Cheers guys
At first I was just about giving some credit to a range that's quite universally disliked; I'm always a bit of a sucker for the underdog.
But now that I'm actually handling, converting and painting them, they've absolutely grown on me. No; they're not perfect by a long shot and the new range is technically far superior, but they do have their own vibe. And when compared to contemporary lines, they're not really that bad at all.
I think they just got this rep because, as glass cannons, they were hard to play and when they were played well, they were utterly devastating. I remember frequenting the tournament scene over here at the time and the top tier players always brought either Eldar or Dark Eldar armies.
My poor Necrons simply had no answer to the lightning fast close combat armies the DE players fielded most of the time. Once they hit, is was over
So I can get that this is why people disliked them. Also; because the meta moved on and they basically had to soldier on with the same codex for 12 years and 3 editions, they were just left behind...
But I like them, precisely because of their goofiness and unpopularity