UnemployedVillain
Member
Hell, I can name a bunch JUST in Pokemon games
Pokemon B/W Fighting Elite 4 member Marshall
Pokemon B/W gym leader Irish
Pokemon B/W gym leader Lenora
Pokemon X/Y gym leader Grant
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'Stop Giving Evil Characters Brown Skin'
- Thread starter Shaanyboi
- Start date
Pokemon B/W Fighting Elite 4 member Marshall
Pokemon B/W gym leader Irish
Pokemon B/W gym leader Lenora
Pokemon X/Y gym leader Grant
The Scrivener
Member
It's not racism.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Hyperbolic post aside, I don't think people can deny that there have been more good white guys in gaming than coloured people.
Hell, I can name a bunch JUST in Pokemon games
Pokemon B/W Fighting Elite 4 member Marshall
Pokemon B/W gym leader Irish
Pokemon B/W gym leader Lenora
Pokemon X/Y gym leader Grant
Although I already apologized for misspeaking there, I must ask...are gym leaders considered good guys? I mean they're not evil but I never thought of them as good guys either since they are your opposition.
I don't see anyone saying you should hate it. So where are you getting this we?
UnemployedVillain
Member
This is a pretty big no shit comment. There are more white guys in every role in every medium than people of color
Pretty much since R/S, a number of them have actively helped the player at various moments during the story. This was especially the case in B/W where they all come together to help combat Team Plasma
So long as they don't decide that "dark side" means having darker skin, then no.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Are most of the dark side peeps represented by skin colour?
Ah that's cool! Haven't played one to completion since like...blue
With the Tetra issue, even if it is a tan (which doesn't hold much water when the skin tones of some island npcs are just as dark/darker), she still magically regains her tan afterwords. She didn't lose her tan because she sat underground for a couple of weeks. Its was magically removed and then magically returned.
You also have to keep in mind that while the whole royalty/Labour symbolism exists outside the game, in game, discovering her identity and the sacred power of her lineage made her skin lighter because...
You also have to keep in mind that while the whole royalty/Labour symbolism exists outside the game, in game, discovering her identity and the sacred power of her lineage made her skin lighter because...
The Scrivener
Member
Ok. Exactly. It's all that needs to be said. People don't need to be drawn into debate. People are too scared to just say and hear: it's not racism.
Just think it's funny how "gaf is not a hivemind" is commonly accepted, yet it's apparently fine when you limit the generalisation to gaming and OT
ScriptedReality
Member
This thread makes me miss Bish
There's more "white guys" in any role and that's the only problem. This video is so far reaching in the context of videogames. We don't really suffer from the brown/black skin is evil like hollywood does unless it's trying to mirror a war game. Even the franchises they choose to represent their argument are against them in great numbers when it comes to villains.
I'm all for calling shit out but this video was just poorly made. Seeing some folks telling people to rewatch the video again and they don't get it, i mean it's just reaching beyondvthe highest levels.
Even without that it is hard to see the gym leaders/whoever fights against you (besides team whatever) as evil. Sure, they fight against you. But an opponent of the hero/protagonist is not automatically evil.
I guess it is. I have dark skin and deal with racism regularly, If the whole Light and Darkness trope, which is older than the pyramids, doesn't affect me when I want to be entertained, it's probably a good thing.
Delpij
Member
The caucasian representation of negativity is black and its derivatives. I don't see why there needs to be a debate with OP, that's a basic understanding of the world we live in.
It's pretty obvious that a non-racist representation of characters in video games comes from untying skin color from discernment.
It's pretty obvious that a non-racist representation of characters in video games comes from untying skin color from discernment.
Not that obvious apparently...
Star Wars handles it well though. The more you move to the dark side, the deader you look. Meaning they tend to get more pale and sickly with few exceptions of some retaining their natural look.
Their outfits change when going to the dark side to make them appear more evil. Most common being a black cloak that makes them look like the reaper, death incarnate.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Putting the whole list in here would be excessive, since these are about 200 games (I only counted console games, no bundled games, no handheld games, no remakes if original included). I counted as white traditional whites, Japanese and Italians (to account for Mario). My final results are:
Games without any humans whatsoever: 45
Games with humans, but without non whites: 96
Games with black people, but only non-negative ones: 21
Games with black people, both negative and non-negative ones: 29
Games with black people, but only negative ones: 5
The ones from the last bracket are:
Zelda 2 (Dark Link)
Rayman (Dark Rayman, counting the fariy as white)
Resident Evil 4
Wario Land: Shake Dimension (Captain Syrup)
Resident Evil 5
Tetra stuff but no Sheik complaints?
Before Skyward Sword happened i would agree with people about the Tetra stuff. But after that games huge reveal it just makes sense she has the blood of a goddess + even some god like powers. So how would it not be possible to use magic by either using that power or the triforce of wisdom to turn into Sheik or royal Zelda/Tetra whatever she wants?
If Ganondorf can change into a huge demonish pig i am sure Zelda atleast can alter her own body a bit.
Before Skyward Sword happened i would agree with people about the Tetra stuff. But after that games huge reveal it just makes sense she has the blood of a goddess + even some god like powers. So how would it not be possible to use magic by either using that power or the triforce of wisdom to turn into Sheik or royal Zelda/Tetra whatever she wants?
If Ganondorf can change into a huge demonish pig i am sure Zelda atleast can alter her own body a bit.
Starlightmuse
Member
Spaniards are not brown skinned, dude.
Demoskinos
Member
I don't know that I can name a single black main protagonist that doesn't have some sort of vague criminal past or is otherwise a walking stereo type.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
I said non-white. I excluded crazy stuff like green (Grunty) but anything that's close enough to human and is not caucasian, italian or japanese is non white in this list.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Faith (Mirror's Edge)
the prince (PoP)
Jade (Beyond Good & Evil)
Aveline (AC3 Liberation)
Drillary Clinton
Banned
People turn their brains off when confronted with basic concepts tho
??????????
Starlightmuse
Member
I'm telling you that spaniards are full white skinned unless they had spent a shit ton of time at the beach. I'm a spaniard and I'm probably lighter skinned than any caucasian. Non white mean non white, not whatever you say it mean.
Spain is not mexico, you know that, right?
PS: Not meaning to sound rough at all though I think I sound like it, but just for you to know that Spaniards = white in pretty much all cases, and even more if they live in the north, where you can't see the sun most of the year.
Nealand Liquor
Member
Maybe I missed the post explaining this, but why are you counting Japanese as white?
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
In this light, yes she looks quite white, from the game (where one only sees a bit of her) I had the impression she was slightly brown.
??????????
Feel free not to count Resi 4, I just counted them as not being part of white, which is not exactly the same as traditional white, since it also includes Japanese and Italians, who are quite common but also depicted with quite light skin.
@Nealand: Because their skin is also depicted very brightly and it makes this very difficult for anime characers and characters like Link. Since Japanese are not discriminated against a lot in games and this is about darker skin tones, I did not include them as "non white".
Dark Link is a literal shadow though... He's even called Link's Shadow and NES Remix even calls him Shadow Link.
It's like Peter Pan fighting his shadow. Which Zelda series does take bits of inspiration from. Some games more than others like OoT.
Midna? The grey/blue/green skinned character? No that's that's not a problem any more than the green goblin not being white
Drillary Clinton
Banned
Well for one she's Asian
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Still, it's a case of a black version of a character for an evil version. Same for Dark Rayman. This topic is not excluding cases where there is some story explanation for this, right?
The good old, "I got mine" mentality.
Having a character who is dark in colour, wardrobe does not mean they represent a race
BigEmil
Junior Member
All recent games. Older games not so muchHell, I can name a bunch JUST in Pokemon games
Pokemon B/W Fighting Elite 4 member Marshall
Pokemon B/W gym leader Irish
Pokemon B/W gym leader Lenora
Pokemon X/Y gym leader Grant
Well for the OP it's talking about brown skin and race. I don't feel Dark Link quite fits here because it's a shadow with no defining features and more representative of an actual shadow, rather than representative of a black person.
astrogamer
Member
The thread is about wanting to not have darker skin versions as evil characters as it connotates as black people as bad. Something that is literally completely black is something most people can dissociate with race.
Is that an issue
UnemployedVillain
Member
So? I wasn't aware progress didn't matter or that older games held more weight than recent games and trends
Spring-Loaded
Member
molnizzle
Member
Hell, the further you get into the Dark Side the lighter your skin becomes.
Star Wars is anti-white SJW propaganda confirmed!
hans_castorp
Member
Thisisbait.jpeg
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