Warhammer 40k

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

It wouldn’t surprise me if they quietly never mention this again like they’ve done multiple times.

They're owned by Blackrock, are you sure?

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

I want my fucking boy hobby to be my boy hobby

That's impossible when the fucking boys troon out and infect the hobby. And then you have the boy gooners who want female characters to goon. And then you have all the self appointed boy "Gatekeepers" who do nothing besides complaining.

It's not womens fault.

 

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Both assessments are wrong, the writers are woke and forced their femstodes into canon by sneaking it in, hoping it would go unnoticed until publication.

Someone suggested the sheer number of people working on the book would have made this impossible. Wouldn't rule it out, however.

Actually however... The fact that there isn't a female custodes kit / HQ coming out alongside the book does heavily help this theory, though, doesn't it? Nor any announcement on Warhammer Community crowing about it, or letting people know. IF this was official and planned, they certainly aren't celebrating it like I'd expect.

But either way, imagine GW trying to retcon this, or delaying the book's release to reprint it? They can't reprint the books becuase of costs. They can't undo the retcon or the leftists (internal and external) will go thermonuclear on them.

Wouldn't that be hilarious, if the way GW finally falls to Wokeness is some woke authors sneaking it in and making it impossible for GW to undo it?

 

[The tired cat]

But either way, imagine GW trying to retcon this, or delaying the book's release to reprint it? They can't reprint the books becuase of costs. They can't undo the retcon or the leftists (internal and external) will go thermonuclear on them.

I have a feeling if they even do go "thermonuclear" GW wont even blink or care much. Again, how many times we saw lefties on Twitter and other types "Reee!!! Where muh FMS" and GW just told em to pound sand, did any of that shrilling change anythin? Heck no. An I feel this will be the same thing, this gets retconned, bunch of attention whores cry on Twatter or youtube how "Dem evil GW Naziieees!!!" aaand then nothing.

 

[Penne Dreadful]

My point is those things were meant to grow the setting, even if poorly, whereas femstodes are an intentional act of spite, snuck in by BL writers to subvert official policy by the suits above them, forcing them to defend the retcon, all to prove they've achieved institutional capture of a chud favorite IP.

I'm sure that whoever wrote this passage would swear up and down that it was also included to expand the setting and that it would provide room for interesting new characters and viewpoints. He might even believe it. On the other hand, it's perfectly possible that this was indeed just to trigger the chuds, own the chuds and snuck past management. With that said, terrible fluff has existed for many reasons in the past, will continue to exist and is easy to ignore. Ultimately, I don't see this dumb political posturing as being all that different to the letter the PETA a few years ago.

Do you suppose things will get so bad at GW that they'll have to undo the woke retcons made now and yet to come, or do you think they're permanent you don't care anyway?

I see basically zero chance of this explicitly happening, but quietly just stopping mentioning it and ignoring that the whole affair ever happened wouldn't be unprecedented, as @AncientPhosphur also mentioned. Hard retcons aren't unprecedented - I think the most recent was probably reducing the duration of the Indomitus Crusade by 90% - but they're also not common.

They're owned by Blackrock, are you sure?

Trends will change. This current fad will eventually end. That said, Blackrock owns a 6.56% stake. Add Vanguard's 4.94% and you're still only at 11.5%. There are plenty of other large institutional investors present too, but I'm not sure how activist they all are in terms of actively voting with their shares and, even if they do, pushing in favour of DEI in ways legible to the end consumer. In general, even in $CURRENT_YEAR, I'd still expect the average pension fund manager's thoughts on Femstodes to be closer to the famous question from a Nintendo shareholder meeting (below).

 

[AncientPhosphur]

I see basically zero chance of this explicitly happening, but quietly just stopping mentioning it and ignoring that the whole affair ever happened wouldn't be unprecedented, as @AncientPhosphur also mentioned. Hard retcons aren't unprecedented - I think the most recent was probably reducing the duration of the Indomitus Crusade by 90% - but they're also not common.

Yeah plus it’s not called plastic crack without reason. Custodes are also famous for having a small line so female heads will be debatable if they’re coming at all and 40k is still the main drive for tabletop gaming as a name much like DND is for ttrpgs.

It’s not so much “It’s over” it’s more like another point in 40k overall where a hardcore group of fans get cleaved off and remain in oldhammer while there’s a group so hopelessly addicted to consooming it’s just another speed bump. I’d like to know just how many preorders of custodes and Warhammer+ subscriptions were cancelled but we’re probably not going to get that and the only sign I’d say it’s not being taken too well currently is the new custode patrol box is still in stock on the website given GWs horrible production issues (which sucks because I would absolutely have bought it to round out a custode army from the previous combat patrol box)

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

Someone suggested the sheer number of people working on the book would have made this impossible. Wouldn't rule it out, however.

Actually however... The fact that there isn't a female custodes kit / HQ coming out alongside the book does heavily help this theory, though, doesn't it? Nor any announcement on Warhammer Community crowing about it, or letting people know. IF this was official and planned, they certainly aren't celebrating it like I'd expect.

But either way, imagine GW trying to retcon this, or delaying the book's release to reprint it? They can't reprint the books becuase of costs. They can't undo the retcon or the leftists (internal and external) will go thermonuclear on them.

Wouldn't that be hilarious, if the way GW finally falls to Wokeness is some woke authors sneaking it in and making it impossible for GW to undo it?

Never bet against GW when it comes to saving money. I don’t see them reprinting the books but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took whoever wrote/edited it in and fired them. Not because they care about the lore or politics but simply because they broke the one golden rule. Don’t cost them gold. Their store managers/sales reps are probably livid right now, at least the ones in conservative areas even if they like the change, because their job is ultimately based on sales. (That’s largely what separates GW from other hobby shops, the manager is actively pitching product and trying to upsell where most 3rd party stores will only look up from their current project to take your cash).

If this was planned from the top we’d see a bunch of new female minis. They’re loathe to include even other weapon options because they hate 3rd party bit sellers with a fiery passion. They don’t want someone else making money off of female heads that can be stuck on the minis. They want all the money.

 

[TingoFranDingo]

So how many of you intend to stick around for Warhammer after this? I know for certain that @The tired cat is digging in his heels, but who else? Also for those staying, how much worse will Warhammer have to get before you eventually ditch it, or will you just ignore any lore rape coming down the pipeline and stick with lore behind a cutoff line of your choosing?

I'm gonna. I like Warhammer, Sigmar and 40k. I like the models, I like the settings, I like building, I like painting, I like list making, I like playing, I like reading, and I like making my own little stories for my dudes.
The things I enjoy far outweigh things like this that, at most, annoy me. Its gonna take a bit more than some random ass throw away blurb in a rulebook only retards will buy when they can get the rules for free off wahapedia, or an article from the magazine no one reads showing off some faggot's sexpest color scheme for their faggot marines.
Furthermore I'm not gonna let tranny faggot and coomer tourists, or even doomers, have the power over me to dictate if I'm still allowed to like something.

 

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Never bet against GW when it comes to saving money. I don’t see them reprinting the books but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took whoever wrote/edited it in and fired them. Not because they care about the lore or politics but simply because they broke the one golden rule. Don’t cost them gold. Their store managers/sales reps are probably livid right now, at least the ones in conservative areas even if they like the change, because their job is ultimately based on sales. (That’s largely what separates GW from other hobby shops, the manager is actively pitching product and trying to upsell where most 3rd party stores will only look up from their current project to take your cash).

If this was planned from the top we’d see a bunch of new female minis. They’re loathe to include even other weapon options because they hate 3rd party bit sellers with a fiery passion. They don’t want someone else making money off of female heads that can be stuck on the minis. They want all the money.

That's the thing. The more I think about this, the less sense it makes.

There's no mention of it on social media.

There's no mention of it on Warhammer-Community.

There's no female Custodes -- they could have easily made the new HQ female, but they didn't.

There's no "Female Custodes Diversity Sprue" -- a replacement chestpiece with boob plate, a female head or three, some battle tampons to be stuck to their belt like grenades, etc etc.

No Black Library novel about a Stunning and Brave Custodette showing up all the stupid icky white men.

Nothing. It's almost like they were completely unprepared for this lore change. But that would mean that the codex writers had made a fairly major lore change without permission and somehow no one caught it, or if they did they just didn't tell the rest of the company.

Could there be enough of a progressive clique inside of GW/BL that they could do something like that?

 

[Tablet County]

I wish that fate for every 40k YouTuber.

They all suck, left or right.

Why do you hold such contempt for BPL?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Primaris were met with huge outrage at the time, with the most common sentiment being that they should have just released truescale loyalist Marines as they had with Chaos instead of adding an enormous Mary-Sue in the form of Cawl who could outdo the Emperor (and invalidate Marine armies, the most common among players, in the process) to add a whole new design language, which also didn't have a good looking model until Bladeguard.

They could've just had it so that some old-school Space Marine veterans who have shown exemplary courage, honor, and cunning in battle were volunteered for a ''special experiment'' on Mars, then they come back as Primaris Marines a century later. Just as with your Batman example, they could easily have Batman walk around in a bigger suit a la BVS.

Ironically I remember skimming a recent book description on TV tropes that basically confirmed they do secretly go out and operate on their own wherever they feel needed. The whole book conflict was over the perception that the high lords were holding them back (incorrect) and the lords reluctance to give up power to ultra Rob. (Correct)

If it were me, the Custodes would be controlling the lords from behind the scenes to ensure less corruption and the Imperium running smoothly. I mean, this is what royal guards used to do when they do get too much power; they start controlling the government just like Praetorians of Rome did. Ironically enough, the Custodes were the one instance where that would've been for the better, instead of it just being another example of corruption.

Pretty much, the average normie gives as much of a fuck about a franchise as any other. Most people in a hobby, let alone the world, don't engage with the community beyond seeing highly rated posts that is highly rated for one reason or another. "They see 'x', they soypog, and then they leave."

Exactly. As far as they can tell, your average normie probably sees 40K the same way kids do the Pokemon TGC. Something to play with on the side. If they truly got mad with the lore re-writes, they would've boycotted the Primaris. Instead, GW turned in one profitable year after introducing those lore-breaking bad boys. To the point where Primaris Marines were given action figures.

Well said, the people who boycott are barely a fraction of a franchise, the whales only amount to so much regardless. No big influencer who disagrees with this retcon will openly state it unless they're already blacklisted from GW or the community (Arch Warhammer for example), or else they'll lose any sort of actual influence they have as they're listed as "not a sheep." To truly "kill" a franchise is to either purge it from your mind and forget about it, or for the company to make a decision that the majority of the people who fund them will revolt against. It's the only way, no amount of 3D printers and upset true fans will matter if the majority of normies don't care. Blackrock can probably sustain "losing" money with ESG for years, because their income probably easily sustains them.

Blackrock is rich enough that losing money is something they can tank. They know what they're doing is unpopular; they're losing money on SW and Marvel. And the fact that GW kept selling well despite going after fan animators and jacking up the price tag goes to show that the normies won't care about Fem Custodes, Fem Marines, or any such nonsense. As for influencers or major youtubers, the fact that Arch was dragged through the mud and it didn't really so much as cause a fuss among the buyers goes to show that Arch's fans weren't the ones buying product by the truckload anyways, so GW could afford to lose them.

There are no sells to correlate though. It's why this move is extra shifty. GW has always taken decisions based on their release schedule. But there is nothing to release here. Women custodes are a thing now, but if you look at the model range only, you would be none the wiser. Ursual Creed wasn't just name dropped, you had her ugly mug right then and there day 1 with the Guard release. This was purely a virtue signal to the faggots asking for female space marines and they will get asspats for a day till the thirst for their blood comes back louder than ever since they bent the knee for effectively nothing.

We'll have to see future sales and how they work. Again, if future sales are impacted and start to go down, then yes, Fem Custodes and Fem Marines are not a popular decision among the consumers. But if the next box set gets sold out within a week, well, that just goes to show this controversy is a nothingburger for GW's real fans-the whales.

Also, 40K is a strange beast since it's the only wargame that is not just about the wargame. You can be a 40K fan and only read the novels, or be a 40K fan and only play the videogames.

That's my point. Just as there are 40K fans who have never played the tabletop game and have only read the books or played the video games, so too can there be 40K consumers who have never read the books and only care about the model kits or playing the game.

Pokemon adding so many new monsters into their roster pissed off the old-guard fans who miss the day when there were only 150-250 Pokemon, but that sure as hell didn't stop kids from buying the cards by the truckload.

 

[Second Missing Primarch]

But that would mean that the codex writers had made a fairly major lore change without permission and somehow no one caught it, or if they did they just didn't tell the rest of the company.

Could there be enough of a progressive clique inside of GW/BL that they could do something like that?

The codexes/campaign books have a history of dropping with egregious typos and badly written rules that clearly didn't pass any kind of review or editorial muster before they went to print, so it's always possible that whoever they put in charge of the Custodes 'dex decided to go rogue and now the company is having to deal with an unexpected shitstorm because they didn't bother looking at what was being printed before it went out.

 

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The codexes/campaign books have a history of dropping with egregious typos and badly written rules that clearly didn't pass any kind of review or editorial muster before they went to print, so it's always possible that whoever they put in charge of the Custodes 'dex decided to go rogue and now the company is having to deal with an unexpected shitstorm because they didn't bother looking at what was being printed before it went out.

...

Guys, is this going to be one of the most hilarious happenings in the hobby in hindsight? Cause if so...

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

The codexes/campaign books have a history of dropping with egregious typos and badly written rules that clearly didn't pass any kind of review or editorial muster before they went to print, so it's always possible that whoever they put in charge of the Custodes 'dex decided to go rogue and now the company is having to deal with an unexpected shitstorm because they didn't bother looking at what was being printed before it went out.

My guess is, this could indeed be the result of someone going rogue, but then GW decided to roll with it because it'll give them ESG money and woke social credit points. That, and their real high-profile consumers, the whales, won't give two shits about it.

 

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Or, this could indeed be the result of someone going rogue, but then GW decided to roll with it because it'll give them ESG money and woke social credit points. That, and their real high-profile consumers, the whales, won't give two shits about it.

Have they decided to roll with it?

They haven't made an actual post about it on twitter or Warhammer-Community. There's no Female Custodes squad or sprue. There's no novels created or announced.

They featured that freakjob's LGBT-marines in white dwarf, it would be trivial of them to find a Female Custodes kitbash.

But they haven't done any of it.

The more I think about this whole mess the more I wonder... did ADB just not ask permission this time when adding his Muscle Mommies? Last time he tried and was told no becuase they have no models.

Also didn't GW lose a lawsuit about some 3rd party company making bits or proxies for GW datasheets without permission? Wouldn't it be hilarious if like, Anvil or Wargames Exclusive did a Female Custodes kit, and GW can't do shit about it?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Have they decided to roll with it?

They haven't made an actual post about it on twitter or Warhammer-Community. There's no Female Custodes squad or sprue. There's no novels created or announced.

They featured that freakjob's LGBT-marines in white dwarf, it would be trivial of them to find a Female Custodes kitbash.

But they haven't done any of it.

The more I think about this whole mess the more I wonder... did ADB just not ask permission this time when adding his Muscle Mommies? Last time he tried and was told no becuase they have no models.

Also didn't GW lose a lawsuit about some 3rd party company making bits or proxies for GW datasheets without permission? Wouldn't it be hilarious if like, Anvil or Wargames Exclusive did a Female Custodes kit, and GW can't do shit about it?

GW committed to it and stated that ever since the beginning, there have been female Custodes. They will eventually tweet about it on X, and every source on the matter indicates that they've committed to it.

And as far as female Custodes sprues, those could be coming in the months ahead. Especially since GW refuses to recant the news or say that it's just a typo.

 

[Cpl. Long Dong Silver]

But what about the droid attacks on the Wookies Waaagggh attacks on Armageddon?

 

[Imperial Citizen]

GW committed to it and stated that ever since the beginning, there have been female Custodes. They will eventually tweet about it on X, and every source on the matter indicates that they've committed to it.

And as far as female Custodes sprues, those could be coming in the months ahead. Especially since GW refuses to recant the news or say that it's just a typo.

Months? Even though they just released the codex?

Maybe as a Kill Team unit but we won’t see a sprue refresh for years.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Months? Even though they just released the codex?

Maybe as a Kill Team unit but we won’t see a sprue refresh for years.

Depends. Or maybe they'll just say that some of the men in armor are actually women, and that Custodes wearing the armor cannot be distinguished from male or female, as a way to spite the ''dommy mommy'' fetishists. Kind of like how female Spartans used to be in Halo before Halo Reach gave Spartan mommies Hartman Hips.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

As for influencers or major youtubers, the fact that Arch was dragged through the mud and it didn't really so much as cause a fuss among the buyers goes to show that Arch's fans weren't the ones buying product by the truckload anyways, so GW could afford to lose them.

Aye, it's pretty sad. The people that should matter the most are nothing in the face of overwhelming odds against normie consoomers.

Pokemon adding so many new monsters into their roster pissed off the old-guard fans who miss the day when there were only 150-250 Pokemon, but that sure as hell didn't stop kids from buying the cards by the truckload.

Not just the cards either. Look at Scarlet/Violet, two of the best selling Nintendo (Switch) games ever despite being by and large the worst mainstream Pokemon game so far. It's insane how well it sold, right behind SW/SH. It's not just the kids either, but plenty of "adults" as well who will shill something to hell and back. Meanwhile the old guard have either moved on or caved in, myself I just play fan games and rom hacks. More effort behind those than whatever the fuck GF is doing. Er...this was a Warhammer thread right?

So how many of you intend to stick around for Warhammer after this? I know for certain that @The tired cat is digging in his heels, but who else? Also for those staying, how much worse will Warhammer have to get before you eventually ditch it, or will you just ignore any lore rape coming down the pipeline and stick with lore behind a cutoff line of your choosing?

I'll be honest, I think I'll just stick to purely fan made stuff. Fan models to 3D print when I get one, fan made codices, and maybe the odd game that's actually good like Boltgun. But buying anything directly from GW, well I haven't done that in ages so I can still keep going.