So I said this before when I played warhammer 40k as a kid three decades ago I look at the depictions of imperial citizens and imperial guards and they were so fucking ugly. I just assumed Oh, yeah, tracks, these are humans are 38 thousand years removed from us, of course they look all weird, not to mention their hard oppressive lives with faces that look as if they seen a million sorrows, because of course they have, living in the grim darkness of the far future.
Then later on in life I went to England and saw common English people, not those on tv, but commoners collectively for the very first time and I was like, oh, I was wrong, British company Games Workshop just based the the imperial citizen on the English. That makes a lot more sense.
So don't think of them as not having zero femininity, they're just British.
Go sculpt me a feminine character in GW style heroic proportions at 28-32mm scale. A certain level of 'man face' is inevitable. The need to exaggerate the nose and brow in particular, down at that scale, it's very easy to make a manish face. And that's GW's style, large proportioned stuff that is easy for the brush to pick up, as opposed to say, KDM which is softer, as soft as you can get at that scale (so still some issues), but it relies more on the painter's skill to be able to do it at all.
The store painters' style also do them no favours, there was an infamously man-faced sister of battle with some stubble a few years back which did cause some controversy. And it's not that there isn't an issue with them being man-jawed, there is. But the painting style they use on the store exacerbates it further.
So now there's 3 things all working against them. And we haven't even spoken about the models and lore yet, are they even supposed to be feminine?
If you want femininity, you're looking at some of the wrong models. 2.5 of those are filthy xenos (1 is part zerg, 1 is freaky space elf, the other a cow/fish alien race), 2 are the same roided up mutants who everyone within a mile feels unease just because of their presence and who do nothing but train, and the other are the military wing of the ecclesiarchy because of a loophole they found, they were banned from having men-at-arms because of a coup they tried to pull. But it says nothing about women-at-arms. So they now roid up a bunch of fanatics who do nothing but pray and train
4 things working against it now in some of these then.
I'm not as knowledgeable as say Arch or others on Warhammer lore but I'd probably say because they were additive to the lore than subtractive like this push.
Sisters of Battle for example, the armoured and heavily armed nuns of the imperium, get power from their faith, kinda like chaos does only they only worship the Big E so it was fun having a faction with enemy mechanics on 'our side'
Sisters of Silence, have a genetic trait that makes them hated by everyone on instinct but have the powers to be a psykers worst nightmare so they compliment Custodies in protecting the Emperor.
The making the Custodies have females too doesn't add anything, you're subtracting established lore to add them. The Empire has no problem of women (and children looking at the Kiegsmen) being sent to the front line as they're in the Guardsmen and Inquisition as much as the men with one notable female Inquisition member being close to Ciaphas Cain
Is not just the faces, at least newer models should not look like skinny guys. Also that bald sister of battle looks like a xenomorph pretending to be human.
I agree, they should still look like combat ready but just give them more pleasant faces and give them some curves.
Remove some details from the armor and they can be teenage boys with wigs
Yeah, you can have prettier faces and more feminine curves but you have to make them look like battle experienced bitches fully willing to tear a heretics eye sockets out with their thumbs
If you compiled the body type of say some powerful women in anime like Valmet or Chiquita from Jormungand or Pawoo from Sabiku Bisco and a more western beautiful female face with a few battle scars or dirt, you'll have the right balance.
Sisters of Battle was 1997. After that, they added women in different battle boob armors (or no armor at all in the cover of the Codex Witch Hunters.)
It matters now because of current world politics. You can’t just have a woman Space Marine. You have to have her gay and lame, a major Mary Sue, and have a queer black man/asian femboy side kick. Then, that is the new default: their default.
And even if one can buy that pretty feminine faces can't be done at this scale, you just have to look at black library book covers. Ugly hags and diversity non-stop.
Nobody has a problem with sisters of silence because women who don't talk are fine.
My complaint is that they have zero femininity.
So I said this before when I played warhammer 40k as a kid three decades ago I look at the depictions of imperial citizens and imperial guards and they were so fucking ugly. I just assumed Oh, yeah, tracks, these are humans are 38 thousand years removed from us, of course they look all weird, not to mention their hard oppressive lives with faces that look as if they seen a million sorrows, because of course they have, living in the grim darkness of the far future.
Then later on in life I went to England and saw common English people, not those on tv, but commoners collectively for the very first time and I was like, oh, I was wrong, British company Games Workshop just based the the imperial citizen on the English. That makes a lot more sense.
So don't think of them as not having zero femininity, they're just British.
Well fuck, TIL that Bri'ish "women" aren't very feminine lol
W40k has always been pretty non-sexual. Space marines and primarchs are assumed to have the libido of eunuchs.
Even all the Slaneesh excess descriptions tend to shy away from mentioning sexual extremes.
.... and you're looking for femininity.
Go sculpt me a feminine character in GW style heroic proportions at 28-32mm scale. A certain level of 'man face' is inevitable. The need to exaggerate the nose and brow in particular, down at that scale, it's very easy to make a manish face. And that's GW's style, large proportioned stuff that is easy for the brush to pick up, as opposed to say, KDM which is softer, as soft as you can get at that scale (so still some issues), but it relies more on the painter's skill to be able to do it at all.
The store painters' style also do them no favours, there was an infamously man-faced sister of battle with some stubble a few years back which did cause some controversy. And it's not that there isn't an issue with them being man-jawed, there is. But the painting style they use on the store exacerbates it further.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/isqndf/the_faces_can_be_saved/ (what people achieve when aiming for full feminine doll-like)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/comments/ejv17v/when_darkness_is_so_grim_that_even_adepta/ (how gw paints em)
So now there's 3 things all working against them. And we haven't even spoken about the models and lore yet, are they even supposed to be feminine?
If you want femininity, you're looking at some of the wrong models. 2.5 of those are filthy xenos (1 is part zerg, 1 is freaky space elf, the other a cow/fish alien race), 2 are the same roided up mutants who everyone within a mile feels unease just because of their presence and who do nothing but train, and the other are the military wing of the ecclesiarchy because of a loophole they found, they were banned from having men-at-arms because of a coup they tried to pull. But it says nothing about women-at-arms. So they now roid up a bunch of fanatics who do nothing but pray and train
4 things working against it now in some of these then.
I'm not as knowledgeable as say Arch or others on Warhammer lore but I'd probably say because they were additive to the lore than subtractive like this push.
Sisters of Battle for example, the armoured and heavily armed nuns of the imperium, get power from their faith, kinda like chaos does only they only worship the Big E so it was fun having a faction with enemy mechanics on 'our side'
Sisters of Silence, have a genetic trait that makes them hated by everyone on instinct but have the powers to be a psykers worst nightmare so they compliment Custodies in protecting the Emperor.
The making the Custodies have females too doesn't add anything, you're subtracting established lore to add them. The Empire has no problem of women (and children looking at the Kiegsmen) being sent to the front line as they're in the Guardsmen and Inquisition as much as the men with one notable female Inquisition member being close to Ciaphas Cain
I assume op complains about how ugly the recent models are
'recent'
Hee. This is nothing new - I can't think of a warhammer model that shows a characters face that actually looks good.
They can do armor really nicely, but faces? Good luck there.
Yeah, that has been an issue of their models forever regardless of sex. This is a primarch, near the peak of humanity
its not just the problem with them being ugly. Its that the "female" characters have absolutely zero femininity to them
Is not just the faces, at least newer models should not look like skinny guys. Also that bald sister of battle looks like a xenomorph pretending to be human.
Oh in that case, we know, you're better off buying a 3D printer or buying from someone who has a 3D printer.
It's cheaper, the same if not better quality, no money goes to GW. Just don't go anime on it, I like my Sisters with a few battle scars lol
I agree, they should still look like combat ready but just give them more pleasant faces and give them some curves. Remove some details from the armor and they can be teenage boys with wigs
Yeah, you can have prettier faces and more feminine curves but you have to make them look like battle experienced bitches fully willing to tear a heretics eye sockets out with their thumbs
If you compiled the body type of say some powerful women in anime like Valmet or Chiquita from Jormungand or Pawoo from Sabiku Bisco and a more western beautiful female face with a few battle scars or dirt, you'll have the right balance.
No one complained because of their release:
Sisters of Battle was 1997. After that, they added women in different battle boob armors (or no armor at all in the cover of the Codex Witch Hunters.)
It matters now because of current world politics. You can’t just have a woman Space Marine. You have to have her gay and lame, a major Mary Sue, and have a queer black man/asian femboy side kick. Then, that is the new default: their default.
Don't fall for the Israeli/Ukrainian model soldiers; pretty women do not take up combat as a profession.
There was complaining but fizzled do to not breaking lore.
You don't even have the worst, Ursula Creed.
And even if one can buy that pretty feminine faces can't be done at this scale, you just have to look at black library book covers. Ugly hags and diversity non-stop.
I mean it's Warhammer, everyone comes out of the womb looking like a 40 year old.