Re:Starcraft: Ashfall
by icantevenhold on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @10:19AM
(#50166856)
The newest StarCraft trailer is also a homage to starship troopers.
And the Zerg design always was inspired by it for sure.
Re:Starcraft: Ashfall
by simon_void on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @06:21PM
(#50173490)
nope, StarCraft factions (most likely) come from Warhammer40k.
- the Zerg (and its hivemind) are a version of the Tyranids [1]
- the Protoss are adapted from the Aeldari [2]
- the Humans are, well, Humans. with the ghost units being adapted from Psykers [3] and Marines being adapted from the 40k Space Marines [4]
The rumour is that Blizzard wanted to make a Warhammer game, but Games Workshop - the owner of the Warhammer IP - pulled out of the deal, so Blizzard modified their game's universe a a bit and called it WarCraft and later took a similar approach with StarCraft.
[1] https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Tyranids
[2] https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Aeldari
Re:Starcraft: Ashfall
by icantevenhold on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @07:31PM
(#50174134)
The novel Starship Troopers was one of w40k inspirations, so the circle is complete
> The idea of armoured warriors in space – well that comes from classic SF like Starship Troopers
https://awesomeliesblog.wordpress.com/2024/05/26/interview-w...
You are correct on the tyrannies/zerg and elder/aeldari i agree
Brood War definitely took some inspiration from the movie.
Re:Starcraft: Ashfall
by ggnore7452 on Tuesday October 20, 2026 @01:45PM
(#50169981)
Yes! Really nice to see people here at HN catch the Starship Troopers homage. These days many people's first reaction is Helldivers, which of course got that same tone from Starship Troopers too. And yes, the trailer was made with AI video tools.
I don't recall if the original StarCraft CG trailers had nods to the film.
Also, I remember ordering a demo CD for 3D Studio Max and it came with videos of a few StarCraft trailers, presumably made with 3D Studio Max.