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INTEREST: BBC in Gundam Twitter Scandal


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MakiharaMeiko



Joined: 06 Mar 2017
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 10:28 am Reply with quote
The fun thing is that this happend as well in Spain xD
spoiler[https://twitter.com/teledeporte/status/1419424068059779072]
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:14 pm Reply with quote
It transforms Cool
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JoelBurger





PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:51 pm Reply with quote
More like they purposefully got it wrong to get engagement after they saw the similar levels of engagement of the "Gandum" thing.
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Rob19ny



Joined: 13 Jun 2020
Posts: 1655
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:11 pm Reply with quote
They goofed, but at least they acknowledged the screw up. I can only guess that the person running the twitter account is old because Transformers was a natural guess for them.
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kuma991



Joined: 20 Jan 2021
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:55 pm Reply with quote
JoelBurger wrote:
More like they purposefully got it wrong to get engagement after they saw the similar levels of engagement of the "Gandum" thing.

Or it's just a reporter trying his best in the most Britishly ignorant way?
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Abraham Omosun



Joined: 05 Mar 2020
Posts: 158
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:22 pm Reply with quote
To think that grunts/redshirts can correctly identify a Gundam in the heat of battle across multiple series but one British reporter can't Rolling Eyes
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 1804
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:23 pm Reply with quote
Still, Full Frontal is what more meets the eyes
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:56 pm Reply with quote
Scandal seems like an awfully harsh term for this. Gaffe, error, wrath of fans, etc.

But scandal?
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JoelBurger





PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:51 pm Reply with quote
kuma991 wrote:
Or it's just a reporter trying his best in the most Britishly ignorant way?


It takes a couple seconds to find out what Gundam is and how it's a cultural institution in Japan. So either it's not him "trying his best" when all it requires is some basic research and fact checking, or it's purposeful ignorance to get thousands of people paying attention to them for a day.
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Sam Murai



Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 1051
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:25 pm Reply with quote
As big of a fan I am of Gundam…I don't find this as much of a surprise, nor do I expect the average person to know what a "Gundam" is. Of course if someone sees a giant robot, they automatically think "Transformer", because that is way more ingrained in culture than Gundam. No different than people thinking "anime" goes as beyond Pokemon and DBZ.
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 881
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:56 pm Reply with quote
I mean...

Quote:
"An illustration of how Japanese pop culture has conquered global tastes, in the form of six thousand Twitter users piling on the BBC for mistaking a Gundam for a Transformer."


...I think it's more an illustration of how news agencies often refuse to do even the most cursory of fact-checking.

It takes all of four seconds to type "giant robot statue in Japan" and find out the appropriate name.
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LightningCount



Joined: 04 Mar 2018
Posts: 228
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:07 pm Reply with quote
I was at a store in the last few months in the US where an older teen or early 20-something identified a Tallgeese figure on display as Optimus Prime...

In terms of Gundam establishing itself beyond what it has, that ship sailed in the early 2000s, I think. Like any mecha series, it will be considered a spinoff of Transformers, and likely the Bay movie version of Transformers.

Kind of sad, though, when you consider that Gundam is sort of a Star Wars or Star Trek in Japan, as far as I am aware.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4564
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:08 pm Reply with quote
JoelBurger wrote:

It takes a couple seconds to find out what Gundam is and how it's a cultural institution in Japan. So either it's not him "trying his best" when all it requires is some basic research and fact checking, or it's purposeful ignorance to get thousands of people paying attention to them for a day.

...orrrrrrr a sports announcer happened to see a giant robot in a background shot that had absolutely nothing to do with the sporting event itself and made an honest error in an offhand comment because most non-nerds probably have no idea what a Gundam is.
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Desa



Joined: 07 Mar 2015
Posts: 285
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 8:59 pm Reply with quote
Truly one of the greatest of all crimes!
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Meongantuk



Joined: 03 Jun 2016
Posts: 353
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:19 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
JoelBurger wrote:

It takes a couple seconds to find out what Gundam is and how it's a cultural institution in Japan. So either it's not him "trying his best" when all it requires is some basic research and fact checking, or it's purposeful ignorance to get thousands of people paying attention to them for a day.

...orrrrrrr a sports announcer happened to see a giant robot in a background shot that had absolutely nothing to do with the sporting event itself and made an honest error in an offhand comment because most non-nerds probably have no idea what a Gundam is.

To be honest, if you actually search "robot statue in odaiba" or Tokyo in Google, it'll give you the location and the name of the statue as well as some articles relating to it (somewhat mixed with rx-78 for obvious reasons). The statue isn't some sort of mysterious hidden statue that only nerds know, it's a public attraction and cultural landmark. But I guess, BBC writer are too professional and too busy to stoop as low as googling something.
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