record to state that he's been a fan of the character since he was a kid, and he wouldn't be working on the movie if the character ever removed his helmet (at least, that's what the latest Empire magazine says).

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Let's hope so!

I have some hopes for the film, it has an Alex Garland script which is a good sign in my opinion.

To answer the OP question, no i don't.

In fact, i think this new Dredd image it much closer to Carlos Esquerra's original designs for Joe Dredd - before the 1980's mega shoulder pads kicked off..

I like this new Dredd incarnation and i'm looking forwards to the movie.

Luddite said:

Glad you think so, Carlos Esquerra is definitely the god father when it comes to 2000ad.

It's not the size of the helmet that gets me, it's the whole outfit.

The style of the helmet just plain sucks, it's got the little X right in the middle where it can obscure their vision. And their armour looks so shabby, like a set of sports padding, which I suppose isn't entirely bad because they were going a post-apocalyptic look.

But all-in-all, I think the Judge Dredd movie with Stallone is going to be the better one... except for Rob Schnieder. What the **** was up with 90's action movies and needing annoying comic relief anyway? Chris Tucker's voice in The Fifth Element is like nails on a god **** chalkboard. At least the guy playing the Clown in Spawn was pulling double-duty as a major antagonist, so they couldn't really wreck him.

Luddite said:

But ... Ezquerra's original Dredd had the eagle and pads. I don't really see how this is close to that, except for the rounded left shoulder pad. It just looks wrong to me, even the shield-badge for pity's sake. How and why do you mess that up?! Just copy the fricking comic.

The whole 'make it grittier' motif is ... wrong imo. I guarantee you it will just end up making it feel 'wrong'. Hyper-real (in some kind of sci-fi 300 way) might have worked. Dredd has never been 'realistic'. It has always been 'hard edged' never the less.

Urggh. This angries my blood up. I shall avoid it from now on I think.

ARRRRGH! This new Judge uniform is utter CRAP! Seriously, how hard is it to duplicate a uniform from a comic book? Hollywood has been putting out superhero movies non-stop for the last few years and pay meticulous attention to detail on the spandex-clad types, then thy do THIS to Dredd?! HERESY! In the future they will compare this to Indaina Jones and the Crystal Skull on a big list of "crap that should never have been done". Perhaps the kids from South Park can sue for the "**** of Judge Dredd" in an upcoming episode?

Will I cheerfully greet a GOOD Judge Dredd movie? OH YEAH! Sadly, we need another BAD Judge Dredd movie like we need another Hulk remake...

Polish up your Rosettes and bless your bolt shells gentlemen, we are going in!

To answer the title question as it is written... not really. Have you seen the art for the Judge career in Ascension? I AM THE LAW! Anyway, the Arbites in general have always more or less beared a pretty good resemblance to their Judge Dredd influences as far as I know. Which makes sense I guess, as the only things GW didn't swipe from pre-existing sci-fi or fantasy when creating WH40k were the Imperial Guard and the Adeptus Mechanicus (course, now that I say that someone will most likely prove me wrong.)

As for the costume for the new movie... I can see some of the complaints about the helmet but really the costume doesn't look that bad. At the very least it looks practical. The problem unfortunately with all these memoriably outlandish comic costumes is that when you design them you don't always have to worry about whether or not people can actually wear them. Those pads with the American Eagle on them have to kill your shoulder after awhile.

Psion said:

Well, upholding The Law is a heavy burden to bear...