Avatars Of War’s Dark Elf Becomes The Mother Of Dragons
March 17, 2014 by brennon
Avatars of War have another character figure on the cards for their world of fantastical warfare that is Warthrone. See what you think of the dark Mother of Dragons, the Dark Elf Princess...
She looks pretty epic and certainly like the front cover of some metal album. She has a bit of a mix between a tuning fork and a sword-breaker for a weapon and while that's rather odd I think the overall miniatures with the dragonette on top is ace.
I'd love to see a diorama with the Dark Elf Princess at the fore of a larger display with a massive dragon behind it.
Will you be paying tribute to this Princess?
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The old standing on a skull pose, tut tut…
well at least it isn’t a rock they can be sneakily tripping people that’s why you have to hold them firmly in place by standing on them
Could be an overly eager animated skeleton. “Not yet! Let them get closer.”
Okay, so she’s going to shred her own legs with those greaves. She has a tuning fork (or perhaps an overly large kebab skewer?) for a weapon. She’s definitely going to trip on that “skirt” (unless it falls off which it’s probably going to do). And she’ll be riddled with arrows before her “armor” gets put to the test against any kind of blade. Look, I get that there are certain tropes in fantasy settings, but this whole thing just comes off as lazy. Frazetta is old enough to be some gamers’ great-grandfather now (or would be if he were… Read more »
Amen
And Avatars of War want to sell WFB Dark Elf proxies to teenagers….
I read the Malus Darkblade series, and nothing made by either GW or AoW matches the visions of madness and murder found in those books. Not even close. They can’t even match their own fluff. Where’s the company that wants to make proxies for WFB that actually reflect the fluff of WFB and embarrass GW at their own game? AoW obviously isn’t it.
Because they don’t want to do any of those things. They want them to look like the minis that GW do sell. If anything they want them to be more GW than GW so people will buy theirs instead of GWs. AoW aren’t that company but nor are they trying to be that company. It’d be like complaining McDonalds won’t serve you a sirloin steak.
I get what AoW is trying to be here. I’m criticizing it for being just that. That’s what it is. It’s not a great sculpt. It’s not interesting. It’s boring. It’s lazy. It fits in very well with what’s already out there, and I find it contemptible for exactly that reason—even more so because I know that was the goal. I’m not disagreeing with your points, I’m using them as the fuel for my distaste of this model.
Agreed about the Darkblade series. A fantastic series of books that really digs into the culture and functioning of Dark Elf society and has a wonderfully dark and twisted anti-hero lead in Malus. Interestingly, as far as I remember, the books also don’t play up the crass and feebly handled sexualisation angle of Dark Elves very much at all, focussing instead on the kind of ruthless power politics that makes Westeros look like Disneyland.
While I don’t think it’s a ‘good’ thing that we see these models all the time, I also don’t generally think about it that much to be honest. For what the model is – a sculpt to fit into your existing Dark Elf army as a Mage – it does what it says and AoW have done something that fits the bill. It might not be the kind of sculpt that people should be buying, but it’s still a good piece of work. The entire of the upcoming Raging Heroes Dark Elf range is going to be much the same… Read more »
Reaper has some great female sculpts, and they are appealing while still being armoured in a conventional and somewhat realistic sort of way. My spouse likes them, as they are attractive (that’s not a bad thing) but practical. They even have a few in their Bones range that makes building a unit of female knights a very cost effective endeavour. And you can always swap out the head for something dark elfish if that’s your aim. They do, of course, have their share of chainmail bikini types, but at least I have a choice. I’ve also started building my own… Read more »
@brennon I’m a bit of a fan of Raging Heroes but I will say this about their dark elf range; the range is going to come in both a fantasy and a sci fi version and I expect that I will love the sci fi version and hate the fantasy version. Why? It’s all about context. Bondage gear and bikinis just look so very wrong in a fantasy setting to me and no matter how good the sculpt is, I’m going to think it looks stupid.
So very true. Fantasy (and to a lesser degree sci-fi) wargaming does seem to be stuck in a weird stylistic time warp that is not only boring and repetative but also rather socially regressive.
I think we all expect rather more than poorly rendered and peurile soft core erotica in modern sculpts, and yet when it comes to the self consciouisly ‘edgy’ factions we so rarely get it anything else.
It’s an amazing model. They make proxies for GW and don’t pretend to be anything but so, so what. On it’s own outside of GW it’s a great model – yes it’s illogical but OUTSIDE of GW there is a female dark elf trope that this follows. Yep, some of it is silly (boots!) but it’s the same across a lot if not most of fantasy throughout time.
It’s a great cabinet piece with a dash of Game of Thrones shoved in there.
I wonder if you’ll be as enthusiastic if they come out with a male figure with his junk hanging out?
There are plenty of lines with “junk” on display, just look at historical gaming.
There are plenty of models with their junk hanging out. – Note unless my sight is bad (it looks like her modesty is covered up?) her junk isn’t hanging out… the difference between this and a bare chested barbarian is what exactly? No barbarian has ever gone to war bare chested… but it’s a trope that we all expect and many of us like.
As for junk being displayed: http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/ancient-britons/products/ancient-celts-fanatic-pack
Sorry, should have made me response clearer, i was referring to cpauls1 comment about being enthusiastic about a male figure with its junk hanging out. There are already plenty in the historical scene. Wasn’t even talking about the elf model.
I think the “reply” thing is a little confusing, i was replying to cpaul1 but it made it look like I was replying to you, though we’re saying the same thing.
Then I will send my collection of male fig leaf barbarians with S&M masks your way lol.
That’s called a Nazi army mate lol
I don’t have a problem with nudity, female or male, in miniatures. I’ve got more of a problem with the clothes she IS wearing rather than the ones she isn’t. That is just a ludicrous outfit. Bikinis just don’t belong in a fantasy setting.
Tell that to the people who make soul calibur…
I just googled Soul Calibur. It looks awful.
Again, people invest a lot of money in an army with a particular aesthetic. You cannot escape GW’s dark elf design if you have an army from them. So some companies need to cater to this and rightly so. If they did a different female Dark Elf, how I don’t know, i would stick out like a sore thumb for most Dark Elf armies. Some would like it, most would be dubious due to the change in aesthetic. Many want different character models in their armies but one the general aesthetic to be uniform. It’s good to mix it up,… Read more »
At least she has a dragon pet