Make Cybertron Great Again.
November 17, 2017 8:51 AM   Subscribe

The new Transformers: Power of the Primes toys were released early! The assortment includes fan-favorite and classic G1-era character Jazz. But one eagle-eyed toy collector noticed tiny Cybertronian writing under the Autobot symbol: 4 characters that translate to MAGA. As in Make America Great Again, the campaign slogan of President Donald Trump and the battle cry of the current movement of white nationalists. Which is especially galling as Jazz was one of the few classic characters voiced by a person of color: the great Scatman Crothers of The Shining.
posted by UltraMorgnus (31 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
From the twitter discussion link in 'translate to MAGA':

Gherkin
@TheLastGherkin
I uh, think I'm going to paint over it or something

Chris
@chrisrtxv
Your option, of course. Fortunately the tampo in question is tiny - less than 3mm on a side. Leaving the print virtually unreadable without camera magnification.

Macula
@The_Macula
As though painted on with tiny tiny hands

posted by signal at 8:56 AM on November 17, 2017 [42 favorites]


2016: Ugh, this is the worst.
2017: Hold my beer.
posted by Fizz at 9:08 AM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm with GoBots.
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:09 AM on November 17, 2017 [10 favorites]


Transformers: Power of the Primes

My favorite is Mersenne Prime.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:11 AM on November 17, 2017 [11 favorites]


So I guess we can expect to see "MAGA" expressed in some form in every fictional language in books, movies, television, toys, etc. from now on.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:12 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Jazz voting against their interests. Playing right into the hands of the hockey stick industrial complex.
posted by adept256 at 9:20 AM on November 17, 2017


At least we have an easy way of identifying them now. You shall know them by their MAGA hats.
posted by Soliloquy at 9:24 AM on November 17, 2017


OMG?!! I just realized, the word DECEPT is in DECEPTICONS!?!

*mind blown*
posted by Fizz at 9:24 AM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Scatman Crothers, of Scatman Crothers.
posted by Oyéah at 9:27 AM on November 17, 2017 [10 favorites]


Scatman Crothers, of Scatman Crothers.

I was worried people might not know who he was! But yeah, Scatman Crothers of Scatman Crothers-fame.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 9:31 AM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Please. Scatman Crothers of Hong Kong Phooey fame.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:53 AM on November 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


So we all agree. Scatman Crothers is the coolest name ever.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:06 AM on November 17, 2017 [3 favorites]


> So we all agree. Scatman Crothers is the coolest name ever.

ftfy
posted by davelog at 10:36 AM on November 17, 2017 [6 favorites]


It's a long shot but it might be a reference to either the obscure Japanese noun 禍/まが/maga "disaster, calamity" or the verb 曲がる/magaru "to bend, twist".
posted by likethemagician at 11:21 AM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Sad that I just learned maga is Japanese for disaster
posted by timdiggerm at 11:26 AM on November 17, 2017 [33 favorites]


I think the proper format is:

"Just learned maga is Japanees for disaster, which nobody new before me!! I only use the BEST slogans, unlike the LOSERS & HATERS!"
posted by zombieflanders at 11:39 AM on November 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


Maximum Autobots Gargantuan Always
posted by Apocryphon at 11:54 AM on November 17, 2017


I'm with GoBots.

Hasbro's owned Tonka from back all the way in the early 90s, and just folded the GoBots line into the Transformers toys.
posted by radwolf76 at 12:24 PM on November 17, 2017


Well, the Michael Bay films were essentially US Army recruiting videos, so Transformers has been on the same side of politics as Chuck Norris and Duck Dynasty for some time now.
posted by acb at 12:39 PM on November 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


Dumbest timeline confirmed.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 12:43 PM on November 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


OMG?!! I just realized, the word DECEPT is in DECEPTICONS!?!

Wait til you get to the Dementors!
posted by rhizome at 12:59 PM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Wait til you get to the Dementors!

*counts on fingers* wait, they're going to be my mentors?!
posted by The River Ivel at 1:27 PM on November 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


You won't believe what word is hidden in 'assassin' twice!
posted by Pyry at 1:30 PM on November 17, 2017 [4 favorites]


Well, Hasbro responded:

"It was brought to our attention that a graphic appears on one of our Transformers figures that, when translated from Cybertonian letters to English, spells out MAGA. We investigated the issue, and discovered that one of our vendors inserted this as part of the design without authorization. We are addressing this with the vendor.

We do not intend for our products to carry political messages, and apologize to anyone who was offended by this message."
posted by UltraMorgnus at 2:49 PM on November 17, 2017 [11 favorites]


Reminds me of the Iraq War weapons manufacturer who included references to bible verses in their rifle scopes. But, you know, for kids!
posted by Theiform at 3:03 PM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Why is everything so shitty?
posted by Literaryhero at 3:41 PM on November 17, 2017 [8 favorites]


Nice pass, Blanco Nino, but too bad your ass got saaaaaaaaaacked.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 4:03 PM on November 17, 2017 [7 favorites]


#notallprimes "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:48 PM on November 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


At least whoever put it there could have actually tried to have some class and been funny with MCGA, but NOOOOOOOO!
posted by Samizdata at 7:45 PM on November 17, 2017


A race of supercomputer robots who are from a supercomputer planet has an alphabet? Because they need to read? And said alphabet has a one-to-one correspondence with English? Which is a set of symbols representing sounds some of the primates from a completely different planet are capable of making with their mouths and throats?
posted by eustacescrubb at 7:35 AM on November 18, 2017 [1 favorite]


Well, the Michael Bay films were essentially US Army recruiting videos, so Transformers has been on the same side of politics as Chuck Norris and Duck Dynasty for some time now.

IIRC the first Transformers movie was written as a GI Joe crossover. Which would have been awesome
posted by mikelieman at 7:39 AM on November 18, 2017


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