Hello, There is something about the name "Freak" which disturbs me for this incredible character. When I think of the word freak I think of something monster-like or grotesque. The Freak by DAZ is a very handsome guy and I am wondering if other people do not care for the name either. I am thinking of writing to DAZ and express my views. If enough people do not like the name, do you think they would possibly change it? Thank you in advance. Warm Regards, Nancy (SophiaDeer)

I don't know whether they'd change it or not, but I don't like it, either. I'm far from politically correct most of the time, but I just don't like the connotations of a human figure being called 'Freak'. Reminds me of Victorian freak shows where unfortunates like Joseph Merrick were gawped at. Nasty.

I totally agree with you...it is a name I did not even allow my children to use - remember the old circus sideshows when they would show poor creatures and refer to them by that name? I thought we had grown up since then but apparently not.

I believe there was a previous thread about it although I didn't see it myself; when I mentioned on my forum that I did not like the name, someone said there had been a lengthy thread here about it.

Daz would probably change it if enough people complained.

:)
Irene

:)
Irene

Thank you for your replys. I did not see the thread myself and will hunt around for it. I think I will write DAZ a letter for what it is worth to express my views. Warm Regards, Nancy

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1507857

Sorry but you guys ARE being PC. Mr F, (as seems to be the popular nick for El Bizarro grande)has proportions that are indeed quite Freakish. In adition to that "The Freak" is clearly as close as Daz wanted to get to "The Hulk" without getting sued. sorry but this stuff annoys me... People always say, I'm not PC BUT... What's next People of small stature gonna bitch about the use of the word Dwarf to describe the new character pack? People should look at intent before they get their panties in a bunch over A WORD, any word. JMO of course. (raises flame retardant shields) Until the day that Trekkiegrrl changes her name to TREKKERgrrl, hugs and kisses, Berserga ^_^ Just another Geek

Thanks for the link to the thread, Genny. Warm Regards, Nancy

I agree with Berserga. Let's NOT be PC, it's a lot more fun. :] Fish

Main Entry: 1freak Pronunciation: 'frEk From www.webster.com Function: noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1563 1 a : a sudden and odd or seemingly pointless idea or turn of the mind b : a seemingly capricious action or event 2 archaic : a whimsical quality or disposition 3 : one that is markedly unusual or abnormal: as a : a person or animal with a physical oddity who appears in a circus sideshow b slang (1) : a sexual deviate (2) : a person who uses an illicit drug c : HIPPIE d : an atypical postage stamp usually caused by a unique defect in paper (as a crease) or a unique event in the manufacturing process (as a speck of dirt on the plate) that does not produce a constant or systematic effect 4 : an ardent enthusiast

Thanks Bam...maybe I can think of him as an "ardent enthusiast" Warm Regards, Nancy

Uhm but I'm a trekkie. Not a trekker LOL But perhaps I'll change it to TrekkiePeep, to not sound sexist in any way (actually I'm not sure how or IF "grrrl" would be considered that, but just in case. The Freak IS a freak! Look at his HANDS! And feet! He CAN indeed be made to look a hansome man. But the base mesh IS freakish :o) But of course words have different connotations depending on where you live. To me, Freak isn't a beep word, and I see freakish people every day on the street G Not freaks of the same kind as The Freak, but.. freaks.

There is only word that bothers me as female and it starts with a "C"....other than that words don't phase me one way or the other.

Haven't yet purchased THE FREAK but I'm sure I will and as for the name I love it! What would you want to call him Jim! John! Dave, come on FREAK is great...different...yes but then so is the model...maybe another good name for him could be IGOR like the hunch back out of the Universal Frankenstein movies, now we're talking great movies I love em...sorry moving off subject. Laters Rich ( SX200 )

Personally....I like the name Freak. It is unique and distinctive, and everyone knows which model it is. I would much rather they did not use the Mike and Victoria names for the new unimesh figures...that is more troublesome and confusing than Freak ever would be.

"What's next People of small stature gonna bitch about the use of the word Dwarf to describe the new character pack?"......already have, i think the PC Name now is person of restricted growth ;o).....Steve

I rather like the name of "Unusually Large And Disproportionate Man"

What do ya'll think? ;) Shall we take a vote?

Hmm...methinks some people are getting too caught up in the historical connotations of the word FREAK. With a major loss of bigotry nationwide, a combination of PC and just plain accepting people for who they are - a lot of words have had their definition morphed into less offensive or more generalized meanings.

Say 'freak' to me and I don't thinks it's offensive or odd at all. 'Freaky' means that people aren't afraid to hold back their uniqueness and eccentricities. And 'getting your freak on'....well....that needs no lengthy description, does it? ;)

In any case - now that the product has been released, the chances of DAZ renaming it are nigh to nil. A long time ago, I brought an error to their attention regarding the ethnic morph 'Philipino' being spelled wrong - it's supposed to be 'Filipino' for people from the Philippines. While they acknowledged the error, they explained to me how changing the morph name would have consequences for any person creating a marketable morph that utilizes that the 'Philipino' morph. I suspect similar circumstances surround the Freak.

Yeah I can see Daz trying to sell the: "Growth Hormone Deficient, Fantasy Hominoid" and The "Vertically Advantaged, Steroid Rich, Fantasy Male." The English language took the fusion of French, Saxon, Celtic elements and Old Norse (and many more Indo-European antecedents and minor influences such as Latin and Greek etc. loan words) to reach the present, wonderfully rich, complex and highly descriptive form it has. Tolkien had no problem - and neither do present-day filmmakers - with the words Dwarf, Troll, Ogre etc. why should Daz?

Their use of the term "Freak" may derive from the body-building culture, where the terms freak and freakzilla are used as derogatory terms for those unfortunate guys and gals who are showing the degenerative and mutative effects of steroid overuse, but who confuse debilitation with physical beauty. Some of these effects have been known to actually turn people's stomachs, and are too grotesque to describe in a non-medical setting. That's the attraction of such models - the users know they can just use a camera to get realistic images of actual human beings, so they seek escape from reality in these models. Real life and dealing with real people can be stressful, so I don't begrudge them their attempts to escape.

Something folk have over looked. Michael and Victoria. Names. Identities. So upon the creation of a character who has so many avenues of creativity what is he called? "The Freak". He's nameless. He's branded, but not with a identity. I can see DAZ's POV create a big guy of insnae alsmot super-human proportions, however they still could have given him a name. Personally I call my "Freak" Morgor after a mate of mine suggested it. I'm not PC by any means, in fact I'm often blunt and rather Un-PC, but I'm against the name "Freak" for such a wonderful character. I don't like it. I use the term myself sometimes when refering to myself, but I just don't think "The Freak" suits the big guy. It's a label. Someone has raised the issue of the Dwarf pak available, and unless I'm mistaken this is a character pak - not a stand alone character. Mike, Vicky and "The Freak" are base characters. So why not give the third brilliant character from DAZ a proper name?

I was going to point out the body building terminology myself. I hadn't taken it to be so much derrogatory as descriptive, as in "huge beyond belief". I think that the Freak offers a good alternatie to the emaciated twig that is M3. If people here really like The Freak, but find the name distasteful, you can always come up with an alternative nick name like Bruiser or Brutus or something. After all, we all had fun calling the P4 man and woman Dork and Posette--which is precisely why I think CL chose to give them the human names of Judy and Don in P5. So nick name away and perhaps the next incarnation of this Micheal derrivative will have a real name.

Actually body builders name themselves like that all the time and like it. Its not uncommon for them to call each other names like freak. Freak can also denote someone of odd proportions, which a body builder wants to be known by.

Don't be so freaking sensitive!

I think the correct PC name Steve is "stature challenged" :) We had this discussion at the office not long ago. A bald guy is "follically challenged", etc., etc. The Freak by any name is fun.....that's all I know :)

"Growth Hormone Deficient, Fantasy Hominoid" and The "Vertically Advantaged, Steroid Rich, Fantasy Male." OMG, LOL!! I respect Sophia's opinion, and can see where she's coming from with this question; however I also agree that the Freak is a fitting name for him and that it's certainly not meant to be insulting to anyone. His morph pack and most of his clothes cater to those creating monstrous man-beasts anyway, and to give him a regular name like Max or George would only add to the confusion for new users of DAZ figures. Interesting viewpoints on both sides though. If you haven't gotten it yet off DAZ's Members Only forum, I'll be posting my free Frea...uh Vertically Advantaged, Steroid Rich, Fantasy Male Body-Enlarging, Hand & Foot-shrinking MOR pose file and the Muscularly Challenged Unimesh Mediocre Male-Enlarging Michael MOR here on Renderosity soon. They're not quite as cool as they sound here, but they'll do. ;) SnowS

As a member of the Digital Entity Rights Association, I agree completely that we need to find a new moniker for the digital entity currently being referred to as the "Freak." (1) It is demeaning and insulting, not to mention in violation of said entity's basic liberties. I call upon all like minded individuals to join me in supporting legislation that will outlaw all such derogatory labels from being applied to digital entities in the future. Also the DERA is willing to provide legal counsel for any and all digital entities who wish to file libel and slander suits. (2) (1) The DERA has managed to obtain secret DAZ documents regarding the "Freak." According to these documents, the Freak's real name is Mortimer J. Smith. However it was felt by DAZ officials that the name Mortimer was not sufficiently "impressive" and would impact negatively on said entity's popularity. (2) At present, the DERA is in the process of filing a separate lawsuit on behalf of digital entites who feel that they have been in any way exploited or taken advantage of. If you or anyone you know fits this description, please contact a DERA representative immediately.

Yes!!!! Sue the bastards!! How dare they!!! Poor little Mortimer can't help it he looks....well....."freaky". It's a "right wing conspiracy" IMHO!!!

Freak can just mean unusual it doesn`t have to have a sinister meaning...

If you do a Hulk-like character and can't use the name because of copyright fears, you fish around for something that has the same kinda feel. Freak is what came up. He was designed to be a characature. True, he does look like a very overdone muscle man, but with morphs like ogre, etc, the idea was for a fantasy figure. A freaky one. A comic book type one. It's not insulting to any given group of real people, so let the name stand. It's not like they called him Brucie or Sambo or Sister Mary Margaret. May the gods help us when we get a "Freakette"... just kidding. I mean, seriously, who'd have the genital fortutude to actually do one (grin)?

LMAO@'genital fortitude' Nothing like pc words and phrases to give us a chuckle. ;)

I favor Bubba for the Freak myself.

So basically, GabrielK, "The Freak" is just Mortimer's stage name? Makes sense to me. People gotta change their names all the time in the entertainment industry. I mean, look at John Wayne, for instance. Just how many people would find a cowboy named "Marion" believable? Pfft. "What kind of "sissy" name is that?" they would say. Besides, there are too many Mortimer's out there already. Much better to be "The Freak" - it has an air of distinction that the name Mortimer somehow lacks. KateTheFacetious

LOL people around here are way cool. P.S. I'm gonna have to remember "genital fortitude." That's a good one! :)

Mine is called Percy.

Politically correctness is a mix of bureaucracy and ideology: two stupidities make a stupidity at square

This poor widdew set of vertices and polygons is being exploited by DAZ. How dare they take advantage of the misfortune of a mesh in this way? They're so focused on appearances, but there's so much more to the freak than that... there's... No, wait, it's a 3D model. There really is only appearences. Under the surface -- there's an enclosed empty space. Honest, stick a camera and light in there and you'll see. You're all a bunch of freaks.

Audrey said: "You're all a bunch of freaks." And I, for one, am damn proud of my freakhood. :) Kate (who has also been referred to as an odd duck, that rather queer little woman, tubbo, four-eyes, fart face (hey, with three younger brothers you gotta expect that one at least once in your life, no?), Miss Jellybean, Miss Octopus (long story on those two and they were terms of endearment), Bitch Woman (my secret superhero identity), babe, sweetie, She-Who-Knows-Where-Stuff-Is, and you "fat, useless, ugly, stupid, four-eyed freak" (this by a pissed off ex-husband) in her lifetime).

Glad to hear you made him an "Ex-husband" Kate! :)

Le freak c'est chic ! (but his loincloth disapointed my wife a lot...)

Hallow or not there's a quality about 3D models that make them seem like real people and objects even though they are simply just a collection of 1's and 0's on our hard drive. Think about it, what real human model can you perfectly shape and place in any environment you'd like? These models are so life like they have taken on a life of their own. In fact they are so real that in many cases to the casual observer a Poser picture can seem like it was produced with a living, breathing being. Since we spend so much time and money on them, these models deserve our respect--which is why we feel compelled to name them, talk about them, and post images of them online and elsewhere.

-- _Audrey wrote: You're all a bunch of freaks. -- Cool, regardless of which side of the issue we stand, it seems that we're all the same! LOL this place really kills me.

Thats enough about the name of the freak! It just shows you that some people will complain about anything...

Yeah, xantor, and if we don't have anything to complain about, well, we'll just complain about not having anything to complain about. It's in the "Sort of Official But Not Really Poser Forum User's Handbook" the cliffnotes version. ;)

Takes a freak to know a freak....

Thank you everyone for your replys and opinions on said subject. Also thank you for the people who pointed out that the term "Freak" is commonly used in the Bodybuilding world. I never knew that and found is most interesting. Just goes to show you that you are never too old to learn something new. Warm Regards, Nancy (SophiaDeer)