There’s an unusual discussion on a Microman/Micronauts forum involving an exclusive Microman figure called Dark Army.
It’s a fairly unremarkable figure — I’d go so far as to say it’s a poor attempt at a repaint — but for the graffiti tampographed all over it. The standout message (and the reason for the thread) was “Fuck Bush.”
This led to a thread on the aforementioned forum invoking Pearl Harbour, unwarranted accusations that the Japanese designer(s) were being anti-American, bizarre hypothetical suggestions about fucking tsunami victims and naivety about who the figure was marketed to among other things. As is typical in these types of discussions, Hitler got a mention as well.
It was, in short, a microstorm in a micro-teacup.
Perhaps the designer didn’t have enough space to fit in his entire message on such a limited canvas and had to resort to a more succinct (but ambiguous) message. By “Fuck Bush,” perhaps the designer was suggesting something innocuous. Perhaps his original message was “Let’s Anal Sex George W. Bush!” Or “That Jenna, so hot, wanna touch the heinie.”
You people, so quick to jump.
Seriously, though, the figure was aimed primarily at the Japanese market and while it has been described as “politically incorrect” by some American collectors, it would be more accurate to say it’s merely rude. The political sentiment espoused was certainly in line with that of the majority of Japanese though I expect most would be a lot more polite about it. Furthermore, as the wiser folk in that thread pointed out, being anti-Bush is not the same as being anti-American.
However, I’m of the opinion this wasn’t so much an attempt at spreading a political message as a juvenile and creatively bankrupt attempt to gain attention. See, for instance, the other messages on the same figure: “Fuck off,” “Hate,” “Maney is fake,” and “RIP the system.”
