meng.huat Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 COVID-19 superheroes disappear, less than a day after their debut SINGAPORE: Virus Vanguard, no more. The COVID-19 superhero team has disappeared, less than a day after they made their debut. A page on the Gov.sg website on Monday (Apr 21) introducing the five-member fictional superhero team has been taken down. In response to media queries, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said the Virus Vanguard is now "undergoing a review". "We have received quite a lot of feedback on the characters and we will be reviewing them. We are sorry if we offended anyone," said a post on the Gov.sg Facebook page. "As this is the first time we are exploring this content format, we appreciate your patience." The post did not elaborate on the feedback received. The superhero team was a collaboration between Gov.sg and art collective Band of Doodlers. The plan was to create a comic series to convey the different aspects of the "circuit breaker" measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus. The introduction of Virus Vanguard - who made their appearance on the same day Singapore reported a record jump of 1,426 COVID-19 cases - drew mixed reaction from the public. Some felt the characters - whose powers ranged from being able to detect viruses to using empathy to "absorb all negativity" - gave too much levity to the fight against a disease that infected almost 2.5 million people and killed more than 170,000 people gloablly. Several people also felt that more emphasis could be given to real life COVID-19 frontliners such as healthcare workers. One character in particular, MAWA Man, drew flak for playing up the rivalry between popular English Premier League teams Manchester United and Liverpool. The character - whose name stands for Must Always Walk Alone, a play on Liverpool's motto You'll Never Walk Alone - is described as a fanatical Manchester United fan who enforces safe distancing by using his “repelling power” to push objects and people back. An online petition on Change.org by Liverpool supporters, calling for MAWA Man to be removed from the Virus Vanguard lineup, had received more than 500 digital signatures as of Tuesday morning (Apr 21). In a comment on Gov.sg's Facebook page announcing the review of the Virus Vanguard, Band of Doodlers founder Mas Shafreen identified himself as the creator of the superhero team, and apologised that the characters "came across insensitive". "A group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together," said Mr Mas, who also goes by the pen name Wanton Doodle. He said he was later approached to develop a comic series to help raise awareness of circuit breaker measures. "The current situation has affected us all and I know as an artist myself, I am very appreciative of such opportunities given that jobs are hard to come by," he said. " I am sorry for the trouble caused and I hope local artists can still be supported with creative projects." https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-superhero-virus-vanguard-exit-a-day-after-introduced-12660804 CNA also dont give face to gov.sg... their report not very supportive. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "A group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together," said Mr Mas, who also goes by the pen name Wanton Doodle. I think this excuse is very lame... the rubbish they posted yesterday don't hint anything appreciative for the frontline workers... The frontline workers are man utd and liverpool fans as well... the silly cartoon is distracting them, instead of showing appreciation... 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 did some CSI on Mas Shafreen's fb. I think he did some nice work before MCI released those rubbish. apparently, there wasn't any liverpool bashing... so, who's idea was it to bring in the football rivalry? some of the characters do reflect the appreciations to front line workers. sadly, these characters were not included in gov.sg release. credits to https://www.facebook.com/masshafreen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates469bc Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 39 minutes ago, meng.huat said: COVID-19 superheroes disappear, less than a day after their debut SINGAPORE: Virus Vanguard, no more. The COVID-19 superhero team has disappeared, less than a day after they made their debut. A page on the Gov.sg website on Monday (Apr 21) introducing the five-member fictional superhero team has been taken down. In response to media queries, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said the Virus Vanguard is now "undergoing a review". "We have received quite a lot of feedback on the characters and we will be reviewing them. We are sorry if we offended anyone," said a post on the Gov.sg Facebook page. "As this is the first time we are exploring this content format, we appreciate your patience." https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-superhero-virus-vanguard-exit-a-day-after-introduced-12660804 CNA also dont give face to gov.sg... their report not very supportive. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "A group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together," said Mr Mas, who also goes by the pen name Wanton Doodle. I think this excuse is very lame... the rubbish they posted yesterday don't hint anything appreciative for the frontline workers... The frontline workers are man utd and liverpool fans as well... the silly cartoon is distracting them, instead of showing appreciation... now i know how propaganda ministry spend money. on useless cartoons for ginnas and sing-song for seniors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homelander Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, meng.huat said: did some CSI on Mas Shafreen's fb. I think he did some nice work before MCI released those rubbish. apparently, there wasn't any liverpool bashing... so, who's idea was it to bring in the football rivalry? some of the characters do reflect the appreciations to front line workers. sadly, these characters were not included in gov.sg release. credits to https://www.facebook.com/masshafreen This one looks like kgk xdd @HarrisY...always anyhow treat heartwarming aunty lim barley...wahahaha 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 minute ago, Homelander said: This one looks like kgk xdd @HarrisY...always anyhow treat heartwarming aunty lim barley...wahahaha knn... u very imaginative... what seen cant be unseen now... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Last night someone suspected it was this guy who drew it. Looks like confirmed based on @meng.huat post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 9 minutes ago, ManOfTheHour said: Last night someone suspected it was this guy who drew it. Looks like confirmed based on @meng.huat post yes. its him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted April 21, 2020 Author Share Posted April 21, 2020 Just now, meng.huat said: yes. its him Then shows he probably meant it. But still the gahmen who approved it is the dumbest in this situation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 And do it one day before ECB nbcb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 The nerds have spoken! https://geekculture.co/singaporean-comic-fans-are-calling-out-artist-behind-virus-vanguard-for-plagiarism/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 And now he has resigned https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/creator-of-covid-19-superheroes-in-public-campaign-quits-artist-group-he-founded-amid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homelander Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 23 minutes ago, ManOfTheHour said: And now he has resigned https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/creator-of-covid-19-superheroes-in-public-campaign-quits-artist-group-he-founded-amid His world went belly up in 48hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Homelander said: His world went belly up in 48hours Chose to piss off the wrong football fanbase lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynical Ape Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 On 4/21/2020 at 9:04 AM, meng.huat said: COVID-19 superheroes disappear, less than a day after their debut SINGAPORE: Virus Vanguard, no more. The COVID-19 superhero team has disappeared, less than a day after they made their debut. A page on the Gov.sg website on Monday (Apr 21) introducing the five-member fictional superhero team has been taken down. In response to media queries, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) said the Virus Vanguard is now "undergoing a review". "We have received quite a lot of feedback on the characters and we will be reviewing them. We are sorry if we offended anyone," said a post on the Gov.sg Facebook page. "As this is the first time we are exploring this content format, we appreciate your patience." The post did not elaborate on the feedback received. The superhero team was a collaboration between Gov.sg and art collective Band of Doodlers. The plan was to create a comic series to convey the different aspects of the "circuit breaker" measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus. The introduction of Virus Vanguard - who made their appearance on the same day Singapore reported a record jump of 1,426 COVID-19 cases - drew mixed reaction from the public. Some felt the characters - whose powers ranged from being able to detect viruses to using empathy to "absorb all negativity" - gave too much levity to the fight against a disease that infected almost 2.5 million people and killed more than 170,000 people gloablly. Several people also felt that more emphasis could be given to real life COVID-19 frontliners such as healthcare workers. One character in particular, MAWA Man, drew flak for playing up the rivalry between popular English Premier League teams Manchester United and Liverpool. The character - whose name stands for Must Always Walk Alone, a play on Liverpool's motto You'll Never Walk Alone - is described as a fanatical Manchester United fan who enforces safe distancing by using his “repelling power” to push objects and people back. An online petition on Change.org by Liverpool supporters, calling for MAWA Man to be removed from the Virus Vanguard lineup, had received more than 500 digital signatures as of Tuesday morning (Apr 21). In a comment on Gov.sg's Facebook page announcing the review of the Virus Vanguard, Band of Doodlers founder Mas Shafreen identified himself as the creator of the superhero team, and apologised that the characters "came across insensitive". "A group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together," said Mr Mas, who also goes by the pen name Wanton Doodle. He said he was later approached to develop a comic series to help raise awareness of circuit breaker measures. "The current situation has affected us all and I know as an artist myself, I am very appreciative of such opportunities given that jobs are hard to come by," he said. " I am sorry for the trouble caused and I hope local artists can still be supported with creative projects." https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/covid-19-superhero-virus-vanguard-exit-a-day-after-introduced-12660804 CNA also dont give face to gov.sg... their report not very supportive. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "A group of us, including myself, wanted to create superhero characters to show appreciation for our frontliners, including healthcare workers, and how we can battle this together," said Mr Mas, who also goes by the pen name Wanton Doodle. I think this excuse is very lame... the rubbish they posted yesterday don't hint anything appreciative for the frontline workers... The frontline workers are man utd and liverpool fans as well... the silly cartoon is distracting them, instead of showing appreciation... Ugh... cringey af. I give them a big F for the artwork. 2 Good content = Topics that genuinely encourages and stimulates interaction/banter. Bad content = Clickbaits, brag posts and social media news feed that nobody gives a flying fuck about + waste of server storage space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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