Thank you for the reality check, you're entirely correct! And, to be fair, the "other end" of the fanbase have so far been some of the most genuinely friendly people, simply excited to share the gloom and doom of 40k with anyone who's interested!

Couldn't quit even if I wanted to, my Pile of Shame makes sure of that...

Yeah it's the same when you have a complaint that aligns with the bigots. Like the female custodes debacle. I don't care what gender the marines are, but I do think GW handled it poorly.

If they had just had... Idk the mechanicus find some relic that allowed women recruits to survive the upgrade to space marine, primaris, and custodes, and had them deliver a sick 'more bodies for the war' line, it would've been better.

Saying that does feel icky because there are people who are just against women being marines and custodes. I'm not. If GW did it better, I'd have nothing to say and the bigots would still be bigots.

Totally agree with your comment though. F**k those idiots who say things like that (even if not serious).

I truly hope you're right, and that we're just seeing a loud minority... Would be a pity otherwise...

Agreed, I don't want inclusion for inclusion's sake, either! It'd be like the current issue with movies being rebooted to be inclusive. Inclusivity's not the problem, it's that the stories themselves are both unfit and have grown stale. Make something new, make those characters actual characters, give'em their own history, make'em their own entities!

Late edit: to clarify, I still thoroughly believe there's no reason why we can't have diverse characters in 40k! But don't just shove'em in there for the sake of it.

Approaching it from the opposite direction, 40k is supposed to be a dystopia, why would you want gender equality and all that nice stuff in a dystopia, unless you thought it was dystopian?

Representation is not about being moral, it's about being audience-inclusive. If there's no reason not to be inclusive of a sector of your audience, then refusing to do so simply makes large portions of the audience feel less welcome enjoying the work.

I have a single, objective reason: narrative integrity. To expand upon this, the more varied the people who are utterly suffering, the more it underlines and amplifies that suffering and the context which generates it. That should be enough even just from a literary perspective.

Also, edit to add: the dystopia in 40k isn't concerned with who you are, just that you accept full servitude to the Imperium. I honestly couldn't see most Black Ship attendants hating a trans psyker any more than a cis one. Nor would the Astra Militarum ever turn its nose on fodder just because one uses different pronouns.

And that's exactly the point! Let it be a fully inclusionary dystopia! Let the Imperium's complete and utter disregard for a person's individuality oppress everyone. This dystopia is literally religious cyberpunk, where they've replaced The Corporation with The Religion. And Big E didn't care who or what you were as long as you obeyed orders, that is clear throughout all existing doctrines across the Imperium's infrastructure. Everyone is meat.

Or if you are stuck between orks on the south and tyranids on the north, do you really care about bathrooms at that point?

There is.

I'll admit it's a retcon in the sense that previously it had been mentioned to be a "brotherhood" and such, but who fucking cares. It's just dated lore, and the emperor can do whatever the fuck he wants.

Kinda

Also, I'm referring to the time in the past when he set up the genecraft program

That's it, I'm calling exterminatus on this thread