Tags
Art, Dungeons & Dragons, Heavy Metal, RPG, Silly, Taarna, Warduke
Whenever the discussion of the AWESOME movie Heavy Metal comes up, the complete ridiculousness of Taarna’s outfit ends up tickling the back of my brain. But today while going through the old D&D Characters Colouring Book, I noted Warduke’s outfit again.
I swear, Warduke is the male testosterone-driven version of Taarna. Since he’s one of my favourite D&D characters (right up there with Morgan Ironwolf), I suddenly feel a little less insensitive for also loving Taarna.
(The Taarna illo was drawn by SketchyMcDrawPants, and Warduke was drawn by Tim Phillips, both on DeviantArt)
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
Oh man, I had this figure when I was a little kid. He was my favorite fantasy figure, even though he was a little bit squashed compared to the official art. I had the silver paladin as well, with the big white plume. I think I had a black knight with a snake wrapped around his breastplate too… I wish I still had my toys 😦
I just saw a Warduke toy on sale at a local store here in Chicagoland. I might have to grab that. 😉
Course a Taarna figure would be better.
Warduke is a little more modest from the back view than Taarna, however.
Remember too that Warduke and Taarna are both heavily armored compared to John Carter, who wore nothing more than a “war harness” or series of belts and straps from which to hang his weapons. Note that such did not include a loincloth; similarly, Dejah Thoris wore nothing more than jewelry, which contrary to Frazetta illos did not include a jeweled loincloth nor jeweled pasties.
Similarly, Conan rarely wore more than a breechcloth. It is Tolkien, oddly, that we must thank for the more Puritan aspects of fantasy clothing…
I think Warduke is Death Dealers D&D-version.
Warduke’s armor is actually similar to that worn by some gladiators. Also keep in mind that historically very few combatants wore armor at all. Not sure why the practicality of Taarna’s armor would ever come up, either… would the film be better if she wore full plate? You might as well argue that her bird’s wings are too small to maintain flight, or any number of other things.
Well I love Warduke’s helm, that’s for sure. The rest is very gladiatorial, so, if that’s not your thing, you might not like it. Arguably, however, there are very little things that cannot be made a lot better by wearing full plate. If we are considering a movie called Heavy Metal, this is twice as much true, I’d say.