Faviort Cybermen Design

[Deleted]

Whats your faviort general Cyberman design?

CyberMondan


CyberTelosian


CyberFaction/CyberNomad



CyberNeomorph




Personally its the 80's Cybermen. I feel that the show had finally perfected their design, with nice nods to their pervious versions. The chest units finally look their best, the heads are nicely detailed and the basic suit looks better then the plain silver of the old days. My only real fault with the Neomorphs was their lack of any in built weaponry. 

[Deleted]

Ultimately went with the eighties design looks the slickest they just look really cool plus love the voices from eighties cybermen the best too .

[billpatjontom]

I love the 60s versions - especially Invasion - but the 80s design works best of all for me too. I do think it got re-used a bit too often though after The Five Doctors. One great thing about Earthshock was that the return of the Cybermen included such an imaginative and effective re-design again, like they were evolving slightly each time they returned. It would've been nice had this continued with subsequent appearances. 

[Deleted]

The 80s for sure. I have a big book on the Cybermen written back in the 80s by David Banks. They're probably my favourite villains.

[iank]

I have that book too.

[rushy]

I'm a Tenth Planet Cybermen kind of guy. I feel like their depiction in that story (as characters who don't really understand that they're doing bad things) is just so much more interesting than anything that was done with them later.

I only wish the story was more exciting lol.

[Deleted]

May 3, 2022 21:48:19 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

The 80s for sure. I have a big book on the Cybermen written back in the 80s by David Banks. They're probably my favourite villains.

Is this the one? I'd love to get my hands on it one day.

[iank]

Yup, that's it.

[Deleted]

May 4, 2022 22:31:01 GMT @palaeoloxodon said:

May 3, 2022 21:48:19 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

The 80s for sure. I have a big book on the Cybermen written back in the 80s by David Banks. They're probably my favourite villains.

Is this the one? I'd love to get my hands on it one day.

Yeah,  I think you'd love it. 

[Deleted]

I need to read that love David Banks the definitive cyberleader

[Brian MK.II]

I'm gonna go the extra way and discuss the characterisations and all.

The Cyber Telosians: It's tied between them and the Mondasians but whilst the Mondasians have elements that are superior that'll soon be mentioned. I felt the Telosians were given more of a chance to shine as we get more moments of them menacing the main cast and casting a larger shadow over their stories. The design is also a nice riff on the zombie Mondasians as well as adding an spectral aura to them as well. 

The Cyber Mondasians: Now, when it comes to the characterisation. This lot are unmatched, the grey morality as well as the ''reasonable'' (as far as Cyberman go) nature to them makes them more interesting villains. The design is brutalism at it's finest and conveys the horror and subtext of them with such minimalist design. That said, the reason I prefer the Telosians is primarily down to the fact that as memorable and chilling as they are, the Mondasians don't get to do as much. They appear in episode 2, get killed and reappear in episode 4 only to be killed after a short amount of time. That said, I appreciate Spare Parts for further building on Tenth Planet's foundations.

The Cyber Neomorphs: The design is brilliant and the evolution from the prior models is handled well as are the performances by David Banks and co which are always entertaining but the main problem is how they're utilised at times. They're f*cking great in Earthshock where they make for an intimidating presence and manage to one up the Doctor and cause Adric's death, then in Attack, whilst I love the return to exploring the horrors of Cyber conversion and the world building it does, it starts the trend of having them easily defeated, namely being taken out by handguns and clobbered over the head with metal pipes and in Silver Nemesis, they're just dumbed down robots and their gold allergy is flanderised to such a degree, having them freak out every time they so much as see a gold arrow. 

The Cyber Nomads: I've often found these to be slightly overrated. Whilst they may be regarded as the most iconic of the classic Cybermen, often appearing on merchandise and promotional stuff at the time. I find the slit mouths and ''smile'' to be a bit goofy. Some might argue that the metal facsimile of a smile is chilling but it does nothing for me I'm afraid. Plus, they're probably the least interesting as characters. They make for a intimidating foreboding presence in the Invasion but mostly serve as Vaughn's henchmen and are often kept away and in Revenge, they're mostly just stock villains who have very little characteristics and you feel they could've been any other villain (Not helped by Chris Robbie somehow being camper than the Karkus) as they are in Wheel. Not to mention, the horror element is barely touched upon apart from Vaughan's experiments.


As for the NuWho lot. The Chibnall design is arguably the better of the lot as it least resembles the classic design better than the previous two but characterisation's are a complete blank. The Cybusmen at least got their debut story where they were allowed to be relatively intimidating (shit backstory aside) before Doomsday turned them into the stock villains they spent the next 16 years as. 

Less said about the Ironmen with the Exorcist heads, Matrix speed and Addams Family hands, the better.