40K Deep Thought: Slaanesh’s Got A New Groove
We’ve been waiting for over 3 years for GW to show us what they would do with Slaanesh. Now We Know.
The Dark Prince’s 3 Year Absence
Slaanesh has been fairly scarce for a while. Since his removal/capture accompanying the rollout of Age of Sigmar back in 2016, we’ve all been wondering what the future would hold. YorkNecromancer wondered if GW would use the pause to redefine what Slaanesh was.
Then we got waves of Khorne, Tzeentch and most recently Nurgle models for both 40K and Age of Sigmar. That old Keeper of Secrets minis is feeling mighty emasculated in front of the 3 new plastic Greater Daemons…
Then this last February, GW advanced the story and started to talk about what ACTUALLY happened to Slaanesh in the Mortal Realms. He was imprisoned by an alliance of the Aelfs and many of the captured souls from the END TIMES were slowly extracted. This tied into the reappearance of the Idoneth Deepkin and Daughters of Khaine books. But the story also noted that there was a flaw to Slaanesh’s perfect prison and it was only a matter of time until the biggest jailbreak of them all would come to pass (hint, blame Morathi, that snake!)
Then the rumors started kicking up this summer of Emperor’s Children, Fulgrim, and an all new Slaanesh range for 40K & Age of Sigmar. Once the new fiend was spotted, we were off to the races.
New Minis Arrive
So far we have the following new minis that have been spotted:
New fiends
More Fiends
New Herald – The Infernal Enchantress
…and her “instrument”
And one TOTALLY RAD Noise Marine
Meet The New Vibe
So far, it looks like the emphasis seems to be on a slight shift away from the “sexy sexytimes Slaanesh” into the “body horror – Hellraiser” side of things. The Infernal Enchantress is playing the ligaments of a “sufferer” as a harp. That’s pretty hardcore. While no images have been seen of the backside of the Harpist, she looks to be clothed in the same corsets as the normal Daemonettes. The Fiend is more clothed than before and is sporting a lot of leather strapwear, studs and loincloths. There is still the row of breasts on the Fiends, but they are are non-humanoid so meh… If anything it looks like the range so far is moving towards the Drukhari – Haemonculous – Hellraiser side of the Dark Princes’s nature.
“We have such sights to show you…your suffering will be legendary.”
The Noise Marine is really an homage piece to the old one from the early 90s, but I think it’s only the beginning of many more Slaaneshi Marines to come.
On balance I like it and look forward to what other “eternal horrors” the design studio has come up with. I’m hoping for a home run with the Keeper of Secrets – as it has 3 tough acts to follow. Moving the Slaaneshi range closer to the Drukhari aesthetic makes sense – where do you think those depraved Eldar got their ideas from in the first place?
~But if UK and US consumerism has taught us anything – it’s that while the safe limits of sexuality are constantly waxing and waning in popular culture – blood, guts, and gore always sells.
