POTP Deluxe Jazz "error"

[griffin]

Tipped off by Paulbot, we could be seeing a running change with POTP Deluxe Jazz (if they make any more, as the first wave stock was manufactured some time ago to already be in America already)... due to a tiny little paint app on the door with the Autobot symbol that has drawn some criticism, and an apology from Hasbro.

The detail on the door has four Cybertronian letters, that spell out MAGA. Now, it's not an actual word, and most people outside America wouldn't even recognise the acronym.... but is said to stand for Trump's main election slogan - Make America Great Again.

There isn't anything obviously Transformers related that MAGA could stand for, and Hasbro have responded to admit that it was the Trump slogan... and that someone snuck it in without permission, because they don't intentionally politicise their toys.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

That seems kind of ironic, what with Jazz's character being kind of the G1 S1 Autobots' '80s token black guy' and the ethno-political affiliation of a lot of Trump's being kind of, well...neo-Nazis. As in, openly so, with the swastikas and everything.

[bowspearer]

So wait, Hasbro hates this message because it's political, yet they've had no issue with the IDW comics heavily pushing an identity politics based agenda so strongly that they've introduced homosexual relationships among characters who don't even sexually reproduce to begin with?????????????

Way to be consistent there Hasbro.

[DELTAprime]

That seems kind of ironic, what with Jazz's character being kind of the G1 S1 Autobots' '80s token black guy' and the ethno-political affiliation of a lot of Trump's being kind of, well...neo-Nazis. As in, openly so, with the swastikas and everything.

I never saw Jazz as a token black guy, I always have seen him as just Jazz.

So wait, Hasbro hates this message because it's political, yet they've had no issue with the IDW comics heavily pushing an identity politics based agenda so strongly that they've introduced homosexual relationships among characters who don't even sexually reproduce to begin with?????????????

Way to be consistent there Hasbro.

Do transformers even technically have gender or is just an outward appearance and attitude? Think about it.

[bowspearer]

Do transformers even technically have gender or is just an outward appearance and attitude? Think about it.

Actually James Roberts has made it clear that it goes far beyond a mere outwards appearance and attitude.

[DELTAprime]

Actually James Roberts has made it clear that it goes far beyond a mere outwards appearance and attitude.

The article does not say anything about that.

Two males (or in this case two robots that we think of as males) in a relationship is deemed by modern culture to be acceptable. Racism, bigotry and neo-nazism is not.

[bowspearer]

The article does not say anything about that.

Actually to quote from just two parts of the article:

Kiss me, Chromedome: how the Transformers found peace and same-sex partnerships

A spin-off comic has shape-shifted the smash ’em up Transformers robots into a world of same-sex partnerships

And:

Fans of Chromedome and Rewind may be touched to learn that the two are now in a romantic relationship.

So clearly it does say exactly that.

Two males (or in this case two robots that we think of as males) in a relationship is deemed by modern culture to be acceptable. Racism, bigotry and neo-nazism is not.

If we were talking human characters or an alien lifeform which actually engaged in sexual reproduction, then you would have a valid point. Such a move would be inspired, would treat these issues seriously and would be a positive thing.

However aren't talking about beings which reproduce sexually - we're not even talking about the G1 Cartoon continuity where the Autobots suffered from what I would describe as the C3PO effect (ie they acted they way they did because of programming as evolutions of consumer goods, without any genuine understanding of what romantic feelings actually are and in a manner utterly divorced from reproduction).

What we are talking about here are completely asexual beings who reproduce with sparks naturally seeding from a planet and then either naturally or artificially being implanted into a metallic biomass of some kind.

While pushing homosexual relationships in stories about characters who sexually reproduce is as valid a move as doing so with heterosexual relationships, doing it in a storyline about biologically asexual beings, simply comes across as disengenuously anthropomorphising, blatantly forced and yes I'd make the same call about ANY sexual relationship between transformers of ANY nature. In doing so, I'd go so far as to say that it cheapens, rather than helps, LGBTIQ issues and reduces the whole thing into a trivial sideshow.

However all of that ignores the bigger issue. It is impossible to claim that you do not want Transformers to be political when as a war story, Transformers has always been political.

If Hasbro want Transformers to push issues important to the Political Left, then they should just come out and say so.

However this idea that they don't want Transformers to be political when it always has been, just comes across as completely hypocritical.

[FatalityPitt]

They're going to make a running change to the deco just because of that??

MAGA could stand for anything. It could stand for "My Awesome Grand Auntie" or "Mend A Grazed Ankle".

If you want to go full-snowflake and boycott a toy because of connotations to Nazism/bigotry, then G1 Bumblebee would be the perfect candidate. Think about it; he has horns (like a Viking/Germanic warrior), he's got blue eyes, he's yellow (like blonde hair), the shell of his pretender toy from 1988 looks like a blond man, and he turns into a Volkswagen!

The MAGA thing on Jazz wasn't intentional in the first place, and at the end of the day; it's JUST a toy.

[bowspearer]

Likewise, should I have called for a boycott of the IDW comics as a person with disabilities because of the whole functionalist sub-plot of the IDW comics and the fact that such subplots could literally have been accused of glorifying the Nazi Euthanasia Program.

[DELTAprime]

Actually to quote from just two parts of the article:



And:



So clearly it does say exactly that.

No that does not say transformers gender is any deeper than attitude or appearance. Gender and sexuality are not the same.

If we were talking human characters or an alien lifeform which actually engaged in sexual reproduction, then you would have a valid point. Such a move would be inspired, would treat these issues seriously and would be a positive thing.

However aren't talking about beings which reproduce sexually - we're not even talking about the G1 Cartoon continuity where the Autobots suffered from what I would describe as the C3PO effect (ie they acted they way they did because of programming as evolutions of consumer goods, without any genuine understanding of what romantic feelings actually are and in a manner utterly divorced from reproduction).

What we are talking about here are completely asexual beings who reproduce with sparks naturally seeding from a planet and then either naturally or artificially being implanted into a metallic biomass of some kind.

There is no law that says love is limited to beings that reproduce.

While pushing homosexual relationships in stories about characters who sexually reproduce is as valid a move as doing so with heterosexual relationships, doing it in a storyline about biologically asexual beings, simply comes across as disengenuously anthropomorphising, blatantly forced and yes I'd make the same call about ANY sexual relationship between transformers of ANY nature. In doing so, I'd go so far as to say that it cheapens, rather than helps, LGBTIQ issues and reduces the whole thing into a trivial sideshow.

However all of that ignores the bigger issue. It is impossible to claim that you do not want Transformers to be political when as a war story, Transformers has always been political.

If Hasbro want Transformers to push issues important to the Political Left, then they should just come out and say so.

However this idea that they don't want Transformers to be political when it always has been, just comes across as completely hypocritical.

With the exception of the Bayverse Transformers has always been progressive, pushing for greater ideals in young and old fans alike. If this is a problem for you I suggest you stop giving Hasbro and Takara any of your money or time.