Getting Crap Past the Radar cleanup

Cool.

The Pokemon book entry about "adult books" is probably due to how Kanji is taught, with kids books sticking to Kanji the kids would know at the age they were at, and adult books using way more complicated Kanji, even if the subject matter is tame. This can't really be translated into the English edition, so ends up looking like Accidental Innuendo, even though it's just an idiosyncrasy of Japanese and other pictographic languages that doesn't happen in English.

Doing Radar/Shantae right now. The series in general fits What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? pretty nicely so this will be pretty interesting.

The first game was rated E, with the rest being rated E10+ except for Half-Genie Hero. By the PEGI ratings, all the modern games are rated 12+.

Shantae

• In the first battle against Risky Boots, Risky sends her Tinkerbats after Shantae and says "Spank this one extra hard for mommy!". Innuendo
  • Risky Boots herself is FULL of this trope. This is pretty evident in some of her dialog. "Gotta haul booty!" She's a pirate, this is a pirate joke
• The Cackle Mound has a set of puzzles where you must knock eyes into a robot to make it open its mouth to drop a key. One of the later robots doesn't immediately drop a key, as you need to redirect where it's staring until it's looking at a specific thing. What will make it drop the key from its mouth? The statue of a half-naked girl. The games in general have sexual references and almost all female characters in the franchise are half-naked, plus this one is 8-bit so you can't see anything

Shantae: Risky's Revenge

• A child NPC in Scuttle Town will tell Shantae: "Mom dressed up as the scary pirate lady for my dad. But I'm not allowed to speak of such things". Another innuendo
• A literal example where Uncle Mimic talks about the contents of his unusually large bowels, of which he emptied the contents onto a Pressure Plate in order to take the treasure that was originally there. After he finishes his story, there's much awed murmuring in the crowd. Innuendo
  Crowd: Ooooooh...MURMUR...incredible man...huge bowels...such bravery!
• When Risky Boots steals the Magic Lamp, she commands her Tinkerbats to "hoist her booty through the roof!" That's another pirate joke
• When the Ammo Baron asks Shantae to join his private army, one of the "incentives" he mentions is that they have an open air shower. The army is completely male. It doesn't help that an infamous Tweet from the franchise's official Twitter account said Shantae is probably only around 15-16 years old, which contradicts a statement by series design James Montagna. Also worth mentioning is that by the sequel, there are at least two female members of the army. E10+ games can have references to The Peeping Tom
• An NPC's reaction to learning Ammo Baron is the new mayor of Scuttle Town: Innuendo
  NPC: You can kiss the dance costumes goodbye.
• Mermaid-form Shantae is completely topless (which is backed up by concept art◊, although she has no nipples). Fortunately, her breasts are only four pixels, so there's not much room for any objectionable "details". But the artifact that lets Mer-Shantae shoot bubbles does include two pink pixels in a place where they should not be in a E10+-rated game. Interestingly, the Half-Genie Hero version has a starfish's limbs covering her breasts leaving open the possibility her design was changed out of non-imposed censorship. You can barely make it out when there's nipples and again you can't see anything. In the modern games it's also not there, so it didn't get past the radar with the better graphics.
• Stand still and Shantae has an idle animation where she adjusts her top. Not valid
• Risky Boots lies on top of S.P.O.T.T. as Shantae is fighting it, occasionally letting out an Evil Laugh. Nothing out of the ordinary, except she rolls on her back when doing so, resulting in her looking much more pleased with the carnage than intended. Considering she's not actually doing that this isn't an example

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse

• After going through her personal belongings looking for a pirate costume, Shantae notes that Risky's clothes are "too roomy". Again, these games have innuendo and sexy outfits, this isn't anything new for the series.
• The incident on Tan Line Island:
  • Shantae, Risky, Rottytops and Sky are all mistaken for princesses. They're locked up to prevent escape and, for no reason at all, dressed in incredibly skimpy outfits. Well, actually there is a reason...just not one that people inside the Fourth Wall would understand. This is already a game where every female character is wearing a bikini or belly dancing outfit, skimpy clothes is not getting anything past the radar as that's the norm in the games
  • After Risky calls Sky fat, Sky replies that Risky must weigh "As much as a lead balloon. Or two." Considering the standards of this series I don't see how this passes anything
• During a rescue mission (of sorts) Shantae has to carry Rottytops through a maze of swatting hands, licky tongue monsters, animated statues that make kissy faces, enormous thrusting pillars, and long, cylindrical things that spit out tadpole-like projectiles for seemingly no reason. Innuendo
• The 3D effect of the 3DS emphasizes the characters' faces... and their breasts. I don't think sexy characters break the radar
• Twitch and Vinegar on Saliva Island. Fill the pool for them and you'll get treated to a scene in which they get ready to party in said pool, including portraits of them stripping out of their normal clothes. They've got their bathing suits underneath, but still... This is way below what content Shantae usually contains
• Brandon saying he needs to hold his sword erect to use his powers. Innuendo
• Once you get Risky's Scimitar, you can upgrade it in the shop. The upgrade is described as "increasing the downward thrust." Innuendo
• Some of the enemies on Mud Bog Island are obviously female, have an Impossible Hourglass Figure, and wear no obvious clothing. One of their forms also consists of what seems to be four or five of them in some sort of dogpile. This is risque, but probably follows Surprisingly Lenient Censor, and the whole series has its risque moments

Shantae and the Seven Sirens

• This game pokes fun at the series' tendency to slip the radar, with a villager in Tree Town stating that Shantae's dance moves transcend 'strict content thresholds'. Think of the Censors!
• The "Mint Condition" segment, during which Shantae and Sky are tricked into donning impossibly skimpy armor which restricts their movements, then imprisoned and passed off as collectibles. Shantae has the option of calling the Armor Baron out afterwards. Refer back to the one where Shantae and the gang are mistaken for princesses.
• After Shantae lets Rottytops know that she already figured out she was "Fillin The Blank", Rotty changes back into her normal clothes - and it's all but said that she changed in front of Shantae. This seems mild for the series
• While the Circus Squid enemies are named after circus acrobats, their provocative posing and swinging on vertical poles is more reminiscent of pole dancers. Surprisingly Lenient Censor

Other

• The cancelled GBA game would have had a "perverted zombie" enemy, who rushed around the room with his hands out as if to grope something. When he caught Shantae, he'd spank her. Not surprisingly, the developers decided to leave this particular concept behind. Considering this game didn't happen, nothing therefore passed the radar
  Matt Bozon: We do not talk about Spanky Joe.
• Statues seen throughout the games are of viking and genie women with huge breasts. Every female character in the games has big breasts

I'm not seeing anything here that deserves to stay. I think the whole Shantae series is a case of Surprisingly Lenient Censor and What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?, so I don't know exactly what can cross the radar for these games, and the games that did seem to cross the radar went into a Teen rating so they didn't get past it.

Edited by ReynTime250 on Jan 12th 2021 at 4:00:29 PM

Clarification: SLS is for cases of the creator being surprised something was allowed.

Overall, yeah, it looks like all the examples are of things which are explicitly permitted under the age ratings that were assigned.

IDK if this one from Tenchi Universe could fit under the new definition:

• Ryouko's line "Damn it! That Ayeka has gotten too close to my Tenchi lately." in "No Need for Worries" was left intact with a TV-Y7 rating on Toonami, even in reruns.

Pretty sure it does. I don't think Y7 gives any leeway for swearing.

Yeah, cursing is supposed to be an automatic TV-PG.

...wait, TV-PG is a higher rating than Y7?

It is.

Heck, G is technically higher than Y7.

Are we removing all images on Radar/ subpages, even if they were chosen by a previous thread? The problem with ruling BUPKIS on an entire namespace is that some pages may already have Pretty Kickass Images.

Also, these examples from Monster Party (reworded a bit) seem valid, as they reference how they broke Nintendo's censorship guidelines.

• While the American version of Monster Party changed the blood on the title screen of the unreleased Japanese prototype to green slime, Nintendo's censors must not have looked far past that, as the "level start" and "game over" screens show skeletons waist-deep in a lake of blood. They also slipped in the word "Hell," which wasn't allowed in the NES days, and the word "die," spoken by the Final Boss.

We kinda have to. They were chosen using the old definition and guidelines. If you think some of them are kickass try defending them in IP, but you'll need to prove they demonstrate the trope under the new TRS rules.

*insert "This" GIF here*

We'll probably end up cutting the entire Radar/ subwiki anyway, which will take the page images with them.

The Monster Party examples do look valid, but they'll need a citation of some sort to be included, as the new definition needs Dr. Pedia, not Mr. Trope.

I found a tricky one at Film.The Miracle of Morgans Creek:

For reference, here is the Hays Code

But I also came across this, which details some of the Breen Office's specific objections, and also what Preston Sturges had to say on the matter:

So that makes it seem like Sturges was going for an edgy but ultmately Hays-compliant movie. Sturges died in 1959, when the Hays Code was still in effect; however, the biography in question was published in 1990, edited and assembled by his fourth wife, Sandy. By this point, there would have been no reason to lie about trying to comply with the Code.

So does the example fit or not?

Should the radar page for Trollhunters even exist? It's a Netflix show, meaning that they can get away with pretty much anything, and the show is obviously not strictly just for kids. They're not getting under the radar of anything.

Edited by KingOfStickers on Jan 15th 2021 at 5:03:19 PM

Many ratings agencies cover Netflix as well as broadcast television; the BBFC, for example, rates it PG.

Netflix does apply age ratings, and in some cases, these are based directly on the national age ratings for the country it services... but according to this article, while they work with national age ratings bodies, ratings are determined internally (and there's also an algorithm). We may be able to make some inferences by comparing a show's rating to the rating system it's based on, but should be wary that Netflix may be more or less lenient on various things than external bodies.

IMDB gives a few ratings, which I have no way to confirm. Most of them are PG or equivalent, which seems reasonable; American Netflix rates it TV-Y7FV, but having a quick look over the Radar/ page, the only thing that looks inappropriate is characters saying "crap" sometimes; if American Netlix's ratings are based on the FCC's, it should probably be rated TV-PG on that basis, unless the Netflix people think that crap has become mild enough that it's suitable for children.

Hmm.

There is an internal radar at Netflix, but thinking about it, it seems like Trollhunters falls within it.

Edited by VampireBuddha on Jan 15th 2021 at 5:51:48 PM

Some TV-Y7 shows have gotten away with "crap" like Dexter's Laboratory but they usually got censored after the fact. But then again, that was the 90's / early 2000's.

Found these on Little Witch Academia (2017). I saw this show 4 years ago when it came out.

• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • During "Papiliodia", we see several of the classes the girls attend which includes potions. Most of the students are bothered by the fumes, but Sucy seems to enjoy them a bit too much. Valid
  • Lotte references the Oedipus Complex by name in "Night Fall". She also references gay slash fiction in the same episode. Would references to homosexual fiction be problematic with TV-Y7 ratings? Unsure on this one
  • In "Bee Affection", when Akko's looking for a dress, she pulls out a Playboy bunny outfit. It's rather tame compared to most anime tbh, not an example
  • Sucy gets thrilled at the thought of getting sacrificed, that is, eaten and expelled by the Vajarois apparition. She also has a look of bliss when it actually happens. In other words, she's into vore. This sounds like looking too much into things
  • In "Discipline", there's a picture of comments on a website with a design similar to Tumblr. One of the comments on the website is "Piece of shit game, piece of shit referee." Also, one of the comments Croix was looking at related to the Wild Hunt in "Stanship Take Off!" said, "Wow! people actually believe in this bullshit". Valid
  • Netflix actually rates this show as Y7. Valid, though it could be explained that some of the swearing fits the TV-PG rating

The first one sounds more like G-Rated Drug (and/or Demographically Inappropriate Humor), and it's probably too subtle.

The HorribleHistories seems to have problems. Most of these are sex jokes.

• In classic British style, much of the verbal humour especially is likely to sail right over the kiddies' heads. The most audacious example is probably in the Christmas Special, wherein a sadistic, whip-wielding prison guard tells Baynton, "I think I can speak for all the lads when I say, 'You're our favourite prisoner'." Yes, they actually went there. Needs more context. Was Mathew Baynton playing a particular person? How was the line said?
• There's a song set in a monastery featuring errant monks partying with a "funky nun" while the bishop isn't looking. Her closing thoughts? "Ah, men!" A cleverly PG presentation of what were basically orgies behind monastery walls between nuns and monks. I'll need the context for this too.
• Bob Hale gets off a lulu in the Pharaoh Report: "Tutankhamen's daddy became a mummy, which is a very complex operation." Accidental Innuendo
• There's also the wink and lip-bite George II gives the camera (and repeats in the the Prom special) while singing the line "I was the bad one..." Not to mention George I singing about how ladies "would do anything for me, or I'd have their husbands killed..." with a big eyebrow raise on "anything". Probably fine.
• Also from the Prom special, the inset sketch involving a royal lineup to use the public loo features this little experiment in just how much you can get away with by claiming historical accuracy:
  Charles II: Henry VIII's in there with his personal bottom-wiper. Calls him the Groom of the Stool. Very popular job in his day, apparently... [aside, to George III] Not my kind of party, but to each his own... Demographically Inappropriate Humour. Other Groom of the Stool jokes have been made in other sketches.
• Apparently, the Cash My Sin number (a riff on the medieval Church requirement that you pay to keep out of purgatory) is 0800-I've Been Naughty. Dang. I'm not sure about this one. The natter needs to go.
• The visual for this moment in the 'Burke & Hare' song is kept tastefully vague, but:
  Dr. Knox: Well it's always a palaver
  Getting hold of a cadaver
  So I said yes, I'd have her —
  [peeks under sheet] Ooh! It's a he! Probably valid.
• The Viking song: "We're gonna get you in the end... literally!" Given how many other times 'object up a butt' was used as a joke, I'm going to say this is invalid.
• The 'Victorian Eastenders' sketch involves a father berating his 'sixteenth daughter'. Her name? Chastity. Parental Bonus
• In one sketch about the Greek myth of Cronus, they actually mention Cronus cutting off his father's "dangly bits". Seems valid
• In the online game, they actually make mention to the ancient Egyptian aristocracy's tradition of brother-sister incest. This has been mentioned in other skits. I think this can be cut.
• Some of the Flowery Insult Shakespeare uses is this via Get Thee to a Nunnery. The better you understand Elizabethan English, the less it is Inherently Funny Words and the more it is rather dirty and un-PC words that couldn't be translated for a kids' show. Needs clarification.

That results in 3 needs context (remove if context isn't found), 4 keeps, 1 unsure, and 5 cuts.

Vampire: That makes sense. Thank you for telling me.

I checked, and it turns out that American TV ratings are assigned by the broadcasters; this appears to be voluntary. With that in mind, we can say that Netflix is indeed using the actual age ratings.

I don't recall Dexter's Laboratory ever saying "crap", and I watched it when it was new.

That all in mind, I suspect that crap is still bad enough not to generally belong in anything rated below PG. That Trollhunters example can stay, but I doubt there's anything else on the page that's valid.

I've never seen Little Witch Academia, but Sucy inhaling fumes doesn't look like it breaks any rules. To me, based on that gif and the other example posted, she comes across as more of an Addams Family-type character, one who enjoys things that are harmful and uncomfortable to normal people.

The cursing is definitely valid.

Any opinions on the Miracle of Morgan's Creek example?

And in other news, as of today I have gone through every example in the Film/ namespace. The Hays Code section on the trope page is now pretty big, and it might be worth making a Radar/ subpage for the MPAA, covering both the Hays Code and CARA. I'll start on Series/ tomorrow.

If you're curious, the "crap" episode of Dexter's Lab was "Dexter Dodgeball." Here you go. Might be valid GCPTR, and I think it was listed on Radar.Dexters Laboratory.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jan 15th 2021 at 3:29:00 PM