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This Week in Games - Not My Elena


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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2150
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:10 am Reply with quote
The Granblue game found a clever way to get new players up to speed; there are bonus missions that explain the individual character’s backstories, and the game rewards you for doing these.
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Doubleclouder



Joined: 07 Jan 2024
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:20 am Reply with quote
While I'm not a fan of the modern direction of CAPCOM's mainline games, their mobile division at least still knows how to do some great art and designs. TEPPEN and Sreet Fighter Duel ave had some gorgeous artwork and character designs. I wish the home console games looked like that still.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2696
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:34 am Reply with quote
I'll admit, when I first saw "Trendy Elena" I didn't even think of the SFIII character, because she didn't look ANYTHING like that Elena, so once I saw people saying that it was her I instantly realized why people got so mad at that design.
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iisaniizuka



Joined: 16 Feb 2024
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:38 am Reply with quote
So unfortunately, trying to pin the Elena issue on capcom isn't correct. Capcom has nothing to do with street fighter duel. it's SF4 characters licensed to a chinese gaming company, and then published by Crunchyroll in the west.

Capcom doesn't have a thing to do with its development, so I would ask crunchyroll or the actual devs for a comment on the whitewashing.
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Nigel Planter



Joined: 09 Jan 2023
Posts: 113
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:52 am Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
I'll admit, when I first saw "Trendy Elena" I didn't even think of the SFIII character, because she didn't look ANYTHING like that Elena, so once I saw people saying that it was her I instantly realized why people got so mad at that design.


Is it an actual "backlash" or is it just a usual handful of people on social media complaining while most people, especially overseas, don't care? This has been her design in Duel for almost a year now so getting upset now seems like it's just a handful of people who don't actually play the game finding something to get angry about. I don't recall anyone saying anything back in August when Summer Elena came out.
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BrazillianCara



Joined: 31 Dec 2023
Posts: 29
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:56 am Reply with quote
Does the game whitewash other black characters, or do they do this only with Elena?
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
Posts: 655
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 10:57 am Reply with quote
Nigel Planter wrote:
Lord Geo wrote:
I'll admit, when I first saw "Trendy Elena" I didn't even think of the SFIII character, because she didn't look ANYTHING like that Elena, so once I saw people saying that it was her I instantly realized why people got so mad at that design.


Is it an actual "backlash" or is it just a usual handful of people on social media complaining while most people, especially overseas, don't care? This has been her design in Duel for almost a year now so getting upset now seems like it's just a handful of people who don't actually play the game finding something to get angry about. I don't recall anyone saying anything back in August when Summer Elena came out.


See, if they did it once... then they just did it once. You could just pin it as a mistake.

A second time? And for what's supposes to be a "gyaru"-inspired look? No, that's intentional, and it's really messed up. That the design is released during Black History Month doesn't help. The backlash is real, just look at the responses to the original tweet. The design could have been really nice... but yeah man, they really shoved their foot in it.
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Nekbone



Joined: 28 Dec 2023
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:06 am Reply with quote
iisaniizuka wrote:
So unfortunately, trying to pin the Elena issue on capcom isn't correct. Capcom has nothing to do with street fighter duel. it's SF4 characters licensed to a chinese gaming company, and then published by Crunchyroll in the west.

Capcom doesn't have a thing to do with its development, so I would ask crunchyroll or the actual devs for a comment on the whitewashing.


Do you think Tencent is some rogue company that can do whatever it wants and Capcom is powerless to stop them? Capcom signed off and approved of these designs almost assuredly. Personally I have no issue with the design and find it cute. I think the attempt to frame it as an issue by citing an American thing like Black History Month as being relevant to an Asian IP or or trying to frame fighting games as a whole being a "black thing' to be... odd. I don't think that was all that relevant back in 1990s Japan and seems to be trying to approach a Japanese thing from a modern ethnocentric American perspective.
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i got the shivers!



Joined: 30 Nov 2022
Posts: 118
Location: Brazil
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:14 am Reply with quote
That Elena design looks pretty cute to me. I don't see the issue. Maybe because I'm not American though.
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 1193
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:19 am Reply with quote
Not gonna lie, I never thought Elena was meant to be a black, she doesn't looks like how Capcom designs black people at all like Balrog or Dudley. or the new SF6 girl whose name I can't remember.

The article itself claims she doesn't looks like one so now I have the make the question: Is there a official confirmation she is indeed black and not of some mediterranean or midstern descendance?

According to Wikipedia there are Indies in Kenya.
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 28 Oct 2018
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:29 am Reply with quote
Minos_Kurumada wrote:
Not gonna lie, I never thought Elena was meant to be a black, she doesn't looks like how Capcom designs black people at all like Balrog or Dudley. or the new SF6 girl whose name I can't remember.

The article itself claims she doesn't looks like one so now I have the make the question: Is there a official confirmation she is indeed black and not of some mediterranean or midstern descendance?

According to Wikipedia there are Indies in Kenya.


Yeah, she's specifically detailed as being from Kenya in Street Fighter III: New Generation, same as Dhalsim being from India or Deejay being from Jamaica. Her dad is even a tribal leader. Akiman went on record that she was designed with the intent of being an African woman.
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Traptrix Lover



Joined: 17 Dec 2022
Posts: 111
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:37 am Reply with quote
iisaniizuka wrote:
Capcom doesn't have a thing to do with its development, so I would ask crunchyroll or the actual devs for a comment on the whitewashing.


Since when do Japanese companies ever comment on this kind of complaints from English users? If it's an individual Japanese artist then western Twitter users can try to harass them and chase them off the platform by ganging up on them, but as far as big faceless corporations I've never seen these people get any kind of worthwhile response by complaining about a character's skin color being a hue too light Unless it's someone specific like YoshiP or Katsuhiro Harada who have gone on record clapping back at those people who complain about skin color and race to them, expecting any kind of response out of a Japanese company is probably pointless since these are products aimed at the Japanese market and they're going to focus on what people want there and ignore any complaints from the west. Especially since most people in the west don't care either and it's just a vocal minority who always makes a big deal about things like this.
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AverageAnimeFan



Joined: 25 Jan 2024
Posts: 66
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:51 am Reply with quote
Everyone's favorite white, blue-eyed daughter of an African Savannah tribal chief.
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Rogueywon



Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 265
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:53 am Reply with quote
Persona 3 Reload's success reminds me of the Demon's Souls remaster. The original Demon's Souls was a really obscure PS3 title. Arguably, it was even more obscure than Persona 3, which at least fit into an established genre. Then, of course, From Software found a mix of game design and marketing genius for Dark Souls and made a steady ascent from "indie darlings" to "reliable mega-hit studio". So a remaster of an obscure PS3 title ended up being the flagship launch title for the PS5.

I'm also trying to imagine how tiny the demographic intersection must be that gives you somebody desperate to play Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters and whose only gaming device is an Xbox.
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funkfoot



Joined: 22 Feb 2023
Posts: 86
PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:43 pm Reply with quote
AverageAnimeFan wrote:
Everyone's favorite white, blue-eyed daughter of an African Savannah tribal chief.


Yeah.. these designs have never exactly been realistic to begin with. Next you'll tell me Brazilians don't have green skin and generate electricity.

It's always been kind of hard for me to take these complaints seriously because of how often I always see the opposite happen to Japanese media. Either western adaptions changing a Japanese characters' race or fan-artists who just intentionally draw race-swapped art of Japanese characters with the intent to change their race and receive none of the vitriol Japanese artists do when they draw their own creation with a slightly different skin color. I think if we can deal with Justin Chatwin as Son Goku and Keith Stanfield as L then people will live with a character being a shade or two different in some pieces of artwork.
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