- Joined
- Apr 25, 2020
I think 40K is so gleefully over-the-top violent and lacking in any kind of normalcy that touchy-feely types have difficulty finding purchase on it. There are no diplomatic solutions to interpersonal conflicts in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future. There's Only War, etc. For example, Orks are barbaric ultraviolent inhuman monsters whose entire existence revolves around war and fighting and slaughtering one another if an enemy isn't present. And they're the setting's comedy relief.Only one out of that list I seen that didn't get tumblrized is WH40k. Which surprises me because I thought they would set their claws on theBolter BitchesSister of Battle and/or Slaanesh. I would guess its the constant war and death setting but that didn't stop a lot of franchises that have it nor D&D, so I'm stumped on this one.
Another reason is that the culture built around it doesn't take itself very seriously. Yeah, the setting is grimdark out the ass and no good deed goes unpunished, but despite all the lore-sperging the online 40K community is solidly planted in the "we're here to make memes and have fun" mindset. And since despite the plot moving forward so GW can sell new overpriced plastic sprues the game is essentially geared to work around Your Dudes™. It has a highly unreliable narrator and an attitude of "if you don't like it, change it yourself". So you want to create whole chapter of flamboyantly gay Space Marines? Or female Space Marines? Or dickgirl Space Marines literally fucking Slaaneshi demons into submission with Power Dicks (Sx2, AP-4, 6s to hit auto-wound)? Knock yourself out, Your Dudes™ will fit right in alongside the Angry Marines and the Adeptus Orthodontus. Just get ready to be made fun of by the other people in the fandom.
40K doesn't have hard rules that the SJWs can try to wield like a club to assert dominance over others (their usual tactic), and the online community is far too old and white and humor-centric for then to build a good beachhead. Let's hope that sticks.