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A Celebration of Black Characters in Games
- Thread starter Neoxon
- Start date
Neoxon
There is significance in Twintelle being (fictionalized) French. Here's some basic information:
www.npr.org
This is also the reason that, despite her voice actress, white hair, and blue eyes, (although those are also quite common in Japanese designed black characters) Twintelle is clearly meant to be a black person and not someone who's dark skinned of an ambigous nature. There were deliberate choices made in her design and background.
There is significance in Twintelle being (fictionalized) French. Here's some basic information:
Paris Has Been A Haven For African Americans Escaping Racism
The City Of Lights became known as a beacon of freedom and tolerance for African Americans. Paris is rich in black history — especially from black Americans who have flocked there since the 19th century.
www.npr.org
This is also the reason that, despite her voice actress, white hair, and blue eyes, (although those are also quite common in Japanese designed black characters) Twintelle is clearly meant to be a black person and not someone who's dark skinned of an ambigous nature. There were deliberate choices made in her design and background.
OP
OP
Oh wow, I honestly had no idea. I'll definitely add this to the OP.Neoxon
There is significance in Twintelle being (fictionalized) French. Here's some basic information:
Paris Has Been A Haven For African Americans Escaping Racism
The City Of Lights became known as a beacon of freedom and tolerance for African Americans. Paris is rich in black history — especially from black Americans who have flocked there since the 19th century.
This is also the reason that, despite her voice actress, white hair, and blue eyes, (although those are also quite common in Japanese designed black characters) Twintelle is clearly meant to be a black person and not someone who's dark skinned of an ambigous nature. There were deliberate choices made in her design and background.
EDIT: ....Or not
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Cool thread. I look forward to the reveals.
I'd like to live in fantasy land too.
Neoxon
There is significance in Twintelle being (fictionalized) French. Here's some basic information:
Paris Has Been A Haven For African Americans Escaping Racism
The City Of Lights became known as a beacon of freedom and tolerance for African Americans. Paris is rich in black history — especially from black Americans who have flocked there since the 19th century.
This is also the reason that, despite her voice actress, white hair, and blue eyes, (although those are also quite common in Japanese designed black characters) Twintelle is clearly meant to be a black person and not someone who's dark skinned of an ambigous nature. There were deliberate choices made in her design and background.
I'd like to live in fantasy land too.
I wouldn't.
OP
OP
Thanks for letting me know. I guess that explains why it didn't really come up in my research. Plus it kinda stuck out like a sore thumb in the flow of the write-up anyway.
Still, glad you like the thread.
The author is being delusional about racism in France, but the fact of the matter is that historically there have been multiple migrations of African Americans from the US to France. Post WW1 and during the Civil Rights movement were the big ones.
Zasalamel has been one of my favorite characters in the Soul Calibur series since his introduction.
That said, it's a crime that he's still the only black character in the series. A series about societies and warriors across the globe all seeking out a sword of power. But apparently the only black person involved is this time wizard who has no definitive ties to any extant culture.
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K.Jack The Adder
I did some digging on the subject & found that there were a lot of cases of African Americans seeing France as a sort of "grass is greener on the other side" situation after fighting alongside the French during World War I & being respected as people with awards. This was in direct contrast to how they were treated when going back to America after WWI ended.
www.atlasobscura.com
I did some digging on the subject & found that there were a lot of cases of African Americans seeing France as a sort of "grass is greener on the other side" situation after fighting alongside the French during World War I & being respected as people with awards. This was in direct contrast to how they were treated when going back to America after WWI ended.
The Hidden Histories of Black Americans in Paris
Follow in the footsteps of James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, and Langston Hughes.
www.atlasobscura.com
This is probably a broad discussion for an entirely different thread, but France's ideal of universalism (colorblind society) is a lie it keeps telling itself to avoid dealing with reality as more and more non-whites call the country home. It sounded real good when 99% of the country looked the same.
I won't question that people who escaped America at its peak of open, antagonistic racism saw Europe as some kind of Utopia, and to be honest I have to be more fair with this because I understand where they came from, as my family is old South. My dad was almost killed as a kid for drinking from a 'Whites Only' fountain. My dad refused to fight the white man's war in Vietnam, at 18 he was going to take my mother and make a run for Canada if he got drafted. She was down. Still is haha.
Moving to a Western European nation was probably literally liberating. So I shouldn't be so hard on the rose tinted glasses.
But I also won't give Nintendo credit for going that deep for Twintelle's background, beyond a happy mistake. They haven't earned that line of credit.
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That's why I used the "grass is greener on the other side" analogy. It may seem like things are better elsewhere, but that isn't always the case.
But yeah, even with NoA & NoE helping out, I'm not sure they would have dug that deep for Twintelle's background.
I will check this out, thanks. Josephine even fought with the Resistance and was awarded medals. Where is the movie on that shit?K.Jack The Adder
I did some digging on the subject & found that there were a lot of cases of African Americans seeing France as a sort of "grass is greener on the other side" situation after fighting alongside the French during World War I & being respected as people with awards. This was in direct contrast to how they were treated when going back to America after WWI ended.
The Hidden Histories of Black Americans in Paris
Follow in the footsteps of James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, and Langston Hughes.
Also, I found a good New York Times article on modern France and how complicated the Black identity is, check it out.
A Racial Awakening in France, Where Race Is a Taboo Topic (Published 2020)
With an eye on the United States, children of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are bringing race into the public discourse, in a perceived challenge to France’s universalism.
Swear to God didn't mean to derail by the way.
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Oh no, it's perfectly fine. It's still tangentially related to Twintelle since she's a black woman from ARMS's equivalent of France. This is the kind of discussion that I love to see & participate in, especially with regards to the idea of being black around the world. I'll definitely check out the article you linked.I will check this out, thanks. Josephine even fought with the Resistance and was awarded medals. Where is the movie on that shit?
Also, I found a good New York Times article on modern France and how complicated the Black identity is, check it out.
A Racial Awakening in France, Where Race Is a Taboo Topic (Published 2020)
With an eye on the United States, children of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are bringing race into the public discourse, in a perceived challenge to France’s universalism.www.nytimes.com
Swear to God didn't mean to derail by the way.
To the opening: I'm not the person you're going to get an argument against that from, believe me. It's easy to maintain an aura of high-mindedness when you're homogenous and don't really have to practice what you preach.
To the middle: My family's from Mississippi. My grandfather's number never came up, though. My parents were both too young for Vietnam. But yeah. There was a stark difference at the time.
And to the end: That's entirely reasonable. My point is less that Nintendo dug deep into the reasons why and more that, wanting to have a (fictional) international roster (and the ARMS America slot being otherwise occupied), there's a reason why they felt she fit better in ARMS France and not, say, ARMS Britain.
There was some seriously horrid shit said about her on Gamefaqs. It was ridiculous.
I'm sick of the military black person trope, but Jacqui (and Jax) have amazing character designs and gameplay. I hope they do more with them on their next outing.
Raven from Tekken was great to see growing up. Unfortuntately, he popped up around the time I wasn't to into Tekken, so I never got a chance to play as him, but I still love his look. And he's a black dude that was given a moveset we usually don't get, ninjutsu. Should also bring up Master Raven, who continues the concept.
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We also have Bandeiras Hattori from The King of Fighters XIV with regards to black ninjas.
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It's actually going to be updated daily. Basically it's going to be 7 characters per genre.
Ohh I know, but each week is a different genre/focus. That is what I might by. Probably unclear on my end.
Fair enough. I don't think we disagree on anything really. Thanks for the perspective.
I didn't even know Twintelle was French so the knowledge is all profit for me.
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Yeah, she actually has French lines in the game. It's just a shame that they didn't get a black actress who can speak French.
She's edenian, from an entirely different realm, which is losely based on the concept of Eden. Edenia is very plural ethnically (Kitana, Jade, Rain, Tanya), can be compared to the diversity found in Earth, so she can be considered black, I believe.
I can see why you would be confused though, because MKX actually served us a sad attempt on a tan whitewashed Tanya in story mode, which the fans rejected, so NRS reworked her with the original black skin for her playable version.
Excellent thread OP.
It really should have been Twintelle in Smash. Its a shame even if the series got a second representative it would likely be Ninjara or Springman.
Sadly with Sakurai in charge it will be difficult to get more black characters, as diversity isn't on his mind, and he heavily favours the Japanese fanbase and taste. He's a great developer with this one huge flaw. Its aggravating.
It really should have been Twintelle in Smash. Its a shame even if the series got a second representative it would likely be Ninjara or Springman.
Sadly with Sakurai in charge it will be difficult to get more black characters, as diversity isn't on his mind, and he heavily favours the Japanese fanbase and taste. He's a great developer with this one huge flaw. Its aggravating.
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If Sakurai picks, yeah, it'd likely be Ninjara or Spring Man. Twintelle's best hope is if Yabuki picks a second ARMS character, since she's his #2 favorite. It's as you said, diversity isn't on Sakurai's mind, resulting in the melanin-starved roster we see before us today.
I wish Arms became bigger than it did. Wouldn't need Twintelle in Smash if everyone realised she's already in one of the best fighters of recent times.
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We'd still need her in Smash given its roster's melanin deficiency.
This discussion is hilarious to me because there is literally a documented syndrome about people going to france and being depressed that it is not like how they pictured it to be
And it is specially strong in JAPANESE people (like the people who created twintelle)
Paris syndrome - Wikipedia
OP
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And you're right, Day 2's black character is Nagoriyuki from Guilty Gear.Here's hoping Nagoriyuki will made the list.
DAY 2: NAGORIYUKI (GUILTY GEAR)
One of the two newcomers in the base roster of Guilty Gear Strive, I did have some apprehension towards including a newer character from an as-of-yet-released game. But considering that we know quite a bit about him already & have seen him in action, I thought I should go ahead & bring up Nagoriyuki since he also represents a positive change in the industry. Not to mention that I want to give props to upcoming games that are bringing us black excellence. As as his lore goes, Nagoriyuki is a Nigerian vampire with a strong sense of honor & happens to be very kind. His gentle nature contrasts his large build & his vampiric nature, though most of the blood-sucking comes from his blade rather than doing any of the actual biting himself. As you can tell, I can't really go into as much detail about Nagoriyuki's lore since we don't have Guilty Gear Strive in our hands yet, so I can't get into too much of his lore right now. Even with this gameplay, he was described by Arc System Works as a "One Shot" character. That in conjunction with the gameplay we've seen of Nagoriyuki looks more like he plays like a Samurai Shodown character than a Guilty Gear character. Though obviously with Guilty Gear's mechanics such as Roman Cancels & Burst, he won't feel too out-of-place in the game mechanically. With that said, I can talk about his design, which is actually part of the reason why I decided to list him.
Nagoriyuki mainly wears white with orange & black being his secondary colors in addition to purple & red accents. This does go beyond the tried-&-true "three main colors" ideology when it comes to character design, but Nagoriyuki definitely makes it work. The white of his coat contrasts well with his darker skin, with his dreads being on-point. Nagoriyuki also primarily wears a horned helmet with exposed teeth (the mouth part of which does open up so he can eat when necessary). When his blood meter reaches its maximum, he goes berserk & the mask comes off. If anything, I wish he didn't have the mask, but I don't hate it. And while you could say that the idea of a black guy going wild is a stereotype in & of itself, it's mainly in a vampiric sense than the typical stereotype and serves to contrast his usual personality of the gentle giant. Of course, the reason why I wanted to talk about Nagoriyuki is because he represents a positive trend in the industry with regards how they handle black characters: Their willingness to listen to criticism.
In his original incarnation, Nagoriyuki lips were unicolor & of a lighter shade than the rest of his skin. This unfortunately invokes an offensive racist stereotype from back in the day, a fact that seems to go over the heads of most Japanese developers, artists, writers, & beyond. I even did a thread drawing attention to this fact. But come October 2020, you could imagine my surprise when I saw that Arc System Works actually listened to fan criticisms about his lips & actually corrected them. Now Nagoriyuki's top lip is darker than the rest of his skin, with his bottom lip retaining the original lighter shade they already had prior to the change. This is more in line with how black lips actually are, & I can't give Arc System Works enough props for making this change. If I had to point out any gripes beyond the now-fixed lips, I'd say that I wish his eyes were brown (a lot of the Japan-made black characters have blue eyes, from Twintelle to Nagoriyuki to Giovanna). Likewise, it'd be nice if Nagoriyuki's palms were a lighter shade to properly represent how the hands of black people are.
Any potential critiques about his character will have to be saved for when the game is actually out, but I don't see anything overtly problematic about Nagoriyuki at the moment. So with that being said, I'll count my blessings where I can, as this is a great step forward for how black people are represented in games (especially Japanese games). I can't give too many other thoughts without actually getting the game (which I have every intention of doing), but everything we've seen of Nagoriyuki is filling me with both hype for the game & hope for the future. Good job, Arc System Works. Hopefully more developers follow your example.
Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the next character in the Fighters Section of Black Characters of Gaming Celebration. As for tomorrow, this Street Fighter being in Day 3 can be considered a hint.
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Zasalamel has been one of my favorite characters in the Soul Calibur series since his introduction.
That said, it's a crime that he's still the only black character in the series. A series about societies and warriors across the globe all seeking out a sword of power. But apparently the only black person involved is this time wizard who has no definitive ties to any extant culture.
EXACTLY. This is so true. Like you can't find various Black weapon wielding fighters around the world in the 1500s? That is literally impossible, you could even put in a warrior who took part in the Nupe/Oyo war in that time period. And that's just one conflict noted in Africa.
Subbing for updates and interesting discussion.
There are a number of black characters in SF, but the nature of the series' character designs, whether viewed positively or negatively, may make a "good" choice difficult.
Also kind of expecting Ikora to show up for Shooter because, well, yeah.
There are a number of black characters in SF, but the nature of the series' character designs, whether viewed positively or negatively, may make a "good" choice difficult.
Also kind of expecting Ikora to show up for Shooter because, well, yeah.
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This thread is about discussing both the good & bad parts about the character & how they were handled thus far. The goal is to both celebrate black excellence in games but also point out areas where said black characters (& the developers' approach towards them) can be improved going forward.
Right. It's more that there are a good number, though not a great number, of black characters across SF, but while a more notable choice could be Balrog/Bison (Boxer), he's got almost as many stereotypes as someone like Birdie. But then you could go with Dudley who would be a great choice, since he's a boxer (itself a trope) but also a different kind of boxer as well as character in general.
Or go with Elena because she's awesome. Or talk about Deejay. Or how we were absolutely robbed of a good Rufus design in general, as well as another black rep in a game where, at the time, the only other black rep was Boxer.
I know nothing about Guilty Gear, but he has a really cool design. Being a vampire is a plus too.
Can we just acknowledge how Capcom fucked up and gave their Kenyan fighter the Brazilian fighting style of capoeira and made their Brazilian fighter a basketball playing shoto?