Sunday 16 October 2011

Cruddacism

I'm going to take a break from talking about painting for a bit, and talk about something completely different. Well, I haven't posted on anything for a while, but that's because my job has been sending me all over the world to spread madness and mayhem (yes, I do have a cool job, and no, it's not for the US government).

This time, I'm going to talk about a subject that's been preying on my mind for a while, and that is the phenomenon of Cruddacism.

Robin Cruddace
cruddacism noun 1 hatred or bad feeling towards any Games Workshop product written by Robin Cruddace. 2 belief in the inherent superiority of Phil Kelly or Gav Thorpe over Robin Cruddace. 3 discriminatory treatment based on such a belief. cruddacist noun, adj.

ETYMOLOGY: teh interwebs.

Yeah, I said it.

The last straw was this post on BoLS, where once again someone uses the hilarious "Cruddance" word, and proceeds to beat up the Tyranid Codex, for not even very good reasons.

Okay, it's unfortunate that he has the surname Cruddace. Like the names Crapelli and Wankdorf, it is ripe for parody. You haterz can have that one, be my guest. Go nuts.

But let's look at it from another perspective. He is a newcomer to the GW team. He wears glasses. His first name is Robin (and the only cool Robin was Robin Hood, let's face it). He's slim and lightweight and slightly nerdy-looking. His work is more methodical and technical, rather than wacky and cool. And everybody loves to hate him and shout down his work at every opportunity.

If this was a schoolyard, this would be bullying. And bullying is wrong, isn't it, kids?

Piggy from Lord Of The Flies


Compare this to the idolatry reserved for Phil Kelly, who sports cool anti-establishment sideburns, wears crazy t-shirts and has a reputation for never losing games in White Dwarf. He is the equivalent of a Jock (as far as any Warhams player could be termed a jock). The contents of Phil Kelly's handkerchief are regarded by some to be nectar from the Gods. He is the cool kid the internet nerds all want to be, and Robin is the weak kid the internet nerds all hope they aren't.

So as an intellectual exercise, I want you to imagine that Robin Cruddace wrote the Dark Eldar Codex and Dreadfleet. And imagine that Phil Kelly wrote the Tyranid Codex and the Tomb Kings Army Book. Done that? Good. Do Tyranids seem more playable now? Does the DE Pain Token system feel nerdy and broken? If so, you are a cruddacist.




Notes:

1. Phil Kelly is great, I am not belittling his work in any way. Although the sideburns are a bit much.

2. I mixed up the pictures and captions deliberately. So all you OCD-types can go look up "Comic Effect" on Wikipedia repeatedly until your eyes bleed.

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