What's with the name censorship?

[Krazy Monkey]

This is something that's been bugging me for quite a while. Why is it that character's names from the English dubs of the Dragon Ball series have been put through a word filter? Yes, I understand that the staff of this message board apparently aren't huge fans of the FUNimation dub, but did you ever take into consideration that there are people (such as myself) who DO like it, and happen to prefer those names over the Japanese ones? Don't get me wrong, though; I am by no means saying that the original Japanese version of the anime is garbage. I am just saying that the English dub names and spellings are what I (and possibly others) are used to, since I pretty much grew up watching that one. It's what got me into the Dragon Ball series in the first place. Why deprive people of their right of using the names that they prefer, just because YOU don't like it? That would be no different from me running a Sonic the Hedgehog forum, and then censoring the name of "Dr. Eggman", just because of the fact that I hate it, and prefer the name of "Dr. Robotnik", instead.

[Amigo Ten]

Isn't Eggman his original name though? It wouldn't be quite the same in that case. As I understand it, it's only the names were just completely made up by Funimation.

[Innagadadavida]

Ahh...

You can circumvent the word filter by using formatting like Italics or bold in the middle of the word. Otherwise, it's there to make sure that everybody knows that those are the incorrect names.

I don't like it either (I think that various naming conventions are part of what makes this fanbase so interesting) but I deal with it. Since I started here my naming convention has changed gradually and I don't really use any of the blocked names anymore. Not that the filter had anything to do with that, if anything it prevented my stubborn ass from converting much earlier.

[The Time Traveller]

Think of it this way, what if you're from another country and don't know who (ignore the umlauts) Fäsha is, but you do know who Celypa is?

It's more helpful to use the most accepted names, and those would be the closest to the original intended names as possible, while "Friëza" is over kill, it's still needed for names like Hërcule and Tiën.

[Krazy Monkey]

Isn't Eggman his original name though?

Yeah, that's actually true. He was always known as "Dr. Eggman" in Japan. The "Dr. Robotnik" name was used in America and Europe from Sonic 1, all the way up to Sonic Adventure. After that, "Dr. Robotnik" was never or rarely ever used again (outside of the game manuals).

It's more helpful to use the most accepted names, and those would be the closest to the original intended names as possible, while "Friëza" is over kill, it's still needed for names like Hërcule and Tiën.

There have been quite a few times in the English version, where they've used both names, or even merged them together. For example, I remember Hercule referring to himself as "Hercule Satan" in one episode. I can't quite put my finger on which episode it was, though. As for Tien, I don't think the name of "Tien Shinhan" is very far off from "Tenshinhan", anyway.

[The Time Traveller]

It's more helpful to use the most accepted names, and those would be the closest to the original intended names as possible, while "Friëza" is over kill, it's still needed for names like Hërcule and Tiën.

There have been quite a few times in the English version, where they've used both names, or even merged them together. For example, I remember Hercule referring to himself as "Hercule Satan" in one episode. I can't quite put my finger on which episode it was, though. As for Tien, I don't think the name of "Tien Shinhan" is very far off from "Tenshinhan", anyway.

Now you're getting it backwards... while you may understand Tien, the other person may not.

[desirecampbell]

We've been over this before, it's to circumvent confusion. If the conversation is dub-specific then there are ways around the auto-filter, otherwise there's no reason to use dub names instead of the actual names.

[VegettoEX]

It started off as a joke with the incorrect spelling of Freeza's name when we ported over to the new forum in 2004.

From there, the community actually requested them of the forum. It only applies to made-up character names that exist in no other adaptation, and is not strictly limited to FUNimation. It is also not strictly limited to "wrong" names; it extents to (and includes far more numerous examples of) actual typos. It is clearly noted in the forum rules, and is something that is read and acknowledged prior to registration.

This is not a website or forum dedicated to FUNimation's strange adaptation practices of the 1990s. This is more than apparent as you get your feet wet. To expect conformity with or acceptance of that kind of style would be highly naive.

[B]

Since it seems the name filter thing has been expanded on, just gonna point out that Sonic Team of Japan retconned "Ivo Robotnik" as the character "Dr. Eggman's" official name. It shows up in the Japanese versions of the 3D games.

It's not a very good comparison since something like this never happened in DB. Too bad Satan's real name is Mark, "Hercule" might have had a chance.

[Tweaker]

Since it seems the name filter thing has been expanded on, just gonna point out that Sonic Team of Japan retconned "Ivo Robotnik" as the character "Dr. Eggman's" official name. It shows up in the Japanese versions of the 3D games

This is a common misconception. The Japanese version of Sonic Adventure--and by that I mean the Japanese version, not the Japanese voice track with dubtitles--never referred to Eggman by the Robotnik moniker once in the entire game. The only time this is even somewhat retconned is in Sonic Adventure 2; still, after that point, the name Robotnik is never used again to my best knowledge. Unless you count Sonic Battle, anyway, but that's just to expound on the "Gerald Robotnik" story arc.

Anyway, I am in favor of the word filter--for those not familiar with the true, original names of the characters, it auto-corrects them for the sake of consistency and education. Don't know the original names? You will very soon. There's no place for arbitrarily-altered names from one single dub in the world to take priority over the original character names and terms, though. Would you not like the posts you make to be factually accurate? This is what will help you achieve that.

[Big Momma]

Since it seems the name filter thing has been expanded on, just gonna point out that Sonic Team of Japan retconned "Ivo Robotnik" as the character "Dr. Eggman's" official name. It shows up in the Japanese versions of the 3D games

This is a common misconception. The Japanese version of Sonic Adventure--and by that I mean the Japanese version, not the Japanese voice track with dubtitles--never referred to Eggman by the Robotnik moniker once in the entire game. The only time this is even somewhat retconned is in Sonic Adventure 2; still, after that point, the name Robotnik is never used again to my best knowledge. Unless you count Sonic Battle, anyway, but that's just to expound on the "Gerald Robotnik" story arc.

Anyway, I am in favor of the word filter--for those not familiar with the true, original names of the characters, it auto-corrects them for the sake of consistency and education. Don't know the original names? You will very soon. There's no place for arbitrarily-altered names from one single dub in the world to take priority over the original character names and terms, though. Would you not like the posts you make to be factually accurate? This is what will help you achieve that.

You'd think that, even though they're dubtitles, people can tell the difference between them saying "Eggman" and "Robotonik"

[VegettoEX]

You'd think that, even though they're dubtitles, people can tell the difference between them saying "Eggman" and "Robotonik"

And yet we're still dealing with the "nuh-ROO-do" pronunciation despite everyone watching the exact same series with the exact same audio for years before even the dub came along and actually got the name right from the get-go leaving no excuses what-so-ever.

Never assume logic!

[jjgp1112]

I, too, have no idea what the word filter really accomplishes other than being pointless annoying.

[Xyex]

You'd think that, even though they're dubtitles, people can tell the difference between them saying "Eggman" and "Robotonik"

And yet we're still dealing with the "nuh-ROO-do" pronunciation despite everyone watching the exact same series with the exact same audio for years before even the dub came along and actually got the name right from the get-go leaving no excuses what-so-ever.

Never assume logic!

Well, that's like my dad with Harry Potter. He's read all of the books, watched movies 1, 2, 3, and 5 numerous times, and he still says things like "Higrid" and "Hermoany" and "Doubledoor" even though he's heard it right in the movies and I've corrected him a number of times, too. People read something, or hear something, and get an idea of what they think it sounds like, and then it's often hard to break them of it.

Anyway, on the original topic, I do think some of the filters go a bit overboard. While Her­cule becoming Hercule is amusing changing Ti­en and Pikk­on seem a bit excessive. They're close enough to the originals, especially Pi­kkon, that there really shouldn't be any confusion. Also, the change of Fas­ha to Selypa is annoying as it breaks an image link in an old thread of mine. (Beyond that, that one never bothers me as I don't like Fas­ha myself and always write out Seripa. )

I think the filter would be better suited to fix typos and change the really obscure dub names. Like the aforementioned Fas­ha and especially Shugesh and Borgos.

[JulieYBM]

I, too, have no idea what the word filter really accomplishes other than being pointless annoying.

As I gather from Mike's initial post: it's for the convenience of those of us who don't want to see ass-pull names on the forum and to make sure everyone is using a more standardized set of terms.


Why not replace these things in our minds? Why should we have to? The words on the filter are innaccurate, etc. etc.

[Xyex]

I, too, have no idea what the word filter really accomplishes other than being pointless annoying.

As I gather from Mike's initial post: it's for the convenience of those of us who don't want to see ass-pull names on the forum and to make sure everyone is using a more standardized set of terms.


Why not replace these things in our minds? Why should we have to? The words on the filter are innaccurate, etc. etc.

Inaccurate compared to the original, yes. But also still the official US/English spellings. The argument could be made as to why English speaking fans on an English speaking board should learn the names as they are used in Japan.

Keep in mind I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I think the really obscure names should be changed to something more easily recognized. Like the above Borgos and Shugesh, who only fans of the dub would likely know. When it comes to main characters, though, it's a bit much. I've yet so meet someone on an English speaking board who hasn't known Tie­n, or Her­cule, or Pikk­on, or so on.

[Freeza Heika]

Inaccurate compared to the original, yes. But also still the official US/English spellings. The argument could be made as to why English speaking fans on an English speaking board should learn the names as they are used in Japan.

Aside from movie names, many of Japanese names are used in the Viz translation of the manga. So, the words are used in Japan, but they are also used in the English manga. The exposure is there for these words, it isn't like they are completely garbled, Moon Language.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Anyway, on the original topic, I do think some of the filters go a bit overboard. While Her­cule becoming (the H-word) is amusing changing Ti­en and Pikk­on seem a bit excessive. They're close enough to the originals, especially Pi­kkon, that there really shouldn't be any confusion. Also, the change of Fas­ha to Selypa is annoying as it breaks an image link in an old thread of mine. (Beyond that, that one never bothers me as I don't like Fas­ha myself and always write out Seripa. )

I think the filter would be better suited to fix typos and change the really obscure dub names. Like the aforementioned Fas­ha and especially Shugesh and Borgos.

Agreed.

Tien, Pikkon and Frieza sound very similar to their original names. (and in the FUNimation Dragon Ball dub, they sometimes refer to Tenshinhan as "Tien Shinhan".)

Hercule and Fasha should be word filtered because they are completely different from their original names.

EDIT: Filtering Mr. Satan to Hercule, unnecessary and not funny.

[B]

I think the whining is unnecessary. Are you really complaining that:

1) You are expected to use the right terms,
2) You are forced to take a two seconds to italicize a letter in the correct term to continue using it?

[Xyex]

I think the whining is unnecessary. Are you really complaining that:

1) You are expected to use the right terms,
2) You are forced to take a two seconds to italicize a letter in the correct term to continue using it?

1) "Right" in this instance is technically subjective. Right by what standards? Right by whose standards? There are quite a few standards out there, official ones, ones that are technically just as correct as others on various levels.

2) Alright, let's assume things were reversed and the board filtered Tenshinhan into Ti­en or Paikuhan into Pikk­on or so forth, forcing those who were used to those names, preferred those names, into the dub ones instead unless they took the extra time to bypass the filter. All the same reasons could technically be used with only slight alteration. "It's not Paikuhan, it's Pi­kkon. This is an English board not a Japanese board." The point is there's no point. Why should anyone have to go to extra work to allow a technically correct spelling, one that's well known in the native language of the board and clearly close enough to the original spelling as to be obvious, in the first place?