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A Custodial Issue - Thoughts, Headcanon, and GW
a year ago
General
FIDUS ET AUDAX
With the recent "revelation" from on high that there are now female Custodes in 40k, that "there have always been female Custodes", and the overall shitstorm that's resulted from it, I've had some thoughts on the matter.
First and foremost, the elephant in the room: GW fucked the dog on this retcon. Not in that female Custodes couldn't exist somehow, but rather in the means by which they made the announcement. Outside of ADB sneaking in a vague suggestion that there were female Custodes in one of the Horus Heresy novels (a suggestion so vague at the time that it could have instead been referring to Sisters of Silence), the only real published lore we have supporting their existence is a short story in what is arguably one of the worst army books published for 10th Edition thus far, and with no further tie-in at all to smooth things over - no new character model, no new novel... nothing. Just a short story in a bad Codex and a meme-worthy 1984-esque quote via Twitter post to follow it up.
Seriously, GW? You mean to tell me that you spent at least a year and a half - with collaborating teams dedicated to rules, lore, and miniatures no less - to shit out this gold-plated turd and not have something tangible on the side to ease people into the idea you were trying to sell at marked up prices? Hell, you knew damn well that ADB was more than willing to write novels for you guys on the subject, and this is what we get? Wow!
You'd think that maybe they could have at least lazily slapped together a Custodes-themed homage to Mulan or something - GW has been trying to tap into the East-Asian (esp. Chinese) markets in recent years - but nope! They'd rather try to convince longtime fans that there is no war in Ba-Sing-Sei and to just accept it without question.
Suffice to say that the current social media backlash this has resulted in was practically telegraphed from orbit the moment the news got out, with the typical obnoxious vocal minorities in both camps (not to mention the company itself) predictably being excessively stupid about it in ways that have very little to do with the tabletop game the lore is supposed to be subservient to in the first place.
This brings me to my own stance on the matter:
No one is beholden to what GW says is canon in their games, nor should they be. In fact, you could very easily do away with GW altogether and with no loss of love for the hobby.
If there's anything I've seen come out of the online discourse on this and a few other dumpster fires with regards to works of fiction, it's that too many people (including those supporting retcons) get hung up on canon as if it were the literal word of God that they cannot deviate from at all. Personally, I consider such an idea to be antithetical nonsense that betrays an utter lack of imagination, not least of all on the grounds that a creative hobby you're investing time and energy into requires being able to think outside the box by default. Plus, it's fucking GW we're talking about here - they've consistently proven themselves to be such unreliable narrators of their own IPs for decades that they can barely keep a straight story about any specific event or character in any one of them (and that's at the best of times).
On top of all that, GW is utterly incapable of micromanaging their flagship setting in no small part (pun not intended) because of both its scale and its nature, even with an army of lawyers at their beck and call for C&D orders. By giving us an entire galaxy to play in, complete with Magellanic Cloud-sized gaps between known events, locations, and fighting forces (up to and including two entire Astartes legions whose records were expunged for unknown reasons), we can ironically thank a younger GW for future-proofing their own setting as a sandbox that allows players and other fans the freedom to come up with their own forces and stories to go along with them.
"BuT bRoNzE! cAnOn SaYs ThErE cAn'T bE fEmAlE sPaCe MaRiNeS! i CaN't GeT iNtO tHe HoBbY iF tHeRe ArEn'T aNy FeMaLe SpAcE mArInEs!"
So? Reject canon and substitute your own!
It really shouldn't have to be said, but as a prospective hobbyist you have to understand that your army, and what you do with it on the tabletop, is fundamentally a work of fanfiction in another form - one you still have to put in considerable time and effort to make anyway. Just as it is with writing fanfic, there is no one holding you back from building, painting, or playing an army that does away with "official" lore but yourself. GW's input need not apply.
It's quite literally down to the limits of your imagination (and maybe your wallet).
So by all means, try your hand at making a "Furry-K" army! Play the Little Sisters of Purification as if female space marines are a thing! Go nuts! While fellow hobbyists are not under any obligation to accept what you're trying to do with your work, the vast majority will at least respect that you put in the effort to make it a thing regardless.
And if all else fails, there's always Battletech to consider instead. Clanner Elementals are pretty much space marines in all but name anyway, and they've never been restricted to being male.
First and foremost, the elephant in the room: GW fucked the dog on this retcon. Not in that female Custodes couldn't exist somehow, but rather in the means by which they made the announcement. Outside of ADB sneaking in a vague suggestion that there were female Custodes in one of the Horus Heresy novels (a suggestion so vague at the time that it could have instead been referring to Sisters of Silence), the only real published lore we have supporting their existence is a short story in what is arguably one of the worst army books published for 10th Edition thus far, and with no further tie-in at all to smooth things over - no new character model, no new novel... nothing. Just a short story in a bad Codex and a meme-worthy 1984-esque quote via Twitter post to follow it up.
Seriously, GW? You mean to tell me that you spent at least a year and a half - with collaborating teams dedicated to rules, lore, and miniatures no less - to shit out this gold-plated turd and not have something tangible on the side to ease people into the idea you were trying to sell at marked up prices? Hell, you knew damn well that ADB was more than willing to write novels for you guys on the subject, and this is what we get? Wow!
You'd think that maybe they could have at least lazily slapped together a Custodes-themed homage to Mulan or something - GW has been trying to tap into the East-Asian (esp. Chinese) markets in recent years - but nope! They'd rather try to convince longtime fans that there is no war in Ba-Sing-Sei and to just accept it without question.
Suffice to say that the current social media backlash this has resulted in was practically telegraphed from orbit the moment the news got out, with the typical obnoxious vocal minorities in both camps (not to mention the company itself) predictably being excessively stupid about it in ways that have very little to do with the tabletop game the lore is supposed to be subservient to in the first place.
This brings me to my own stance on the matter:
No one is beholden to what GW says is canon in their games, nor should they be. In fact, you could very easily do away with GW altogether and with no loss of love for the hobby.
If there's anything I've seen come out of the online discourse on this and a few other dumpster fires with regards to works of fiction, it's that too many people (including those supporting retcons) get hung up on canon as if it were the literal word of God that they cannot deviate from at all. Personally, I consider such an idea to be antithetical nonsense that betrays an utter lack of imagination, not least of all on the grounds that a creative hobby you're investing time and energy into requires being able to think outside the box by default. Plus, it's fucking GW we're talking about here - they've consistently proven themselves to be such unreliable narrators of their own IPs for decades that they can barely keep a straight story about any specific event or character in any one of them (and that's at the best of times).
On top of all that, GW is utterly incapable of micromanaging their flagship setting in no small part (pun not intended) because of both its scale and its nature, even with an army of lawyers at their beck and call for C&D orders. By giving us an entire galaxy to play in, complete with Magellanic Cloud-sized gaps between known events, locations, and fighting forces (up to and including two entire Astartes legions whose records were expunged for unknown reasons), we can ironically thank a younger GW for future-proofing their own setting as a sandbox that allows players and other fans the freedom to come up with their own forces and stories to go along with them.
"BuT bRoNzE! cAnOn SaYs ThErE cAn'T bE fEmAlE sPaCe MaRiNeS! i CaN't GeT iNtO tHe HoBbY iF tHeRe ArEn'T aNy FeMaLe SpAcE mArInEs!"
So? Reject canon and substitute your own!
It really shouldn't have to be said, but as a prospective hobbyist you have to understand that your army, and what you do with it on the tabletop, is fundamentally a work of fanfiction in another form - one you still have to put in considerable time and effort to make anyway. Just as it is with writing fanfic, there is no one holding you back from building, painting, or playing an army that does away with "official" lore but yourself. GW's input need not apply.
It's quite literally down to the limits of your imagination (and maybe your wallet).
So by all means, try your hand at making a "Furry-K" army! Play the Little Sisters of Purification as if female space marines are a thing! Go nuts! While fellow hobbyists are not under any obligation to accept what you're trying to do with your work, the vast majority will at least respect that you put in the effort to make it a thing regardless.
And if all else fails, there's always Battletech to consider instead. Clanner Elementals are pretty much space marines in all but name anyway, and they've never been restricted to being male.
