Raging Heroes evil lady Mantis Warriors

[eldargal]

Looks like a good counts-as daemonette to me. Pre orders up in a week or so according to their blog.

[AlexHolker]

Like the Blood Vestals, I'd be more interested if they were below my R&F price threshold. I like the look well enough, but unless Raging Heroes starts making plastic kits I'm unlikely to ever buy their products.

[GomezAddams]

Its like they've taken the Juan Diaz daemonette sculpts and just flattened some of the detailing out. The feet look soddy and the arms don't look finished... or like arms at all.

Shame really - I'm glad to see raging heroes moving forward at a nice pace but these are a bit lazy in all honesty.

[AlexHolker]

It does say it's a work in progress, Gomez.

[Symrivven]

That's a good looking model, certainly better than the current daemonettes. I like the dynamic pose and the beautiful body, but the armour/blades look a bit mechanical, I don't know if that's intentional.

[eldargal]

I don't agree, I 've always felt the Diaz sculpts were overrated and I think these are better, far more daemonic even with the nudity than the Diaz cosplayingstripperettes. I also don't see much resemblance between the two.

I think I'm one of four people in the whole world who greatly prefer the new plastic daemonettes. In fact if I have a criticism of the Raging Heroes Mantis Warriors it is that they too could look a little more daemonic.

Oddly enough I do prefer the old seeker daemonettes, I like the way they sit on the seekers, rather careless and languid.

Its like they've taken the Juan Diaz daemonette sculpts and just flattened some of the detailing out. The feet look soddy and the arms don't look finished... or like arms at all.

Shame really - I'm glad to see raging heroes moving forward at a nice pace but these are a bit lazy in all honesty.

[AndrewGPaul]

But they're clearly not daemonettes. I mean, look at the name.

Not keen, really. For a start, they don't look particularly mantis-like. They're insufficiently insectoid, and the forearms don't look anything like the distinctive forearms of a mantis. The hooves don't make any sense either.

[Apologist]

I think I'm one of four people in the whole world who greatly prefer the new plastic daemonettes.

Make that five!
Personally speaking, I've not disliked any iteration of the daemonettes. All have their own aesthetic, and unlike the Horrors and Bloodletters, the different ages of daemonettes mix and mingle rather nicely together for an appropriately disturbing group. These Raging Heroes models look like they'd fit in nicely alongside a mix. They're a bit 'supermodel with bits stuck on' to me (which is the same reason I prefer the weird hermaphrodite daemonettes to the Juan Diaz sculpts), but judging from this WIP, they're nicely executed. Having bought the big 'not-Avatar' Raging Heroes produce, I was very impressed with their production methods, so I have no doubt these will be of a similar high quality.

[zoggin-eck]

I think I'm one of four people in the whole world who greatly prefer the new plastic daemonettes.

Make it six (curse you Apologist!).

I agree with you on the riders. I like the current steed and rider models, but they just sit there! So dull. The orc boar boys, funnily enough, are so much more dynamic. I'm the same with you on pretty much liking all the different versions of deamonettes, all with a different style.

New ones from these guys might be welcome, but like GomezAddams, I find this a bit lazy, like a few of their "not GW" models. Having recently seen their models in the flesh, I was impressed, but I'd love to see something really new.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

I must say that, as an entomologist, I was a tad disappointed to see that they're not really at all insect or mantis-like, but the model doesn't look bad. Not really a fan of the hoofed feet, but I do like the dynamic sculpt.

[Zothos]

Make it 7.

Diaz's daemonettes looked terrible in my opinion.

The look for daemonettes was established for me with Slaves to Darkness, the new plastics nailed that aesthetic perfectly.

[Ludaman]

The blow up doll mouth is hilarious, and the hooves look off, but I like the rest a lot!

[Daniel36]

Make it 8.

Honestly, and this is not just a stab at Raging Heroes, because it applies to a lot of companies, I am getting tired of seeing all these "could count as" miniatures.

Where is the originality? Honestly, this feels to me like they just emulated the old Daemonette sculpt with a couple of differences just to make sure they don't get GW on their case. Who are their audience? Not Warhammer players, as half of those are purists and prefer GW models, even if only to make sure they can participate in tournaments, and the other half will find these too expensive and just won't bother.

It's the same for a lot of other companies. But this is not the thread for that I suppose. If I had to give some constructive feedback, I would say their arms / pincers are very blocky, they should be sharp so that they look more menacing. The feet look more like a horse, and while I wouldn't know how mantis feet look, I would make them more dragonesque. But honestly, I would've much rather have seen true mantis like ladies. Mantises with lady parts (teehee) instead of ladies with mantis parts.

But that's me.

[Damien 1427]

Where is the originality?

Whilst you do state later you don't feel it's WHFB players, it is them. Warhammer (Well, 40k) for the most part is the big fish. The recent explosion in smaller companies making bits and sometimes whole kits that are clearly aimed at Games Workshop customers seem to indicate there is an appetite for kits that will fit in with Games Workshop products, but fill niches that Games Workshop neglects.

They're just meeting a demand that is there.

I do like these, though I doubt I'd ever pick a mob of them up. There's certainly the market for Honestly Not Diaz Daemonettes, so I can see these doing well.

[Daniel36]

Hey, I wish them all the luck in the world selling this kit, but I honestly wish people would just do more original things with it.
I can understand they want "in" on the Warhammer market, but still... They could've made a million different types of lady daemons which could still be "used as", but this just seems so blatant.

And it's not even really a "niche" neglected by GW. They have Daemonettes. A neglected niche would be Kislevite-looking Imperial models, or Araby or somesuch...
But hey... if there is a market for it, there is a market for it. I am not on that market, but that is probably why I didn't know there was one.

[Scaryscarymushroom]

I like the hair.

Looks good so far, but certain improvements could definitely be made. The biceps are very long. And the mouth is silly.

As far as GW ignoring niche markets is concerned-- this model fills a niche that I think GW is purposefully neglecting. With the redesign of daemonettes, topless female GW models now exist only in the Warhammer fantasy range (and for the most part they're pretty grotesque). Seeing that WHFB caters to an older clientele than 40k, I bet it was a purposeful move to make their bread-winning game more family friendly.

[AndrewGPaul]

So ... the niche these models are exploiting is miniature fetish porn?

I agree with Daniel36. Stop re-hashing GW's designs. If you want topless female demons, how about some Furies/Baccahe-type models, as part of a wider Ancient mythology-inspired range. I'd love a decent Greek Myths range, but as it is, all there is is Foundry, and those are crap. Or stuff from African, Asian or aboriginal American myths? They should be easy enough for Roginshirozz, after all - they still won't need to come up with their own ideas.

[EmperorNorton]

So ... the niche these models are exploiting is miniature fetish porn?

I agree with Daniel36. Stop re-hashing GW's designs. If you want topless female demons, how about some Furies/Baccahe-type models, as part of a wider Ancient mythology-inspired range. I'd love a decent Greek Myths range, but as it is, all there is is Foundry, and those are crap.

Have you seen the Dionesians from Shadowforge?

[AndrewGPaul]

They're ... OK, I suppose. A little heavy on the enhanced lips and pornstar makeup, though. I wasn't actually talking about specifically female models, though, apart from the Furies.

[eldargal]

I still can't see how they are rehashing GWs designs, GW don't exactly have a monopoly on clawed naked daemon girls. They look more like the desire demons in Dragon Age than anything else, in my opinion. I really don't buy the 'naked models appeal to a more mature gamer' thing either.