The Spirit of Dungeonpunk '87

Orcs is da best, da 'ardest and make da most aggro noise. We is da punkest punx! Waaagh!

Savage Orcs 1987 Spring Citadel Journal | Perry Bros.

Throw the post-colonial caricature of bones-through-the-nose cannibals from 1930's cartoons, Neanderthal skull-shapes, symbolism of the disaffected white urban youth and American Indians into a semiotic melting pot and what do you get? Savage Orcs. The mohican haircut, of course, is named after the American Indian nation of the Mowhawk, and is resonant with ideas of the noble-savage and was easily assimilated by the anarcho-primitivistic current within punk. 

Taking for granted that the whole cannibal cartoon is a projection of primitivism onto Africans by way of blackface stylisation largely by white post-colonialist media-producers, the admixture of 'punk' signifiers goes some way towards redeeming the Savage Orc caricature as a symbol of a more universal primitivism, rather than one as a sole product of post-colonial stereotyping.

Of course, it is needless to say that the box-set of plastic Savage Orcs you can buy from Games Workshop no longer carries any punk signifiers.

Enough of the run-on sentences and polysyllabic babble!

Wots dis den? Kevin Adams Gobbos wiv da moheekan hair, innit. 'Cos Gobbos iz Punx too.

Click for bigga!

Naaah! Orcs iz da best punx. Jes Goodwins Lord of the Rings Orcs, wiv mohawks. Mohawk Orcs in Lord of the Rings. So let's get this absolutely straight: Tolkien is Dungeonpunk, official. Well, officially licensed by Elan merchandise. In the 80s. On 1 miniature.

Tolkiens Uruk-hai, dungeon punk orcs by Jes Goodwin

And here's a more recent member of the dugneonpunk goblin tribe, a rather natty fellow from Kevin Adams, with nose-ring.

Kev Adams Punk Goblin 2010 from Rhoninstorm