#daemonettes

Surprise restoration project!

I know a lot of you don't play 40K, but something rather interesting could be happening during summer this year. Back in 2023, Games Workshop released the 10th edition of Warhammer 40K. I know, I know, but don't get switched off just yet. Things are going to get very fun.

You may know through cultural osmosis that there are four Chaos gods. Tzeentch, Khorne, Nurgle and Slaanesh.

Well for many years they all shared one rulebook, but back in 8th edition, two of them (Nurgle and Tzeentch) spun off into their own armies. This was followed last year by Khorne who got theirs right at the end of 9th edition.

But in addition to new rulebooks, they also got their army leader, known as a Primarch, to take them into battle.

Now what's interesting here is that they all have benefitted from gifts of their respective gods. Magnus has a staff and enhanced psychic powers, Angron has two powerful close combat weapons (to create blood for the blood god), while Mortarion has the enduring strength of rot and decay. In additon, they all underwent changes to reflect their respective gods. All very fluffy and tied heavily to the lore. These are really fun models and their rules are fucking cool!

But we're missing Fulgrim, the Primarch seduced by Slaanesh. And THIS is where it gets interesting. Slaanesh is the god of excess. They revel in striding over boundaries and feel most comfortable being who they are. Followers of Slaanesh often gain powers and benefits tied to their perversions, sexual or otherwise. And it is highly believed that Fulgrim is next in line to get a model.

Looking at GW's roadmap, you can see that there's a spot for a whole new army coming out (listed as [redacted]):

There is HUGE speculation that this is the fourth and final Chaos god codex (the name for the rulebooks). This means that we will get a new Fulgrim model, and we're itching to see what 10,000 years of daemonic servitude has blessed him with.

And I say "new" model, because we have one of him back when he first turned. This is part of their "Horus Heresy" range, and not Warhammer 40K proper. The other three Primarchs also have HH models too, different from the ones above.

Sexy, right?

But here's the thing. One of Slaanesh's defining traits is that they play with and change gender frequently. Actually, it would be just as appropriate to say that gender doesn't really apply to them unless they want it to. For example, here is a huge daemon from the range:

As you can see, there's a lot of androgeny here. That's intentional. Sometimes they appear more traditionally feminine, sometimes more masculine, sometimes both, sometimes neither.

And their forms shift to seduce the prey. It's brilliant!

But this leaves the question - what about Fulgrim?

I suspect that GW could do something incredible. I think they're going to heavily lean into the best parts of Slaanesh. I think that they're going to reveal a female, or genderfluid Fulgrim!

It would make so much sense. It's the best fit for the lore. It would be so weird to just have a random bloke standing there when everybody else is already living it up as their best and most open selves, you know? It would make her distinct from her brothers, we would get a phenomenally cool Daemon Princess model, and it would definitively shut up all of those guys who get funny about the idea of female space marines, because we'd finally have one in canon!

I mean, even the existing model is called Fulgrim "trans"-figured! Could it be any more obvious?

Classic Daemonettes of Slaanesh. Which miniatures do You prefer, the old or the new ones?