This griffon came up in another thread and it reminded me about the re-purpose theory. It amused me greatly the first time around, mostly because I had the kit for 25 years and never made the connection. I was rather convinced of the swap just looking at the aesthetics of the kits, but there was no (to me at least) obvious reason why it had been shifted around. So I was looking at the kit again and then another thing dawned on me: A pretty strong reason to move the model from the Empire to the Chaos range.
Supposing this was an actual Imperial hero on griffon being made, there would potentially have been a bit of a problem with this setup. What's that, you say? Well, first of all look at the timeline. The chaos griffon kit was released in '90 (and the MB15 Imperial hero riding a Pegasus that was to show up soon after came out in '91). This puts us still in the period of 3rd edition, what with 4th coming out in '92.
So what about griffons and 3rd edition? Well, there's just that... griffons are creatures of chaos! The paragraph describing them in the Warhammer Rulebook starts with the very line of "The Griffon is a Creature of Chaos..." and further down "Alignment: Chaotic." Maybe not the best choice of a mount for a dashing hero of the Empire. One would have to wonder about his connections a bit.
The Pegasus on the other hand would make a good substitute. Similarly sized, monstrous mount, flying, and more importantly the description in Warhammer Armies says that the Pegasus' Alignment is "Neutral" and the Special Rules specify that "(it)...may only be ridden by Neutral or Good creatures." This would alleviate our poor hero of some rather awkward questions.
And lo and behold, '90 sees the release of a Chaos Griffon in suspiciously Imperial looking attire. The following year an Imperial Hero is released, riding a Pegasus. It has me thinking that somewhere along the line someone started to object to the Griffon as a choice of mount. The paragraphs on alignment in the books are the smoking gun to me.
On a side note, another thing that does become quite apparent when you compare the Griffon and Pegasus is that the Pegasus is the more imposing of the two. The Griffon is a nice kit in its own right, but it's definitely on the small side and the pose is rather static. The forward lifted claw looks a bit more like he's about to press an elevator button than tear a hated enemy of the Empire asunder. In contrast the Pegasus has a little more flair. It's rearing up on its hind legs in a gallopy stride, mane and tail flowing in the wind, the saddle is a lot grander and the whole kit also looks a fair bit bigger.
So if it wasn't good enough for the Empire, why was it good enough for Chaos? Well, I would wager that the alignment issue was the real dealbreaker and if someone thought it looked a little underwhelming that was more of a secondary concern. If the work had gone in to making it then throwing it away would be a waste. Repurposing it for the chaos line would salvage some of that effort, low-hanging fruit and all that.
All told the alignment issue could be reason enough to let the Griffon discreetly shuffle over to join the chaos ranks (appearing with a rider who conveniently has a torso of a chaos knight and the sword of another, so providing a new rider would have been relatively easy). But maybe it was also a matter of the original kit not quite hitting the mark of what they wanted for the Empire hero? If the MB15 Pegasus Hero indeed is a redesign it would seem the second version embraced the opportunity to realise a more flamboyant vision.
Obviously, all of the above is speculation. And it does all rest on the assumption that a swap took place in the first place, which hasn't been established as a fact. But as the forensic analysts say, hate the coincidence. And this seems to have coincidences all over
What do you guys think? Do you think an Empire Hero on Griffon was nearly done when all of a sudden someone said "Oh we can't have that... Griffons are CHAOS"