Ladies and gentlemen, I have always been big on video games. I’ve played a lot of games over the years and I’m about as hardcore as you can get when it comes to being a gamer. I play all day, all night and in between. Right now, I’m currently playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and still in the process of wrapping my head around just how big the game world is. Onto the point though, I cannot help but note the many reactions to the introduction of Josie Rizal, a Filipina fighter, to the roster of the Tekken series in the up and coming Tekken 7.
Now my point is here, why are people being so offended by the character? Asides from that, why so much the fuss for just one character? I will tell you now that there are far more important issues for us to consider other than just one character. For instance, why can’t we ever get off in making a worthwhile game of our own? If issues like this continue to take center stage instead of more important issues, then I am telling you now that we really are screwed as a nation. Over the years, I’ve seen more offensive stereotypes in some video games other than Josie Rizal. Allow me to enlighten you:
Morrigan Aensland is a succubus from Scotland and is probably my favorite female character in gaming. Just in case you didn’t know, a “succubus” is a female demon that eats the life-force or soul of people by having sex with them. Morrigan originally came from the game Darkstalkers, a fighting game about monsters, but has since gained enough fame to get to other games in various crossovers from duking it out with Spider-Man and Deadpool in Marvel vs. Capcom to joining the fight with hotties from Gods Eater in Project X Zone. However, there has been little complaint or any comment about Morrigan since her debut. If anything, the Scots are more offended by Scrooge McDuck than by Morrigan Aensland.
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Zangief is your stereotypical Russian big guy who seems to be a staple of the Streetfighter series. Bulging with muscles and wearing soviet design undies. In almost all installments, he speaks broken and largely unsophisticated English the same way that most Russians unfamiliar with English speak. However, instead of being offended, there are Russians who are proud of the character since he is one of the first Russians to ever be depicted in a game that is played all over the world. The few Russians that I know like to say that Zangief represents the strength and resilience of the Russian people and that, while he may not have fancy or flashy moves like Ryu or Ken, he more than makes up for it with brute force.
Mahatma Gandhi. Yes, the Mahatma Gandhi. He can actually be found in the Civilization games by Sid Meier. He serves as a leader the same way that Napoleon Bonaparte and George Washington. What makes Gandhi so different from his real-life counterpart is his willingness to use nuclear weapons. The Indians are only slightly amused (there are a few detractors as well) by this gesture but are nonetheless proud that the man who freed their country from British rule is forever commemorated in a video game of epic proportions.
So no, Josie Rizal isn’t the most offensive character out there and even if her design and name leaves a bad taste in the mouth, her presence will make way for more Filipinos in the world of gaming. Besides, it’s Tekken we’re talking about and not an over-sexualized game like Dead or Alive or Rumble Roses or total brutality like Mortal Kombat or Thrill Kill.
I think I’m going to wait for the next installment of the Darkstalkers series because they might just introduce a manananggal character after the success of Josie Rizal…
Para kay Josie Rizal
Huwag ka sanang padadala sa mga kababayan mong mapanghusga at ang gobyerno mong wala rin namang paki-alam sa mamamayang Pilipino. Tandaan mo, nandito kaming mga Filipino gamer na sumusuporta sa iyo sa darating mong laban diyan sa Tekken. Mahal na mahal (pero mas mahal ko siguro ng konti si Morrigan) at ipinagmamalaki ka namin. Kaya, tulad ni Talim sa Soul Calibur, lumaban ka sana ng buong puso at ipaglaban mo ang bansa na nagmamahal sa iyo at ang mga gamer na sumusuporta sa iyo. Pagpasensyahan mo na sana ang mga mang-mang na hindi makaintindi sa iyo dito sa Pinas.
Ang maipapayo ko lamang sa iyo habang nandiyan ka ay lagi kang magpapakabait at umiwas ka sa mga negatibong tao at ang mga masasamang impuwensiya. Kung pupuweda lamang, kay Julia Chang at kay Zafina ka na lamang sumama dahil paniguradong mababait ang mga iyan. Lumayo ka kay Nina at Anna Williams dahil balita ko mga maldita daw ang mga iyan. Huwag kang magpapaloko sa mga katarandatuhan ni Kunimitsu. Pagpasensyahan mo na sana ang kaartehan ni Lili dahil ganyan talaga ang mga taga-Monaco.
Sa ibang dako naman, mag-iingat ka rin sa mga ibang makakahalubilo mo diyan sa industriya na iyan. Lumayo-layo ka sa Koreanang baliw na si Juri Han. Paki sabi na rin kay Mileena na sana lagi na lang siyang mag-mamaskara para lagi siyang maganda. Mag-iingat ka rin doon kay Poison, balita ko kasi hindi daw siya tunay na babae at may tinatago daw siyang lawit. Maging mabait at magalang ka lalo na sa mga katulad nina Kasumi at Helena Douglas na, sa pagkakaalam ko, ay mababait naman daw. At parang awa mo na, huwag na huwag kang pupunta sa Silent Hill kahit no pa ang sabihin ng abi ukol doon dahil walang diyos na puwedeng tumulong sa iyo kapag napad-pad ka sa bayan ng Silent Hill.
Mahal na mahal ka namin Josie at ipag-dadasal namin ang bawat laban mo diyan. Hinding-hindi namin kakalimutan ang tapang pinakita mo sa pag-sali mo diyan sa Tekken tournament. Huwag mo sanang kalimutan na maraming susuporta sa iyo kahit walang paki-alam ang gobyerno at ang mga artista sa iyo.
Nagmamahal at sumusuporta,
Thaddeus Grimwald
P.S.: Pag nakita mo nga pala si Morrigan Aensland, paki-hingi na rin ako ng autograph.
[Image courtesy Deviant Art.]
I HAVE RETURNED TO LAY WASTE TO OUR ENEMIES!
I believe in her potential. NCAA and those who judge Josie Rizal wrong are really idiots. Most of them don’t know the difference between fiction and reality. I find her design cute. I understand her outfit because Philippines is really tropical. I don’t even believe that this country is conservative sa totoo lang.
The NCAA is populated by old people who can’t understand the video games on their grandchildren’s newfangled clickety-clackety computator machines.
I’m sure these are the same people (and many of the Filipinos) who regularly watch cheap telenovelas and expect that their characters that they portray on TV are like their personalities in real life.
And I agree on the poster that the fact that these Filipinos are arguing over this video game character cements their status as a screwed-up nation.
The fact that Filipinos are arguing over this is enough proof of their stupidity.
i suddenly remembered front mission 3. the ph was depicted as a competent country with modern mecha military (wanzers). I think the pinoy fighter was named Jose (he also constantly reminded everybody that he didnt want to fight).
Well, if you peered further into the backstory of the Philippines in the Front Mission universe, the machines at least aren’t ours; they technically belong to the supernation of OCU (to which the country is a member of), with the manufactures of these OCU wanzers primarily based in Australia and Japan. And there’s a good reason why we have those machines in the first place: insurrection led by none other than the vice-president who wished to secede from OCU, and the said rebels were also rumored to be getting “help” from another rival supernation.
I think they should design a character named “Tsao Juan”, stereotypical drunk Filipino brawler raised from the slums of Tondo who fights with dirty tactics.
Full of tattoos, clutching anting anting. Hbefore every fight he could say “bahala na!”
I suddenly remember playing the original Medal of Honor multiplayer and I remember José Rizal as an unlockable character. Hahaha!
Most of the Anti-“Josie Rizal” are not playing tekken for sure.
Probably riding on the bandwagon hate that’s been going around at the new cast, with Lucky Chloe taking the lion’s share of it.
In any case, what’s the big deal? Fighting game characters have always had exaggerated nationalistic caricatures. You can thank Ryu and gang for that.
I wonder how Brazillians felt about Blanka. Or how Indians reacted to Dhalsim.
I don’t see Brazil’s culture minister getting his/her knickers in a twist over the hyper-sexualised presentation of Christie Monteiro in prior Tekken instalments
yoga fire!!! yoga flame!!!
I can’t sleep wondering what Poison’s real gender really is… 🙁
Poison was originally a male who had a sex change. But thanks to the US censorship at the time, Poison was officially marked as “female”. This led to a whole slew of other problems until they decided to keep the gender up in the air. There are even characters who say that he may look like a girl, but certainly does not act like a girl.
I still think Poison is a man.
I think so too…
Poison? You mean Hugo’s sidekick? It is said that she’s actually a “he”
The sadder part is, if the NCAA succeeds, Josie Rizal will be striken from the game by the director himself.
Can’t those old fogeys just appreciate her like they did Talim? They’re getting their panties in a bunch over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
As a Filipino and a gamer, I can say that THIS is very well written article. I’m very happy about it, especially the letter. 😀
Speaking of Tekken: mabait naman din si Asuka so pwede din, ganun din sina Christie Monteiro at Xiaoyu.
Sa industriya: pwede ka namang makihalubilo kina Chun-Li at Cammy; Si Elena? Pwede din. Tanging si Kitana lang ang mabait dun sa Netherworld at kung makita mo si Ayane, mag-ingat ka rin dahil minsan may pagkasungit din iyon.
Again, thanks for this fun AND enlightening article.
I’m still worried about Poison’s “hidden equipment” though…
That BDSM whip
That and something else…
I don’t anything wrong on the character. In Assassin’s Creed (I’m not sure what version it is), George Washington was portrayed as a tyrannical-king and the Americans didn’t make a fuss about.
That was an alternate reality download episode. Same one where Conner is protagonist .
George Washington was also in Civilization if I remember correctly. The only thing people complained about was that his accent was wrong. This makes some sense as Americans of his time probably sounded a lot like British. Then there’s Napoleon Bonaparte’s lack of a Corsican accent.
Too bad no one talked ’bout Mokujin, though. Rumor has it, it’s also a Pinoy tree spirit.
What? No. Don’t be so deluded as to appropriate Japanese folklore into yours.
Well, I did say it was a rumor, didn’t I?
I see nothing offensive of the Josie Rizal character, she’s a character for crying out loud (quite a cute one I may add). I wonder if the NCCA wants to have a historically-accurate depiction or something, maybe that’s what they are crying about. Still, it doesn’t really warrant to have that removed from the game itself. She’s in a fighting game kicking ass and taking names and not in a hentai game, I don’t see the outrage behind this.
I remember back then in school, somebody wanted to create a filipino version of NFS, with trikes and jeeps and whatnot..it was a good idea it already had the sample software until it was berated and shut down by the ‘powers that be’ in school. So much for ‘game development’ here, but of course this was years ago..I hope it is different now but seeing how the detractors react to just one character in a very popular game just shows a lot of the ugly side in the pinoy mindset.
As the title says, it is another case of pinoy stupidity. There really is no hope for this country…for hope is nothing more than just a brand of a cigarette here. 😛
I agree with you. Perhaps our government can do something more productive like building good houses for the poor people than bitch over some video game character named after our national hero using “Arnis without sticks” as a fighting style
Tell Everybody To Doubt Mind About #XanaDalisay Making It For #Tekken7 #Tekken… http://rplr.co/1HZ0WfG
The biggest distraction in life to one’s focus is often near locus standing people saying all hocus-pocus.
I believe you have mentioned some very interesting points, appreciate it for the post.
HAPPY GAMING!!!
What the hell are these people complaining about??!. Someone just made our national hero a videogame character. Which is cool I don’t see any problem with that. In fact I find it amazing, Thank you who made this possible please ignore the ones who doesn’t like it.
I was never a fan of gender bender or tekken for that matter, however let’s not forget this is simply a fantasy, a figment of imagination of the creators of the damn game.
Don’t like it? Don’t buy it and move the on.
Oh, look. Someone who completely missed the whole point. I’m not trying to defend anything, but your arguments are pretty much retarded. Title is pretty hypocritical. You’re comparing a succubus, who’s existence is the epitome of lewd, to a national hero, who is……. I’m sure you probably know what I’m about to say. You’re not that retarded, are you?
And, dude, it’s not a matter of being “the most offensive character”. Like, no one gives a shit who that is, boy. (Please God. Stop making these plebs use this sort of argument to back themselves up.)
In the end, you tried to show the stupidity within the Filipinos, but failed spectacularly. But don’t worry, your existence is proof enough that this blog isn’t even necessary.