Topic on Talk:Pyro the Flamedeer

Currently, there's a trivia entry stating that "The item's name is a reference to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a popular Christmas character." However, I find that hard to believe.

• There's really nothing in the item's name referencing Rudolph. For comparison's sake, Randolph the Blood-Nosed Caribou has both a similar proper name and a title composed of a mention of the nose's color and the species.
• The cosmetic itself lacks the distinct red nose of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• Rudolph isn't Santa's only reindeer.

The only connection there seems to be between the two is the publicity blurb (taken from one of the promotional images in the Workshop submission), which parodies either the original book or song (I could find neither); the rest of the Workshop submission describes it as "a cute cartoony animal themed gas mask" and "a cute reindeer gasmask" ("And not some creepy, latex fetish, furry thing"), with no mention of Rudolph whatsoever.

I've added one of the creators to ask for confirmation on this matter. - BrazilianNut (talk) 16:23, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

  Agreed, there isn't enough suitable evidence, unless the creator themselves made it a reference.

Talk Contribs Steam 17:17, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

I think you read the trivia wrong. Point 2 and 3 aren't relevant as it's only the name of the cosmetic item, not the design itself. The first one I disagree with, "Pyro the Flamedeer" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer" seem pretty obviously similar to each other. "Red-nosed reindeer" being replaced with "Flamedeer" still makes it very obviously a reference.

We can't just have "obvious" be a reason that this is a reference. First of all, the model itself isn't a reference to Rudolph at all, and "Pyro the Flamedeer" could mean anything.

It's not the reason that it's a reference, it's the reason it's staying on. The model is completely irrelevant because this is about the name, it doesn't have to look anything like Rudolph in order to qualify the name being a reference. "Pyro the Flamedeer" is pretty obviously done in the same way as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", see Deer hat where there are plenty of cosmetics with no "X the Y" naming scheme. I think it's a bit foolish to deny that "Pyro the Flamedeer" is not clearly meant to be referencing a named reindeer.

Older references don't require a source. To me, Rudolph seems to be clearly referenced in the workshop images including "lit the way for "Smanta's" sleigh" which is what rudolph is all about and featuring "then pyro went and set to flames all the jerks that used to laugh and call him names" being "All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names". So it's certainly possible that the name could also be referring to Rudolph.

I read the trivia properly; I just expanded on it poorly.

The trivia entry states: "The item's name is a reference to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a popular Christmas character." However, the only similarities I see between the two are the name format "[Name] the [Title]" and that they're both "deers", which, to me, is not enough.

• It could have had a more similar name (like the previously mentioned Randolph has), but it doesn't.
• It could have had a mix of "Pyro" and "Rudolph" ("Pyrolph?" "Pyrudolph?") and/or a more similar title (like "the Charcoal-Nosed Flamedeer"), but it doesn't.

If all we have going for is the name format, then it could just as well be a reference to Sonic the Hedgehog - a franchise filled with characters named like this (Rouge the Bat, Big the Cat, Vector the Crocodile, among others).

Points 2 and 3 were to further show how unlikely the reference is. As I looked for connections between the two, the less likely there seemed to be one, and so the less likely that reference seemed to be true. From what I found, there is little to nothing that supports this entry.

It's because it's a combination of a deer and the name, not just the name itself. It's a bit silly to say that it could be a reference to anything with that title, because clearly it's a deer cosmetic (I didn't think I would have to mention that though, just the design not having a red nose or anything referencing Rudolph).

I can definitely see your point, but it's not enough to justify removing imo. But we'll have to see about the creator's response first.
| s | GrampaSwood (talk) (contribs) 19:31, 15 November 2024 (UTC)