Check out D&D's version of Cthulhu, via WizKids' new miniature for Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

WizKids has provided retailers with a first look at the Dungeons & Dragons version of Cthulhu as it appears in the upcoming book Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. WizKids will be releasing a new Cthulhu figure that ties into the upcoming Ravenloft book, with the book due for release in June. The new figure sits on a 100 mm base and comes with a special iridescent paint scheme that makes it look perennially wet. The painted version of the figure will cost $79.99, while an unpainted version costs $69.99. Both versions of Cthulhu are due for release in October 2026.

This version of Cthulhu looks significantly different than classic depictions of the elder god, with Cthulhu sporting multiple wings and tentacles in place of traditional limbs. Notably, Cthulhu's head is also semi-translucent, with its brain visible underneath a rounded flap of skin. It appears that this version of Cthulhu drew heavy inspiration from an octopus. You can take a look at Cthulhu down below:

Wizards confirmed that Cthulhu, the classic elder being created by HP Lovecraft, will be featured in Ravenloft: The Horror Within as a Darklord. Innsmouth, a New England town featured in multiple Lovecraft stories, will also appear as a new Domain of Dread. Of course, Cthulhu has a long history with D&D, having appeared in early versions of the game before being pulled due to a license issue tied to rival game Call of Cthulhu. Now that Cthulhu and Lovecraft's other works are in the public domain, Wizards has decided to bring the eldritch being back into D&D canon.

 

[Selas]

He looks too skinny to be vast and incomprehensible and I'm not enamored of the glass helmet - makes me think Space Alien rather than Eldritch Lord of Unknown Cosmic Vastnesses

They made him less humanoid and more eldritch aberration, which is good in my books. As for the "glass helmet" it reminds me more of a Metroid, though Cthulhu is technically an "Alien"

 

[dave2008]

He looks too skinny to be vast and incomprehensible and I'm not enamored of the glass helmet - makes me think Space Alien rather than Eldritch Lord of Unknown Cosmic Vastnesses

Well, technically isn't Cthulhu a space alien?

 

[...m...]

I usually picture Cthulhu similar to Orcus, sloppily corpulent and not hard core buff.

The asymmetry of the mini design here is growing on me. At first the spikes on one tentacle and them ending differently on the different limbs was visually annoying, but Cthulhu's body should be shifting and warping and not quite right.

...you just sold me on the idea of a half-dozen cthulhu miniatures, each offering fundamentally different interpretations; roll a d6 to swap it out every round as the player characters try to make visual sense of what they're looking at...

 

[...m...]

Back in the TSR days there were no "officially licenced" minis for D&D or CoC (Warhammer/Games Workshop probably had a lot to do with the idea that minis should be "official"). Back in the 70s/80s the were a bunch of small businesses producing unlicensed minis.

...actually, there were...

 

[MGibster]

My fourth Cthulhu enjoying a snack.

 

[Youshang]

Innsmouth as a domain of dread? And Cthulhu as a dark lord? Innovative and original. I'll pass on this rendition of Ravenloft, I think.

 

[Dire Bare]

Innsmouth as a domain of dread? And Cthulhu as a dark lord? Innovative and original. I'll pass on this rendition of Ravenloft, I think.

If you need your D&D to always be innovative and original . . . well, that ship sailed back in 1974.

 

[Superchunk77]

What is the criticism then?

Mainly WotC recycling all this old stuff to jam it into their D&D IP rather than trying to come up with something new.

 

[Youshang]

If you need your D&D to always be innovative and original . . . well, that ship sailed back in 1974.

I guess the word I was missing there was .. cheap.

 

[Dire Bare]

I guess the word I was missing there was .. cheap.

Okay . . . not sure how this makes the new book "cheap", but to each their own!