Touching the third rail. Again.

[MaltonNecromancer]

So, I've been searching GW's web site and you know what I can't find?

A miniature painted to have black skin. And I'm not talking "jet black with red devil eyes" Salamander black, or a one-off special character. I'm talking real-world, people-of-African-descent black skin (excepting, of course, Tallarn. Who still look suspiciously melanin-free) on just some random guy in the background. I mean, yeah, Marines have helmets and all, but seriously, all those Apocalypse photos with eleventy billion Imperial Guardsmen grimacing as they prepare to die, and not one black face?

Why on Earth is this the case? We can all paint our models any way we wish - I like to have a mix of different ethnicities in my armies (unless they're Mechanics, in which case everyone just looks poorly and grey) - but GW just likes caucasian males. I've seen many people on coolminiornot paint 40K models with tones that aren't caucasian (and when I say "many", I of course mean "very, very few").

Just because it's part of this trope: [url]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HumansAreWhite[/url]
does that make it remotely acceptable?

Now, I'm not going to accuse 40K of racism, because well, that's not the issue - plus I'll be told "you can paint your models any way you wich", which I do, and which I've already said I've done. I suppose what I'm just wondering is why, given the fact it's 2012, why GW still doesn't paint up its example models as anything but caucasian (because let's be fair, those example models are well, the examples, so they're really damned important).

And saying "the vast majority of players are white", well... *sucks through teeth* that's just a crass and ignorant thing to say. It doesn't even have the reflective thought to ask "Well, is that cause or effect? Maybe more people from different ethnic groups would play if there were more official models representative of them?

I just wonder how many young players thought "this looks cool", then got turned off because it "didn't look like it was for them" if you know what I mean.

Just to say again, I am enquiring regarding GW's company policy, nothing else.

[wittdooley]

And saying "the vast majority of players are white", well... *sucks through teeth* that's just a crass and ignorant thing to say. It doesn't even have the reflective thought to ask "Well, is that cause or effect? Maybe more people from different ethnic groups would play if there were more official models representative of them?

.

Crass and ignorant? Ya think? I can count on Oscar Pistorius' right foot the number of black dudes in my multiple gaming groups (which amounts to 3 or 4 diff ones). We have one Asian, and he's only half Asian.

I'm trying to think of the number of black dudes at adepticon. I can't recall more than a handful.

However, there are 4 or 5 that play magic locally (including a lovely older black lady) and at least three that do clix. Just isn't very prevalent in miniature gaming from my experience.

It isn't racist to say. It's just the truth.

To more directly address your comment: I don't think it has anything to do with policy. People paint what's familiar. Not only that? But painting good looking black skin is not easy.

[Kawauso]

Honestly, I think it's probably something that just doesn't cross the minds of anyone at GW - probably because (if I were to hazard a guess) there are few-to-no non-white people working at their HQ.

I'm not claiming anything malicious - it's just that this is a nerdy hobby headquartered in Nottingham.

That, and the at-a-glance background in 40k (i.e. the fluff in the codices, etc. rather than the novels which go more in-depth) tends to deal heavily in absolutes. The Tallarn are all -this- way, the Valhallans are all -that- way, etc...the same old tropes that tend to crop up in sci-fi/fantasy a lot of the time (desert planet, etc.) simply because going into the minutia of things is difficult for one reason or another.

To me, it's -kind- of a non-issue...
I mean, it's weird, when you stop and think about it, certainly. And it would probably help both the background and player base to diversify things a bit more, but I don't see it as a directly negative thing.

That being said, I do make an effort where I can to try and include different ethnic skin tones in my armies. I figure it only makes sense that humanity on a galaxy-wide scale would have a lot of different hues, and it's more fun to have something a little different to paint each time. Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure racism in 40k on any scale that matters only crops up in terms of humans vs non-humans - we're great as a species at banding together whenever we're faced with an us-vs-them scenario, and aliens/mutants/heretics provide the Imperium with that in spades.



TLDR: I know what you mean. But I don't think it has anything to do with GW policy so much as it's something that just sort of 'happened' in a business/creative environment dominated by white men. It takes more conscious effort to, say, paint a model a different ethnicity from yourself, because people tend to go with what's 'familiar'. I.e. they're hard-wired to default to something like their self (typically speaking).

[Cpt Codpiece]

i think the issue with darker skin, is not any social relection at all. space marines (not just salamanders) are well known to have super effective skin that not only tans fast but also sweats an oily substance that can protect in a vacuum.

i think the real reason we dont see it, is two fold.
1. jst like witt pointed out, browns for skin tones are really complex to paint, and paint right. im not saying its not doable as it is. just getting darker skintones is relly an art.
2. im guessing it will be harder to photograph, my wife is an amature photographer, and i know from her experiences even differing 'white' skintones require some seroius tinkering with light levels and white balance and such like (i am usually the rig monkey, doing all of the adjustments to the lights on her demand LOL)

[Kawauso]

i think the issue with darker skin, is not any social relection at all. space marines (not just salamanders) are well known to have super effective skin that not only tans fast but also sweats an oily substance that can protect in a vacuum.

This is true, but if you actually think about it, the myriad of worlds that Marine recruits are drawn from would -have- to have more diverse gene pools than what we see...humanity conquered the galaxy for crying out loud. It's really highly unlikely (and also disturbing) to think that only white people would spread out so far.

[Learn2Eel]

I'd suggest it is an oversight and nothing more.

[ElectricPaladin]

It's probably true that most wargamers are white. Nerdery is mostly white. Of course, that's no excuse for racism, blatant or overt, intentional or unintentional. I'm not sure that the plethora of white models is racism, exactly. It does show the hobby's biases, though.

I think it's less interesting that most of our peers, white gamers, paint white models. It's more interesting that the companies - the ones whose artistic choices are based, in part, on who they want to attract - insist on producing white models, or giving the models caucasian studio paint jobs. I think that those choices show more subtle complicated attitudes about race than what gamers chose to paint.

For my part, I make a habit of painting my models with a variety of skin tones where it's relevant. I mean, my Tau are all blue, because the Fire Warriors are an ethnicity and probably all have roughly the same color, and my Blood Angels are all pink, because they're all related. My Everblight (Hordes) are also all of a single ethnicity, but I'll definitely include a variety of ethnicities in my Cygnar (Warmachine). But my ALEPH (Infinity faction) come in a variety of colors, and I'll do the same with my Nomads (also an Infinity faction).

[Learn2Eel]

Aren't the Thousand Sons more arabic in appearance? I don't really know, I'm merely going off the names and what other people have said.

[Kawauso]

Aren't the Thousand Sons more arabic in appearance? I don't really know, I'm merely going off the names and what other people have said.

They're generally described in the books as being olive-skinned (which is more Mediterranean than anything...but can be Egyptianish...Egypt is right there, after all, and there are olive/copper skin tones from the area) or pale and tanning up very quickly in the sun.

But in my mind whenever I read about them they look like Egyptians. Before they become space-ghosts, that is.

[Learn2Eel]

Thanks mate. It's pretty clear just by looking at their armour that they draw heavily on Egyptian influences; the khepresh helmets, the masks, the colours, the robes, as well as the other aspects such as the pyramids on Prospero, etc. It's probably what drew me to them in the first place - that and their colours represent my favourite rugby league team