History WebAnimation / Astartes

* ShootTheDog: In episode 5, the marines with the Inquisitorial agent [[spoiler: immediately execute him when it looks like he's getting possessed by the Orbs. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill They do this by punching his head off and perforating the remains with a bolter]]]]. On the other hand, in the [[CrapsackWorld 41st millennium]] this is at worst ProperlyParanoid and at best [[MercyKill sparing him]] [[DemonicPossession from a fate far worse than death]].

* ShootTheDog: In episode 5, the marines with the Inquisitorial agent [[spoiler: immediately execute him when it looks like he's getting possessed by the Orbs. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill They do this by punching his head off and perforating the remains with a bolter]]]].
** On the other hand, in the [[CrapsackWorld 41st millennium]] this is at worst ProperlyParanoid and at best [[DemonicPossession sparing him from a fate far worse than death]].

** Show vividly during the one bit of incompetence from the rebels in the first episode, though that's not saying much since it's an understandable mistake. In part 3 we see the rebels set up an improvised double multi-laser mobile turret with a ceremite shield welded onto it. Upon setting it up, the gunner sees an Astartes round a corner only seconds later. The gunner clearly panics, opens fire, kills his own men, and acomplishes very little. The Marine had just stepped into the hallway and easily just stepped right back out. If the gunner waited for the Marine to get halfway down the hall, the rebels might have managed a kill on an Astartes sergeant, evening the odds for the psykers.

* AsteroidThicket: The Retributors catch up to the rebel ship in one, though justified in that this is the ring of a planet (seemingly a gas giant like Saturn or Jupiter), which does feature denser thickets of floating rocks rather than the much more dispersed belts.

* DoubleTap: When the Inquisitorial agent gets possessed, not only does the Captain deliver a MegatonPunch to the normal human's face, the other Marine follows it up with four bolter shells (at minimum, since the scene cuts out immediately after the fourth shot). Given how bad [[DemonicPossession daemonic possession]] can get in this setting, [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure there's no such thing as overkill]].

* GasMaskMooks: Most rebel troopers seem to be wearing gas masks for some reason, even though neither they nor Astartes use chemical weapons nor the ship's atmosphere is shown to be hazardous. Most likely done to, along with PuttingOnTheReich below, to make them look eviler.

* YouExclamation: When Kohren's squad approaches the Orb's vicinity, they are welcomed by it exclaiming "Astartes" in a distorted voice. Doubles as a WhamLine - both because it illustrates that the Orb is sentient and aware of what they are, and because it's the first time speech is heard in the series, breaking the established SilenceIsGolden trope without any warning.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: The Astartes go through masses of rebel troopers like a hot knife through butter but have to actually consider their fight against their two leaders. Justified, since the leaders are seemingly physically-modified psykers. [[spoiler: And then all of the Astartes fall into a trap of a single Orb.]]

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Upon being pulled into the Orb, Kohren and his squad are deposited... [[EldritchLocation somewhere else]], at the bottom of a valley with sky-scraping walls that's flanked with mountain-sized corpses of presumably giant xenos. [[BolivianArmyEnding What happened next]] -- whether or not [[TheHomewardJourney they managed to escape back to the Imperium]] or perished to an Astarte -- is [[AmbiguousEnding left to the audience's imagination]]]].

* BoardingPod: How the Astartes get aboard the rebel ship, through a [[https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Caestus_Assault_Ram Caestus Assault Ram]].

* SuperSoldier: The Asartes shoot men dead moments after they show themselves to fire. Even without cover, their armor resists multilaser fire aside from some dents, they have some ability to even ''force past psychic powers holding them still''. No, [[MookHorrorShow you do not want to fight them]]. The "soldier" part is also displayed well in Part Four, with the Retributors attacking the two psykers from multiple angles and coordinating an attempt to distract them via suppressive fire while other Marines close in to close-combat to get past the psykers’ shields resisting their bolter fire.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: As soon as whatever ritual [[spoiler: the Inquisitorial agent is going through goes wrong, the Captain punches his head off and the other Marine with him starts shooting the corpse ''four times'' (that we see), when it had been shown that most other humans needed only one bolter blast to turn into fine mist. If you know anything about the 40k universe, this is a [[ProperlyParanoid bare minimum precaution at best]]]].

* CosmicHorrorStory: Granted, given that it's set in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', but Part 5 is a reminder to the audience that as powerful as [[SuperSoldier the Adeptus Astartes]] are, [[spoiler:they are still near the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to the [[EldritchAbomination actual eldritch powers]] within the ship's vault.]] One [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwW9qlqjfo4 Youtuber]] put it best:
--> "We know how big this bastard is, we know how powerful he is, we have seen him cut his way through ''hundreds'' of human troops. And yet now he seems... so small, so ''lost'' and fragile, in a valley of Giants. Showing you that, for all the might, all the power, the brutality, of the Adeptus Astartes... the 41st Millennium is an '''''awfully''''' large and vicious place".

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Upon being pulled into the Orb, Kohren and his squad are deposited... [[EldritchLocation somewhere else]], at the bottom of a valley with sky-scraping walls that's flanked with mountain-sized corpses of presumably giant xenos. [[BolivianArmyEnding What happened next]] -- whether or not [[TheHomewardJourney they managed to escape back to the Imperium]] or [[KillEmAll perished to an Astarte]] -- is [[AmbiguousEnding left to the audience's imagination]]]].

** In their DefensiveFeintTrap, a rebel squad attempted to vaporize an Astarte with a dual [[GatlingGood Gatling-barreled]] ''[[EnergyWeapon Multilaser]]''. The sheer volume of fire not only [[UnfriendlyFire cut a retreating company]] [[WeHaveReserves of fellow rebel troopers]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill to charred, smoking ribbons]], but actually pitted the Astartes' armour and forced him briefly into cover.
** The Astartes also packed energy weapons of their own -- said Astarte above responded to the Multilaser by activating and pulling out an [[PlasmaCannon Astartes Plasma Pistol]], which [[CurbstompBattle blew away the Multilaser and its crew with one shot]]. [[spoiler:It was later used to stagger one of the renegade Psykers as the Astarte closed in on him. Unfortunately, [[MadeOfExplodium it blew up in his hand]] when he attempted to use it to escape the Orb pulling him and his Astartes brothers in]].

* MindOverMatter: The psykers' specialty is telekinesis. They use it to halt and explode the astartes' bolts, send out waves of physical blasts as well as seize and crush the marines that try to charge them.

* KnifeNut: The Astartes aren't shown using any of the more fancy or iconic melee weapons from the setting such as chainswords and powerfists, sticking to their combat knives. They get the job done just as well.

* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:[[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in that while the Adeptus Astartes are meant to fight threats beyond what mere humans are capable of, thus [[CurbStompBattle effortlessly]] dealing with most of the ship and only facing minor resistance from the Psykers in Part 4... once they get to [[EldritchAbomination the Orb]], which holds powers beyond their imagination, it effortlessly humiliates the Astartes in a mere moment, subjugating them once it flexes it's true power on them, reminding the audience that the Astartes are ''still'' at the end of the day limited in their abilities to the true horrors they are meant to face in defense of the Imperium.]]

* MindProbe: An interesting case where it's inflicted by humans on other species. The Retributors' strike cruiser has a chamber with a seemingly captured and subjugated Orb. The Inquisitorial agent uses it and his own psychic ability coupled with some apparatus to tap in and listen in on the Orb's telepathic communication with its kin. [[spoiler: It ends badly for him when he momentarily breaks his concentration to warn the Retributors' commander of the Orbs' trap, which causes the Orbs to notice him and overwhelm him.]]

* MegatonPunch: A Retributors' commander [[spoiler: pulverizes the Inquisitorial agent's with a single lightning-fast punch; that punches ''through'' the man's head. It makes the bolter four-tap from the Beaky Astartes look more like a precaution than an absolute necessity.]]

* EvilIsDeathlyCold: As the Astartes enter the vault holding the Orb, their boots are shown momentarily freezing to the ice-cold floor.

* DoubleTap: When the Inquisitorial agent gets possessed, not only do the Marines present deliver a MegatonPunch to the normal human's face, the other Marine follows it up with four bolter shells (at minimum, since the scene cuts out immediately after the fourth shot). Given how bad [[DemonicPossession daemonic possession]] can get in this setting, [[ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure there's no such thing as overkill]].

* BadassCape: The Retributors Commander goes around in a cape that drapes over his right shoulder.

''Astartes'' is a series of 3D animation short fan-films of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', or more specifically, of the Adeptus Astartes SpaceMarines.

''Games Workshop'' have reached out to ''Astartes'' creator, Syama Pedersen, and hired him as part of the ''Warhammer'' animation team to make his series official ''Warhammer'' content, both the released episode and all future ones. As such, ''Astartes'' has been removed from Its Youtube channel and can now only be exclusively found on the [[https://www.warhammer-community.com/warhammer-animation-astartes/?utm_source=WarhammerCommunity&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=WarhammerAnimations10032021&utm_content=WarhammerAnimations10032021 Warhammer Community Website]]. As of October 2021, the episode has been moved to Creator/WarhammerPlus and is exclusive to Warhammer+ subscribers.

** In their DefensiveFeintTrap, a rebel squad attempted to vaporize an Astarte with a dual [[GatlingGood Gatling-barreled]] ''[[EnergyWeapon Multilaser]]''. The sheer volume of fire not only [[UnfriendlyFire cut a retreating company]] [[NoHonorAmongThieves of fellow rebel troopers]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill to charred, smoking ribbons]], but actually pitted the Astartes' armour and forced him briefly into cover.

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Upon being pulled into the Orb, Kohren and his squad are deposited... [[EldritchLocation somewhere else]], at the bottom of a valley with sky-scraping walls that's flanked with mountain-sized corpses of presumably giant xenos. [[BolivianArmyEnding What happened next]] - whether or not [[TheHomewardJourney they managed to escape back to the Imperium]] or [[KillEmAll perished to an Astarte]] - is [[AmbiguousEnding left to the audience's imagination]]]].

** The Astartes also packed energy weapons of their own - said Astarte above responded to the Multilaser by activating and pulling out an [[PlasmaCannon Astartes Plasma Pistol]], which [[CurbstompBattle blew away the Multilaser and its crew with one shot]]. [[spoiler:It was later used to stagger one of the renegade Psykers as the Astarte closed in on him. Unfortunately, [[MadeOfExplodium it blew up in his hand]] when he attempted to use it to escape the Orb pulling him and his Astartes brothers in]].

* ElectronicEye: Downplayed - Kohren has multiple red [=LEDs=] shining through his helmet after his fight with the psykers, but it's actually armour's exposed autosenses rather than his own eye..

* HollywoodTactics: Averted by both sides - the rebels use plenty of anti-boarding tactics (bunkering down, funneling the Marines to kill zones for heavy weapons, and ambushing them by shooting anti-material weapons through walls) to take down the Marines [[OvershadowedByAwesome to no avail]], and the Retributors' boarding craft's approach is protected by a fighter that distracts the enemy ship's point-defence guns in addition to two drones being used to intercept enemy homing missile fire. They initiate their attack on the rebels' psyker leaders from multiple angles rather than just continuing on barreling through whatever's in the way [[MookHorrorShow (which, granted, worked before)]].

A sequel, titled ''"Astartes II"'', will be released on Creator/WarhammerPlus.