"Space Marines" Now A Trademarked Phrase

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Arislan

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Games Workshop sucks. That's why my friends quit 40k a long time ago. Their price increases and overall shady behavior as a company made them upset.
 

Arislan

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Sorry to harp on this but I wanted to add that I'm glad warhammer online flopped, too. This is because I was a heavily addicted Dark Age of Camelot gamer and I think Mythic screwed us all over by shifting focus to that piece of bull.

At least they didn't proceed with their stupid "Romans in Space" online rpg.
 

Torgo

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Well, I'd sure like to think this will bring the company down. I wonder how many people are aware of Monster Cable doing the exact same thing to ANY company using the word monster in its name or a product name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Cable_Products#Trademark_and_patent

Here is a lovely story about how Monster screwed themselves out of the Beats by Dre bonanza; it warms the cockles of your heart (though there aren't really any good guys in this tale.)
 

onesecondglance

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Here is a lovely story about how Monster screwed themselves out of the Beats by Dre bonanza; it warms the cockles of your heart (though there aren't really any good guys in this tale.)

I'd be quite happy if a fantastically-localised wormhole opened up and swallowed every Monster cable and Beets headphone in the universe, but someone else would step in to fill the vacuum. People buy this shit without knowing it's shit, and that's the sad thing.
 

BigWords

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People buy this shit without knowing it's shit, and that's the sad thing.

That's why forums are so important - the dissemination of information. If people are thinking about buying something deficient, then they should be informed that they can get better for their money. And blogs, and... Really, just improving the overall amount of information floating around is not just a good idea, it is almost a duty.

Standing by and letting companies get away with the things they have been doing leads to things such as the trademark jumping which spurred this thread. There's an ancient quotation about "standing by and doing nothing is as bad as participating in the wrongdoing"...
 

onesecondglance

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That's why forums are so important - the dissemination of information. If people are thinking about buying something deficient, then they should be informed that they can get better for their money. And blogs, and... Really, just improving the overall amount of information floating around is not just a good idea, it is almost a duty.

Standing by and letting companies get away with the things they have been doing leads to things such as the trademark jumping which spurred this thread. There's an ancient quotation about "standing by and doing nothing is as bad as participating in the wrongdoing"...

Amen to that.
 

Black-Marlin

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So, I've blogged about this, but the cliff notes version of this is: I am delighted, because I stand a chance at actually making my displeasure at GW count!

1) I write military SF and use the space marines concept all the time.

2) I am, in fact, a former Royal Marine, and I am hugely offended at GW taking ownership of a concept that they have no moral or intellectual right to, on any level.

3) I now work as a manager in a model store, one of many nationwide.

4) That chain has recently been considering stocking GW products. There have been discussions about this.

5) I have relayed my concerns, and my earnest desire not to have my store associated with GW, to the relevent people - and those people pay attention to what the store managers are saying. I am not alone in my unhappiness with GW's behaviour.

6) It is therefore entirely possible that GW stands to lose far, far, far more money as a result of this than they could ever have gained by successfully persecuting Ms Hogarth or anyone else.


I just thought I'd share, and let you see that there may well be real-world major consequences for GW as a result.

Regards,
BM
 

Defos

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As always the majority of people are like lambs to the slaughter, they buy into things. Even when aware of wrong doings, shoddy tactics and blatant robbery they still throw money at companies. I don't think much will change as the populous is soon to double. Twice the number of nuggets.

I am a special kind of nugget, I moan and still buy :D
 

Adhevan

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Yeah. And GIRLS can't be Space Marines because . . . because hormones, see?

Seriously, that's the story.

There is a huge streak of sexism in the Warhammer games. I hadn't originally intended to bring it up but, yeurgh. Most of their toy soldiers are male, and the females tend to be viciously sexual and grotesquely exaggerated at the same time.

Yeah... there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to make about GW. I don't believe sexism is one of them. The 40K setting isn't MEANT to be a happy utopia full of sunshine, rainbows, puppy dogs and social justice. The Empire is an oppressive dictatorship keeping every facet of society tightly controlled in a doomed effort to fight off the forces of Chaos. It is Order taken to an extreme that makes it just as bad as the chaos it opposes. Gender equality, or any other social good, would be entirely out of place in such a regime.
 

Defos

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To be fair Eldar cover that problem well (lotsa ladies), perhaps its spacemarines that are sexist not GW
 

ClareGreen

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Have you actually stopped and looked at the female miniatures GW sell? Even the battle armour has cleavage.
 

Zoombie

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Have you actually stopped and looked at the female miniatures GW sell? Even the battle armour has cleavage.


400px-Sob_squad_c.gif


I don't see it...

The most "sexy" unit I can think of are...I don't know, Dark Eldar wytches?

m1420154a_99120112008_DEWyches1_873x627.jpg


But yeah, the Dark Eldar are all manner of screwed up. But the question is...

Is it sexism if the fluff actually has a semi-good reason for why they're dressed like strippers? In this case, the Dark Eldar are trying desperately to stave off the withered remains of their souls from being devoured by Slannesh by indulging in greater and greater previsions and excesses of violence.

But then again, I never really saw why the Dark Eldar would be a credible threat to an actual ARMY, seeing as how they're more about capturing and torturing slaves for all eternity...

Then there are the Deamonettes...which, while they do wear revealing clothes, aren't really...sexy to me.

m1440595_99129915002_DaemonsDaemonettesMain_873x627.jpg


Buuuuuuut, then again, they are hermaphroditic anyway...so...
 

Torgo

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Yeah... there are plenty of legitimate criticisms to make about GW. I don't believe sexism is one of them. The 40K setting isn't MEANT to be a happy utopia full of sunshine, rainbows, puppy dogs and social justice. The Empire is an oppressive dictatorship keeping every facet of society tightly controlled in a doomed effort to fight off the forces of Chaos. It is Order taken to an extreme that makes it just as bad as the chaos it opposes. Gender equality, or any other social good, would be entirely out of place in such a regime.

Even as someone who grew up on WH40K, I don't think this is a very good argument. The believability of sexism within the setting really isn't the point; it's that titillation is used to sell the setting to fans.

We could argue that within the fictional context of "Flesh Gordon", a lot of female toplessness is the norm, but that doesn't make the movie anything other than a soft-core porn film.

That said, I think Warhammer has always had a kitschy, tongue-in-cheek heavy-metal aesthetic that is aimed at small boys like the one I once was. I've never actually found it any more troubling than the kind of slightly embarrassing fur-bikini cover art you get on fantasy novels from time to time (though obvs. I have the privilege here.) It's not Gor.
 

benbradley

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That's why forums are so important - the dissemination of information. If people are thinking about buying something deficient, then they should be informed that they can get better for their money. And blogs, and... Really, just improving the overall amount of information floating around is not just a good idea, it is almost a duty.
There's plenty of good info, but only a minority of purchases are made using such info. Before the Internet there were magazines such as Consumer Reports which had stories on a smattering of products people buy, concentrating on cars and other big-ticket items, but now there are overwhelming numbers of reviews on many websites.

Very few people learn about "problems" with products or the companies that make them unless there's a big news story about it. Many or most people don't follow the news very closely or broadly, and even then, one news story likely won't trump the many ad exposures (and even more powerful, friends using the product) a potential purchaser is likely to see.

There's much more information than people can deal with. Information wants to be free fights for the public's attention, and the one doing the most effective advertising wins.
 

ClareGreen

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Wow, GW have actually made miniatures that aren't posed halfway through getting 'em out for the lads. I'm shocked.

I wish that were as sarcastic as it sounds.

It used to be that anything female-shaped you saw in a Games Workshop was painted (or printed) in Flesh Pink, with the odd other colour in strategic places - or posed so that it might as well have been. It was very definitely not a female-friendly environment in any way, shape or form - unless you were buying for your brother/cousin/nephew/son, at which point the staff were all smiles 'til you left.
 

Torgo

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It was very definitely not a female-friendly environment in any way, shape or form - unless you were buying for your brother/cousin/nephew/son, at which point the staff were all smiles 'til you left.

I believe this, vividly. I remember haunting those shops as a kid.
 

milkweed

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Just had my "first" experience with a MC revealing something about themself that I hadn't planned on and this is so wayyyyy cool! I never expected this to happen.
 

Rufus Coppertop

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Just had my "first" experience with a MC revealing something about themself that I hadn't planned on and this is so wayyyyy cool! I never expected this to happen.
That's nice for you, but does your announcement really belong in a thread about GW trying to monopolize the term "space marine"?
 

Rufus Coppertop

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Easy mistake to make then.

Just had my "first" experience with a MC revealing something about themself that I hadn't planned on and this is so wayyyyy cool!
It is great when that happens. Sometimes it seems as if characters do take on a kind of life of their own somewhere inside your mind.
 
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