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In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

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Re: In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

#3

Post by unwind »

That is ... incredibly stupid.

I'm no 40K fan (at all), but I realize it's huge. On the other hand, the concept of "marines, but in space" really is a genre trope as pointed out in the article. It feels wrong for a single company to own that generic term.

I've read if not shelf-meters then certainly shelf-decimeters of SF with plenty of marines in them, none being of the Warhammer variety.

I'm looking forward (not) for the chilling effects to make authors invent new wordings to avoid infringement.

Re: In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

#4

Post by CapitalistCartr »

unwind wrote: post #3

That is ... incredibly stupid. I'm no 40K fan (at all), but I realize it's huge. On the other hand, the concept of "marines, but in space" really is a genre trope as pointed out in the article. It feels wrong for a single company to own that generic term. I've read if not shelf-meters then certainly shelf-decimeters of SF with plenty of marines in them, none being of the Warhammer variety. I'm looking forward (not) f…

They only "own" it because they're taking it. Space marines were used in science fiction before they did it. They're taking something that doesn't belong to them, by being much bigger than their opponent. The word for that is bullying.

Re: In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

#5

Post by newbie12 »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #4
unwind wrote: post #3

That is ... incredibly stupid. I'm no 40K fan (at all), but I realize it's huge. On the other hand, the concept of "marines, but in space" really is a genre trope as pointed out in the article. It feels wrong for a single company to own that generic term. I've read if not shelf-meters then certainly shelf-decimeters of SF with plenty of marines in them, none being of the Warhammer variety. I'm looking forward (not) f…

They only "own" it because they're taking it. Space marines were used in science fiction before they did it. They're taking something that doesn't belong to them, by being much bigger than their opponent. The word for that is bullying.

Here's the Games Workshop customer support email:

CustServ@gwplc.com

Can't hurt to let them know we aren't pleased.

Re: In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

#6

Post by dkhenry »

a2tech wrote: post #2

As a huge science fiction nerd and Games Workshop customer, this feels like rank betrayal. I expect this kind of legal bullying from big companies, but from a company that makes minifigs and other gaming accessories I expect better behavior.

Do what I did and stop being their customer. I stopped when they outlawed online sales of their products then jacked the price 200-500% over the course of a year or so. There are lots of other quality gaming systems that are not Games Workshop ( here is my current favorite [0])

0. http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/

Re: In the future, all space marines will be Warhammer 40K space marines

#8

Post by bunderbunder »

According to Wikipedia[1], the first use of the term 'space marine' in literature was the 1932 short story Captain Brink of the Space Marines by Bob Olsen. That's a full 43 years before Games Workshop was founded, and 55 years before Warhammer 40K was introduced.

And the prior usage of the term and concept kept coming strong throughout the intervening half-century.

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_marine

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