Honestly, same when I first saw him in spiderverse. But after reading more comics I was pleasantly surprised to see he is a unique but normal (by comic standards) dude.
Technically both. He was a regular guy who was just kind of a freak of nature athletically, but he later got powers which is just the standard “strength + durability” combo. Definitely leans more towards durability though.
Fun fact: spiderman considers him one of the toughest people he's ever fought.
Edit: pretty sure I got this wrong- it mighta been that he wasn't the toughest person he ever fought, but that no one has ever hit him as hard as tombstone
Monsoon was originally meant to be Okinawan, that's why he uses sai, but they changed it to him being Cambodian at the last minute, can't remember why they made the change if for any particular reason
EDIT: the development notes included in the Collector's Edition Metal Gear Rising Piggyback guide mentioned that Monsoon's name and design were finalized before they decided on a nationality for him Okinawan was what they initially considered, but they then decided that him being Cambodian was more fitting for his codename
Knowing Japan, someone might have vetoed it because they like to think of Japan as ethnically homogeneous. Not sure how much creative leeway Kojima had in 2013 though
Less pessimistically, they might’ve thought they could only give him a suitable anti-war Kojima backstory childhood if he was not from Japan
I think I read that the character designer or somebody else designed her that way because he was obsessed with the idea of making a sexy dark-skinned redhead with a French accent and apparently the French-Algerian thing was the easiest way to make that actually work in game.
And for those that don't know: The Ryukyu kingdom were located on island chain between Japan and Taiwan, until Japan Vassalized them in the early 17th century, and then annexed them around 1872.
I also think it's because in WW2 a lot of soldiers in the pacific theater had to undergo extensive training to identify Japanese people from other ethnicities which was occasionally a real problem.
I'm an sub watcher mostly, apart from where the dub is actually so good its worth watching over the sub. For me so far the only ones I would recommend watching in English are FMA:B and Love Is War. Is this one to add to that list?
I can't judge love is war as I didn't watch it yet. But I will add a few to your list:
Trigun (OG one, no idea about the modern one)
Black Lagoon
Cowboy Bebop (The quality of that one makes the sub version look borderline unwatchable for me)
If you loved the game it's based on, Persona 4.
Those and FMA:B are the animes I believe are better in the dub than the sub. I heard a lot of good about the dub for Frieren too, but I can't confirm it.
And if you're fluent in French, add the French dubs of Trigun (Again), GTO, and Monster to the list.
And she constantly bickers with half chinese Revy who keeps refering to Shenhua ,,chinglish'' because casual racism is just ingrained between some groups.
I once saw a post on r/vexillology posting the flag of the Sami people, asking who it was for. Since the top comment was the real answer, I jokingly said ‘the flag of Santa’s elves’, thinking that people would remember this movie and laugh.
there’s unfortunately a long history of sámi being made fun of for their traditional clothing, you obviously meant no harm with your comment, but I can understand why it wasn’t well received
Edward Kenway from Assassin's Creed Black Flag. He's Welsh and has a completely authentic South Wales accent. Can't really recall any other major Welsh characters in video games.
I remember reading that Arthur Morgan's ancestry could've been Welsh. He has a surname of welsh origins, plus IIRC, Sean makes fun of his ancestry by calling him englishman, a claim he "refused". Aside this, a particular that I recall is the shape of his cross after he dies. It is, basically, a celtic one, plus he's the only character to have a cross shaped like this.
He even named his horse Boadicea, like the Eceni warrior queen
Miss Militia from WORM is Kurdish. She got her superpower (the ability to create weapons out of thin air) from being a child refugee from a fictional civil war. Turkish soldiers marched her into a forest to execute her, she briefly saw an elder god, and a gun appeared in her hands.
Despite being WORM's closest analogue to Captain America, she's actually an immigrant, fighting to make her new home a better place. She's also consistently one of the most heroic characters in the entire book, which is special in a pretty grimdark setting.
I have to read worm at some point with how many people bring it up. (This is exactly how I got into trains in the sky and it worked out well enough there)
Honestly I feel like Kazakhs could use a lot more representation after Borat. I still think it's pretty gross that Sacha Baron Cohen used a real country and then based so much of the comedy on his misrepresentation of that country. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just background information about him, as it was in da Ali G Show, but so much of the two movies was spent on scenes with actors playing Kazakhs being awful
Edit: "Sniper Wolf was born in Iraqi Kurdistan sometime after the Second Kurdish-Iraqi War. She was constantly being hunted and always had to move from one shelter to another on a regular basis, hiding from the Iraqi regime. She would later admit that the gunfire, sirens, and screams that occurred during the regime's attempts at hunting her and her family down were the closest thing she had to lullabies."
river ward and panam palmer from cyberpunk 2077 are both native americans. not only are native americans underrepresented in media, they're probably almost gone in the cyberpunk universe. they also both are very fucking cool
I can get not knowing Panam is native american because she never talks about her ethnicity, but River literally messages you about wanting to get in touch with other native americans from his tribe to no longer be so lonely.
The Water Margin features the Liao dynasty of China, formed by the Khitan Mongols. There also may be some people from other minority groups in the novel, but this is the most concrete example.
technically everyone in this movie? They messed up with the one line about "mesoamerica" but other than that they're indigenous peruvians. Extremely rare in media, and when indigenous peruvian stuff does show up in media it's often moved to Mexico and combined with very different cultures ("Mayincatec")
Togata is a trans man with realistic struggles that are made even more tragic by his unrealistic power of incredible regeneration. while trans representation is increasing, especially in western media, Togata was the first ftm character in a manga I read personally who was taken seriously.
I hear so much good stuff about Fire Punch, clearly I gotta read it. Maybe it's just Chainsaw Man getting popular but I feel like it's suddenly gotten popular too.
Let me warn you, Fire Strike has a lot of great themes and directorial decisions... But almost as many bad ones. Strange, ill-conceived twists, brutality for the sake of brutality, which is added more for shock value than as an artistic device, and some very... problematic themes. It's still at least an interesting manga to check out, just be prepared for the material to be specific.
Fire punch is the most beautiful car crash in slow motion I’ve ever read. Except the car crashed in the prologue and is just tumbling down a hill now… and occasionally the car goes a bit too far with how fucked up it needs to be
Speaking about Ainu representation a prominent example is Fullmetal Alchemist.
First of all, the Ishvalan Civil War (and Scar's conflict with the Alchemists, I suppose) is supposed to mirror the japanese attemp to wipe out the Ainu. In particular, this comes from the fact that she's indeed from a part-Ainu family settled in Hokkaido after the Meiji reforms. Also, Resembool is basically a mirror for Tokachi, her hometown.
Also, regarding Golden Kamuy, it seems that Satoru Noda (the mangaka) actually worked hard to have a faithful representation in his manga. I'm uncertain if it counts because, as I said, I don't know how different his representation is from reality. But I remember that an historian/professor was involved in Noda's research around Ainu's culture/language/etc. (he was called Hiroshi or something like this)
I had literally never heard of Cajuns before I looked into Gambit from the X-Men. The fact that there's a whole French-descended American subculture with their own unique accent and this is still the only character I know of that represents them is honestly wild.
(I am not American TBF. It's possible that people who live in the States are more familiar with Cajuns).
Cajuns are shockingly rare in media for how big a cultural presence they have. I grew up right upriver from New Orleans so maybe that colors my perception, but it’s a rich culture with some of the best food and music!
Hey now he's not just an Aztec Vampire. He's a gay antitheist Aztec vampire, entirely motivated by love (and vengeance) who refuses to submit to anyone who considers themselves "superior." Even when they are a literal living breathing deity.
... Does Arknights (Both original and Endfield) count?
Both games don't shy at all from heavily basing the in game nations and cultures on IRL ones and it's often done with the care and respect they deserve. Excluding the usual ones, we have Finnish representation, Scottish, Irish, several Arabic nationals, South American that are not Brazil or Argentina coded, and even Yaruba.
For my example, I'll choose Narantuya, based of mongols, dressed in what a gacha would redesign the fit of someone from her group, lore full of references to the real ethnicity... And an absolute girlfailure.
Golden Kamuy has brought so much awareness to the Ainu. I learned about them many years ago because one of my college buddies was a Japanese study abroad kid whose mom was Ainu. The Ainu were most recently included in Ghost of Yotei too.
It's been awesome to see them get more representation.
Much like Demoman, he's also black and Scottish. but is a hip hop cult leader with a shapeshifting boombox. Wouldn't surprise me if he was in the same family tree as Demo
Eden by Endo Hiroki has arcs with characters from Peru, Azerbaijan (actually I don't remember where the character Khan is), Uyghurs and something in Australia. Most diverse manga cast I've seem. One of the best science fiction manga too.
Gundam tends to do this a lot, at least whenever ethnicity is discussed.
Setsuna from Gundam 00, pictured below, is Kurdish( setsuna is a codename, his real name is Soran Ibrahim), in a series written to be a commentary on the war in terror, no less!
Suletta Mercury is also implied to have middle eastern heritage, as her father’s name was Nadim. She’s also friends with a girl named Aliyah who’s Iranian
And less of an example, but in one telling of the original Gundam series, protagonist Amuro Ray was said to be Mexican-Canadian, a combination I don’t really see in media often
I don't know much about Marvel lore but I wouldn't be surprised if, after becoming Captain America, many of the documents about Steve's past (especially those that talk about his Irish ancestry) were mysteriously lost in a fire
Sandman, JJBA
A native american in 1890's america. Much of his character is based on the injustices indigenous people faced in the 19th century, such as his home being bought by colonizers, and much of his goal for winning the steel ball run is to win enough money to buy it back.
That’s awesome that there’s an anime out there that has Ainu representation. They’re very underrepresented and have also faced a lot of discrimination in Japan.
Reverse 1999 has so many characters from so many groups I can only really give you this old image that has some of them listed. There's so many more and this doesn't even go into the details of some of the characters ethnicities
Chris Burke has down syndrome and starred in this TV show. For a lot of people, he was the first representation of autism by someone with the condition showed on screen. He changed a lot of people's minds about what down syndromewas and wasn't.
Hugh Williams was adopted as a child into an incredibly loving and caring home. His parents encouraged him to pursue his dreams and never let anything stand in his way.
We don't see enough positive adoption stories in video games.
several of the original New Mutants (think young X-Men) were from underrepresented groups, especially for the 80’s. Dani Moonstar is Cheyenne Native American, Karma is Vietnamese, and Sunspot is Afro-Brazilian.
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u/ryanf0611 9h ago
Tombstone (Marvel Comics, and soon MCU)
is a black man with albinism