Bro just outed himself as simple worker on a hive world and not an elite on a paradise world, must be embarrassing, ordo hereticus will be having a chat with you soon
True, however not exclusively. You may find most things from post-apocalyptic toasters to cherubs being produced by these worlds, however not everything since the mechanicum will mostly not share their stcs with random worlds and some things are also exclusively produced by terran smithies for example
Ah yes. The UNSC, who kidnapped children to forcibly turn them into super soldiers (and quite a few of them died in the process).
Master Chief John 117 was created to kill political dissidents.
It's kinda sad actually because in the story, the guy named Zeon was a good guy who wanted peace, but was slowly weakened by his closest "friend", Zabi. Then with his final breath he whispered something to Zabi, who loudly said " WHAT'S THAT? YOU ENTRUST EVERYTHING TO ME?" And proceeded to use his symbol and name while doing the exact opposite of what Zeon wanted... war for independence.
Later Zeon's son joined those "Zeonists" under a fake identity to get revenge on the entire Zabi family. That's most of the plot of the first Gundam anime.
To use that flag means either the guy didn't know the true meaning of it, or he really supports it.
I think the Origin OVA shows it best in my opinion about how a simple man’s dream of freedom and peace was turned into a dictatorship after his death by “a Heart Attack”
Psychologically: it's a system you choose to participate in despite is shortfalls, as opposed to your nation of birth which was forced upon you. Realistically: if you really allign with the imperium of man you're a fuckin dweeb
I don't think anyone genuinely (I hope not, anyways) aligns with the viewpoints of the Imperium.
Sure, there are assholes who genuinely believe in a militant and forced monotheistic society, or that their race is superior to others, but that's literally who the game makes fun of (at least in the initial more comedic versions of the game).
And nobody believes the many quotes that you find in Codexes and at the bottom of Darktide loading screens.
But man, does "For the Emperor." feel good as a self-affirmation before doing something that you don't wanna do.
Hell, I have a Nurgle tattoo, and I identify with his jovial nature and optimism despite, like his followers, at my very core being based on a foundation of self-loathing and despair. But I feel a similar 'patriotic' allegiance to Grandfather - despite that I don't wanna go spread death and disease.
Fictional nations lack the inherent *messy and uncomfortable* history that real countries have, unless they expressly say otherwise.
They are also only as good or bad as their creators make them, also meaning they don’t change unless the creators want them to.
You never hear about a failed economic reform or a budgetary system, unless there’s a reason to do so narratively or expand on the lore
explicitly space prussians who become space nazis, yes, down to using an altered German Kriegsmarine flag as their national flag. i don't know what the fire with sunglasses flag is from, but between the Imperium from 40k and Zeon half the flags in OP are from fascist regimes, while the UNSC from Halo is like all the worst parts of US/NATO capitalist hegemony extended infinitely into human colonization of space.
The Spartans from Halo were children stolen from families in the outer colonies to be turned into brainwashed super-soldiers for use as special operations troops against anyone trying to leave the UNSC or develop their local economies for anything other than feeding raw materials back to vast Earth-based megacorporations. The program started before the UNSC even knew there were other space-faring civilizations in the galaxy, it was solely for harvesting slave-soldiers to put down internal unrest.
Oh yea man. The fire with sunglasses is from Gurran Lagan from the comments. It's the only universe I'm unfamiliar with as well lol.
I can see liking all these factions for various reasons because it's escapist fantasy.
I mean GUNDAM shows usually focus on the reality of war in that all the factions/governments are usually shitty depending on what pov you have....but like posting a flag of the faction that wiped Australia off the map by gassing a colony then dropping it on them from orbit is some pretty evil shit that you kinda need to provide context when saying "man I love this imaginary nation".
I like how UNSC always gets a pass from most fans/surface level because "hey it worked though without the Spartans we would've been extinct" but in the Fall of Reach you see that the original intent of the super solder program and how well they wreck rebel cells. Imagine damage they would do WITH Mjolner armor when we see like 3 dumpster the regular humans.
Corpse Starch Food, Exterminatus of entire planets, galactic Xenocide, conversion of the dead or dying into Servitors, etc. I wasn’t talking explicitly about the imperium or the ones above, but more IN GENERAL of Fictional Nations. Yes, most of them like the Imperium have committed crimes like massacres, summary executions and other atrocities, and the UNSC has forcibly removed children from their parents, cloned them, returned the clones, and then had the clones die several years later to prevent the parents from asking questions
I dunno, UNSC has a lot of blood on their hands that aren't usually brought up in the games namely with the rebels and the Spartan-II program
The Imperium of man flag is also an iffy choice considering all the absolutely horrible life conditions, blatant Xenophobia, genocide and the laundry list of war crimes they've committed
The UNSC is literally a military junta for most of the canon we’re actually interested in. ONI is a pretty horrid organisation within it. I’m not sure if by infinite the UEG has even been reinstated?
I remember a video from some skit show.
Interviewer: Barret Wallace of Final Fantasy 7, who is your bad guy?
Barret: Capitalism!
Interviewer: Ryu of Street Fighter, who is your bad guy?
Ryu: M Bison!
Interviewer: Space Marine of Warhammer 40,000 who is your bad guy?
Space Marine: Yes!
Interviewer: No no, let's try something else. Space Marine, who kills the babies?
Space Marine: Yes!
Even the Primarch Vulkan, one of the kindest and most humane leaders the Imperium has ever seen, has burned the children of alien species alive with his own personal weapons.
I haven't run into any of them, but I've heard accusations that the people who really get into character when they're fighting xenos tend towards the white supremacy side of things.
Whilst I'm positive it's not the majority, some fans fail to see the nature of the Imperium (or just willingly chose to ignore it because tribalism) and others are just more prone to chauvinism.
Obviously, this isn't the case for all, I'm sure there are more reasons then those two I've listed but those are the ones I typically see in my circles
The parts that people think are Nazi themed in 40k are more closely fitting to Communist Russia themed.
Nazis are just more exciting historical villains, so uneducated people always jump to them.
Uneducated people think that Warhammer has more to do with Communism than Nazis and fascism
Warhammer is a satire of fascism, theocracy, religion, the military-industrial complex, the Cold War, the Tory government, 1980s Britain, neoliberalism and specifically Margaret Thatcher
You don’t have the slightest clue what you are talking about
It's kinda both [GroundbreakingBag164](https://www.reddit.com/user/GroundbreakingBag164/)
The Commissars, the Imperial aristocracy, and some aspects of the Guardsmen, do seem to be a direct nod toward Leninist/Stalinist communism. And I see Maosim in the Tao.
It's all the things you said tho, too. The flag reads fascist, as does the genocidal need to purge xenos, mutants, etc. And ofc the genetic supersoldiers.
But both Stalin/Leninism AND Fascists both are atheist doctrines, so the huge nod to Catholicism doesn't really fit. Except it does fit, because they just pack all kinds of dystopian shit in this game, and it's hard to refute that the main objective may have been to just be as bananas as possible.
I don't see any nod to Tories or Margaret Thatcher, but I'm not British, and so I do believe it could very well be in there. I do see the nod toward punks and hooliganism with the orcs.
And a bunch of other stuff as well, no doubt
This is famously why the Russian government has arrested 40K cosplayers for dressing like Nazis. Because all those former Soviet officials are just ‘uneducated’ about the symbols they used to use….
/s, obviously
I think it's because we chose the fictional ones. Wo don't get to do that when it comes to our actual nation and I think most countries if not all have many points that make it kind of hard to say "I'm proud of being born here".
Guess if we knew all atrocities that led to what our countries irl are today we would not have greatest sympathy for them similar to how some people dislike certain fictional factions/settings. And yes, I am familiar with such a thing as history but I mean that is written by victors and might not be exactly how and why things happened irl.
I like orcs in WH40k, they seem like a jolly bunch.
Jingoism and propaganda is inherently appealing, it's easy, it doesn't require much thought and is fun to participate in which is why it's so easy to root for these fictional states. It tends to involve a cool aesthetic and lots of badass catchphrases or the like to buy into without much thought.
Because those fictional nations have clear bad guys to rally against. It's easy to support humanity in whatever form it takes when the bad guy is "aliens who would wipe out said humanity."
It's harder to support morally cloudy nations combating nebulous issues like climate change or its own corruption.
They don't represent something they're not?
They're written from an outside perspective and while they have flaws that have something that draws you in
So you're not just born into them and told it's the best like real life
Super Earth from Helldivers is another one. I don't genuinely believe in the Superneoliberal, Superultracapitalism, Superxenophobic, Super2ndAmendment, Superfascist, Superfarce that is Managed Democracy.
I don't go around yelling Freedom and Democracy in people's faces (and I love that it makes fun of the Super pseduo-patriotic American mentality that does), but oh by Liberty does it still have its little freedom-claws in my little tribalistic lizard-brain.
Because right or wrong they’re fighting for something bigger than themselves and have a sense of community and unity. Our countries just use us as a Tax farm while our standard of living keeps going down.
Because you can forgive/ignore the atrocities committed by a fictional faction but can’t forgive and should not ignore the horrendous stuff actual nations get up to.
As someone already pointed out, you decide which nation to support rather than being forced into one and indoctrinated as you live. But there are other factors for it.
Look at Federation from Starship Troopers (film, not book because I'm still in the middle of reading it), it's militaristic dystopia focused on war. You can feel connected to it because of comradery of mobile infantry, you want to join and kill bugs. Why? Deep inside most of humans there is desire for standing your ground aganist overwhelming forces (also it is reason why people fell in love with Malevelon Creek in HD2, you are likely to die but you make your stand) and ensureing survival of our species. This is the reason why people feel connected to Imperium from WH40k, UNSC, Federation, Super Earth etc., we subconciously want to protect our species. Enemy in those universes do not look like us, they are threat to our survival, so we unite to protect our kind. With real nations... it is not that black and white, it is easier to feel connection with helldiver killing bugs for oil, but harder to connect to soldier killing civilians that want to protect their homes from invaders that want to take their land and resources vital for prosperity of their society. It is easier to connect to Inquisitor declaring exterminatus on ork infested planet than to bomber pilot carpet bombing cities in which people try to live. We know humans feel pain because we are humans, with fictional enemies it's easier to assume they just don't feel pain, they come at you in swarms and hordes so it is easier to shot them. Also real life conficts are realy messed up, child soldiers, suicide bombers disguised as civilians, soldiers on drugs or chemical and biological weapons. Real nations seek any reason they can to declare war and get resources of other nations, with fictional nations it's easier, they want to kill us so we will kill them.
Sorry for the wall of text, here have a cookie 🍪
Patriotism for fictional nations is just passion and enjoyment of a fictional universe. Patriotism irl is state-cuckoldry where you buy into stupid nationalist sentiments and think your country is in some way innately distinct and superior to other countries, a very stupid notion since you’re just a random small nobody living in that country and it doesn’t care about you, it just wants you to dedicate your life to the state as a parasitic agent of capitalism.
Because you’ve had your real natural inclination to national pride beaten out of you by progressives, and those fictional factions represent something you internally / secretly desire, identify with and crave. That and they’re cool.
Idk but i think you‘d never find a sky that clear on any imperial world
Bro just outed himself as simple worker on a hive world and not an elite on a paradise world, must be embarrassing, ordo hereticus will be having a chat with you soon
Jokes on you i‘m an inquisitor that operates on hive worlds that are under suspicion of treachery and for some reason all of them are cloudy
You think maybe because it’s a hive world has something to do with it?
It‘s probably the lords produce for the imperial tithe, whatever they may make. Who knows
Most hive worlds make weapons and other things for the Imperium, as well as soldiers. A lot of those things make smoke and smog as a byproduct.
True, however not exclusively. You may find most things from post-apocalyptic toasters to cherubs being produced by these worlds, however not everything since the mechanicum will mostly not share their stcs with random worlds and some things are also exclusively produced by terran smithies for example
Fenris or other feral or death worlds. There would be not enough inhabitants to pollute it.
Yes, but also no. Some have no sun, natural hazards that make the atmosphere polluted etc. it always depends on the world itself
Depends on the world. Tanith was covered mostly with forests.
Ah yes. The UNSC, who kidnapped children to forcibly turn them into super soldiers (and quite a few of them died in the process). Master Chief John 117 was created to kill political dissidents.
Thats what I am fighting for! Oorah!
Brother all of the flags in the pic have committed atrocities, kinda just comes with the territory
Warhammer, Halo, and Gurren Lagan, what's the fourth one?
Gundam. Principality of Zeon.
It's kinda sad actually because in the story, the guy named Zeon was a good guy who wanted peace, but was slowly weakened by his closest "friend", Zabi. Then with his final breath he whispered something to Zabi, who loudly said " WHAT'S THAT? YOU ENTRUST EVERYTHING TO ME?" And proceeded to use his symbol and name while doing the exact opposite of what Zeon wanted... war for independence. Later Zeon's son joined those "Zeonists" under a fake identity to get revenge on the entire Zabi family. That's most of the plot of the first Gundam anime. To use that flag means either the guy didn't know the true meaning of it, or he really supports it.
I think the Origin OVA shows it best in my opinion about how a simple man’s dream of freedom and peace was turned into a dictatorship after his death by “a Heart Attack”
The Principality of Zeon. From Gundam UC timeline.
Psychologically: it's a system you choose to participate in despite is shortfalls, as opposed to your nation of birth which was forced upon you. Realistically: if you really allign with the imperium of man you're a fuckin dweeb
I don't think anyone genuinely (I hope not, anyways) aligns with the viewpoints of the Imperium. Sure, there are assholes who genuinely believe in a militant and forced monotheistic society, or that their race is superior to others, but that's literally who the game makes fun of (at least in the initial more comedic versions of the game). And nobody believes the many quotes that you find in Codexes and at the bottom of Darktide loading screens. But man, does "For the Emperor." feel good as a self-affirmation before doing something that you don't wanna do. Hell, I have a Nurgle tattoo, and I identify with his jovial nature and optimism despite, like his followers, at my very core being based on a foundation of self-loathing and despair. But I feel a similar 'patriotic' allegiance to Grandfather - despite that I don't wanna go spread death and disease.
Gurran Lagan as best post-apocalyptic society.
Boy they sure look fascist
Fictional nations lack the inherent *messy and uncomfortable* history that real countries have, unless they expressly say otherwise. They are also only as good or bad as their creators make them, also meaning they don’t change unless the creators want them to. You never hear about a failed economic reform or a budgetary system, unless there’s a reason to do so narratively or expand on the lore
Tell me you don’t know the lore of the imperium of man without telling me you don’t know the lore of the imperium of man ;)
And Zeon....aren't they literally space Nazis?
explicitly space prussians who become space nazis, yes, down to using an altered German Kriegsmarine flag as their national flag. i don't know what the fire with sunglasses flag is from, but between the Imperium from 40k and Zeon half the flags in OP are from fascist regimes, while the UNSC from Halo is like all the worst parts of US/NATO capitalist hegemony extended infinitely into human colonization of space. The Spartans from Halo were children stolen from families in the outer colonies to be turned into brainwashed super-soldiers for use as special operations troops against anyone trying to leave the UNSC or develop their local economies for anything other than feeding raw materials back to vast Earth-based megacorporations. The program started before the UNSC even knew there were other space-faring civilizations in the galaxy, it was solely for harvesting slave-soldiers to put down internal unrest.
Oh yea man. The fire with sunglasses is from Gurran Lagan from the comments. It's the only universe I'm unfamiliar with as well lol. I can see liking all these factions for various reasons because it's escapist fantasy. I mean GUNDAM shows usually focus on the reality of war in that all the factions/governments are usually shitty depending on what pov you have....but like posting a flag of the faction that wiped Australia off the map by gassing a colony then dropping it on them from orbit is some pretty evil shit that you kinda need to provide context when saying "man I love this imaginary nation". I like how UNSC always gets a pass from most fans/surface level because "hey it worked though without the Spartans we would've been extinct" but in the Fall of Reach you see that the original intent of the super solder program and how well they wreck rebel cells. Imagine damage they would do WITH Mjolner armor when we see like 3 dumpster the regular humans.
Corpse Starch Food, Exterminatus of entire planets, galactic Xenocide, conversion of the dead or dying into Servitors, etc. I wasn’t talking explicitly about the imperium or the ones above, but more IN GENERAL of Fictional Nations. Yes, most of them like the Imperium have committed crimes like massacres, summary executions and other atrocities, and the UNSC has forcibly removed children from their parents, cloned them, returned the clones, and then had the clones die several years later to prevent the parents from asking questions
The imperium are unproblematic little fellows just trying their best in a big bad galaxy
I dunno, UNSC has a lot of blood on their hands that aren't usually brought up in the games namely with the rebels and the Spartan-II program The Imperium of man flag is also an iffy choice considering all the absolutely horrible life conditions, blatant Xenophobia, genocide and the laundry list of war crimes they've committed
The UNSC is literally a military junta for most of the canon we’re actually interested in. ONI is a pretty horrid organisation within it. I’m not sure if by infinite the UEG has even been reinstated?
Yeah it was reinstated in 2553 https://www.halopedia.org/Unified_Earth_Government
I remember a video from some skit show. Interviewer: Barret Wallace of Final Fantasy 7, who is your bad guy? Barret: Capitalism! Interviewer: Ryu of Street Fighter, who is your bad guy? Ryu: M Bison! Interviewer: Space Marine of Warhammer 40,000 who is your bad guy? Space Marine: Yes! Interviewer: No no, let's try something else. Space Marine, who kills the babies? Space Marine: Yes!
Even the Primarch Vulkan, one of the kindest and most humane leaders the Imperium has ever seen, has burned the children of alien species alive with his own personal weapons.
Yeah, do people actually glorify the imperium of man?
There's people doing it *in these replies*.
I haven't run into any of them, but I've heard accusations that the people who really get into character when they're fighting xenos tend towards the white supremacy side of things.
Whilst I'm positive it's not the majority, some fans fail to see the nature of the Imperium (or just willingly chose to ignore it because tribalism) and others are just more prone to chauvinism. Obviously, this isn't the case for all, I'm sure there are more reasons then those two I've listed but those are the ones I typically see in my circles
Idk, maybe think twice before announcing your patriotism to a set of flags in which 50% are just blatant Nazi analogies.
*Communist ftfy
No lol There isn’t a single communist thing there Half of them are literally Nazis
The parts that people think are Nazi themed in 40k are more closely fitting to Communist Russia themed. Nazis are just more exciting historical villains, so uneducated people always jump to them.
Uneducated people think that Warhammer has more to do with Communism than Nazis and fascism Warhammer is a satire of fascism, theocracy, religion, the military-industrial complex, the Cold War, the Tory government, 1980s Britain, neoliberalism and specifically Margaret Thatcher You don’t have the slightest clue what you are talking about
It's kinda both [GroundbreakingBag164](https://www.reddit.com/user/GroundbreakingBag164/) The Commissars, the Imperial aristocracy, and some aspects of the Guardsmen, do seem to be a direct nod toward Leninist/Stalinist communism. And I see Maosim in the Tao. It's all the things you said tho, too. The flag reads fascist, as does the genocidal need to purge xenos, mutants, etc. And ofc the genetic supersoldiers. But both Stalin/Leninism AND Fascists both are atheist doctrines, so the huge nod to Catholicism doesn't really fit. Except it does fit, because they just pack all kinds of dystopian shit in this game, and it's hard to refute that the main objective may have been to just be as bananas as possible. I don't see any nod to Tories or Margaret Thatcher, but I'm not British, and so I do believe it could very well be in there. I do see the nod toward punks and hooliganism with the orcs. And a bunch of other stuff as well, no doubt
the Spanish fascists worked so closely with the church and incorporated religion so much their brand of fascism is known as clerical fascism.
It's uh, it's a big eagle dude. And what about bottom right ?
Spotted the tourist
This is famously why the Russian government has arrested 40K cosplayers for dressing like Nazis. Because all those former Soviet officials are just ‘uneducated’ about the symbols they used to use…. /s, obviously
What, no horde banner? Kids these days...
Real nationalism is stupid and dangerous. Fictional nationalism is fun and cheeky. Simple as.
Spending a lot of time with fictional nationalism can help make real nationalism seem more ridiculous.
Oh boy, you really should not freal patriotism for Zion.
Tbh both main factions in Gundam's main universe are absolutely atrocious
I think it's because we chose the fictional ones. Wo don't get to do that when it comes to our actual nation and I think most countries if not all have many points that make it kind of hard to say "I'm proud of being born here".
Uhhh you really shouldn't be feeling anything like "patriotism" for the Imperium, UNSC or Zeon. That's just being a fascist, my dude.
Guess if we knew all atrocities that led to what our countries irl are today we would not have greatest sympathy for them similar to how some people dislike certain fictional factions/settings. And yes, I am familiar with such a thing as history but I mean that is written by victors and might not be exactly how and why things happened irl. I like orcs in WH40k, they seem like a jolly bunch.
Jingoism and propaganda is inherently appealing, it's easy, it doesn't require much thought and is fun to participate in which is why it's so easy to root for these fictional states. It tends to involve a cool aesthetic and lots of badass catchphrases or the like to buy into without much thought.
Better designs.
Because those fictional nations have clear bad guys to rally against. It's easy to support humanity in whatever form it takes when the bad guy is "aliens who would wipe out said humanity." It's harder to support morally cloudy nations combating nebulous issues like climate change or its own corruption.
They don't represent something they're not? They're written from an outside perspective and while they have flaws that have something that draws you in So you're not just born into them and told it's the best like real life
Super Earth from Helldivers is another one. I don't genuinely believe in the Superneoliberal, Superultracapitalism, Superxenophobic, Super2ndAmendment, Superfascist, Superfarce that is Managed Democracy. I don't go around yelling Freedom and Democracy in people's faces (and I love that it makes fun of the Super pseduo-patriotic American mentality that does), but oh by Liberty does it still have its little freedom-claws in my little tribalistic lizard-brain.
I already know what I’m a part of, because we had two sticks and rock, and we had to share the rock. Plus He knows what the lady’s like.
One thing's for certain, no way I'd want to live under the flag of the Imperium.
Real nations really kill people
You know when the fiction one lies
Because our current society views anything remotely patriotic as "Far right".
Cause the fictional ones only tax you $60(ish) every few years and the real ones take 1/3 of your paycheck to do stupid shit with
Necron Empire symbol where? My patriotism for my Tomb World cannot be denied.
Because right or wrong they’re fighting for something bigger than themselves and have a sense of community and unity. Our countries just use us as a Tax farm while our standard of living keeps going down.
Probably a closet racist
Because you can forgive/ignore the atrocities committed by a fictional faction but can’t forgive and should not ignore the horrendous stuff actual nations get up to.
The only thing that surpasses my patriotism for the UNSC is my patriotism for Poland and America.
The actual reason people are missing: space marines, cool spaceships and anime girls.
Da Emperor
As someone already pointed out, you decide which nation to support rather than being forced into one and indoctrinated as you live. But there are other factors for it. Look at Federation from Starship Troopers (film, not book because I'm still in the middle of reading it), it's militaristic dystopia focused on war. You can feel connected to it because of comradery of mobile infantry, you want to join and kill bugs. Why? Deep inside most of humans there is desire for standing your ground aganist overwhelming forces (also it is reason why people fell in love with Malevelon Creek in HD2, you are likely to die but you make your stand) and ensureing survival of our species. This is the reason why people feel connected to Imperium from WH40k, UNSC, Federation, Super Earth etc., we subconciously want to protect our species. Enemy in those universes do not look like us, they are threat to our survival, so we unite to protect our kind. With real nations... it is not that black and white, it is easier to feel connection with helldiver killing bugs for oil, but harder to connect to soldier killing civilians that want to protect their homes from invaders that want to take their land and resources vital for prosperity of their society. It is easier to connect to Inquisitor declaring exterminatus on ork infested planet than to bomber pilot carpet bombing cities in which people try to live. We know humans feel pain because we are humans, with fictional enemies it's easier to assume they just don't feel pain, they come at you in swarms and hordes so it is easier to shot them. Also real life conficts are realy messed up, child soldiers, suicide bombers disguised as civilians, soldiers on drugs or chemical and biological weapons. Real nations seek any reason they can to declare war and get resources of other nations, with fictional nations it's easier, they want to kill us so we will kill them. Sorry for the wall of text, here have a cookie 🍪
The zeon flag means you're a fascist, and the imperium flag means you basic.
I’d argue the Imperium has done worse things than what Zeon managed to do in its short history
Patriotism for fictional nations is just passion and enjoyment of a fictional universe. Patriotism irl is state-cuckoldry where you buy into stupid nationalist sentiments and think your country is in some way innately distinct and superior to other countries, a very stupid notion since you’re just a random small nobody living in that country and it doesn’t care about you, it just wants you to dedicate your life to the state as a parasitic agent of capitalism.
Because you’ve had your real natural inclination to national pride beaten out of you by progressives, and those fictional factions represent something you internally / secretly desire, identify with and crave. That and they’re cool.
Because the settings those nations are in are cool and become familiar to us and we don't actually have to live in them.
Because those fictional nations give you more than contemporary nations
America is fine when you don't have a Communist whispering in your ear telling you what to think. It's IRL chaos subversion.
Because real world nations are bogged down by corrupt governments. Fictional nations can have the fat trimmed and made more idealized.