YMMV / Backstroke of the West

• Accidental Innuendo: Constantly due to the horrendous translation.
  • All the characters talk about "growing strong and big."
  • Speaker D at one point tells Allah Gold "you make out quite good." Similarly, Gold told Ratio Tile "then can make we out."
  • "They're all over me!" is translated to "he is in my behind!"
  • The D telling a kneeling Allah Gold that "You are already at full cock now. Spread all over the place the empire!"
  • "The disgusting thing came."
  • It's seemingly implied that Allah Gold was having an affair with Speaker D, going by The D's line "This will be an unprecedented affair",^note The Plum Of mentions Allah Gold's "affair", to which he replies "What affair" the Hopeless Situation Parliament wanting to "know him at fuck", The D begging Allah Gold to "save your lover" during his confrontation with Text How Big, and Gold later denying the affair to The Plum Of.
    • Then The D proves himself to be a Dirty Old Man by telling Allah Gold "Do my student," though what other students he might have is never specified. Hopefully he's not referring to The. Well The did say "Even since you I separate," possibly indicating a former relationship with Gold.
  • Similarly, Ratio Tile mentions that he "did [Allah Gold's] teacher."
  • Space General's comments to Ratio Tile suggest some sexual interest.
    "Sir, you came finally! I always at expect your come."
  • Despite his limited screentime, The manages to get a couple in as well.
    "Pull out your sword. Dedicate the body for your speaker."
    "Very good, give me surprised and pleased."
  • "You two careful, he is a big." "Mr. Speaker, we are for the big."
  • Even a few of the names come off as somewhat raunchy, particularly "The D" and "Blow The Skin".
  • Heck, this even happens In-Universe at one point.
    The Plum Of: "Your meaning is a love to tie up you?"
    Allah Gold: (Grinning embarrassed) "That is not my meaning."
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In-universe, by Allah Gold. To him, the heroes are just bad people.
  • The D. Whereas we had multiple movies to establish what a monster Palpatine was, The D comes off as rather pitiable. His (maybe) master was either killed or put into a coma by his land, to begin with. Then when The D managed to become a senator, he found the Gram Republic hopelessly corrupt, and he managed to earn the ire of the Hopeless Situation Warriors just by virtue of being from the West. They start off trying to pry into his sex life in order to discredit him, and when that fails they abandon all subtlety and try to kill him outright. While his response to this treatment is way overblown, it's not hard to imagine that after a while, the man had just...snapped.
  • Does "Smelly Boy" show that Space General kinda sucks at coming up with good insults? Or is the coughing fit he has right before saying it proof that Allah Gold has serious issues when it comes to personal hygiene? Or affect the cough to aid in his insult, and was being sarcastic?
  • Did Allah Gold simply inform Ratio Tile about his period, or did he use the term "dead period" to taunt him? After all, Ratio is implied to be transgender, so Allah Gold may have tried to bring up a (presumably) hard time and decision from Ratio's past to affect Ratio's fighting ability? His emphasis on "dead period" makes more sense if he is deliberately bringing up the fact that Ratio doesn't have them anymore. Alternatively, Gold might be using period as a measurement of time.
• Base-Breaking Character: Vanquish Is, or at least the voice acting for him. Is the actress just not very good at doing Yoda's voice, making it seem cringey in comparison to the rest of the voices in the dub? Or is it a purposely bad impression that's being Played for Laughs?^note A comment on Reddit by someone connected to the dub says it was very much intended to be the latter, even though they knew Star Wars purists might not like it, but it went along with the "perfect fail" spirit of the dubbing.
• Cargo Ship: Ratio Tile seems oddly invested in R2's exploits and especially whether he "is fucking."
• Crack Ship:
  • Vanquish Is / Yoda and Space General / General Grievous.
  • Senator / Bail Organa and Blow The Skin / C-3PO.
• Crosses the Line Twice: How does the security hologram of Allah Gold killing children end? With The D saying "You are already at full cock now, spread all over the place, the empire". The sheer Mood Whiplash combined with the horrifying implications cross the line so many times it's stomped out of existence.
• Ending Fatigue: The final three minutes of Revenge of the Sith have no dialogue, followed by a seven-minute closing credit roll, meaning the dubbed version of Backstroke of the West has nothing humorous going on for its final ten minutes. Backstroke is effectively over when Blow the Skin actually says the word "over."
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The Good Elephant. The frequent mentions of him despite being The Ghost have led to lots of speculation over his exact role in the story.
  • Space General. The translation gives him some of the funniest lines in the bootleg. The entertainingly hammy performance by his voice actor certainly helps.
  • The. Despite his strange name (even by the standards of the dub), limited screentime, and psychotic behavior (or perhaps because of it), he has managed to become the mascot of the Chinese Bootleg memes subreddit. Helps that he gets possibly the single best line in Backstroke.
    "You are a sacrifice article that I cut up rough now."
• Epileptic Trees: The translation is so bad that any theory about what the translated dialogue "actually" means basically boils down to this. This mostly explains why the tropes on this page tend to contradict each other.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Religious symbolism abounds in this movie—perhaps more than the original. Allah Gold, the Presbyterian Church, and references to the "salvation activity", to name a few.
  • The D in particular seems to love using religious terminology. He calls Allah Gold his "disciple" a few times, states that "The judgement day of world come quickly, general." and uses the phrase "Good of good", a possible Shout-Out to the Nicene Creed.
• Funny Moments: Has its own page.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Apparently there was a fair before the whole movie started. Perhaps then the Good Elephant appeared.
  • While the "Do not want" line itself is ridiculous, its placement is actually a very appropriate Ironic Echo. It is said by South Host when he is told that he killed The Plum Of, but that wasn't the first time somebody said it. Who said it before South Host? The Plum Of, right before South Host choked her unconscious and - as far as he knows - killed her.
  • Similarly, when Gold said "You say what?!" to Speaker D description of the Dark, that is a repeat of The Plum Of's line earlier.
  • As Allah Gold fights Ratio Tile, the West Emperor announces that he "felt the hero an in danger" and goes to find Gold. Shortly after that, Gold delivers his infamous "hero's is just bad person!" declaration.
  • It always seemed strange that Ratio Tile claimed that he and Allah Gold were "for the Big" before their fight with The, who was also a Big. However, it was later revealed in The Duplicate Offensive that The secretly wanted to destroy the Big, so Ratio Tile was probably mad at him for being a traitor.
  • Just before his fight with Allah Gold, Ratio Tile says "disabled person must solve." Decades later, Gold would solve the problem of the Empire of the First Choice as a quadruple amputee.
• Good Bad Translation: Backstroke may not make much sense, but few would dispute its comedic value.
• Ham and Cheese: Space General's voice actor is clearly having a blast.^note A Reddit comment by one of the organizers of the dub revealed that the actor, who also voiced all the other robots, was drunk when he recorded his lines, and took to heart the instruction he was given to stretch his lines out in an exaggerated way
• Harsher in Hindsight: Most of the "drama" between Allah Gold and The Plum Of relates to the fact they think that they're cheating with each other (At least correct on Allah Gold's case, whom he knew at fuck with The D.) which was more or less part of the hilarity of the translation. If you're a Japanese fan however, it can be pretty uncomfortable to read it now given that Daisuke Namikawa, the seiyuu of the original version of Allah Gold in the Japanese dub of the film was reportedly involved in an affair with a former employee of the agency he worked with since 2004.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Allah Gold is a goldmine of these prior to his corruption. He really cared about his mentor and his wife.
  • He agrees with Ratio Tile that his method of rescue is not very good, but he goes in to rescue him anyway. Later, when he reminds Ratio Tile that this save means his mentor owes him seven times, Ratio Tile reminds Allah Gold of two additional times he forgot and tells him that this time doesn't count.
  • He promises The Plum Of that he won't need his child's help to end the war, realizes what this sounds like, and adds "Our baby blesses gods'ly".
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Backstroke of the West is known for its many uses of Pluralses. Later, the sequel trilogy stars Andy Serkis, who also played Gollum, another character known for his use of pluralses. Even better, one of these pluralses is said by Palpatine, and Serkis is playing his successor/clone, Supreme Leader Snoke.
  • At one point, The Gets the Rice mentions the "dark world" to her lover Allah Gold. Natalie Portman would later play the love interest to another god, and appear with him in a movie with "The Dark World" in its title.
  • The D calling his domain "the Empire of the First Choice." What is another word for "the first choice" (at say, a restaurant)? The First Order.
  • Just like Leia said "It's a trap" before Admiral Ackbar did, this movie has her mother saying "Do not want" before Reaching the west of Reaches says the same thing.
  • The D's dialogue pretty much states he's a Dirty Old Man. Come The Rise of Skywalker, it's confirmed he canonically had at least one child. And considering the age gap between him and his granddaughter, he could very well have done it in the time of the prequels.
  • A few years after Backstroke had Palpatine's changed name be "Speaker D", Poptropica introduced a character called Director D, a man who appeared to be a good guy but actually was The Mole In Charge and was just using the player to further his own villainous agenda. His evil plan, to make everyone bald, also seems like it fits in well with the general zaniness of Backstroke.
• Ho Yay: This video combines several scenes of Ho Yay.
• Memetic Mutation: Given that it's a god-awful translation of one of the most meme-tastic Star Wars movies, this was inevitable.
  • This translation is the source of the "do not want" meme, courtesy of South Host/Reaching the West of Reaches. Way before Revenge of the Sith started generating memes, mind you.
  • "Game time started."^explanationAllah Gold's declaration in the opening battle, translated from the original "This is where the fun begins."
  • "Friend you are crazy!"^ExplanationTranslation of Obi-Wan's "Well then you are lost!"
  • "The geography that I stands compares you superior!" ^ExplanationRatio Tile's declaration that he has the high ground is just as memetic in the translation.
• Narm Charm:
  • Surprisingly enough, the dub actually manages to be this at times. It helps that it has all of the cinematography and music from the actual movie, and that the voice actors manage to give dead serious performances even in scenes where it would be tempting to play it for laughs. Thus, the dub still has a lot of the original film's emotional impact, even though the dialog and the plot are completely butchered.
  • Ratio Tile's reaction to the carnage at the Hopeless Situation Encampment is a prime example of this.
    Ratio Tile: "This is...what...who...fuck."
  • In a select few cases the dialog even manages to be appropriate to the situation, or arguably even superior to the actual script. For example, "This is your own masterpiece!" is certainly more poetic than the original "You have done that yourself!" Similarly, "I dare not believe the words that I hear."
  • Even the performances of the original actors help the dub achieve this. Benjamin Norman Pierce, who dubbed Speaker D, notes that having Ratio Tile's foul-mouthed, nonsensical dialogue accompany Ewan McGregor's intense, dramatic portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi elevates it in an oddly compelling way.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The didn't get the same Adaptational Heroism treatment as Speaker D and Space General. If anything, he's worse than in canon: even disregarding the skin-crawling Dirty Old Man vibes he gives off, The's sophisticated attitude barely disguises the fact he's a batshit insane Blood Knight with an Irrational Hatred for Allah Gold and a penchant for human sacrifice. The fact that his voice actor does the most demented impression of Christopher Lee ever doesn't help.
  • D the Superior also gets in on the Nightmare Fuel act once his true colors are revealed. Yes, he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to do what he genuinely feels is best for the republic, but he's still Emperor Palpatine with an added perverted streak. Additionally, he has a talent for conjuring up the most disturbing visual imagery, particularly when telling Allah Gold about Reach the Man. Just try reading anything he says in Ian McDiarmid's voice without wetting your pants.
    • In general, the West's odd fascination with the Interplay of Sex and Violence is a Nightmare Fuel goldmine.
  • Allah Gold isn't usually this, but he has a few moments.
    • Even before becoming D's apprentice, he thinks that less freedom with more wars is a good thing, wants to start wars and make peace talks in order to end war (he doesn't see any contradictions in that), and thinks that he shouldn't have killed The because he was "not just a common prisoner."
    • After he becomes the West Emperor's apprentice, it's made apparent several times how thoroughly he's been corrupted—not only is he having an affair with The D, he gets a Raging Stiffie from murdering several children, and states that he believes "heroes is just bad person!"
    • Remember Revenge of the Sith's Nightmare Fuel page image? Instead of merely saying that he hates Ratio Tile, Allah Gold instead gives a chilling death threat, made worse by the fact that we know he'll someday make good on it.
      I will ruin you!
• Older Than They Think: Backstroke of the West isn't the first instance of Grievous/Space General using childish insults against his opponents. He calls Shaak Ti "stinking Jedi" before murdering her in a Deleted Scene of Revenge of the Sith.
• Signature Scene: South Host saying "Do not want!" It became not just the most famous part of the translation, but a part of internet vocabulary.
• Squick:
  • The Presbyterian Church wants to know The Pudding/Speaker D at fuck.
  • "I always eyes inside of no man."
• So Bad, It's Good: Despite being an atrocious Recursive Translation of Revenge of the Sith, it's hilarious. Hilarious enough to get its own Fan Sequels, The Star War Gatherings.
• Spiritual Sequel: Episo pe II an equally bad Recursive Translation of Attack of the Clones. It even translates "Anakin" and "Obi-Wan" into "Gold" and "Ratio." It's not clear if its actual subtitles are poorly translated, but the plot synopsis on the back certainly is. This Opening Scroll - read out by Stuart Ashen - demonstrates this nicely.
  Imprbity trade the federal strike
  against the mape of the starthe
  empressten years, day that own the
  not of the commonrunowner line
  peaceful anner the gold grow upped,
  and become a hero juedy warrior, but
  should be student of ao ratio king-
  kano the ratio have aiready promoted
  to be the teacher.

  Two warrior were returned jte aegos amudala
  the rece by call to reach to
  pull the impress at the same time,
  becaust her life suffer the political the
  separtion the numeator the threat,
  nape star is in the federal parliament
  of congressman representative
  scheme parties person assassinate
  amydala reach to pull the impress.

  However be their relation to have the
  clash with power, two choice of right
  human faceses is not lonely figure
  loudly presonal destiny, still
  prospect... that have whole the
  intergalactic republic...
  • It also misspells George Lucas as "George Luces", and the DVD menu calls the movie Star Wars Episode II: The Phantom Menace, while showing clips from the wrong film.
• Superlative Dubbing: While known mostly for being a Translation Train Wreck, the video version of Backstroke is actually a very good dub. Most of the voice actors do great impressions of the original cast while playing the ridiculous dialogue ridiculously straight, and there is a genuine - though not always completely successful - attempt at syncing the dub with the real actors' mouth movements.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: Much of the cast delivers the ludicrous dialogue with complete sincerity.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Bizarrely, the translation somehow manages to exaggerate the original film's perceived criticisms of the George W. Bush administration completely by accident.
  • Allah Gold openly advocates "less freedom with more wars", which could be taken as commentaries on the Patriot Act and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Elsewhere, references to the Republic and its supporters are transformed into mentions of Republicans. Also, the main villain now has an American accent rather than a British one.
  • Also, Speaker D's political enemies trying to discredit him by prying into his sex life may bring Bill Clinton's sex scandal to mind.
  • In a silly inversion, one would think a Chinese bootleg sub with, ahem, a few liberties taken in translation would be an intentional anti-American screed especially given the bad guys being re-translated into "the West," but that's just because xisi, which uses the Chinese character for "west" along with a phonetic character that has no actual meaning, is as close as the language ever gets to "Sith," full of sounds the language just doesn't have. It makes one wonder, though... It's taken further in The Counterattack Collection, where the United States is suggested to be on the side of the Empire, to the point of having its own Star Destroyer!
    Vanquish Is: We must ruin the West!
• Woolseyism: There are a few gems amid the mangled nonsense.
  • When Anakin says "This is where the fun begins" early in the battle, Allah Gold says "Game time started". Given his overall recklessness, cockiness, and love for combat, it makes sense that he'd treat a Big Badass Battle Sequence as a fun game.
  • Obi-Wan's "You have done that yourself!" becomes the rather poetic "This is your own masterpiece!"
  • A couple lines later, compare the Revenge of the Sith dialogue ("Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind.") to its eloquent Backstroke of the West equivalent ("This is what your exasperation results in. You let the Dark Lord distort your heart.")
  • While Anakin screamed "I hate you!" after Obi-Wan defeats him in their duel on Mustafar, Allah Gold, with his arm and legs chopped off and baking in the heat of molten lava, screams that for what Ratio Tile did, "I will ruin you!". Again, he's got one working limb and fire creeping up his back as he declares he'll destroy everything Ratio Tile ever loved.
  • The Hopeless Situation Warriors is a pretty badass name for an order of space knights. The best part is that it's a literal translation of the Chinese transliteration for "Jedi Knight" (绝地武士 Juedi Wushi) that just happens to work pretty well.
  • "I dare not believe the words that I hear" is one of the best imitation Shakespeare lines ever, even if it wasn't intentional. What really helps is that Revenge of the Sith was very partially based off Shakespeare's Othello, with Anakin and Padmé as Othello and Desdemona respectively.
  • Changing D's question "Are you going to kill me?" into "Do you want to kill me?" adds a whole new level to his manipulation of Allah Gold. Not only is he completely unafraid of Gold's threat, he makes it clear that neither of them believes Gold would actually kill him.
  • Darth Sidious tells the Separatist officials that Darth Vader "will look after [them]" instead of "He will take care of you", which adds another layer of False Reassurance and further masks his Deadly Euphemism.
  • In the scene when Obi-Wan and Anakin take down a squad of Battle Droids in a crowded elevator, the subtitler adds some dialogue about not pushing for the unintelligible dialogue the droids say before being slashed in half. This trope is discussed in the winterson.com analysis of the scene.
    ...and the best part of it all is that some stuff is completely made up, like in this case the droids in the elevator are just mumbling but mr. pirate decided to make something up about not pushing (which is extra-funny if you've ever lived in china!). so a random pirate in china decided on the fly that not only could he translate but he could improve on lucas's script. brilliant stuff, and this explains a lot of the seemingly random things.

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