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Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut





It's confusing to me, because they're described as ungulate mammaloids...

Is it their tanks?

   
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All of their vehicles are named after fish, and some of their mechs are vaguely related, I would assume?

‘What Lorgar’s fanatics have not seen is that these gods are nothing compared to the power and the majesty of the Machine-God. Already, members of our growing cult are using the grace of the Omnissiah – the true Omnissiah, not Terra’s false prophet – to harness the might of the warp. Geller fields, warp missiles, void shields, all these things you are familiar with. But their underlying principles can be turned to so much more. Through novel exploitations of these technologies we will gain mastery first over the energies of the empyrean, then over the lesser entities, until finally the very gods themselves will bend the knee and recognise the supremacy of the Machine-God"
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Regular Dakkanaut




Washington State

Probably from their vehicles. A true Imperial Soldier know that Tau are actually bovine in nature, as stated in the Imperial Primer.
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






There is no reasoning because its a trash meme.
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran





Lebanon NH

I believe that the particular meme group you are referencing is simply another facet of racism regarding anything seen as Asian or Asian inspired.

This is particularly baffling for the Tau, as while they may have some mildly Asian/anime inspired roots, they have evolved far beyond that IMO into something quite interesting and unique.

However, one doesn't expect much nuance from a simple and possibly mean spirited meme.
   
Made in us
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Man, if the T'au memes are because of racism, people must really hate Romans, because the Blueberries are very much memed.

‘What Lorgar’s fanatics have not seen is that these gods are nothing compared to the power and the majesty of the Machine-God. Already, members of our growing cult are using the grace of the Omnissiah – the true Omnissiah, not Terra’s false prophet – to harness the might of the warp. Geller fields, warp missiles, void shields, all these things you are familiar with. But their underlying principles can be turned to so much more. Through novel exploitations of these technologies we will gain mastery first over the energies of the empyrean, then over the lesser entities, until finally the very gods themselves will bend the knee and recognise the supremacy of the Machine-God"
- Heretek Ardim Protos in Titandeath by Guy Haley 
   
Made in us
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Sedona, Arizona

IRRC we've had in-universe examples of Orks referring to Tau "fish face" or some such as far back as 4th edition.

Other than that it's probably some combination of their vehicle naming, visual issues (they basically have a fish-eye effect), their appearance, and some RL racism.

   
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 TheBestBucketHead wrote:
Man, if the T'au memes are because of racism, people must really hate Romans, because the Blueberries are very much memed.


Exalted.

I always assumed its because they are blue and look to have some sort of gill instead of a nose..

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I think for the vast majority of people its because they see a race with its vehicle units named after aquatic stuff and has blue skin with no nose so they think its a fish person. They don't pay attention to the fact that they have hooves nor do they know the lore about them coming from a rather arid world.

Feel like the racism angle is a bit of grasping at straws. Tau infantry and suit armor is based roughly on feudal Japanese armor while their usage of battlesuits (and GW leaning into it in more recent years) plays to the anime tropes of mecha (Gundam in particular). There is also Tau sounding like how a western English speaker would initially pronounce Taoism. So the association between the Tau and Asian culture isn't unfounded (maybe the initial designers for the Tau played into stereotypes a bit much) but I don't think the fans saying Tau = fish people is somehow a racist slight.

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Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




You don't really see the hooves on most models unless you're looking closely, what you do see is blue people with no nose that name their stuff after fish and wear helmets that look kinda like they've got rebreathers. It's not that hard to figure out, you don't have to go looking for racism as a reason when there's a much more obvious one staring you in the face.
   
Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




I think it comes from the fact that their mainstay vehicles are all named after fish.

As well as a long time ago they had a tactic called fish of fury where they used devilfishes to wall off their gunline while their troops could shoot through.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 04:12:46


 
   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Just echoing others. The vehicles have fish names. People are trained to think blue = water = fish. The lack of noses doesn't help. People who aren't interested in Tau (beyond the memes) don't know anything about their fluff or anatomy.


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Ork Codex refers to them as ‘fish ‘eads’ back in the day - ‘cause their ‘eads look like fish.

I’m surprised GW has not sued Disney over ‘Finding Nemo’ :-)
   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





 TheBestBucketHead wrote:
Man, if the T'au memes are because of racism, people must really hate Romans, because the Blueberries are very much memed.


Listen. If you wanted to join the P.F.J., you'd have to really hate the Romans...


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 Gert wrote:
There is no reasoning because its a trash meme.


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Made in it
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Vehicles have fish names: Piranha, Devilfish, Hammerhead, Skyray, Remora, Manta, Orca, Tetra, Sunshark, Razorshark, Tigershark, Barracuda.
Some battlesuits have sea or ship related names: Riptide, Broadside, Ghostkeel, Stormsurge.
Even the fortification line has a sea related name: Tidewall Gunrig/Droneport/Shieldline.

Associating blue aliens with fish and sea references to "fish people" is easy.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 07:03:22



 
   
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Jarms48 wrote:
I think it comes from the fact that their mainstay vehicles are all named after fish.

As well as a long time ago they had a tactic called fish of fury where they used devilfishes to wall off their gunline while their troops could shoot through.


All those repressed memories.... Flooding back... Wait, flood...fish...Tau...

*Angry screaming*

Jokes aside its just a meme the community has used for years now and it embedded into fan lexicon. Its same level of meme as Abaddon is a armless failure (Because his original metal model was notorious to keep the arms on, even with pinning sometimes)
   
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Lisbon, Portugal

Jarms48 wrote:I think it comes from the fact that their mainstay vehicles are all named after fish.

As well as a long time ago they had a tactic called fish of fury where they used devilfishes to wall off their gunline while their troops could shoot through.


yukishiro1 wrote:You don't really see the hooves on most models unless you're looking closely, what you do see is blue people with no nose that name their stuff after fish and wear helmets that look kinda like they've got rebreathers. It's not that hard to figure out, you don't have to go looking for racism as a reason when there's a much more obvious one staring you in the face.


Just an 'ackshually' moment: The Tau don't name their stuff like that. All their vehicles and equipment are named as codes ('XV104' is the Tau name for the Riptide; no Tau ever calls that specific battlesuit 'Riptide'). The 'fishy' names are given by the Imperium, because their appearance or battle role reminds them of ancient Terran aquatic creatures. It really makes no sense whatsoever, but this is 40k and sense has no place here.

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Bristol (UK)

The alphanumerical designations for vehicles are fairly recent, I don't believe they were a thing before the 6th edition codex at the earliest.

Battlesuits were always like that though, with names like XV-8 Crisis Suit, at least as long as I remember.

They used to just be called "Devilfish", "Hammerhead", etc etc.
Also, when discussing where community memes came from, deep lore explanations of name origins isn't really important.
   
Made in ie
Battleship Captain





The racism comment are hilarious. I've used /tg/ since the day it was created and not once have I associated the T'au fish meme as being racist nor have I seen anyone do so. This is the kind of thing Extra Credits got in trouble for a while ago for assuming that everyone thinks evil orcs are analogous to black people.


 
   
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leerm02 wrote:
I believe that the particular meme group you are referencing is simply another facet of racism regarding anything seen as Asian or Asian inspired.

I don't buy it, at least in regard to this. Stuff like /tg/ talking about the supposed sterilization camps or calling a clearly Indian-inspired caste system "communism" are far more appropriate examples.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 10:01:43


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Bristol (UK)

 Sim-Life wrote:
The racism comment are hilarious. I've used /tg/ since the day it was created and not once have I associated the T'au fish meme as being racist nor have I seen anyone do so. This is the kind of thing Extra Credits got in trouble for a while ago for assuming that everyone thinks evil orcs are analogous to black people.

I know, cramming racism into everything is so ridiculous.
   
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on the forum. Obviously

Because they are blue and their vehicles are named after fish.
Even though they have hooves and live on a world described as arid with steppes.
Memes aren't known to be smart.

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Regular Dakkanaut



Tallarook, Victoria, Australia

The meme comes from orks

Get over it
   
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London

Just jumping on this one, can someone also explain where the whole "Blood Ravens are thieves" meme comes from as well?
   
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Bristol (UK)

 Valkyrie wrote:
Just jumping on this one, can someone also explain where the whole "Blood Ravens are thieves" meme comes from as well?

In the Dawn of War games you unlock relics, these relics are often from other chapters. So you might find Guilliman's sword or Dorn's helmet or whatever.
Hence the Blood Ravens have been stealing other people's relics.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
40k has a lot of memes. Some of these memes have been around for so long and have lost so much humour that people forget or don't even realise they're memes.

I had a discussion with someone the other day that genuinely believed if Orks painted themselves purple they turned invisible.
It's bizarre. I thought that was a relatively recent meme and was so obviously an absurd meme. But nope, that was proper canon to this guy.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 11:03:34


 
   
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UK

 kirotheavenger wrote:
 Valkyrie wrote:
Just jumping on this one, can someone also explain where the whole "Blood Ravens are thieves" meme comes from as well?

In the Dawn of War games you unlock relics, these relics are often from other chapters. So you might find Guilliman's sword or Dorn's helmet or whatever.
Hence the Blood Ravens have been stealing other people's relics.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
40k has a lot of memes. Some of these memes have been around for so long and have lost so much humour that people forget or don't even realise they're memes.

I had a discussion with someone the other day that genuinely believed if Orks painted themselves purple they turned invisible.
It's bizarre. I thought that was a relatively recent meme and was so obviously an absurd meme. But nope, that was proper canon to this guy.







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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 11:10:04


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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut






 kirotheavenger wrote:
 Valkyrie wrote:
Just jumping on this one, can someone also explain where the whole "Blood Ravens are thieves" meme comes from as well?

In the Dawn of War games you unlock relics, these relics are often from other chapters. So you might find Guilliman's sword or Dorn's helmet or whatever.
Hence the Blood Ravens have been stealing other people's relics.

Note that reading the descriptions of the various weapons/wargear in Dawn of War II reveals that the vast majority are just named after other Chapters/Primarchs, but there is no indication that they originated from them.
   
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Battleship Captain





 Valkyrie wrote:

40k has a lot of memes. Some of these memes have been around for so long and have lost so much humour that people forget or don't even realise they're memes.

I had a discussion with someone the other day that genuinely believed if Orks painted themselves purple they turned invisible.
It's bizarre. I thought that was a relatively recent meme and was so obviously an absurd meme. But nope, that was proper canon to this guy.


Lore Youtube channels presenting theories as facts have a lot to answer for. Orks being able to make guns work just by believing they do is the biggest IMO. It was a theory presented by a techpriest who was to dumb to understand how ork weapons work so he comes to the assumption that orks must be able to warp reality. It was mentioned once in a 3rd Ed codex and never again until some fa/tg/uys thought it was funny and talked about it.

What was once a small lore snippet about a techpriest's arrogance towards what he considered a lesser kulture is now absolute canon to a lot of people.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/05 11:15:48



 
   
 
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