Cognition Dissemination: New Faces of the Iron Fist

Like any fighting game sequel worth its salt, Tekken 7 came with a bunch of new characters — despite most of the cast being slowly rolled out through updates to the Japanese arcade version. It also wouldn’t be a fighting game sequel if fans weren’t vehemently upset about some new faces, particularly those intended to replace older fan-favorites. While Tekken 7 hasn’t received as much as a game like, say, SoulCalibur V, due to characters like Claudio, Katarina, and Shaheen have styles dissimilar from previous characters, there are always a few.

Lucky Chloe was the first to get this, thanks to her pandering nature. The newest example, however, arrived in the guise of the franchise’s first Filipino character: kickboxer Josie Rizal.

Fans uttered one name upon seeing her in motion: Bruce Irvin. Her fighting style was eerily reminiscent of the African-American kickboxing character who’s been part of the franchise since Tekken 2. That Josie is often cheerful to the point of crying didn’t help her early perception, with fans interpreting it as “moé” or “bizarre.” (I’ll side with the latter, personally.) But it was refreshing that many were willing to wait and see her in further action before judging her completely. That’s unlike the internet at large — which is also bizarre.

But those aren’t the only criticisms. Some among the Filipino audience don’t like how she’s named is named after nationalist hero José Rizal, while others feel her design, from guest character designer  Mari Shimazaki (of Bayonetta), is bland. They feel she looks fine from her sketches, but don’t think her character model captures her look adequately. She looks fine to me, personally.

I’ll admit that I couldn’t see too many Bruce similarities upon watching her reveal video. Sure, a few moves were lifted from his move set, but many Tekken characters who aren’t clones (unlike those free bonus characters in Tekken Tag Tournament 2) borrow moves from others. Plenty of moves demonstrated in that video are her own, so she doesn’t play entirely like Bruce.

It was the numerous match videos posted on Youtube in the last week that highlighted those aforementioned commonalities. Josie was made playable last Tuesday, and while many players are still coming to grips with her style, her inspiration is far too apparent. Comments under every video involving her are full of people complaining that she looks too much like Bruce, while producer Katsuhiro Harada has been receiving plenty of heat on his Twitter account.

This brings into question how the development team at Bandai Namco makes decisions like these. Harada once commented that Kunimitsu didn’t make her way into previous numbered Tekken installments because she wasn’t used heavily in games where she was available. Instead of potentially wasting resources on retooling her in the hopes that people would pick her up, they simply removed her during the time skip between Tekken 2 and 3 to focus on other characters. That could be the case for Bruce, but only the Tekken team holds that data. It would really be a shame if he’s gone for good, because Tekken — and fighting games as a whole — don’t need less black characters.

The criticism for Josie exposes a flaw in the character distribution method I posted about last Saturday. If every new character was made playable simultaneously like in previous Tekken titles and many older fighting games, Josie inclusion wouldn’t have generated anywhere near as much upset. But most of the attention is focused on her because she’s the most recent character to hit playable status. This will be an issue with future fighting games abiding by the format, with some new characters being just as unpopular as the ones they replace.

Now that the intense Lucky Chloe hatred has calmed down, poor Josie’s the current poster child representing the feelings of those who don’t like the direction the franchise is going in. Tekken was never realistic, but the personalities and outfits for most characters have become less grounded in reality and more fantasy-driven and, let’s say, “anime” with each installment. Not to mention the rising level of pandering with each game, a phenomenon Tekken 7 exacerbates further.

As frustrated as some fans are with Josie, the spotlight won’t remain on her for much longer. It was confirmed in a stream over the weekend that another new character leaked prior to the full unveil, Gigas, will be playable on April 28th (yes, that’s tomorrow). Right on cue, some fans already don’t like him thanks to (a) his design being uninspired and familiar, and (b) having some of Craig Marduk’s moves. You could say he’s become the “bane” of Tekken fans’ existence.

Yeah, I’ll see myself out, though not-Bane coming in after a character with moves from someone named “Bruce” can’t be a coincidence.