Politics in Media - The Good, the Bad, and the Preachy

Though it's worth remembering that at the point the game was made this slogan was solely associated with Reagan.

I never really got why people were trying to draw similarities between Armstrong and Trump simply based on that one phrase.

If anything, Trump would be the exact kind of person Armstrong would use for his plans and then discard or let the protagonist do away with for him.

I mean, Trump used the same type of bombastic and larger-than-life appeareance, not to mention part of his speech was being against the establishment.

Besides, both are fucked up at the core.

Both apples and peaches are fruits, but that's not really a helpful statement.

For all his insanity, Armstrong is actually an interesting villain - people like Trump aren't.

As I mentioned before, the closest fictional equivalent to Trump I could think of is literally every single antagonist in Akumetsu.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Nov 14th 2019 at 4:54:49 PM

He’s closer to Mr. Burns in my mind. He’s hilarious but also a huge dick and a mean human being.

this is accurate and also part of the reason I dropped akumetsu. Incredible artwork but offing one dimensional cartoon villains, even if in flashy spectacular ways, got old after a while.

I think of Andrew Ryan as probably the best Trump man. He lures people to a shitty resort with promises of freedom of corruption, wealth for hard work, and benefits only to promptly make everyone but him a slave as well as game the system (it's not taxes, I'm just charging you for air).

and then when it falls to complete shit, he blames everyone but himself.

He's also terrified of immigrants and obsessed with golf.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Nov 14th 2019 at 8:05:19 AM

For better or worse, I imagine Armstrong as more like John Bolton.

Armstrong's facade, sure. But I don't think there's anyone currently who lives up to Armstrong's true goal for a Social Darwinist world of unfettered Ubermensch.

Yet.

Well we don’t have nanomachines like that

I have a feeling if superpowers actually existed then yeah, expect that shit in RL

In general, the issue with comparing Trump to many fictional villains is that the latter tend to have more villainous virtues and ideology. The thing with Trump is that his problem isn’t just his vices, but a lack of virtue. He’s a very shallow individual.

Trump is a bit more comparable to Fontaine than Andrew Ryan. He can also be compared to Palpatine pretty fairly.

I’d also compare him to Bowser, actually.

Edited by Protagonist506 on Nov 14th 2019 at 12:02:18 PM

@Drag: I.mean, maybe they realize it. They just prefer that craziness. If the last years have teach us something is that humans aren't exactly bright. Or moral for that matter.

But yeah, the reason why Westerners don't get the politics of Japanese games is simply Values Dissonance and no that Japanese.games.lack politics.

That was a general problem with George W. Bush as well. He was such a comical buffoon that it was hard to base villains off him, so most of the antagonists arisen from that time tend to crib off Dick Cheney instead (Senator Armstrong being actually the most striking example) since he was even more ruthless while still maintaining a cold, sociopathic façade that lended itself well to villains.

The only Bush based villain was God from Leviathan that was...literally just Bush.

And Not!Saddam was meant to be a heroic democratic President trying to.save the remains of his country.

...yeah

There's a reason most comparisons between Trump and... well... anyone really come off as Insult to Rocks.

Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Nov 14th 2019 at 10:53:07 AM

I really should try Metal Gear someday, as soon I have time probably.

I'm remembering a talk about how there was a excess.of Right Wing dystopias in AlternateHistory.com and how it was the natural.developtment due.to the Nature.of the Anglosphere,a hyper conservative dictatorship feels like a criticism to American and/or British society while the idea of Stalinist takeovers is just bizarre.

Edited by KazuyaProta on Nov 14th 2019 at 6:34:50 AM

I dunno, the most famous of all dystopias is 1984.

I mentioned the website, not the whole dystopia genre.

I usually compare Trump to the Freys from A Song of Ice and Fire.

Personally, I'm becoming pretty fond of the comparison to Bowser from Mario. They're a kind of bumbling, ill-mannered fool with petty goals (which they seek to achieve over and over against despite repeatedly failing) who's nonetheless very dangerous.

Edited by Protagonist506 on Nov 14th 2019 at 4:48:22 AM

I don't think that's a fair comparison. For one, Bowser treats his underlings well enough that they follow him out of respect.

Yes, Bowser occasionally has humanizing and even respectable qualities. Not so much with Trump.

Biff in Back to the Future Part 2 (the rich guady biff) was apparently based on Trump.

So was rich businessman Luthor and certain versions of the Kingpin.

@dragonfire5000 It's not a perfect comparison, admittedly, but I do think it's close and they are pretty similar. Bowser is slightly more or less evil than Trump (Bowser has a few more sympathetic qualities than Trump, though I actually would say he's worse in some ways too). And I would say it's the same sort of 'type', with the main differences being things like severity.

Increasingly Trump is reminding me of Gary "The Smiler" Callahan from Transmetropolitan

Edited by tricksterson on Nov 14th 2019 at 8:50:39 AM

YJ Lex Luthor is definitely being written with Trump in mind as of the latest season, even using "both sides" and "sad" in his rhetoric.

TBH, if one wants to find fictional villains that are close to Trump, just look at the Slimeball trope page.

Edited by M84 on Nov 14th 2019 at 9:53:10 PM