For people who's saying most of us are just vidya game nerds that don't have PTSD, is it that hard to believe that in recent world situation, lots of us would know people or family member who has PTSD, and people trivializing them would be really grating?
I'm pretty sure the parallel between an androids combat programming kicking in, and a war veteran experiencing a PTSD flashback is very much intentionally being drawn by Blizzard in this short.
So, PTSD, or programming? I'd say a little of both - either way I disagree with the assertion that Bastion isn't to be trusted just because he still hasn't learned that every loud noise isn't a bomb or gun yet.
Gonna skip the whole SJ fiasco to point out something here - Bastion is basically the Iron Giant. Curious, friendly...and loses control when he feels he or a friend is threatened. Ganymede is his Hogarth - helping him resist his programming to be what he wants to be - let's hope it's Superman.
@CeliriaRose: And that seriousness - for both sufferer and the people around them - is to give them psychological help, and NOT keep them on as combatants. If anything, it's Blizzard that is disrespecting PTSD sufferers. Secondly, this is a gag strip. Serious things need jokes, too.
It doesn't matter if it's fiction or it's just a joke. The point of the scene you are referencing was clearly showing the idea of PTSD and to trivialize it as you do in your comment is disrespectful to everyone who actually suffers from the condition.
@Wolfzoon: I agree that it's a bit much to give up on the comic when there's that long of a gap between strips you have problems with. Plus, Jo's done some strips with good social commentary in that time. One example: http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/704
Bastion's short doesn't bother to explain why the hell Bastion is fighting: Ana gets shot in the face, Winston saves Overwatch, Tracer witnesses a famous robot monk getting shot in the face while Widow enjoys it, but Bastion is just a Disney Princess with his sanity tied to a bird. Poor Woodpecker.
The joke here would be plenty strong even without jumping on the "ironically triggered" bandwagon. And I never said that a majority or even many NN! readers are put off by it. But they are very much a part of Jo's audience and I'd be willing to bet their numbers are a bit higher than one.
@Wolfzoon My suggestion would remove PTSD from the equation entirely (removing panels 3+4). That's what I think is holding this strip back; equivocating PTSD and its triggers to "getting really angry and/or frustrated" is the entire reason people get offended by this strip and other "jokes" like it.
@Thelonius Dunk: No, people would instead be angry because you trivialize PTSD by saying it 'just needs anger management'.
"People." The vocal one person maybe. I highly doubt his audience is full of PTSD-suffering people anyway, it's vidja gaym nerds.
@Otter: Do you mean to say that Nezumi said "this strip, and that one you did FIVE YEARS AGO, that's just too much man."
How is he even alive if holding grudges with such magnitude.
I don't expect meaningful, sophisticated exploration of sensitive topics like psychological trauma or gender identity from Nerf Now! But when Jo does stuff like this (or his Layton comic, for example) I think it's perfectly valid to call him out on it.
@Otter: Um. Yeah, somehow I missed that one, and I can see why a trans person wouldn't like it. I love Nerf Now!! in general, but that particular strip was probably best left undrawn.
@Filippo Rodeo: It's a pretty "meh" comic from 2011. Not one of Jo's strongest IMO, though I don't think it's trigger-worth either, just simply not funny.
If you click on the Archives and Ctrl+F and search for "Layton" it will drop it out.
@Tearra Wolfe: or rather a robot can only do what someone or thing else programs it to do and nothing more. it cannot add to it's own programming. only sentient beings add to their own programming and most do so by learning. also if you watch the video Bastion makes a choice a robot couldn't.
@Tearra Wolfe: if so the question is this. Who programmed Bastion to determine what was needed for a bird nest and then assist in building it? granted he was interrupted but had the interruption not happened he would have added to the nest. tells me he's more than just a robot.
Joe I'd like to hear what you think. This YouTuber wants to add LOL to the Olympics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q_-ELmos3E&ab_channel=vlogbrothers
Oh no! Nezumi doesn't like Jo's reaction to the Hollywood PTSD scene that is nothing like actual PTSD and which demonizes those with PTSD! Yeah, that's robot terminator mode. That's actually what made the scene work - because it's a robot working on programmed responses.
If anyone ever shoots Ganymede he deserves what's coming.
Slightly related: http://gear.blizzard.com/overwatch/overwatch-ganymede-plush
First Pepe, now Ganymede, my bird collection will grow :)
People these days get offended by a comment on a fictional character from a video game...
While i usually simpathyze with robot characters, i agree that it's silly that something so 'common' (considering the life of the characters) as a gunshot is enough to trigger a DEATH MODE on Bastion.
At least Bastion's PTSD/personality disorder has an easy fix. Just get Torbjorn to take a few hours to change his programing, software, and hardware. Organic brains however are far more fragile and can't be disassembled without severe to total loss of life, memory, and functionality.
@TacoMan: But I've never SEEN anything remotely close to this. Ever. Even /r/tumblrinaction, which is supposedly intended to mock this stuff, is just filled with posts that are either totally reasonable or sarcastic already. Seriously, when was the last time YOU saw someone saying anything like it?
Okay, the transphobic Layton comic was pushing it, but this... yeah. I may have PTSD. I have characters with PTSD. The parallels to PTSD are obvious. On top of that, we see him finding a coping mechanism in his bird. Yeah, removing this from my RSS feed, and gonna recommend others do the same.
@Delta Pangaea: If I remember right, she was the #1 ranked SC player by the age of 16, and she's 19 now. I can totally see some teenage starlet looking back only two years and declaring 'that's so old school, tee hee'. Especially if the starcraft servers were to be shut down in that time.
@TacoMan: But she also refers to Blizzard games as 'so oldschool', which sort of implies that they've stopped making games at some point in the past. And what Starcraft anyway? Starcraft 5?
Although multiple people have been seen playing Hearthstone too, so I dunno what.
@TheMiscGamer: Well, like any meme, it may become overused, but the situation does exist, where people are... triggered.. by any silly thing that offends them.
@TheMiscGamer: You obviously haven't spent a lot of time on tumblr then... That whole... group... is alive and well and will still insist anything and everything is offensive because 'it hurts my feelings'. It's less VOCAL or center stage than it used to be, but it's still there.
Honestly I hate the "triggered" meme. It's like the ultimate cop-out excuse for saying something insulting, all because of some supposed Tumblr users no one has ever seen since 2007, if they existed at all. It's been used against me a few times before.
@Christopher Pepin: The thing is, E54 Bastion units were originally peacekeepers. That is, they presumably worked together with humans. Basically they were brainwashed into attacking humans; hence, PTSD symptoms.
@Claudio Acosta: The thing is that is literally how Bastion would be programmed. It wouldn't be a traumatic event for him because it is exactly what he would have been doing from day 1. It even shows in the short. Bastion himself doesn't even pause after he has determine the threat is gone.
Jo, 'PTSD' is a thing. Sure, we're talking about a robot, but we're also talking about a universe where AIs are advanced enough to be considered 'sentient' and have actual feelings.
Bastion is absolutely showing what we would personify as symptoms of PTSD, but there is a level of anthropomorphism in there too. We know that bastion is an AI of some sort. But human emotions don't necessarily translate. The fact is , he was designed for combat. Little else. Robot still programmed
Having my own flavor of PTSD I pretty much recognized that what he was having. The wrong trigger and your in that moment again and even once you are out of it, it takes you a bit to your post trauma normal.
Overwatch has an issue integrating story and gameplay. Bastion may have returned to the forest in that video, but that can't be what happened or we wouldn't be playing as Bastion.
Then we have the problem of Overwatch members fighting each other and so forth. It makes no sense.
