Transformer 'Spastic' cancelled in UK

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I think this just goes to show how lacking Hasbros language skills really are. I mean come on, spastic has been taboo for ages now. Even if Tiger Woods does say his skills were 'spaz' that doen't quite justify it.

What the hell were hasbro thinking? I bet they wouldn't call a TF 'AIDS' or Cerebral Palsy....:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Be curious to see his bio though.

the name choice is just another reason as to why PCC suck so hard...

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The Tiger Woods incident was not without well publicized controversy so it's really hard to justify why they went with that name as the smallest amount of research will inform you that the name could be offensive.

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

I think this just goes to show how lacking Hasbros language skills really are. I mean come on, spastic has been taboo for ages now. Even if Tiger Woods does say his skills were 'spaz' that doen't quite justify it.

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It's been taboo in the UK and derived countries (except Canada). It is not taboo in the United States, Canada and I imagine some other english-speaking countries. My research suggests that North Americans are genuinely unaware that there is any problem and are unaware that this would cause offense.

Regarding the Tiger Wood thing - even if that incident was huge and massive in America as it was in the UK (and so on), I don't think such well-publicised incidents would be so big that they would make a significant, lasting impact upon their vernacular and stay in their memory. Basically, they're probably not going to remember and change their culture accordingly (at least not this quickly) because of these incidents.

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What the hell were hasbro thinking? I bet they wouldn't call a TF 'AIDS' or Cerebral Palsy....:rolleyes::rolleyes

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That's a silly example, because they clearly know what those illnesses/conditions are.



BTW, regarding somebody commenting on Hasbro not doing due research on Nexus Maximus - obviously, Hasbro's lawyers searched google with safe search on.

I think it's silly that they didn't even bother to look up the name in Google US.

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Originally Posted by FFN

It's been taboo in the UK and derived countries (except Canada). It is not taboo in the United States, Canada and I imagine some other english-speaking countries. My research suggests that North Americans are genuinely unaware that there is any problem and are unaware that this would cause offense.

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You still haven't responded to my request for a postive useage of the word in American verncular. Every example is still for the purpose of chastising or insulting someone, or themselves.

Even with safe search on you'd still find the wikipedia page on Spastic as the first result which gives you information about the controversy surrounding the word in certain regions. Living in the age of search engines like Google, doing basic research only takes about a minute. (-_-)

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Originally Posted by FFN

That's a silly example, because they clearly know what those illnesses/conditions are.

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Ignorance is a weak excuse for deciding to go with a name for a Transformer like this.

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Originally Posted by FFN

BTW, regarding somebody commenting on Hasbro not doing due research on Nexus Maximus - obviously, Hasbro's lawyers searched google with safe search on.

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Actually, again it's obvious that they didn't bother to search Google at all. It doesn't matter how strict your filtering is when you search for 'Nexus Maximus', the first non-Transformer result (and there wouldn't have been any Transformers results at the time if they had searched) is always a sex toy.

Look, Hasbro just had one of those moments where they do something without thinking about it thoroughly - it was probably accidental as well as coincidental (considering how far it went through approval stages to be made). It's all happened to us before and it's just a normal human mistake. Hasbro are doing a responsible job in rectifying their mistake by not releasing the toy in the UK which might disappoint collectors but saves them the trouble of a endless wave of complaints from concerned consumers.

At least some humor can come out of this incident - I could imagine the Hasbro exec meeting sounding like this:

Designer: 'So here's our next PCC 5-Pack toy... it's a redeco of Leadfoot, I have no idea what to call him but it's the same ugly mold as before'

Exec #1: 'Spastic?'

Exec #2 **coincidently on the phone** : 'Yeah'

Exec #3 **distracted, thinking about the good times in their life** : 'Yeahh..'

Designer: 'really? are you sure?'

Exec #4 *being given his sandwich from his receptionist* : 'Oh yeahhhh'

Designer: Ok.

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Originally Posted by Sky Shadow

Actually, again it's obvious that they didn't bother to search Google at all. It doesn't matter how strict your filtering is when you search for 'Nexus Maximus', the first non-Transformer result (and there wouldn't have been any Transformers results at the time if they had searched) is always a sex toy.

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Are you getting google search and favourites mixed up again Sky Shadow?:p

On the whole Tiger Woods thing. If I recall people in the U.S didn't care. It was because of people in the U.K that he was forced to apologise.

I'm not excusing Hasbro for this either I'm on the whole "Use google search for a minute and you find out if the word is taboo" side of the fence.

It's understood that concern would definitely rise from such a name, but we're dealing with an alien transforming robot toy. It shouldn't be that offensive unless the consumer wants to make it such a big fuss. We're humans, and technically the only ones who should feel insulted are robots themselves. Give it some thought.

Now, if they released a G.I. Joe figure called 'Spastic' I'd be worried.