Federal Court Rules that the X-Men are Not Human

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It's good to see that our tax dollars/pounds are being used on sensible ideas. And not, say, letting the Colbert Report over to Blighty - or the I.T.Crowd over to the States.

I do wonder if the Bruce Banner figure is a doll while the Hulk figure is a toy though.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I've seen the X-men issues drawn by Liefeld. Nothing that looks like that could ever be considered human.

Best post of the day.
You win, sir.

Who wants more shoulder pads and ammo packs for the belt?

Once upon a time, I thought Tetsuya Nomura's obsession with belts, zippers and buckles was disturbing...and then I saw Rob Liefeld's work, and I relived all the worst parts of the 90s all over again.

 

[Vrach]

So, say, figures of Miraluka (recipe: human + blindfold) would not count as dolls because they're not human in the lore? I mean, I'm all for Miraluka being a different race of humans, but in law terms, that seems like only badly defined law (not to mention weird)

 

[2xDouble]

You hear this, Marvel? This is gold for you!

 

[Daverson]

Well, I suppose this means when a friend who isn't "one of us" calls them 'dolls', they're legally wrong... that's some small comfort I guess.

I don't collect action figures, but if I did, I imagine that sort of thing would be a big deal.

(I have a bad feeling about this. It seems mundane, but you just know it's going to be called up as "setting precedent" when someone decides they want to make genetically modified people exempt from human rights law... gotta think about these things, you know? Just because we aren't ready for the future doesn't mean it isn't coming.)

 

[Snotnarok]

Hm, my dad will find this interesting since he used to paint all sorts of prototype toys including X-men and Spiderman.

 

[Beautiful End]

Well, there you have it, kids! The Supreme Court has solved all of your problems once again, THEY'RE the real heroes, not those aliens.

I'm not sure what to make of that news article. I don't know if I'm offended by the dumb case, if I'm amused by the fact that they took the time to figure this out, if Marvel should even give a fuck, if this is relevant at all at this point...I just don't know.

 

[klovervibe]

Well, I suppose this means when a friend who isn't "one of us" calls them 'dolls', they're legally wrong... that's some small comfort I guess.

I don't collect action figures, but if I did, I imagine that sort of thing would be a big deal.

"They're not dolls! A federal court says so!"

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

When the end result of the ruling doesn't actually matter, not so much.

Really? They spent 10 years, and god knows how much money, on a court case deciding the definition of some little plastic toys, the result of which has long since been made irrelevant? Genius...

wow -.- didn't they have something better to do? like, i donno, something crime related. since ya know, the ruling doesn't actually matter given they don't USE that system anymore, yesh .. the things they waste tax dollars on ...

I'm certain that the company that was paying higher tariffs for however many years on all of the product that it was importing are probably going to want their money back. At least I would hazard that is the likely point to the decision.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

I knew it! Magneto really was right! It's been bugging me that I've been agreeing with him for so long, but now I have reason!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmmm...I hate to say "Am I the only one?", but:

Am I the only one who thought of how this applies to Rule 34 stuff?

I mean, now it's beastiality to fancy X Men, but it's no longer pedophilia to fancy X Kids?

 

[Albino Boo]

wow -.- didn't they have something better to do? like, i donno, something crime related. since ya know, the ruling doesn't actually matter given they don't USE that system anymore, yesh .. the things they waste tax dollars on ...

Small but rather important point the court has ruled that the US government charged a tax on items that they were not entitled to and now they have to pay back the money. Just because the tariff regime has changed does not mean that the US government doesn't owe the cash, any more than tax cuts means you can claim the tax back that you paid at the old rate.

 

[Baresark]

Does this mean all humans with mutations are now non-humans? Or just specific to the X-Men comics. Depending on the wording, if this says "mutants" are not non-human, and not "super-powered meta-humans" aren't human, then there is a problem because I most definitely qualify as a mutant. Blue eyes are a mutation, not a naturally occuring part of the human race.

Sorry to rain on your parade: Mutations are a naturally occurring event of all biological organisms. But, that being said, I would be interested in your source.

"homo" means human or "man" if we are being pedantic. Still, homo the Genus while our specie is H.sapiens.

"H.superior" is just another sub-category within the homo Genus and we could call advance human or Nietzsche's Überman

I'm gonna nitpick, just for fun mind you. Modern man is Homo Sapiens Sapiens. XMen mutants are Home Sapiens Superior. Essentially, better than modern man. Just thought I would take the opportunity to fill in the blanks. There is H.Sapiens Idulta, then H.Sapiens Sapiens for the lineage of mankind.

Though, how much better would it really be to be born with a random power or physical mutation. Remember that guy who was just hairy, blech.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Is this really worth bringing to court? ...Man, I'm kinda beginning to see Magneto's point here...

 

[Lieju]

I don't really understand the need to have the division of toys and figurines to human and non-human.
But if there's one, I guess they should be divided solely based on appearance and if they look human enough.

Blue eyes are a mutation, not a naturally occuring part of the human race.

Really? So I'm a mutant?

Awesome.

On topic, this seems a little pedantic to me. Just a bit.

Everyone has (new) mutations in their DNA, about 100 on average.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8227442.stm

It would be more unnatural not to have any.

But mutants in the comics aren't really the same thing, and evolution and biology in general doesn't work like in reality in the X-men.

 

[Plurralbles]

"In the interest of saving money on taxes, these are action figures, not dolls"

 

[him over there]

"In the interest of saving money on taxes, these are action figures, not dolls"

You sir have made my day, and I fail to see how the character model classification of a figurine affects the shipping and what not. Shouldn't that be decided by things like how they are made and material or size or something. From what I gather from the article these will be the exact same toys but cheaper because:"dude there mutants, mutants can't be humans even if they look and act identical and are the exact same product." Just sort of messed up. X-men are still cool though so what

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Does this mean all humans with mutations are now non-humans? Or just specific to the X-Men comics. Depending on the wording, if this says "mutants" are not non-human, and not "super-powered meta-humans" aren't human, then there is a problem because I most definitely qualify as a mutant. Blue eyes are a mutation, not a naturally occuring part of the human race.

Sorry to rain on your parade: Mutations are a naturally occurring event of all biological organisms. But, that being said, I would be interested in your source.

I know mutations happen to every species/organism, I was merely speaking on behalf of the human/mutant race. And as to the blue eyes thing, there's many sources for it (google works wonders) here's one:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3323607/Blue-eyes-result-of-ancient-genetic-mutation.html

There are tons of other links that say the basically same thing. But here's the skinny, it is a mutation that happened years (like thousands of years) ago. But it makes all the descendants of that one person with that trait mutants and anyone carrying the mutated recessive gene.

Edit: Interesting tidbit quotation following:
"That's a bit disingenuous, as the mutation also produces greater instance of blond hair (sexually selected for even today) and fair skin, which confers a survival advantage by stimulating greater production of vitamin D in sun-starved northern European countries ? exactly where blue eyes are still most prevalent."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327070,00.html#ixzz1i9L9X4Ly

Yes its a foxnews quote but even they get some news correct some of the time.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

This has VERY good consequences in other things.

This means that, if (It won't now) a law was ever passed banning violence featuring humans in video games, X-men wouldn't count of humans in such a thing, or at least a legal debate for it would have some precendence.

This, also, has implications in a more morally dark grey area, rather than "are you shitting me" one:

This (hopefully) means that if for some reason you have... explicit material featuring cartoons of less than mature x-men, you wouldn't be able to be charged for child pornography for it.

Last time I checked, the law (stupidly) doesn't make a difference between "a stick figure said to be less than 18 having stick figure sex" and actual childern being abused.

I don't codone such a x-men cartoon/drawn comic (though i'm sure one or many exists, rule 34 and all), people shouldn't be thrown in jail and labled with the worst lable one can have in modern socioty over a freaking cartoon.