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Japan has Splatoon 2 plushies made by Sanrio that include a whitewashed Marina
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This is a sample range of pastel-friendly skintones for a decent range of ethnicities. Each has a corresponding Pantone, which can be purchased as fabrics, inks, or dyes for fabrics. They have polyester thread color-matches as well, which are common for mass-produced embroidery. I don't think Marina's whitening was caused by choosing pastel colors. There are plenty of options beyond what I have here, but simply put, choosing an appropriate skin tone was not a design challenge.
To help illustrate how similar the colors they arrived at are in terms of lightness, this is one section each from the Marina and Pearl figures with the color desaturated (it's roughly on the forehead for Marina, and sort of on the cheek for Pearl, just because the lighting was most similar in those spots):
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no, i'm insisting that it's probably not intentional as you are making it out to be, because to do so doesn't make sense.
why would they alienate their fanbase?
for what purpose?
everybody loves these two characters as they are. marina especially so.
in all my time reading about Splatoon 2 on twitter, reading japanese responses to tweets from NoJ, have I seen somebody comment about her being too black. are they out there? i'm sure there are a few racist people, sure. but definitely not the majority, because i've read a lot and seen very little of that opinion.
so why white wash her like you're saying?
i'm not surprised you're backing out, because i called you out for it, and you can't back it up. you like many others in here...can't answer any of my questions. just retorting with, "it's white washing, because !" and combo-ing with sweeping generalisations of an entire country. lol.
Black History month is a thing in the UK too, different month though. That said I agree insofar as, why would Japan, an East Asian country with no significant Black population or history with Africa celebrate or observe Black History month? Let's not be silly now.
I'm also not too convinced that this is straight up white washing as both characters are using pastel colours, and you can clearly see in the artwork that Marina is still darker. Interesting that she's darker in her official render than she is in some of the official game illustrations.
That's me trying not to be cynical, although you never know with a country like Japan *sigh*
Are you for real right now?
I get that people want to defend something they like but this is pretty sad.
Wat
Marina's not supposed to be ganguro.
Edit: Oh, sorry, I thought you meant the fashion trend.
I hope you know the context of this gif. That guy is the most famous black dude in S.Korea and is of legend status over there. I really hated it when that gif went viral with people not knowing who he was. He has done a lot for making that country learn more about black people in general.
Also, that plushie is abysmal. The whitewashing is blatant.
The same thing also happened recently a week or 2 ago with Naomi Osaka being whitewashed in a commercial based on Prince of Tennis. Its messed up.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46986366
posts like yours...they suck.
assuming i'm here because I like splatoon?
assuming i'm defending "it"?
i get that people want to attack something they don't like but this is pretty sad <<<< I can do the same thing. it doesn't add anything to the convo.
thank you though.
yes, this is whitewashing.
as was this https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45479954 which was an embarrassment, and that cartoonist is a racist fuckwit with a long history of shit like that.
plushie...not so much. there are many other things wrong with the style of BOTH those plushies, enough for me to say they just fucked them up.
anyway..happy to engage with anybody else about this, but i'm signing off for now. PM me if you really care.
Not as much as yours suck.
Here is what you said:
You don't see the issue, you think people are posting hot takes on legitimate issues without understanding the context. What is the context for making a black skinned character whiter exactly? Even post 51 doesn't defend nor say anything about the skin tone of the plushie and yet you picked it as some kind of proof that it is not a problem.
On the "like" comment, I take it back. You are right on that front.
Post 51 was an actual image of it, which is darker than the promo material. So the plushie itself is darker. Is it the right tone? No. But I don't think it's white washing. I'm not hand waving. I don't think it's right people are coming in here and saying it's definitely white washing, when it doesn't make sense for Nintendo or Sanrio to do so. Like...why would they do that? For what purpose/goal? Doing so hurts their bottom line.
Whitewashing is a problem and there are examples of it coming from japan, the Naomi Osaka ones posted above are examples of it. But I don't think this is one of them.
I appreciate you taking back that "like" comment.
I don't think it's a "hot take" for people to be upset that one of the few dark skinned characters in a Nintendo game is presented as light skinned. Colorism and whitewashing are big problems. I think your post is grossly dismissive.
Not so much? They could of made the skin material darker to reflect the source material. Its as simple as that. I doubt it was a conscious fuck up on their part.
User Banned (Duration Pending): Dismissing concerns surrounding racism and antagonizing other members; account still in junior phase
We live in great times, where everyone who wants to feel offended, can pretty much find something to do so. No one has to go away empty-handed.
For one, the art they used doesn't even have the same art as the game. It was way lighter which the plushie used. If it was darker but the plushie was whiter then yeah I could understand it being some kind of mistake.
There is also a lot of different examples of Nintendo doing this kind bullshit. Hell I don't even need to look back much, check out the Smash mess they had a couple of months back.
The plush doesn't look as bad in person, going by those photos, but it's still pretty bad. I kinda get what they were trying to go for, at least
I figure they just went with whatever one designer thought was cute and no one at Nintendo or Sanrio raised an eyebrow. The Black History Month timing is just especially unfortunate.
I figure they just went with whatever one designer thought was cute and no one at Nintendo or Sanrio raised an eyebrow. The Black History Month timing is just especially unfortunate.
Japan: diversity is hard.
On the real though, the plush looks like a really light brown. I don't want to say one way or the other what the intentions were behind that choice, but I think we now have the technology to make something like this more in line with what the character looks like. Does Japan care about proper representation when it comes to this? Likely not for better or worse.
On the real though, the plush looks like a really light brown. I don't want to say one way or the other what the intentions were behind that choice, but I think we now have the technology to make something like this more in line with what the character looks like. Does Japan care about proper representation when it comes to this? Likely not for better or worse.
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I see what you mean. They have no excuse really. But in my experience -artists I know personally, others I follow in different places- sometimes they just simply omit the darker tones. Doesn't matter if it's brown, red or blue, they only go for the lightest tones because they're looking for a very desaturated/light palette.This is a sample range of pastel-friendly skintones for a decent range of ethnicities. Each has a corresponding Pantone, which can be purchased as fabrics, inks, or dyes for fabrics. They have polyester thread color-matches as well, which are common for mass-produced embroidery. I don't think Marina's whitening was caused by choosing pastel colors. There are plenty of options beyond what I have here, but simply put, choosing an appropriate skin tone was not a design challenge.
To help illustrate how similar the colors they arrived at are in terms of lightness, this is one section each from the Marina and Pearl figures with the color desaturated (it's roughly on the forehead for Marina, and sort of on the cheek for Pearl, just because the lighting was most similar in those spots):
Needles to say I don't have a clue on what they were after, but it could have been fixed easily by choosing a slightly darker thread for the lines that would allow Marina's skin tone to be darker and still look good in that pastel palette
YIKES
Marginalized groups already struggle with visibility in media. This type of white washing just compounds it. Fuck off.
Marginalized groups already struggle with visibility in media. This type of white washing just compounds it. Fuck off.
Huh. Why are people throwing around accusations of 'white'-washing against an Asian country? The Japanese aren't white, they're yellow-ish. For aesthetic reasons, they prefer paler skin tones for everything. All of their supposedly Japanese anime characters for example have white skin, and you don't see them accusing themselves of 'white'-washing anime.
Nintendo has more racial diversity in their games now because their games are marketed internationally. But are these plushies being sold anywhere outside of Japan? You are all making a lot of fuss over another country's local products.
Nintendo has more racial diversity in their games now because their games are marketed internationally. But are these plushies being sold anywhere outside of Japan? You are all making a lot of fuss over another country's local products.
It's fucked up, but they probably thought this made her "cuter."
...Also I know this is terrible, but the first thing I thought of when I saw it was the part in Arrested Development where Franklin goes through the washer and comes out white.
...Also I know this is terrible, but the first thing I thought of when I saw it was the part in Arrested Development where Franklin goes through the washer and comes out white.
Don't get too caught up on the semantics of the term. This is absolutely a problem.
Both plushies look like they spent too much time in the laundry.
So toy companies make black Nintendo characters whiter to make them more desirable to the general public? What's going on?
So toy companies make black Nintendo characters whiter to make them more desirable to the general public? What's going on?
Semantices the argument. Call it colorism because Japan has a huge problem with it as do many Asian countries. It's fucked up, don't downplay it.
Overreaction? They clearly made her more pale than the artwork saw above. I had no idea who this character was, but yeah they bleached her skin and it's noticeable, the artwork as well.
Oh come the fuck on, not whitewashing? A person who doesn't know shit about Splatoon won't look the plushie and say "Ah yes, that's a black character". People handwaving this shit away is why Japan keeps getting away with shit like this.
I remember there was a topic about the Ace Attorney anime, where an episode made references to a Capcom game and the character that was black in the game was whitewashed in the episode.
So basically the same excuse people use to defend blackface, I get it.
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User Banned (2 Weeks): Rationalizing racism, inflammatory false equivalencies, and antagonizing other members
Yeah? Pardon me for not raising a big fuss over the colours of local TOYS. Would you also make a fuss if African countries made skin tones darker for local toys? For example, if they used a completely black shade for people who only have light-brown skin? Because this is essentially what you are all doing.
In Japan, anime characters tend to look more Western-ish (including eye or hair color) but in reality they prefer their own Asian looks. Conversely, there are many gay comics in Japan, but the actual society is still quite intolerant towards homosexuals. Japan is also hentai-land but the Japanese themselves are extremely prudish.
In other words, fictional representations in Japan has nothing to do with their attitudes in reality. A whiter local toy isn't necessarily indicative of racism, nor is a darker shade necessarily indicative of more acceptance. Chances are the matter of race was just not on the radars of the plushie makers. Sure there are some plushies in darker tones. Those are either cats or bears and have nothing to do with racial representation. Most of the other plushies have light tones because that's just what they enjoy.
From the images posted, I struggle to come away thinking any kind of thought, care or attention went into making those plushies.
People bring offended by whitewashing is not a new thing at all.
For example, there was backlash to this in 2012:
http://m.tmz.com/#!2012/04/18/acura-nsx-super-bowl-commercial-seinfeld-light-skinned-black-casting/
And this in 2009:
http://nymag.com/daily/movies/2009/11/when_push_comes_to_shove--and.html
And this in 2008:
http://m.tmz.com/#!2008/08/06/loreal-beyonce-whitewash/
This is nothing new at all. In fact, this is a subject that's been talked about in the black community for many years prior to that. I'm very happy that there seems to be more people supporting us when we call stuff like this out, and it's a shame when others people end up dismissing the very long standing concerns about this practice as "outrage" or as just looking for something to be offended by.
That's sad but not surprising for Japan unfortunately. I was surprised in the first place Nintendo chose to make black/brown characters as the faces of Splatoon 2 (default inkling girl, default octoling girl, Marina) which is their biggest IP in Japan right now. I actually thought it was kind of bold and progressist of them from a Japanese viewpoint. But there have been a lot of whitewashing in the art they use (splatfest, promo art etc)
It's not even just Japan. It's East Asia in general views white skin is seen as the highest form of beauty. From what I read it's because white skin was associated with the upper class who didn't work in the field and thus didn't tan. People in Asia don't really see it as a race thing but it's still shitty.
Strange.
People who like Splatoon 2 and want to get such toys probably want something that resembles the original characters, but this plushies looks nothing like them.
Did they really feared that a dark skinned doll would not sell to an audience that adored the game?
People who like Splatoon 2 and want to get such toys probably want something that resembles the original characters, but this plushies looks nothing like them.
Did they really feared that a dark skinned doll would not sell to an audience that adored the game?
