IS there an actual neo-nazi underbelly to the Warhammer 40.000 fandom?

[Jeivar]

I'm asking because it seems that, online, anything related to aliens in general, and Stellaris in particular, will have people barking "Foul xenos!" and bringing up genocide. It feels like 40K imagery gets used a lot with an air of pride, when the canonical Imperium is a rotting, failing dystopia, satirizing all the worst aspects of the 20th Century.

I know some of it is humor, but there is only so much ironic Nazism I can see from a particular direction before I start to question the "ironic" part. So I may get hissed at for this, but IS there a segment of the fandom that doesn't get the joke?

[Gallowglass]

{Scrubbed}

[Tyndmyr]

People of whatever political persuasion can and do play games. That said, I wouldn't draw any hard conclusions about people based on what faction they play or what memes about gaming they enjoy.

Heck, most people if they play long enough end up playing many armies, and some of the stuff is amusing meme fodder regardless of what armies you like. Enjoying playing the bad guys in a game doesn't mean you're a bad guy in real life.

[Fyraltari]

Yes. There are nazis in that fandom. In part because when a fandom gets large enough there will eventually be nazis in it, in part because some people don't get the joke and in part because all too often the Imperium, the Emperor and their policies are portrayed as correct for the sake of having likeable protagonists.

Edit: also this universe is fertile ground for nazi dogwhistles (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)).

[Dragonus45]

Some but no more then the average number of such jerks you find in any fandom of such size.

[DeadMech]

Aside from a few highly visible and loud content creators and their fans probably not any more so that most other geek hobbies. I don't play but most people who do say that when they go to game shops they don't notice much issues.

[GloatingSwine]

Let's just say that a certain individual was told by Games Workshop to desist from using their trademarks in any of his branding or youtube channel name...

[Kitten Champion]

The last person I knew who asked me if I was into 40K turned out to be a hardcore white supremist -- though that only became obvious once I had the joy of experiencing his presence on social media.

I have no idea if there's an underbelly or anything, but I'd imagine there's some imagery and ideas in 40K's overall palette that those people would like to use to express themselves that they wouldn't find in... say, My Little Pony.

So, what Fyraltari said, basically.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: this is not the best place to discuss this.