I was watching clips from "The Looney Tunes Show" when I realized it's probably the first kid's cartoon I've ever seen that straight up shows people firing conventional assault rifles at eachother.
I've always been perplexed by the "Lasers are somehow safer for the kids than guns" censorship reaching all the way back to the 80's. It's sort of like the "N Word" effect; Even if you replace it, the kids are still going to think "Well it's just a replacement for a gun."
So, my question is, why did the censorship bureau think lasers were fine but conventional firearms were taboo?
I remember the episodes from regular show with the animatronics have a lot of guns but usually don't see them on any other episode, maybe it's only ok if they are robots
I don't get it either. Sometimes it fit, but other times you get cartoons like Spectacular Spiderman which takes place in relatively modern times and everyone from robbers to gangsters to cops have laser guns.
Lucas Cox
Lasers make pew pew noises and not blam blam noises.
John White
I think it's also easier to show laser guns being completely ineffective than real guns.
John Hughes
S&P work on a type of logic that only makes sense to themselves. I remember the commentary on one BtAS episode they talk about how it was ok for a tommy gun to be fired towards the camera but not a handgun.
Christian Wright
They had real guns sometimes. They just had laser sounds.
Hudson Baker
I do think the taboo is starting to lift, as cartoons in general are showing more and more stuff S&P would NEVER allow even 5 years ago.
I remember in an interview they said they could never show violence towards people, just robots, so they made a lot of villains use robot henchmen just so they could get destroyed in the most gruesome way possible.
Gavin Nguyen
That makes them laser guns.
Nathan Myers
Make the lasers go blame blam
Austin Edwards
Following the great one's steps
Samuel Reed
GI Joe did that a lot too.
Nathaniel Diaz
Those banana magazines must store PHOTONS and SCIENCE
Matthew Lee
You know I was actually fairly impressed with the Loony Toons Show and how healthily it handled guns. There was even an episode where they went to the shooting range for fun. The entire thing was refreshing.
Isaac Harris
or just some really funky colored tracers
Jayden Jenkins
Not if they shoot real bullets.
Asher Rivera
...
Jeremiah Adams
this. lasers can be set to stun or blind people. even when it's on the lethal setting, it doesn't cause blood to fly every where, which is why star wars the clone wars is such a violent cartoon.
Gavin Morgan
>I remember the commentary on one BtAS episode they talk about how it was ok for a tommy gun to be fired towards the camera but not a handgun. I can see the logic there. A child in 1992 could potentially get his hands on a a handgun but not a Tommy gun,
Ian Smith
Here's what I don't get, though.
In G.I. Joe and the like, they have real guns, just with laser effects.
Surely all that does is make kids think that real guns only stun people?
Why not make a show where the characters have real guns, that do kill, so that kids get a show where there's real consequence from violence? You don't have to show gore or anything extreme. I'm pretty sure most kids know what death is by 6 or 7.
Kevin Allen
anything looney tunes related is gonna get a reasonable amount of leeway on the content shown even fucking loony tunes babies tackled some shit they shouldn't
David Johnson
Warner Bros likes to promote war mongering, the entire episode of OP's pic was really just that
Aaron Cox
Not gun related, but goofy censorship related.
There's an episode of Captain Planet where Dr. Blight gives Hitler an atom bomb. And honestly they're really up front about the horrors of nuclear war, mentioning it poisons the land even after killing everybody.
What's weird is Hitler looks just like Hitler aside from his moustache. Like calling him the Fuhrer and having him talk about happily killing innocents is fine, but the toothbrush stache is just too much.
It's also worth noting that Hitler is able to weaken Captain Planet just by staring at him. He's THAT evil.
Chase Fisher
maybe they just wanted their own alternate reality Hitler they could use as an original character(do not steal)
Noah Torres
You guys are forgetting one of the basic things about kids and TV: they try to imitate what they see and think it's cool. Put a cool character with a fairly realistic gun on a show and kids are going to want to play with daddy's gun. Give the same character a weird looking laser blaster and the kid will be satisfied with a nerf gun.
Like said.
Asher Miller
This is my OC Alfred Hilter.
He's super strong and muscular and has psychic powers and lives in a castle in the mountains shut up he's totally original stop making fun of me
Lucas Morgan
It's not that. There are laws in some places that make it a hate crime to show any depiction of Hitler or other high-ranking Nazi officials.
They gave him a mustache so they could still sell it to European countries to dub over the Nazi stuff.
"Hay guys we gotta stop that Hatler guy and his 4-square soldiers."
Brody Nguyen
How the fuck is it refreshing? Anime has been having real guns for years.
Chase Roberts
>real guns I mean, they get kind of sort of close but that's like saying Homer's future car is actually a car.
Lincoln Morales
t. I only watched 3 anime my whole life
David Kelly
>Anime has been having real guns for years.
yeah, but not in an every day context.
shooting as a hobby, gun ownership as a plot(they take away Yosemite's revolvers for being irresponsible in one episode) are never going to be in an anime other than Gunsmith cats.
Nathan Nelson
Riding bean is literally just that
Brandon Watson
Riding bean is literally gunsmith cats though
Sebastian Adams
Most do a passable at best, many others may as well be laser guns with the silly nonsense, gets worse when they try repeating some poorly translated nonsense fuddlore from an old issue of Soldier of Fortune to seem like they know what they are talking about.
I didn't say anime never does it right, sometimes they do an exceptional job but that's rare.
Oliver Thompson
Riding Bean is way more fun though, and has a kickass soundtrack.
Pretty sure it's only Germany, possibly Austria that are this anal about it.
Parker Mitchell
Oh good, the weebs are here to inform us about grorious Nihon. Plenty of euro cartoons and older American toons have real guns, but here we're talking about relatively modern US cartoons.
Carter Sullivan
Who the fuck does a coordinated 5 man heist of a grocery store.
Jaxson Clark
If you had a chance to have either a loud tinnitus machine with limited capacity and recoil or a relatively quiet lasegun that has no kick and enough shots to last until convenient towards the plot?
I love my guns but if I had a choice I'd be grabbing that if I hear a bump in the night or need to gaurd a shipment of questionably procured merchandise
Joshua Walker
>yeah, but not in an every day context.
almost like there aren't many japanese gun owners
Adam Nguyen
Modern US cartoons are fucking shit though.
David Foster
You could do like Lucky Luke and have canonically "just as large as the plot needs it" magazines.
Noah Moore
Who gives a shit, they're the topic. Jesus Christ you weebs can't fucking help yourselves can you. Can't have one fucking thread on Sup Forums about the state of animation without some entry level weeb going "but in Japan"
Isaiah Gomez
>Give the same character a weird looking laser blaster and the kid will be satisfied with a nerf gun.
And more importantly, realistic guns are copyrighted, and have a stigma attached.
Make a gun design that's out there, eye-catching, and distinctive, and you've got a merch opportunity.
Aiden Hall
>he doesn't watch anime Kill yourself.
Dylan King
I do watch anime and read manga, but I don't bring it up in unrelated discussions to wank about it.
Camden Perez
It's pretty rare that a show just straight up uses recognizable firearms.
I remember Archer using tons of detailed real life guns but it's not really a kid's show. imfdb.org/wiki/Archer
Jackson Diaz
Weebs' entire personalities and identities are built around anime, so when someone doesn't want to constantly talk about it they flip out.
Jose Rivera
Man, that mook looks so sad.
Joshua Jenkins
Call of Duty and Assassins creed is what kids learn violence from these days
Robert Sullivan
>Relaxing at a secret R&R base in the antarctic. >suddenly a bunch of Joes show up >Have to go outside in the freezing weather to fight
I would be sad too.
Nathaniel James
>a hate crime to show any depiction of Hitler or other high-ranking Nazi officials >Germany Austria nein nein nein otherwise Germany wouldn't have so many Hitler-parodies youtube.com/watch?v=nNBNK_pMy6I the (political) use of swatiskas is not allowed
Logan Moore
That's only because to the Japanese real guns are little more real than laser guns.
James Edwards
It really is a weird cultural norm.
I volunteered at a youth center in New Orleans for a while, and these kids all came up pretty rough so obviously guns were a big taboo.
There was tons of video games, but the people who ran the place made sure none of them were violent. And yet they still had Battlefront II, which has everything from assault rifles to tanks. When I asked why it was allowed, they pretty much said it was fine because it had lasers and was all fantasy.
Not that I was complaining, I fucking love that game.
Mason Richardson
There are some very special episodes that basically do that.
Logan Bennett
>Hitler is able to weaken Captain Planet just by staring at him
What a pussy. Captain Planet is the biggest jobber in the world. His weakness is the exact fucking thing he's supposed to fight.
Nathan Carter
>The Looney Tunes Show Why did this show go in the overall realism direction anyway? I thought it was kind neat but the characters are jarring.
Zachary Richardson
It was when super subdued western slice of life comedy was getting really popular.
Wyatt Thomas
M16's are nothing. The fucking looney tunes show is the only kid's program to feature a picture perfect german tiger tank
Brandon Wilson
What's hilarious is Hey Arnold only a couple years later actually showed a "flashback" of Grandpa kicking Adolph's ass, postage stamp stache and all. And not even dancing around who he was. I think they even showed the swastika arm band.
It's even a bumper for Splat.
Angel Russell
It's not a swastika, but it's something even funnier
Benjamin Long
Grandpa straight up calls him Hitler so they definitely weren't trying to hide it
Landon Ward
laser casiings! Made of real solidified lasers and emitting laser smoke
Grayson Stewart
Burnin that laser powder
Blake Phillips
The question is, once portable laser weapons become a thing will it still be allowed to replace regular guns with them? If not then what else?
Christopher Hall
Then we go back to showing regular guns in animation because who the fuck owns a regular gun when laser guns exist?
Incidentally, all of these old shows with goofy laser guns get banned by BS&P because they have harmful depictions of real life weaponry.
Josiah Bennett
it also features the norwegian zeppelin occupation force
Jace Gray
Because Censors are literally retarded. Just recently Britain is making certain types of porn to be completely illegal like BDSM.
However BDSM is still legal in practice. So it's totally cool doing it, you just can't watch it.
Parker Walker
Tracers that go ZAP.
Ayden Gomez
Don't worry, when they get taken over by Muslims they'll cry to the Americans to save them, problem is that this time the Americans are just as emasculated as they are and that will be the end of Britain/England.
Colton Sanchez
Is he shooting dogs?
Jacob Peterson
He's not the ATF
Ryder Williams
It's not about censorship, it's about legally covering their ass. If the characters use weapons that don't exist then if little Jimmy watches it and then shoots up a school the parents have less legal grounds to sue for influencing little Jimmy's actions. If this sounds stupid that's because it is.
Jordan Williams
Even if it was just one country or two doing shit like that. It's a lot cheaper to just make one version you can show everywhere then having to make a whole new version for some places.
Austin Hill
So is Pretty Pantyshot Heroines #78948. What's your point?
Matthew Martin
Perhaps this is a reason the trope is starting to fall wayside? Lasers are becoming closer and closer to reality. Nevermind kids can easily get a hold of a laser pointer and think "hey, this doesn't hurt" and shine it into another kids eyes.
Any kid that can get a hold of a gun either should damn well know it's not a toy or it's the fault of the damn adults.
Nolan Green
This is one of those censorship things that I actually like, like hit flashes.
Laser guns make for cooler looking fight scenes anway, especially with large-scale battles
who doesn't like seeing good/evil color coded lasers flying everywhere?
Evan Richardson
>who doesn't like seeing good/evil color coded lasers flying everywhere? They have never bothered me BUT I can't stand them in SW which is one of the franchises that uses it the most
Brandon Turner
The only good Lasers are imperial lasers
Zachary Watson
Sounds like you need a Cadian Pattern Imperial Lasgun.
This Salamander Marine knows what's up.
Sebastian Ramirez
Laser guns are far more interesting than real life guns. There's a reason why people like them in their cartoons.
Oliver Barnes
>High heels
WHAT HERESY IS THIS
HOW WILL YOU HOLD THE LINE IF YOU CAN BARELY STAND
Asher Ramirez
>realistic guns are copyrighted What? If you mean patented most gun patents have expired long ago. I don't know of any copyrighted guns.
James Kelly
>I remember in an interview they said they could never show violence towards people, just robots, so they made a lot of villains use robot henchmen just so they could get destroyed in the most gruesome way possible. ...you killed Captain Clown... youtube.com/watch?v=3KCJxXwq20U
Julian Thomas
I think part of it is also that it's more belivable to be hit by a laser and just be winded with maybe a minor burn. No gunshot wound.
John Nelson
>frowny face for swastika Pic related
Which is why it's funny. It's like Ted Turner was a pansy who thought kids couldn't handle anything that was mildly questionable. >SWAT Kats Oh wait!
Kevin Rodriguez
Nothing is better than Kraut Space Magic.
Logan Flores
>An intense beam of light cooler than a small contained explosion projecting a piece of metal faster than the speed of sound
Are scififags really this delusional?
Evan Miller
>Why not make a show where the characters have real guns, that do kill, so that kids get a show where there's real consequence from violence? You don't have to show gore or anything extreme. I'm pretty sure most kids know what death is by 6 or 7. user, I... youtube.com/watch?v=gf1vNNBdzJs
Anthony Morris
>he doesn't like seeing impossible shit in his cartoons You're better off watching live action garbage, kid.
Wyatt Sullivan
>portable laser weapons become a thing Honestly that's not likely to happen for a very, very long time. I mean we know how to make a laser gun already, we have the technology, if we wanted to we could make a functional railgun/lasergun right now, hell people on youtube already do.
The issue is battery technology, the power consumption required to make a hand held railgun or laser rifle lethal would be massive and modern day batteries are basically incapable of doing so in a small enough package, we'd need to carry fuck huge battery packs on our backs and that would give us only a handful of shots at most, you can carry hundreds of cartridges loaded into conventional magazines with a fraction of the space and weight. Until battery technology drastically improves we're not gonna start moving away from chemical based propellants.
Eli Sullivan
>That one episode of The Clone Wars where a small band of Hando's pirates defect against him.
>Coincidentally the defectors all had red blasters while the loyalists all had blue blasters.
Parker Cook
Not that user, don't want to propagate an east vs west shitstorm, but...
While there are a lot of inaccurate depictions of guns in anime, it's because Japan has really super-strict gun laws and most people will never touch or see a gun outside of media their whole lives. The flipside of this tho, is that there are a handful of mangaka who HAVE gone through the herculean effort to get a Japanese gun license, and they're usually a lot more /k/-tier than most western artists when it comes to depicting firearms.
See: Rei Hiroe's Black Lagoon and Kenichi Sonoda's Gunsmith Cats, which is like 80% gun porn.
Joshua Barnes
>Energy weapon
>No sights
Every sci-fi
All of them
Without fail
WHY
Isaiah Bailey
It's fucking funny seeing guns being removed in anime dubs. YGOTAS had several jokes on the matter.
>STOP! OR WE'LL SHOOT YOUR WITH OUR INVISIBLE GUNS!
Jacob Anderson
>You will never own a short rail CZ-75
Angel Edwards
It's okay to use and shoot guns, as long as it's not explicitly stated to be directed at another human being. This scene was able to get away with it because we never actually SEE the soldiers who work for the enemy base, for all we know they could be shooting turrets.