Go ahead and make a game featuring multiple dozen of different characters from around the world, while consistently getting voice actors from their appropriate region’s who also have the skill to act well.
I’ll wait.
People don’t give a hoot about true cultural appropriation.
Look at the southeast asian/Indian religious symbol that got appropriated in WW2. That will never be unappropriated in the west because our feelings matter more than theirs. So Hindus, Janist and buddhist culture never be able to use that symbol in weddings, their home, their business or anywhere in the west. Or if they do use it, then ignorant westerners might make incorrect assumptions about them.
The symbol was derived by observing the North star and the position of the big dipper for each of the 4 seasons. The night sky was a lot more pretty in the ancient past due to a lack of light pollution.
On the other hand, I do know why we have our strong feelings towards it as we want the degenerate ideology to never have a chance to revive itself in a different form.
You could say I am ambivalent about this. It fits the definition of cultural appropriation though to a T, but the symbol was boldy bastardized, so it will stay that way in the west.
Mercys VA in the German Version is Farina Brock. Born in Cologne (?) (Köln)
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Well they did that on purpose with Torb, I’m pretty sure—his accent is very close to WoW dwarf accents, and the whole “I’m not a dwarf” joke series with him.
We need Torb’s real back story where he finds a portal from Azeroth to the real world and just pretends he’s short and Swedish.
Reinhardt’s voice actor said he used the accent his grandfather (a German man from Germany lol) spoke with.
Honestly I have the utmost respect for Rein’s voice actor because I’ve seen him in another game and you honestly would have no idea that it’s the same voice unless you listen VERY closely:
Here he is as Valkorion/Vitiate/Tenebrae, the Immortal Emperor in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Narrating the video, in case you can’t tell.
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Thank you, I love her imitation though. To me, Mercy now sounds like someone who is sleep-deprived, sounds very worried, stressed, and a bit bada$$ at times.
When she calls for help it sounds like she is flailing her arms with a bewildered look on her face.
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This isn’t true. Plenty of cultures still use this symbol freely because of its history, and I think you can still find some Anime in the west that still use this symbol for this character. Like that orange haired guy from Bleach.
Regardless, you can’t really blame westerners when the majority of their first experiences with this symbol is due to evil mustache man’s party.
I feel like if you had some kind of buddhist altar with the swastika on it, most people would be willing to ask “why” instead of just assuming you’re some kind of weird mustache army/ buddhist hybrid. Of course, you’ll always have idiots who just see the symbol and ignore all the context around it, but that’s just how the world works. Remember the organization that declared the OK symbol is racist?
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Thank you, I can appreciate a well-reasoned post.
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In case anyone was wondering how the VAs’ nationalities compared to their heroes:
Ana (Egyptian) - Aysha Selim (Egyptian)
Ashe (American) - Jennifer Hale (Canadian-American)
Baptiste (Haitian) - Benz Antoine (Canadian [Haitian])
Brigitte (Swedish) - Matilda Smedius (Swedish)
D.Va (Korean) - Charlet Chung (American [Japanese, Korean])
Doomfist (Nigerian) - Sahr Ngaujah (American [Sierra Leonian])
Echo/Liao (Singaporean) - Jeannie Bolet (British [Vietnamese, Chinese, French])
Genji (Japanese) - Gaku Space (Japanese)
Hanzo (Japanese) - Paul Nakauchi (American [Japanese])
Junkrat (Australian) - Chris Parson (American)
Lucio (Brazilian) - Jonny Cruz (American [Mexican])
Cassidy (American) - Matthew Mercer (American)
Mei (Chinese) - Elise Zhang (Chinese)
Mercy (Swiss) - Lucie Pohl (German)
Moira (Irish) - Genevieve O’Reilly (Irish)
Orisa (Numbanian) - Cherrelle Skeete (British [Jamaican, Vincentian])
Pharah (Egyptian-Canadian) - Jen Cohn (American)
Reaper (Mexican-American) - Keith Ferguson (Mexican-American)
Reinhardt (German) - Darin De Paul (American [German])
Roadhog (Australian) - Josh Petersdorf (American)
Sigma (Dutch) - Boris Hiestand (Dutch)
Soldier: 76 (American) - Fred Tatasciore (American)
Sombra (Mexican) - Carolina Ravassa (Colombian)
Symmetra (Indian) - Anjali Bhimani (American [Indian])
Torbjorn (Swedish) - Keith Silverstein (American)
Tracer (British) - Cara Theobold (British)
Widowmaker (French) - Chloe Hollings (French-Australian)
Zarya (Russian) - Dolya Gavanski (Bulgarian)
Bastion, Winston and Zenyatta omitted because their nationality is unknown
Reinhardt definitely has an accent - it’s just not the stereotyped and perhaps even offensive typical hollywood German accent.
Maybe because it is useful to understand what he is saying…
Real reason = His VA isn’t German.
Possibly in game explanation = the game plays a lot of years in the future, different countries and cultures will be more and more mixed, meaning people will probably learn other languages at a younger age, meaning they will have less of an accent.
Even nowadays if people speak a different language for a long time / from a young age, the accent will be a lot less than someone who just started the language
Zarya does have some insanely long line in perfectly good Russian when she looks through the big telescope. Sounds like she’s reciting literature or something.
Ever played Control? xD
Yeah cause they can find a French speaking voice actor for Baptiste and Widow, a German speaking voice actor for Mercy, an Irish speaking voice actor for Moira, an Arabic speaking voice actor for Ana, a Swedish speaking voice actor for Brigitte, and a Dutch speaking voice actor for Sigma but they can’t get Darin de Paul to learn a few lines in a language in the same family as English.
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Many characters, especially launch characters, have Anglosphere English voice actors despite playing characters from other countries. Though there’s other issue ones too; iirc Zarya’s English VA is Ukrainian but tries to sound Russian, which makes her sound off-putting to both Ukrainians and Russians when speaking Russian.
Lucio’s is the most blatant imo. He’s from Brazil but sounds like he from Ohio or something.
It’s just cool being German, ok?
I’ll be offended if soljourn does say aboot
Actually, I haven’t. Got a clip?
Doesn’t work that way bud. Glad you weren’t behind these lore decisions.