Disclaimer
This is a rant I guess. I'm also dozing off as I type this, so there's that.
What the Hell is a "Purity Test" Anyway?
There is an entire category of arguments against Yamato (or any other character really) joining the Strawhats that I find particularly vexing. I call them purity tests. They tend to take the following structure "[Insert character name here] cannot join the Strawhat because they don't satisfy [insert condition here]".
Often the condition is an arbitrary characteristics or trait that someone thinks is common to most/all Strawhat recruits. A "pattern" if you will.
I find these arguments particularly vexing because they are irrelevant. They don't have a direct causal bearing on whether a character joins the crew.
When Oda is designing a character to be a Strawhat, I don't think he works his way through a checklist of purity tests that the character needs to meet before determining that they are satisfactory as a potential nakama.
Yes many current nakama do meet purity tests, but that's largely coincidental and suffers from a heavy survivor bias; after all, the purity tests were invented from traits the fanbase perceived as common in nakama.
In terms of weight I give to purity tests, failing a lone purity test is not enough to alter my credence in a character becoming Nakama to a degree that is intuitively perceptible (so <5%).
Often times my response to hearing that Yamato fails a given purity test is explaining why I don't think the purity test presented is a correct purity test ("no this is not the pattern, it's this instead" and explaining why Yamato passes the modified purity test). I think this is an exercise in futility and kind of dishonest too: it's not like demonstrating conclusively that Yamato failed a given purity test would make me noticeably revise down my credence in Yamato joining. I'll be unfazed by the result as I don't actually consider the purity tests credible. Passing purity tests are not why I think Yamato will become the next nakama, so failing purity tests wouldn't change my mind either.
As far as I'm aware, the Purity tests exists only in the fandom and don't actually feature in Oda's decision making procedure regarding next nakama.
Yamato Purity Tests
Examples of arguments against Yamato joining that I consider purity tests.
Yamato can't join because she:
There are others, but I'm barely staying awake right now, so I'm skipping them.
I could write long and detailed counterargument to each of the above arguments, but I don't think it matters.
Ultimately, the purity tests have little bearing Yamato joining the crew, and are ultimately just a massive distraction.
if Yamato joins the crew, it wouldn't be because she passed all the fandom's purity tests. If she doesn't join the crew, it wouldn't be because she failed some of the fandom's purity tests.
Good night.
This is a rant I guess. I'm also dozing off as I type this, so there's that.
What the Hell is a "Purity Test" Anyway?
There is an entire category of arguments against Yamato (or any other character really) joining the Strawhats that I find particularly vexing. I call them purity tests. They tend to take the following structure "[Insert character name here] cannot join the Strawhat because they don't satisfy [insert condition here]".
Often the condition is an arbitrary characteristics or trait that someone thinks is common to most/all Strawhat recruits. A "pattern" if you will.
I find these arguments particularly vexing because they are irrelevant. They don't have a direct causal bearing on whether a character joins the crew.
When Oda is designing a character to be a Strawhat, I don't think he works his way through a checklist of purity tests that the character needs to meet before determining that they are satisfactory as a potential nakama.
Yes many current nakama do meet purity tests, but that's largely coincidental and suffers from a heavy survivor bias; after all, the purity tests were invented from traits the fanbase perceived as common in nakama.
In terms of weight I give to purity tests, failing a lone purity test is not enough to alter my credence in a character becoming Nakama to a degree that is intuitively perceptible (so <5%).
Often times my response to hearing that Yamato fails a given purity test is explaining why I don't think the purity test presented is a correct purity test ("no this is not the pattern, it's this instead" and explaining why Yamato passes the modified purity test). I think this is an exercise in futility and kind of dishonest too: it's not like demonstrating conclusively that Yamato failed a given purity test would make me noticeably revise down my credence in Yamato joining. I'll be unfazed by the result as I don't actually consider the purity tests credible. Passing purity tests are not why I think Yamato will become the next nakama, so failing purity tests wouldn't change my mind either.
As far as I'm aware, the Purity tests exists only in the fandom and don't actually feature in Oda's decision making procedure regarding next nakama.
Yamato Purity Tests
Examples of arguments against Yamato joining that I consider purity tests.
Yamato can't join because she:
- Doesn't have an exclusive relationship with her mentor like figure in Oden
- Looks too much like Nami
- Was introduced way too late in her arc
- Knows some secrets about One Piece
- Will upset the Monster Trio
- Doesn't have a definite role
- Hasn't had interactions with the Strawhats other than Luffy
- Only sought out Luffy because of Ace
- Etc.
There are others, but I'm barely staying awake right now, so I'm skipping them.
I could write long and detailed counterargument to each of the above arguments, but I don't think it matters.
Ultimately, the purity tests have little bearing Yamato joining the crew, and are ultimately just a massive distraction.
if Yamato joins the crew, it wouldn't be because she passed all the fandom's purity tests. If she doesn't join the crew, it wouldn't be because she failed some of the fandom's purity tests.
Good night.
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. Idc about the overreaction of the haters