Your thoughts on the Primaris and lore progression

[Nineswords]

I'm 36 years old. 

 

Even after twenty years of finding more and more reasons to hate GW, bemoaning the new and thinner blood replacing the venerable ancients at GW who crafted this masterpiece, and the old tale of starting a career and family and finding fewer and fewer resources available to invest in the hobby, I still couldn't completely turn away. Until now.

 

For twenty years, a space marine has been the pinnacle of human achievement. The tactical squad has been the valiant mainstay of the chapter. Old technology is sacred and the hunt for a functioning STC eternal. The space marine is known by his power armor, his bolter, and his chainsword. The Codex Astartes is inviolable and untouchable. But now we have these new... things. New power armor, new inexplicably better bolters--and suddenly more breeds of bolter than you can count on two hands--grav tanks to put the Land Raider to shame, and somehow there's not a chainsword to be seen. We are asked to accept that these dudes have been playing solitaire back on Mars for thousands of years, that actually science and engineering haven't died, that an Imperium that has an aversion to new technology and a sacred reverence for tradition just... got better.

 

For twenty years, Rick Priestly and John Blanche's original vision has kept me from drifting too far in my affections, but now, this new GW has instituted a break with the past. It was the past that held me, and GW is looking to a new future.

 

Whilst you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion, I take issue with so many of the things you have said here, because any valid criticisms you have are hung on a strange rose tinted view of what Games Workshop meant to you growing up. I'm in the same age bracket as you, and I've dipped in and out of the hobby for years.

 

If you're focused on finding reasons to 'hate GW', then move on. You have other priorities in your life that would give you far more fulfilment than playing with plastic soldiers. Your comment about 'new and thinner blood replacing the venerable ancients' is very patronising and unfortunately 'being around longer' doesn't qualify your opinion as being better than the staff who work hard to bring the Warhammer universe to life.

 

The irony of your next paragraph is not lost on me. You don't like 'new things'. You want things to stay the way they were, because, God-Emperor forbid, you don't like innovation in the 40k universe. Your apparent abhorrence to anything new is met with outrage or at the very least, a healthy amount of skepticism.  

 

John Blanche is an important part of GW, as is Jes Goodwin, and all the old timers who have been around since we were picking up White Dwarf's in the early 90s blah blah blah. Here's the reality: These people are still employed by a company that needs to make money. Without cash flow and profit, it physically can't develop the universe that you love to hate.

 

Consider then, the Primaris Space Marines: they are literally better in every way. The models are undeniably, objectively and technically superior in every way as a result of the company's investment in new technologies. The company can now have models at a scale that actually fits the background lore that you love so much. But here's the problem: it's obvious to me that these are the replacement models for Space Marines as the company can now fulfil it's original vision, when it could not in the last three decades for its own cost and technological limitations. If you were the CEO of GW and said, 'right, these are the new models we're selling as standard Space Marines', the company would literally be ruined in months. If you think about your own emotional attachment to Space Marines, then consider, in totality, how it would feel if you had spent 20 years building a huge space marine army(ies) from GW and FW then all of a sudden, have them invalidated. You would be furious.

 

It's either experience mass revolt or boycotting, or you pick another path. You will get complaints, as does everything that is new, but if you tried to introduce a new type of space marine model to with the company's overall business strategy of selling big, bad ass models, then this makes sense. You also need a complement of weapons and vehicles to accommodate your bigger models. Check. You don't want to invalidate your current models, so give them the full range of tactical load outs and give people the option of either playing a full force of the cool new guys, or use them as reinforcements. It's about adjustment and perspective. And money. Don't forget about the money.

 

In another ten years time, the introduction of Primaris Space Marines are a hazy memory talked about by currently 26 year olds in the hobby in hushed whispers and no one will quite remember what the furore was about in the first place. If you really don't like where the hobby has headed, there's still decades of older material you can enjoy and leave it there.

 

Personally, I'll kit bash the new and old stuff because it looks rad and I have a sufficiently large enough imagination where I can see the integration of new and old space marines in all of the credible in universe reactions they will receive.

 

I wish you the best in revelling in 'better times', but the rest of us are going to move on. 

 

The Emperor Protects.

[Ishagu]

Very well said.

[Charlo]

Yeah nineswords put my feelings into words about this thread.

 

It's just nostalgia bait and will only end in a fight.

 

You don't like Primaris? Cool story bro, neither did anyone (except everyone who loved them I guess?)

[DuskRaider]

In the same token... and I'm playing devil's advocate here... one could just as easily take issue with your casual dismissal of valid criticism and it seems forgiveness for subpar plot writing. The pendulum swings both ways, let's keep that in mind.... especially with the last sentence of that essay, " wish you the best in revelling in 'better times', but the rest of us are going to move on."

[Wargamer]

See, I don't buy these piss-poor arguments for why we needed Primaris, as opposed to just moving to upscaled Marines.

I started in early 3rd Edition. It was a transitional time, much like this one, and it was very clear when you looked at the typical armies around. Most factions were very pewter heavy; armies like Orks and Guard had no plastic infantry whatsoever! 

 

My first force was, naturally, Space Marines. While the core of the force was the new plastic kits, a lot of my units were long past their prime; the Rhino was from Rogue Trader, and everything from characters to heavy / special weapons were pewter casts with those god-awful plastic arms that poked out at weird angles and had open palms to rest the guns in, rather than the modern gripping pose of the new plastics.

 

But as the new ranges came out, I didn't scream in frustration at how my old models were now ruined or invalid. My Rogue Trader Rhino proudly raced into battle alongside its bigger, more modern counterpart. When the plastic commander box came out I snapped it up, despite already having three Captains, a Biker Captain and a Terminator Captain in my collection. I didn't care - I wanted that kit so badly!

 

It never bothered me that my Terminators, built for Space Hulk, looked tiny and feeble compared to the new plastic kit, just like it never bothered me how my 2nd edition pewter Cadians looked small compared to their plastic successors. I loved to build these models and I loved to play with them. Sometimes, I even enjoyed painting them.

 

For me, seeing a range revamped isn't a cause for anger. It's not an excuse to throw a tantrum and decry how GW has ruined my lifelong investment. They did that with the rules. No, what Primaris did for me was convince me to come back. Not with lore, just with the models. I converted and painted a free Primaris Marine and I knew that I wanted more of those kits. GW could have boxed the Primaris as 8th Edition Tactical Squads and I would have happily bought them and converted a whole new army out of them just for the love of the new scale.

 

If anything, what GW has done lorewise made me less appreciative of the Primaris model range. Bringing a new, upscaled version of Space Marines out is just natural progression; bringing out Primaris feels like they're trying to squat my army.

[Claws and Effect]

Anything that exists long enough pretty much has to grow and change over time if it wants to continue existing.

 

Comic companies introduce new characters and tell new stories all the time. But that doesn't invalidate the old characters and stories. My favorite character was created in the 70s and is still having new stories written about him (Ghost Rider in case you're curious).

 

GW is operating in the same basic way as a toy company. If a toy company decided they wouldn't introduce any new toys to the market, they'd quickly go out of business. Not everyone likes those new toys, but that's okay. The old toys still exist for people who prefer them.

 

I highly doubt GW will ever say "Okay, old marines are no longer legal to use." It would be business suicide. Plenty of people set their games in the time during the lore before Primaris existed. GW isn't going to tell long time customers like that they can't do that anymore.

 

No one is saying you have to like Primaris, and there is plenty of stuff to enjoy still. Pretty sure Black Library authors will continue setting stories before the existence of Primaris. Hell, the Gaunt's Ghosts series is set several centuries before the "current" events, and a new book in it is coming out. I doubt Abnett decided to jump ahead to a time when his lead character would be long since dead.

[Nineswords]

In the same token... and I'm playing devil's advocate here... one could just as easily take issue with your casual dismissal of valid criticism and it seems forgiveness for subpar plot writing. The pendulum swings both ways, let's keep that in mind.... especially with the last sentence of that essay, " wish you the best in revelling in 'better times', but the rest of us are going to move on."

 

It was not casual dismissal of valid criticism. Casual dismissal would be rolling my eyes and finding other threads to post in.

 

My opinions on subpar plot writing is for me to reconcile and process. At best, it's pretty awkward. At worst, it's a slightly panicked lazily thought out plot line shoe horned into a tight production schedule, but I don't work for the company. We have what we have. The Warhammer universe is a big place and galaxy changing events still take a long time to filter down to all the corners of the galaxy. There's also 10,000 years of setting to work with.

 

I am not despite appearances a fan boy, merely someone who is trying to empathise with a company's decision and reconcile huge changes in my perception of an intellectual property that has been a big part of my life.

[totgeboren]

@Nineswords. Yes, the op has quite a bit of nostalgia going on, but GW would definitively not have gone bankrupt if they made marines ½" taller during 5ed. They managed to make both Ork Boys and Ork Nobs in plastic, and there is no reason to assume it was much more technically difficult to make the slightly bigger nobs compared to the boys.

What was their problem before was making smaller models, and smaller details. Just look at the hands of plastic models from 3ed, the fingers were huge! Making marines as small as they were was the challenge back then, it would have been easier to make the larger primaris dudes with the old machines. This is one of the reasons we still have the oversized IG Catachans and Cadians, while the Command squads look much nicer and smaller. They are newer models.

Their new machines allow them to produce plastic models with crisper details, and the CAD design procedure allows them to speed up design by use of a digital library, but their need to keep people buying marines could have been easily fulfilled without trampling their own IP and without alienating old customers (as I pointed out previously in the thread). That they did Primaris now has nothing to do with the machines they have available.

[Charlo]

Let's face it, if GW released the Primaris models as just "new marine models" that are just bigger, better scaled models they would've discontinued the old line.

 

This would, in turn, probably somewhat invalidate 90% of the armies out there and caused a bigger uproar than anything before. And don't give me any of that "oh the older 2nd ed models were smaller and there wasn't an uproar when they went bigger in plastic". The change was negligible back then, it was more detail than size that they gained.

 

By making them Primaris, they've kept the models ranges intact and given many what they always wanted - better scaled marines, in the process.

[Warpmiss]

@Wargamer, agreed! My army, and I think my friends' as well, is an amalgamation of whatever models we have. And we just adjust them to the current rules. Our rule is: what's important is that we buy models because we like them and that we can have fun playing the game.

 

I don't know if I would even be here in B&C if it weren't for the new DG models. I had always loved the depictions of Chaos since the early 2000s and had been delving into BL books for several months before 8th edition was announced I had never been a big fan of the CSM model line before that!

[Claws and Effect]

Let's face it, if GW released the Primaris models as just "new marine models" that are just bigger, better scaled models they would've discontinued the old line.

 

This would, in turn, probably somewhat invalidate 90% of the armies out there and caused a bigger uproar than anything before. And don't give me any of that "oh the older 2nd ed models were smaller and there wasn't an uproar when they went bigger in plastic". The change was negligible back then, it was more detail than size that they gained.

 

By making them Primaris, they've kept the models ranges intact and given many what they always wanted - better scaled marines, in the process.

This.

 

If they had just replaced the existing line wholesale, how many threads would we be seeing complaining that models people spent decades collecting were invalidated?

 

Whether they actually are invalidated or not is irrelevant when emotional reactions are involved.

 

Also, if they just updated the line with larger models, you'd see unscrupulous players intentionally using the smaller models to gain a LOS blocking advantage. If vehicle sizes were updated to match a smaller Marine could easily hide behind them.

[Marshal Rohr]

It’s hilarious that someone can unironically accuse Ferocious Beast of being patronizing for considering the new studio writers hacks and then proceed to say ‘the rest of us will be moving on’ like some kind of gatekeeper turning away those upset by the childish and juvenile new lore.

 

 

 

Let's face it, if GW released the Primaris models as just "new marine models" that are just bigger, better scaled models they would've discontinued the old line.

 

This would, in turn, probably somewhat invalidate 90% of the armies out there and caused a bigger uproar than anything before. And don't give me any of that "oh the older 2nd ed models were smaller and there wasn't an uproar when they went bigger in plastic". The change was negligible back then, it was more detail than size that they gained.

 

By making them Primaris, they've kept the models ranges intact and given many what they always wanted - better scaled marines, in the process.

This.

 

If they had just replaced the existing line wholesale, how many threads would we be seeing complaining that models people spent decades collecting were invalidated?

 

Whether they actually are invalidated or not is irrelevant when emotional reactions are involved.

 

Also, if they just updated the line with larger models, you'd see unscrupulous players intentionally using the smaller models to gain a LOS blocking advantage. If vehicle sizes were updated to match a smaller Marine could easily hide behind them.

This still would’ve been preferable to the soft invalidation of oldmarines.

[Ishagu]

Guys, get real for a moment. This could not be done without upsetting someone in some way. I saw people getting upset over everything prior to the gathering storm too.

 

Frankly, I think it's a vocal minority element that doesn't like what's happening. I think most people are just excited, buying new and better looking models and enjoying the hobby.

 

Also, GW made the right business decision with Primaris. I wouldn't have bought any new Marine kits after the release of 8th for example, but I've invested in a big Primaris force.

 

The stagnation of technology shtick was starting to become silly too. Apparently mankind can maintain and create stasis vaults that literally freeze time, but can't fix up or produce a solid shell rifle. Let's get serious for a moment.

 

So yes, Blanche 40k is fading away. Fantastic.

We have an in universe excuse for new models, new stories, new characters. Even better.

[m0nolith]

Guys, please knock it off before you get this thread locked.

Its an important discussion that's been on the minds of many of us, and we don't want it shut down because you two are snapping at each other.

 

Edit: looks like the mod got it before i posted this :D

[Robbienw]

You cant say they are objectively superior models.  That is just trying to pass off your opinion or bias as fact in a belittling manner by using the word objectively, something I have noticed a lot of people do on the internet these days :lol:. 

 

Its still a matter of opinion if you prefer primaris proportions or the proportion style of regular marines.  Primaris being closer to the proportions of a human in the real world does not necessarily make them better.

 

And they are certainly not technically superior to any recent normal marine or other GW kit from the last few years.  GW has been using CAD design for models and molds for a long time now.  You can see from looking at kits that the current surface detail level they get was achieved on kits that came out around 2008.  The ability to get better details on characters/divide plastic models up in clever ways to get better detailing seems to have been there since the space hulk terminators came out.  If they had wanted to re-size marines to primaris proportions for a long time, they could have done several years ago.

 

For me its not really about the proportions.  If GW had redone current marines to the size of the deathwatch and the Japan hero marines, I probably wouldn't have been bothered.  Its more I find the primaris designs to be lacklustre or ridiculous looking.  With the Intercessors and the Hellblasters, I find the mark 11 armour boring and uninspired and I don't like the ridiculously thick greaves and platform shoes.  With the triumvirate of silly kits (Inceptors, Agressors and Reivers), I think they look ridiculous and overdesigned, in the same vein as Centurions.  I find them absolutely laughable.  I can see why people like the Intercessors and Hellblasters, but really can't see it with the other infantry kits.  All of the Primaris infantry kits suffer badly from lack of posability as well.  The Redemptor Dreadnought and the Repulsor are fairly good models though.

 

I thinks its fairly obvious that GW decided to do the primaris in the way they have to add something more to sell to the marine line, without it seeming like they are tacked on in the same way as things like Centurions and the Storm Talon.  In this I think they have failed.

[Brother Tyler]

I just removed some posts that started with what were effectively ad hominem attacks.

 

This is a discussion about the impact of the introduction of the Primaris Astartes to the game. Some hobbyists favor the addition while others don't. It's okay to have different viewpoints about the same thing without getting vitriolic.

 

Let's keep it civil and be respectful of opposing viewpoints.

[Claws and Effect]

So yes, Blanche 40k is fading away. Fantastic.

We have an in universe excuse for new models, new stories, new characters. Even better.

Too bad the story they came up with to give us that excuse is so poorly executed.

 

Primaris could have been explained so much better than "Oh, these guys have been frozen for 10,000 years and Cawl was just waiting for Guilliman to say 'Go' all this time."

 

They already HAD storylines that could have led to Primaris, but they opted to ignore them in favor of a hamhanded shoehorning in of implausible events.

 

They could have gone instead with Cawl having been actively developing them for 10,000 years with Corax's attempts as a jumping off point. And they could have said the 21st Founding was his first failed attempt that he learned from.

 

The way they did it feels just as forced as Centurions suddenly appearing as though they had always existed.

[Sete]

You guys write too damn much for me to read.

My opinion, (which is the correct one and absolute), make true size marines, bump them a wound, after all all terminators got 1 extra wound and they are still same size, and roll with a new founding by Guillimans Order.

That would be the sane thing to do.

I have said this before.

You could use your old collection, the bigger marines could still use rhinos, land raiders and the old ones could use Repulsor if you wanted.

No Primaris keyword, just a new updated range, that you could use freely with your old range. Yeah Cawl could have some STC around for new gear or whatever to justify new veichles and weapons ap.

 

But GW was high on sugar that day, and went with marines+.

[m0nolith]

You cant say they are objectively superior models.  That is just trying to pass off your opinion or bias as fact in a belittling manner by using the word objectively, something I have noticed a lot of people do on the internet these days . 

 

Its still a matter of opinion if you prefer primaris proportions or the proportion style of regular marines.  Primaris being closer to the proportions of a human in the real world does not necessarily make them better.

 

And they are certainly not technically superior to any recent normal marine or other GW kit from the last few years.  GW has been using CAD design for models and molds for a long time now.  You can see from looking at kits that the current surface detail level they get was achieved on kits that came out around 2008.  The ability to get better details on characters/divide plastic models up in clever ways to get better detailing seems to have been there since the space hulk terminators came out.  If they had wanted to re-size marines to primaris proportions for a long time, they could have done several years ago.

 

For me its not really about the proportions.  If GW had redone current marines to the size of the deathwatch and the Japan hero marines, I probably wouldn't have been bothered.  Its more I find the primaris designs to be lacklustre or ridiculous looking.  With the Intercessors and the Hellblasters, I find the mark 11 armour boring and uninspired and I don't like the ridiculously thick greaves and platform shoes.  With the triumvirate of silly kits (Inceptors, Agressors and Reivers), I think they look ridiculous and overdesigned, in the same vein as Centurions.  I find them absolutely laughable.  I can see why people like the Intercessors and Hellblasters, but really can't see it with the other infantry kits.  All of the Primaris infantry kits suffer badly from lack of posability as well.  The Redemptor Dreadnought and the Repulsor are fairly good models though.

 

I thinks its fairly obvious that GW decided to do the primaris in the way they have to add something more to sell to the marine line, without it seeming like they are tacked on in the same way as things like Centurions and the Storm Talon.  In this I think they have failed.

I agree with a lot of what you said here.

The Intercessors and models in that type of armor look great IMO, and im starting to like the Primaris Dread the more I look at it, but the rest of the range looks very much uninspired and aesthetically unpleasing. Not that the entire standard marine range was beautiful, there were some serious clunkers there as well (flying brick anyone?) but by and large it looked great with some exceptions, while the Primaris range IMO looks by and large poor with some exceptions.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

 

You cant say they are objectively superior models. That is just trying to pass off your opinion or bias as fact in a belittling manner by using the word objectively, something I have noticed a lot of people do on the internet these days .

 

Its still a matter of opinion if you prefer primaris proportions or the proportion style of regular marines. Primaris being closer to the proportions of a human in the real world does not necessarily make them better.

 

And they are certainly not technically superior to any recent normal marine or other GW kit from the last few years. GW has been using CAD design for models and molds for a long time now. You can see from looking at kits that the current surface detail level they get was achieved on kits that came out around 2008. The ability to get better details on characters/divide plastic models up in clever ways to get better detailing seems to have been there since the space hulk terminators came out. If they had wanted to re-size marines to primaris proportions for a long time, they could have done several years ago.

 

For me its not really about the proportions. If GW had redone current marines to the size of the deathwatch and the Japan hero marines, I probably wouldn't have been bothered. Its more I find the primaris designs to be lacklustre or ridiculous looking. With the Intercessors and the Hellblasters, I find the mark 11 armour boring and uninspired and I don't like the ridiculously thick greaves and platform shoes. With the triumvirate of silly kits (Inceptors, Agressors and Reivers), I think they look ridiculous and overdesigned, in the same vein as Centurions. I find them absolutely laughable. I can see why people like the Intercessors and Hellblasters, but really can't see it with the other infantry kits. All of the Primaris infantry kits suffer badly from lack of posability as well. The Redemptor Dreadnought and the Repulsor are fairly good models though.

 

I thinks its fairly obvious that GW decided to do the primaris in the way they have to add something more to sell to the marine line, without it seeming like they are tacked on in the same way as things like Centurions and the Storm Talon. In this I think they have failed.

I agree with a lot of what you said here.

The Intercessors and models in that type of armor look great IMO, and im starting to like the Primaris Dread the more I look at it, but the rest of the range looks very much uninspired and aesthetically unpleasing. Not that the entire standard marine range was beautiful, there were some serious clunkers there as well (flying brick anyone?) but by and large it looked great with some exceptions, while the Primaris range IMO looks by and large poor with some exceptions.

I can forgive a lot of the intercessors silliness because I know that was the price paid to get it on the sprue in an efficient fashion. It’s the longer bolters that really were the missed opportunity. The new modes finally make the old bolters the correct scale for the artwork and they’ve all got a nice amount of pouches. I don’t think it would be worth the effort to really alter the legs and torsos much to make it look more like mark 7 armor, but mixing in the older helmets, shoulders, bolters, and packs is a really nice aesthetic that doesn’t require much effort to pull off.

 

 

Like, it’s wonderful for scale conscious and Kopinski-aligned art style projects, but the fluff that brought us here was a punch in the face. It’s take AoS three years to hit its stride, so I imagine its going to take several years before 40k feels lived in.

[Schlitzaf]

So serious question, why are you in 40k?

What are Space Marines?

Just some super human pinnacle of technological advancement standing or leading the charge at the forefront of the darkness against the ever encroaching tide of evil and predations of reality.

What are Primaris?

Just some super human pinnacle of technological advancing standing or leading the charge at the forefront of the darkness against the ever encroaching tide of evil and predations of reality.

 

Primaris are Space Marines. At the end of the day what is 40K? Doomed Reality or a doomed reality fighting for every inch of ground. Primaris have fundamentally not changed that. The Imperium has still been cleaved in two. They are still beset upon all sides. And you know what even the new Space Marines are still not enough to the push back the clock.

 

They are simply enough to stop the clock, 5 minutes to midnight. Gulliman for all his might and personal character is just a man. A superman, like a very famous Kryptonian, but still just a man. Riddle me this, what is the core essence of 40K? If it’s the dismal mystery and encroaching futility of life. I have a lovecraftian books to recommend. If it’s the concept of the encroaching futility of life being confronted by a set of individuals who say the nay!

 

Who force the vileness of reality be it traitor, daemon or xeno, or even the their own nominal allies, to fight for every single inch of ground of their universe. Who soak each world in the blood of thousands, who rage against the darkness and unfairness of life.

 

Warhammer is not Lovecraft and the story of Humanity unimportance. Warhammer is a Lovecraftian Universe where Humanity choose to matter and makes that will bump in the night fight for each inch of ground no matter how futile. That is Warhammer 40K.

 

So I ask why are you still here?

And for me personally I am overjoyed with Primaris specifically Intercessors who’ve finally given me a way to expand my army of ‘Normal’ Marines beyond another Crusader Squad. As I have no interest in something like Centurions.

Reivars are the same way for me.

[Lexington]

John Blanche is an important part of GW, as is Jes Goodwin, and all the old timers who have been around since we were picking up White Dwarf's in the early 90s blah blah blah. Here's the reality: These people are still employed by a company that needs to make money. Without cash flow and profit, it physically can't develop the universe that you love to hate.

I think it's notable that while some are willing to defend or make apologetics for GW's decisions from a financial or logistical point of view, no one's even bothering to mount a qualitative defense of the Primaris Marines and the Dark Imperium setting.

 

What more needs to be said about it?

[Shockmaster]

Unfortunately GW were going to upset a subset of the community whichever option they chose, if I had been in charge then I probably would have gone for the option of them just being bigger with some new weapon options rather then an entire new type of Marine but I would be deluding myself if I did not know that if they had gone for that option that there would be an equal amount of collectors grumbling about their smaller tactical marines feeling weedy now.

 

I will add that if your really feeling you have lost the love of the hobby or even spend more time hating GW then enjoying their products then it probably is for the best you do what I did, take a step back, find a hobby or game that provides what a hobby should do which is make you happy in your spare time.

 

Then one day you will likely find your way back to this hobby no matter how long it takes, for example the half a dozen guys at my gaming club who quit in 3rd because they hated what happened to the game/setting post 2nd edition, now they are happier then ever.

[m0nolith]

 

John Blanche is an important part of GW, as is Jes Goodwin, and all the old timers who have been around since we were picking up White Dwarf's in the early 90s blah blah blah. Here's the reality: These people are still employed by a company that needs to make money. Without cash flow and profit, it physically can't develop the universe that you love to hate.

I think it's notable that while some are willing to defend or make apologetics for GW's decisions from a financial or logistical point of view, no one's even bothering to mount a qualitative defense of the Primaris Marines and the Dark Imperium setting.

 

What more needs to be said about it?

 

Very much this.

The arguments that are made for Primaris marines(or reasonable arguments in any case) are against points surrounding the subject, but not the subject itself.

[Nineswords]

 

John Blanche is an important part of GW, as is Jes Goodwin, and all the old timers who have been around since we were picking up White Dwarf's in the early 90s blah blah blah. Here's the reality: These people are still employed by a company that needs to make money. Without cash flow and profit, it physically can't develop the universe that you love to hate.

 

I think it's notable that while some are willing to defend or make apologetics for GW's decisions from a financial or logistical point of view, no one's even bothering to mount a qualitative defense of the Primaris Marines and the Dark Imperium setting.

 

What more needs to be said about it?

 

Not a lot, I made my private views about their introduction to the setting. I am just pointing out as an outsider the real life context for these things to exist. 

 

You're very welcome to read how I introduced Primaris space marines in my own short story. It is an attempt to have a somewhat credible reaction to these random guys suddenly turning up. As for the Dark Imperium setting, let's wait and see. Things in universe just got a whole lot worse. How the authors handle it remains to be seen.