BIFFORD: The Tau have a lot of Japanese influences in them, particularly mecha anime. When did you get the idea to add anime elements? Whose idea was it? Was Games Workshop seeking to tap into the rising popularity of Japanese cartoons?

THORPE: It was mostly championed by Jes Goodwin, a fellow anime fan. He's used plenty of anime influence in his eldar of the years, but a more near-future patlabor-type mech race was a gap - something very different from the gothic / baroque of the overall setting. There wasn't any particular thought in Games Dev for pushing into Japan - a Western company arriving with their anime-influenced wargames models wasn't really going to be a big thing among the Gunpla and plethora of Tamiya mecha kits. More to appeal to a bit of the existing market that wasn't drawn in by the existing fantasy-in-space archetypes. Similarity with the background, a progressive, intellectually and technologically driven race was the antithesis of most of 40K. The Tau are more like C20th humans than the 40K humans! If anything, the more European imagery in the rest of the universe is a better sell in Asia because it offers something different.

이놈들 건프라하고 타미야 메카킷 틈바구니에서 애니 영향받은 워게임 모델이 얼마나 팔리겠냐고 주제파악 하고있었음ㅋㅋㅋㅋ여담으로 타우는 40k 인류보다 20세기 인류에 더 가까움