A Celebration of Black Characters in Games
- Thread starter Neoxon
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I'm assuming your hunch was Marina going off of the Amiibo mention, & you'd be right
DAY 11: MARINA (SPLATOON)Splatoon basically took the fast lane to stardom, despite the fact that it debut on one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles. The fact that it's now one of their mainstay franchises is nothing short of amazing. And part of that success is thanks to the game's stellar art design, something that extends to the characters. A prime example of this is Marina, half of the "Off the Hook" musical duo (alongside Pearl) who are prominently seen throughout Splatoon 2. Well……most of Splatoon 2, as the base game's story focuses on the musical duo of the first game ("The Squid Sisters", made up of Callie & Marie) & what they've been up to in the years between the two Splatoon games. But the DLC expansion, Octo Expansion, more than makes up for that. And to be honest, it actually provides quite a bit of lore for Marina, & themes that I didn't expect a Nintendo game to tackle.
Marina back when she worked for the Octarian army.
Marina was born into "the oppression of Octarian society" (her words, actually), being trained to be a combat engineer from youth. Thanks to Marina's high level of intelligence, she skipped multiple grades of school & graduated from elementary training when she was 9. She was actually one of the engineers who designed the Flooder (as seen in Splatoon 1 & 2's story modes as well as the Octo Expansion) in addition to enhancing the Great Octoweapons. This, along with the commendations she got when she was part of DJ Octavio's wasabi supply unit, garnered her quite a reputation amongst the other Octarians (to the point where Agent 8, the Octo Expansion's Octoling protagonist, recognized Marina without having met her prior). But it was the events of Splatoon 1's final boss, namely hearing the Squid Sisters sing Calamari Inkantation, that inspired Marina to break away from DJ Octavio's army & Octarian society as a whole. In fact, she still looks up to the Squid Sisters, as indicated by the decorations she puts on her computer & keytar. After getting away from the other Octarians & later hearing Pearl sing, Marina set out to learn more about the Inkling language & their culture before seeking out Pearl again. Noting her singing talents, Marina showed Pearl her demo (Ebb & Flow), which would later become their first single as the band Off the Hook. The song was a hit, & the rest was history. Marina & Pearl were inseparable from then on, even working together to help out Agent 8 over the course of the Octo Expansion.
On top of this photo being adorable, it shows how far Marina has come.
While not playable herself, Marina (as well as Pearl) is pretty well-defined as a character over the course of Splatoon 2 & especially the Octo Expansion. Marina contrasts Pearl in a number of ways, being more gentle & sweet compared to Pearl's brash & bold nature. Though as shown in their dialogue when you boot up Splatoon 2, Marina can be sassy when she wants to be, something that was blown to extreme levels in the English localization when the game first game out (this was later addressed to be more consistent across all languages). As per Marina's aforementioned high intelligence, she's quite the tech wiz, being shown to be able to hack into various devices as well as corporation servers (such as the Kamabo Corporation, C.Q. Cumber's employer). Her tech proficiency also extends to her interest in technology as a whole, being enamored by the machinery of various maps in the multiplayer portion of Splatoon 2. There are a couple of smaller fun facts about Marina that most would miss, such as the fact that Marina has collected over 5,000 comic books as well as the fact that she owns a motorcycle. But one of the more interesting facts is actually specific to the Japanese version of Marina. In Japanese, Marina sings entirely in katakana, which is supposed to depict her singing in a different language. Obviously this isn't something that can be translated to English without her singing in another language entirely. But it's a neat detail that I thought I should note.
Pearl must have been a great influence with regards to Marina's fashion sense.
Marina has two main designs, her Off the Hook look & her DJ_Hyperfresh casual garb. For the former, it's primarily black & neon green, with the latter color contrasting well with her skin tone. She rocks a sleeveless midriff jacket with a giant zipper, closed-back headphones, puffy shorts with stripes that light up, bright neon green leggings, a neon green belly button piercing, fingerless gloves, & shin-high boots. It should be noted that the neon green parts change color depending on the Splatfest theme (so if her side is red, the neon green parts will be red). It's a bit sexualized for an E10+ game, but I suppose she is a pop star. Outside of that, it's a strong design with a unique silhouette. Plus I love how the tips of her fingers are actually neon green (something that not even the playable Octolings have). As for the casual outfit (which is a clear reference to Tupac) seen in the Octo Expansion, she trades her zipper jacket for a regular sleeveless midriff shirt. She also rocks a white bandanna headband, light green jeans, & gray laceless sneakers. The zipper ends up getting replaced with a giant chain necklace with the same symbol as the zipper. That being said, she does keep the belly button piercing & her headphones (the latter of which makes sense given her profession). I actually prefer this design. While having neon green contrast her skin tone is a more interesting idea than white (which isn't uncommon for black characters, especially those from Japanese games), her DJ_Hyperfresh outfit is just really stylish. Even Pearl goes hard for her Octo Expansion outfit, but this section isn't really about her, so I'll keep myself from going off on too much of a tangent. Still, both designs are on-point, & I have to give Nintendo EPD Group 5 props for designing both of her outfits.
Yeah, Nintendo needs better quality control for their merchandise (among other thing).
The aforementioned sexualization of Marina, especially for her primary Off the Hook outfit, does call back some of the colorism concerns I brought up last week with regards to how black women are sexualized compared to those of other ethnicities. And as I mentioned earlier, the original English localization of Marina had her as overly sassy, which is another stereotype of black women in media. But like I said, this was addressed in an update to be more in line with the Japanese version. She still has some sass, but it's within reason now, which I do appreciate. Likewise, she's voiced by Japanese singer Alice Peralta. I get that they wanted a known singer over in Japan, but even projects like Carole & Tuesday (anime, I know, but still) went through the effort of getting a black singer for Carole. It would have been nice if Nintendo EPD Group 5 showed the same initiative, especially when Nintendo EPD Group 9 cooperated with NoA & NoE in the creation of Twintelle (though they also aren't off the hook given Twintelle's white VA). That's not to mention some of the official merchandise white-washing the hell out of Marina (as shown in the image above). Not all of her merchandise did this (her Amiibo thankfully dodged this bullet), but it's was definitely a problem. And these problems could be avoided if Nintendo had more black people in positions of power (for both development & management) to point these things out. This also extends to the rest of the gaming industry, especially in Japan. But even despite those criticisms (addressed or not), Marina is a legitimately great character who's definitely my favorite of the two Off the Hook members. Which reminds me, I need to get her Amiibo.
Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the next character in the Shooters Section of Black Characters of Gaming Celebration. As for tomorrow, I mean.....who else could it be regarding Half-Life?
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Mariana is one of Nintendo's best characters.
I'm surprised that your post didn't highlight how in some Translations/localizations Marina/Pearl relationship takes on much different undertones with her in many locations all but saying they have a relationship deeper than that of friendship, so in some areas of the world she is also could very well be scene as WLW as well as a person of color which sadly has almost zero representation.
Like the Pillow she is drooling on (so cute) is actually that of her partner.
Though how much that is approved by Nintendo Japan vs Localizers taking creative liberties I'm unsure.
That said even if she is not WLW, she is the best Nintendo character in a long time.
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That's actually the reason why I didn't bring it up. As much as I wanted to add the implications of a romantic relationship between Marina & Pearl, I'm not sure how much of that was that localizers adding stuff as opposed to it being in the original Japanese version.
Ya know I hate that I assumed that was the case.
You're totally justified in your reasoning. I'm just salty that it could be something that isn't supported company wide as a healthy WLW between two different characters of different races in Splatoon would only be a positive imo.
Thanks for clarifying for me Neoxon, I appreciate it.
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No problem, I'm an open book on such matters. I'm pretty sure I still have a few drafts where the implied relationship was mentioned.
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Nintendo's newer franchises have a surprising bit of lore. Though unlike with ARMS (at least as of now), Splatoon leans further into said lore in-game.
Helen Marshall from Control. Character design in that game is so cool but she's one of the most striking looking.
I wrote up this post yesterday, but didn't post it.
I respect Respawn for giving us two black women characters from the jump. Wish I had the patience for that sort of team game.
I'll toss in Paladins for my suggestions.
They have three black characters who have a decent amount of lore relevance from what I remember.
Imani, the Dragon Summoning, Ice surfing mage.
Lex, The Lawman Gunslinger.
And Lex's time traveling son, Atlas.
I'll upload pics when I get to my laptop, but I think they're pretty cool characters, especially Imani, who's my main whenever I get into the game.
I respect Respawn for giving us two black women characters from the jump. Wish I had the patience for that sort of team game.
I'll toss in Paladins for my suggestions.
They have three black characters who have a decent amount of lore relevance from what I remember.
Imani, the Dragon Summoning, Ice surfing mage.
Lex, The Lawman Gunslinger.
And Lex's time traveling son, Atlas.
I'll upload pics when I get to my laptop, but I think they're pretty cool characters, especially Imani, who's my main whenever I get into the game.
Marina is dope and the design team on Splatoon benefits from younger, more worldly people on it.
Interesting! Haven't played in a long time, but I was playing in Japanese and never picked up on any vibes from their conversations, but now I feel like I should check it out again and pay more attention.
Interesting! Haven't played in a long time, but I was playing in Japanese and never picked up on any vibes from their conversations, but now I feel like I should check it out again and pay more attention.
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If you could check for us, that'd be greatly appreciated. I'll properly credit you for any findings you bring forth.
You totally should! Well More I suppose I hope you do rather lol. I'd love to hear about it directly rather than Tumblr Translations.
However like I said that maybe a specific thing localizers added but even from what I've seen there are indeed aspects of it in the Japanese release.
It happens a lot more in the lore, when they dive into Marina's personal life, what Pearl means to her and how Pearl holds a special place in her heart...also sthey have Pearl be super defensive of Player sided NPC's regarding Marina as certain characters show distrust of Maria given her Octo past.
In certain Euro and I believe the Latin American translations it's a lot more blatant.
I never knew about Marina and Pearls potential relationship, this makes me love them even more. Nintendo should make this cannon.
Do we know who did the localization of Splatoon 2? Because if it was Treehouse, they have a history of removing queer content, rather than adding it in. Fire Emblem: Three Houses, for example, has a lot of queer erasure in Treehouse's english localization that doesn't exist in other territories.
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Nailed it, Alyx is today's character.
DAY 12: ALYX VANCE (HALF-LIFE)Half-Life is a series that means a lot to a ton of people, one that took years until it got a new entry. But when it finally got a new game, not only did it become the marquee game for VR, it also pushed Alyx Vance to the forefront (with the game being named after her). Originally the secondary protagonist behind series protagonist Gordon Freeman, Alyx made her debut in Half-Life 2 & became an equally iconic character up to the aforementioned Half-Life: Alyx (where she took center stage). That being said, I should preface this with the fact that there are spoilers for Half-Life: Alyx in this post. So only read the lore part if you're either already played Half-Life: Alyx or don't mind being spoiled.
Alyx's family photo, one of the few things to survive the Black Mesa Incident.
Alyx Vance was born to a black father (Eli) & an asian mother (Azian), living at the Black Mesa Research Facility's dormitories. When Azian was killed during the Black Mesa Incident, G-Man ended up saving Alyx from the chaos (Alyx was a little girl at the time, so she doesn't remember much of the incident). From then on, it was on Eli to raise Alyx on his own (likely at Black Mesa East) during the Combine's reign over the world. She even built Dog (a sentient robot body guard), who always knows where Alyx is, when she was a kid (a testament to her hacking skills). It didn't take long for Alyx to join the resistance once she became an adult. Hell, she was already doing reconnaissance missions by age 19 & helping with citizen evacuation to Black Mesa East when she was 24. She's plenty capable on all fronts. But as for Alyx as a person, she's generally an optimistic woman with a bit of a sense of humor. But her friendliness shouldn't be mistaken for passiveness, as she doesn't take shit directed at her or anyone else she cares about (just ask Dr. Mossman). Though even in Dr. Mossman's case, Alyx's hostility towards him was eventually addressed (more on that later). Speaking of which, onto the lore.
Alyx during the events of Half-Life: Alyx. Not much to say here considering that this is concept/promotional art.
Alyx ends up helping Gordon Freeman quite a lot over the course of Half-Life 2, right from the first chapter where she takes down the CPs solo (though their united front is cut short when Kleiner's device screws up & teleports the two apart after they visited his lab). Hell, Alyx is actually the one who gives Gordon his Gravity Gun. And while she was separated yet again in their assault on City 17 via kidnapping at the hands of the Overwatch Soldiers, she was still able to help Gordon where she could. Alyx even reached some kind of truce with traitor Dr. Judith Mossman to get herself, her dad, & Gordon out of lock-up. But right at the end, Alyx was frozen in time via the Dark Energy explosion while G-Man got Gordon out. Though don't worry, the Vortigaunts do end up saving Alyx in the events of Half-Life 2: Episode One (though the primary reason she survived was due to G-Man getting her out right before the Resonance Cascade was destroyed). Fortunately, the two weren't split up for the majority of this game as well as Episode Two, as they were trying to get out of City 17 (which they barely accomplished) in the case of the former. For the latter, Alyx got injured after an encounter on the way to White Forest following their train ride out of City 17 going sideways (she does recover thanks to some Antilon extract). But that wasn't the end of her troubles, as she had to watch helplessly as the Advisor killed her father. Dog does deliver the beatdown on said Advisor, but the damage was already done. So yeah, Alyx went through quite a lot. But if the rest of her story is any indication, she's strong both physically & mentally. It's just a shame that we never got to see what happens afterwards.Going into the events of Half-Life: Alyx (five years prior to Half-Life 2), Alyx & her father Eli were captured by the Combine after the latter came across info regarding Combine's superweapon. Russell (a mechanic with the Resistance) breaks out Alyx & later saved her dad, who he knows will die in the future (which he tells Alyx about). Although he promises to avert this, we don't know what changes Half-Life: Alyx will bring about to the timeline (more on that later). From there, they went to the Vault to contain the superweapon mentioned earlier, only to find out that one of its prisoners was a Black Mesa Incident survivor. Alyx though it was the protagonist of the other games (Gordon Freeman), but it was actually G-Man. He basically does a "No you" to Alyx's request to get the Combine ship off-world, instead taking Alyx to the future so she can save her father by killing the Advisor (who kills Eli in the future). After that, G-Man puts Alyx in stasis despite her wishes to the contrary. Given how recent Half-Life: Alyx is, there's no way of knowing how much the timeline will be changed by the events of the game. The rest of the discussion will be about the original timeline.
Considering that Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel, the fact that her design didn't change much over the years makes sense.
Alyx's designs have remained mostly consistent over the years, likely due to the fact that her most recent appearance (Half-Life: Alyx) was a prequel to her debut game (Half-Life 2). Her design is short, sweet, & to the point. A zip-up hoodie, a leather jacket, fingerless gloves, jeans, & boots. Alyx's skin is somewhat lighter than you'd expect from most black women given her biracial heritage, but you won't catch me questioning one's blackness (especially given that her face model is Jamil Mullen). Though simple on the surface, there are little details that speak volumes about her character. The hooded sweater Alyx wears under her leather jacket is adorned with the Black Mesa logo & branding, a callback to where she grew up. The box-like necklace she wears belonged to her late mother, so that serves as a reminder of what she lost (even she was really young at the time of her mom's death). Even the fact that the right sleeve of Alyx's leather jacket is duct taped together shows that she isn't one to throw something out so easily (this is more of a detail from the original Half-Life 2 rather than Half-Life: Alyx, where Alyx's jacket was in-tact). Outside of that & her right arm bandage in HL2, Alyx has practical elements such as her green belt (which holds her gun & EMP Tool) & her headband holding her hair back from getting in front of her face. Basically the name of the game with Alyx's design is practicality. And while that doesn't exactly make for a very detailed design section, it does its job & does it well. Plus it helps that she isn't really sexualized, one aspect of colorism in games that Valve dodged with Alyx's design. So yeah, good job, Valve. As mentioned before, sometimes less is more.
Alyx is another case where I have very few complaints. There is something to be said about there being very few dark-skinned black women in gaming. But Alyx's case is justified given her mixed heritage (& again, I'm not here to question one's blackness). Funny enough, her first VA (Merle Dandridge) was also half black & half asian (her mom was Korean) & was originally gonna return to voice her in Half-Life: Alyx. But she sadly didn't return, replaced by Ozioma Akagha (also a black actress). So for both VAs, there's no issue of having a non-black actress. Likewise, Alyx avoids most of the colorist pitfalls of black women in media thanks to her more friendly personality & her design not being overly sexualized. So yeah, Valve did great with Alyx as a character.
Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the next character in the Shooters Section of Black Characters of Gaming Celebration. As for tomorrow, the fact that I listed the franchise should be clue enough as to who it is (I mean, how could I NOT include him).
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Alyx is my favorite companion in any video game (except frog from chrono trigger idk why this isn't about that man). Playing Half Life 2 for the first time when I was like... 9 or 10 was an eye opener in terms of how lifelike the game was. Like I'm sure the game's tech showcase-ness had a bigger impact on older gamers who had a better understanding of how far tech has gone up to HL2 but dude. The facial expressions were so lifelike. She was the first NPC in a game that felt kinda... real to me? Like it was a legitimate person. Not just a video game character with dialogue. She kicked ass in HL2, even moreso in the episodes, and a LOT more in Alyx. I can't wait to see what happens with her in HL3. Honestly I'm probably more excited to see Alyx's story in HL3 (and Dog tbh) than I am to see how Gordon's story continues in 3. Given the ending of episode 2 along with the VR prequel, I'm guessing I'm not alone in this sentiment.
Yeah, they did a great job with her personality and design. Even now, few characters compare.
Yeah, Alyx! Great writeup, Neoxon.
Any time Alyx popped up in HL2, the game was immediately better for it.
Any time Alyx popped up in HL2, the game was immediately better for it.
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Wish granted, the Demoman has arrived.
DAY 13: DEMOMAN (TEAM FORTRESS)Yes, I know, Demoman is another Valve character. But like I said last week going from Leroy Smith to Zasalamel, my rule was only for not doubling up on the same franchise. Doubling up on the same company is fair game. Plus, Demoman (especially the one who would take up the class in Team Fortress 2) is far too iconic of a character in both shooters & in general for me to pass up. There was nowhere that I could put him except here in the main list. And while yes, the Demoman started off as…….whatever he was in the original Team Fortress & a white guy in Team Fortress Classic, this version of the Demoman is a completely different character to hold up the class. And given Team Fortress 2's status in the world of first person shooters, he's by far the most iconic version. Though the same could be said for any of the characters in TF2's various classes.
Travish/Demoman in his younger years, with this panel being one of the points on inconsistency regarding his origin story (more on that later).
Travish Finnegan DeGroot hails from Ullapool, Scotland, United Kingdom & has always had a fascination with explosions. Travish was abandoned by his parents at birth because, & I kid you not, as part of a tradition of the Highland Demolition Men to leave the child behind until their skills manifested. He ended up losing his first set of adoptive parents when he was 6…….after his first plan to kill the Loch Ness Monster went sideways. However, it was during his his time at the Crypt Grammar School for Orphans that Travish was able to refine his bomb-making skills…….at the cost of his left eye. Though it should be noted that the specifics of how Travish lost said left eye are rather inconsistent depending on the comic. The WAR! comic shows him with both eyes in-tact alongside his parents, but the Bombinomicon comic has him lose the eye due to a magical spell to keep the Bombinomicon from possessing him. As a side note, you may be wondering "Why can't the Medic just bring back the eye?". And you'd be right, as he tried just that on Demoman. But due to the fact that the eye socket was cursed rather than the eyeball, any attempts to regrow the eyeball have the eyeball become a monster due to the aforementioned curse. Back to the origin story, it was after Travish mastered his skills with explosives when the aforementioned birth parents returned to him, which began his training to become the Demoman we know today. Well, that & him constantly drinking (he's actually a living distillery, I kid you not, he even made blood-sucking robots get alcohol poisoning). Outside of all that, Demoman is actually pretty damn wealthy thanks to his smart investments & even has a mansion. But that's basically it for Demoman as a person. Team Fortress 2 isn't filled with a ton of backstory, but the bits that are there are typically played up for laughs given the nature of the game's world. But I suppose that was made apparent right from the start.
Demoman can fill quite a few roles on the team as far as damage-dealers go.
Demoman is a pretty versatile character despite being classified as a defensive character. He can lay down damage for days from mid-range, even indirectly. So you can get quite creative with how you land damage on people. This is perfect for dealing with those pesky turrets that are bodying the entire team. But if you really want to get creative, you can use Demoman's Stickybomb Launcher to catch opponents by surprise with an explosion they didn't expect. This is perfect for protecting various objectives like carts or intelligence, as you don't have to babysit the intelligence 24/7 (which is good, as you need to steal theirs anyway). Just make sure that the stickybombs aren't easy to spot. There's also the fact that Demoman is actually one of the better melee combatants in the game, with his melee items dealing quite a bit of damage. As for his health, he's generally on-par with Pyro with 175 health. Not bad by any means, since he's higher than most. But Demoman is definitely no Soldier regarding his ability to take a hit, forget Heavy. Still, the Demoman can certainly contribute to the team in the right hands, something that can be applied to any of TF2's characters.
There's not a lot going on with his design, but damn did they make the most of what's there.
Demoman's design is very simplistic to the point where, like a fighting game character, you learn everything you need to know about the character from a quick glance. He's an explosives expert, & that's made clear from his grenade launcher & shell rounds strapped to his upper body. He rocks a beanie & a regular old eyepatch, the latter of which alongside Demoman's scruffy beard communicates that he's been through shit (which isn't entirely inaccurate). The bullet-proof vest he wears covers a smiley face drawing taped to his crotch area, which is a funny little gag. Besides that, he wears the usual team garb (red or blue) over a long-sleeve white shirt with typical combat boots. There's not a whole lot to say about his design because it makes the most of the few elements it has. To be honest, I'm not sure what else I can say about Demoman's design. Pretty much all of TF2's designs are top-tier (exemplifying the "less is more" design logic).
Between his accent & his drinking problem, Demoman goes the Dudley route of being more of a Scottish stereotype rather than a black stereotype (Dudley's route was a British stereotype, but you get the point). And while that is a different route, there are certainly still problems with this on the Scottish side of things. Likewise, Demoman shares a voice actor with Heavy Weapons Guy (Gary Schwartz), who is indeed white. I'm not doubting Gary's talent, but it definitely would have been nice for Demoman to actually be voiced by a black actor. That aside, there's not a lot to say about the Demoman that I haven't already said. He's a very iconic black character in not only shooters, but also gaming as a whole. But like with the quality of the designs, the latter could be said for basically all of TF2.
Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the next character in the Shooters Section of Black Characters of Gaming Celebration. As for tomorrow, he wanted to be sent out with a bang. So who am I to not make that happen here?
Ikora Rey and Lord Saladin from Destiny / Destiny 2
Ikora is the Warlock Vanguard leader and was a big part of the story for D1 / D2's base games + early expansions. Unfortunately she doesn't get much to do in D2 nowadays likely due to her voice actress Gina Torres being too busy, which is a shame because she's one of my favorite characters in the games.
Lord Saladin is the last of the Iron Lords and had an expansion in D1 that revolved around him and his back story with what happened to the rest of the Iron Lords. He runs the monthly PVP tournament Iron Banner and is all around just a badass.
Opening cutscene of Rise of Iron with Saladin is great:
Ikora is the Warlock Vanguard leader and was a big part of the story for D1 / D2's base games + early expansions. Unfortunately she doesn't get much to do in D2 nowadays likely due to her voice actress Gina Torres being too busy, which is a shame because she's one of my favorite characters in the games.
Lord Saladin is the last of the Iron Lords and had an expansion in D1 that revolved around him and his back story with what happened to the rest of the Iron Lords. He runs the monthly PVP tournament Iron Banner and is all around just a badass.
Opening cutscene of Rise of Iron with Saladin is great:
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I can't believe it, Arc System Works actually made Nagoriyuki's palms lighter!
ASW is actually fucking listening & I love it!
ASW is actually fucking listening & I love it!
Week 2: Characters From Shooters
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Another week done, & it's honestly weird how fast time is flying this month. Also, making these compilation posts are actually harder than they look considering that I have to go back & reverse the order (which typically results in weird stuff that I have to go in & correct). And before we start, here are the poll results.
WEEK 2: CHARACTERS FROM SHOOTERS
DAY 8: BAPTISTE (OVERWATCH)
I have a lot of choice words for Activision Blizzard, especially regarding their decisions over the last few years. But I can give credit where it's due. And the Overwatch team has been hitting it out of the park with their characters (especially with regards to their designs). Though I guess your team having some of the last bits of the old Blizzard will do that. Anyway, Baptiste is one of the post-launch heroes added to Overwatch who's in the Support class (lord knows we could use more of them……& tanks). Overwatch has a couple of black characters (from Lúcio to Doomfist to the upcoming Sojourn), but I ultimately went with Bap since I figured that my list could use a Haitian character. Of course, there's the issue of Overwatch still not having a black woman (& the one in the pipeline, Sojourn, not being until Overwatch 2), which is honestly weird given how diverse the roster is otherwise. That aside, Baptiste is actually one of the few Overwatch characters with a considerable amount of pre-OW2 lore to go off of. Not to mention that I put a ton of hours into him as a support main. So let's get to it.
UPDATE: I literally JUST realized that today (2/8/21) is Blizzard's 30th anniversary. Talk about a coincidence.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, even if you aren't on the same side of it as before.
Jean-Baptiste Augustin was among millions of orphaned children during the Omnic Crisis that led to the initial formation of Overwatch. Wanting to make a difference, Baptiste joined the military & was later stationed at the Caribbean Coalition (a pan-island defense force to fight the Omnics) as a medic. When the Omnic Crisis ended, Baptiste went into military work for Talon. Said work earned Baptiste a good amount of money, money he used for the betterment of his community when he opened up a clinic in his hometown of Tortuga, Haiti. But it was only a matter of time until Baptiste learned of Talon's true colors. Four years before Winston issued the Overwatch recall, Baptiste had to go to Monte Cristi to assassinate the Playa Cartel's leader (Daniel Fernández) for muscling in on Talon territory. By the time Baptiste & the others got to the safe house, Daniel was already gone & only his soldiers remained. Captain Cuerva then ordered the other Talon soldiers to search every single house in the area to find Daniel, terrifying the residents. Baptiste didn't want any of this & was about to leave, but then a dropship opened fire. This resulted in a ton of chaos, destruction, & looting. Baptiste, having just been knocked back by the explosion, drew his gun to a silhouette in the smoke. But Baptiste then saw that it was just a little girl, devastated & angry over the destruction of her home, a direct reflection of Baptiste's own tragic origin. It was then that he knew what Talon's true colors were. From there, Baptiste wanted out, but his longtime partner Mauga intercepted him. Eventually Mauga let Baptiste go, knowing that he would owe Mauga one later. Obviously Talon wouldn't take Baptiste's departure lying down (especially given how much he knows), so they went after his base of operations. But being one step ahead of them, Baptiste evaded capture & dealt with the strike team personally (even sending the emblems of said strike team members back to Cuerva). Of course, this wouldn't be the last time Baptiste would have a run-in with his former colleagues.
Of course Talon wouldn't let Baptiste get far, Mauga especially.
Going into the events of "What You Left Behind", Baptiste operated under the alias "Dr. Mondésir" (named after his childhood friend, as pointed out by Hotbug) at a small clinic in Port-au-Paix. And just as Baptiste was having issues getting medicine given Sainclair Pharmaceuticals's ridiculous price increases, Mauga & Trung Le Nguyen (Baptiste's former colleagues from Talon) came in to collect Baptiste's debt to Mauga by getting him to help shake Vernand Sainclair down for money he owed Talon. Baptiste begrudgingly agrees, knowing that he didn't have much of a choice with both Mauga & Trung present. When Sainclair was eventually cornered, he bargained with the fact that he got the recall order from Winston, saying that he had information on various Overwatch agents (he was a double-agent within Overwatch as a handler, secretly feeding info to Talon prior to Overwatch's collapse). Angered by Sainclair's actions but knowing that he couldn't kill him, Baptiste took off with Sainclair, shot his arm, & declared that Sainclair had to make his medicine free. Baptiste almost escaped, but Mauga intercepted him again. Knowing that he couldn't let Baptiste get away again, Mauga & Baptiste had one last confrontation. This resulted in a gun battle that ended in a huge explosion (from Baptiste's fake surrender, followed by throwing an explosive in the air that he shot) that Baptiste survived thanks to his immortality field. The whereabouts of Mauga after that was unknown. But given that he was originally planned to be a hero (& likely still is) before ultimately being replaced by Sigma, I doubt this is the last we'll see of Mauga. Though if I may go on a tangent, while I understand that the kit that Sigma ultimately got didn't fit Mauga's character very well, they could have added someone a bit more unique than yet another white guy. Not to mention that Sigma himself plays into negative mental illness stereotypes, but that's a topic that's been covered plenty elsewhere.
kotaku.com
That lamp saved my team's collective asses more times than I can count. Use it wisely.
As mentioned earlier, Baptiste is a combat medic in the Support class. He's often considered a main healer (especially in recent metas) with plenty of potential to secure kills between his primary fire (a three-shot burst round) & his ultimate (more on that later). His secondary fire is a healing round that gives burst healing to whoever the shot lands on, with the trade-off being that Baptiste can't heal himself with it. To do that, Baptiste has to use his Regenerative Burst ability, healing everyone within a certain radius (including himself). The Immortality Field mentioned in the What You Left Behind section is an actual ability in the game, keeping everyone within the field from dying as long as the lamp stays up within its limited duration (though it can be destroyed prior to the end of said duration). Baptiste also has a passive ability (Exo Boots) that allows him to use crouch to charge a really high jump for the sake of positioning which, while useful from a mechanical standpoint, sadly plays into the "black people can jump high" stereotype. Baptiste's ultimate is Amplification Matrix, a giant transparent wall that increases the damage & healing potential of any projectile that passes through it. This ultimate actually saw a huge buff recently when the actual window was widened, allowing for more players to fire through the ultimate. Because of all this, Baptiste requires that you have good mechanical skill, game sense, & positioning. Those who play Overwatch well in general will excel with Baptiste, as being weak in even one of the three aspects will have you lose a lot of value with the character.
This is actually a solid-ass design, & his hair game is certainly on-point.
Regarding Baptiste's design, it's alright. Gotta give props to Baptiste's barber for that fade along with his short dreads. This is broken up with a scar on the upper-right side (his right, not ours) of his head, showing that he's been through some shit. He also has a tattoo on his right arm, but I couldn't really find the cultural significance behind it (if someone can chime in on the matter, I'd appreciate it). That aside, his outfit is mainly blue, black, & orange with a whiteish-gray abdominal guard. Though beyond his gun, Baptiste wears three major pieces of technology. His scouter (yes, they do make a Dragon Ball joke with it in-game via one of his sprays), his Exo Boosts being the gray braces around his lower legs, & the backpack he wears that both does the healing burst as well as the Amplification Matrix through the projector that protracts on the left side of said backpack. Overall, it's an effective design that, while not setting the world on fire, does its job of conveying Baptiste's character & abilities pretty well.
My only major complaint about Baptiste is the aforementioned "black people jump high" stereotype that's invoked through his Exo Boost passive ability. Outside of that, I don't really have any complaints. His design is solid, he's actually voiced by a Haitian actor, & his lore is pretty interesting. Usually this section would be longer, but I don't really have much else to say about the character that I didn't cover already. There's definitely room for improvement, but the pros of Baptiste outweigh the cons. He's just a cool character who's fun to play……if only the Support class had more characters (something that I'd imagine that they'll try to address in Overwatch 2). But seriously, we need more black women in Overwatch. Sojourn is a start, but don't stop at her. We shouldn't have gone 5 years without a single black woman being added to the roster.
DAY 9: ROLAND (BORDERLANDS)
Roland is one of the OGs of the first Borderlands game alongside the likes of Brick, Lillith, & Mordecai (with Roland being classified under the Soldier class). It goes without saying that he eventually returned in 2, but not in 3 (for story-related reasons that I'll get into). Though thinking about it, it's kinda funny how Roland ended up being right after Baptiste for this thread, as both of them used to work for antagonistic forces before their eventual face turns.
The original Vault Hunters of the first Borderlands game. Brings back memories.....weird how they're even remotely nostalgic now.
His gameplay can be summarized a bit more simply given the nature of Borderlands. He mainly uses combat rifles & shotguns, with his Action Skill being the ability to deploy the Scorpio Turret (designed by Atlas Manufacturers SE, part of the Atlas Corporation……more on them later). Because Borderlands has RPG elements along with its FPS gameplay, you can level up your characters in various ways. In Roland's case, his skill upgrades even has a medic tree, another thing he has in common with Baptiste on a surface level. Basically he can hold his own in the field while also providing cover to back up the team. It's been a while since I last played Borderlands, but I enjoyed my time playing as him. Anyway, on to the lore.
Yeah, the Atlas Corporation weren't exactly jazzed that their Sergeant wanted out.
Roland used to be a Sergeant of the Crimson Lance's 114th Bouncer Division. For context, the Crimson Lance is basically the Atlas Corporation's private military imposing their will on the people said company reigns over. While he was listed as dishonorably discharged, that's pretty much the only kind of discharge that comes with leaving the Crimson Lance anyway (plus a bullet in the head, which Roland avoided upon him leaving). Though generally, Roland doesn't really like to talk about his time with the Crimson Lance. Focusing on his life after the Crimson Lance, Roland traveled around with Lilith, Brick, & Mordecai as the Vault Hunters. Lead along by Angel (who worked for Hyperion, Claptrap's creator, & showed up in the team's heads on occasion), they were able to get various pieces of a Vault Key & get to the Vault itself (which held a ton of alien tech & knowledge). They also had to take down Crimson Lance, the very organization that Roland walked away from, freeing Pandora in the process. Roland & Lilith (they were dating at the time) eventually went on to take on the remnants of the group after the Atlas Corporation left them for dead, creating the Crimson Raiders. But before then, the Vault Hunters went to Elpis (Pandora's moon) to reluctantly deal with Colonel Zarpedon in the middle of their vacation while also making sure that Jack, who helped the team but also had his own plans for the laser they had to obtain couldn't use said laser (it was actually Roland who made sure Jack didn't get what he wanted). Of course, there was a bounty that the Atlas Corporation placed on Roland's head. One that the Bloodshots would want to collect during the events of Borderlands 2. After being rescued, Roland takes on the role of quest-giver in Borderlands 2 as a new team of Vault Hunters took up the playable reigns. And although Roland sadly met his end in Borderlands 2, his legacy would still be felt going forward considering that he had an entire town named after him in Borderlands 3. There was also a manifestation of him in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, but that Tiny Tina's view of Roland rather than it actually being him. So yeah, he may be gone, but he surely wasn't forgotten in the game's world.
His design didn't change a whole lot between the two Borderlands games.
Not a whole lot to say regarding Roland's design. It's basically typical army garb fitting of the setting for Borderlands. Though they do use the gray shirt (with the sleeves rolled up, exposing Roland's skull tattoo on his left forearm) to break up green of the armor, with his left shoulder guard being the defining part of his silhouette. Said asymmetry continues with his shin & knee guards, those being present on his left leg & right knee respectively. The beanie seems to be made form the same material as his shirt, & is paired with his signature goggles. Not much of the design changed going into Borderlands 2 on paper, but the simple removal of his upper body armor as well as his beanie/goggles combo being traded for a beret for the Crimson Raiders does push the idea that a fair amount of time has passed since the first game. It's not a bad design, though a lot of the reason why I feel like it stands out is thanks to the distinct art style of Borderlands (which isn't a bad thing). I guess it doesn't stand out all that much to me because, as mentioned before, black army men aren't an uncommon thing in games.
Outside of the whole black army guy archetype being used a bit too often & his design not being as vibrant as I would like for a Borderlands character (I get why given his character, but still), I ultimately don't have many complaints about Roland. He's a cool character, is actually voiced by black actor for both of his VAs, & was fun to play in the first Borderlands game. Part of me just wishes he didn't bite the big one in Borderlands 2. But yeah, solid job, Gearbox. You made it to where I didn't have to write a whole lot.
Look, I can explain. Yes, Lifeline is the third in the combat medic streak (Roland is a bit of a stretch, but his skill tree for healing counts). But I have a legitimate excuse here besides my bias for the Support class. In a (pleasantly) surprising turn of events, Lifeline is actually the face of Apex Legends. She's featured quite prominently in promotional material (though not on the box art for whatever reason). With that in mind, it made sense to give her the nod for Apex Legends' entry. Though full disclosure, it was between her & Bangalore for this spot, and it was a pretty tough decision. But I guess that speaks more to the great options Respawn brought to the table, especially with regards to black women. Anyway, let's get to the rest of the write-up.
Lifeline's good deeds did not go unnoticed.
Apex Legends doesn't exactly have a ton of lore. That said, Lifeline did get a comic focusing on her story not too long ago (Season 7), so I'll mix in references to that where I can. Ajay Che is the daughter of a pair of war profiteer parents who've amassed quite a bit of wealth from their jobs. Realizing the damage her folks have caused, Ajay left home (cutting off her parents in the process) to join the Frontier Corps (much to her parents' dismay), a humanitarian organization that helps out Frontier communities that need the assistance. So you can kinda see the irony in her joining the Apex Games, which is quite literally a bloodsport (though Lifeline keeps telling herself that she doesn't have an issue with it). In Lifeline's case, she's only in it to get the winnings to the Frontier Corps so they can continue their efforts to help others. So in her case, it's a case of the pros outweighing the cons, as well as her compassion for others shining through despite both the personality traits she puts forward (coming off as more of a sarcastic, callous person) as well as the nature of the Apex Games she's partaking in. Though it's between this & the whole Frontier Corps that created a rift between Lifeline & her parents, her dad especially. They're of the belief that she should be home, but Lifeline is too vocally against her parents' jobs to just stand by & benefit from it while not doing anything about it. It's through this that Lifeline shows her strong moral compass as well as her compassion for others (including her childhood friend Octavio Silva, now Octane).
Lifeline's front-&-center with the rest of the OG cast.
As I mentioned, Lifeline is a combat healer. So not unlike Baptiste, she'll be able to hold her own in a fight as well being able to save her group's asses. Her primary means of healing is actually her tactical ability, the D.O.C Heal Drone, which heals anyone within a certain radius (though it doesn't stay permanently). Lifeline also has a passive ability in the form of a drone meant for protecting her as she's resurrecting one of her allies (Combat Revive). It'll disappear once the revive is complete, & it'll stay on the original revival target until the job is done. So while you could go to another person who needs saving mid-rez, the second target won't be covered. It'll even continue with the resurrection if the entire squad is killed during the resurrection process. And regarding Lifeline's ultimate, it's actually a care package that drops shields, items that can replenish shields &/or health, and new weapon attachments. There's also her passive perk, Low Profile, that makes her harder to hit while also slightly increasing the damage she does take. So the key to winning with her is to heal after every fight when possible, get your ultimate as quickly as possible, & play around the shield when reviving one of your teammates.
A simple yet effective design that does its job & does it damn well.
Due to the nature of Apex Legends, Lifeline actually has a number of color variations as well as alternate costumes. But like with Baptiste, I'm mainly gonna focus on Lifeline's default design. With that being said, I actually quite like Lifeline's design. For one, it's nice to have a black woman in this thread who doesn't have white hair & blue eyes (not hating on Twintelle by any means, but it's just a nice change of pace). She definitely rocks that magenta hair, plus it's tied up (which is practical given that she's in the heat of battle). Given that she's a humanitarian worker helping those ravaged by war as well as a healer in the field, it would make sense that she's immediately armed with medical supplies. It's actually with Lifeline's surgical gloves as well has her bright blue tattoo from her shoulder all the way down to her left arm that blue is the stand-out color to break up all the greens, whites, & grays of the outfit. Well, that & her magenta hair, but I already brought that up. Though it should be noted that while said tattoo is supposed to be blue (especially in this render), it appears to be either a darker shade of blue or a pale shade or black in certain lighting. Even in the comic referenced in the lore section, her tattoo is more black than blue. So there's a bit of an inconsistency with regards to how said tattoo is depicted. With that being said, Lifeline's design basically tells you everything you need to know about her character at a quick glance. Given that Lifeline isn't really big on the whole Apex Games thing, she's obviously not gonna be armored up to the teeth with a wild amount of weapons. She just does what she has to while keeping her teammates alive. And her design communicates that really damn well.
I……really don't have any complaints, not even a minor nitpick. Though if you're wondering about Lifeline's voice actress, it's actually Mela Lee, who is of mixed ethnicity (including a fair amount of black in her lineage). Plus she delivers a great performance as a character. Not to mention that Lifeline directly defies the black soldier archetype in her backstory (becoming a humanitarian worker specifically due to her family profiting from war). So yeah, great job Respawn Entertainment. You basically gave me my main right off the bat.
Splatoon basically took the fast lane to stardom, despite the fact that it debut on one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles. The fact that it's now one of their mainstay franchises is nothing short of amazing. And part of that success is thanks to the game's stellar art design, something that extends to the characters. A prime example of this is Marina, half of the "Off the Hook" musical duo (alongside Pearl) who are prominently seen throughout Splatoon 2. Well……most of Splatoon 2, as the base game's story focuses on the musical duo of the first game ("The Squid Sisters", made up of Callie & Marie) & what they've been up to in the years between the two Splatoon games. But the DLC expansion, Octo Expansion, more than makes up for that. And to be honest, it actually provides quite a bit of lore for Marina, & themes that I didn't expect a Nintendo game to tackle.
Marina back when she worked for the Octarian army.
Marina was born into "the oppression of Octarian society" (her words, actually), being trained to be a combat engineer from youth. Thanks to Marina's high level of intelligence, she skipped multiple grades of school & graduated from elementary training when she was 9. She was actually one of the engineers who designed the Flooder (as seen in Splatoon 1 & 2's story modes as well as the Octo Expansion) in addition to enhancing the Great Octoweapons. This, along with the commendations she got when she was part of DJ Octavio's wasabi supply unit, garnered her quite a reputation amongst the other Octarians (to the point where Agent 8, the Octo Expansion's Octoling protagonist, recognized Marina without having met her prior). But it was the events of Splatoon 1's final boss, namely hearing the Squid Sisters sing Calamari Inkantation, that inspired Marina to break away from DJ Octavio's army & Octarian society as a whole. In fact, she still looks up to the Squid Sisters, as indicated by the decorations she puts on her computer & keytar. After getting away from the other Octarians & later hearing Pearl sing, Marina set out to learn more about the Inkling language & their culture before seeking out Pearl again. Noting her singing talents, Marina showed Pearl her demo (Ebb & Flow), which would later become their first single as the band Off the Hook. The song was a hit, & the rest was history. Marina & Pearl were inseparable from then on, even working together to help out Agent 8 over the course of the Octo Expansion.
On top of this photo being adorable, it shows how far Marina has come.
While not playable herself, Marina (as well as Pearl) is pretty well-defined as a character over the course of Splatoon 2 & especially the Octo Expansion. Marina contrasts Pearl in a number of ways, being more gentle & sweet compared to Pearl's brash & bold nature. Though as shown in their dialogue when you boot up Splatoon 2, Marina can be sassy when she wants to be, something that was blown to extreme levels in the English localization when the game first game out (this was later addressed to be more consistent across all languages). As per Marina's aforementioned high intelligence, she's quite the tech wiz, being shown to be able to hack into various devices as well as corporation servers (such as the Kamabo Corporation, C.Q. Cumber's employer). Her tech proficiency also extends to her interest in technology as a whole, being enamored by the machinery of various maps in the multiplayer portion of Splatoon 2. There are a couple of smaller fun facts about Marina that most would miss, such as the fact that Marina has collected over 5,000 comic books as well as the fact that she owns a motorcycle. But one of the more interesting facts is actually specific to the Japanese version of Marina. In Japanese, Marina sings entirely in katakana, which is supposed to depict her singing in a different language. Obviously this isn't something that can be translated to English without her singing in another language entirely. But it's a neat detail that I thought I should note.
Pearl must have been a great influence with regards to Marina's fashion sense.
Marina has two main designs, her Off the Hook look & her DJ_Hyperfresh casual garb. For the former, it's primarily black & neon green, with the latter color contrasting well with her skin tone. She rocks a sleeveless midriff jacket with a giant zipper, closed-back headphones, puffy shorts with stripes that light up, bright neon green leggings, a neon green belly button piercing, fingerless gloves, & shin-high boots. It should be noted that the neon green parts change color depending on the Splatfest theme (so if her side is red, the neon green parts will be red). It's a bit sexualized for an E10+ game, but I suppose she is a pop star. Outside of that, it's a strong design with a unique silhouette. Plus I love how the tips of her fingers are actually neon green (something that not even the playable Octolings have). As for the casual outfit seen in the Octo Expansion (which is a clear reference to Tupac), she trades her zipper jacket for a regular sleeveless midriff shirt. She also rocks a white bandanna headband, light green jeans, & gray laceless sneakers. The zipper ends up getting replaced with a giant chain necklace with the same symbol as the zipper. That being said, she does keep the belly button piercing & her headphones (the latter of which makes sense given her profession). I actually prefer this design. While having neon green contrast her skin tone is a more interesting idea than white (which isn't uncommon for black characters, especially those from Japanese games), her DJ_Hyperfresh outfit is just really stylish. Even Pearl goes hard for her Octo Expansion outfit, but this section isn't really about her, so I'll keep myself from going off on too much of a tangent. Still, both designs are on-point, & I have to give Nintendo EPD Group 5 props for designing both of her outfits.
Yeah, Nintendo needs better quality control for their merchandise (among other thing).
The aforementioned sexualization of Marina, especially for her primary Off the Hook outfit, does call back some of the colorism concerns I brought up last week with regards to how black women are sexualized compared to those of other ethnicities. And as I mentioned earlier, the original English localization of Marina had her as overly sassy, which is another stereotype of black women in media. But like I said, this was addressed in an update to be more in line with the Japanese version. She still has some sass, but it's within reason now, which I do appreciate. Likewise, she's voiced by Japanese singer Alice Peralta. I get that they wanted a known singer over in Japan, but even projects like Carole & Tuesday (anime, I know, but still) went through the effort of getting a black singer for Carole. It would have been nice if Nintendo EPD Group 5 showed the same initiative, especially when Nintendo EPD Group 9 cooperated with NoA & NoE in the creation of Twintelle (though they also aren't off the hook given Twintelle's white VA). That's not to mention some of the official merchandise white-washing the hell out of Marina (as shown in the image above). Not all of her merchandise did this (her Amiibo thankfully dodged this bullet), but it's was definitely a problem. And these problems could be avoided if Nintendo had more black people in positions of power (for both development & management) to point these things out. This also extends to the rest of the gaming industry, especially in Japan. But even despite those criticisms (addressed or not), Marina is a legitimately great character who's definitely my favorite of the two Off the Hook members. Which reminds me, I need to get her Amiibo.
Half-Life is a series that means a lot to a ton of people, one that took years until it got a new entry. But when it finally got a new game, not only did it become the marquee game for VR, it also pushed Alyx Vance to the forefront (with the game being named after her). Originally the secondary protagonist behind series protagonist Gordon Freeman, Alyx made her debut in Half-Life 2 & became an equally iconic character up to the aforementioned Half-Life: Alyx (where she took center stage). That being said, I should preface this with the fact that there are spoilers for Half-Life: Alyx in this post. So only read the lore part if you're either already played Half-Life: Alyx or don't mind being spoiled.
Alyx's family photo, one of the few things to survive the Black Mesa Incident.
Alyx Vance was born to a black father (Eli) & an asian mother (Azian), living at the Black Mesa Research Facility's dormitories. When Azian was killed during the Black Mesa Incident, G-Man ended up saving Alyx from the chaos (Alyx was a little girl at the time, so she doesn't remember much of the incident). From then on, it was on Eli to raise Alyx on his own (likely at Black Mesa East) during the Combine's reign over the world. She even built Dog (a sentient robot body guard), who always knows where Alyx is, when she was a kid (a testament to her hacking skills). It didn't take long for Alyx to join the resistance once she became an adult. Hell, she was already doing reconnaissance missions by age 19 & helping with citizen evacuation to Black Mesa East when she was 24. She's plenty capable on all fronts. But as for Alyx as a person, she's generally an optimistic woman with a bit of a sense of humor. But her friendliness shouldn't be mistaken for passiveness, as she doesn't take shit directed at her or anyone else she cares about (just ask Dr. Mossman). Though even in Dr. Mossman's case, Alyx's hostility towards him was eventually addressed (more on that later). Speaking of which, onto the lore.
Alyx during the events of Half-Life: Alyx. Not much to say here considering that this is concept/promotional art.
Alyx ends up helping Gordon Freeman quite a lot over the course of Half-Life 2, right from the first chapter where she takes down the CPs solo (though their united front is cut short when Kleiner's device screws up & teleports the two apart after they visited his lab). Hell, Alyx is actually the one who gives Gordon his Gravity Gun. And while she was separated yet again in their assault on City 17 via kidnapping at the hands of the Overwatch Soldiers, she was still able to help Gordon where she could. Alyx even reached some kind of truce with traitor Dr. Judith Mossman to get herself, her dad, & Gordon out of lock-up. But right at the end, Alyx was frozen in time via the Dark Energy explosion while G-Man got Gordon out. Though don't worry, the Vortigaunts do end up saving Alyx in the events of Half-Life 2: Episode One (though the primary reason she survived was due to G-Man getting her out right before the Resonance Cascade was destroyed). Fortunately, the two weren't split up for the majority of this game as well as Episode Two, as they were trying to get out of City 17 (which they barely accomplished) in the case of the former. For the latter, Alyx got injured after an encounter on the way to White Forest following their train ride out of City 17 going sideways (she does recover thanks to some Antilon extract). But that wasn't the end of her troubles, as she had to watch helplessly as the Advisor killed her father. Dog does deliver the beatdown on said Advisor, but the damage was already done. So yeah, Alyx went through quite a lot. But if the rest of her story is any indication, she's strong both physically & mentally. It's just a shame that we never got to see what happens afterwards.
Considering that Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel, the fact that her design didn't change much over the years makes sense.
Alyx's designs have remained mostly consistent over the years, likely due to the fact that her most recent appearance (Half-Life: Alyx) was a prequel to her debut game (Half-Life 2). Her design is short, sweet, & to the point. A zip-up hoodie, a leather jacket, fingerless gloves, jeans, & boots. Alyx's skin is somewhat lighter than you'd expect from most black women given her biracial heritage, but you won't catch me questioning one's blackness (especially given that her face model is Jamil Mullen). Though simple on the surface, there are little details that speak volumes about her character. The hooded sweater Alyx wears under her leather jacket is adorned with the Black Mesa logo & branding, a callback to where she grew up. The box-like necklace she wears belonged to her late mother, so that serves as a reminder of what she lost (even she was really young at the time of her mom's death). Even the fact that the right sleeve of Alyx's leather jacket is duct taped together shows that she isn't one to throw something out so easily (this is more of a detail from the original Half-Life 2 rather than Half-Life: Alyx, where Alyx's jacket was in-tact). Outside of that & her right arm bandage in HL2, Alyx has practical elements such as her green belt (which holds her gun & EMP Tool) & her headband holding her hair back from getting in front of her face. Basically the name of the game with Alyx's design is practicality. And while that doesn't exactly make for a very detailed design section, it does its job & does it well. Plus it helps that she isn't really sexualized, one aspect of colorism in games that Valve dodged with Alyx's design. So yeah, good job, Valve. As mentioned before, sometimes less is more.
Alyx is another case where I have very few complaints. There is something to be said about there being very few dark-skinned black women in gaming. But Alyx's case is justified given her mixed heritage (& again, I'm not here to question one's blackness). Funny enough, her first VA (Merle Dandridge) was also half black & half asian (her mom was Korean) & was originally gonna return to voice her in Half-Life: Alyx. But she sadly didn't return, replaced by Ozioma Akagha (also a black actress). So for both VAs, there's no issue of having a non-black actress. Likewise, Alyx avoids most of the colorist pitfalls of black women in media thanks to her more friendly personality & her design not being overly sexualized. So yeah, Valve did great with Alyx as a character.
Yes, I know, Demoman is another Valve character. But like I said last week going from Leroy Smith to Zasalamel, my rule was only for not doubling up on the same franchise. Doubling up on the same company is fair game. Plus, Demoman (especially the one who would take up the class in Team Fortress 2) is far too iconic of a character in both shooters & in general for me to pass up. There was nowhere that I could put him except here in the main list. And while yes, the Demoman started off as…….whatever he was in the original Team Fortress & a white guy in Team Fortress Classic, this version of the Demoman is a completely different character to hold up the class. And given Team Fortress 2's status in the world of first person shooters, he's by far the most iconic version. Though the same could be said for any of the characters in TF2's various classes.
Travish/Demoman in his younger years, with this panel being one of the points on inconsistency regarding his origin story (more on that later).
Travish Finnegan DeGroot hails from Ullapool, Scotland, United Kingdom & has always had a fascination with explosions. Travish was abandoned by his parents at birth because, & I kid you not, as part of a tradition of the Highland Demolition Men to leave the child behind until their skills manifested. He ended up losing his first set of adoptive parents when he was 6…….after his first plan to kill the Loch Ness Monster went sideways. However, it was during his his time at the Crypt Grammar School for Orphans that Travish was able to refine his bomb-making skills…….at the cost of his left eye. Though it should be noted that the specifics of how Travish lost said left eye are rather inconsistent depending on the comic. The WAR! comic shows him with both eyes in-tact alongside his parents, but the Bombinomicon comic has him lose the eye due to a magical spell to keep the Bombinomicon from possessing him. As a side note, you may be wondering "Why can't the Medic just bring back the eye?". And you'd be right, as he tried just that on Demoman. But due to the fact that the eye socket was cursed rather than the eyeball, any attempts to regrow the eyeball have the eyeball become a monster due to the aforementioned curse. Back to the origin story, it was after Travish mastered his skills with explosives when the aforementioned birth parents returned to him, which began his training to become the Demoman we know today. Well, that & him constantly drinking (he's actually a living distillery, I kid you not, he even made blood-sucking robots get alcohol poisoning). Outside of all that, Demoman is actually pretty damn wealthy thanks to his smart investments & even has a mansion. But that's basically it for Demoman as a person. Team Fortress 2 isn't filled with a ton of backstory, but the bits that are there are typically played up for laughs given the nature of the game's world. But I suppose that was made apparent right from the start.
Demoman can fill quite a few roles on the team as far as damage-dealers go.
Demoman is a pretty versatile character despite being classified as a defensive character. He can lay down damage for days from mid-range, even indirectly. So you can get quite creative with how you land damage on people. This is perfect for dealing with those pesky turrets that are bodying the entire team. But if you really want to get creative, you can use Demoman's Stickybomb Launcher to catch opponents by surprise with an explosion they didn't expect. This is perfect for protecting various objectives like carts or intelligence, as you don't have to babysit the intelligence 24/7 (which is good, as you need to steal theirs anyway). Just make sure that the stickybombs aren't easy to spot. There's also the fact that Demoman is actually one of the better melee combatants in the game, with his melee items dealing quite a bit of damage. As for his health, he's generally on-par with Pyro with 175 health. Not bad by any means, since he's higher than most. But Demoman is definitely no Soldier regarding his ability to take a hit, forget Heavy. Still, the Demoman can certainly contribute to the team in the right hands, something that can be applied to any of TF2's characters.
There's not a lot going on with his design, but damn did they make the most of what's there.
Demoman's design is very simplistic to the point where, like a fighting game character, you learn everything you need to know about the character from a quick glance. He's an explosives expert, & that's made clear from his grenade launcher & shell rounds strapped to his upper body. He rocks a beanie & a regular old eyepatch, the latter of which alongside Demoman's scruffy beard communicates that he's been through shit (which isn't entirely inaccurate). The bullet-proof vest he wears covers a smiley face drawing taped to his crotch area, which is a funny little gag. Besides that, he wears the usual team garb (red or blue) over a long-sleeve white shirt with typical combat boots. There's not a whole lot to say about his design because it makes the most of the few elements it has. To be honest, I'm not sure what else I can say about Demoman's design. Pretty much all of TF2's designs are top-tier (exemplifying the "less is more" design logic).
Between his accent & his drinking problem, Demoman goes the Dudley route of being more of a Scottish stereotype rather than a black stereotype (Dudley's route was a British stereotype, but you get the point). And while that is a different route, there are certainly still problems with this on the Scottish side of things. Likewise, Demoman shares a voice actor with Heavy Weapons Guy (Gary Schwartz), who is indeed white. I'm not doubting Gary's talent, but it definitely would have been nice for Demoman to actually be voiced by a black actor. That aside, there's not a lot to say about the Demoman that I haven't already said. He's a very iconic black character in not only shooters, but also gaming as a whole. But like with the quality of the designs, the latter could be said for basically all of TF2.
Avery was sent to Harvest to investigate some disappearances, I doubt anyone expect it'd be the start of a massive war.
Avery Junior Johnson grew up in his hometown of Chicago. When his parents split up, he was raised by his aunt from then on. It was actually because of Avery's Aunt Marcille that he holds his strong religious beliefs, to the point where he often questions whether to kill other humans. But that only really applied to humans, Covenants on the other hand Avery had no qualms mowing down for the sake of protecting humanity. This later led to a 19-year-old Avery Johnson to join the UNSC Marine Corps, undergoing enhancement procedures that would be retroactively named "SPARTAN-I" that allowed him to remain in active duty far longer than the average human. If this sounds familiar, it should, as Master Chief is actually a part of the SPARTAN-II program (which means that Avery is technically the predecessor to Master Chief). Avery went on a number of missions, though two of the most noteworthy ones were Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE (where he assassinated Jerald Ander) Operation: TREBUCHET. It was during the latter mission that Sgt. Johnson's hesitation (namely to avoid hitting a child being held hostage) led to the deaths of Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne's entire squad (minus Byrne himself) & everyone in the restaurant where the incident happened (totaling at 39 civilians & 3 marines), leading to Byrne holding a lot of animosity towards Avery. Upon Avery's return back to Chicago following the incident, he found that his aunt had passed away, sending him into an alcohol-fueled rut while grieving her death. When Avery was at his absolute lowest, Lieutenant Downs sent Avery on a mission to create a covert anti-insurgency unit to go after a group that may have been responsible for the disappearances of various DCS freighters throughout Harvest (it was officially recognized as Avery training the Colonial Militia). It was actually on Harvest where Avery & Byrne got some closure regarding the events of TREBUCHET via a bar fight. Avery had the first encounter with the Covenant during his time on Harvest. It was then that Avery joined Operation: SILENT STORM, which was basically a counterattack against the Covenant meant to buy time so humanity can create a means of countering them after it became clear that the Covenant didn't want peace with the humans. And while the battle that ensued resulted in the loss of Harvest, Avery & the others got most of the soldiers to safety. Avery entered a relationship with Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni (one of the soldiers who helped in the Battle of Harvest) not long after for an undisclosed amount of time. From then on, Avery would be instrumental in the fight against the Covenant throughout Bungie's Halo games. Avery was one of the few survivors of a search-&-destroy mission at Gamma Station, was instrumental in helping Master Chief on the Ring in the first Halo game, was the sole survivor of the Flood swarm that awaited his squad when they found a weapons cache, & was promoted to Sergeant Major for his heroism. Avery even formed an uneasy alliance with the Arbiter after being captured by him & Tartarus (who Avery met back on Harvest). He lost a lot of allies along the way, including Commander Miranda Keyes (who was actually captured alongside Avery & helped stop Halo's activation alongside the Arbiter prior to her death). Though through Keyes' sacrifice, Avery alongside Master Chief & Arbiter were able to take down the High Prophet of Truth. Unfortunately, Avery would meet his own end in Halo 3 on the new Halo ring, but it was through his actions of activating the ring before his death that helped free the human race from the Flood. Even if he wasn't playable until Halo: Reach, Avery Johnson left one hell of a legacy.
Gotta hand it to Avery, he was there from start to finish. Plus not many can say that they were friends with Master Chief.
Avery's larger-than-life personality was only rivaled by his compassion for his fellow troops (despite how hard he pushed them). Said eccentricity shined through his speeches as well as his tendency to nickname his opponents. Though is "humor in the face of danger" attitude would begin to fade away in favor of a more serious straightforward mindset going into Halo 3, which does make sense between all the battles he endured & the years going by maturing & hardening Avery. That said, like with Alyx, his compassion shouldn't be mistaken for passiveness, as Avery is much more brutal towards his enemies than even Master Chief (something that Avery himself noted at one point). He was a good man hardened by war & persevered despite dealing with the PTSD inflicted upon him by his last mission. But there's nobody you would want to cross less, even compared to Master Chief.
I guess Halo isn't the kind of game for overly bright & out-there designs besides the aliens (though the aliens are justifiably out-there design-wise).
Avery's design hasn't changed a whole lot over the years. But given that he was a long-standing character in Bungie's Halo games, that makes a lot of sense. As mentioned before, Avery fits into the black soldier archetype (but again, most of the major protagonists in Halo are futuristic super soldiers anyway). So a lot of his outfit is practical army wear with a lot of greens & grays. The main standout parts of Avery's look are his thick mustache & squared cap, which ended up being pretty iconic to the character to the point where they remained consistent through all his looks. As for his outfit, he has two variations throughout the series: his standard army garb & the armored look. The former mostly has pockets surrounding his upper body with regular camo pants & standard issue army boots. The armored look is more of what you would expect from a Halo character, armored up from head to toe in green. But unlike Master Chief, Avery doesn't really wear a helmet. I suppose this is because of how iconic his face & hat are. And in a way, I'm glad they went this route. Master Chief already has the masked super-soldier thing covered, so there wasn't a real need to tread similar ground twice with Avery. If this section seems shorter than usual, that's because there's not much about either of his looks that communicate much about his character. Avery is very much his own character with his own motivations & struggles, as established in the lore section. But his designs don't really tell you anything about that. And that's okay, as Halo as a series doesn't need to have designs that scream what the character is about immediately. I guess you could say that the design screams "army man", which isn't un-true. But it doesn't do much more than that. Of course, that's not to say that these are bad designs by any means. They just don't go out of their way to tell you about anything else about Avery beyond his profession.
On top of the black army man archetype that I mentioned earlier, the fact that Avery was a larger-than-life personality early on kinda falls into black stereotypes (something I'll also get into for another character later this month). Though as I said in the personality section, this was moved away from Halo 3 onwards, so I suppose Bungie realized the stereotype that they were promoting & took steps to alleviate it. Aside from those two things, I don't have a ton of issues with Avery. He's a great character whose impact on the franchise cannot be understated. And all of this is backed by the impressive performance of David Scully (yes, he is black, so bullet dodged there). It's a shame that he died in Halo 3, but at least Avery fired the first shot of the war with the Covenant & saw it through to the end. He really did go out with a bang.
WEEK 2: CHARACTERS FROM SHOOTERS
DAY 8: BAPTISTE (OVERWATCH)
I have a lot of choice words for Activision Blizzard, especially regarding their decisions over the last few years. But I can give credit where it's due. And the Overwatch team has been hitting it out of the park with their characters (especially with regards to their designs). Though I guess your team having some of the last bits of the old Blizzard will do that. Anyway, Baptiste is one of the post-launch heroes added to Overwatch who's in the Support class (lord knows we could use more of them……& tanks). Overwatch has a couple of black characters (from Lúcio to Doomfist to the upcoming Sojourn), but I ultimately went with Bap since I figured that my list could use a Haitian character. Of course, there's the issue of Overwatch still not having a black woman (& the one in the pipeline, Sojourn, not being until Overwatch 2), which is honestly weird given how diverse the roster is otherwise. That aside, Baptiste is actually one of the few Overwatch characters with a considerable amount of pre-OW2 lore to go off of. Not to mention that I put a ton of hours into him as a support main. So let's get to it.
UPDATE: I literally JUST realized that today (2/8/21) is Blizzard's 30th anniversary. Talk about a coincidence.
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, even if you aren't on the same side of it as before.
Jean-Baptiste Augustin was among millions of orphaned children during the Omnic Crisis that led to the initial formation of Overwatch. Wanting to make a difference, Baptiste joined the military & was later stationed at the Caribbean Coalition (a pan-island defense force to fight the Omnics) as a medic. When the Omnic Crisis ended, Baptiste went into military work for Talon. Said work earned Baptiste a good amount of money, money he used for the betterment of his community when he opened up a clinic in his hometown of Tortuga, Haiti. But it was only a matter of time until Baptiste learned of Talon's true colors. Four years before Winston issued the Overwatch recall, Baptiste had to go to Monte Cristi to assassinate the Playa Cartel's leader (Daniel Fernández) for muscling in on Talon territory. By the time Baptiste & the others got to the safe house, Daniel was already gone & only his soldiers remained. Captain Cuerva then ordered the other Talon soldiers to search every single house in the area to find Daniel, terrifying the residents. Baptiste didn't want any of this & was about to leave, but then a dropship opened fire. This resulted in a ton of chaos, destruction, & looting. Baptiste, having just been knocked back by the explosion, drew his gun to a silhouette in the smoke. But Baptiste then saw that it was just a little girl, devastated & angry over the destruction of her home, a direct reflection of Baptiste's own tragic origin. It was then that he knew what Talon's true colors were. From there, Baptiste wanted out, but his longtime partner Mauga intercepted him. Eventually Mauga let Baptiste go, knowing that he would owe Mauga one later. Obviously Talon wouldn't take Baptiste's departure lying down (especially given how much he knows), so they went after his base of operations. But being one step ahead of them, Baptiste evaded capture & dealt with the strike team personally (even sending the emblems of said strike team members back to Cuerva). Of course, this wouldn't be the last time Baptiste would have a run-in with his former colleagues.
Of course Talon wouldn't let Baptiste get far, Mauga especially.
Going into the events of "What You Left Behind", Baptiste operated under the alias "Dr. Mondésir" (named after his childhood friend, as pointed out by Hotbug) at a small clinic in Port-au-Paix. And just as Baptiste was having issues getting medicine given Sainclair Pharmaceuticals's ridiculous price increases, Mauga & Trung Le Nguyen (Baptiste's former colleagues from Talon) came in to collect Baptiste's debt to Mauga by getting him to help shake Vernand Sainclair down for money he owed Talon. Baptiste begrudgingly agrees, knowing that he didn't have much of a choice with both Mauga & Trung present. When Sainclair was eventually cornered, he bargained with the fact that he got the recall order from Winston, saying that he had information on various Overwatch agents (he was a double-agent within Overwatch as a handler, secretly feeding info to Talon prior to Overwatch's collapse). Angered by Sainclair's actions but knowing that he couldn't kill him, Baptiste took off with Sainclair, shot his arm, & declared that Sainclair had to make his medicine free. Baptiste almost escaped, but Mauga intercepted him again. Knowing that he couldn't let Baptiste get away again, Mauga & Baptiste had one last confrontation. This resulted in a gun battle that ended in a huge explosion (from Baptiste's fake surrender, followed by throwing an explosive in the air that he shot) that Baptiste survived thanks to his immortality field. The whereabouts of Mauga after that was unknown. But given that he was originally planned to be a hero (& likely still is) before ultimately being replaced by Sigma, I doubt this is the last we'll see of Mauga. Though if I may go on a tangent, while I understand that the kit that Sigma ultimately got didn't fit Mauga's character very well, they could have added someone a bit more unique than yet another white guy. Not to mention that Sigma himself plays into negative mental illness stereotypes, but that's a topic that's been covered plenty elsewhere.
Sigma's New 'Asylum' Skin Raises Concerns About Overwatch's Handling Of Mental-Illness Tropes
Overwatch’s newest hero, Sigma, was introduced to the world on a gurney. Though the video was purposefully non-linear, Sigma had suffered a mental breakdown after attempting to harness the power of a black hole. He hollered half-coherently while being wheeled through what appeared to be a...
kotaku.com
That lamp saved my team's collective asses more times than I can count. Use it wisely.
As mentioned earlier, Baptiste is a combat medic in the Support class. He's often considered a main healer (especially in recent metas) with plenty of potential to secure kills between his primary fire (a three-shot burst round) & his ultimate (more on that later). His secondary fire is a healing round that gives burst healing to whoever the shot lands on, with the trade-off being that Baptiste can't heal himself with it. To do that, Baptiste has to use his Regenerative Burst ability, healing everyone within a certain radius (including himself). The Immortality Field mentioned in the What You Left Behind section is an actual ability in the game, keeping everyone within the field from dying as long as the lamp stays up within its limited duration (though it can be destroyed prior to the end of said duration). Baptiste also has a passive ability (Exo Boots) that allows him to use crouch to charge a really high jump for the sake of positioning which, while useful from a mechanical standpoint, sadly plays into the "black people can jump high" stereotype. Baptiste's ultimate is Amplification Matrix, a giant transparent wall that increases the damage & healing potential of any projectile that passes through it. This ultimate actually saw a huge buff recently when the actual window was widened, allowing for more players to fire through the ultimate. Because of all this, Baptiste requires that you have good mechanical skill, game sense, & positioning. Those who play Overwatch well in general will excel with Baptiste, as being weak in even one of the three aspects will have you lose a lot of value with the character.
This is actually a solid-ass design, & his hair game is certainly on-point.
Regarding Baptiste's design, it's alright. Gotta give props to Baptiste's barber for that fade along with his short dreads. This is broken up with a scar on the upper-right side (his right, not ours) of his head, showing that he's been through some shit. He also has a tattoo on his right arm, but I couldn't really find the cultural significance behind it (if someone can chime in on the matter, I'd appreciate it). That aside, his outfit is mainly blue, black, & orange with a whiteish-gray abdominal guard. Though beyond his gun, Baptiste wears three major pieces of technology. His scouter (yes, they do make a Dragon Ball joke with it in-game via one of his sprays), his Exo Boosts being the gray braces around his lower legs, & the backpack he wears that both does the healing burst as well as the Amplification Matrix through the projector that protracts on the left side of said backpack. Overall, it's an effective design that, while not setting the world on fire, does its job of conveying Baptiste's character & abilities pretty well.
My only major complaint about Baptiste is the aforementioned "black people jump high" stereotype that's invoked through his Exo Boost passive ability. Outside of that, I don't really have any complaints. His design is solid, he's actually voiced by a Haitian actor, & his lore is pretty interesting. Usually this section would be longer, but I don't really have much else to say about the character that I didn't cover already. There's definitely room for improvement, but the pros of Baptiste outweigh the cons. He's just a cool character who's fun to play……if only the Support class had more characters (something that I'd imagine that they'll try to address in Overwatch 2). But seriously, we need more black women in Overwatch. Sojourn is a start, but don't stop at her. We shouldn't have gone 5 years without a single black woman being added to the roster.
DAY 9: ROLAND (BORDERLANDS)
Roland is one of the OGs of the first Borderlands game alongside the likes of Brick, Lillith, & Mordecai (with Roland being classified under the Soldier class). It goes without saying that he eventually returned in 2, but not in 3 (for story-related reasons that I'll get into). Though thinking about it, it's kinda funny how Roland ended up being right after Baptiste for this thread, as both of them used to work for antagonistic forces before their eventual face turns.
The original Vault Hunters of the first Borderlands game. Brings back memories.....weird how they're even remotely nostalgic now.
His gameplay can be summarized a bit more simply given the nature of Borderlands. He mainly uses combat rifles & shotguns, with his Action Skill being the ability to deploy the Scorpio Turret (designed by Atlas Manufacturers SE, part of the Atlas Corporation……more on them later). Because Borderlands has RPG elements along with its FPS gameplay, you can level up your characters in various ways. In Roland's case, his skill upgrades even has a medic tree, another thing he has in common with Baptiste on a surface level. Basically he can hold his own in the field while also providing cover to back up the team. It's been a while since I last played Borderlands, but I enjoyed my time playing as him. Anyway, on to the lore.
Yeah, the Atlas Corporation weren't exactly jazzed that their Sergeant wanted out.
Roland used to be a Sergeant of the Crimson Lance's 114th Bouncer Division. For context, the Crimson Lance is basically the Atlas Corporation's private military imposing their will on the people said company reigns over. While he was listed as dishonorably discharged, that's pretty much the only kind of discharge that comes with leaving the Crimson Lance anyway (plus a bullet in the head, which Roland avoided upon him leaving). Though generally, Roland doesn't really like to talk about his time with the Crimson Lance. Focusing on his life after the Crimson Lance, Roland traveled around with Lilith, Brick, & Mordecai as the Vault Hunters. Lead along by Angel (who worked for Hyperion, Claptrap's creator, & showed up in the team's heads on occasion), they were able to get various pieces of a Vault Key & get to the Vault itself (which held a ton of alien tech & knowledge). They also had to take down Crimson Lance, the very organization that Roland walked away from, freeing Pandora in the process. Roland & Lilith (they were dating at the time) eventually went on to take on the remnants of the group after the Atlas Corporation left them for dead, creating the Crimson Raiders. But before then, the Vault Hunters went to Elpis (Pandora's moon) to reluctantly deal with Colonel Zarpedon in the middle of their vacation while also making sure that Jack, who helped the team but also had his own plans for the laser they had to obtain couldn't use said laser (it was actually Roland who made sure Jack didn't get what he wanted). Of course, there was a bounty that the Atlas Corporation placed on Roland's head. One that the Bloodshots would want to collect during the events of Borderlands 2. After being rescued, Roland takes on the role of quest-giver in Borderlands 2 as a new team of Vault Hunters took up the playable reigns. And although Roland sadly met his end in Borderlands 2, his legacy would still be felt going forward considering that he had an entire town named after him in Borderlands 3. There was also a manifestation of him in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, but that Tiny Tina's view of Roland rather than it actually being him. So yeah, he may be gone, but he surely wasn't forgotten in the game's world.
His design didn't change a whole lot between the two Borderlands games.
Not a whole lot to say regarding Roland's design. It's basically typical army garb fitting of the setting for Borderlands. Though they do use the gray shirt (with the sleeves rolled up, exposing Roland's skull tattoo on his left forearm) to break up green of the armor, with his left shoulder guard being the defining part of his silhouette. Said asymmetry continues with his shin & knee guards, those being present on his left leg & right knee respectively. The beanie seems to be made form the same material as his shirt, & is paired with his signature goggles. Not much of the design changed going into Borderlands 2 on paper, but the simple removal of his upper body armor as well as his beanie/goggles combo being traded for a beret for the Crimson Raiders does push the idea that a fair amount of time has passed since the first game. It's not a bad design, though a lot of the reason why I feel like it stands out is thanks to the distinct art style of Borderlands (which isn't a bad thing). I guess it doesn't stand out all that much to me because, as mentioned before, black army men aren't an uncommon thing in games.
Outside of the whole black army guy archetype being used a bit too often & his design not being as vibrant as I would like for a Borderlands character (I get why given his character, but still), I ultimately don't have many complaints about Roland. He's a cool character, is actually voiced by black actor for both of his VAs, & was fun to play in the first Borderlands game. Part of me just wishes he didn't bite the big one in Borderlands 2. But yeah, solid job, Gearbox. You made it to where I didn't have to write a whole lot.
DAY 10: LIFELINE (APEX LEGENDS)
Look, I can explain. Yes, Lifeline is the third in the combat medic streak (Roland is a bit of a stretch, but his skill tree for healing counts). But I have a legitimate excuse here besides my bias for the Support class. In a (pleasantly) surprising turn of events, Lifeline is actually the face of Apex Legends. She's featured quite prominently in promotional material (though not on the box art for whatever reason). With that in mind, it made sense to give her the nod for Apex Legends' entry. Though full disclosure, it was between her & Bangalore for this spot, and it was a pretty tough decision. But I guess that speaks more to the great options Respawn brought to the table, especially with regards to black women. Anyway, let's get to the rest of the write-up.
Lifeline's good deeds did not go unnoticed.
Apex Legends doesn't exactly have a ton of lore. That said, Lifeline did get a comic focusing on her story not too long ago (Season 7), so I'll mix in references to that where I can. Ajay Che is the daughter of a pair of war profiteer parents who've amassed quite a bit of wealth from their jobs. Realizing the damage her folks have caused, Ajay left home (cutting off her parents in the process) to join the Frontier Corps (much to her parents' dismay), a humanitarian organization that helps out Frontier communities that need the assistance. So you can kinda see the irony in her joining the Apex Games, which is quite literally a bloodsport (though Lifeline keeps telling herself that she doesn't have an issue with it). In Lifeline's case, she's only in it to get the winnings to the Frontier Corps so they can continue their efforts to help others. So in her case, it's a case of the pros outweighing the cons, as well as her compassion for others shining through despite both the personality traits she puts forward (coming off as more of a sarcastic, callous person) as well as the nature of the Apex Games she's partaking in. Though it's between this & the whole Frontier Corps that created a rift between Lifeline & her parents, her dad especially. They're of the belief that she should be home, but Lifeline is too vocally against her parents' jobs to just stand by & benefit from it while not doing anything about it. It's through this that Lifeline shows her strong moral compass as well as her compassion for others (including her childhood friend Octavio Silva, now Octane).
Lifeline's front-&-center with the rest of the OG cast.
As I mentioned, Lifeline is a combat healer. So not unlike Baptiste, she'll be able to hold her own in a fight as well being able to save her group's asses. Her primary means of healing is actually her tactical ability, the D.O.C Heal Drone, which heals anyone within a certain radius (though it doesn't stay permanently). Lifeline also has a passive ability in the form of a drone meant for protecting her as she's resurrecting one of her allies (Combat Revive). It'll disappear once the revive is complete, & it'll stay on the original revival target until the job is done. So while you could go to another person who needs saving mid-rez, the second target won't be covered. It'll even continue with the resurrection if the entire squad is killed during the resurrection process. And regarding Lifeline's ultimate, it's actually a care package that drops shields, items that can replenish shields &/or health, and new weapon attachments. There's also her passive perk, Low Profile, that makes her harder to hit while also slightly increasing the damage she does take. So the key to winning with her is to heal after every fight when possible, get your ultimate as quickly as possible, & play around the shield when reviving one of your teammates.
A simple yet effective design that does its job & does it damn well.
Due to the nature of Apex Legends, Lifeline actually has a number of color variations as well as alternate costumes. But like with Baptiste, I'm mainly gonna focus on Lifeline's default design. With that being said, I actually quite like Lifeline's design. For one, it's nice to have a black woman in this thread who doesn't have white hair & blue eyes (not hating on Twintelle by any means, but it's just a nice change of pace). She definitely rocks that magenta hair, plus it's tied up (which is practical given that she's in the heat of battle). Given that she's a humanitarian worker helping those ravaged by war as well as a healer in the field, it would make sense that she's immediately armed with medical supplies. It's actually with Lifeline's surgical gloves as well has her bright blue tattoo from her shoulder all the way down to her left arm that blue is the stand-out color to break up all the greens, whites, & grays of the outfit. Well, that & her magenta hair, but I already brought that up. Though it should be noted that while said tattoo is supposed to be blue (especially in this render), it appears to be either a darker shade of blue or a pale shade or black in certain lighting. Even in the comic referenced in the lore section, her tattoo is more black than blue. So there's a bit of an inconsistency with regards to how said tattoo is depicted. With that being said, Lifeline's design basically tells you everything you need to know about her character at a quick glance. Given that Lifeline isn't really big on the whole Apex Games thing, she's obviously not gonna be armored up to the teeth with a wild amount of weapons. She just does what she has to while keeping her teammates alive. And her design communicates that really damn well.
I……really don't have any complaints, not even a minor nitpick. Though if you're wondering about Lifeline's voice actress, it's actually Mela Lee, who is of mixed ethnicity (including a fair amount of black in her lineage). Plus she delivers a great performance as a character. Not to mention that Lifeline directly defies the black soldier archetype in her backstory (becoming a humanitarian worker specifically due to her family profiting from war). So yeah, great job Respawn Entertainment. You basically gave me my main right off the bat.
DAY 11: MARINA (SPLATOON)
Splatoon basically took the fast lane to stardom, despite the fact that it debut on one of Nintendo's worst-selling consoles. The fact that it's now one of their mainstay franchises is nothing short of amazing. And part of that success is thanks to the game's stellar art design, something that extends to the characters. A prime example of this is Marina, half of the "Off the Hook" musical duo (alongside Pearl) who are prominently seen throughout Splatoon 2. Well……most of Splatoon 2, as the base game's story focuses on the musical duo of the first game ("The Squid Sisters", made up of Callie & Marie) & what they've been up to in the years between the two Splatoon games. But the DLC expansion, Octo Expansion, more than makes up for that. And to be honest, it actually provides quite a bit of lore for Marina, & themes that I didn't expect a Nintendo game to tackle.
Marina back when she worked for the Octarian army.
Marina was born into "the oppression of Octarian society" (her words, actually), being trained to be a combat engineer from youth. Thanks to Marina's high level of intelligence, she skipped multiple grades of school & graduated from elementary training when she was 9. She was actually one of the engineers who designed the Flooder (as seen in Splatoon 1 & 2's story modes as well as the Octo Expansion) in addition to enhancing the Great Octoweapons. This, along with the commendations she got when she was part of DJ Octavio's wasabi supply unit, garnered her quite a reputation amongst the other Octarians (to the point where Agent 8, the Octo Expansion's Octoling protagonist, recognized Marina without having met her prior). But it was the events of Splatoon 1's final boss, namely hearing the Squid Sisters sing Calamari Inkantation, that inspired Marina to break away from DJ Octavio's army & Octarian society as a whole. In fact, she still looks up to the Squid Sisters, as indicated by the decorations she puts on her computer & keytar. After getting away from the other Octarians & later hearing Pearl sing, Marina set out to learn more about the Inkling language & their culture before seeking out Pearl again. Noting her singing talents, Marina showed Pearl her demo (Ebb & Flow), which would later become their first single as the band Off the Hook. The song was a hit, & the rest was history. Marina & Pearl were inseparable from then on, even working together to help out Agent 8 over the course of the Octo Expansion.
On top of this photo being adorable, it shows how far Marina has come.
While not playable herself, Marina (as well as Pearl) is pretty well-defined as a character over the course of Splatoon 2 & especially the Octo Expansion. Marina contrasts Pearl in a number of ways, being more gentle & sweet compared to Pearl's brash & bold nature. Though as shown in their dialogue when you boot up Splatoon 2, Marina can be sassy when she wants to be, something that was blown to extreme levels in the English localization when the game first game out (this was later addressed to be more consistent across all languages). As per Marina's aforementioned high intelligence, she's quite the tech wiz, being shown to be able to hack into various devices as well as corporation servers (such as the Kamabo Corporation, C.Q. Cumber's employer). Her tech proficiency also extends to her interest in technology as a whole, being enamored by the machinery of various maps in the multiplayer portion of Splatoon 2. There are a couple of smaller fun facts about Marina that most would miss, such as the fact that Marina has collected over 5,000 comic books as well as the fact that she owns a motorcycle. But one of the more interesting facts is actually specific to the Japanese version of Marina. In Japanese, Marina sings entirely in katakana, which is supposed to depict her singing in a different language. Obviously this isn't something that can be translated to English without her singing in another language entirely. But it's a neat detail that I thought I should note.
Pearl must have been a great influence with regards to Marina's fashion sense.
Marina has two main designs, her Off the Hook look & her DJ_Hyperfresh casual garb. For the former, it's primarily black & neon green, with the latter color contrasting well with her skin tone. She rocks a sleeveless midriff jacket with a giant zipper, closed-back headphones, puffy shorts with stripes that light up, bright neon green leggings, a neon green belly button piercing, fingerless gloves, & shin-high boots. It should be noted that the neon green parts change color depending on the Splatfest theme (so if her side is red, the neon green parts will be red). It's a bit sexualized for an E10+ game, but I suppose she is a pop star. Outside of that, it's a strong design with a unique silhouette. Plus I love how the tips of her fingers are actually neon green (something that not even the playable Octolings have). As for the casual outfit seen in the Octo Expansion (which is a clear reference to Tupac), she trades her zipper jacket for a regular sleeveless midriff shirt. She also rocks a white bandanna headband, light green jeans, & gray laceless sneakers. The zipper ends up getting replaced with a giant chain necklace with the same symbol as the zipper. That being said, she does keep the belly button piercing & her headphones (the latter of which makes sense given her profession). I actually prefer this design. While having neon green contrast her skin tone is a more interesting idea than white (which isn't uncommon for black characters, especially those from Japanese games), her DJ_Hyperfresh outfit is just really stylish. Even Pearl goes hard for her Octo Expansion outfit, but this section isn't really about her, so I'll keep myself from going off on too much of a tangent. Still, both designs are on-point, & I have to give Nintendo EPD Group 5 props for designing both of her outfits.
Yeah, Nintendo needs better quality control for their merchandise (among other thing).
The aforementioned sexualization of Marina, especially for her primary Off the Hook outfit, does call back some of the colorism concerns I brought up last week with regards to how black women are sexualized compared to those of other ethnicities. And as I mentioned earlier, the original English localization of Marina had her as overly sassy, which is another stereotype of black women in media. But like I said, this was addressed in an update to be more in line with the Japanese version. She still has some sass, but it's within reason now, which I do appreciate. Likewise, she's voiced by Japanese singer Alice Peralta. I get that they wanted a known singer over in Japan, but even projects like Carole & Tuesday (anime, I know, but still) went through the effort of getting a black singer for Carole. It would have been nice if Nintendo EPD Group 5 showed the same initiative, especially when Nintendo EPD Group 9 cooperated with NoA & NoE in the creation of Twintelle (though they also aren't off the hook given Twintelle's white VA). That's not to mention some of the official merchandise white-washing the hell out of Marina (as shown in the image above). Not all of her merchandise did this (her Amiibo thankfully dodged this bullet), but it's was definitely a problem. And these problems could be avoided if Nintendo had more black people in positions of power (for both development & management) to point these things out. This also extends to the rest of the gaming industry, especially in Japan. But even despite those criticisms (addressed or not), Marina is a legitimately great character who's definitely my favorite of the two Off the Hook members. Which reminds me, I need to get her Amiibo.
DAY 12: ALYX VANCE (HALF-LIFE)
Half-Life is a series that means a lot to a ton of people, one that took years until it got a new entry. But when it finally got a new game, not only did it become the marquee game for VR, it also pushed Alyx Vance to the forefront (with the game being named after her). Originally the secondary protagonist behind series protagonist Gordon Freeman, Alyx made her debut in Half-Life 2 & became an equally iconic character up to the aforementioned Half-Life: Alyx (where she took center stage). That being said, I should preface this with the fact that there are spoilers for Half-Life: Alyx in this post. So only read the lore part if you're either already played Half-Life: Alyx or don't mind being spoiled.
Alyx's family photo, one of the few things to survive the Black Mesa Incident.
Alyx Vance was born to a black father (Eli) & an asian mother (Azian), living at the Black Mesa Research Facility's dormitories. When Azian was killed during the Black Mesa Incident, G-Man ended up saving Alyx from the chaos (Alyx was a little girl at the time, so she doesn't remember much of the incident). From then on, it was on Eli to raise Alyx on his own (likely at Black Mesa East) during the Combine's reign over the world. She even built Dog (a sentient robot body guard), who always knows where Alyx is, when she was a kid (a testament to her hacking skills). It didn't take long for Alyx to join the resistance once she became an adult. Hell, she was already doing reconnaissance missions by age 19 & helping with citizen evacuation to Black Mesa East when she was 24. She's plenty capable on all fronts. But as for Alyx as a person, she's generally an optimistic woman with a bit of a sense of humor. But her friendliness shouldn't be mistaken for passiveness, as she doesn't take shit directed at her or anyone else she cares about (just ask Dr. Mossman). Though even in Dr. Mossman's case, Alyx's hostility towards him was eventually addressed (more on that later). Speaking of which, onto the lore.
Alyx during the events of Half-Life: Alyx. Not much to say here considering that this is concept/promotional art.
Going into the events of Half-Life: Alyx (five years prior to Half-Life 2), Alyx & her father Eli were captured by the Combine after the latter came across info regarding Combine's superweapon. Russell (a mechanic with the Resistance) breaks out Alyx & later saved her dad, who he knows will die in the future (which he tells Alyx about). Although he promises to avert this, we don't know what changes Half-Life: Alyx will bring about to the timeline (more on that later). From there, they went to the Vault to contain the superweapon mentioned earlier, only to find out that one of its prisoners was a Black Mesa Incident survivor. Alyx though it was the protagonist of the other games (Gordon Freeman), but it was actually G-Man. He basically does a "No you" to Alyx's request to get the Combine ship off-world, instead taking Alyx to the future so she can save her father by killing the Advisor (who kills Eli in the future). After that, G-Man puts Alyx in stasis despite her wishes to the contrary. Given how recent Half-Life: Alyx is, there's no way of knowing how much the timeline will be changed by the events of the game. The rest of the discussion will be about the original timeline.
Considering that Half-Life: Alyx is a prequel, the fact that her design didn't change much over the years makes sense.
Alyx's designs have remained mostly consistent over the years, likely due to the fact that her most recent appearance (Half-Life: Alyx) was a prequel to her debut game (Half-Life 2). Her design is short, sweet, & to the point. A zip-up hoodie, a leather jacket, fingerless gloves, jeans, & boots. Alyx's skin is somewhat lighter than you'd expect from most black women given her biracial heritage, but you won't catch me questioning one's blackness (especially given that her face model is Jamil Mullen). Though simple on the surface, there are little details that speak volumes about her character. The hooded sweater Alyx wears under her leather jacket is adorned with the Black Mesa logo & branding, a callback to where she grew up. The box-like necklace she wears belonged to her late mother, so that serves as a reminder of what she lost (even she was really young at the time of her mom's death). Even the fact that the right sleeve of Alyx's leather jacket is duct taped together shows that she isn't one to throw something out so easily (this is more of a detail from the original Half-Life 2 rather than Half-Life: Alyx, where Alyx's jacket was in-tact). Outside of that & her right arm bandage in HL2, Alyx has practical elements such as her green belt (which holds her gun & EMP Tool) & her headband holding her hair back from getting in front of her face. Basically the name of the game with Alyx's design is practicality. And while that doesn't exactly make for a very detailed design section, it does its job & does it well. Plus it helps that she isn't really sexualized, one aspect of colorism in games that Valve dodged with Alyx's design. So yeah, good job, Valve. As mentioned before, sometimes less is more.
Alyx is another case where I have very few complaints. There is something to be said about there being very few dark-skinned black women in gaming. But Alyx's case is justified given her mixed heritage (& again, I'm not here to question one's blackness). Funny enough, her first VA (Merle Dandridge) was also half black & half asian (her mom was Korean) & was originally gonna return to voice her in Half-Life: Alyx. But she sadly didn't return, replaced by Ozioma Akagha (also a black actress). So for both VAs, there's no issue of having a non-black actress. Likewise, Alyx avoids most of the colorist pitfalls of black women in media thanks to her more friendly personality & her design not being overly sexualized. So yeah, Valve did great with Alyx as a character.
DAY 13: DEMOMAN (TEAM FORTRESS)
Yes, I know, Demoman is another Valve character. But like I said last week going from Leroy Smith to Zasalamel, my rule was only for not doubling up on the same franchise. Doubling up on the same company is fair game. Plus, Demoman (especially the one who would take up the class in Team Fortress 2) is far too iconic of a character in both shooters & in general for me to pass up. There was nowhere that I could put him except here in the main list. And while yes, the Demoman started off as…….whatever he was in the original Team Fortress & a white guy in Team Fortress Classic, this version of the Demoman is a completely different character to hold up the class. And given Team Fortress 2's status in the world of first person shooters, he's by far the most iconic version. Though the same could be said for any of the characters in TF2's various classes.
Travish/Demoman in his younger years, with this panel being one of the points on inconsistency regarding his origin story (more on that later).
Travish Finnegan DeGroot hails from Ullapool, Scotland, United Kingdom & has always had a fascination with explosions. Travish was abandoned by his parents at birth because, & I kid you not, as part of a tradition of the Highland Demolition Men to leave the child behind until their skills manifested. He ended up losing his first set of adoptive parents when he was 6…….after his first plan to kill the Loch Ness Monster went sideways. However, it was during his his time at the Crypt Grammar School for Orphans that Travish was able to refine his bomb-making skills…….at the cost of his left eye. Though it should be noted that the specifics of how Travish lost said left eye are rather inconsistent depending on the comic. The WAR! comic shows him with both eyes in-tact alongside his parents, but the Bombinomicon comic has him lose the eye due to a magical spell to keep the Bombinomicon from possessing him. As a side note, you may be wondering "Why can't the Medic just bring back the eye?". And you'd be right, as he tried just that on Demoman. But due to the fact that the eye socket was cursed rather than the eyeball, any attempts to regrow the eyeball have the eyeball become a monster due to the aforementioned curse. Back to the origin story, it was after Travish mastered his skills with explosives when the aforementioned birth parents returned to him, which began his training to become the Demoman we know today. Well, that & him constantly drinking (he's actually a living distillery, I kid you not, he even made blood-sucking robots get alcohol poisoning). Outside of all that, Demoman is actually pretty damn wealthy thanks to his smart investments & even has a mansion. But that's basically it for Demoman as a person. Team Fortress 2 isn't filled with a ton of backstory, but the bits that are there are typically played up for laughs given the nature of the game's world. But I suppose that was made apparent right from the start.
Demoman can fill quite a few roles on the team as far as damage-dealers go.
Demoman is a pretty versatile character despite being classified as a defensive character. He can lay down damage for days from mid-range, even indirectly. So you can get quite creative with how you land damage on people. This is perfect for dealing with those pesky turrets that are bodying the entire team. But if you really want to get creative, you can use Demoman's Stickybomb Launcher to catch opponents by surprise with an explosion they didn't expect. This is perfect for protecting various objectives like carts or intelligence, as you don't have to babysit the intelligence 24/7 (which is good, as you need to steal theirs anyway). Just make sure that the stickybombs aren't easy to spot. There's also the fact that Demoman is actually one of the better melee combatants in the game, with his melee items dealing quite a bit of damage. As for his health, he's generally on-par with Pyro with 175 health. Not bad by any means, since he's higher than most. But Demoman is definitely no Soldier regarding his ability to take a hit, forget Heavy. Still, the Demoman can certainly contribute to the team in the right hands, something that can be applied to any of TF2's characters.
There's not a lot going on with his design, but damn did they make the most of what's there.
Demoman's design is very simplistic to the point where, like a fighting game character, you learn everything you need to know about the character from a quick glance. He's an explosives expert, & that's made clear from his grenade launcher & shell rounds strapped to his upper body. He rocks a beanie & a regular old eyepatch, the latter of which alongside Demoman's scruffy beard communicates that he's been through shit (which isn't entirely inaccurate). The bullet-proof vest he wears covers a smiley face drawing taped to his crotch area, which is a funny little gag. Besides that, he wears the usual team garb (red or blue) over a long-sleeve white shirt with typical combat boots. There's not a whole lot to say about his design because it makes the most of the few elements it has. To be honest, I'm not sure what else I can say about Demoman's design. Pretty much all of TF2's designs are top-tier (exemplifying the "less is more" design logic).
Between his accent & his drinking problem, Demoman goes the Dudley route of being more of a Scottish stereotype rather than a black stereotype (Dudley's route was a British stereotype, but you get the point). And while that is a different route, there are certainly still problems with this on the Scottish side of things. Likewise, Demoman shares a voice actor with Heavy Weapons Guy (Gary Schwartz), who is indeed white. I'm not doubting Gary's talent, but it definitely would have been nice for Demoman to actually be voiced by a black actor. That aside, there's not a lot to say about the Demoman that I haven't already said. He's a very iconic black character in not only shooters, but also gaming as a whole. But like with the quality of the designs, the latter could be said for basically all of TF2.
DAY 14: AVERY JOHNSON (HALO)
It was actually a pretty tough choice for the last spot. But when it came down to it, I knew I couldn't leave Halo in the cold (no pun intended given the Texas cold snap that's happening at the time of me writing this). That plus I remember my high school days of going to my friend's house to play Halo 3 & Reach. So it kinda felt right to show those games (& the rest of the series) some love with the inclusion of Avery Johnson. Yes, Avery is another black army man (which, as I've said, isn't exactly uncommon). But a lot of the protagonists in Halo are basically futuristic army men anyway. Plus his character as a whole has interested me throughout the series, so Avery is still cool in my eyes. With that being said, let's get to his lore.
Avery was sent to Harvest to investigate some disappearances, I doubt anyone expect it'd be the start of a massive war.
Avery Junior Johnson grew up in his hometown of Chicago. When his parents split up, he was raised by his aunt from then on. It was actually because of Avery's Aunt Marcille that he holds his strong religious beliefs, to the point where he often questions whether to kill other humans. But that only really applied to humans, Covenants on the other hand Avery had no qualms mowing down for the sake of protecting humanity. This later led to a 19-year-old Avery Johnson to join the UNSC Marine Corps, undergoing enhancement procedures that would be retroactively named "SPARTAN-I" that allowed him to remain in active duty far longer than the average human. If this sounds familiar, it should, as Master Chief is actually a part of the SPARTAN-II program (which means that Avery is technically the predecessor to Master Chief). Avery went on a number of missions, though two of the most noteworthy ones were Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE (where he assassinated Jerald Ander) Operation: TREBUCHET. It was during the latter mission that Sgt. Johnson's hesitation (namely to avoid hitting a child being held hostage) led to the deaths of Staff Sergeant Nolan Byrne's entire squad (minus Byrne himself) & everyone in the restaurant where the incident happened (totaling at 39 civilians & 3 marines), leading to Byrne holding a lot of animosity towards Avery. Upon Avery's return back to Chicago following the incident, he found that his aunt had passed away, sending him into an alcohol-fueled rut while grieving her death. When Avery was at his absolute lowest, Lieutenant Downs sent Avery on a mission to create a covert anti-insurgency unit to go after a group that may have been responsible for the disappearances of various DCS freighters throughout Harvest (it was officially recognized as Avery training the Colonial Militia). It was actually on Harvest where Avery & Byrne got some closure regarding the events of TREBUCHET via a bar fight. Avery had the first encounter with the Covenant during his time on Harvest. It was then that Avery joined Operation: SILENT STORM, which was basically a counterattack against the Covenant meant to buy time so humanity can create a means of countering them after it became clear that the Covenant didn't want peace with the humans. And while the battle that ensued resulted in the loss of Harvest, Avery & the others got most of the soldiers to safety. Avery entered a relationship with Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygni (one of the soldiers who helped in the Battle of Harvest) not long after for an undisclosed amount of time. From then on, Avery would be instrumental in the fight against the Covenant throughout Bungie's Halo games. Avery was one of the few survivors of a search-&-destroy mission at Gamma Station, was instrumental in helping Master Chief on the Ring in the first Halo game, was the sole survivor of the Flood swarm that awaited his squad when they found a weapons cache, & was promoted to Sergeant Major for his heroism. Avery even formed an uneasy alliance with the Arbiter after being captured by him & Tartarus (who Avery met back on Harvest). He lost a lot of allies along the way, including Commander Miranda Keyes (who was actually captured alongside Avery & helped stop Halo's activation alongside the Arbiter prior to her death). Though through Keyes' sacrifice, Avery alongside Master Chief & Arbiter were able to take down the High Prophet of Truth. Unfortunately, Avery would meet his own end in Halo 3 on the new Halo ring, but it was through his actions of activating the ring before his death that helped free the human race from the Flood. Even if he wasn't playable until Halo: Reach, Avery Johnson left one hell of a legacy.
Gotta hand it to Avery, he was there from start to finish. Plus not many can say that they were friends with Master Chief.
Avery's larger-than-life personality was only rivaled by his compassion for his fellow troops (despite how hard he pushed them). Said eccentricity shined through his speeches as well as his tendency to nickname his opponents. Though is "humor in the face of danger" attitude would begin to fade away in favor of a more serious straightforward mindset going into Halo 3, which does make sense between all the battles he endured & the years going by maturing & hardening Avery. That said, like with Alyx, his compassion shouldn't be mistaken for passiveness, as Avery is much more brutal towards his enemies than even Master Chief (something that Avery himself noted at one point). He was a good man hardened by war & persevered despite dealing with the PTSD inflicted upon him by his last mission. But there's nobody you would want to cross less, even compared to Master Chief.
I guess Halo isn't the kind of game for overly bright & out-there designs besides the aliens (though the aliens are justifiably out-there design-wise).
Avery's design hasn't changed a whole lot over the years. But given that he was a long-standing character in Bungie's Halo games, that makes a lot of sense. As mentioned before, Avery fits into the black soldier archetype (but again, most of the major protagonists in Halo are futuristic super soldiers anyway). So a lot of his outfit is practical army wear with a lot of greens & grays. The main standout parts of Avery's look are his thick mustache & squared cap, which ended up being pretty iconic to the character to the point where they remained consistent through all his looks. As for his outfit, he has two variations throughout the series: his standard army garb & the armored look. The former mostly has pockets surrounding his upper body with regular camo pants & standard issue army boots. The armored look is more of what you would expect from a Halo character, armored up from head to toe in green. But unlike Master Chief, Avery doesn't really wear a helmet. I suppose this is because of how iconic his face & hat are. And in a way, I'm glad they went this route. Master Chief already has the masked super-soldier thing covered, so there wasn't a real need to tread similar ground twice with Avery. If this section seems shorter than usual, that's because there's not much about either of his looks that communicate much about his character. Avery is very much his own character with his own motivations & struggles, as established in the lore section. But his designs don't really tell you anything about that. And that's okay, as Halo as a series doesn't need to have designs that scream what the character is about immediately. I guess you could say that the design screams "army man", which isn't un-true. But it doesn't do much more than that. Of course, that's not to say that these are bad designs by any means. They just don't go out of their way to tell you about anything else about Avery beyond his profession.
On top of the black army man archetype that I mentioned earlier, the fact that Avery was a larger-than-life personality early on kinda falls into black stereotypes (something I'll also get into for another character later this month). Though as I said in the personality section, this was moved away from Halo 3 onwards, so I suppose Bungie realized the stereotype that they were promoting & took steps to alleviate it. Aside from those two things, I don't have a ton of issues with Avery. He's a great character whose impact on the franchise cannot be understated. And all of this is backed by the impressive performance of David Scully (yes, he is black, so bullet dodged there). It's a shame that he died in Halo 3, but at least Avery fired the first shot of the war with the Covenant & saw it through to the end. He really did go out with a bang.
- Honorable Mentions
- Malcolm (Unreal Tournament)
- Unreal Tournament has a major place in shooter history, & Malcom is a chemically-engineered soldier who canonically the most consistent winner (I guess you could call him their Benimaru equivalent in this regard). So yeah, I definitely have to give Malcolm props in some way. Also, while I'm not sure about his first VA (not many images I could find), Greg Eagles is definitely black.
- Ikora Rey (Destiny)
- As mentioned before, there aren't a ton of black women in games. So to have someone has highly respected in-game as Ikora (plus with a buzzcut, something that's uncommon for black characters in games from what I can tell) is awesome to see. That plus she's also a Warlock, the class I often use in Destiny (yes, her VA is black, no worries there).
- Cole Train (Gears of War)
- Cole is one of the longer-standing black characters in gaming, especially in Microsoft's stable of shooters. And while he clearly fits into the loud black character stereotype that Avery moved away from in 3, he has quite a few fans & the aforementioned legacy behind him. The reason I chose Avery over him ultimately came down to Avery's seniority.
- Colt (Deathloop)
- Deathloop is a game I'm legitimately excited for, & everything about Colt has me hyped (from his design to his voice to his personality). The problem is, we know even less about him than we do about Nagoriyuki. Still, I want to give a nod to an upcoming game in some way. Can't wait to give the game a go on PS5.
- Lúcio (Overwatch)
- I could've sworn I already mentioned him here, but no harm in fixing that now. He was one of the original characters at the launch of Overwatch, & he's such a fun, positive character to boot. My only complaint is that he isn't voiced by a black actor. I really hope Lúcio gets more lore going into Overwatch 2.
- Malcolm (Unreal Tournament)
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Nice wrap-up for this week. Looking forward to the next slate of genre reps.
I'm guessing you wanted to say "mission"?
OP
OP
DAMN YOU, MACBOOK PRO!!!!!
But seriously, thanks. I've since fixed it.
I am loving this thread and series. I really hope this is a thing going forward; might not be able to do an entire month full, but at least one character a month and having discussion around them would be AMAZING.
Super notable. I also think he is pretty likable. However, Barret is unquestionably problematic. It is a pity they didn't try to deemphasize some of the more stereotypical elements of Barret in the remake (though they did go out of their way, at the expense of quality storytelling, to deemphasize the terrorist stuff). That being said, I love his depiction as a loving father. That is, and always has been, the best part of his character. It gives him a humanizing element (and it shows a side of him that isn't just pure anger).
That's a great idea.
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OP
As much as I'm enjoying this, this kind of thread is a herculean task to manage daily. If I am to do something similar in the future (& I might), I'd need to plan much farther in advance.
Completely understandable.
This thread is just.... beautiful and I don't want it to die on the vine, that's all.
OP
OP
I completely understand. But as Vision said, nothing's beautiful because it lasts.
That being said, I have a few ideas for how to follow this thread up next year.
Well, I did a quick word count and you wrote around nine thousand words for this week's entries. That... is multiple essays worth of writing. I mean, kudos, but that is nuts (I mean that in the most complimentary fashion possible).
I wish they did Alyx's hair better. That shit always looked awful to me.
I didn't know someone black worked on the localzation for Splatoon. I'll add him to my black devs story.
I didn't know someone black worked on the localzation for Splatoon. I'll add him to my black devs story.
Thank you for providing these posts, my dude. I don't really keep up with APEX Legends, but learning about Lifeline makes me want to check out the game now.
I'm interested to see who you will add to your future post. As far as JRPG's go, I know VII's Barret and XIII's Sazh will be mentioned, but I wanted to make a shout out to the following:
-There's Children of Zodiarcs (a FF Tactics-style game released on Steam a few years ago) which has a compelling female protagonist named Nahmi, who is the glue that keeps the party together.
-One of my friends told me some good things with Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, which I need to pick up. Really, I'm surprised not a lot of people mention this game, as it looks pretty awesome.
-In Parasite Eve II, while you play as the white Aya Brea (an NYPD rookie cop), Aya's police partner (Rupert Broderick) is the Watson to her Sherlock and is arguably one of the more important characters in that games narrative. There is also PE's Dennis Daniel (third in importance to Aya and the main antagonist of that game), though I know fans have criticized his characterization for being a portly, brash, gruff, short tempered man that is prone to spouts of violence.
-For Lost Odyssey, one of the main characters, Seth, is black and there is a fair amount of diversity in the other characters as well for a 2000's-era JRPG.
-Almost forgot about this, but in the very same game where you can recruit a duck to your cause, Suikoden III's Aila, Lucia, & Suikoden II's Hauser were some of the several party members you could bring on board. Lucia specifically was one of my favourite characters growing up.
With regards to Baptiste's Charge Jump ability, I can't help but have him sport Super Mario 64-style SFX (including Mario's "Wa-Hoo!" and "Yipee!") whenever he jumps. I agree that the ability does provoke a more "Black Men Can Jump" trope, which kind of sucks to what is arguably one of the more normal and level-headed characters from the cast of Overwatch.
Seriously, I like that he's just a regular, cool-headed combat medic, in contrast to the more eccentric cast the game offers. I wonder how Sojourn will be like when OW2 launches, as we only got a glimpse of her in the OW Archive's Storm Rising mission.
I'm interested to see who you will add to your future post. As far as JRPG's go, I know VII's Barret and XIII's Sazh will be mentioned, but I wanted to make a shout out to the following:
-There's Children of Zodiarcs (a FF Tactics-style game released on Steam a few years ago) which has a compelling female protagonist named Nahmi, who is the glue that keeps the party together.
-One of my friends told me some good things with Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan, which I need to pick up. Really, I'm surprised not a lot of people mention this game, as it looks pretty awesome.
-In Parasite Eve II, while you play as the white Aya Brea (an NYPD rookie cop), Aya's police partner (Rupert Broderick) is the Watson to her Sherlock and is arguably one of the more important characters in that games narrative. There is also PE's Dennis Daniel (third in importance to Aya and the main antagonist of that game), though I know fans have criticized his characterization for being a portly, brash, gruff, short tempered man that is prone to spouts of violence.
-For Lost Odyssey, one of the main characters, Seth, is black and there is a fair amount of diversity in the other characters as well for a 2000's-era JRPG.
-Almost forgot about this, but in the very same game where you can recruit a duck to your cause, Suikoden III's Aila, Lucia, & Suikoden II's Hauser were some of the several party members you could bring on board. Lucia specifically was one of my favourite characters growing up.
With regards to Baptiste's Charge Jump ability, I can't help but have him sport Super Mario 64-style SFX (including Mario's "Wa-Hoo!" and "Yipee!") whenever he jumps. I agree that the ability does provoke a more "Black Men Can Jump" trope, which kind of sucks to what is arguably one of the more normal and level-headed characters from the cast of Overwatch.
Seriously, I like that he's just a regular, cool-headed combat medic, in contrast to the more eccentric cast the game offers. I wonder how Sojourn will be like when OW2 launches, as we only got a glimpse of her in the OW Archive's Storm Rising mission.
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Just a heads-up, the OP mentions one character per franchise. And the banner makes it pretty clear which Final Fantasy character I'm going with. That said, I will consider Sazh for an honorable mention. Also, yeah, I'm curious to see how Blizzard handles Sojourn in Overwatch 2. They've waited too long to add a playable black woman, so they better nail it. Either way, I'm glad you're liking the thread. Hopefully I can deliver more write-ups you can enjoy reading throughout the month.
Thank you, that means a lot.
I....honestly didn't think of it that way. Sweet Christmas.......
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Here's Sheva to kick off the week of action game characters.
DAY 15: SHEVA ALOMAR (RESIDENT EVIL)Let's be honest, Resident Evil hasn't had very many (if any) leading black characters, let alone black women. Even with the women available, they haven't done a lot with the likes of Jill Valentine & Claire Redfield in the mainline games outside of remakes (though I'm at least somewhat optimistic for Jill's future prospects). So it's kinda funny how Resident Evil 5, the infamously racist game in the franchise, is the one to give us our first black woman as a playable character. In a way, this makes sense given the setting. And real talk, she's actually a solid character in her own respect.
Sheva got more shit done in the field early on in her BSAA career than most. Gotta give her props there.
Sheva Alomar was the sole survivor of the containment failure of Umbrella's No.57 Plant somewhere in West Africa when she was eight. You would think that this is because of a BOW (Bio Organic Weapon) infecting everyone, & there were BOWs running rampant. But what actually killed them were the Umbrella anti-BOW troops sent to silence the witnesses. Left alone, Sheva's uncle took her in, only to leave her malnourished. This led Sheva to run away to head back home, but she didn't get far. A guerrilla fighter group got a hold of Sheva & became their errand girl (be it laundry or, when she grew up, getting materials from nearby towns). Eventually the US government cut Sheva a deal to uncover the bio-weapon deal that the guerrilla group were involved with. She got the information, all parties involved were captured, & the US official Sheva worked with ended up becoming her guardian. It didn't take long for Sheva to adjust to American life, even learning English in 6 months. After she was accepted into an unnamed university 2 years later, her guardian recommended her for the BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance). It only took 8 months of training with Josh Stone for her to become a full agent, though her prior experience with the guerrillas helped her case. From here, we get into the main events of Resident Evil 5. She, along with longtime series protagonist Chris Redfield, set out to Kijuju to help the BSAA Alpha Team to apprehend Ricardo Irving for the Uroboros project. The situation went sideways right when Sheva & Chris got there as not only were the residents infected in a similar manner as Los Iluminados' residents in RE4, but the Alpha Team in question were killed by an unknown BOW. Sheva felt that they were outnumbered (after killing two of Irving's bio-weapons, one of which wiped out most of the BSAA Delta Team) & wanted to head back, but Chris had both of them keep going due him wanting to find Jill (who was presumed dead by this point). With the help of Josh Stone, they were able to corner & defeat Irving (even with him injecting himself with a Dominant Species Plaga). From there, they would eventually find Albert Wesker & a brainwashed Jill. Sheva & Chris both were able to free Jill from Wesker's control & subsequently kill Wesker. Unfortunately, this is the only time we see Sheva in the field as of when this was written, as the only other reference to her was when she wrote a letter to Piers Nivans following Chris' disappearance in Resident Evil 6. Which is a shame, actually. Sheva really did establish herself despite mainly being Chris' field partner for one game.
In spite of everything, Sheva's as loyal as they come.
Despite being a newer member of the BSAA as of RE5, Sheva is plenty capable with her turbulent upbringing proving instrumental in her skills as an agent. While Sheva is smaller than Chris, she's also more flexible, allowing her to perform moves that Chris couldn't dream of doing. But the biggest thing about Sheva is her loyalty. In spite of her own fears, she stuck by Chris through the entire mission & was instrumental in finally taking down Wesker. Even years after the mission, her loyalty to Chris remained, as shown by her concern over Chris' disappearance. It makes me wonder what she'll think of Chris in recent years……something we could see if Capcom would use Sheva more often.
Even if Sheva's alternate costumes are sexualized to hell & back (more on that later), she has a solid default design.
You gotta give Capcom props, they know how to design characters. Sheva rocks a sleeveless purple shirt with green pants & brown boots (with the boots looking pretty similar to Jill's in the original Resident Evil 3). Her outfit is a bit more practical, as she's strapped with gun holsters with her wavy hair being tied back. The main stand-out parts that aren't functional are Sheva's necklaces & the tattoo on her left arm. The latter of which says "shujaa", which can translate to "warrior" or "hero" in Swahili (a dialect more commonly spoken in East Africa, not West Africa). Though if you were to translate the word from Arabic, you'd get the translations "brave" or "courageous". Either way, these are pretty fitting of Sheva's character. And while the languages aren't exactly from West Africa, it's not entirely unheard of in various African cultures. Speaking personally, my real name is Arabic in origin despite me being of East African descent. So yeah, Sheva has a simple but effective design, with just enough unique elements to not have it feel too plain.
Seriously Capcom, what the shit!?
If you could tell from my commentary throughout this section, you can tell that my main complaint is that Sheva is woefully underutilized in the Resident Evil franchise. You have a great black woman who was playable on one of the best-selling games in the Resident Evil franchise, yet they leave her high & dry. They even moved away from using her in the CG movie Resident Evil: Vendetta, opting for Rebecca instead. Seriously Capcom, don't let her go to waste. Not to mention that Sheva was sexualized in a number of instances in-game (even right when she as introduced) as well as with her alternate costumes. But at least the RE team learned their lesson with the sexualization part, as they've moved away from sexualizing their women to egregious degrees. That aside, most of my other complaints are with how racist Resident Evil 5 itself. But I'm not the first (& likely not the last) to critique the game about this. In fact, there are two articles/research papers that I highly recommend you ready on the topic.
Sometimes it's just racist...
The Atlantic covers news, politics, culture, technology, health, and more, through its articles, podcasts, videos, and flagship magazine.www.theatlantic.com
Outside of all that, I don't have many issues with Sheva herself, She's a great character with a solid design & a talented black actress (Karen Dyer) voicing her. Capcom, bring her back for RE9. It's been too long since we last got to play as her.
(PDF) ‘‘When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong’’: Resident Evil 5, Racial Representation, and Gamers
PDF | Videogames’ ability to depict cultural iconographies and characters have occasionally led to accusations of insensitivity. This article examines... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGatewww.researchgate.net
Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the next character in the Action Section of Black Characters of Gaming Celebration. As for tomorrow, I guess even if diplomacy failed, capitalism still somehow found a way to stick around in hell.
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No, you're right. That was a typo on my part, one that's now fixed.
Definitely appreciate the work. Visibility is always a good thing.
Sheva is a great choice as well. I'd really like to see Capcom give her another chance and see a redesigned version of her. Hell, Josh as well for that matter.
Tyrone from Resistance is pretty cool as well. He was a young firefighter who saw some stuff Umbrella was doing and was kidnapped to be silenced. Has a decent design as well as in universe leadership skills. Super overpowered too. He can revive folks instantly with a certain mix attributes and he had a skill that could allow him to kick and stun zombies, including Mr. X and Birkin, lol.