The Energon Pub

Good job they didn't call him Dragstrip, not all cross-dressers want to be viewed as exhibitionist sex objects.

Seibertron wrote:

Mykltron wrote:

Wasp-shot23 wrote:blimey, this has gotten big enough to hit big UK papers... its in page 42 of today's Sun: "spastic robot toy is banned" is the headline.
i thought i'd point it out, but it doesn't say anything we haven't already heard.
it does however say "scrapping the UK launch will be a big blow to hasbro as it was expected to be one of 2011's big sellers" i find that hard to believe to be honest. after all its only a PCC and do they forget that 2011 also houses the dotm movie line?

Yeah, well, The Sun is not known for it's journalistic greatness! That toy was probably never going to reach our shores anyway.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... &ATTR=News

The article definitely sounds a little sensational.

Very sensationalist... and isn't The Sun the newspaper that has nudie photos in it?

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Mykltron wrote:

Wasp-shot23 wrote:blimey, this has gotten big enough to hit big UK papers... its in page 42 of today's Sun: "spastic robot toy is banned" is the headline.
i thought i'd point it out, but it doesn't say anything we haven't already heard.
it does however say "scrapping the UK launch will be a big blow to hasbro as it was expected to be one of 2011's big sellers" i find that hard to believe to be honest. after all its only a PCC and do they forget that 2011 also houses the dotm movie line?

Yeah, well, The Sun is not known for it's journalistic greatness! That toy was probably never going to reach our shores anyway.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... &ATTR=News

The article definitely sounds a little sensational.

Very sensationalist... and isn't The Sun the newspaper that has nudie photos in it?

Yep. Don't get me wrong, topless women are awesome, but it doesn't exactly shout "Reputable news source."

Shadowman wrote:

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Mykltron wrote:

Wasp-shot23 wrote:blimey, this has gotten big enough to hit big UK papers... its in page 42 of today's Sun: "spastic robot toy is banned" is the headline.
i thought i'd point it out, but it doesn't say anything we haven't already heard.
it does however say "scrapping the UK launch will be a big blow to hasbro as it was expected to be one of 2011's big sellers" i find that hard to believe to be honest. after all its only a PCC and do they forget that 2011 also houses the dotm movie line?

Yeah, well, The Sun is not known for it's journalistic greatness! That toy was probably never going to reach our shores anyway.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... &ATTR=News

The article definitely sounds a little sensational.

Very sensationalist... and isn't The Sun the newspaper that has nudie photos in it?

Yep. Don't get me wrong, topless women are awesome, but it doesn't exactly shout "Reputable news source."

Exactly what I was going for.

Never consider The Sun a 'news source'.

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Mykltron wrote:

Wasp-shot23 wrote:blimey, this has gotten big enough to hit big UK papers... its in page 42 of today's Sun: "spastic robot toy is banned" is the headline.
i thought i'd point it out, but it doesn't say anything we haven't already heard.
it does however say "scrapping the UK launch will be a big blow to hasbro as it was expected to be one of 2011's big sellers" i find that hard to believe to be honest. after all its only a PCC and do they forget that 2011 also houses the dotm movie line?

Yeah, well, The Sun is not known for it's journalistic greatness! That toy was probably never going to reach our shores anyway.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... &ATTR=News

The article definitely sounds a little sensational.

Very sensationalist... and isn't The Sun the newspaper that has nudie photos in it?

The daily star has more... ;p

At least according to this little bit of news over at TF Toys.

Transformers dan Draven has posted news direct from Hasbro's Leader Designer Eric Siebenaler on Facebook that the Transformers Power Core Combiners figure Spastic, from the Stunticons set is to be given a new name due to the backlash from UK media.

The figure is not planned for a UK release.

Original article (which Ive basically posted above) is here:
http://transformertoys.co.uk/content.ph ... hange.html

The name debate also made national news in the Sun, the Metro and was made fun of on Russell Howards Good News tv show.

Bugger. Who wants my Brakedown and Dead-End?

I should add that I had no intent to offend Sufferers of anxiety/depression/suicide syndrome or erectile dysfunction by mentioning those frequently used TF names.

I won't pretend to know the whole story, or how offensive this is in England, but it seems a little overblown to me.

Energon Is My Drug wrote:I won't pretend to know the whole story, or how offensive this is in England, but it seems a little overblown to me.

No s**t. I'm not in England but I'm close enough and my eyeballs are spinning with the foolishness of it.

Before this all starts up, again, Im not trying to reopen the debate just bring this bit of news to peopels attention that may not have seen it.

I hate when companies cave in to stuff like this. An American company naming an an American product with a term that's not offensive at all in America shouldn't be an issue, and giving in like this is not a good precedent.

Optimum Supreme wrote:I hate when companies cave in to stuff like this. An American company naming an an American product with a term that's not offensive at all in America shouldn't be an issue, and giving in like this is not a good precedent.

Welcome to hypersensitive PC America (and England apparently) 2010. I hate it.

OMG, I need anger management, sob sob sob.

Looks like the whole debate *is* about to start again My friend in France heard about this and she doesn't follow TF news.

I just wanna know...


... what's the new name?

Valandar wrote:I just wanna know...


... what's the new name?

Remo

Nah, not really.

The whole spastic thing is so funny... So is the name issue.

Energon Is My Drug wrote:

Optimum Supreme wrote:I hate when companies cave in to stuff like this. An American company naming an an American product with a term that's not offensive at all in America shouldn't be an issue, and giving in like this is not a good precedent.

Welcome to hypersensitive PC America (and England apparently) 2010. I hate it.

OMG, I need anger management, sob sob sob.

Not sure how it is for you chaps across the pond, but the UK is incredibly PC (not PCC!!).

Optimum Supreme wrote:I hate when companies cave in to stuff like this. An American company naming an an American product with a term that's not offensive at all in America shouldn't be an issue, and giving in like this is not a good precedent.

Yeah, and it looks like the name will change in America, even though the toy isn't going to be sold in England? I can't wait to get this figure, because his name is Spastic, and I'm going to call him that.

This was on BBC comedy show "Russell howard's good news" last night, very funny, if people in the US or abroad can get on BBC iplayer look it up...
You'll laugh very hard and also realise the widespread view on the word over here...

Sensible decision, and a triumph for basic human decency/empathy over blockheaded right-wing insensitivity. Thank goodness Hasbro are ultimately more conscientious than you lot.

Incidentally, comment from a TF fan on the IDW board regarding this:

"I've been holding off on commenting, but the more I think about the name Spastic the more it bothers me. My girlfriend was born with cerebral palsy and has had several surgeries to straighten her spine so naming a fictional character Spastic really hits a sore spot with me. I am all for freedom of speech, but with this name it feel like Hasbro is laughing at the woman I love and plan to marry as well as all others like her."

Why hurt people when you can avoid it? That's the issue here, and Hasbro, I think, understood that.

Jack_Cade wrote:Sensible decision, and a triumph for basic human decency/empathy over blockheaded right-wing insensitivity. Thank goodness Hasbro are ultimately more conscientious than you lot.

I'm not sure this has been an issue of right- or left-wing anything, so much as it's an issue of the cultural specificity of slang terms. I lived in Europe for a while, and I know the English have a slang term for cigarettes that is generally frowned upon here in the States. Hasbro could have changed the name for a European release if the term is all that offensive, but I don't think it's been that horrific of an issue over here, where it will be released. I've also heard English friends use the term redneck without crying themselves to sleep at the prospect of maybe insulting some Americans.

Wasp-shot23 wrote:This was on BBC comedy show "Russell howard's good news" last night, very funny, if people in the US or abroad can get on BBC iplayer look it up...
You'll laugh very hard and also realise the widespread view on the word over here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThBalxDuLmY

it was pretty funny. Although I don't can't quite summon the energy to find the word offencive.

Dagon wrote:I'm not sure this has been an issue of right- or left-wing anything...

It seems to me very conservative/right wing to complain about any call for sensitivity to minority groups, particularly when it means adjusting one's own behaviour.

Re. 'fag'. It means 'homosexual' over here as well, of course. By coincidence, it's also slang for cigarette. But the point is that a cigarette is not a particularly offensive or pointedly negative thing to be associated with, so the double meaning does no real harm.

We also do use 'spastic', 'spaz' and 'retard' in exactly the same way you Americans do. As I said before, the only difference is that we're aware that it's also a medical term and that using the word as a generic insult is therefore harmful, because people who *are* technically spastic are made to feel an aspect of their identity is idiotic. It's no different in the US, *unless* you're going to tell me that medical professionals strictly no longer use the term 'spasticity' when discussing cerebral palsy, and it has completely fallen out of use in the medical world and no one anywhere in your country associates it with medical disorders at all.

Even if that were the case, Hasbro is an organisation with a global reach and has to consider how everything it does can be viewed around the world. No company in their right mind would, say, televise torture in another country and then say to Americans: "It's OK - we're doing it in another country so you shouldn't be offended!"

'Redneck' is a terrible comparator - it's not addressed at a victimised minority group and it's not used as a generic derogatory term. It has specific connotations with the US south and its politics. There's a difference between words that are 'offensive', ie. taboo, and words that are harmful, ie. words that, whether inadvertently or otherwise, victimise people.

From what I gathered, no PCCs at all past Wave 2 were intended for the UK, regardless of the "Spastic" mishap.

I don't think it's a bad decision to change the name. Even the US meaning it is often an insult --not as offensive as the UK meaning, of course-- similar to being called "nerd" or "dork." Not quite a good name for a toy. I'm interested in what they'll call him now.
Granted, I'm just going to call him Drag Strip, heh.