Also fun fact : the author of full metal alchemist actually used to work with disabled people and she interviewed them and asked them about their experiences when she made her Manga. But she also acknowledged that she wouldn't be able to fully understand it as she isn't disabled herself.
Honestly I have a lot of respect for FMA's creator, despite the criticism. I ended up cutting it, but there was a segment in the video initially just gushing over the amount of love and care she did put into the manga lol. Even if she didn't get everything 100% perfect, the effort is clear and the fact she did acknowledge that it would be hard to understand (and therefore portray) without living with the disability herself means a lot too. My critisims were more to get other authors to understand it's not a perfect example of how to avoid the trope.
@@Cy_Cyborg Her saying she based the Ishvalans partly on the Ainu and acknowledging her ancestors displaced them was a level of introspection I didn't expect from a Shonen Manga author especially since that entire history is kind of not spoken much about in Hokkaido.
If you're wanting to have a disabled character and you're not disabled yourself talk with people who have the disability you are wanting to use so you have proper representation.
Many of my characters are either active duty military and/or mercenaries, and one of them lost their left eye in an explosion. I'd really like to see a video discussing the topic of how blindness and other types of disability are approached in media. A personal friend of mine actually lost an eye when he was younger, and I've talked with him about it. It was very eye-opening (no pun intended) to hear about how it impacts his daily life.
My dad lost his vision due to diabetes Watched him go throigh so many surgerys and adventually just accetping and working with his blindness Its so fascinating how many different things can lead to the "same" disability, so many people, so many stories Thats why i LOVED toph beifong, a strong blind person who still actaully had to deal with being blind, there are jokes made with her too, the gaang often forgets shes blind, sokka shows her a poster and she goes "that's a peice of paper but im guessing you're referring to whats on the paper xD" And when looking for the library she goes "THERE IT IS!.... Thats what it will sound like when one of you spots it 🤭" shes a queen
Loosing depth perception would probably be pretty detrimental to your ability to work in the military unless you’re piloting drones or something- or maybe im entirely off, considering the closing one eye when looking through a scope-
@@tikimillie the practice of closing one eye while looking down a scope is only reserved for higher magnification optics. While using something like iron sights or a simple red dot sight, you’re trained to keep both eyes open in order to preserve field of view. You aren’t entirely wrong, though, as it wouldn’t be optimal for someone to be half blind while in combat.
I think it's totally valid to write a power fantasy where technology is advanced and cool and people with disabilities can choose to have augmentations that are equal to or better than abled-body parts, but there also isn't nearly enough limited interesting interpretations that reflect actual people's experiences in some way. Honestly the fact that FMA is one of the only pieces of media I have seen that *does* do a more realistic depiction is tragic, because it is very compelling when done right and has a lot of potential for stories.
While I don’t have a limb difference myself, I’d personally become so desensitized to this trope until I played through the game Horizon Forbidden West and found myself gobsmacked when a new limb was not treated as an instant fix. One of your companions is a recent amputee (Above elbow.), and after a quest to help him build and test a prosthetic arm his response is that while he’s thankful for it as a tool it isn’t a 1:1 replacement and he prefers not to wear it outside of battle because it doesn’t feel like part of him.
@@Redfrootloop Indeed, Kotallo! He’s not perfect by any means; I have a bit of a gripe about how quickly he healed in the span of time between when he loses his arm and when you recruit him, also how he’s not really slowed down by his missing limb at all. But it was really refreshing to see a character experience ableism and not have a prosthetic or assistive device be a magic cure that made them effectively able-bodied again.
I wrote this on Tumblr and I'll write it here, not everyone needs a prosthetic for everything. It honestly takes away a lot of cool and creative character building by just having a prosthetic be a one size fits all fix. From my personal life, I have only needed a prosthetic once and for one specific thing, playing my violin. I learned and adapted to do everything else without a prosthetic. I wish more media would acknowledge and show characters with varying levels of prosthetic use. Not only is it more realistic, but you can do a lot of show-don't-tell characterization as well.
I did see you on Tumblr but I lost your post in the reblogs before I could reply haha. but yes, 100%! I'm a big fan of no prosthetics at all for more characters. I go for long periods of not using my prosthetics at all and generally prefer my wheelchair for 90% of stuff, even before I started having issues with my legs that made the prosthetics harder to use because it's just more efficient. I only didn't bring that up in this video/the written post because they were both already so long but I'm definitely going to talk about the media's overuse of prosthetics in general in a video eventually.
There is a sitcom that has a disabled guy who has to use a laser and computer to talk. One of his caretakers and his friends (also disabled in various ways) wanted to fight, like fist fight, and he wondered how he can be inclusive and get them what they wanted while also being safe. I forget what it is called but it's actually a pretty decent show. As far as I know it was helped to be made by people with those disabilities.
i also saw a very nice tumblr post that said that prosthetics sometimes aren’t needed for people who are used to living without them for example, if someone was born without legs, they may need a prosthetic less than someone who had one or both taken off due to a disease or surgery or an accident, since that person has lived their life with legs, they may be far less able to adapt in their eyes to the point where they would want one i think it’s very interesting! myself, i have a character who was born without an arm but uses a prosthetic because he’s a very precise scientist, and works in a field where he is MAKING these prosthetics so i think keeping this in mind is important
As for the prosthetic arms in Nimona, I legit forgot that he had them. They're not brought up except for a few seconds as Nimona is it looking over him. I think that's how prosthetics and disabilities should be treated. Just something to mildly add to the character. Because, again, I actually forgot he had no arms. Looking back they look sick as hell. But they aren't the forefront of his character. Neither is his homosexuality. He's just a guy.
Didn’t Cyborg say in the video that “I forgot [this character] was even disabled” is something authors should look to avoid tho? Like I understand don’t make it their whole personality, but it should still be *a part* of their personality yknow?
Ive been working on a disabled character, this is very helpful for me. I'm not disabled, but the character's missing arm is important for the story. I really want to show his struggle and grief with life, and the missing arm seems to be the best way to visualize that to the audience. It also will intrigue people to go back and try to figure out how he might have lost his arm.
5:07 I guess there's Toph from avatar though. She's blind but she's not really depressed about it. She even jokes about it sometimes. And idk if you'd wanna include stinkmeaner from the boondocks but if you do then there's also him. He's also blind but doesn't really care. He even told his doctor "at least I don't have to look at your ugly as no more" when he lost his sight. I guess there's also Eli from half life 2. He has one of those sprinting feet but he pretty much just acts like he has a normal foot.
Ideas for a character being part of battle with a limb difference with or without a prosthetic: a character with only 1 arm could be part of a shield wall, a line of people holding shields next to each other while a line of spearmen behind them attack over the shields or poking the spear between them. For a character with limited mobility, an idea I got from a ttrpg I've played once has a class called a stalwart defender (idk how many have them, but I know Porphyra does) where they get to somewhere in the battle, often a bottleneck like a bridge, and they basically get in a sturdy stance and don't leave that spot, basically becoming a stabby wall. A leg amputee could fairly easily work as an archer with only a few workarounds, and archery can also be adapted to arm amputees. You could possibly design something to reliability keep a leg amputee in a saddle, though you would have to adapt communication with the horse (from my understanding, some communication is usually done through squeezing with your legs) and the amputee would likely fatigue faster than an able bodied rider. A battle wheelchair would likely be feasible, especially with magic/other fantasy or futuristic enhancements and/or inspiration from off road wheelchairs and sports wheelchairs. Also, iirc there's actually a fair amount of historical evidence of amputee soldiers, including shields adapted to be used with a residual limb Sorry if this comment is hard to understand, words are hard
I am writing this cyberpunk story where the main character is disabled. Double below the knee amputee. I have been taking notes through this video, and I've come up with a few ideas: 1) her prosthetics are bulky and high-tech, using pistons for shock absorption. However, this is not for the betterment of the prosthetics or the person, this is purely as a way to lock people into a payment plan. The prosthetics contain a circuit that keeps contact with the company that made it, and as soon as your subscription wears off, the pistons lock up. Now: the main character is a mechanic and has been able to maintain the mechanical parts of these limbs, but is also trying out many ways with scraps found around, on how to make a low-tech replacement. Something that's lighter, and easier to use. She also has a couple wheelchairs around for different purposes, and uses those whenever either her legs lock up yet again, or whenever she is around the house, or just whenever she feels like. She doesn't (currently) have different legs, but this is not by choice, this is because her set of legs has been mandated, and approval for even a second pair is tedious, if not impossible, especially since these new mechanical limbs are touted as "the best of the best" and "you wouldn't need another one ever again" (which would be pure lies)
I would LOVE to hear your opinion about how some science fictions (specifically cyberpunk rpg) will describe having augmentations and prosthetics as having "less" humanity. I believe the idea there is that specifically the "cyberware" is so advanced that it connects into your brain directly, and too many connections can cause you to go "cyber psycho", also has to do with if you have too much "gear" then you start to look less human by their standards. But then they put themselves into the position to directly say that if you dont have any cyberware then you have more Humanity, and it just really icks me out. its a mechanical feature, designed to keep the gameplay balanced, but I'm not physically disabled so anytime I've brought it up I feel like I'm carrying a torch for someone that didn't ask me to. That, combined with WoTC's attempts at being inclusive, really make me interested on how a TTRPG should handle prosthetics. Should there be a negative trait associated? Should it have a bonus ability that non-prosthetic wearers can't have? Or should it just be a flavor feature and have no mechanical feature associated to it?
4:01 To be fair, John Silver is a better representation of someone with prosthetics than a lot of other characters. It's not just a part of his design, the prosthetics are a part of his character, he uses his eye to scan the environment, he uses his hand in all sorts of creative ways, his leg breaks and it affects him for the rest of the movie. He has a reason to have such advanced prosthetics with so many features because he's a pirate. Pirates live very dangerous lives and typically get into situations where they are without a tool they need, so having a highly dextrous prosthetic hand that has 10x more interchangable tools than a swiss army knife comes in handy very often. At one point, Jim Hawkins stabs the pneumatic shock absorber in Silver's leg and throughout the rest of the movie Silver uses his prosthetic arm as a crutch to help him move. We also see him doing som maintenance on his prosthetic leg. These are things that a lot of shows and movies don't portray. The prosthetic is just treated like a normal limb and the audience just forgets it exists until the writers bring it up again.
I’ve got two characters with all their limbs being prosthetic, one out of necessity and the other because they wanted to upgrade themself to have the same strength the first had (even before the amputation) and after watching this video, I’m now thinking of ways I can flesh them out more…I even had a few “well shit” moments while watching, either because I wasn’t aware of the problem, or when I saw something that I do in my writing in the “don’t do this” section I had dipped my toe into some of these ideas, namely taking off the prosthetics to relax, but it was never really a focus, so I’ll try to go into more of what these characters are like when they’re relaxing Needless to say, I’m going to at least try to give some more weight to these characters…and while it’s not exactly the same, I thought about if it was possible to do something like this in reverse…I have two characters who were mostly mechanical and later are able to restore their organic bodies…and now I’m wondering if I’d be able to do a similar concept in reverse, where they have to readjust to having organic bodies because they’d been mostly mechanical for so long
I read your tumblr post on this earlier and now I found this recommended to me lol. While I've yet to watch full metal alchemist, I did read somewhere that Ed was right handed before becoming an amputee and had to start using his left hand for delicate work, like writing, afterwards. Since this is a drawback of the metal limb that is everpresent even when the metal arm functions as intended, I wouldn't consider his prosthetic as perfect. Anyway, thanks for the informative video! My amputee characters have avoided this trope, thankfully, but I'll include some more of these details in their stories where I can.
I'm pretty sure I remember it mentioned once in the manga that Ed's automail arm doesn't have the fine motor capability neccesary to write, but It's been a while since I read FMA and I didn't find it in my quick flip through of the volumes I have(1-6). what I did see on my flip through is that he writes with his right in flashbacks to before becoming an amputee and he writes with his left in the present, so it is at least implied.
This is a really good video. Also gave me a lot more to think about when it comes to my amputee character. Id already imagine them struggling with feeling touch and taking off their prosthetics when they can due to fatigue from use and phantom pain, but I hasn't considered other effects of having a prosthetic like the weather or maintenance. I'll have to do more research but at least I know what direction to go in now. Edit: just want to ask just to double check, but what are generally considered to be reliable resources on amputation/limb differences? I've found some information from Arm Dynamics and Amputee Coalition, but just want to know if there are other major bodies/authorities on the matter I'm not aware of.
I’d be interested in your opinion on violet evergarden. She’s shown learning how to use her prosthetics and she’s shown adjusting them and they even break. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the show but it’s worth a watch in my opinion. I’m not an amputee I’d love to know if this is good representation
Two small scenes revolving around her having prosthetic arms come to mind immediately: In the first episode, she is given a plush dog to keep. She holds it in her hands and soaks in her first proper toy. Then she brings it to her face and rubs the fabric against her cheek. Her hands still can't feel. Amongst the first few episodes when she's in doll school, her teacher requests of her to perform a certain WPM exercise. She adjusts her arms for a moment and then blows her fellow students out of the water. To be fair, the _wording_ leaves a lot to be desired, but she can dictate things very well.
This was SUUUPER informative for a character i have who has a prosthetic arm! she was born without it but is also blind and it serves as a mobility aid as well. I definitely want to include some of the things suggested in this video such as her taking it off when she's resting or struggling with positioning and knowing where it is in a space! She comes from a rich background and the world is slightly more advanced then ours so i'd imagine she has more access to private tools and prosthetics! Great video and super informative!
not sure if it'd really appeal to many of the people here but an interesting example of a more grounded depiction of prosthetics, at least in the context of sci-fi and having very tangible and relevant drawbacks that aren't brushed aside, I don't know or think it's particularly accurate to the experience of actual disabled people (I think some of the prosthetics can be removed but I don't remember any characters removing them during rest time or if most of them can even be easily removed while they're alive). In texhnolyze the Prosthetics/cybernetics basically rely on the energy and processing power of the city to function, which without spoiling much is actually relevant to the plot, those who are texhnolyzed (the in-universe name of the main procedure/technology) are also forced to deal with an integrated and obtrusive heads-up display showing how well those body parts are functioning, characters are shown getting regular maintenance and special fitting for these limbs, and an early plot point was the main character having to adjust to actually controlling his new limbs. I'm probably glossing over a lot and the prevalence of prosthetics/cybernetics are kind of secondary to what the show is really about, it's closer to a more much grounded and stripped back form of trans-humanism then anything but I think it is interesting enough to mention
also for those who are completely uninitiated while I definitely hold that Texhnolyze has a lot of merit it isn't a particularly easy (in terms of some of it's content but mainly in the format) watch the first time around and does not pull any punches, it's not particularly gratuitous and leaves most of the worst up to the viewers imagination but without being condescending I can see it giving the uninitiated some severe tonal whiplash to say the least, it's known as one of the more depressing series of it's type for a reason, or something
This video is a huge help! One of the protagonists in a personal project I'm working on is a mech pilot who lost a leg in a crash, so this gave me a lot to think and research about relating to how her prosthetic affects her daily life and how she's seen/functions as a pilot now. The advice about avoiding overly negative attitudes to prosthetics really helps too since the story has an overall lighter tone than other mecha series (the mech piloting is a popular sport instead of a form of warfare).
I'm glad I found this since I tend to have a few characters with prosthetics in my stories. With my current project, one of the main characters, Gehenna, is a double arm amputee above his elbow. I think I accidentally went with the Perfect Prosthetic trope for him, as his arms tended to function like normal arms, but with some knowledge, I knew he couldn't feel sensations in them. Like, I knew he would grip things either too hard or too lightly too, but that's where it kinda ended. Otherwise his prosthetics looked more skeletal and connected to some of his muscle and nerves because demonic fantasy stuff.
I would love your take on this. My setting is basically a mix of futuristic high fantasy and military sci-fi. I have a character who lost an arm and was given a cybernetic arm so they can properly fight along with gaining self confidence and overcoming the trauma of losing the limb in the first place.(there fighting style is hand to hand by the way along with using shotgun gauntlets that fire when they punch) There first arm could basically do what a normal arm can along with having an integrated shotgun and being detachable. The one problem is that she couldn't properly feel anything and had difficulty with proprioception. Later on in the story, they eventually gain a new prosthetic arm that is fully cybernetic, including full neurological connections that allow her to feel her arm fully. Basically, it's going from a normal prosthetic arm to basically having a completely normal arm again. I want to know how you think the character would respond? Would they be scared upon first "feeling" their arm again, or would the response be more surprised and glad?
Random seeing suggestion, I'm not an engineer, but I saw a guy (he wasn't an amputee, but disabled and in a chair) pushing one of our carts. We have some electric carts but I was thinking of an attachment for an electric cart that can work like those ones but attach to a wheelchair. Which would be hard to do properly due to the various chair designs. The way I think of it, is more like a slot, where the attachment attaches to the chair via the arm rests, or by the back. Using electric motors to propel itself around like the disability ones. So the basket is on the front, and it could have a grabby arm on it, or a horn to request for aid for workers. However, I know this can't entirely work due to the way chairs work exactly. Cause the wheels move independently and such. Then I thought of just a sort of lap basket that can attach to chairs that we can keep. while it won't do for big shops it can help for short ones. Think of that one like a tv tray table thing. But this too would need to be flexible for various chairs and sizes. Which is easy enough to do compared to the motor attachment idea. I also know the basket idea can impact upon reach as well. This is why it is so hard to even start to imagine how to help people. Because there is just so many variables to account for. If you do it to the front, where the legs are, this messes with how the chair feels and can cause it to tip. We don't always have pick-up available and the hand baskets are not comfortable on the lap at all. (sharpish bottoms) I think the best way to circumvent some of this is to do what a little old lady does in a walker does. Which is basically slot the walker over the front of the little carts we have. So make a small cart that can go around and act basically like a another wheelchair (as in how to moves) with a basket. Which would be expensive via the wheels... Yes I've thought a lot about this just cause of one guy I saw for maybe 5 seconds. It would be interesting to talk with an actual prosthetic engineer about actual aids like this. I know it may be like one in a million people that may use it, but still. It would be nice to be able to have it in case someone actually you know NEEDS it. As much as it may make my job harder (like keeping track of, carrying/moving/etc the piece) it would be still very nice. At least one that can stay on the lap at least. Keep in mind again I am NOT an engineer, not in the slightest, but I at least hope my ideas can get to someone who is.
I've only seen the perfect prosthetic trope in stories with magic and advanced technology where such upgrades are possible to begin with. In stories I've read that take place in a modern or inferior tech setting, the prosthetics tend to be more simple replacements. But some media that uses advanced technology settings subvert the "same, just better" trope by making prosthetics vulnerable to getting hacked.
I would argue there is a difference between cybernetics & prosthesis in media. Cyborg characters are often upgraded/enhanced & the story is an examination of future technology or super powers. When I think of prosthetics in sci-fi I think Geordi La Forge from Star Trek. His visor is to correct a visual impairment & the show often examines it's imperfections & impact. Where I see Perfect Prosthetic it's the creators using disability as an excuse to introduce cybernetic super powers or aesthetics. I'm only aware of one piece of media that is fully Cybernetic & Prosthetic. Ghost in the Shell examines cybernetic future tech from the perspective of voluntary enhancement & of medical prosthesis. Every character is different. One character has the bare minimum enchantment while the main protag has a "fully prosthetic body".
I think most of the "Perfect Prosthetics" trope comes from the fact that we are viewing these characters after they've already fully adapted to the prosthetic and are skilled or gifted enough to have learned to use the disadvantage to their advantage. I have a friend who has an arm prosthetic, and I've seen them use specialized attachments for stuff like drawing. I wasn't around when she got her prosthetic, and it's only an elbow-up prosthetic (Still has a bendable elbow) but I can only imagine the adaption phase was a lot worse than her current phase was. Especially for futuristic shows like Treasure Planet, I can definitely see that being a good representation of a prosthetic for someone who has time to adapt to it. Sure, it seems like a flat-out upgrade, but there are several times in the movie where people take advantage of the disability by disabling or targeting the prosthetics, and it shows that he constantly has to perform adjustments to the pieces of equipment. Sure, a lot of disabled people and characters have more or less stress than others (i.e.: A hand amputee is different than a below the elbow amputee is different than above elbow amputee, and it's easier to conceal or forget about the amputee's disability until it affects them again). I'm not saying forgetting about a disability is not bad, but depending on the severity of the amputation, it might go unnoticed for longer periods than not. Regarding the Wheelchair in DnD/Pathfinder argument, I'm on the "If it fits in the setting logically" fence. As someone who has used a wheelchair for a short section of my life (about 2 years recovering from 3rd degree burns on my feet) - ain't no way I would ever go offroading or into dungeons with a basic wheelchair - I did mention basic because I'm sure there are more advanced but more expensive options available, especially in a magical setting. I can see spellcasters being wheelchair bound but a duel-wielding rogues would definitely have a harder time moving and wielding a weapon simultaneously. (Edit) One thing that I just thought of and wanted to point out is that usually Cybernetics and Prosthetics are different in high-fantasy because Cybernetics usually outweigh the risk or detriment of having them. Usually, to the point, people disfigure themselves to obtain them without having a disability. I guess what I'm saying is that that's the main differential between cybernetics and prosthetics is if a person is willing to lose something for an upgrade, like replacing their eyes for upgraded laser eyes despite not having vision problems or blindness, then that would make it cybernetic implants.
I was falling into these trope hard with a character of mine I Have made some modifications since then and I'll leave them here in case anyone wants to rate them and maybe sugest extra details Do keep in mind she is a Dnd npc and although I am not sure all of her behavior will be experienced or seen by the party, I just really like to have as acurate a representation as possible :3 Its still a "one for everything" magic/technology leg proesthetic (even though it is made to be more durability focused). But I've added the fact she both prefeers to use her crutches and wheelchair at home as well as having to ship it out every few months for maintenance. She has a normal, mchanical prothesis for when her main gets shipped out, its limited and once again, she prefeers wheelchair and crutches to it. And even though she was already a slow fighter with powerfull blows, I did pull some atention to her "imovable object" aproach to fighting due to her proesthetic not allowing movement as quick as a normal leg would. She got very used to using the proesthetic as a center of balance that needs little movement and that makes her clumsy and a bit discohordenated when using her normal leg as a center of balance. The leg can technicaly swap into a running mode, but it takes around 2 minutes for it to propely swap, in which no pressure can be put on it, which is time no one has during a fight. So she mostly doesnt use that mode in battle. Due the lack of ttraining with it, she is also clumsy and can't really deal with the fact its almost impossible to stop propely after starting to run. She is much more agile when in crutches and enjoys going down stairs with her wheelchair, even if that gives her partner a little stroke and has led to the wheelchair getting damaged multiple times.
Of all settings, the table top RPG GURPS handles prosthesis shockingly well, having One arm mitigator isn't just free points, depending on the tech level there's other disadvantages that go along with it like reduced motor skills or dexterity for the limb, there's maintanance, you can take the prosthesis off, and an optional rule has it that you only sleep well if you do so. also it has actual rules for wheelchair movement, and limbs and electric wheel chairs do have battery life rules even. the only downside is that it uses 2004 language for the names of various disadvantages, such as the term lame, or split personalities.
I feel like this thought process also infects other things, like dentures. I had to get all my teeth pulled (I didn't have that many though) and I'm in the process of getting dentures to go with dental implants. People keep asking me if I'm excited to get new teeth! All the advertisements for implants are like "get implants and eat your favorite foods again!" they advertise regaining confidence, aesthetics, and other things like this. The video about implants in the waiting room of the surgeon I went to see was like an advertisement for medicine. Smiling happy people. I can speak just fine without teeth. I can eat just fine. I never had a particular interest in tough or chewy food. The only reason this process was started was the scary language used about bone loss, and my dad repeatedly telling me "just get these, so if you want to wear dentures later on you can." Its assumed that I'd be super happy to get a full mouth of teeth for the first time in my life! But I can assure you I'm not. Its embarrassing to be a early 20s adult getting dentures, because of factors out of my control. My dad has even told me he's heard ads on the radio, advertising that people should get all their perfectly healthy teeth pulled JUST to get dentures! It baffles me
My question is, is it really that bad to have an amputee with a good prosthetic that doesn’t cause problems. Especially in a fantasy setting. Matter fact I think Gober handles the best from HTTYD. Because he still limited by it, but it’s never brought up. I guess what I’m trying to get it is, I think it’s better to not make a big deal out of it. I have family that are amputees. And after showing them shows like Namona, and HTTYD. They always bring up that there disability was never seen as bad. And I kind of feel the same way when it comes to representing autism as some on with PDD-NOS high functioning. But I do get your point, A character is an always going to be interesting if their disability doesn’t hinder them in anyway. But in my eyes, losing a limb or having autism can be a double edge sword. There are things that you’ll be better at, things that you can’t do, and other things that don’t effect you. Very well put together video though. Now shut up and take a thumbs up from me
I kinda felt that perfect prosthetic trope when watching Violet evergarden and maybe thats because the main character(Violet) is insanely strong for a young girl and when she got prosthetic arms she was able to use them correctly really fast (atleast thats how i remember it since i watched it like 2 years ago) .I kinda want to know what do you think about Violet Evergarden
This is actually such a good vid to randomly appear, as recently my DnD character lost his leg in a fight with tiamat. Needless to say, note are taken!
This is such a great explanation of disability in media, and as a writer who has disabled characters, it really gave me a lot to think about - I didn't even notice many of the "red flag" tropes I had in my own work. I fell into the sci-fi/magic can make the prosthetics perfect trope, and this gave me a lot of ideas on how to rework my disabled characters.
Now that ya mention it, the trope of a prosthetic always being perfect and preferable is pretty bunk. Just from my own first hand interactions with various people who could have prosthetics (I myself am not an amputee, unless we count cognitive bits missing lol). I've seen a wide range of attitudes/opinions round using them, when to use them, and when is it actually easier to work with the differing limb. For ex I had a gf who would use her leg prosthetic often for the basic mobility benefit, but she preferred not to wear her hands and rather work with what she had (she was born with one leg that didn't form fully and stopped at mid shin plus both arms stopped at the wrist) Being born that way, and working with War Amps Kids from early on, she had adapted to using her wrist stub to grip stuff naturally to a degree where in most scenarios the prosthetic actually hindered her more. Like she couldn't have used a kitchen knife or drove with the prosthetic hands, but did both comfortably without hands (however the leg was a must for driving to use the pedals). And neither of my grandfathers ever bothered to hide the finger they had each lost (in separate work accidents, same decade and well before my parents even met. What are those odds? lol) In fact they enjoyed playing the same trick on us grandkids, sending us into the yard to find their finger. Yeah, I should have probably known before age 8-9 I wasn't ever gunna find it. But the memories of finger hunts are hilarious in hindsight. Which directly challenges the "sad amputee" trope too.
I mean, prosthetics are constantly improving and we will probably have perfect prosthetics at some point, so in fantasy/sci-fi settings it would depend on the technological advancements of the society in question. But for settings in the present we should look for current advancement, and for the past we should also reference time accurate prostethics. Having seen some of the robotic tech thats being underutilized(in general) at the moment i think we will probably have arm prosthetics who perfectly mimic the muscles of the arms and integrates with the nervous system itself within the next 50 years. The main problem would be wether or not shit chafes or stuff like that. Although legs and walking in motion have some more complicated mechanica going on so i think thats more so within a 100 years. Could be earlier, could be later, depends on if our technological development snowballing keeps picking up speed or slows down. But thats tomorrows tech and not today’s. Then theres biotech gping on- we already have people getting donor arms attached and seems to be working pretty damn well. And if we end up disregarding reality and end up choosing a simulated reality over this one, this stuff will probably irrelevant. And honestly, with how we seek refuge from the terrifying reality of global warming, nuclear weapons and political descisions that hurts us with escapism, i dont actually think thats all that unrealistic..
Great video! Also, about Full Metal Alchemist, I can't remember if it was mentioned in the anime, but in the manga it was implied that the weight of his prosthetics caused Ed's growth to be stunted.
I think the main reason his growth was stunted turns out to be because he was eating for both himself and his brother at the end, but that's possible it also affected him
Out of curiosity, for the Fullmetal Alchemist example, what consistently imperfection would you give automail so that it doesn't only not-work situationally? (If I remember right, his in particular are really heavy and stunt his growth significantly-or maybe that has more to do with Ed and Al's thing with Truth, I don't really recall-would having that weight difference be emphasized in everyday situations + combat be a way to begin to avoid the perfect prosthetic trope?)
personally, for me it's how the leg and arm function at a core level that's the issue, they skip the first step I mention - make them work fundamentally differently, and without that first step, all the other stuff kind of falls flat. The hand in particular functions like a real hand, with added difficulties on top, but if you watch real arm amputees using their arms, they use them in fundamentally different ways to a biological arm. They move differently. They require manual adjustment, even when a prosthetic is reading "neural input" (in irl prosthetics this is usually done through sensors inside the socket). They can't move seamlessly from one "pose" or grip to another, they just don't move like a "real" hand does, and so it needs to be used differently. The leg on the other hand (lol) runs into the same problem, it works mostly like a real leg, so much so that even characters in the show forget/only know about his "metal arm". As an above-knee amputee myself, it does change how you move, and more visibly so the higher the amputation (and I'm pretty sure ed's was almost all the way up to his hip), I have to look at the ground more and go around things that most people wouldn't even notice (e.g. rocks, bumps etc), my prosthetic knee can't handle especially steep inclines and I have to side-step up them (and by steep I mean a standard ramp). Once again, watching videos of above-knee amputees actually using their prosthetics will show you some of what I'm talking about, though I'm less fussed about the leg, if I'm being honest. I'm also not a fan of the fact the automail can't be removed except by a technician (or by breaking), even if there is an in-universe reason, since it takes away a lot of opportunities for the neutral differences I talked about and doesn't really add much representation wise. Also as someone who has slept in their prosthetics they get caught on everything and its just generally not a fun time lol. Basically, you need to think of prosthetics, even advanced ones like automail, less like the organic limb it's replacing but with some added difficulties and steps, and more like a device separate from its user. The show did a lot right, but because it put so much effort into its depiction of prosthetics but still treated them like something that moves and is used in mostly the same ways as the limbs ed lost, it does fall flat. I do still think it's really good, but it shouldn't be used as a reference for non-disabled writers for "how to do prosthetics right" like I've seen a lot of folks (mostly non-amputees) claim it should.
Before watching, I thought about those cyberpunk trans-human stories where people need to replace their body parts with prosthesis to find jobs as flesh can't compete with tech, but it makes them slave to the corporations as their prosthesis do not belong to them and they must pay subscriptions or lose them, causing an entire grey market of makeshift prosthesis for people who couldn't keep paying for their prosthesis. Or simply because trans-human make for cooler characters. Instead of pulling a tool from a backpack, it come out of their arm. But you're not supposed to think of them as disabled.
This helps a lot! i have an OC who is a leg ambutee...i have had him for months or more so i'd say half a year if not a whole year! and while his prostetic is never really all that visual as i made him in a character creator and i only ever draw...and i never draw pantless if i can avoid doing so this helps a lot for how i should approach his prostetic! he's entirely a character made for roleplay or to draw (practice art) but for an old veteran character at the age of 59 (i'd think in roleplay he's now 60) i have never treated the prostetic as all natural or easy...he limps when he walks...not only due to the prosthetic ofcourse! he has other issues too! and i never had him act like the prostetic was better...instead i had him act neutral towards it even if he's dependant on it for movement and he has a bit of a negative feeling towards it...for examples of how i usually treat his prosthetic: 1: takes it off everytime he relaxes for a prolonged period of time and before going to bed 2: phantom pains are present, (they should not be ignored but normalized in media) he winces and grunts at it and he even itches his prosthetic sometimes as a response to a phantom itch 3: accidentally forgetting it early in the morning and falling over....while this is not a thing everyone does and i won't say a lot of people if any do...he does, though only occasionally he is also missing 4 fingers and has 3 on each hand (my style usually only depicts 4 on each regardless but for him i try my best to only do 3 for each hand) he has several war related disabilities but missing one leg and several fingers aswell as severe spinal issues is what i mainly focus on while i roleplay online...and i will make sure to depict him a bit better than i used to thanks so much for tips! :)
How would you go about missing limbs that aren't necessarily in need of replacing? For example I have a mlp OC who's a pony with one wing, I think most people would just give her a prosthetic wing, but I went a completely different direction Ultimately, wings aren't necessary, earth ponies and unicorns live without them, "so why couldn't she?" I thought Instead of viewing herself as a pegasus missing one of her wings, she views herself as an earth pony born WITH one, ultimately striving to have it removed, under the pretense that she has trouble controlling it, "it would randomly open and knock stuff off surfaces", she'd say, or under the pretense of donating it, maybe, but ultimately, I think she'd like to better fit in with the earth ponies I realize that this is probably more of a story about identity, something something trans allegory, but I'd like to hear it from a different perspective, would her goals be realistic?
One thing that bothers me about FMA's automail is that Ed is constantly having it broken or destroyed. Like, my dude that thing is made of solid metal, if you're losing a metal arm that often how the heck do you still have your other arm?
The reason why it breaks so much is because Ed constantly exploits his metal arm as part of his fighting style. He blocks attacks with the automail arm whenever possible since it’s easier to repair automail than heal wounds. Also, he frequently transmutes parts of the arm into bladed weapons. Too much of either of those things puts strain on the metal and can knock any number of small moving parts out of place… no wonder Winry gets so pissed at him when she needs to fix it yet again lol
I first saw a person with a limb difference as a very young child watching Cerrie Burnel on cbeebies (children's specific TV channel in uk). I'm eternally grateful that I learned that people with body differences and disabilities were normal, and has probably helped me adapt to my now disabled body
I hope you don’t mind me asking but do you have any good tips for learning to draw mobility aids, I’m still a beginner artist and it’s really difficult to find art advice for disabled characters. Sorry if this comes off as rude in any way just looking for some tips.
This is a very nice and informative watch, providing some really interesting insights that I hadn't come across before (plus the awesome character design coming together in the background and all the digital art tricks I just learned of from that). In hindsight, I kind of find myself facepalming at the fact I hadn't considered stuff like keeping the design of a prosthetic as part efficient as possible to make it resilient to wear and tear like any other machine, treating them like pieces of wearable equipment that is taken off when it isn't needed, or the fact that proprioception exists and will of course be altered for an amputee and won't naturally account for prosthetics. Just as a writer, I also have some ideas to throw into the ring myself, specifically on how to handle prosthetics in a fantasy setting. Magic can theoretically explain away a perfect prosthetic, but there are more interesting ways to handle it. A simple factor to add in to counter that then, which could also work in a more advanced and sci-fi setting, would be to give the replacement limb a limited power supply, making it so that the amputee or character with a limb difference in question actually has to consciously manage when to actually have the prosthetic active, doubly so when in a situation or environment where the resource powering the limb is scarce. With a mana system in play, for example, keeping a prosthetic operational may be a constant drain on that person's mana supply, resulting in a more statistically defineable form of the real life exhaustion effect, as well as actually being a detriment for a caster type character, since they then have less mana to spend on spells. This could actually lead to the inverse effect of the prosthetic acting like work shoes, because then the best place for a character to use one might be only casual and social situations, for gesturing and dexterity and less for the realistic standard of them essentially being work tools instead. The more creatively engaging thing to consider though, would be to create a fundimental, functional difference in capabilities between a meat limb and an artificial one. One such idea I've ended up with would be to make magic a thing that can only be cast with the users own body. As in, you need a biological limb to summon up and direct a spell. The most a prosthetic limb could achieve as a workaround would be to have gadgets installed into it that replicate a certain spell - but with clearly limited use and with a lack of on the fly flexibility. Think a wind step spell for running faster, which could be replicated with a magazine of miniature explosives for burst propulsion, but you only have much rougher speed increments to work with thanks to each activation triggering the same type of explosive, while the spell could be altered. Going off of the previous thought though, you can also make the artificial limb better at something than the biological one, it just needs to be balanced out against something only a meat limb can do. It's the sort of specialization you see in the balancing of gear pieces and fantasy classes. Running with the idea that biological limbs are the only ones able to cast magic, prosthetics would then be better at just raw physical performance, depending on their design and only really one at a time. You can have a limb be tanky, powerful or finely dexterous, but not all at once - at most an imperfect hybrid design. What I'm left curious about is: How do you keep a sufficiently advanced sci-fi limb from being an instance of a perfect prosthetic? Maintenance would probably be the only thing that can't be fully done away with, but that's the only drawback I can think of, given theoretically possible things like perfected implants and tech advanced enough to replicate human motor functions at a minimum.
This is a ridiculously informative video, and I can see a lot of people referring to it in the future! This gave me a well needed reminder to think more in-depth about the usage of prosthetics. It gave me a light reminder to do more research into the mechanics of the prosthetics, what parts to focus on as a positive and what to add as a drawback. For example, one of my characters I believe would use a spring mechanised prosthetic when fighting. Now, I have a reference as to what makes a good drawback for that leg when fighting-the movement being a double edged sword in certain scenarios, and him potentially having trouble landing or stopping after running or jumping. It also gives me an idea of how to update his design. Despite every iteration of the prosthetic I’ve made, it always felt like something was off about it. The interchangeable feet/legs makes a lot of sense now, especially when you gave such a detailed and yet concise description of what each one is made for! So instead of him having those momentous, spring-mechanised legs for battle, he would most likely have the more stable options for walking around when carrying scrap metal, tools, so on. Now, I feel like so many opportunities to improve my character’s mobility aids have opened up to me. I can look into resources about the tech and mechanisms, and make it feel accurate, or I could take that knowledge of said tech and take it to create a mobility aid with slight alterations based on my characters’ needs. I had a few moments of realisation making this-an "ah, right, I didn’t realise I was doing that" sort of reaction. But that realisation is well needed at times, and now I’m excited to investigate into how these kinds of technologies work, and how to personalise it based on my character! I did see another comment ask, but if there’s *any* resources you’d recommend to start a person off in the right direction, where would someone start looking? (Obviously, this is only if you end up reading comments and feel like giving insight-please don’t feel any pressure on educating! I was just wondering if you had any suggestions.) Either way, thank you so much for the insightful video!
This is very informative, and a very well made, love this. However. I would like to call to attention the automated closed captions. 12:39 “aesthetic feet” Other than that genuinely no notes this video is amazing and you should be proud of yourself.
One recent example of a prosthetic that I really liked (as a person who does not have a limb related disability) is Sevika from Arcane. She doesn't show up a whole lot, but from what we do see of her she seemed to prefer to keep her prosthetic arm hidden and used her other arm to do most things (like handling money, opening doors, playing cards). She mostly uses that arm to fight, and so it doesn't operate as a replacement but also as enhancement. We also see it break at one point, and the new arm she gets after that has been modified to account for the vulnerability that the previous one broke from (we even see her working on it a little). Honestly, I think that if it weren't for where she lived/who she worked for she'd probably be the kind of person to just make it through without the arm since it seems to me like she doesn't really use it for normal daily tasks.
I kinda felt that perfect prosthetic trope when watching Violet evergarden and maybe thats because the main character(Violet) is insanely strong for a young girl and when she got prosthetic arms she was able to use them correctly really fast (atleast thats how i remember it since i watched it like 2 years ago) .I kinda want to know what do you think about Violet Evergarden
My story has advanced technology, especially in the medical field. Two of my characters have missing limbs, and are both officers(one in training, they are siblings.) They both have prosthetics, one with a missing arm and one with a missing leg and eye. I fell into this trope by accident, and I think I will definitely change it. They definitely have nerve damage, so i think I’ll give them chronic pain that affects their abilities to work, and their day to day life(I suffer from chronic pain, and it effects my day to day life as well.) I will be giving the one with the missing leg a wheelchair, and perhaps the one with the missing arm won’t really be in combat as much as the one with the missing leg. I will give Rayley, the one with the missing leg, several different prosthetics for different things. As i said, there is advanced technology but not too advanced, so perhaps there could be a specially made prosthetic for police work. I will definitely think about the points in this video more later, as its 4:30am and my characters aren’t fully fleshed out yet I apologize to everyone who uses prosthetics or have missing/different limbs(sorry if thats the wrong term), im disabled myself but only with heds and pots. Ill research more on prosthetics and missing limbs when i write more of these characters :) thank you for this informative video
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood remains my all time favorite take on prosthetics in any story. I don’t have any missing limbs or any major disabilities, but I’ve had chronic pain in my knee and hips for a long time and I’m seriously considering starting to use a cane, I tried once and it felt amazing
Most prosethetics in media arent disability representation theyre sick ass robot limb representation, mcree from overwatch isnt missing an arm he just has a sick ass robot arm
In video games animations tend to be reused character too character. Most games will very liberty reuse animations between character who are humanoid, perhaps there's a different animations for men and women but typically only idle and walk animations. So the animations expect a certain body structure that works in a certain way so when they want to make a disabled character they can either make unique animations for them and them alone or just hand wave it (a very easy thing to do in any setting with an inch of fantasy.) I've only seen one game that got close and that's dmc v where Nero has some different animations for when he doesn't have his left arm. But when he has a prosthetic he uses the same animations as when he has a normal arm (except for some of the non handshaped ones that use the armless animations)
Aside from the wonderfully informative video itself I must say your characters are so cool, the one you were making thought and your persona both :] The color choices are stunning, I'm glad your art and opinions are out there for all of us to experience!
I'm not sure if the timeline of the perfect prosthetic trope is quite right. The 80s and 90s were full of popular media with cyborg characters with a very specific science-fiction interpretation of technological limb replacements that are permanently attached and function exactly like their meat counterparts, whether in the form of Luke Skywalker's hand or Inspector Gadget's everything. Fullmetal Alchemist seems more like a rare case of interpreting that trope through the lens of real-life disability, while retaining most of the features that make having a cool robot arm a fun fantasy. So I think most of what defines this trope was really built up without any reference to actual limb difference. I don't see that e. g. Nimona or Helluva Boss is doing anything functionally different, for better or worse, than those Saturday morning cartoons, or doing any real disability rep at all. I think that's also why terms like "prosthetic" and "disability" show up less in those kinds of works, because they involve a different set of tropes to the creators. And often I think having some plot point about losing an original meat limb to be replaced is just the excuse to get to the end point of "cool robot arm" without having to say that the character deliberately removed the original, which would probably sound ghoulish. I don't have any physical disabilities beyond some hearing loss, and I don't write any fiction. I do make original action figures, and my most recent project was a cyborg character with mechanical limbs and other technology integrated into her body. But she's joining a roster of characters who were otherwise androids to begin with. My concept in creating that design was purely about transhumanist fantasy, and I wouldn't claim she has anything to do with disability representation. I did characterize her as being trans, which is an identity I do share with her, but I can only assume she's had her body completely rebuilt and doesn't suffer any of the inconveniences and shortcomings I do as a result of that. I'm glad to see the clarification that the perfect prosthetic trope isn't inherently the problem so much as its overuse, but I feel like the root cause is that there's actually just very little deliberate disability rep in these stories, or much of any media, at all. I'm over here using the "cool robot arm" trope to cope with my own unrelated body issues, and I can't say I'd be any less likely than any of these writers to shy away from the complexities and challenges of doing actual disability rep, but if every story that uses replacement limbs does so in a way that ignores real limb difference and prosthetics, then people with that life experience don't get to see themselves represented at all when the opportunity seems like it should be right there. I'd rather not be the problem, but I don't think I can offer much help with the solution either.
I’m a writer and I have a character who will be losing an arm but gets a divine magic one but later will be using a normal one and tank tops when in relaxed places but when fighting different arm magic leather jacket and trying to cover the thing to protect it and wields a great sword to fight
ive been working on a character in my fantasy setting who is a dwarven engineer and she loses her arms through the course of the story (not both at the same tme, there is a huge gap). in her childhood she lost the feeling in her arms from fingers to wrist, but she still was able to move them, just not feel. she thought that it would be easy for her to adjust to prosthetics and if something bothers her she can just tinker with it. she would change her prosthetics a lot and it is a big point in her character development when she finally copes with the fact she cannot make the perfect prosthetic. (there is more to it but i dindt want to bloat the comment with even more informasion) although i didnt really talked about it with any disabled person i think i handled it well, but i really should talk about it with someone with expiriense shouldnt i...
Wish I'd been able to see this video a couple of years ago! I don't think I did a bad job, but there were definitely a lot of pitfalls I fell into around this trope. Thank you so much for sharing all of this, as it's certainly helping me understand how to do things better in the future!
I'm also started to make some videos again after almost two years just to see that you uploaded again! I hate when the prosteticscare only a problem the first 5 minutes of the show and then they forgot about it. And sometimes is not even a new protesis they have to get used to! P.D. I love the fact that in Ghost in the shell, prostetics are that good and perfect that people willingly change perfectly healthy and functional body parts for prothesis. Advanced prostetics are more fun when the rest of society realize how advance they are, like :"do you whant your fleshy arm or this one that is super resistant, no pain receptors, super strong, super precise robot arm?"
I've been wanting to write a story of sorts about things like mental health issues and disability for a while now- specifically, based on my personal experience being on the other side of those things- and I was considering giving one of my main characters leg amputations (above knee on one leg, foot on the other). definitely going to subscribe, considering, well, screwing that up would just be sad. (elaboration available if desired)
ty for making this video !!! im writing a disabled character w a below knee amputation, i dont have an amputation myself so this helped me understand the experience alot better. hes *the* main character so i wanna make sure the representation is good and accurate with him. also cool snake art and rip all your previous timelapses.
A solution i thought of is making the prosthetic a sort of hard magic system, thinking of the mechanisms of the limb as rules of acting, lets say an arm ampute due to limited brain reading tech the user has to activily think on specific words or ideas (red, blue, dog, bee, apple, etc) which turn into orders for the prosthetic, making the limb more of one of those industrial robot arms. An example would be that the user is a sort of mechanic using their more dynamic and faster meat arm to tinker on an object while using the prosthetic as a sort of platform of the object being operated on, rotating it, and so on, or using more their meat arm to express themselves while keeping the prosthetic still as it doesnt have a full connection to the subconscious (and not wearing it at all while not working) But this comes more of a focus i have on consciousness, subconscious and the mechanical Also there is a discussion on the topic of token characters and so on, as unless the amputees are baked in the story (like those two movies about a billionaire paraplegic and their poor caretaker learning to become best friends and bond together) like yeah i sorta dont disagree wheel chairs could've existed on the 13 century, but the battle wheel chair makes super mario coin sounds with how token it feels
I havent watched the video yet but this got me really excited because I have a dragon character that lost his wings' membranes and uses a incovinient prosthetic, it's very disruptive to the clothes he normally wears and it takes some time to put it on so he would have to wear it all the time to be safe from needing to fly but not being able to(like to escape something), he gets really upset with how less efficient they are, even though he enever flew himself, he knows for others it's still easier, but eventually he makes a bit of peace with living with that, and even incorporates it into his look! I also have a character that has no hand(she lost it) and she has no prosthetic most of the time, and the sometimes gets a stabby dagger hand, a hook, or punching gloove, but she has so substitute hand because they have to technology for that, in general, my characters don't get perfect prosthetics, and I really like discussing it
One of the main characters in the show mech cadets is an amputee who prefers to use crutches when out of uniform, and only uses the prosthetic when he has to.
I'm so thankful for people like you making videos like this - prosthetics are something I want to write in a comic I want to make... mainly because steampunk limbs sound cool LMFAO I will admit that shamelessly. Videos like this are very helpful for at least beginning to learn what to do and what not to do when it comes to prosthetics and such, especially for stupid lil guys like me, notes will be taken and videos will be saved.
Thank you for the video. I have a few disabled characters and try to use things I've learnt from my hearing aids to learn how you'd adapt to different issues, but obviously hearing aid isn't a perfect comparison and this gives a lot of great options to look into. It is hard trying to figure out the line between broken the negative tropes of prosthetic issues, avoiding situations due to it's weight or situational threats (like water) and not wearing it (like the cold issue you mention) and including it because it's relevant to the story and character. Also mood over the water thing! As a teen I would not wear hearing aids to any party because if someone threw me into a pool I'd be out $2500 per ear and Canada doesn't cover hearing aids. Easier just to go without then risk it.
I will mention since you were talking about FMA Ed's prosthetic, the thing I most remember about that was the realization he couldn't pick up a fragile cup or write with that hand because of the lack of feed back. Even after having to join the army for the worlds best prosthetic. Which was probably the first time as a kid reading the manga I realized nerves would be an issue,
most of the examples that you used with perfect prosthetics fit the world they were in like hiccup and toothless with their prosthetics every movie they were upgraded to better fit the actions they took, and they even have multiple replacement limbs. while in a magic world it makes no sense for a disability that would confine you to a wheelchair to exist unless it is magic based which causes a whole different issue with why not hire adventures to find a solution for you also because of the availability of healing magic that can literally heal any wound or even death with coin so what is nerve damage. and finally, with Syfy worlds the tech is so advanced like marvel that disintegration tech was used in the earth 1940s so an advanced limb for their most prized weapon fits the world I think that you compare your own experience with how they could do prosthetics better and in some media that is the case, but technology in fantasy genre will not follow the same tech tree as the real world so the problems face in everyday life may have been fixed like with cyberpunk where it is commonplace that it would be weird without any.
Also fun fact : the author of full metal alchemist actually used to work with disabled people and she interviewed them and asked them about their experiences when she made her Manga. But she also acknowledged that she wouldn't be able to fully understand it as she isn't disabled herself.
Honestly I have a lot of respect for FMA's creator, despite the criticism. I ended up cutting it, but there was a segment in the video initially just gushing over the amount of love and care she did put into the manga lol. Even if she didn't get everything 100% perfect, the effort is clear and the fact she did acknowledge that it would be hard to understand (and therefore portray) without living with the disability herself means a lot too. My critisims were more to get other authors to understand it's not a perfect example of how to avoid the trope.
@@Cy_Cyborg Her saying she based the Ishvalans partly on the Ainu and acknowledging her ancestors displaced them was a level of introspection I didn't expect from a Shonen Manga author especially since that entire history is kind of not spoken much about in Hokkaido.
If you're wanting to have a disabled character and you're not disabled yourself talk with people who have the disability you are wanting to use so you have proper representation.
Many of my characters are either active duty military and/or mercenaries, and one of them lost their left eye in an explosion. I'd really like to see a video discussing the topic of how blindness and other types of disability are approached in media. A personal friend of mine actually lost an eye when he was younger, and I've talked with him about it. It was very eye-opening (no pun intended) to hear about how it impacts his daily life.
(no pun intended) is absolutely diabolical
My dad lost his vision due to diabetes
Watched him go throigh so many surgerys and adventually just accetping and working with his blindness
Its so fascinating how many different things can lead to the
"same"
disability,
so many people, so many stories
Thats why i LOVED toph beifong, a strong blind person who still actaully had to deal with being blind, there are jokes made with her too,
the gaang often forgets shes blind, sokka shows her a poster and she goes
"that's a peice of paper but im guessing you're referring to whats on the paper xD"
And when looking for the library she goes
"THERE IT IS!.... Thats what it will sound like when one of you spots it 🤭" shes a queen
Loosing depth perception would probably be pretty detrimental to your ability to work in the military unless you’re piloting drones or something- or maybe im entirely off, considering the closing one eye when looking through a scope-
@@tikimillie the practice of closing one eye while looking down a scope is only reserved for higher magnification optics. While using something like iron sights or a simple red dot sight, you’re trained to keep both eyes open in order to preserve field of view.
You aren’t entirely wrong, though, as it wouldn’t be optimal for someone to be half blind while in combat.
I think it's totally valid to write a power fantasy where technology is advanced and cool and people with disabilities can choose to have augmentations that are equal to or better than abled-body parts, but there also isn't nearly enough limited interesting interpretations that reflect actual people's experiences in some way. Honestly the fact that FMA is one of the only pieces of media I have seen that *does* do a more realistic depiction is tragic, because it is very compelling when done right and has a lot of potential for stories.
Agreed. I personally think that worlds like Cybeprunk 2077 get a pass because a core part of their world is the advanced body mods
While I don’t have a limb difference myself, I’d personally become so desensitized to this trope until I played through the game Horizon Forbidden West and found myself gobsmacked when a new limb was not treated as an instant fix. One of your companions is a recent amputee (Above elbow.), and after a quest to help him build and test a prosthetic arm his response is that while he’s thankful for it as a tool it isn’t a 1:1 replacement and he prefers not to wear it outside of battle because it doesn’t feel like part of him.
Oh yeah Kotallo!
@@Redfrootloop Indeed, Kotallo! He’s not perfect by any means; I have a bit of a gripe about how quickly he healed in the span of time between when he loses his arm and when you recruit him, also how he’s not really slowed down by his missing limb at all. But it was really refreshing to see a character experience ableism and not have a prosthetic or assistive device be a magic cure that made them effectively able-bodied again.
I wrote this on Tumblr and I'll write it here, not everyone needs a prosthetic for everything. It honestly takes away a lot of cool and creative character building by just having a prosthetic be a one size fits all fix. From my personal life, I have only needed a prosthetic once and for one specific thing, playing my violin. I learned and adapted to do everything else without a prosthetic. I wish more media would acknowledge and show characters with varying levels of prosthetic use. Not only is it more realistic, but you can do a lot of show-don't-tell characterization as well.
I did see you on Tumblr but I lost your post in the reblogs before I could reply haha. but yes, 100%! I'm a big fan of no prosthetics at all for more characters. I go for long periods of not using my prosthetics at all and generally prefer my wheelchair for 90% of stuff, even before I started having issues with my legs that made the prosthetics harder to use because it's just more efficient. I only didn't bring that up in this video/the written post because they were both already so long but I'm definitely going to talk about the media's overuse of prosthetics in general in a video eventually.
There is a sitcom that has a disabled guy who has to use a laser and computer to talk. One of his caretakers and his friends (also disabled in various ways) wanted to fight, like fist fight, and he wondered how he can be inclusive and get them what they wanted while also being safe. I forget what it is called but it's actually a pretty decent show. As far as I know it was helped to be made by people with those disabilities.
i also saw a very nice tumblr post that said that prosthetics sometimes aren’t needed for people who are used to living without them
for example, if someone was born without legs, they may need a prosthetic less than someone who had one or both taken off due to a disease or surgery or an accident, since that person has lived their life with legs, they may be far less able to adapt in their eyes to the point where they would want one
i think it’s very interesting!
myself, i have a character who was born without an arm but uses a prosthetic because he’s a very precise scientist, and works in a field where he is MAKING these prosthetics
so i think keeping this in mind is important
As for the prosthetic arms in Nimona, I legit forgot that he had them. They're not brought up except for a few seconds as Nimona is it looking over him. I think that's how prosthetics and disabilities should be treated. Just something to mildly add to the character. Because, again, I actually forgot he had no arms. Looking back they look sick as hell. But they aren't the forefront of his character. Neither is his homosexuality. He's just a guy.
Didn’t Cyborg say in the video that “I forgot [this character] was even disabled” is something authors should look to avoid tho? Like I understand don’t make it their whole personality, but it should still be *a part* of their personality yknow?
also I hope you don’t take my comment the wrong way lol I love Nimona and Ballister
@@_kaleido they had a fun dynamic. And it was a fun movie.
Ive been working on a disabled character, this is very helpful for me. I'm not disabled, but the character's missing arm is important for the story. I really want to show his struggle and grief with life, and the missing arm seems to be the best way to visualize that to the audience. It also will intrigue people to go back and try to figure out how he might have lost his arm.
5:07 I guess there's Toph from avatar though. She's blind but she's not really depressed about it. She even jokes about it sometimes. And idk if you'd wanna include stinkmeaner from the boondocks but if you do then there's also him. He's also blind but doesn't really care. He even told his doctor "at least I don't have to look at your ugly as no more" when he lost his sight.
I guess there's also Eli from half life 2. He has one of those sprinting feet but he pretty much just acts like he has a normal foot.
Ideas for a character being part of battle with a limb difference with or without a prosthetic: a character with only 1 arm could be part of a shield wall, a line of people holding shields next to each other while a line of spearmen behind them attack over the shields or poking the spear between them. For a character with limited mobility, an idea I got from a ttrpg I've played once has a class called a stalwart defender (idk how many have them, but I know Porphyra does) where they get to somewhere in the battle, often a bottleneck like a bridge, and they basically get in a sturdy stance and don't leave that spot, basically becoming a stabby wall. A leg amputee could fairly easily work as an archer with only a few workarounds, and archery can also be adapted to arm amputees. You could possibly design something to reliability keep a leg amputee in a saddle, though you would have to adapt communication with the horse (from my understanding, some communication is usually done through squeezing with your legs) and the amputee would likely fatigue faster than an able bodied rider. A battle wheelchair would likely be feasible, especially with magic/other fantasy or futuristic enhancements and/or inspiration from off road wheelchairs and sports wheelchairs. Also, iirc there's actually a fair amount of historical evidence of amputee soldiers, including shields adapted to be used with a residual limb
Sorry if this comment is hard to understand, words are hard
One of my dnd friends has a character who has a missing arm but instead of having a prosthetic arm he uses mage hand.
I like that. It seems like a sensible way for a mage to approach the problem.
why doesnt this have more views??? its really intresting and gave me a lot of insight for some of my characters who are amputees
I am writing this cyberpunk story where the main character is disabled. Double below the knee amputee. I have been taking notes through this video, and I've come up with a few ideas: 1) her prosthetics are bulky and high-tech, using pistons for shock absorption. However, this is not for the betterment of the prosthetics or the person, this is purely as a way to lock people into a payment plan. The prosthetics contain a circuit that keeps contact with the company that made it, and as soon as your subscription wears off, the pistons lock up. Now: the main character is a mechanic and has been able to maintain the mechanical parts of these limbs, but is also trying out many ways with scraps found around, on how to make a low-tech replacement. Something that's lighter, and easier to use. She also has a couple wheelchairs around for different purposes, and uses those whenever either her legs lock up yet again, or whenever she is around the house, or just whenever she feels like. She doesn't (currently) have different legs, but this is not by choice, this is because her set of legs has been mandated, and approval for even a second pair is tedious, if not impossible, especially since these new mechanical limbs are touted as "the best of the best" and "you wouldn't need another one ever again" (which would be pure lies)
I would LOVE to hear your opinion about how some science fictions (specifically cyberpunk rpg) will describe having augmentations and prosthetics as having "less" humanity. I believe the idea there is that specifically the "cyberware" is so advanced that it connects into your brain directly, and too many connections can cause you to go "cyber psycho", also has to do with if you have too much "gear" then you start to look less human by their standards. But then they put themselves into the position to directly say that if you dont have any cyberware then you have more Humanity, and it just really icks me out. its a mechanical feature, designed to keep the gameplay balanced, but I'm not physically disabled so anytime I've brought it up I feel like I'm carrying a torch for someone that didn't ask me to.
That, combined with WoTC's attempts at being inclusive, really make me interested on how a TTRPG should handle prosthetics. Should there be a negative trait associated? Should it have a bonus ability that non-prosthetic wearers can't have? Or should it just be a flavor feature and have no mechanical feature associated to it?
4:01 To be fair, John Silver is a better representation of someone with prosthetics than a lot of other characters. It's not just a part of his design, the prosthetics are a part of his character, he uses his eye to scan the environment, he uses his hand in all sorts of creative ways, his leg breaks and it affects him for the rest of the movie. He has a reason to have such advanced prosthetics with so many features because he's a pirate. Pirates live very dangerous lives and typically get into situations where they are without a tool they need, so having a highly dextrous prosthetic hand that has 10x more interchangable tools than a swiss army knife comes in handy very often. At one point, Jim Hawkins stabs the pneumatic shock absorber in Silver's leg and throughout the rest of the movie Silver uses his prosthetic arm as a crutch to help him move. We also see him doing som maintenance on his prosthetic leg. These are things that a lot of shows and movies don't portray. The prosthetic is just treated like a normal limb and the audience just forgets it exists until the writers bring it up again.
Treasure Planet, correct?
@@rumbleroller2154 Yes.
Fanastic video. Your snake drawing makes me think of the drawfee snilk thing.
I’ve got two characters with all their limbs being prosthetic, one out of necessity and the other because they wanted to upgrade themself to have the same strength the first had (even before the amputation) and after watching this video, I’m now thinking of ways I can flesh them out more…I even had a few “well shit” moments while watching, either because I wasn’t aware of the problem, or when I saw something that I do in my writing in the “don’t do this” section
I had dipped my toe into some of these ideas, namely taking off the prosthetics to relax, but it was never really a focus, so I’ll try to go into more of what these characters are like when they’re relaxing
Needless to say, I’m going to at least try to give some more weight to these characters…and while it’s not exactly the same, I thought about if it was possible to do something like this in reverse…I have two characters who were mostly mechanical and later are able to restore their organic bodies…and now I’m wondering if I’d be able to do a similar concept in reverse, where they have to readjust to having organic bodies because they’d been mostly mechanical for so long
I read your tumblr post on this earlier and now I found this recommended to me lol.
While I've yet to watch full metal alchemist, I did read somewhere that Ed was right handed before becoming an amputee and had to start using his left hand for delicate work, like writing, afterwards. Since this is a drawback of the metal limb that is everpresent even when the metal arm functions as intended, I wouldn't consider his prosthetic as perfect.
Anyway, thanks for the informative video! My amputee characters have avoided this trope, thankfully, but I'll include some more of these details in their stories where I can.
I'm pretty sure I remember it mentioned once in the manga that Ed's automail arm doesn't have the fine motor capability neccesary to write, but It's been a while since I read FMA and I didn't find it in my quick flip through of the volumes I have(1-6). what I did see on my flip through is that he writes with his right in flashbacks to before becoming an amputee and he writes with his left in the present, so it is at least implied.
i have an oc with a leg and arm amputee! this really helps a lot, i’ll keep this in mind when i build his character more! thank you 💕
This is a really good video. Also gave me a lot more to think about when it comes to my amputee character. Id already imagine them struggling with feeling touch and taking off their prosthetics when they can due to fatigue from use and phantom pain, but I hasn't considered other effects of having a prosthetic like the weather or maintenance. I'll have to do more research but at least I know what direction to go in now.
Edit: just want to ask just to double check, but what are generally considered to be reliable resources on amputation/limb differences? I've found some information from Arm Dynamics and Amputee Coalition, but just want to know if there are other major bodies/authorities on the matter I'm not aware of.
I’d be interested in your opinion on violet evergarden. She’s shown learning how to use her prosthetics and she’s shown adjusting them and they even break. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the show but it’s worth a watch in my opinion. I’m not an amputee I’d love to know if this is good representation
Two small scenes revolving around her having prosthetic arms come to mind immediately:
In the first episode, she is given a plush dog to keep. She holds it in her hands and soaks in her first proper toy. Then she brings it to her face and rubs the fabric against her cheek. Her hands still can't feel.
Amongst the first few episodes when she's in doll school, her teacher requests of her to perform a certain WPM exercise. She adjusts her arms for a moment and then blows her fellow students out of the water. To be fair, the _wording_ leaves a lot to be desired, but she can dictate things very well.
This was SUUUPER informative for a character i have who has a prosthetic arm! she was born without it but is also blind and it serves as a mobility aid as well. I definitely want to include some of the things suggested in this video such as her taking it off when she's resting or struggling with positioning and knowing where it is in a space! She comes from a rich background and the world is slightly more advanced then ours so i'd imagine she has more access to private tools and prosthetics! Great video and super informative!
not sure if it'd really appeal to many of the people here but an interesting example of a more grounded depiction of prosthetics, at least in the context of sci-fi and having very tangible and relevant drawbacks that aren't brushed aside, I don't know or think it's particularly accurate to the experience of actual disabled people (I think some of the prosthetics can be removed but I don't remember any characters removing them during rest time or if most of them can even be easily removed while they're alive). In texhnolyze the Prosthetics/cybernetics basically rely on the energy and processing power of the city to function, which without spoiling much is actually relevant to the plot, those who are texhnolyzed (the in-universe name of the main procedure/technology) are also forced to deal with an integrated and obtrusive heads-up display showing how well those body parts are functioning, characters are shown getting regular maintenance and special fitting for these limbs, and an early plot point was the main character having to adjust to actually controlling his new limbs. I'm probably glossing over a lot and the prevalence of prosthetics/cybernetics are kind of secondary to what the show is really about, it's closer to a more much grounded and stripped back form of trans-humanism then anything but I think it is interesting enough to mention
also for those who are completely uninitiated while I definitely hold that Texhnolyze has a lot of merit it isn't a particularly easy (in terms of some of it's content but mainly in the format) watch the first time around and does not pull any punches, it's not particularly gratuitous and leaves most of the worst up to the viewers imagination but without being condescending I can see it giving the uninitiated some severe tonal whiplash to say the least, it's known as one of the more depressing series of it's type for a reason, or something
This video is a huge help! One of the protagonists in a personal project I'm working on is a mech pilot who lost a leg in a crash, so this gave me a lot to think and research about relating to how her prosthetic affects her daily life and how she's seen/functions as a pilot now.
The advice about avoiding overly negative attitudes to prosthetics really helps too since the story has an overall lighter tone than other mecha series (the mech piloting is a popular sport instead of a form of warfare).
I'm glad I found this since I tend to have a few characters with prosthetics in my stories.
With my current project, one of the main characters, Gehenna, is a double arm amputee above his elbow. I think I accidentally went with the Perfect Prosthetic trope for him, as his arms tended to function like normal arms, but with some knowledge, I knew he couldn't feel sensations in them. Like, I knew he would grip things either too hard or too lightly too, but that's where it kinda ended. Otherwise his prosthetics looked more skeletal and connected to some of his muscle and nerves because demonic fantasy stuff.
I would love your take on this.
My setting is basically a mix of futuristic high fantasy and military sci-fi. I have a character who lost an arm and was given a cybernetic arm so they can properly fight along with gaining self confidence and overcoming the trauma of losing the limb in the first place.(there fighting style is hand to hand by the way along with using shotgun gauntlets that fire when they punch) There first arm could basically do what a normal arm can along with having an integrated shotgun and being detachable. The one problem is that she couldn't properly feel anything and had difficulty with proprioception. Later on in the story, they eventually gain a new prosthetic arm that is fully cybernetic, including full neurological connections that allow her to feel her arm fully. Basically, it's going from a normal prosthetic arm to basically having a completely normal arm again. I want to know how you think the character would respond? Would they be scared upon first "feeling" their arm again, or would the response be more surprised and glad?
Random seeing suggestion, I'm not an engineer, but I saw a guy (he wasn't an amputee, but disabled and in a chair) pushing one of our carts. We have some electric carts but I was thinking of an attachment for an electric cart that can work like those ones but attach to a wheelchair. Which would be hard to do properly due to the various chair designs. The way I think of it, is more like a slot, where the attachment attaches to the chair via the arm rests, or by the back. Using electric motors to propel itself around like the disability ones. So the basket is on the front, and it could have a grabby arm on it, or a horn to request for aid for workers. However, I know this can't entirely work due to the way chairs work exactly. Cause the wheels move independently and such. Then I thought of just a sort of lap basket that can attach to chairs that we can keep. while it won't do for big shops it can help for short ones. Think of that one like a tv tray table thing. But this too would need to be flexible for various chairs and sizes. Which is easy enough to do compared to the motor attachment idea. I also know the basket idea can impact upon reach as well. This is why it is so hard to even start to imagine how to help people. Because there is just so many variables to account for. If you do it to the front, where the legs are, this messes with how the chair feels and can cause it to tip.
We don't always have pick-up available and the hand baskets are not comfortable on the lap at all. (sharpish bottoms) I think the best way to circumvent some of this is to do what a little old lady does in a walker does. Which is basically slot the walker over the front of the little carts we have. So make a small cart that can go around and act basically like a another wheelchair (as in how to moves) with a basket. Which would be expensive via the wheels... Yes I've thought a lot about this just cause of one guy I saw for maybe 5 seconds. It would be interesting to talk with an actual prosthetic engineer about actual aids like this. I know it may be like one in a million people that may use it, but still. It would be nice to be able to have it in case someone actually you know NEEDS it. As much as it may make my job harder (like keeping track of, carrying/moving/etc the piece) it would be still very nice. At least one that can stay on the lap at least. Keep in mind again I am NOT an engineer, not in the slightest, but I at least hope my ideas can get to someone who is.
I've only seen the perfect prosthetic trope in stories with magic and advanced technology where such upgrades are possible to begin with.
In stories I've read that take place in a modern or inferior tech setting, the prosthetics tend to be more simple replacements.
But some media that uses advanced technology settings subvert the "same, just better" trope by making prosthetics vulnerable to getting hacked.
I would argue there is a difference between cybernetics & prosthesis in media.
Cyborg characters are often upgraded/enhanced & the story is an examination of future technology or super powers.
When I think of prosthetics in sci-fi I think Geordi La Forge from Star Trek. His visor is to correct a visual impairment & the show often examines it's imperfections & impact.
Where I see Perfect Prosthetic it's the creators using disability as an excuse to introduce cybernetic super powers or aesthetics.
I'm only aware of one piece of media that is fully Cybernetic & Prosthetic. Ghost in the Shell examines cybernetic future tech from the perspective of voluntary enhancement & of medical prosthesis. Every character is different. One character has the bare minimum enchantment while the main protag has a "fully prosthetic body".
I think most of the "Perfect Prosthetics" trope comes from the fact that we are viewing these characters after they've already fully adapted to the prosthetic and are skilled or gifted enough to have learned to use the disadvantage to their advantage. I have a friend who has an arm prosthetic, and I've seen them use specialized attachments for stuff like drawing. I wasn't around when she got her prosthetic, and it's only an elbow-up prosthetic (Still has a bendable elbow) but I can only imagine the adaption phase was a lot worse than her current phase was.
Especially for futuristic shows like Treasure Planet, I can definitely see that being a good representation of a prosthetic for someone who has time to adapt to it. Sure, it seems like a flat-out upgrade, but there are several times in the movie where people take advantage of the disability by disabling or targeting the prosthetics, and it shows that he constantly has to perform adjustments to the pieces of equipment.
Sure, a lot of disabled people and characters have more or less stress than others (i.e.: A hand amputee is different than a below the elbow amputee is different than above elbow amputee, and it's easier to conceal or forget about the amputee's disability until it affects them again). I'm not saying forgetting about a disability is not bad, but depending on the severity of the amputation, it might go unnoticed for longer periods than not.
Regarding the Wheelchair in DnD/Pathfinder argument, I'm on the "If it fits in the setting logically" fence. As someone who has used a wheelchair for a short section of my life (about 2 years recovering from 3rd degree burns on my feet) - ain't no way I would ever go offroading or into dungeons with a basic wheelchair - I did mention basic because I'm sure there are more advanced but more expensive options available, especially in a magical setting. I can see spellcasters being wheelchair bound but a duel-wielding rogues would definitely have a harder time moving and wielding a weapon simultaneously.
(Edit) One thing that I just thought of and wanted to point out is that usually Cybernetics and Prosthetics are different in high-fantasy because Cybernetics usually outweigh the risk or detriment of having them. Usually, to the point, people disfigure themselves to obtain them without having a disability. I guess what I'm saying is that that's the main differential between cybernetics and prosthetics is if a person is willing to lose something for an upgrade, like replacing their eyes for upgraded laser eyes despite not having vision problems or blindness, then that would make it cybernetic implants.
I was falling into these trope hard with a character of mine
I Have made some modifications since then and I'll leave them here in case anyone wants to rate them and maybe sugest extra details
Do keep in mind she is a Dnd npc and although I am not sure all of her behavior will be experienced or seen by the party, I just really like to have as acurate a representation as possible :3
Its still a "one for everything" magic/technology leg proesthetic (even though it is made to be more durability focused).
But I've added the fact she both prefeers to use her crutches and wheelchair at home as well as having to ship it out every few months for maintenance. She has a normal, mchanical prothesis for when her main gets shipped out, its limited and once again, she prefeers wheelchair and crutches to it.
And even though she was already a slow fighter with powerfull blows, I did pull some atention to her "imovable object" aproach to fighting due to her proesthetic not allowing movement as quick as a normal leg would. She got very used to using the proesthetic as a center of balance that needs little movement and that makes her clumsy and a bit discohordenated when using her normal leg as a center of balance.
The leg can technicaly swap into a running mode, but it takes around 2 minutes for it to propely swap, in which no pressure can be put on it, which is time no one has during a fight. So she mostly doesnt use that mode in battle. Due the lack of ttraining with it, she is also clumsy and can't really deal with the fact its almost impossible to stop propely after starting to run.
She is much more agile when in crutches and enjoys going down stairs with her wheelchair, even if that gives her partner a little stroke and has led to the wheelchair getting damaged multiple times.
Of all settings, the table top RPG GURPS handles prosthesis shockingly well, having One arm mitigator isn't just free points, depending on the tech level there's other disadvantages that go along with it like reduced motor skills or dexterity for the limb, there's maintanance, you can take the prosthesis off, and an optional rule has it that you only sleep well if you do so. also it has actual rules for wheelchair movement, and limbs and electric wheel chairs do have battery life rules even.
the only downside is that it uses 2004 language for the names of various disadvantages, such as the term lame, or split personalities.
I feel like this thought process also infects other things, like dentures. I had to get all my teeth pulled (I didn't have that many though) and I'm in the process of getting dentures to go with dental implants. People keep asking me if I'm excited to get new teeth! All the advertisements for implants are like "get implants and eat your favorite foods again!" they advertise regaining confidence, aesthetics, and other things like this. The video about implants in the waiting room of the surgeon I went to see was like an advertisement for medicine. Smiling happy people. I can speak just fine without teeth. I can eat just fine. I never had a particular interest in tough or chewy food. The only reason this process was started was the scary language used about bone loss, and my dad repeatedly telling me "just get these, so if you want to wear dentures later on you can."
Its assumed that I'd be super happy to get a full mouth of teeth for the first time in my life! But I can assure you I'm not. Its embarrassing to be a early 20s adult getting dentures, because of factors out of my control.
My dad has even told me he's heard ads on the radio, advertising that people should get all their perfectly healthy teeth pulled JUST to get dentures! It baffles me
My question is, is it really that bad to have an amputee with a good prosthetic that doesn’t cause problems. Especially in a fantasy setting. Matter fact I think Gober handles the best from HTTYD. Because he still limited by it, but it’s never brought up. I guess what I’m trying to get it is, I think it’s better to not make a big deal out of it. I have family that are amputees. And after showing them shows like Namona, and HTTYD. They always bring up that there disability was never seen as bad. And I kind of feel the same way when it comes to representing autism as some on with PDD-NOS high functioning. But I do get your point, A character is an always going to be interesting if their disability doesn’t hinder them in anyway. But in my eyes, losing a limb or having autism can be a double edge sword. There are things that you’ll be better at, things that you can’t do, and other things that don’t effect you. Very well put together video though.
Now shut up and take a thumbs up from me
I kinda felt that perfect prosthetic trope when watching Violet evergarden and maybe thats because the main character(Violet) is insanely strong for a young girl and when she got prosthetic arms she was able to use them correctly really fast (atleast thats how i remember it since i watched it like 2 years ago) .I kinda want to know what do you think about Violet Evergarden
This is actually such a good vid to randomly appear, as recently my DnD character lost his leg in a fight with tiamat. Needless to say, note are taken!
This is such a great explanation of disability in media, and as a writer who has disabled characters, it really gave me a lot to think about - I didn't even notice many of the "red flag" tropes I had in my own work. I fell into the sci-fi/magic can make the prosthetics perfect trope, and this gave me a lot of ideas on how to rework my disabled characters.
OMG I was just thinking about including a character with a prosthetic in my story and I think this is incredibly helpful!
I think this video REALLY helped!! I have a couple characters who are disabled (missing limbs) and want to avoid this trope so- thanks!!
Now that ya mention it, the trope of a prosthetic always being perfect and preferable is pretty bunk. Just from my own first hand interactions with various people who could have prosthetics (I myself am not an amputee, unless we count cognitive bits missing lol). I've seen a wide range of attitudes/opinions round using them, when to use them, and when is it actually easier to work with the differing limb. For ex I had a gf who would use her leg prosthetic often for the basic mobility benefit, but she preferred not to wear her hands and rather work with what she had (she was born with one leg that didn't form fully and stopped at mid shin plus both arms stopped at the wrist) Being born that way, and working with War Amps Kids from early on, she had adapted to using her wrist stub to grip stuff naturally to a degree where in most scenarios the prosthetic actually hindered her more. Like she couldn't have used a kitchen knife or drove with the prosthetic hands, but did both comfortably without hands (however the leg was a must for driving to use the pedals). And neither of my grandfathers ever bothered to hide the finger they had each lost (in separate work accidents, same decade and well before my parents even met. What are those odds? lol) In fact they enjoyed playing the same trick on us grandkids, sending us into the yard to find their finger. Yeah, I should have probably known before age 8-9 I wasn't ever gunna find it. But the memories of finger hunts are hilarious in hindsight. Which directly challenges the "sad amputee" trope too.
I mean, prosthetics are constantly improving and we will probably have perfect prosthetics at some point, so in fantasy/sci-fi settings it would depend on the technological advancements of the society in question. But for settings in the present we should look for current advancement, and for the past we should also reference time accurate prostethics.
Having seen some of the robotic tech thats being underutilized(in general) at the moment i think we will probably have arm prosthetics who perfectly mimic the muscles of the arms and integrates with the nervous system itself within the next 50 years. The main problem would be wether or not shit chafes or stuff like that. Although legs and walking in motion have some more complicated mechanica going on so i think thats more so within a 100 years. Could be earlier, could be later, depends on if our technological development snowballing keeps picking up speed or slows down. But thats tomorrows tech and not today’s.
Then theres biotech gping on- we already have people getting donor arms attached and seems to be working pretty damn well.
And if we end up disregarding reality and end up choosing a simulated reality over this one, this stuff will probably irrelevant. And honestly, with how we seek refuge from the terrifying reality of global warming, nuclear weapons and political descisions that hurts us with escapism, i dont actually think thats all that unrealistic..
i think a combat wheel chair is sick af
Great resource video
This is video is very in depth, hope it receives the attention it deserves!
Great video!
Also, about Full Metal Alchemist, I can't remember if it was mentioned in the anime, but in the manga it was implied that the weight of his prosthetics caused Ed's growth to be stunted.
I think the main reason his growth was stunted turns out to be because he was eating for both himself and his brother at the end, but that's possible it also affected him
Out of curiosity, for the Fullmetal Alchemist example, what consistently imperfection would you give automail so that it doesn't only not-work situationally?
(If I remember right, his in particular are really heavy and stunt his growth significantly-or maybe that has more to do with Ed and Al's thing with Truth, I don't really recall-would having that weight difference be emphasized in everyday situations + combat be a way to begin to avoid the perfect prosthetic trope?)
personally, for me it's how the leg and arm function at a core level that's the issue, they skip the first step I mention - make them work fundamentally differently, and without that first step, all the other stuff kind of falls flat.
The hand in particular functions like a real hand, with added difficulties on top, but if you watch real arm amputees using their arms, they use them in fundamentally different ways to a biological arm. They move differently. They require manual adjustment, even when a prosthetic is reading "neural input" (in irl prosthetics this is usually done through sensors inside the socket). They can't move seamlessly from one "pose" or grip to another, they just don't move like a "real" hand does, and so it needs to be used differently.
The leg on the other hand (lol) runs into the same problem, it works mostly like a real leg, so much so that even characters in the show forget/only know about his "metal arm". As an above-knee amputee myself, it does change how you move, and more visibly so the higher the amputation (and I'm pretty sure ed's was almost all the way up to his hip), I have to look at the ground more and go around things that most people wouldn't even notice (e.g. rocks, bumps etc), my prosthetic knee can't handle especially steep inclines and I have to side-step up them (and by steep I mean a standard ramp). Once again, watching videos of above-knee amputees actually using their prosthetics will show you some of what I'm talking about, though I'm less fussed about the leg, if I'm being honest.
I'm also not a fan of the fact the automail can't be removed except by a technician (or by breaking), even if there is an in-universe reason, since it takes away a lot of opportunities for the neutral differences I talked about and doesn't really add much representation wise. Also as someone who has slept in their prosthetics they get caught on everything and its just generally not a fun time lol.
Basically, you need to think of prosthetics, even advanced ones like automail, less like the organic limb it's replacing but with some added difficulties and steps, and more like a device separate from its user. The show did a lot right, but because it put so much effort into its depiction of prosthetics but still treated them like something that moves and is used in mostly the same ways as the limbs ed lost, it does fall flat. I do still think it's really good, but it shouldn't be used as a reference for non-disabled writers for "how to do prosthetics right" like I've seen a lot of folks (mostly non-amputees) claim it should.
As someone who may be getting a job working in prosthetics soon, this was extremely helpful! Thank you!
Before watching, I thought about those cyberpunk trans-human stories where people need to replace their body parts with prosthesis to find jobs as flesh can't compete with tech, but it makes them slave to the corporations as their prosthesis do not belong to them and they must pay subscriptions or lose them, causing an entire grey market of makeshift prosthesis for people who couldn't keep paying for their prosthesis. Or simply because trans-human make for cooler characters. Instead of pulling a tool from a backpack, it come out of their arm. But you're not supposed to think of them as disabled.
This helps a lot! i have an OC who is a leg ambutee...i have had him for months or more so i'd say half a year if not a whole year! and while his prostetic is never really all that visual as i made him in a character creator and i only ever draw...and i never draw pantless if i can avoid doing so this helps a lot for how i should approach his prostetic! he's entirely a character made for roleplay or to draw (practice art) but for an old veteran character at the age of 59 (i'd think in roleplay he's now 60) i have never treated the prostetic as all natural or easy...he limps when he walks...not only due to the prosthetic ofcourse! he has other issues too! and i never had him act like the prostetic was better...instead i had him act neutral towards it even if he's dependant on it for movement and he has a bit of a negative feeling towards it...for examples of how i usually treat his prosthetic:
1: takes it off everytime he relaxes for a prolonged period of time and before going to bed
2: phantom pains are present, (they should not be ignored but normalized in media) he winces and grunts at it and he even itches his prosthetic sometimes as a response to a phantom itch
3: accidentally forgetting it early in the morning and falling over....while this is not a thing everyone does and i won't say a lot of people if any do...he does, though only occasionally
he is also missing 4 fingers and has 3 on each hand (my style usually only depicts 4 on each regardless but for him i try my best to only do 3 for each hand) he has several war related disabilities but missing one leg and several fingers aswell as severe spinal issues is what i mainly focus on while i roleplay online...and i will make sure to depict him a bit better than i used to thanks so much for tips! :)
How would you go about missing limbs that aren't necessarily in need of replacing?
For example I have a mlp OC who's a pony with one wing, I think most people would just give her a prosthetic wing, but I went a completely different direction
Ultimately, wings aren't necessary, earth ponies and unicorns live without them, "so why couldn't she?" I thought
Instead of viewing herself as a pegasus missing one of her wings, she views herself as an earth pony born WITH one, ultimately striving to have it removed, under the pretense that she has trouble controlling it, "it would randomly open and knock stuff off surfaces", she'd say, or under the pretense of donating it, maybe, but ultimately, I think she'd like to better fit in with the earth ponies
I realize that this is probably more of a story about identity, something something trans allegory, but I'd like to hear it from a different perspective, would her goals be realistic?
One thing that bothers me about FMA's automail is that Ed is constantly having it broken or destroyed. Like, my dude that thing is made of solid metal, if you're losing a metal arm that often how the heck do you still have your other arm?
The reason why it breaks so much is because Ed constantly exploits his metal arm as part of his fighting style. He blocks attacks with the automail arm whenever possible since it’s easier to repair automail than heal wounds. Also, he frequently transmutes parts of the arm into bladed weapons. Too much of either of those things puts strain on the metal and can knock any number of small moving parts out of place… no wonder Winry gets so pissed at him when she needs to fix it yet again lol
I first saw a person with a limb difference as a very young child watching Cerrie Burnel on cbeebies (children's specific TV channel in uk). I'm eternally grateful that I learned that people with body differences and disabilities were normal, and has probably helped me adapt to my now disabled body
I hope you don’t mind me asking but do you have any good tips for learning to draw mobility aids, I’m still a beginner artist and it’s really difficult to find art advice for disabled characters. Sorry if this comes off as rude in any way just looking for some tips.
This is a very nice and informative watch, providing some really interesting insights that I hadn't come across before (plus the awesome character design coming together in the background and all the digital art tricks I just learned of from that). In hindsight, I kind of find myself facepalming at the fact I hadn't considered stuff like keeping the design of a prosthetic as part efficient as possible to make it resilient to wear and tear like any other machine, treating them like pieces of wearable equipment that is taken off when it isn't needed, or the fact that proprioception exists and will of course be altered for an amputee and won't naturally account for prosthetics.
Just as a writer, I also have some ideas to throw into the ring myself, specifically on how to handle prosthetics in a fantasy setting.
Magic can theoretically explain away a perfect prosthetic, but there are more interesting ways to handle it.
A simple factor to add in to counter that then, which could also work in a more advanced and sci-fi setting, would be to give the replacement limb a limited power supply, making it so that the amputee or character with a limb difference in question actually has to consciously manage when to actually have the prosthetic active, doubly so when in a situation or environment where the resource powering the limb is scarce. With a mana system in play, for example, keeping a prosthetic operational may be a constant drain on that person's mana supply, resulting in a more statistically defineable form of the real life exhaustion effect, as well as actually being a detriment for a caster type character, since they then have less mana to spend on spells. This could actually lead to the inverse effect of the prosthetic acting like work shoes, because then the best place for a character to use one might be only casual and social situations, for gesturing and dexterity and less for the realistic standard of them essentially being work tools instead.
The more creatively engaging thing to consider though, would be to create a fundimental, functional difference in capabilities between a meat limb and an artificial one. One such idea I've ended up with would be to make magic a thing that can only be cast with the users own body. As in, you need a biological limb to summon up and direct a spell. The most a prosthetic limb could achieve as a workaround would be to have gadgets installed into it that replicate a certain spell - but with clearly limited use and with a lack of on the fly flexibility. Think a wind step spell for running faster, which could be replicated with a magazine of miniature explosives for burst propulsion, but you only have much rougher speed increments to work with thanks to each activation triggering the same type of explosive, while the spell could be altered.
Going off of the previous thought though, you can also make the artificial limb better at something than the biological one, it just needs to be balanced out against something only a meat limb can do. It's the sort of specialization you see in the balancing of gear pieces and fantasy classes. Running with the idea that biological limbs are the only ones able to cast magic, prosthetics would then be better at just raw physical performance, depending on their design and only really one at a time. You can have a limb be tanky, powerful or finely dexterous, but not all at once - at most an imperfect hybrid design.
What I'm left curious about is: How do you keep a sufficiently advanced sci-fi limb from being an instance of a perfect prosthetic? Maintenance would probably be the only thing that can't be fully done away with, but that's the only drawback I can think of, given theoretically possible things like perfected implants and tech advanced enough to replicate human motor functions at a minimum.
This is a ridiculously informative video, and I can see a lot of people referring to it in the future!
This gave me a well needed reminder to think more in-depth about the usage of prosthetics. It gave me a light reminder to do more research into the mechanics of the prosthetics, what parts to focus on as a positive and what to add as a drawback.
For example, one of my characters I believe would use a spring mechanised prosthetic when fighting. Now, I have a reference as to what makes a good drawback for that leg when fighting-the movement being a double edged sword in certain scenarios, and him potentially having trouble landing or stopping after running or jumping.
It also gives me an idea of how to update his design. Despite every iteration of the prosthetic I’ve made, it always felt like something was off about it. The interchangeable feet/legs makes a lot of sense now, especially when you gave such a detailed and yet concise description of what each one is made for!
So instead of him having those momentous, spring-mechanised legs for battle, he would most likely have the more stable options for walking around when carrying scrap metal, tools, so on.
Now, I feel like so many opportunities to improve my character’s mobility aids have opened up to me. I can look into resources about the tech and mechanisms, and make it feel accurate, or I could take that knowledge of said tech and take it to create a mobility aid with slight alterations based on my characters’ needs.
I had a few moments of realisation making this-an "ah, right, I didn’t realise I was doing that" sort of reaction. But that realisation is well needed at times, and now I’m excited to investigate into how these kinds of technologies work, and how to personalise it based on my character!
I did see another comment ask, but if there’s *any* resources you’d recommend to start a person off in the right direction, where would someone start looking? (Obviously, this is only if you end up reading comments and feel like giving insight-please don’t feel any pressure on educating! I was just wondering if you had any suggestions.)
Either way, thank you so much for the insightful video!
This is very informative, and a very well made, love this.
However.
I would like to call to attention the automated closed captions.
12:39 “aesthetic feet”
Other than that genuinely no notes this video is amazing and you should be proud of yourself.
One recent example of a prosthetic that I really liked (as a person who does not have a limb related disability) is Sevika from Arcane. She doesn't show up a whole lot, but from what we do see of her she seemed to prefer to keep her prosthetic arm hidden and used her other arm to do most things (like handling money, opening doors, playing cards).
She mostly uses that arm to fight, and so it doesn't operate as a replacement but also as enhancement. We also see it break at one point, and the new arm she gets after that has been modified to account for the vulnerability that the previous one broke from (we even see her working on it a little). Honestly, I think that if it weren't for where she lived/who she worked for she'd probably be the kind of person to just make it through without the arm since it seems to me like she doesn't really use it for normal daily tasks.
I kinda felt that perfect prosthetic trope when watching Violet evergarden and maybe thats because the main character(Violet) is insanely strong for a young girl and when she got prosthetic arms she was able to use them correctly really fast (atleast thats how i remember it since i watched it like 2 years ago) .I kinda want to know what do you think about Violet Evergarden
oooh I love your character! (No I'm not biased, why do you ask? Yes I do love dragons).
My story has advanced technology, especially in the medical field. Two of my characters have missing limbs, and are both officers(one in training, they are siblings.) They both have prosthetics, one with a missing arm and one with a missing leg and eye. I fell into this trope by accident, and I think I will definitely change it. They definitely have nerve damage, so i think I’ll give them chronic pain that affects their abilities to work, and their day to day life(I suffer from chronic pain, and it effects my day to day life as well.) I will be giving the one with the missing leg a wheelchair, and perhaps the one with the missing arm won’t really be in combat as much as the one with the missing leg. I will give Rayley, the one with the missing leg, several different prosthetics for different things. As i said, there is advanced technology but not too advanced, so perhaps there could be a specially made prosthetic for police work. I will definitely think about the points in this video more later, as its 4:30am and my characters aren’t fully fleshed out yet
I apologize to everyone who uses prosthetics or have missing/different limbs(sorry if thats the wrong term), im disabled myself but only with heds and pots. Ill research more on prosthetics and missing limbs when i write more of these characters :) thank you for this informative video
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood remains my all time favorite take on prosthetics in any story. I don’t have any missing limbs or any major disabilities, but I’ve had chronic pain in my knee and hips for a long time and I’m seriously considering starting to use a cane, I tried once and it felt amazing
Most prosethetics in media arent disability representation theyre sick ass robot limb representation, mcree from overwatch isnt missing an arm he just has a sick ass robot arm
In video games animations tend to be reused character too character. Most games will very liberty reuse animations between character who are humanoid, perhaps there's a different animations for men and women but typically only idle and walk animations. So the animations expect a certain body structure that works in a certain way so when they want to make a disabled character they can either make unique animations for them and them alone or just hand wave it (a very easy thing to do in any setting with an inch of fantasy.)
I've only seen one game that got close and that's dmc v where Nero has some different animations for when he doesn't have his left arm. But when he has a prosthetic he uses the same animations as when he has a normal arm (except for some of the non handshaped ones that use the armless animations)
i want to write a story in which a character looses a leg, so this was really usefull. Especally hearing about your everyday life. Thanks
Aside from the wonderfully informative video itself I must say your characters are so cool, the one you were making thought and your persona both :] The color choices are stunning, I'm glad your art and opinions are out there for all of us to experience!
I'm not sure if the timeline of the perfect prosthetic trope is quite right. The 80s and 90s were full of popular media with cyborg characters with a very specific science-fiction interpretation of technological limb replacements that are permanently attached and function exactly like their meat counterparts, whether in the form of Luke Skywalker's hand or Inspector Gadget's everything. Fullmetal Alchemist seems more like a rare case of interpreting that trope through the lens of real-life disability, while retaining most of the features that make having a cool robot arm a fun fantasy. So I think most of what defines this trope was really built up without any reference to actual limb difference. I don't see that e. g. Nimona or Helluva Boss is doing anything functionally different, for better or worse, than those Saturday morning cartoons, or doing any real disability rep at all.
I think that's also why terms like "prosthetic" and "disability" show up less in those kinds of works, because they involve a different set of tropes to the creators. And often I think having some plot point about losing an original meat limb to be replaced is just the excuse to get to the end point of "cool robot arm" without having to say that the character deliberately removed the original, which would probably sound ghoulish.
I don't have any physical disabilities beyond some hearing loss, and I don't write any fiction. I do make original action figures, and my most recent project was a cyborg character with mechanical limbs and other technology integrated into her body. But she's joining a roster of characters who were otherwise androids to begin with. My concept in creating that design was purely about transhumanist fantasy, and I wouldn't claim she has anything to do with disability representation. I did characterize her as being trans, which is an identity I do share with her, but I can only assume she's had her body completely rebuilt and doesn't suffer any of the inconveniences and shortcomings I do as a result of that.
I'm glad to see the clarification that the perfect prosthetic trope isn't inherently the problem so much as its overuse, but I feel like the root cause is that there's actually just very little deliberate disability rep in these stories, or much of any media, at all. I'm over here using the "cool robot arm" trope to cope with my own unrelated body issues, and I can't say I'd be any less likely than any of these writers to shy away from the complexities and challenges of doing actual disability rep, but if every story that uses replacement limbs does so in a way that ignores real limb difference and prosthetics, then people with that life experience don't get to see themselves represented at all when the opportunity seems like it should be right there. I'd rather not be the problem, but I don't think I can offer much help with the solution either.
Thank you for giving me insight. Hope this gona help me and other people.
I’m a writer and I have a character who will be losing an arm but gets a divine magic one but later will be using a normal one and tank tops when in relaxed places but when fighting different arm magic leather jacket and trying to cover the thing to protect it and wields a great sword to fight
ive been working on a character in my fantasy setting who is a dwarven engineer and she loses her arms through the course of the story (not both at the same tme, there is a huge gap). in her childhood she lost the feeling in her arms from fingers to wrist, but she still was able to move them, just not feel. she thought that it would be easy for her to adjust to prosthetics and if something bothers her she can just tinker with it. she would change her prosthetics a lot and it is a big point in her character development when she finally copes with the fact she cannot make the perfect prosthetic. (there is more to it but i dindt want to bloat the comment with even more informasion)
although i didnt really talked about it with any disabled person i think i handled it well, but i really should talk about it with someone with expiriense shouldnt i...
Wish I'd been able to see this video a couple of years ago! I don't think I did a bad job, but there were definitely a lot of pitfalls I fell into around this trope. Thank you so much for sharing all of this, as it's certainly helping me understand how to do things better in the future!
I'm also started to make some videos again after almost two years just to see that you uploaded again!
I hate when the prosteticscare only a problem the first 5 minutes of the show and then they forgot about it. And sometimes is not even a new protesis they have to get used to!
P.D. I love the fact that in Ghost in the shell, prostetics are that good and perfect that people willingly change perfectly healthy and functional body parts for prothesis. Advanced prostetics are more fun when the rest of society realize how advance they are, like :"do you whant your fleshy arm or this one that is super resistant, no pain receptors, super strong, super precise robot arm?"
I've been wanting to write a story of sorts about things like mental health issues and disability for a while now- specifically, based on my personal experience being on the other side of those things- and I was considering giving one of my main characters leg amputations (above knee on one leg, foot on the other). definitely going to subscribe, considering, well, screwing that up would just be sad. (elaboration available if desired)
ty for making this video !!! im writing a disabled character w a below knee amputation, i dont have an amputation myself so this helped me understand the experience alot better. hes *the* main character so i wanna make sure the representation is good and accurate with him.
also cool snake art and rip all your previous timelapses.
combat wheelchair does sound awesome though XD
A solution i thought of is making the prosthetic a sort of hard magic system, thinking of the mechanisms of the limb as rules of acting, lets say an arm ampute due to limited brain reading tech the user has to activily think on specific words or ideas (red, blue, dog, bee, apple, etc) which turn into orders for the prosthetic, making the limb more of one of those industrial robot arms.
An example would be that the user is a sort of mechanic using their more dynamic and faster meat arm to tinker on an object while using the prosthetic as a sort of platform of the object being operated on, rotating it, and so on, or using more their meat arm to express themselves while keeping the prosthetic still as it doesnt have a full connection to the subconscious (and not wearing it at all while not working)
But this comes more of a focus i have on consciousness, subconscious and the mechanical
Also there is a discussion on the topic of token characters and so on, as unless the amputees are baked in the story (like those two movies about a billionaire paraplegic and their poor caretaker learning to become best friends and bond together) like yeah i sorta dont disagree wheel chairs could've existed on the 13 century, but the battle wheel chair makes super mario coin sounds with how token it feels
Any thoughts on va11hallas use of prosthetics or augments?
I havent watched the video yet but this got me really excited because I have a dragon character that lost his wings' membranes and uses a incovinient prosthetic, it's very disruptive to the clothes he normally wears and it takes some time to put it on so he would have to wear it all the time to be safe from needing to fly but not being able to(like to escape something), he gets really upset with how less efficient they are, even though he enever flew himself, he knows for others it's still easier, but eventually he makes a bit of peace with living with that, and even incorporates it into his look! I also have a character that has no hand(she lost it) and she has no prosthetic most of the time, and the sometimes gets a stabby dagger hand, a hook, or punching gloove, but she has so substitute hand because they have to technology for that, in general, my characters don't get perfect prosthetics, and I really like discussing it
One of the main characters in the show mech cadets is an amputee who prefers to use crutches when out of uniform, and only uses the prosthetic when he has to.
I'm so thankful for people like you making videos like this - prosthetics are something I want to write in a comic I want to make... mainly because steampunk limbs sound cool LMFAO I will admit that shamelessly. Videos like this are very helpful for at least beginning to learn what to do and what not to do when it comes to prosthetics and such, especially for stupid lil guys like me, notes will be taken and videos will be saved.
this is a pretty high quality channel best of luck i would like to see you grow
super interesting video, verry cool
32:45 I've never even heard the term "limb difference."
This is an amazing video, I loved it :)
Thank you for the video. I have a few disabled characters and try to use things I've learnt from my hearing aids to learn how you'd adapt to different issues, but obviously hearing aid isn't a perfect comparison and this gives a lot of great options to look into. It is hard trying to figure out the line between broken the negative tropes of prosthetic issues, avoiding situations due to it's weight or situational threats (like water) and not wearing it (like the cold issue you mention) and including it because it's relevant to the story and character.
Also mood over the water thing! As a teen I would not wear hearing aids to any party because if someone threw me into a pool I'd be out $2500 per ear and Canada doesn't cover hearing aids. Easier just to go without then risk it.
I will mention since you were talking about FMA Ed's prosthetic, the thing I most remember about that was the realization he couldn't pick up a fragile cup or write with that hand because of the lack of feed back. Even after having to join the army for the worlds best prosthetic. Which was probably the first time as a kid reading the manga I realized nerves would be an issue,
most of the examples that you used with perfect prosthetics fit the world they were in like hiccup and toothless with their prosthetics every movie they were upgraded to better fit the actions they took, and they even have multiple replacement limbs. while in a magic world it makes no sense for a disability that would confine you to a wheelchair to exist unless it is magic based which causes a whole different issue with why not hire adventures to find a solution for you also because of the availability of healing magic that can literally heal any wound or even death with coin so what is nerve damage. and finally, with Syfy worlds the tech is so advanced like marvel that disintegration tech was used in the earth 1940s so an advanced limb for their most prized weapon fits the world I think that you compare your own experience with how they could do prosthetics better and in some media that is the case, but technology in fantasy genre will not follow the same tech tree as the real world so the problems face in everyday life may have been fixed like with cyberpunk where it is commonplace that it would be weird without any.