How Blizzard came up with Chinese/Lunar NY skins (probably)

General Discussion
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2017

Dev#1: So, what do we want to do with the Chinese New Year event? Or rather, Lunar New Year, as it’s observed and celebrated by quite a few cultures. We can do the typical cultural attire worn during the holidays, etc.

Dev#2: Journey to the West.

Dev#1: Huh?

Dev#2: Journey to the West. It’s cool. The original Dragonball has characters and story beats loosely based on it.

Dev#1: I know what it is. What does it have to do with CNY?

Dev#2: It’s Chinese. Just do it. And throw in a traditional Korean dress for D.Va for the Korean fans.

2018

Dev#1: Okay what theme do we go with this year?

Dev#2: Four Celestial Beasts. It’s Chinese.

Dev#1: Wha… oka-

Dev#2: Also throw in a Korean period attire for McCree. Because.

2019

Dev#1: …

Dev#2: …

Dev#1: … don’t do it.

Dev#2: DYNASTY WARRIORS M****** F******!!!

Dev#1: God damnit.

Dev#2: Don’t forget to throw in some Korean cultural skins in there. Make it THREE this time. We want the Korean fans to love us and keep popping out future OWL pros for us.

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Isnt the romance of three kingdoms … Chinese?

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Also that some ancient chinese generals were once revered as basically gods

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Oh yeah, Guan Yu is still worshiped in small temples all over the place.

Still doesn’t have any relations with the New Year.

By that logic of “well it’s Chinese”, I suppose for 2020’s event we can expect to have characters from The Water Margin. I’ll actually be ok with this since I’ve always loved the story lol.

Then 2021 we do Dream of the Red Chamber? Just to complete the four novels?

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I mean idk…also fun fact guan yu is worshipped by police officers in hong kong

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OP, are you seriously complaining about them using cultural inspiration for skins?

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It is, but he is a bit clueless to all the historical significance behind it. So just nod and smile. Nod and Smile.

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I mean, i personally no nothing of the story, i just know gaun yu from smite

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If you like Anime watch Kingdom.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/12031/Kingdom

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Also wasnt at one point the korean peni sula under chinese control?

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Oh yeah I’ve heard about that I think. That’s pretty cool.

I mean, it’s Chinese/Lunar New Year. People don’t celebrate the New Year with characters from two of the four great Chinese novels.

Joke’s on you buddy. I’m Taiwanese. And I grew up reading Romance.

Still doesn’t make sense how they relate it to Chinese New Year.

Wearing red. Fire crackers. Dancing lions. Etc. These are CNY things.

smiles and nods

That’s the thing with China. At one point or another most Asian nations were either part of it or subservient to it. It’s an empire thing. And cultures get shared and mingled, so there’s definitely a lot of similarities and overlaps.

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but…we already did those things in overwatch…it was in the first event, in sprays, and tracer’s highlight

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honestly, the event of the chinese new year itself…isn’t much, honestly, so using the event to celebrate chinese history is more bountiful and creative in the end

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Philosophically new year is about “New Times” or “New Beginnings”
The Romance of the 3 kingdoms is about the Birth of a new Nation, a Unified China.

In another words New Year for China, the Birth of China, The Romance of the 3 Kingdoms is about the Birth of a Single Unified Nation and the New Dawn for the country.

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True, and I don’t dislike all the skins mind you.

Just pointing out how silly it seems Blizzard decides to relate non-New-Year Chinese cultural items (and Korean ones) to the New Year.

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I mean, many parts of the asian world celebrate the chinese new year, its just china is the largest part of it…for obvious reasons

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I can agree to that :+1:

…though I’d settle for them giving 5 or so heroes a red dress/suit every year until everyone has one. As it stand, only Sym, Mercy (not really), D.Va and Mei have any truly festive and New Year-sy skins.

I’ll give you points for that.

Though there have been so many dynasties, the 3Kingdoms period really isn’t indicative of “unification” as you put it. If anything the Qin* dynasty was regarded as the one true time China was unified.

It’s been a long time, but I don’t think Romance got into the dynasty that followed it (Sui I believe). It’s more about the fictionalized exploits of the heroes and villains of the Three Kingdoms period that preceded it.

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You are confusing a story and real life.

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we have people complaining about the skins right now, you give them that, we wouldnt hear the end of it

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Ops my bad. Not Qing. Qin. The First Emperor, etc.

Also, I hope you realize Romance is largely fictional. It’s a romanticized (hence ROMANCE) account of the period, based on San Guo Zhi, which was actually a historical account.