Va'al wrote:Rated X wrote:On the use of the name Manuel, They only used it because “Robot Man” was exclusive to Argentina. So they decided to make it funny by adding “uel” to Man and giving him a Spanish name to match the geographic location the original figure was sold.
But this harmless pun comes at a time when there is a heated debate in US Congress on how to deal with millions of immigrants living in the US illegally. [...] So any pun that pokes fun at the Latino community is very bad timing and easily perceived as racism by some people. Nobody has a bigger sense of humor than me. It’s all just bad timing.
But compare the following:Rated X wrote:So he wasn't allowed to cross the border ?Simes wrote:They were officially licenced, but only available in Argentina.
I don't think there was any intention at making fun of a minority at a bad time (and I personally had no idea right now was specifically a bad time for people of Latino descent - I thought the Muslim community was the current target for hatred in the US), and it was more a case of having 'Robot Man' already there, and as you said, making it into 'Manuel' makes the homage more explicit.
And, as the others have said, I think most British fans would love some AutoBrits.
Initially I thought it was funny until I realized it was a British exclusive. We all make jokes amongst each other (latinos) but when outsiders do it it can be a little offensive. And not everybody finds the word retard offensive here. Same thing with the word "midget". I didnt even know "Slag" was a bad word somewhere in the world. Remember Muslim is a religon, not a race. I guess only people who live in the US would be aware of the current immigration debate between whites and latinos. Not your fault. But I will tell you it's not pretty. The US is truly divided.