Weapon of choice? 100% Cotton, poly-fill twin.
October 28, 2014 5:00 PM Subscribe
The Pillow Fight Prank demonstrates that many people are remarkably ready and more than happy to play suprise-pillow-fight. [slyt]
It's the violence inherent in the system.
posted by OHenryPacey at 5:05 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 5:05 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
This is one of the only prank videos that actually made me smile. It didn't seem mean spirited, he backed down with good humor when people weren't into it, and his victims seemed genuinely happy to participate. Good work.
posted by fermezporte at 5:08 PM on October 28, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by fermezporte at 5:08 PM on October 28, 2014 [12 favorites]
I don't know, some of those people kind of seem angry that a guy walked up and started beating them with a pillow...
Though, being a student at the University of Waterloo (where this appears to be) does tend to result in a lot of pent-up frustration
posted by torisaur at 5:10 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Though, being a student at the University of Waterloo (where this appears to be) does tend to result in a lot of pent-up frustration
posted by torisaur at 5:10 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Okay, it could be kind of sketchy, but I did love the guy who just picked up the pillow and handed it back to him and the thing that happened at the end (no spoilers).
posted by xingcat at 5:11 PM on October 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by xingcat at 5:11 PM on October 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
I wouldn't call this a prank, just more of a social performance/experiment thing: like the "if you smile at people, do they automatically smile back" deal, only with fluffy battery. There's no intention to scare or trick or dupe or "get" anybody.
And the end part is no less disheartening for being entirely unsurprising.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:26 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
And the end part is no less disheartening for being entirely unsurprising.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:26 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
the thing that happened at the end
OK, I'll be the guy. You mean the faaaaaake thing at the end? (I mean, no actual cop looks that much like a cop, right?)
Still. Amusing video, but the kind of thing you could only get away with on a college campus.
posted by Atom Eyes at 5:29 PM on October 28, 2014
OK, I'll be the guy. You mean the faaaaaake thing at the end? (I mean, no actual cop looks that much like a cop, right?)
Still. Amusing video, but the kind of thing you could only get away with on a college campus.
posted by Atom Eyes at 5:29 PM on October 28, 2014
(I mean, no actual cop looks that much like a cop, right?)
Campus security people look (and sometimes behave) pretty much exactly like that. Not that this makes it real, necessarily.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Campus security people look (and sometimes behave) pretty much exactly like that. Not that this makes it real, necessarily.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:32 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]
Lots of Canadian cops, with their Canadian cop moustaches, really look unmistakably like cops.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:40 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:40 PM on October 28, 2014 [1 favorite]
I would be more 100% in favour of this if he had just tossed the pillow to the opponent and let the opponent make the first swing. As it played, it does seem like he was straight up assaulting people which, pillow or not, is uncool.
posted by sparklemotion at 7:13 PM on October 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by sparklemotion at 7:13 PM on October 28, 2014 [5 favorites]
I would be more 100% in favour of this if he had just tossed the pillow to the opponent and let the opponent make the first swing
Yup, this could so easily have been so much better. A pillow is clearly not a serious threat, but even kindergarteners should know not to touch other people without their permission.
Toss the pillow to them and stand there at the ready, preferably with a silly grin and an appropriately goofy "Have at you!" or "Lay on, Macduff," or even "Yuh want summa dis?" Hell, go all-out and choreograph the first bedclothes Haka
Do something that and I'd probably be delighted indulge in a moment or two of child-like play. Smack me out of nowhere, for no reason, with anything any you're probably going to meet my inner grumpy old sourpuss: siezer of pillows, finder of mud puddles and the death of any party.
posted by CHoldredge at 8:12 PM on October 28, 2014 [9 favorites]
Yup, this could so easily have been so much better. A pillow is clearly not a serious threat, but even kindergarteners should know not to touch other people without their permission.
Toss the pillow to them and stand there at the ready, preferably with a silly grin and an appropriately goofy "Have at you!" or "Lay on, Macduff," or even "Yuh want summa dis?" Hell, go all-out and choreograph the first bedclothes Haka
Do something that and I'd probably be delighted indulge in a moment or two of child-like play. Smack me out of nowhere, for no reason, with anything any you're probably going to meet my inner grumpy old sourpuss: siezer of pillows, finder of mud puddles and the death of any party.
posted by CHoldredge at 8:12 PM on October 28, 2014 [9 favorites]
I enjoyed this, but mostly read it as a treatise on masculinity.
posted by bicyclefish at 10:24 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by bicyclefish at 10:24 PM on October 28, 2014 [4 favorites]
My favorite variant on this prank was on Just For Laughs.
Scene: a city park. A nerf sword is resting on a little stand beside a sign that says FIGHT ME! Perplexed passerby sees this, looks at the sign, looks around sheepishly, sees no one, and picks up the sword. Instantly, a hundred yards away, fifty ninjas appear, jumping out of bushes, dropping from trees, and they are running, running straight at our suddenly terrified sword bearer.
I think one or two sword-takers stood their ground and fought, but fleeing in terror from the army of berzerk ninjas was a popular choice.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:39 AM on October 29, 2014 [12 favorites]
Scene: a city park. A nerf sword is resting on a little stand beside a sign that says FIGHT ME! Perplexed passerby sees this, looks at the sign, looks around sheepishly, sees no one, and picks up the sword. Instantly, a hundred yards away, fifty ninjas appear, jumping out of bushes, dropping from trees, and they are running, running straight at our suddenly terrified sword bearer.
I think one or two sword-takers stood their ground and fought, but fleeing in terror from the army of berzerk ninjas was a popular choice.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:39 AM on October 29, 2014 [12 favorites]
You should try this in France, dressed as a clown. See what happens.
posted by Pendragon at 5:33 AM on October 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 5:33 AM on October 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
Oh the huDANDERty!
Seriously, I was shocked by the size of some of the clouds of dust that flew off of the pillow-to-pillow strikes!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:11 AM on October 29, 2014
Seriously, I was shocked by the size of some of the clouds of dust that flew off of the pillow-to-pillow strikes!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 7:11 AM on October 29, 2014
He's lucky this wasn't in the US. Brown-skinned people assaulting a law-enforcement officer is grounds for several things, including pepper spray, tasers, beatings and getting shot.
posted by Chuffy at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by Chuffy at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2014
justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow, DARE TO FIGHT?
posted by funkiwan at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by funkiwan at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah this made me uncomfortable and I was cringing through most of it. Obnoxious? Sure. Funny? Not to me. And like, who starts a pillow fight in a restroom? These all struck me as more of a "pillow ambush" than a fight.
There was the one with the two guys working on their computers and I noticed a soda can somewhere in the foreground. What if he knocked it over onto that other person's stuff? What would he do then? Geez...
I doubt this experiment would have went anywhere near as swimmingly if he were not on a college campus.
posted by sevenofspades at 10:00 AM on October 30, 2014
There was the one with the two guys working on their computers and I noticed a soda can somewhere in the foreground. What if he knocked it over onto that other person's stuff? What would he do then? Geez...
I doubt this experiment would have went anywhere near as swimmingly if he were not on a college campus.
posted by sevenofspades at 10:00 AM on October 30, 2014
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posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:03 PM on October 28, 2014 [3 favorites]