There are plenty of series about Warhammer 40,000, but most of them are part of the paid Warhammer TV. Talented fans have created their own series, and one of them just got the latest episode – complete with controversy in the community.
If you are in the mood for Warhammer but don’t want to read one of the over 350 books, nor play one of the dozens of games or even the tabletop, you still have some series to choose from.
The latest one is Sigmar’s Toll, which is about rats and dark magic. The problem: All official series from Games Workshop are only available as part of a subscription: Warhammer+.
Unofficial series like Astartes, created by fans, are not part of the canon – but are still extremely popular and especially free. One of these series is Space King, which you should only watch if you understand fun.
We embed the latest episode here for you:
What is Space King about? Okay, how do you explain this without sounding stupid? Space King mocks just about everything that already seems completely exaggerated in Warhammer:
- Psycho-Warriors are the counterpart to the Space Marines from Warhammer 40,000. Whereas Space Marines receive a gene-seed from their Primarchs to mutate into super-soldiers, Psycho-Warriors are given two globules as young boys – placed between their legs.
- Space Marines already have absurdly thick armor, but Psycho-Warriors have even thicker armor, with a constantly angry face and often glowing red eyes.
- The Emperor himself is in Space King the… well, the namesake Space King. He often appears as a golden glowing god-like figure who teaches his sons some nonsense. Among his holy artifacts are a box with air he has breathed and a candle he is said to have lit.
Behind Space King are Flashgitz, two fans of Warhammer who also make fun of controversies within the community. In the latest episode, Space King 3 – The Imaginator (on YouTube), for example, there is a galactic crisis because someone has created a female Psycho-Warrior. Women among the Custodes were a big drama in Warhammer in 2024.
The latest episode has received over 3.2 million views and over 269,000 likes in just 5 days, with less than 1,000 dislikes (according to the “Return Dislikes” addon). If you want to watch it yourself, you can find here the first episode of Space King on YouTube.
Flashgitz are, by the way, a unit of the Orks from Warhammer 40,000:
“One of the best works Warhammer has ever seen”
Space King takes many motifs from Warhammer and exaggerates them further: hateful superhumans are even more hateful, hyper-masculine fighters are… even more masculine. You see the pattern.
Since Warhammer itself represents a critique of society, Space King also adopts some tropes and amplifies them. Many of these references can only be understood as a Warhammer fan, and some of them are also small jabs at the ultra-nerds of the lore.
Accordingly, there are indeed controversies in the community. In the Grimdank subreddit, there are almost only “Space King good” or “Space King bad” posts on the subject.
Overall, the series is pretty well received, if you like the – admittedly somewhat blunt – humor. One user on Reddit summarizes:
Personally, I think it is one of the best works related to Warhammer that could ever be created. The cartoon perfectly captures the atmosphere of old 40k: edgy, dirty, and absolutely ridiculous, while they (in Flashgitz style) exaggerate many scenes and jokes. […] Only a certified idiot could see it as a purely refined work of political satire.
Mysterious_Risk_6034 on Reddit
Flashgitz themselves have previously parodied Warhammer, for example in a video series where the fanatical Black Templars want to eradicate the furry plague. This series is also exaggerated, ridiculous, and… quite brutal.
The stark contrast to exaggerated depictions in Space King also exists in the community. Some fans choose not to paint their Space Marines in the classic, aggressive colors, but to give them a much cheerier pattern: An artist turns tough Warhammer soldiers into “silly little guys”, hitting a nerve in the community.
