Joe Tufano

Tufano, performing the Pointing Maneuver

**Joe Tufano** is a YouTuber who reviews movies, and an expert at Pointing. All of his videos are actually veiled excuses to decry *Star Wars* fans he deems toxic.

## History

### On the Toxicity of Not Liking a Movie

> "You're probably wondering, why's this video in black and white? And why am I wearing nondescript clothing?"
>
>

MauLer, Rags, Drinker, Az, and Nerdrotic first encountered Joe Tufano in EFAP 95, where they watched his video "**Star Wars Fans Have Ruined the Franchise for Me**." He began by justifying the monochrome video and his lack of *Star Wars* T-shirt, and the gang were perplexed by a framed photo resting against a wall on the floor rather than hanging up and what appeared to be a giant TV taking up most of the background, wondering if it was actually a normal-sized TV and Tufano was just a hobbit. He explained that talking about *Star Wars* has not been as fun for him since the release of *The Force Awakens*, though *The Last Jedi* was his breaking point, because the vibe is off now. He showed a series of clips to bolster his point, beginning with one EFAP had seen before of a man brutalizing an action figure and wishing a failed career on Daisy Ridley, which they agreed was a bit much, with Az adding that none of the issues with the film's story were Daisy Ridley's fault. He followed this with clips of people simply saying the movies were bad, seemingly suggesting that that was on the same level as the first clip, and MauLer asked if he would consider it equally damaging to the discourse to just gush about the films being amazing.

Tufano asked if people had forgotten about the response to the prequels, citing Red Letter Media's reviews, to which Drinker asked what the issue was, and if it was not simply the case that people will like or dislike movies and discuss that, and adding that the landscape of discussion is different now since social media facilitates arguments - the issue described is not with *Star Wars*, but with people. Tufano capped off his examples with a clip from the song "George Lucas Raped Our Childhood," which he called stupid then and stupid now. MauLer agreed the statement was a bit far but it was ultimately still just a joke. After having just decried people for saying the prequels were bad, Tufano then scoffed at the idea that people's dislike of the sequels is causing them to think the prequels good, clarifying that he's not saying anything against them, but that they don't get Star Wars, prompting the question of if he thinks the sequels do. He mocked the argument that the prequels at least had a good story to tell in contrast with the sequels, to which Rags responded that that was true, since the amount of worldbuilding that came from the prequels fueled *Star Wars* for years.

Tufano bemoaned how he could not talk about the franchise anymore because other people dislike it, and MauLer responded that there are whole communities of people who like the movie he can turn to if that's all he wants. Tufano went on to say that he was afraid to even watch any Star Wars movie at all because he might start thinking of negative points people have made about the movie. He decried people treating the original trilogy as the second coming of Jesus, because if they had been released today they would be put under the same level of scrutiny, to which MauLer responded that they always have been put under the same level of scrutiny - people still watch the movies today and continue to enjoy them.

Tufano described *The Force Awakens* as a great return to the franchise, expressing discontent that despite this there are still so many people who consider it a bad movie because it is too derivative of *A New Hope*, bolstering his point with a clip of Chris Stuckmann summarizing the timeline by arguing that people hated the prequels for being too different, then hated *The Force Awakens* for being too similar, then hated *The Last Jedi* for being too different, as if it was always the same people making these critiques and as if the only two options are those two extremes. He then listed various things that have been described as "ruining the Star Wars franchise" (including, inexplicably, BB-8), leading MauLer to say that different people will pinpoint different things and argue that different things will mean something is ruined, so simply compiling them doesn't say much. He could not wrap his head around the idea that people wanted George Lucas away from Star Wars after the prequels but want him back after the sequels, once again assuming that those demands came from the same people, and that even if they did, it would not be unreasonable to want the old creator back if the new creators did even worse.

Tufano decried people for getting up on their soapboxes about the quality of the movies (as if he himself was not also on a soapbox), as well as for harassing actors over the quality of the films, the latter of which EFAP once again agreed was bad but argued was not specific to *Star Wars* actors. He reiterated that this same thing happened to actors from the prequels, to which MauLer countered that a lot of the people who hate the sequels liked the prequels and a lot of people who like the sequels hate the prequels, so it can't even be said for certain that it was sequel haters who did the harassing of prequel actors, also asking why the response to the prequels wasn't the breaking point for him rather than the sequels if the same thing was happening back then. Oddly enough, he backed up his statement with a clip of an older Jake Lloyd saying that the bullying he received over *The Phantom Menace* came from other high schoolers rather than from the world at large.

Tufano concluded that the people who ruined Star Wars were not the millionaires with creative control over it, but you, the fans. Thankfully, he pointed above the camera when he said this, so the rest of us are in the clear. He clarified that this was not in reference to all Star Wars fans, but simply the ones who harass actors, despite having cited several people who did not harass actors as toxic merely because they said a movie was bad. He returned to color for the end of his video, stating that he was looking forward to *The Rise of Skywalker* because JJ Abrams is a better director than Rian Johnson, though he's looking forward to Rian's trilogy as well, and listing good things he's seen of new and upcoming *Star Wars* content, raising the question of if that means there are things about them he'd consider bad, and if that would make him a toxic fan by his own standard.

### on *The Rise of Skywalker*

Right after checking out his video on toxicity, MauLer and co were morbidly curious to see what he thought of The Rise of Skywalker, and so segued into his video for that.

Really liked the movie - toxic fans bullied George to give up the franchise, but the fans want to know what he had done with the sequels - admits to being on a soapbox - its not fun to talk about the franchise since the toxic fans - prequels weren't that good, but didn't deserve the hate - what is wrong with the toxic fans? - JJ Abrams understands the franchise - how Leia was handled since her actress was dead was done well considering the limitations - likes chemistry between Rey, Finn and Poe, as it feels like the original trilogy - thinks the whole movie is trying to make up for the lost time - the chase with tie fighters is classic Star Wars

## Powers and Abilities

* **Pointing** - Tufano is a practitioner of the Pointing technique, going so far as to point in the thumbnail of his reviews and even double-pointing at times. He particularly employs the offensive variant of the move, which has the ability to invoke a feeling of shame in the target. Unfortunately, he points above people rather than at them, so his attacks always miss.

## Trivia

* Say what you want about the toy breaking guy, but he was able to hang a photo on his wall, while Tufano was not
* He whisper-yells rather than actually yelling
* He always wears merchandise for whatever movie he's discussing. If he doesn't, you know things have gotten dire
* He remember's Jake Lloyd's name but not Ahmed Best's. This could be due to racism
* His description of *Star Wars* fans is actually based upon a single *Star Wars* fan named Robert
* Don't get him started on Bandit Incorporated
* Az supports his LEGO TIE Fighter. Rags isn't so sure

## Quotes

* "And with the various reactions that we're seeing from the newer films - *The Last Jedi* as I said was my breaking point - almost to the point where I couldn't even stand talking about *Star Wars* anymore"
"Okay well then don't."
- Joe Tufano and MauLer, EFAP 95
* "People saw the originals and went 'I love the originals!' People saw the prequels and said 'I wish they were more like the originals!' Now people are seeing The Force Awakens and saying 'That's too much like the originals!' Make up your damn minds!" - Chris Stuckmann, for some reason
* "And there's other various examples that I could talk about, but what good have they done?"
* "That's like saying the slaves ruined slavery" - Rags
* "What is the matter with you guys?! What is wrong with you?!" - Tufano, after getting off his soapbox
* "I know I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate for saying this, and because of that, I might as well..."
"Brace for impact."
- Joe Tufano and Tom Hanks
* "I get it guys! I. GET IT." - Tufano in response to arguments he himself brought up