SW: Fallen Order's Protagonist is a guy because of Rey; no alien protag so people aren't "alienated"

[Crossing Eden]

Latino is not a race

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Since you keep attempting to deflect to this gotcha just stop replying to me until you can process the following information:

Freddy Prinze Jr. is mixed. He makes no secret of that. He's gone on record multiple times concerning his heritage and even takes umbrage with being called white so congrats on being part of the issue regarding that. 👍

Considering their other casting choices this was likely a consideration when he was casted to play a PoC who was biracial. As he has even brought up his heritage in relation to playing Kanan during Rebels podcasts.

Thus, to try to downplay Kanan when he's an explicit example of representation specifically because his actor's skin tone doesn't match, is to be blunt, fucking ridiculous. Does acknowledging the dude's heritage mean that he's been through what people with much darker skin have been through? No. But it's poor form to just literally ignore the heritage of a dude who literally has gone on record being offended of being reduced to just "white guy" based on his skin tone.

The over abundance of white male game characters isn't in a vacuum and it's obvious the devs are courting those upset with non-white male sw characters

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Reductionism tends to assume the worst by default and thus leads to harmful conspiracy theories that hurt discourse. Thanks for demonstrating. 👍

 

[AllChan7]

Speaking fluent Spanish as a result of you having puerto rican family members means that you can absolutely consider yourself to be latino. I'm saying stop being so fucking reductionist.


He's someone who's mixed, (and again considers that a big part of his identity because of his upbringing), playing a biracial character.

Finn's reception has been mostly positive from the majority. This is "the last jedi was a disappointment to the majority" levels of FUD. Stop posting FUD. Just because you're loud and youtube is loud doesn't mean you're a majority. 👏


It's not about "earning" the chance to have a white lead. No one is arguing that. However, what people ARE arguing is that having a single white male lead amongst a shit ton of projects does not discount the shit ton of effort Disney has made and is continuing to make when it comes to representation. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a white male protagonist. Nor is having one an automatic appeal to altright/GG. Especially when there's a clear effort to make the character not fit into the most easily identifiable type of video games protagonists, the ones people tend to complain about as the default male heroes.


No I do not have an issue with Cal Kestis being a white man. Context matters. I have a lengthy post several pages back about when a white male protagonist can be offputting for me. Arriving at a character isn't something that can be summed up in three sentences. It's a lengthy design process, and a badly phrased off the cuff answer during a Q & A is a poor way to discern intention.

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I see. I'll read back to see what you daid earlier but I do think Stig's answer was poorly worded. However, you're 100% right about intention when it comes to these decisions which is why I myself aren't as upset as others maybe

 

[Elegant Weapon]

Since you keep attempting to deflect to this gotcha just stop replying to me until you can process the following information:

Freddy Prinze Jr. is mixed. He makes no secret of that. He's gone on record multiple times concerning his heritage and even takes umbrage with being called white so congrats on being part of the issue regarding that. 👍

Considering their other casting choices this was likely a consideration when he was casted to play a PoC who was biracial. As he has even brought up his heritage in relation to playing Kanan during Rebels podcasts.

Thus, to try to downplay Kanan when he's an explicit example of representation specifically because his actor's skin tone doesn't match, is to be blunt, fucking ridiculous.


And on that note that's enough fact checking for tonight.

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Ok well that finally makes sense as to why that character is so fair skinned. Taking umbrage with being called white is weird after specifically going for only white roles in his career though he obviously did that as not to be type cast as the usual roles reserved for non-white actors

 

[Crossing Eden]

I see. I'll read back to see what you daid earlier but I do think Stig's answer was poorly worded. However, you're 100% right about intention when it comes to these decisions which is why I myself aren't as upset as others maybe

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I made three posts about the subject of when male characters can be considered generic at a glance and how decrying a character automatically for being white can actually be harmful as it doesn't take into account that the issue of representation is deeper than skin color.

Ok well that finally makes sense as to why that character is so fair skinned. Taking umbrage with being called white is weird after specifically going for only white roles in his career though he obviously did that as not to be type cast as the usual roles reserved for non-white actors

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Well note the character was design before Freddy Prinze Jr. was cast but even looking as far back as the earliest concept art his skin always indicated that he was a PoC. His skin tone is almost literally a 1:1 match with characters like this:

Which was noted in the blog I posted which featured a detailed rundown of Kanan's skin tone in relation to other characters.


So again, hopefully that's the final thing i have to say about Rebels as an example of Disney pushing for leads who were PoC. So far that's the majority of their content for the SW IP and that's specifically because Kathleen Kennedy cares a shit ton about diversity herself and yes, diversity includes leads who're women, not just whether or not the leads are PoC. Fallen Order's lead is an outlier as a direct result and it's most definitely not due to fears that they'd be off putting to the 18-34 year old straight white male gamer demographic but rather a creative choice made by the team alongside the deliberate choice to make the supporting cast, other leads, npcs, etc. diverse. It's even more ridiculous when SW heads had this to say about designing characters who're PoC:

"Yes, the human leads are all multiracial. Neither the subject matter nor the reactions of any online communities give me pause in stating as much."

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Considering the success of their projects Disney and EA genuinely could not give less fucks about what alt right fuccbois have to say about their titles. Assuming that they want to appeal to that base is absolutely absurd.

 

[AllChan7]

The Shitty people I am referring to are those who rage and complain when a company attempts to make a character be anything other than the default white guy.

"THEY MADE THE LITTLE MERMAID BLACK!?" "Outrageous!"

"They made a SW movie with a female lead? BOYCOTT THIS FRANCHISE"

The same people they had in mind when deciding on the main character in this game.

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I'm fine with Ariel being black and Rey being a woman even tho her character isn't all that compelling imo. And I still don't see the issue with the protag of Fallen Order being a white guy with red hair.

What I do care about is the intentions of the decision and as someone has said earlier, you can't gauge the team's intentions based on a few sentences. Hopefully Stig and the team clarify their answers and go in depth about the decision. Someone also put it like this earlier, they probably didn't want a protagonist to similar to Rey and went with a different gender, back story and hair color to differentiate him from her. At least that seems to be what Stig was saying and likely their thought process. Still poorly worded response from him regardless but I won't hold it against him.

 

[ffvorax]

I'm white and male, and I dont like his desing at all... Would have preferred a different protagonist, and also the alien protagonist idea could have been really cool!
Some of my favourite char ever are definetly much different from how I am in real life.
And I dont feel alienated at all to "be" something different in a videogame... i find it more interesting actually.

 

[TheRaidenPT]

I mean.. I don't mind it either way

 

[Deleted member 4976]

I'm fine with Ariel being black and Rey being a woman even tho her character isn't all that compelling imo. And I still don't see the issue with the protag of Fallen Order being a white guy with red hair.

What I do care about is the intentions of the decision and as someone has said earlier, you can't gauge the team's intentions based on a few sentences. Hopefully Stig and the team clarify their answers and go in depth about the decision. Someone also put it like this earlier, they probably didn't want a protagonist to similar to Rey and went with a different gender, back story and hair color to differentiate him from her. At least that seems to be what Stig was saying and likely their thought process. Still poorly worded response from him regardless but I won't hold it against him.

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I love that this is the mental fucking gymnastics we have arrived at. Surely a damning quote by a lead at the studio isn't enough, it's not as if the entire fucking history of the videogame industry merits taking it at face value because similar shit like this has been prevalent.

No, you see, surely Rey filling the "female" slot wasn't a factor.

What's sadder is that folks peddling this bullshit will easily buy into the damage control PR that they'll obviously put out because Stig accidentally spilled the beans on the truth.

 

[AllChan7]

I love that this is the mental fucking gymnastics we have arrived at. Surely a damning quote by a lead at the studio isn't enough, it's not as if the entire fucking history of the videogame industry merits taking it at face value because similar shit like this has been prevalent.

No, you see, surely Rey filling the "female" slot wasn't a factor.

What's sadder is that folks peddling this bullshit will easily buy into the damage control PR that they'll obviously put out because Stig accidentally spilled the beans on the truth.

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As a black person I have a far bigger issues to worry about than a white guy being the MC in a Jedi game. So excuse me if I find some of the outrage to all this unnecessary.

Whats more disgusting is the mental gymnastics people have pulled to dismiss the strides in representation that SW has taken over the years all because the game has a white guy as the MC

Yes I acknowledge Stig's response is poorly worded. But I'm also mature enough to understand that his words aren't the entire picture to the process of choosing the MC for the game. I see nothing wrong with what I said being the reasoning as to why they chose a male protagonist. Instead of getting upset maybe you should take a minute to see that:

1) Cal's mentor is a Jedi Knight and a black woman
2) Cal's rival or antagonist is a woman. No doubt a very powerful menacing force in the game
3) They literally have Forrest Whitaker reprising his role which is....what do you know...a person of color


But lemme guess, Stig and his team are racists and sexist huh...are we forgetting how diverse Apex Legends is??? Seems people are so outraged by this that they completely and utterly forget the diversity already present in this game and other Respawn games.

 

[Dan8589]

We're never getting a character creator in a canon star wars game again, Disney are too obsessed with controlling every detail and creating your own character or having choices means it can't be 100 percent canon.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

As a black person I have a far bigger issues to worry about than a white guy being the MC in a Jedi game. So excuse me if I find some of the outrage to all this unnecessary.

Whats more disgusting is the mental gymnastics people have pulled to dismiss the strides in representation that SW has taken over the years all because the game has a white guy as the MC

Yes I acknowledge Stig's response is poorly worded. But I'm also mature enough to understand that his words aren't the entire picture to the process of choosing the MC for the game. I see nothing wrong with what I said being the reasoning as to why they chose a male protagonist. Instead of getting upset maybe you should take a minute to see that:

1) Cal's mentor is a Jedi Knight and a black woman
2) Cal's rival or antagonist is a woman. No doubt a very powerful menacing force in the game
3) They literally have Forrest Whitaker reprising his role which is....what do you know...a person of color


But lemme guess, Stig and his team are racists and sexist huh...are we forgetting how diverse Apex Legends is??? Seems people are so outraged by this that they completely and utterly forget the diversity already present in this game and other Respawn games.

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It is good to see that because Rey is female, the diversity slot for the lead character is filled, thus precluding anyone but a white male (the videogame default after all) from being the lead character.

Further, I'm so glad that the diversity slots for side characters were not filled, allowing for minority characters in those roles.

Fucking LOL

The rest of your post is also a bunch of fucking bullshit, trying to throw shit at me and deflecting from the issue at hand (there's a lot of that in this thread actually). Apex Legends, calling the team racist and sexist, appealing to the representation in larger SW media?

Give me a fucking break.

 

[DavidDesu]

Noting wrong with a male protagonist, lol, but he's just SO bland. Fairly attractive guy, looks like a jock type.. I just have so little interest in a guy like that. Can we not get someone slightly different?

 

[Crossing Eden]

Fairly attractive guy, looks like a jock type..

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.........this dude??

 

[bluehat9]

Wish we got an alien because they're not going to make the main character one in the films.

 

[DavidDesu]

.........this dude??

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Yeah he looks stereotypically average, good looking. I could see him on a sports team.

 

[AllChan7]

It is good to see that because Rey is female, the diversity slot for the lead character is filled, thus precluding anyone but a white male (the videogame default after all) from being the lead character.

Further, I'm so glad that the diversity slots for side characters were not filled, allowing for minority characters in those roles.

Fucking LOL

The rest of your post is also a bunch of fucking bullshit, trying to throw shit at me and deflecting from the issue at hand (there's a lot of that in this thread actually). Apex Legends, calling the team racist and sexist, appealing to the representation in larger SW media?

Give me a fucking break.

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"Side characters"

Ah yes, more dismissive attitudes towards representation just because those characters are "side characters". You do realize that antagonists can be just as if not more compelling than the protagonist. And clearly Cere is a big part of Cal's journey. Thus the potential for her having a rich back story is also there. I think Mace Windu is just as interesting as a Obi Wan or Anakin as a character and he's supposedly a "side character"

It really is sad that you think not being the protagonist=a knock against representation.

And yes I acknowledge that Stig's words were poorly said. What else do you want me to do? Scream and stomp just cuz most everyone else is doing so like yourself? I have better things to be upset about than this so excuse me again if I'm not outraged enough for ya.

And I don't think you understand what the word deflection is when I very carefully addressed the issue and explained my take on it. I'll explain again my take: they chose a male protagonist because they didn't want another female protagonist that seemed too similar to Rey. I can guarantee people would have complained about the character being another Rey if that had been the case. But now we have a female antagonist which I don't remember any of the movies or games having. And there's a female black Jedi Knight which is something I personally haven't seen up until now. And I'm not allowed to be happy with that because the MC is a white guy according to you.

How he explained their reasoning sounds bad ofc. But again, I care more about intention and we all know making a decision on what your protagonist should be isn't always a simple or short process. As long as he and the team aren't doing this for sexist or racist reasons, there's no issue to be had besides how it was said.

 

[Deleted member 4976]

"Side characters"

Ah yes, more dismissive attitudes towards representation just because those characters are "side characters". You do realize that antagonists can be just as if not more compelling than the protagonist. And clearly Cere is a big part of Cal's journey. Thus the potential for her having a rich back story is also there. I think Mace Windu is just as interesting as a Obi Wan or Anakin as a character and he's supposedly a "side character"

It really is sad that you think not being the protagonist=a knock against representation.

And yes I acknowledge that Stig's words were poorly said. What else do you want me to do? Scream and stomp just cuz most everyone else is doing so like yourself? I have better things to be upset about than this so excuse me again if I'm not outraged enough for ya.

And I don't think you understand what the word deflection is when I very carefully addressed the issue and explained my take on it. I'll explain again my take: they chose a male protagonist because they didn't want another female protagonist that seemed too similar to Rey. I can guarantee people would have complained about the character being another Rey if that had been the case. But now we have a female antagonist which I don't remember any of the movies or games having. And there's a female black Jedi Knight which is something I personally haven't seen up until now. And I'm not allowed to be happy with that because the MC is a white guy according to you.

How he explained their reasoning sounds bad ofc. But again, I care more about intention and we all know making a decision on what your protagonist should be isn't always a simple or short process. As long as he and the team aren't doing this for sexist or racist reasons, there's no issue to be had besides how it was said.

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You keep harping on things I haven't said and make up assumptions about what I would say (but haven't) in order to construct points that don't need to be addressed by me because I haven't said them or hold those particular views.

Let me simplify it for you. A side character isn't a main character. The main character in this game was made the default white lead, because as per Stig, Rey took up the diversity slot because she's female. Why couldn't the character be another race? Who the fuck knows. Why the fuck is there allowed to only be one female character lest she be compared to Rey? Who the fuck knows.

Stop putting words in my fucking mouth.

 

[CloudWolf]

That argument doesn't even make sense. Rey's already a woman, so we went for a male character? There can't be more than one (or technically two, if we count Jyn Erso) main female character in Star Wars at the same time? Get out of here with that trash.

 

[plagiarize]

Why tell a stupid lie? I just don't understand.

Stig hasn't, to my knowledge, made a game with anything other than a male protagonist. He's probably got the mind set many creatives have where they make the main character like themselves unless they see plot reasons not to. Which is always disappointing, I personally feel.

A better lie could be something like 'we weren't sure until we started casting, but Cameron really delivered what we were looking for in Cal, so we went in that direction'.

But why lie at all? He wasn't even asked about it.

 

[AllChan7]

You keep harping on things I haven't said and make up assumptions about what I would say (but haven't) in order to construct points that don't need to be addressed by me because I haven't said them or hold those particular views.

Let me simplify it for you. A side character isn't a main character. The main character in this game was made the default white lead, because as per Stig, Rey took up the diversity slot because she's female. Why couldn't the character be another race? Who the fuck knows. Why the fuck is there allowed to only be one female character lest she be compared to Rey? Who the fuck knows.

Stop putting words in my fucking mouth.

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Except a side character can be just as compelling or interesting as a main character. They wanted someone different from Rey and Cal seems to be pretty different from her.

And I'm not putting words in your mouth but its clear you're bothered by me mentioning the diversity in the game itself or in other games made by Respawn. Which is the thing everyone is upset about. People are mad about the lack of diversity from the game yet I honestly don't see it when the game is already pretty diverse

What I do take issue with is how he said it. Which does come off as very dismissive. As I've stated for the 3rd time. But its the intentions that matter more so. Actions speak louder than words no? And the diversity in the game itself makes me think their intentions aren't as bad as most think

 

[Thorrgal]

Noting wrong with a male protagonist, lol, but he's just SO bland. Fairly attractive guy, looks like a jock type.. I just have so little interest in a guy like that. Can we not get someone slightly different?

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I really enjoyed his work in Shameless, maybe that's why I don't see him as the jock type .

 

[Deleted member 4976]

Except a side character can be just as compelling or interesting as a main character. They wanted someone different from Rey and Cal seems to be pretty different from her.

And I'm not putting words in your mouth but its clear you're bothered by me mentioning the diversity in the game itself or in other games made by Respawn. Which is the thing everyone is upset about. People are mad about the lack of diversity from the game yet I honestly don't see it when the game is already pretty diverse

What I do take issue with is how he said it. Which does come off as very dismissive. As I've stated for the 3rd time. But its the intentions that matter more so. Actions speak louder than words no? And the diversity in the game itself makes me think their intentions aren't as bad as most think

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Side characters can be compelling but they are not who you play as, they're not who you were controlling for the entirety of the game, they are not the same thing. At all. The reasoning in the quote by Stig relates to the choice of the main character.

And no, I'm not bothered by mentions of diversity in this game or another game. I'm bothered by the fact that you think actions speak louder than words when the actions and words here are one and the same. Stig is talking about main characters and how they came to the current choice in this game because of Rey, another MC of the movies.

Pointing to side characters or diversity in other titles has no bearing on the quote or the reasoning behind it.

 

[AllChan7]

Side characters can be compelling but they are not who you play as, they're not who you were controlling for the entirety of the game, they are not the same thing. At all. The reasoning in the quote by Stig relates to the choice of the main character.

And no, I'm not bothered by mentions of diversity in this game or another game. I'm bothered by the fact that you think actions speak louder than words when the actions and words here are one and the same. Stig is talking about main characters and how they came to the current choice in this game because of Rey, another MC of the movies.

Pointing to side characters or diversity in other titles has no bearing on the quote or the reasoning behind it.

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And yet its still possible to relate those side characters if the main character isn't interesting enough. Ofc we don't have enough information on the story to make that call yet but side characters can definitely overshadow main characters when it comes to their stories and motives

Its because that I see this as such a non issue since I understand his reasoning as to why they made Cal different from Rey. I already acknowledged his wording was poor however what actions indicate that he's being sexist or racist given the characters we already know about in the game? Making Cal different from Rey does not in any way diminish the representation we've seen in SW. I can't bring myself to be outraged because I celebrate diversity when it does happen. But I don't automatically assume the worse when the character isn't something other than male or white despite how poorly worded it is.

Thats a narrowminded viewpoint since Cal isn't the only character in this game. Clearly they are making an effort for representation in this game even if they don't have to so it seems a little dismissive to ignore that in the broader context of the game.

 

[Unaha-Closp]

I'm not a Star Wars fan by any means so I wasn't hyped about a new SW game, but had they shown a woman or alien as the main protag I would have been infinitely more interested. Instead, it's just another dude.

 

[ArgyleReptile]

I'm tired of being on the side. I want to see someone like me have the spotlight.

I don't want to see another sidekick who sees less action. I don't want to see another wise mentor who will probably die. Or "black best friend". Or whatever other goddamn role they scoot us off towards. I want to be the Main Playable Characters who looks like me. Who's perspective we see throughout the game.

Even if the character wasn't black, they had a plethora of other forms of representation to choose from. But they "defaulted" and their explanation for why is piss poor.

 

[antispin]

I'm more alienated by the generic white boy tbh, lol. He doesn't seem like an interesting person or someone I would ever want to be.

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Yeah, same. He looks so boring.

 

[Desparadina]

I don't see why they'd consider a character like Ahsoka to be alienating for audiences. And I don't think that's what he meant, but then again this is a poorly phrased off the cuff answer to a question.


Literally your former jedi knight mentor in the game is a black woman:

and both of the jedi leads in Rebels were PoC.

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Okay! well call me again when they decide to add that into the movies instead of a supporting character in a video game and a kids show. It's one thing to just only have two examples and it's another for disney to claim they want diversity but not when it comes to it's lead protagonist moving forward and then claiming people would be 'alienated' by anything else other than a white male character jedi apparently.

 

[Gestault]

Just to be clear, people are responding to the issue of diversity for playable characters (and this was what the interview was about). Meaningful representation in games involves the distinction between [player characters] and [NPCs], because perspective is the whole point. That isn't addressed by NPCs with different backgrounds, even if that's a positive step in itself. It's as silly to use the presence of secondary characters to justify "cancelling out" an opportunity for a non-white main character as it would be to use the presence of Rey in the movies to eliminate the possibility for any other woman lead in the games.

Conceptualizing white vs non-white representation as though those are equal "halves" (when non-white is such a massive part of the spectrum of people out there) is a big part of the problem in these discussions.

 

[jrDev]

You really are on trash: here are other people in this thread pointing it out Crossing Eden

This is some trump shit. You're declaring victory after being loud and wrong throughout this thread.

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My posts also haven't been directly responded to either...like this wtf response below...

Not sure if the giant spiders and flaming giant bugs are new.

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Like what are you responding to here? It can't be me or are you trying to funny but it's failing?

 

[Crossing Eden]

Yeah he looks stereotypically average, good looking. I could see him on a sports team.

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That's not what comes to mind when I think of a typical jock. Especially after seeing his acting career.

Okay! well call me again when they decide to add that into the movies instead of a supporting character in a video game and a kids show. It's one thing to just only have two examples and it's another for disney to claim they want diversity but not when it comes to it's lead protagonist moving forward and then claiming people would be 'alienated' by anything else other than a white male character jedi apparently.

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First of all Disney didn't claim that people would be alienated at all. And neither did Stig you're misconstruing his words. Second it's not just two examples. As others have said, this is the only piece of media since the acquisition that has a new white male protagonist. Also, we should not somehow suddenly discount Rey and Jyn as examples of diversity and it's a fucking shame that the narrative in this thread slowly shifted to "diversity only matters if it's PoC."

Like what are you responding to here?

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I misread that as "were they allowed to make a new alien race." not humanoid specifically, and most like not. Also, the time for gotchas is over so 👍

 

[ResetEraIsTheBestEra]

i like they are using the joker dude from the Gotham series, i dont know why they didnt roll with that.

 

[Desparadina]

First of all Disney didn't claim that people would be alienated at all. And neither did Stig you're misconstruing his words. Second it's not just two examples. As others have said, this is the only piece of media since the acquisition that has a new white male protagonist. Also, we should not somehow suddenly discount Rey and Jyn as examples of diversity and it's a fucking shame that the narrative in this thread slowly shifted to "diversity only matters if it's PoC."

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I'm sorry to tell you this, but as a black woman i don't feel represented by white female characters, while other people might consider it a win for diversity, I don't see LF/Disney and whoever else is getting a license to handle SW media putting women or men of color for that matter as the lead character/Jedi. I don't think it's out of pocket to say that they need to try a bit harder and not be afraid of 'alienating' people. Marvel has done a good job pushing diversity in their movies and honestly Star Wars as a franchise could use some of that forward thinking.

 

[Crossing Eden]

I'm sorry to tell you this, but as a black woman i don't feel represented by white female characters, while other people might consider it a win for diversity, I don't see LF/Disney and whoever else is getting a license to handle SW media putting women or men of color for that matter as the lead character/Jedi. I don't think it's out of pocket to say that they need to try a bit harder and not be afraid of 'alienating' people. Marvel has done a good job pushing diversity in their movies and honestly Star Wars as a franchise could use some of that forward thinking.

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It's been well established in this thread that they do already do. One white male character in a game does not nullify all of that effort. And you not being represented by Rey or Jyn does not mean that they don't count as explicit examples of diverse characters in media.

 

[Sankara]

I should've been more clear with that part of the comment. I was referring to when there is an "outrage" when a character isn't white male. You know the whole "anti-SJW" crowd that just complains about having a PoC as the lead? I see that far too often so I made that sweeping generalization in the wrong place at the wrong time. For that I apologize. I would never tell a marginalized community to stop talking about an issue that affects them, but that statement contradicted my belief. The instances where people of color complain about being a white character have every right to do so. They deserve representation.

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I see now, thanks for replying. My apologies for the confusion.

It's been well established in this thread that they do already do. One white male character in a game does not nullify all of that effort.

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Imagine telling this to a black woman asking for better representation in video games, a medium that almost never bothers to make black women main characters. Shit, there's never even been a black woman as the main character in any Star Wars game *ever*.

 

[Gacha Santa Alter]

Phew. I do think that answer was pretty weak but this thread has taken a turn for the odd. I don't think it's fair to dunk on SW for lacking diversity just because FO has a white male protagonist. I mean, just look at what certain... like-minded individuals said about Disney's run with the series before this game was revealed. Having an original character be a white guy after so much work diversifying protagonists doesn't send it back to square one.

 

[LuckyLinus]

Atleast its some ginger male representation, havent gotten much since Crono?

 

[8byte]

Can't wait to buy this game

Spoiler

for $10 on the facebook marketplace.

 

[Desparadina]

It's been well established in this thread that they do already do. One white male character in a game does not nullify all of that effort. And you not being represented by Rey or Jyn does not mean that they don't count as explicit examples of diverse characters in media.

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I had a feeling this was the response i was gonna get. That I should just be happy with what we have so far, but I certainly won't in a world where we have movies like Black Panther, lead characters of color like Aquaman and Mile Morales who all have their own successful multi-million dollar franchises, and I'm supposed to just accept that Star Wars can't do better? I'm sorry to say this but white women have as a whole been better represented in media than the slim pickings that are rarely afforded to women of color (let alone black women!). Me asking Star Wars to consider casting women who aren't all the same ethnicity surely isn't too much now is it?

 

[Sankara]

Phew. I do think that answer was pretty weak but this thread has taken a turn for the odd. I don't think it's fair to dunk on SW for lacking diversity just because FO has a white male protagonist. I mean, just look at what certain... like-minded individuals said about Disney's run with the series before this game was revealed. Having an original character be a white guy after so much work diversifying protagonists doesn't send it back to square one.

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in Star Wars video games it's just Whitey McWhite and his cohorts of White clones. Starkiller from Force Unleashed, Kyle Katarn, Anakin, Obiwan, Qui-Gon, Luke, etc. White boys everywhere.

even that cancelled Visceral Star Wars Uncharted game helmed by Amy Hennig was a white dude front and center.

even Star Wars 1313 was a white dude front and center.

and now Jedi Fallen Order is a white dude front and center.

I am sorry to say, but something has to change, because in this day and age, white dudes in Star Wars games need to go

 

[Gacha Santa Alter]

Atleast its some ginger male representation, havent gotten much since Crono?

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Well, games with anime aesthetics usually have tons of them.

 

[Halbrand]

🙄 🙄 🙄

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holy fucking shit

there is no winning here,

i mean the only reason we listed characters is because you said those character do not exist.

and now just because we listed them we are "parading them"

like woow.

no matter what we say or do you made your fucking mind long time ago.

and im sorry but cassian totally represents me, you know, diego luna being mexican and all that

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This thread really is ridiculous

I'm also reminded of people calling Arthur Morgan another boring white male before they actually played the game

 

[Deleted member 8196]

Shit, there's never even been a black woman as the main character in any Star Wars game *ever*.

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Play BF2 campaign lol

 

[Desparadina]

Phew. I do think that answer was pretty weak but this thread has taken a turn for the odd. I don't think it's fair to dunk on SW for lacking diversity just because FO has a white male protagonist. I mean, just look at what certain... like-minded individuals said about Disney's run with the series before this game was revealed. Having an original character be a white guy after so much work diversifying protagonists doesn't send it back to square one.

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I honestly wish they just made this game with a character creator like I was hoping alas.....we have what we have I guess. I'm not saying that everything's been set back to square one but rather that Star Wars has a problem with allowing Jedi/Force attuned characters to be a majority white. I know friends/family of mine who don't have a lick of interest in Star Wars simply because of this lack of color in their films and worlds, that take so much from other cultures for inspiration that I fail to see why they haven't at least tried to take advantage of that. I would like to see them try something different instead of the same old stuff. The video games they have released with original protags have been pretty bleak in the diversity area too.

 

[Gacha Santa Alter]

in Star Wars video games it's just Whitey McWhite and his cohorts of White clones. Starkiller from Force Unleashed, Kyle Katarn, Anakin, Obiwan, Qui-Gon, Luke, etc. White boys everywhere.

even that cancelled Visceral Star Wars Uncharted game helmed by Amy Hennig was a white dude front and center.

even Star Wars 1313 was a white dude front and center.

and now Jedi Fallen Order is a white dude front and center.

I am sorry to say, but something has to change, because in this day and age, white dudes in Star Wars games need to go

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I'm not disputing that historically, SW has had a lot of white males in leading roles in all sorts of media. I'm saying that recently there has been a push for diversity, with non-humans, non-males and poc leads in several games. I wouldn't really count "scrapped white dude from cancelled game" as examples of yet another white male. In the end, Iden and Cal are the only originals from the EA era (assuming nothing happens to Fallen Order this close to release, but you never know in this industry).

tl;dr version: I don't think the situation is all that dire in terms of representation and no matter how Fallen Order turns out, I sincerely doubt Disney will shift course in that regard.

 

[Dogenzaka]

This thread really is ridiculous

I'm also reminded of people calling Arthur Morgan another boring white male before they actually played the game

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we're in a thread where people are throwing out shit like "Whitey McWhite", it's not really surprising

 

[Sankara]

Play BF2 campaign lol

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You seriously think Iden Versio is black? Are all non-white people black to you? Just a bit of melanin and they're black?

 

[LuckyLinus]

Well, games with anime aesthetics usually have tons of them.

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Dont really play that many JRPGs nowadays so I guess missed those, cant remember the last games I played that had a ginger male protagonist except for like Chrono Trigger and Another World. Those were a good 25 years ago.

 

[Deleted member 1635]

we're in a thread where people are throwing out shit like "Whitey McWhite", it's not really surprising

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And "white dudes need to go" in the same post. Incredible.

 

[Sankara]

we're in a thread where people are throwing out shit like "Whitey McWhite", it's not really surprising

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And "white dudes need to go" in the same post. Incredible.

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you two should be more upset by people of color being denigrated and marginalized in video games, especially star wars games, than some post on the internet calling out the dominance of white men in Star Wars videogames.

 

[Gacha Santa Alter]

I honestly wish they just made this game with a character creator like I was hoping alas.....we have what we have I guess. I'm not saying that everything's been set back to square one but rather that Star Wars has a problem with allowing Jedi/Force attuned characters to be a majority white. I know friends/family of mine who don't have a lick of interest in Star Wars simply because of this lack of color in their films and worlds, that take so much from other cultures for inspiration that I fail to see why they haven't at least tried to take advantage of that. I would like to see them try something different instead of the same old stuff. The video games they have released with original protags have been pretty bleak in the diversity area too.

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I do think when working with a franchise as vast as SW character creation is the ideal option but according to previous posters Disney wants this game to be canon. They could just have an "official" profile and background for the character (as they did with... the Exile, I believe?) but I guess they want to associate actors to these characters.