Zergling; Quad or Bi

[Tralfagar]

Does the Zergling have 2 or 4 legs?

Most of the fan-art I've seen on this site for SC2 seems to follow the form of 4 well-distinguished legs(like this (http://www.starcraft.org/fanart/digital3D/1059)), but wasn't the Zergling a Biped, with two large talons on the end of each of the lower-two arms, and claws on the upper arms? In addition, I seem to recall the Zergling occasionaly galloping(not running) on all 4's, but standing somewhat upright when attacking.

Can anyone verify this?

PS: Which do you like better? The quadroped version; the one linked above, or the biped version, like this (http://homepage.mac.com/cheethorne/Starcraft/images/zergling.jpg)?

[masterofhobbiton]

Heheh, this is my pet peeve. So I'm well prepared to answer. :D

This is the first official zergling design ever. It has 2 dinosaurlike back legs with 3 toes, two front legs with scythes, and a hydralisk like head. It's in the cinematics because even though they changed the design later, the cinematic models and stuff were made way before the game release.
http://www.geocities.com/masterofhobbiton/zergcine004.jpg

In the next design, blizzard kept the same body layout but made it a lot more dinosaur like. This is the sprite version; it has 2 dinosaurlike back legs with webbed feet and 3 toes, two front legs with scythes, and 2 arms on its back, each with 2 claws. It has the head visible in the portrait.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/7/14/1266471/screenshot185.jpg
http://a.deviantart.com/avatars/m/a/masterofhobbiton.gif
A lot of people thought that the scythes were on the upper arms because the sprite was so small. But if you zoom in it's easy to see they're on the bottom.

Then, with SCG, blizz added to the confusion with a COMPLETELY different ling, this one.
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/2131/zergling6hd.jpg
Four dinosaur legs, each with 2 toes, and 2 scythe arms on the back. The head changed again. But, they realised that this design looked too weird/dumb, so the streamlined it and made the awesome ling that appeared in-game in SCG. This one is very popular 'cause there's good pictures and references of it. It's the sort of ling they put in the starcraft board game.
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/665/665418/starcraft-ghost-20051108002658930.jpg
But you can still see the fat one in the SCG cinematic just like the old SC1 ling.

Then, some warcraft modelers made a couple of zerglings, this one for WC3 and this one for WoW. They both have hooves. No idea why.
http://images.wikia.com/starcraft/images/7/79/Zergling_War3.jpghttp://www.critical-hits.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Zergling.jpg
Interestingly enough, a brown colored version of the WoW one is on the new SC2 shirts they're selling instead of the SC2 ling. Again, no idea why, but it does look better in brown.
http://www.jinx.com/Content/Product/1215p_0c_ZoomB.jpg

In SC2, they made this:
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/gallery/data/517/medium/zergling_copy.jpg
It has back legs that are still dinosaur like, but the toes are more like hooves like the WC ones. And it's front legs and upper arms both have scythes. And it has wings. Yeah.


SO, in answer to your question, all of the above pictures are official representations of zerglings. So there is no answer. In SC1 you're right that they run on 4 legs and attack with the front ones, but not in SCG, which people like and saw the most of because of the SCG intro cinematic and stuff.

My personal favorite is the one from the sprites and portrait, with the arms with the claws on top. It's t3h awesome, and fortunately we voted to use that design in our SoW cinematics so I got to model it. :D

[Magmaniac]

Any zergling with front legs is an abomination.

[ChimTheGrim21]

Any zergling with front legs is an abomination.
I agree 100%. The whole front leg thing was a mistake. Lings never had front legs and they never should.

[WhatIsStarcraft]

Umm, well, I have seen a lot of zerglings, and I agree with masterofhobbiton, that there really is no answer, but I think people could say their ideas, and maybe give some direction of what a true zergling is.

Or you could just write an email to Blizzard Entertainment, or to Karune.

[masterofhobbiton]

But, see, that won't work. We can't ask blizzard which is the official one. ALL of those zerglings were made by blizzard. Every single one is right, with the possible exceptions of the warcraft ones because they weren't made by employees who knew anything about starcraft. We can't really argue which is right because they made more than one zergling. I suppose lore-wise the reasoning is that the overmind/kerri/whoever is constantly changing the genetic code of the zerglings to try to make a more efficient soldier, so you can find different lings in different broods and stuff that look different.

Although, that first ling from the SC1 cinematics is the most powerful. Its frill was bulletproof! Took an RPG to kill it. :D In the SCG cinematic the captain can stop 'em with a single pistol shot. :(

Anyway, on the topic, so long as blizzard manages to somehow make that SC2 ling look cool in the cinematics it's fine by me. I don't like its design, but it doesn't bother me at all in gameplay videos or anything.

[TheCheshireCat]

Awesome post masterofhobbiton.

[Faiien]

Maybe it evolved over time.

[DarkMirror]

I have two things to add.
First of all the Warcraft "Zergling" is actually a baby Hellhound from the Warcraft Universe. Just saying right here. Secondly, I would say the "Correct" zergling is the one they are using right now, which has no front legs but instead a pair of back legs and two clawed arm sets with wings.

[masterofhobbiton]

Err, pardon my mentioning it, but there's no such thing as a hellhound in Warcraft. Just an fyi.

[Ktan]

It may not be called a hell hound exactly, but there is a chaos creature that has a similar name.

There are two I can think of:

The Fel Hunter/Stalker

http://www.wowwiki.com/Fel_stalker

and the Darkhound.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Darkhound

I understand that, by DM's statement, he probably means the Felhound. The WoW 'zergling' does look an awful lot like a Felhound

[DarkMirror]

yes, thats it, Felhound. Sorry.

[masterofhobbiton]

OH, fel beasts, gotcha. :D

Wait, well, the one in WC3 is a zergling. The only time it appears in the game is a cut scene where it fights some marines with some hydralisks. Never played WoW much, so dunno about it there, but fel beasts, well, they're kind of similar.
http://battle.net/war3/images/neutral/creeps/feldemon.gif
But they don't have arms on top, they're more like just horns or spikes. And they attack with tentacles, and the ling doesn't even have tentacles. :/ Err, that's just assuming we're talking about the same thing still though, I guess I'll take your word for it about WoW.

[ChimTheGrim21]

When you start comparing Fel Hounds to Zerglings, thats when you know the original concept was right. No one would be comparing Zerglings to Fel Hounds if they would just chop off those two front legs and be done with it.

[NoobOfLore]

I always imagined zerglings to be bipedal, kind of hop, and have claws on top and scythes on bottom.

[Ktan]

I do personally think quadrupedal fits in with their 'lowly beast' and almost attack dog nature, but that's really nothing more than opinion.

That, and I hate the two legged design, since they end up looking like scrawny Hydralisks

[DarkMirror]

The newest version looks nothing like a hydralisk, and don't forget that the old animation models were never the best.

[Ktan]

Yeah, I was referring to the Brood War cinematic lings.

Horrible designs, imo.

[vIsitor]

Yeah, I was referring to the Brood War cinematic lings.

Horrible designs, imo.

Uh, that was because they re-used the Hydralisk model parts--like the ones seen on The Amerigo cut-scene--instead of making a new model for the Zergling, to save production time, K'tan. The scythes on the forelegs have nothing to do with it. I imagine that they'd have looked a lot different if time was more permitting.

[Ktan]

That wasn't what MoH had alluded to, but if that's the case, either way, I didn't like it. How they were made or why they were made like that isn't really going to change my mind that it wasn't a design I liked. The main reason, of course, that I'm backing the four legged design is detailed in an earlier post, I was merely stating that neither did I like the two-legged one.

[Kankuro4800]

Sorry to go off topic, but how the hell do you wear that shirt? It has two collars, and...how do you wear it? I don't understand.

And I think the zergling walks on 4 legs, but can stand on 2, like mice and squirrels and such.

[NoobOfLore]

If you look at the 4 legged design that many of us are talking about, you'll notice that it DOESN'T have claws, and also, It does not have correct body to be able to stand up on two legs.It could not balance that way.

[masterofhobbiton]

Sorry to go off topic, but how the hell do you wear that shirt? It has two collars, and...how do you wear it? I don't understand.

Haha, the picture I happened to take was of that shirt-thing for babies. The hole at the top is the collar, the two at the bottom are for the baby's legs. The same ling model is on the real shirts too, but it's easier to see here. :D

If you look at the 4 legged design that many of us are talking about, you'll notice that it DOESN'T have claws, and also, It does not have correct body to be able to stand up on two legs.It could not balance that way.

The sprite and cinematic zerglings do have lower arms with scythes on them, but you'll notice that for both of them they use them to run on. So you could say they have 4 legs and the front ones have scythes instead of saying 2 legs and 2 scythe arms. And what he is saying about the running on 4 and standing on 2 is supported by the SCBW intro where the two cinematic zerglings are running at the marine and when they stop under his gauss fire, they rear up and stand on 2 legs before getting blown up by the RPG. So if he's talking about those lings he could be right.

[fenix6593]

If you watch in the game (Starcraft 1) and slow down the time, there is 4 legs not 2.

[masterofhobbiton]

If you look at the second post, you'll see what the rest of us are talking about.

[Zeltaris]

Is it just me, or are the SC2 Zergling's claws horribly unwieldy? I mean they're actually more lightly muscled at their insertion to the trunk. Considering it should extend forwards, its anatomy should look more like that of a thigh and less like an arm that's been stuck on backwards.Seriously, that thing is snapping out of its socket at the first chance it gets.

[masterofhobbiton]

Well, some of the other lings have pretty thin arms. I don't think the bulge towards the end is supposed to be muscle, I bet it's some exoskeletal chitinous armor layer so that it can really ram into stuff with them without breaking its forearms or something.

[ChimTheGrim21]

Look at the art of a Zergling in the SC1 manual. It is like a beastly thing with two hind legs and two huge claw arms. It doesn't need front legs.

[Tralfagar]

well, it looks like Blizz is keeping with the original concept(for now (http://www.starcraft-source.com/images/news/2008/6-28/zergling.jpg))

(copy/paste the address if you get the "Access denied" screen.)

[Observer]

Although, that first ling from the SC1 cinematics is the most powerful. Its frill was bulletproof! Took an RPG to kill it. :D In the SCG cinematic the captain can stop 'em with a single pistol shot. :(
So that was a zergling! I thought it was some Broodling, because they look so small, and the game led me to believe that Zergling are as wide as a man's waist...

[NoobOfLore]

well, it looks like Blizz is keeping with the original concept(for now (http://www.starcraft-source.com/images/news/2008/6-28/zergling.jpg))

(copy/paste the address if you get the "Access denied" screen.)

Yay. Bipedal!!!

[masterofhobbiton]

Um, guys, it's just a different texture and pose. Here's their old render.
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/gallery/data/517/medium/zergling_copy.jpg

Nothing new.

[NoobOfLore]

It's still good with me, even better if they've kept it the same.

[Fiendwurm]

Personal I like the original zergling (in the manual). The sc2 zerglings(along with the rest of the zerg) look over done, there TOO spiky, there TOO fat, they look like mini tanks and they have wings!!!!???

[own3d0406]

I don't really care, a 4 legged ling rush is just as awesome as a 2 legged ling rush!

[LDawgg]

I don't really care, a 4 legged ling rush is just as awesome as a 2 legged ling rush!

But it terms of op ownage, a bi-ped Zergling has no match.;)

[NoobOfLore]

I just noticed...The top mounted claws look rather bulgy, and they're resting on tiny little stick arms. Doesn't look natural.