I dislike the term “Tourist”.

I swear if I hear or read the term “tourist” one more time this week, I am going to start sending out real-estate pamphlets for places that don’t exist.

“Have a nice tour of Mt. Doom! Please enjoy our complimentary lava!”

“Take a peace stroll through Area X.”

“Visit our Tyranid petting zoo!”

I cannot scroll through most of my hobby posts on social media without seeing the word “Tourist” being thrown around. It is getting ridiculous. I just want to see cool hobby stuff. For those who do not know, “tourist” is another term for an individual who is considered a “fake” fan or some crap like that.

I think that the term is a little rubbish and feels like something middle schoolers would call each other, like how they call people NPCs. Playground insults. Imagine explaining this to people who do not know anything about the hobby?

“You’re a tourist!”

“No, you’re a tourist!”

“Nu-uh”

Fans who do not paint the Warhammer minis can also be fans of Warhammer as well as actively being involved with the fandom. The figures are pricey, and people cannot always afford them compared to cheaper minis like from Reaper. The novels and lore are pretty nifty. However, if you do not paint the minis, you have no right to complain about how people paint their own. Hell, even if you did paint them, you still have no right to complain unless it is the weird Nazi crap going on in the hobby.

No, you do not have to play it either to be a fan. I do not play but I do enjoy the painting aspect. I recently purchased some Tyranids to paint but I would never play with them. Same with Orks. I have painted some but I wouldn’t play with them.

Hot take? I don’t even think they need to be painted if you’re playing casually with friends. Not everyone has the ability to paint and so on. It’s not that big of a deal. As long as its not like a competition or anything.

Fans of Warhammer who want female space are not tourists. People want new minis and new lore all the time. It is not that big of a deal. Yeah, gene-seed and whatever, GW can easily add something to the backstory to deal with FMS. That is the wonderful thing about lore, it can be added and subtracted from. Things have been retconned or “discovered”. It is not “feminism” ruining the hobby. Women are not ruining the hobby.

Gatekeepers are not tourists, they are gatekeepers. Hobby spaces should be open for everyone to enjoy, minus the Nazis. That is not okay. That is simply weird and wrong. Period. Don’t be hateful.

Same with the whole crap about Gundam fans. Getting into Gundam/Gunpla because the ______ show does not make you a tourist. Neither does building Gunpla and not watching the shows make you a tourist. I spent three years building it before I even watched the original. The only reason I got into the hobby was Pacific Rim. Watching Gundam but not building Gunpla does not make you a tourist, just do not tell people how to build.

Gwitch fans are fans. Deal with it. It is a Gundam show.

If you enjoy any of the media of something, you are a fan. You can be a small fan of something if you are new to something. You can be a huge fan of something.

I stopped playing Magic the gathering for a few years but guess what? I was and still am a fan. I still kept up on sets and releases. That is the remarkable thing about fandoms. You can be involved in any way. These companies are making money off of us in one way or another.

(What if these companies hire people to stir the pot to sell products? #1 conspiracy theory of October, GW you can’t fool me. Hire me. I would be perfect.)

“Tourists” should not be a term used. At least in my opinion. Drop a comment about how you feel about this, just be respectful.

Want to support our blog? Then check out our Patreon or sign up for email notifications. We also got a snazzy Discord server too!