we knew that the setting was just such that you couldnt really just make it about gayfaggotbumsex too much unless you made the xenophobic bigoted nazis in gold a diverse accepting watered down heroic faction in a non grimdark setting, what happened is they stopped giving enough of a shit about their setting to just spite anyone playing that disagreed with them
Well, the real-world Nazis were diverse. Yes, surprising, I know, given what we're usually told about them, but there were Croatian Nazis, French Nazis, lots of Slavs who hated the Soviets joined the Nazis, there were even Muslim Nazis, and they had the Japanese, as well as many Asian collaborators who hated the British, French, and the USA, as allies. Hell, a lot of Indians who hated the British agreed with Nazi philosophy and even sought to sabotage India's war effort to support the British during WW2. Not to mention that the Nazi SA, before they were put down like animals, were homosexuals. So yes, a good number of Nazis, their old guard no less, were all in on the ''gayfaggotbumsex'' before the Nazis decided to add gays to the untermenschen list and put them down.
As for 40K, again, this was coming. Despite GW stating that all sides were evil in 40K, they were obviously inching towards making the Ultramarines into the good guys, to the point where Ultramarine territories were far better in terms of quality of life when compared to the rest of the Imperium of Man. Not to mention Guilliman hates the Imperium's dystopia and would obviously work to making it better. And of course, they want the good guys to be diverse, so this is their slow inching towards making an official good guy faction and making it pro-diversity. They tried it back then with the Tau, it didn't work, but they're trying it again, with Matt Ward's Ultramarines no less.
Id argue that a lot of anti woke push back came from unironically the execs. Female custodes were attempted in the past with an ADB book but it was shot down from “the top”
The more these old suits the more the authors are encouraged to do it then. Like you guys scream blackwater PMCs and epic game store but we have known a lot of Warhammer authors and even old heads are compromised.
The old suits know that a good chunk of the fanbase won't like female space marines, and so tried to shut them down. But now those old suits are slowly being replaced by DEI/ESG-friendly suits who want that Blackrock money, so now you're seeing it happen. Custodes are the first step, they'll soon have female Astartes running around, being made from accomplished Sisters of Battle or other subjects.
The Warhammer authors were ''compromised'' from the start. They made 40K as a leftist protest just because some female politician turned out to be conservative instead of the ''ra-ra leftist woman power'' leader that they so desperately wanted. Instead they got Phyllis Schlafly as a British PM, which is what Thatcher was. Back then, the leftist hive mind didn't care that some hardcore nerd's hobby didn't have female space soldiers, but now that they do care, the same left-leaning company that made the franchise as leftist fiction in the first place is willing to placate said leftist hive mind for DEI/ESG cash and woke social credit points.