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Not long after the '07 movie came out, a friend of mine showed me this jacket he'd just gotten. On the back, it says POLICE, has the Barricade police badge, and beneath it, has in script "To punish and enslave......"

When I saw this jacket, I knew I had to get one, because I love Barricade's badge. I think it looks really cool. It took me a couple of months of continuously stalking the wrong Hot Topic(there used to be 2 relatively close to each other), I finally got to the right one and got one of the jackets.

Now, here we are in 2010. Three years since the first movie came out, ROTF came out last year, we've got Transformers toy commercials, people have been subjected to ad campaigns, 'Bot and 'Con emblems abound in society at large.

And yet people look at the back of the jacket, block out the fact that instead of a star or a set of scales there's a huge Decepticon emblem in the middle of the badge, and assume, apparently, one of three things:

1) I'm a cop, or I used to be a cop.

2) It's my way of honoring cops, like all of the NYPD and FDNY memorabilia that came out post-9/11(this one's a guess on my part)

3) I'm making a political statement. I've only had one person say anything about that so far, and it took me a couple of seconds of thinking about what he'd said("I like your jacket and agree completely") to figure out what he meant.

In fact, there was this one guy who saw the back of my jacket, and the brief conversation we had in line went kind of like this:

Him: "Wow! So you're a cop?"

Me: "Wha..?"

Him: "Where do you work out of?"

Me: "Did you really read the back of the jacket?"

Him: -looks again- "Yeah, so where do you work out of?"

You'd think the fact that I was wearing a shirt covered with Snoopy drawings would have put him on the right track......

But it's gotten me wondering why. Why do people always assume that just because it says Police and there's a badge, that it automatically means cops? I would have said that there's no way Barricade's vehicle mode could ever be confused with a police crusier(at least while standing still, simply due to graphic layout, never mind the fact that he's a Saleen), but I've noticed a trend in local law enforcement to have, say, "Barre City POLICE", "Washington County SHERIFF", etc, spelled out in swish, sleek looking graphics along the doors, never mind actual badges like Barricade's. One local police department even has a sports car(or at least a sportier looking car than the Malibu-style crusier) as an interceptor unit.

I'm coming to the somewhat depressing conclusion that the world at large just doesn't question enough. What do you all think?

Is this the one you have? It looks cool. Maybe I will get one but after your experience, maybe not. Same here. I had a sweatshirt made by Benetton with number 8 and text "Pitcher" on the back. Many, many people has asked me "what team are you playing?", and I always have to reply "no, I play second base and no, I am really not a baseball guy". Sometime I really want to scratch that "Pitcher" out but afraid of people think I'm a Kobe fan (and I hate Kobe, good thing he switched his number to 24 now).

Long time ago I saw a cartoon (forgot which one), it said people are trained to react and make decision faster by using assumption rather than think. Think takes too much time. It somewhat makes sense. If you see a destroyer on a old man's back, will you not first assume he is a navy retiree rather than he is just a boat fan?

That's the jacket. Well, not the exact one(as the exact one is downstairs hanging on a coat rack), but it's the same design. It's not like anybody's come running up to me to report a crime or anything. It's just.... odd.

How people will react shouldn't affect whether or not you get something, unless your neighbors don't know you very well, are heavily armed, and hate cops. And even then it shouldn't stop you from getting it if you like it and want to get it. Just might not want to wear it around them too much.

Really, I think the only thing that bothers me about it is the fact that nobody seems to register the fact that there's a Decepticon emblem in the middle of the badge, all they seem to notice is 'POLICE'. Even if they didn't know what the emblem was, you'd think they'd find it a little odd.

But then, if they didn't play on the fact that people aren't terribly observant, con artists would starve.

It could just be that not everyone readily recognises the faction insignia of a group of characters in a kids' toyline.

True, there is that. But it would make more sense if they said, "What department does that badge belong to?" rather than assuming I am or was a cop.

Maybe they don't care what department it belongs to?

Though it'd be cunning if a real American police squad* did adopt it as their logo, think of all the suspect beating and corruption they'd be able to get away with. "It wasn't us, it was the robot".


*Haven't got that DVD yet but did pick up the Naked Gun and Airplane films at work insanely cheaply today. Woot.

Can I share with you something i've come to learn in my 28th year of life?

people are stupid*

*may be some exceptions

Took you that long? I pegged that one aaaages ago.

borg72 wrote: *may be some exceptions

Nope.


I have to say, I'm surprised more people don't get it. Transformers is pretty well known at the moment. I'd be particularly amused if you got done for impersonating an officer. Best. Court case. Ever.

This girl I met two weeks ago suffered from the Barricade Effect, she said she'd be back for the sequel but I never heard from her again.

inflatable dalek wrote:This girl I met two weeks ago suffered from the Barricade Effect, she said she'd be back for the sequel but I never heard from her again.

At least that's a better fate than the girl you met after that, who suffered from the Sideways effect when she ran away before being caught, cut up and disposed of.