#second wind

So I recently watched this video, which has some very interesting things to say about the Predator franchise. Something that particularly interested me was the franchise’s tendency to exist in conversation with the ideas of Masculinity and Colonialism.

Lots of anti-colonial narratives function by telling a “let’s see how you like it” story to force readers to confront the damage colonialism causes. War of the Worlds is probably the most famous of these stories, but the first Predator movie is another. It’s a lot more than that, but one of the points of the original Predator is that the villain was just a Big Game Hunter from space.

Thus I think it’s important to realize that in 90% of cases anytime someone uses the word “honor” in the context of Yautja the word they are actually looking for is “sport”. It’s explicitly spelled out in the first movie, but sometimes gets lost in later media.

Deer hunters don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on rifles, gadgets, and gear because they’re interested in making it fair for the deer. They might take a handicap, but that’s not about giving the deer a chance. It's about bragging rights. Sure, Jim Bob shot an 8 pointer from his hunting blind at 100 yards, but Billy Joe got one with a bow after climbing a 30 foot tree with his bare hands!

It’s the same for Yautja.

The Jungle Hunter in the first film disarms to fight Dutch in the climax, but it’s nowhere near a fair fight. Yes, neither of them have weapons, but Dutch isn’t strong enough to hurt the Jungle Hunter and the Jungle Hunter clearly knows it. When Dutch does somehow manage to pull off a win, instead of acknowledging a clever victory the Jungle Hunter tries to knock over the board and blow himself up.

Later media claim the self-destruct devices are because Yautja have rules about never allowing their technology to be stolen, but why not have something that fries all their gear if their lifesigns ever cut off, or chained explosions that only take out their gear? The self-destruct exists for one purpose: to make sure if a Yautja loses they can take everyone else with them. It’s not security. It’s spite.

Let’s use Predator 2 as another example. Picture a prestigious hunting lodge, and to join need to impress the other members with a successful hunting trip. A young man wants to become a member, so he announces he’s going to go hunt some gorillas. He’s got the most expensive gear, the flashiest weapons, and instead of getting dropped off he’s bringing an entire RV to live in and keep his trophies so he doesn’t have to camp on the ground. The other hunters roll their eyes and mutter about “kids these days”, but whatever.

Some time later, they get an automatic distress call from the kid. They rush over and find the kid beaten to death with his own high-tech rifle and a bloody silverback sitting in the middle of his RV. It’s hurt and tired, but from the look in its eyes they know it’s ready to go down swinging. They could easily kill it, but what’s the point? The brat’s already dead, and frankly good riddance. They let the gorilla go, collect the man’s stuff, and head home.

This does not account for the gift they give Mike Harrigan before they go, which does seem like honoring a fellow warrior…but if you accept the extended ending of Killer of Killers as canon then all they did was scoop him up later for gladiator death games.

It’s pretty clear Yautja are sportsmen first and honorable warriors as a distant second. Instances where a Yautja appears to be “cheating” or “stacking the deck” are entirely in character. They aren’t and have never been interested in giving their opponents a fair chance. They only want to give them enough of a chance that the fight is fun, or will seem impressive later.

Who are they trying to impress? Each other, obviously. One-upping is a time-honored tradition among outdoorsmen of all types. The trophies Yautja take are exactly what they seem to be: hunting trophies. Just like most human hunters will talk your ear off if you ask about the deer head they have mounted to the wall, a Yautja’s collection of skulls is a fond memory and a chance to brag about how they got each one.

Both of these videos are about 2~ish minutes long but basically:

— ProZD was unable to appeal one of his videos that was falsely flagged for kids, which he’s remarked restricted the video severely.

— Second Wind’s Yahtzee Crowshaw has reported there’s been a huge dip in viewership on their platform since they rolled out the AI and has recommended turning off Restricted Mode.

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