Jes, we need you to look at the background of the Tyranids and produce a piece that outlines where they first appeared in the fluff and the changes to the aesthetic over the years
Man I would love to read that article.
I mentioned it because the stories reminded me of when they were last prominently in WD. We're talking about the late 80s early 90s. One of the best pieces I read was around WD 155 and was a Gotrek and Felix story spread over 2 issues. Brilliant.
I then thought of the first piece of fluff from WD about the Tyranids...again, it was somewhere in that 130-150 range I believe. Maybe 140 something? It was about an Inquisitor (I want to say Kryptman?) inspecting a Tyranid Bio Weapon (Death Spitter in the picture that accompanied the fiction). Needless to say, things don't go so well.
Thing is as well, that at that point and when the first Tyranid Warriors were released in plastic (In Advanced Space Hulk), they were totally different to now. An article looking at those origins and why the design team changed the aesthetic would be fascinating. As would a discussion on how they increased the range; what drove the changes? Efficacy in the game? Cool ideas? Art concepts that the designers just wanted to explore? Where do they go from here?
The great thing is, you could do that for pretty much every model range that GW has produced and it would be really interesting. Heck, it could be easy too, as you could regurgitate some of the stories to bulk the section.
I know they can do all this, because we get a sodding article on the Space Marines roughly every 2-3 years and they have done it to death with them...but not with Orks. Not the inception of the Eldar from Space Pirates to Harlequins appearing in WD, to a fully fledged look at Craftworld Eldar in issue 127 of WD to the introduction of the Dark Eldar and finally the Yncarne and Pals arriving on the scene. Even something fairly mundane like the Imperial Guard have undergone sweeping changes...the introduction of specific regiments from famous worlds, such as the Catachans and Valhallans was fairly seismic back in the day.
The point is, sometimes hobbyists can gain a lot from looking back at the history and understanding the transformation their favourite race has gone through. New hobbyists can gain an appreciation for what they have now by seeing into the dark past.
I've just described something that could be fleshed out to 30-40 pages covering history, aesthetics, hobby input, fiction and the GW staple; pages and pages of pictures (some miniatures, some concept designs, like the ever-amazing Jespers Goodwin's concept art for any of the races he's helped develop)...except in this case, it would be relevant and possibly amazing.
Sod it. I might have to write to GW and ask them to do this...