New PCC - Stunticons, Undertow and Salvage

[FFN]

Not somebody prone with seizures, but they are most likely referring to a character who is super-energetic, wound up, rapidly moving and clumsy, possibly in an amusing fashion, like Movie Frenzy. That's likely what they're going for, and generally, what North Americans refer to when they describe somebody being "a spaz".

From what I understand in discussion with (generally left-wing, politically correct) Americans and Canadians, their usual usage of spastic or its slang variety spaz is usually not referring to somebody with cerebral palsy or associated conditions, nor is it meant to be the derogatory term it is in some other countries.


It's an honest mistake, not one of malice or stupidity or, as Kup suggests, a lack of caring for the franchise. Even Gok's own cited dictionary definition doesn't suggest that it is a derogatory term at all. After all, in a culture where the word seemingly doesn't have any negative connotations (and is unrelated to serious illnesses), it would seem to be excessive to check if, on the off chance, it was offensive elsewhere?

With hindsight and coming from a different culture, we can say it's a mistake on their part, but it's not as stupid a mistake as some of you are suggesting.

[GoktimusPrime]

Not somebody prone with seizures, but they are most likely referring to a character who is super-energetic, wound up, rapidly moving and clumsy, possibly in an amusing fashion, like Movie Frenzy.

From what I understand in discussion with (generally left-wing, politically correct) Americans and Canadians, their usual usage of spastic or its slang variety spaz is usually not referring to somebody with cerebral palsy or associated conditions, nor is it meant to be the derogatory term it is in some other countries.

And "slag" isn't derogatory outside of Great Britain, and even in the UK it's still not derogatory when used in the context of referring to metals - and from a male robot character.

It's an honest mistake, not one of malice or stupidity or, as Kup suggests, a lack of caring for the franchise. Even Gok's own cited dictionary definition doesn't suggest that it is a derogatory term at all. After all, in a culture where the word seemingly doesn't have any negative connotations (and is unrelated to serious illnesses), it would seem to be excessive to check if, on the off chance, it was offensive elsewhere?

With hindsight and coming from a different culture, we can say it's a mistake on their part, but it's not as stupid a mistake as some of you are suggesting.

You'd think they'd learn to do a bit more research into names after the Nexus Maximus affair. A simple Google search (with safe mode switched off ) probably would've let them know that the word could be offensive in some regions.

Also, the issue I have with this justification is that it seems to contradict Hasbro's action/policy when they deliberately avoided using the name "Slag" and called him Snarl -- in the extremely remote off chance that someone would find it offensive, and even if they did find it offensive and tried to take legal action against Hasbro, they wouldn't have a case since in the context of a flame-throwing Dinobot it's a perfectly reasonable word. It would be like say going to a dog show and trying to take legal action against the organisers for having a sign that said "First Class Bitches" (I've actually seen a sign that said this the Royal Easter Show - for a dog exhibit). Since they're using the word 'bitch' in an appropriate context, then they're perfectly safe to do so. Likewise Hasbro would've been perfectly safe to use "Slag" for that character. After all, G1 Slag was still called "Slag" during the 1980s (and Slag made more than half of his appearances in the Marvel Comics in the UK issues).

Ya know, up until Animated Slag came along, I would happily agree with you. When Night Slash Cheetor came out, UK fans had a good laugh, but everyone understood that it was an innocent cross-sociolinguistic faux pas. Then the same thing happened again with Slapper. Then the whole Animated Snarl thing came out, which established a precedent for Hasbro USA supposedly wanting to be more "sensitive" to potentially upsetting people in other regions (even though they totally wouldn't have IMO).



Would it be possible for Hasbro's International division to give this toy a different name in other Anglophone countries? They could easily print off some stickers to put over the names on the packaging and instructions. They've done it before (not necessarily to change names, but other things on packaging).

[Paulbot]

I was just watching the first episode of the new Conan O'Brien talk show, and one of his first guests was Lea Michelle from Glee. She's the sweet, wholesome girl from the show. She talked about herself as a child and described herself as "energetic" and "spastic".

If it wasn't for this thread I would have been quite shocked with such a comment. Even having read that it's not an offensive term in the US it still seemed really odd for someone to use to describe themselves.

[Tallestblue]

For some odd Reason I'd be a lot happier if the character was called "Spazz" rather than "Spastic" Although I don't collect PCCs.

[Hursticon]

See, I dunno maybe it's because I'm from Dapto? , but I've never found the word Spastic to be terribly offensive at all - hell as Primary School kids we used to call each other Spastics all the time, I still to this day call my Father a Spastic or a Spaz when ever he flips out over nothing.

You see, to me, this is very much like the 'Gay' description argument in that whilst someone may use the term, they're more often than not never actually calling a person a Homosexual but saying they're crap - All they are doing is swapping out the word for another, much like the way other profane (I call descriptive ) words are used.

When I call someone a Spastic, I'm not trying to offend a sufferer of Cerebral-Palsy, all I'm doing is describing someone's actions.
Where I take offence, is if someone actively and knowingly sets out to offend handicapped people i.e. walking up to a disabled person in the street and calling them spastic - that is wrong and atrocious!

Now, if they had gone and called Transmutate 'Spastic'?...

[Seraphim Prime]

You see, to me, this is very much like the 'Gay' description argument in that whilst someone may use the term, they're more often than not never actually calling a person a Homosexual but saying they're crap - All they are doing is swapping out the word for another, much like the way other profane (I call descriptive ) words are used.

Yes but the argument is:

Gay = Homosexual (although even that is not the original definition...)

Gay = Crap/Stupid/disapproved


Therefore,

Homosexual = Crap/Stupid/somewhat detestable.


By calling someone gay, in the context you describe, you're not saying that they are gay, but you are saying that they are displaying qualities similar to one who is gay, and the offence is in the association of homosexuals with your friends stupid actions/behaviours.



In this case, the issue in UK and Australia will be the association of the term "Spastic" with one of the evil Decepticon characters, thereby associating those who are medically spastic with characters that are bad/evil. Although a cleverly written bio that discussed his boundless energy (as the Americans use the term) would go some way to alleviate any negative connotations, but not completely.

[Sky Shadow]

Is anybody else going to attempt to argue that they did somehow know that spastic was offensive but were too lazy to double check or simply didn't care? Because that would be a ridiculous argument.

I can't see that anyone has been arguing that. The point is that when they name any toy, they should do a basic Google search to know they're going to avoid another Slapper or Nexus Maximus scenario. It's common sense.

[Hursticon]

Yes but the argument is:

Gay = Homosexual (although even that is not the original definition...)

Gay = Crap/Stupid/disapproved


Therefore,

Homosexual = Crap/Stupid/somewhat detestable.


By calling someone gay, in the context you describe, you're not saying that they are gay, but you are saying that they are displaying qualities similar to one who is gay, and the offence is in the association of homosexuals with your friends stupid actions/behaviours.

In this case, the issue in UK and Australia will be the association of the term "Spastic" with one of the evil Decepticon characters, thereby associating those who are medically spastic with characters that are bad/evil. Although a cleverly written bio that discussed his boundless energy (as the Americans use the term) would go some way to alleviate any negative connotations, but not completely.

I'd actually disagree with that Seraphim, as would one of my mates of 21 years who is a Homosexual.
He himself has told me that people calling each other 'Gay' is not offensive to Homosexuals whatsoever, or at least that's how he and his partner feel, and it is his belief that it is only offensive once you've given it a context.

What you have done is exactly that, you've given 'Gay' the context of Homosexuality and hence associated all the other meanings that the word 'Gay' can have and pinned it to Homosexuals.
You've displayed a clear case of over the top - political correctness, much like the fairy penguins and bah bah black sheep debacle.

[FFN]

You'd think they'd learn to do a bit more research into names after the Nexus Maximus affair. A simple Google search (with safe mode switched off ) probably would've let them know that the word could be offensive in some regions.

Again, that would be under the assumption that they had any inkling that it was an offensive word in other regions, and logically, if they did have any inkling, they most likely would have avoided the word entirely.

See where this is going? You've already shown that Hasbro tries to be culturally sensitive when they are aware of a problem. If they didn't know there's a problem, how could they respond to it? Why would they do a google search for a word that, to Americans, seems perfectly reasonable?

Additionally, their lawyers and the US Trademark registration office evidently didn't see a problem with trademarking "spastic" either, further demonstrating that generally Americans have no idea that "spastic" is now considered to be an offensive term in some countries.


Is anybody else going to attempt to argue that they did somehow know that spastic was offensive but were too lazy to double check or simply didn't care? Because that would be a ridiculous argument.