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 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:
But remember that we live in an interesting age where parents can act overly protective of their child and wish that they live in a little bubble.

But parent's aren't the market here.


Honestly, with the internet and society where it's at, it is futile to try and censor teenagers from seeing "adult" content. If any kid has a smart phone the have 24/7 access to pics and video of naked ladies that are far more explicit than some toy models.

They are a relic of a time when GW was more adult in tone. I cannot see any other reason they were altered the way they were when made in plastic, other than to tone them down. Not that there was much to see anyway, but the new ones are quite goofy and static looking.

To me the more important detail is the faces. Boobs are boobs. But the Diaz faces looked attractive, and the plastic ones look like piranhas with bodies.

I have no issues with the studio scheme for Slaanesh, and in fact prefer the muted colors. The studio's approach to colors for the Ruinous Powers looks too much like a bag of Skittles as is, so I'm thankful that Slaanesh doesn't say "grape" to the same degree that Khorne says "cherry."

Regarding the Diaz models, it's important to note that they were the ONLY Daemonette models to be "attractive." The current models represent a return to the original concept. Which is not to say that I prefer the current models, just that I understand that the Diaz version was the anomaly. I also think that Horrors have seen at least as big of a dropoff from their last metal incarnation to plastic. Maybe more, when you look at pure sculpt quality.

I think that the Diaz daemonnettes win on two counts. The first is the 'sexy' look; pleasing faces, breasts and nice figures. Obviously the claws and daemon faces change this, but that enhances rather than detracts, as it gives the otherworldly and disturbing air that shows these aren't human.

But the second reason, and why the Diaz models still beat the plastics, is the posing. They are graceful and sensuous, as thought they're caught in the middle of a dance, and a fairly erotic one at that. A dance of pleasure that will end with a claw to the neck or a blade to the gut. The plastics models are stiff and formal, like they're just standing there waiting for the bus. Not very Slaaneshi.

The Raging Heroes Mantis Warriors might be a ripoff of the Diaz models (or they might not be, I don't know). But they also capture the dancing grace that I associate with Slaanesh. I'm buying them to use as daemonettes, the price in NZ dollars is comparable.

As for paint schemes, I think pastels are the way to go, and when I paint up a Slaaneshi army (whether Warriors or Daemons), it'll be as a veritable rainbow of colours. Slaanesh is Chaos after all, and Chaos shouldn't be more uniform than a Prussian Guards unit. So bright colours and metals on weapons and small pieces of armour, and pastels on skin and main armour plates.

It might look like someone vomited a bag of Skittles over my army, but you'll know that it's Chaos.

The Diaz models to me most closely represent 99% of the descriptions about Daemonettes that I've read in BL books. Gorgeous creatures with lithe bodies that glide through reality with beauty and grace, right up to the moment that they are kissing you and pulling a claw out from your chest with your heart still beating.

I use the plastic Daemonettes as harpies, because that is what those features look like to me: twisted hags of hate.

Daemonettes view mortals as playthings, not necessarily as objects of hate. They may envy the mortals, but they prey upon their natural weaknesses instead of relying on brute force to destroy them.

 Aerethan wrote:
The Diaz models to me most closely represent 99% of the descriptions about Daemonettes that I've read in BL books. Gorgeous creatures with lithe bodies that glide through reality with beauty and grace, right up to the moment that they are kissing you and pulling a claw out from your chest with your heart still beating.

I use the plastic Daemonettes as harpies, because that is what those features look like to me: twisted hags of hate.

Daemonettes view mortals as playthings, not necessarily as objects of hate. They may envy the mortals, but they prey upon their natural weaknesses instead of relying on brute force to destroy them.

I prefer the newer aesthetic to be honest; the Diaz Daemonettes are a fairly simplistic idea, the temptress, the sexy woman using her magical wiles to "force" men to do things they really, honestly don't want to do Reverend. The plastic Daemonettes are a different spin on the older depiction, that of a veneer of attraction, of carnality, hiding a twisted and bizarre truth. While the old models went with an emphasis on the bizarre, the new ones focus more on the twisted; they are an embodiment of the dichotomy of Slannesh - pleasure and pain, attraction and disgust, lust and hatred. The new minis are less Harpies, and more dommes who find themselves despising those they dominate for their weakness, even as they crave the experience of dominating them. As for the books, my favourite depictions of Slanneshi daemons were always the ones in which that beauty and grace were an illusion, a glamour cast on their intended victims that falls away in the last moments to reveal the awful truth.

Flash Felix wrote:
I think that the Diaz daemonnettes win on two counts. The first is the 'sexy' look; pleasing faces, breasts and nice figures. Obviously the claws and daemon faces change this, but that enhances rather than detracts, as it gives the otherworldly and disturbing air that shows these aren't human.

But the second reason, and why the Diaz models still beat the plastics, is the posing. They are graceful and sensuous, as thought they're caught in the middle of a dance, and a fairly erotic one at that. A dance of pleasure that will end with a claw to the neck or a blade to the gut. The plastics models are stiff and formal, like they're just standing there waiting for the bus. Not very Slaaneshi.

The Raging Heroes Mantis Warriors might be a ripoff of the Diaz models (or they might not be, I don't know). But they also capture the dancing grace that I associate with Slaanesh. I'm buying them to use as daemonettes, the price in NZ dollars is comparable.

As for paint schemes, I think pastels are the way to go, and when I paint up a Slaaneshi army (whether Warriors or Daemons), it'll be as a veritable rainbow of colours. Slaanesh is Chaos after all, and Chaos shouldn't be more uniform than a Prussian Guards unit. So bright colours and metals on weapons and small pieces of armour, and pastels on skin and main armour plates.

It might look like someone vomited a bag of Skittles over my army, but you'll know that it's Chaos.

Hey, it's all different strokes for different folks. I'm not really suggesting that Chaos should be uniform, though. I just think the studio's palette is all over the place and doesn't work that well in multi-god armies. I've been pondering Chaos and color schemes for some time now for a potential new project, and right now I'm mulling over more muted and more complementary colors that should still be recognizable as the fearsome foursome.

The fundamental problem with Daemonette miniatures is that the creatures they represent are supposed to walk a line between beauty that leaves you dumbstruck and horror that leaves you screaming in a bad way, and that's almost impossible to capture in 28mm models, if at all. The Diaz models focused on the "beauty", while the current and past models focus on the "horror." So different people will naturally feel differently about them, although it should be said that the current models capture their hermaphroditic nature better than the Diaz models, which are just plain feminine.

Yodhrin wrote:
I prefer the newer aesthetic to be honest; the Diaz Daemonettes are a fairly simplistic idea, the temptress, the sexy woman using her magical wiles to "force" men to do things they really, honestly don't want to do Reverend. The plastic Daemonettes are a different spin on the older depiction, that of a veneer of attraction, of carnality, hiding a twisted and bizarre truth. While the old models went with an emphasis on the bizarre, the new ones focus more on the twisted; they are an embodiment of the dichotomy of Slannesh - pleasure and pain, attraction and disgust, lust and hatred. The new minis are less Harpies, and more dommes who find themselves despising those they dominate for their weakness, even as they crave the experience of dominating them. As for the books, my favourite depictions of Slanneshi daemons were always the ones in which that beauty and grace were an illusion, a glamour cast on their intended victims that falls away in the last moments to reveal the awful truth.

That's actually an excellent explanation of the newer plastic models; I certainly hadn't thought of them in that manner, so thanks for the expanded viewpoint. I still think that they lack the grace and elegance I personally associate with Slaanesh, so I do prefer the Diaz and Raging Heroes versions. But I can now understand why others might like the plastics.

gorgon wrote:
Hey, it's all different strokes for different folks. I'm not really suggesting that Chaos should be uniform, though. I just think the studio's palette is all over the place and doesn't work that well in multi-god armies. I've been pondering Chaos and color schemes for some time now for a potential new project, and right now I'm mulling over more muted and more complementary colors that should still be recognizable as the fearsome foursome.

Definitely different strokes, and I'm not suggesting that my interpretation is better than anyone elses. I should refine my post a little. I think Slaaneshi should have a wide array of colours, but then so does Tzeentch, so there is a risk of confusing the two. Nurgle is easy in that those daemons can have a muted palette, while Khorne's red can be broken up by brass, black and crimsons. But Tzeentch to my mind is just as wide as Slaanesh, so how to differentiate them?

I think this is where pastels for Slaanesh come in. And while I'd like to use a wide array of them, obviously picking one or two unitfying colours will tie a unit and the army together (the question remains whether I actually have the skill for this, but that's another matter.....). Tzeentch can be much brighter and vibrant in contrast, again picking only a few colours to tie the army together, and different ones to Slaanesh.

Back to the original post, I do think that the modern Slaaneshi paint schemes are very dull; grey shouldn't feature at all, even if there are 50 shades of it (badum'tish!). I bought 'Slaves to Darkness 20 years ago, and those colour schemes are what I still associate with Slaanesh, and always will.

gorgon wrote:
The fundamental problem with Daemonette miniatures is that the creatures they represent are supposed to walk a line between beauty that leaves you dumbstruck and horror that leaves you screaming in a bad way, and that's almost impossible to capture in 28mm models, if at all. The Diaz models focused on the "beauty", while the current and past models focus on the "horror." So different people will naturally feel differently about them, although it should be said that the current models capture their hermaphroditic nature better than the Diaz models, which are just plain feminine.

I agree. Like I said above, I can understand that the modern daemonettes emphasise the horror. I just think that they're lacking in grace as well. A unit of daemonettes should be a ballet, not a bus-queue.

Flash Felix wrote:

I think Slaaneshi should have a wide array of colours, but then so does Tzeentch, so there is a risk of confusing the two. Nurgle is easy in that those daemons can have a muted palette, while Khorne's red can be broken up by brass, black and crimsons. But Tzeentch to my mind is just as wide as Slaanesh, so how to differentiate them?

I think this is where pastels for Slaanesh come in. And while I'd like to use a wide array of them, obviously picking one or two unitfying colours will tie a unit and the army together (the question remains whether I actually have the skill for this, but that's another matter.....). Tzeentch can be much brighter and vibrant in contrast, again picking only a few colours to tie the army together, and different ones to Slaanesh.

My theory for Chaos colors in general is that you want to stay away from primary AND secondary colors and just use tertiary colors. Instead of yellow, use yellow orange or yellow green. Instead of purple, use red violet or blue violet. This moves things off of any typical color palettes and into the realms of the strange. As Flash says, make the Tzeench colors vibrant and quite varied, For Slaanesh a more limited palette in mostly pastels would probably work better; red violet (magenta pink), blue violet, blue green (turquoise) with another bright color or two for accent colors. Also don't forget to use color patterns for Slaanesh; tattoos, zebra stripes in clashing colors, leopard skin patterns, etc.

The main problem I have with the studio scheme for Slaanesh is that there isn't really anything that pops, the purple and grey just fade into the background. That being said, most of the daemons in my Slaaneshii warband have either purple or tan bodies. I just use pops of bright orange and green to really make them jump out.

I think a big influence on the studio Slaanesh scheme is the Cenobites from Hellraiser:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hellraiser+cenobites&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=vVf&rls=org.mozilla:en-GBfficial&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=D_05UaCOMfTb7AbTrIDYCw&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=665

They pretty much embody the pleasure/pain aspect, the 'explorers in the further reaches of experience'.

With regard to the sculpts of all the recent daemon designs there's been a conscious effort to get back to the aesthetic of the Realm of Chaos days - the current bloodletters are much closer to the original ones than the muscle bound axe wielders they replaced.

I really like the Diaz daemonettes because they're so dynamic and well posed, but I also quite like the retro feel of the current plastics.

It irked me as of late too, did this colour scheme.
I always imagined Slaaneshi shiz being bright gaudy colours taken to excess, like i have been reading about for years.
Always wondered why they chose to make them so dreary nowadays.

Dreary is indeed the right word.

As to cenobites, I think that image is better suited to DE homunculae because their bag seems to be pleasure from pain. Daemonettes are less discriminating, with key word being excess. IMO, save the bondage gear for the Bad Elves and let's have the daemonettes be weird in a cocaine-fueled way.

 Manchu wrote:
Dreary is indeed the right word.

As to cenobites, I think that image is better suited to DE homunculae because their bag seems to be pleasure from pain. Daemonettes are less discriminating, with key word being excess. IMO, save the bondage gear for the Bad Elves and let's have the daemonettes be weird in a cocaine-fueled way.

That is what I was thinking when I saw the cenobite pics in the earlier post. Definately more dark eldar than slaaneshi (while both enjoy causing pain their outlooks on it are completely opposite).

It's supposed to have a feminine quality, purple, white, and most associate pink with slaanesh regardless of pink horrors of tzeentch.

Two words: Purple Haze.

And now everything Slaneesh makes sense.

Also, somebody needs to make an 80's hair metal slaneesh army. (yes, I am aware jimi hendrix and hair metal have nothing in common)

 Cryptek of Awesome wrote:


Slaanesh is all about the dopey, heady drug. Sure you could go for the multi-hued sensual assault, but they've gone more for the purple-hazey, silk draped lamp, orgy-room + crab arms look.

when i think orgy-room i think if crab arms straight away

flesh tones should be better

another question. why are they putting that smoke/flame/energy green stuff blob crap on more and more models.

it looks terrible IMO.

the smoke can be abit ott

timd wrote:

My theory for Chaos colors in general is that you want to stay away from primary AND secondary colors and just use tertiary colors. Instead of yellow, use yellow orange or yellow green. Instead of purple, use red violet or blue violet. This moves things off of any typical color palettes and into the realms of the strange. As Flash says, make the Tzeench colors vibrant and quite varied, For Slaanesh a more limited palette in mostly pastels would probably work better; red violet (magenta pink), blue violet, blue green (turquoise) with another bright color or two for accent colors. Also don't forget to use color patterns for Slaanesh; tattoos, zebra stripes in clashing colors, leopard skin patterns, etc.

Nice ideas in regard to palette choices. I'd also add that if you want them to look even more ..unique, using non-GW paints could be an interesting choice. I guess GW's new paint range already covers that to an extent, but using something like the P3 range instead of the GW range gives slightly different and less familiar tones on your reds, blues, greens, mauves, etc.