Why is Lisa white now?

[werewolfgold]

Eddy from Tekken remains the only decently represented ethnic character from a Japanese/Asian game.

Bruce, Raven, and Christie not to your liking? lol

Oh no!!!! >_< Not again with the lisa's race stuff... We all know lisa is american now let me make a short list of why she is most likely African American.

1. America is full of many cultures and is suuuuuper diverse (increases possibilities of mixed race)
2. Most African americans aren't just african, but a mixture of many different races
3. Lisa could very well have brazilian, or mexican in addition to african ,but in America it doesnt matter, on your birth certification it says "African American"
4. We all know lucha libre is only a fighting style so ANYONE could be a luchadora.
5. well you can tell what I am by my name, but just like almost every black person i have european, and native american in my blood aswell, but if you saw me on the street most ppl. will think, "oh look it's a black guy"

TBH the whole title of being an African-American/black person is very complicated, heck being an American in general is complicated lol. So with all of this said i think lisa is "black".

Yep. This. I honestly don't get why people try to nitpick over percentages. "Nuh-uh. She's not black, she's mixed/brazilian/blah blah." Race by its nature is BS. Therefore, despite the possibility of whatever ethnic mix she may be, Lisa would still be considered black by American standards (where she's from). There's really no way by those same standards that Lisa would be considered "white" like the topic implies. Hell, there are "black" people with lighter skin tone than Lisa's.

Do people nitpick over Halle Berry (who it kind of looks like Lisa was inspired by)? Barack Obama is America's first "what" president? Exactly. I swear some people freak out over this stuff to the point that I truly question their motives. She's a black character, and there's really nothing wrong with that.

With that being said, whatever the hell they did to Vanessa in VF5 is utterly ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

 

[Baron West]

Eddy from Tekken remains the only decently represented ethnic character from a Japanese/Asian game.

You have to put things into perspective though.

Bruce might be an antiquated character design, but consider that he first appeared in Tekken 2, which came out in 95...it's not that surprising. From 1984 -1998(the arcade era) there were what...two White heavyweight champions? Morrison and Damiani? Mike Tyson fought Buster Douglas in Japan in 1990. I can understand Japanese developers being hyped about Black boxers. Most of the major FG series began during an Era were Black Heavyweight Boxers were dominant. DOA came out in 1996. Zack being a boxer isn't a surprise.

Decently represented is a bit subjective, isn't it? Namco also has Blade, I mean Simon Phoenix, I mean Raven. And Tyra Banks, I mean Christie Montiero. There's the Bobb Sapp, Bill Goldberg potara fusion who we call Craig Marduk. Though I suppose he and Christie aren't very original, and they're a bit ambiguous as well. Zasalamel was a pretty cool design though. When you look at the cast of the Tekken characters they have the most ethnically diverse roster of any fighting game.

To be fair, even though Capcom's ethnic character designs are not the best, it's clear that they've come along way since Mike Bison. With Sean and Sheva at least they tried. There's not really a ton of Latinos at first glance in any fighting games, other than King and Armor King. But KOF series has Angel, Ramon, and Tizoc...and some Brazilians; Richard Meyer, Bob Wilson(who came out before Eddy...), Marco Rodriguez, Alba and Soiree Meira. Japanese developers have made a lot of progress since the 90s in terms of diverse character designs. They're far from ideal, but there is progress. Maybe one day we'll have Japanese developers design Chinese characters who don't use Kung-Fu.

You have to give team Ninja a little credit though. Kurapica, I mean Eliot is a Brit who uses Kung-Fu. Lisa is an ambiguously African-American woman who happens to be a Luchadore. They could have easily added two more Ninjas.

More like a latino ass, if you ask me xD

An amusing distinction, considering Latino and Black are not mutually exclusive.

 

[FighterZealot]

If you look at the face of the model she has the features of a white person or at least doesn't look very African-american to me. I'd rather her skin be white(or very light) and have her truly represented then to just make her dark to have another (black) character in the game. For the record I'm a black male.

 

[Knowxscape]

If you look at the face of the model she has the features of a white person or at least doesn't look very African-american to me. I'd rather her skin be white(or very light) and have her truly represented then to just make her dark to have another (black) character in the game. For the record I'm a black male.

I definitely think team ninja did a better job at making her look more ethnic from her DOA 4 iteration. Also you have to understand that this is a japanese video game and when a female character is involved they are always going to be a bit biased on the standards of beauty. I think its cool that they included a female of color in the series even if she is glamorized (a la Beyonce, Rhianna, and Halle Berry). I think it would be even cooler if they included a female character of an even darker complexion, but glorious Nippon will have none of that will they? In the end, regardless of how people feel about Lisa that isn't gonna stop me from playing as her. And I too am a black male.

 

[akhi216]

My thoughts...

Lisa is an African-American female. She just lost her tan from being inside doing 20 hr workdays at her scientist job lol.

 

[Kodachi]

When I see Lisa I just don't think African is the most accurate description.
I think Afro-Brazilian Like Eddy Gordo, is a bit more specific and explains her fighting style.

 

[Bam of the Ppl]

No worries. It's pretty easy to get American-centric views from entertainment/media etc.. I was like that until I got to travel around.

I think back to the lighter skin debate though, and it's hard to argue for dark skin when even the black community has the whole light-skinned/dark-skinned debate. Don't even get me started on that...

Virtually EVERY race has a light skinned/dark skinned debate. From the impoverished people of Indian villiages to South Korean towns, dark iterations of people were seen as paupers and laborers aka came from nothing. Coupled with the social paradigms enforced throughout the world of white = beauty, it became a very formidable layer in a global human psyche. I just find heavily ironic you speak of American-centric views and traveling then make that silly statement.

In any case I am definitely bothered by this "bleaching" of Lisa. However, I just remind myself that theres a myriad of things Im bothered with when it comes to social iniquity. From the portrayal of Zack, to DOA's sickening portrayal of women, this series is just horrendous and completely void of social justice. So I really dont know why its something that should be discussed imo. Either you write the creators, or leave it cuz they obviously see nothing wrong with what theyre doing when it comes to that facet of their games. I definitely didnt buy this game for that. I just bought it hoping (and it seems to be so) that the new game mechanics will make it a far better competitive fighter.To each their own though.


And theres nothing wrong with an Afro-Brazillian character so either way Lisa is fine in my book.

 

[b-bombs]

I seem to remember something in DOAXVB saying that Lisa was Zack's sister. I may be wrong though, but I always assumed that she is whatever he is ethnically and that the Japanese just like to lighten up every semi-dark character (VF4 Vanessa, Capcom's C. Viper, Lisa) whenever they become remotely popular.

 

[KwonJigglypuff]

I seem to remember something in DOAXVB saying that Lisa was Zack's sister. I may be wrong though, but I always assumed that she is whatever he is ethnically and that the Japanese just like to lighten up every semi-dark character (VF4 Vanessa, Capcom's C. Viper, Lisa) whenever they become remotely popular.

That's a rumor, but apparently, Team Ninja wanted her to be Zack's sister at first, and then decided that it was a bit stupid to have the only two black characters linked in the cast. I mean, just because they are black, they have to be relatives. My brother is a bit like this too haha : "hey, are they a couple ? Owww.. well.. , they would look nice together". ^_^

 

[Groovaligance]

Its the lighting. But yes, she is much lighter than she used to be.

 

[Omega SYSP]

He's was askin why they changed her color where did all this other stuff come from ?! She was dark-skinned they made her pasty/light-skinned ! Whats the reasoning ?!

 

[werewolfgold]

Her original shade, along with basically everything else, was very cartoonish looking. If anything, this current version is middle of the road.

Pasty? Light-skinned? Nah.

 

[Omega SYSP]

To be a bit honest I was thinking the same thing

 

[Gruff757]

everyone looks a bit lighter in this game. to me anyway

 

[Ghosty-J]

I thought it was kind of ridiculous how Zack became lighter in DOA5 but Lisa's flat out white now. I'd love to hear TN's explanation

All the explanation we'll need : D

 

[Tones]

She'd be Puerto Rican/Portugues/something like that along with some moor.

Everything about her points into that direction. Her fighting style, outfits, skin colour/appearance, attack names, her alias.

 

[Omega SYSP]

All the explanation we'll need : D

LMAO !!! STFU !!!!!

 

[Kodachi]

 

[Rawbietussin]

Can't we just say she's a ganguro? I think it would be fun to finally have the first ganguro fighter.

 

[BloodBurger]

I'm pretty sure if Lisa was black she'd be a coon like Zack. TN is pretty stereotypical.

I agree with the Brazilian, South American theory.