i defs agree that the plot is dumb and not well thought out in regards to Real Life Implications, but i figure that's ok because nobody really gives a shit about the plot, not even the people writing it, it's all about having bits of plastic fight one another or whatever
that said i dont even care about that, as i dont like plastic bits and bobs all that much, i just like the aesthetics sometimes
like THE PAIN GLOVE
also now that i think more about it, given that it's obvious that the plot is just a bunch of shit thrown together to look cool and not meant to really tell you anything, i guess it could serve as a sort of rorschach test for the people writing it.
but even then it would not be useful, because having a subconscious preoccupation with fascism seems fairly endemic. Which makes sense, given that fascism seems to be some sort of ultimate, haunting distillation of a really terrible part of humanity that we never really want to discuss.
so i guess what im saying there is that something something something blah blah blah i kinda doubt that GW are any more cryptofascists than your average milkman or history major.
Warhammer 40k is weird because the whole setting was originally just a huge joke, and what you see now is the calcified remains of those jokes with the intentional humor stripped out, because god forbid we anger the 14 year old part of our audience by not taking this entirely seriously.
Warhammer 40k is weird because the whole setting was originally just a huge joke, and what you see now is the calcified remains of those jokes with the intentional humor stripped out, because god forbid we anger the 14 year old part of our audience by not taking this entirely seriously.
You have heard it said that this is an age of moral crisis. You have said it yourself, half in fear, half in hope that the words had no meaning. You have cried that man’s sins are destroying the world and you have cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you demanded. Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more sacrifices at every successive disaster. In the name of a return to morality, you have sacrificed all those evils which you held as the cause of your plight. You have sacrificed justice to mercy. You have sacrificed independence to unity. You have sacrificed reason to faith. You have sacrificed wealth to need. You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial. You have sacrificed happiness to duty. “You have destroyed all that which you held to be evil and achieved all that which you held to be good. Why, then, do you shrink in horror from the sight of the world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal brought into reality in its full and final perfection. You have fought for it, you have dreamed of it, and you have wished it, and I-I am the man who has granted you your wish. “Your ideal had an implacable enemy, which your code of morality was designed to destroy. I have withdrawn that enemy. I have taken it out of your way and out of your reach. I have removed the source of all those evils you were sacrificing one by one. I have ended your battle. I have stopped your motor. I have deprived your world of man’s mind. “Men do not live by the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those who do. The mind is impotent, you say? I have withdrawn those whose mind isn’t. There are values higher than the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those for whom there aren’t. “While you were dragging to your sacrificial altars the men of justice, of independence, of reason, of wealth, of self-esteem-I beat you to it, I reached them first. I told them the nature of the game you were playing and the nature of that moral code of yours, which they had been too innocently generous to grasp. I showed them the way to live by another morality-mine. It is mine that they chose to follow. “All the men who have vanished, the men you hated, yet dreaded to lose, it is I who have taken them away from you. Do not attempt to find us. We do not choose to be found. Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You don’t. Do not beg us to return. We are on strike, we, the men of the mind. “We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one’s happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt. “There is a difference between our strike and all those you’ve practiced for centuries: our strike consists, not of making demands, but of granting them. We are evil, according to your morality. We have chosen not to harm you any longer. We are useless, according to your economics. We have chosen not to exploit you any longer. We are dangerous and to be shackled, according to your politics. We have chosen not to endanger you, nor to wear the shackles any longer. We are only an illusion, according to your philosophy. We have chosen not to blind you any longer and have left you free to face reality-the reality you wanted, the world as you see it now, a world without mind. I will be seeing you at Wrestlemania, Hulk Hogan, where I will put you in a submission hold for the ages. Then we will see who is right about philosophy.
As someone who likes the aesthetic of W4k but hasn't, like, played it or read any of the canon I can appreciate the odd humor of it but I can also see how it can get very 14 year oldy. I think the World of Utter Misery trope is a valid one but having fascists be the relative good guys is always gonna be a bit problematic regardless of diegetic justification. But I think thematic intent is still important even if you can't wring out the inherent problematicisms.
You have heard it said that this is an age of moral crisis. You have said it yourself, half in fear, half in hope that the words had no meaning. You have cried that man’s sins are destroying the world and you have cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you demanded. Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more sacrifices at every successive disaster. In the name of a return to morality, you have sacrificed all those evils which you held as the cause of your plight. You have sacrificed justice to mercy. You have sacrificed independence to unity. You have sacrificed reason to faith. You have sacrificed wealth to need. You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial. You have sacrificed happiness to duty. “You have destroyed all that which you held to be evil and achieved all that which you held to be good. Why, then, do you shrink in horror from the sight of the world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal brought into reality in its full and final perfection. You have fought for it, you have dreamed of it, and you have wished it, and I-I am the man who has granted you your wish. “Your ideal had an implacable enemy, which your code of morality was designed to destroy. I have withdrawn that enemy. I have taken it out of your way and out of your reach. I have removed the source of all those evils you were sacrificing one by one. I have ended your battle. I have stopped your motor. I have deprived your world of man’s mind. “Men do not live by the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those who do. The mind is impotent, you say? I have withdrawn those whose mind isn’t. There are values higher than the mind, you say? I have withdrawn those for whom there aren’t. “While you were dragging to your sacrificial altars the men of justice, of independence, of reason, of wealth, of self-esteem-I beat you to it, I reached them first. I told them the nature of the game you were playing and the nature of that moral code of yours, which they had been too innocently generous to grasp. I showed them the way to live by another morality-mine. It is mine that they chose to follow. “All the men who have vanished, the men you hated, yet dreaded to lose, it is I who have taken them away from you. Do not attempt to find us. We do not choose to be found. Do not cry that it is our duty to serve you. We do not recognize such duty. Do not cry that you need us. We do not consider need a claim. Do not cry that you own us. You don’t. Do not beg us to return. We are on strike, we, the men of the mind. “We are on strike against self-immolation. We are on strike against the creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties. We are on strike against the dogma that the pursuit of one’s happiness is evil. We are on strike against the doctrine that life is guilt. “There is a difference between our strike and all those you’ve practiced for centuries: our strike consists, not of making demands, but of granting them. We are evil, according to your morality. We have chosen not to harm you any longer. We are useless, according to your economics. We have chosen not to exploit you any longer. We are dangerous and to be shackled, according to your politics. We have chosen not to endanger you, nor to wear the shackles any longer. We are only an illusion, according to your philosophy. We have chosen not to blind you any longer and have left you free to face reality-the reality you wanted, the world as you see it now, a world without mind. I will be seeing you at Wrestlemania, Hulk Hogan, where I will put you in a submission hold for the ages. Then we will see who is right about philosophy.
As someone who likes the aesthetic of W4k but hasn't, like, played it or read any of the canon I can appreciate the odd humor of it but I can also see how it can get very 14 year oldy. I think the World of Utter Misery trope is a valid one but having fascists be the relative good guys is always gonna be a bit problematic regardless of diegetic justification. But I think thematic intent is still important even if you can't wring out the inherent problematicisms.
But there isn't any intent to make anything good. It's merely to justify play-acting with a bunch of very expensive lumps of plastic.
As someone who likes the aesthetic of W4k but hasn't, like, played it or read any of the canon I can appreciate the odd humor of it but I can also see how it can get very 14 year oldy. I think the World of Utter Misery trope is a valid one but having fascists be the relative good guys is always gonna be a bit problematic regardless of diegetic justification. But I think thematic intent is still important even if you can't wring out the inherent problematicisms.
It has produced good and fun things.
It's just I wish the British grognards running it would lighten up.
As someone who likes the aesthetic of W4k but hasn't, like, played it or read any of the canon I can appreciate the odd humor of it but I can also see how it can get very 14 year oldy. I think the World of Utter Misery trope is a valid one but having fascists be the relative good guys is always gonna be a bit problematic regardless of diegetic justification. But I think thematic intent is still important even if you can't wring out the inherent problematicisms.
But there isn't any intent to make anything good. It's merely to justify play-acting with a bunch of very expensive lumps of plastic.
Nevertheless, it's possible to derive interesting meaning from it.
(Yes, I'm pretty sure I see what you're doing here.)
Also with the amount of Stuff the series had I'd say at least a few people cared about writing for purposes other than creating in universe justifications to have people beat the shit out of each other.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
Also, a lot of good stuff ends up popping out of "in universe justifications to have people beat the shit out of each other." Fighting game storytelling, for one. It's its own weird little niche but interesting things have come of it.
Man is a most complex simple creature: see what he weaves, and how base his reasons for doing so.
I don't really think of fighting game stories as being very good on its own either, and that has a bunch of metanarrative issues. Like, if I can take my Hsien-Ko and beat the final boss, and the "canon" states that the final boss was beaten by someone else that they wanted to push, then what does that even mean? Does my fight now mean nothing? Is it an Elseworld?
The best fighting game stories I've personally encountered were those that touched on human emotions, desires, and experiences, despite the magical and science fictional nonsense, not because of it.
I don't really think of fighting game stories as being very good on its own either, and that has a bunch of metanarrative issues. Like, if I can take my Hsien-Ko and beat the final boss, and the "canon" states that the final boss was beaten by someone else that they wanted to push, then what does that even mean? Does my fight now mean nothing? Is it an Elseworld?
The best fighting game stories I've personally encountered were those that touched on human emotions, desires, and experiences, despite the magical and science fictional nonsense, not because of it.
They partially derive their power from their often very elaborate ways of working around narrative implausibility. Mainly, though, they're a great example of narrative economy and the power of good aesthetic. Fighting game stories began as two or three sentence character descriptions, costume designs, and single player mode matchups. That they resonated with a mostly untold story is a major testament to the power of those few elements.
I don't really think of fighting game stories as being very good on its own either, and that has a bunch of metanarrative issues. Like, if I can take my Hsien-Ko and beat the final boss, and the "canon" states that the final boss was beaten by someone else that they wanted to push, then what does that even mean? Does my fight now mean nothing? Is it an Elseworld?
The best fighting game stories I've personally encountered were those that touched on human emotions, desires, and experiences, despite the magical and science fictional nonsense, not because of it.
Subspace Emissary was coherent at worst.
SFIV treats character stories as loose vignettes. At least the later versions did. I've heard that the ones from the original are more coherent than the ones in SSFIV and on.
Skullgirls is basically a bunch of 'what if' stories. It knows that and it focuses more on the characters than cohesive storytelling.
Injustice: Gods Among Us was written by throwing darts at a board labeled with cliches. Every person in the story department for that game has lost their souls, and I pray for them. I still can't believe they actually did a one-shot based on it, the greasy idiots.
Ancient Egyptian swearing? There’s no such thing as far as I’m aware. They had exclamations like “Seth’s testicles!” but other than that there was no swearing as we’d know it. There are certainly insults that we see written, such as one of the Late Ramesside Letters has a rather convoluted conditional form that basically implies that the Vizier, who is being an uppity asshole, would not be allowed to go on the author’s boat, even if he were someone vastly more important than he is.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Well I ain't outside of liking some of the things the Tons of People have drawn for it, either. Like the Wraithlords. Those guys can be cool.
(I am myself fairly enamored by Plastic. hmu sometime on IRC to see some of the things I'm up to. (They aren't 40k! Just things I make myself)
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
It's just I wish the British grognards running it would lighten up.
(Yes, I'm pretty sure I see what you're doing here.)
Also with the amount of Stuff the series had I'd say at least a few people cared about writing for purposes other than creating in universe justifications to have people beat the shit out of each other.
What to do
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
big fun
Game Design