Extra Punctuation: Hating Warhammer 40k and Space Marine

So as expected 40k Fan boyz descended on the site to comment on his ignorant bliss. What struck me was the amount of quality (well thoughtout) comments that appeared. My favorite being this one…

Patrick Courtemanche

As a soldier with two tours in Afghanistan, the last one being combat, and a familiarity with the 40k universe I have to disagree with Mr. Croshaw. What he sees as big and dumb I recognize as a cautionary tale in the same vein as many other dark sci-fi stories. 40k is very much about the dangers of the ‘perpetual war’ taken to it’s extremes. The human government is a fascist theocracy, the average person is slave labor to feed the war machine, humanity is mired in ignorance and even their greatest minds do not understand much of the technology they use, and their greatest protectors are religious fanatics. How much of this is due to necessity for survival, as there are no shortage of genocidal enemies in 40k, and how much is it abuse of power? There in lies the grey area of debate, similar to the one that is currently ongoing about ‘Freedom vs. Security’. I see 40k and spend time reading or playing games in that world in part as a reminder of how good we actually have it here and now, and how bad it could get if we let it spin out of control and lose sight of what we are trying to defend. I felt much the same way as I looked at the blasted war torn wasteland of Kandahar Afghanistan and reminded myself of how lucky we are in the West. We should use stories like 40k to promote discussion and thought about our own situation, not dismiss it as a juvenile waste.

Iain Russell · Camden High School

40k was a PARODY of those overly grimdark settings that were popular in 2000AD magazine in the 80s. Guess where most of their writers came from?

40k is just a series of satires or parodies strapped together. The government has an inquisition with the big floppy hats for heaven’s sake. They HAVE to kill that planet of a billion people, beacuse a trillion will be the eternal slaves of space-cthulhu if they don’t. It’s taken to the extreme. It’s only the 12 year old fanboys who are still all hormonal that fail to get that, as they’re still focused on being awesome and HARDCORE.They have space viking marines, and DARK ANGEL marines created by Primarch Lion El’Johnson (who incidently, has similarities with the poet Lionel Johnson who wrote a poem called Dark Angel, about his struggles with his repressed homosexuality. How’s THAT for a literary shot?).That, and there’s just so much humour in the game. The orcs are jumped up green football hooligans for heaven’s sake, complete with war chants, and their guns only working because they think they do.

Chris Steenson· Bradford Grammar School

You have kinda missed the point Yahtzee. 40k’s essentially a descripition about how bad war is and how there are no good guys (It’s a very British outlook if you think about it) However, if Space Marine’s as based upon Gear of War as everyone says it is, then I’m not surprised if the designers failed to grasp the message of the source material.

Jack Skelhon · Wymondham High School

I worry, Yahtzee. I worry that someone with a lot of weight of opinion (and fan’s belief in the same) such as yourself stating things so mind-numbingly incorrect is not going to bring much positive thought to the table.

The idea of our generation being one that has suffered no war is wrong. We’re seeing a greater acceptance of prostheses, PTSD and the sheer cost of war thanks to the media. Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Colombia, Venezula, Ethiopia, Somalia, Brazil; whether or not the West is involved, we know about them and we can see the impact on our own people.

We have a privileged position to not be bombed, burned or killed as those in WW1 and WW2 were. Those wars had far-reaching consequences that extended back here. I don’t think those echoes have quite vanished yet, and anyone believing Space Marine is a Western exultation in warfare should seriously reconsider his critical opinion.

To see something as complex as the Facist imagery, the waste of both human and alien life, and the slow agony of human extinction in 40k as ‘childish thuggery’ exposes a serious bias that I would never expect from someone who makes part of his living from a book with many references to World of Warcraft.

Simplification is the rule of accessibility. You don’t preach to people, because they won’t listen. Why not make the game basic, easy to play and understand? People can form their own opinions. A basic understanding of the 40k universe would tell you a Space Marine will never, or incredibly rarely, interact with a female. The misogyny clearly went over your head there Yahtzee.

I have to say, I’m unimpressed. Compared to your usual.50 calibre, this article was a peashooter.