Fighter, Female, Black #13 at 9:32 AM

 (According to an article made last year there have only ever 13 playable female characters. The list doesn't include fighting game characters for reasons I don't agree with. As such, I have decided to put a spotlight on 14 of these characters, to see what is being dismissed here. There are MORE than that, but I admit, not MUCH more.)

Laura Matsuda

Game
Street Fighter 5

Bio
She's Sean's Sister. And Sean's like...Ryu's son? Or Akuma's? I don't know, it was a pretty boring anime.

How Black is she?
She's Half Black Half Japanese, but instead of representing Japan in a beauty contest(man is THAT gonna be old when this is posted...), she's representing Brazil in Street Fighter.

Prominence
I'm writing this in November 2015 and haven't even decided WHEN it'll launch. You tell ME if Laura is now the most important Street Fighter character in the world.

Fight examples

Flaws

The SF guys always struggled with how to properly stereotype Brazil. But after 20 years, they finally figured it out: Wrap a Batucada girl in the Flag of Brazil.

Like, this chick obviously has had more surgery than Poison, has both long flowing locks AND cornrows,  and probably shoots Favelas out of her butt for all I know.

Pros

Instead of being yet another wiggle warrior, she was actually given a rough moveset including lots of grapple moves. That counts for something, right?

Honorable mentions go to the 2-3 females in Capoeira Fighter, a chick I'm pretty sure was Black in Bloody Roar, and any others I may have missed. There's a lot of fighting games out there, and when I think I've seen them all, I run into more. The point of this was never to say that representation is a non-issue, but that you don't need to dismiss what you already have to ask for more.

Next Month, 13 female fighting game Puerto Ricans. Oh, there are none? Well, 13 Puerto Rican playable females in all of videogames. Neither, huh? Uh...13 Puerto Rican playable characters? 13 Puerto Rican at all characters?

Fuck.

Black, Female, Fighter #7 at 1:42 PM

(According to an article made last year there have only ever 13 playable female characters. The list doesn't include fighting game characters for reasons I don't agree with. As such, I have decided to put a spotlight on 14 of these characters, to see what is being dismissed here. There are MORE than that, but I admit, not MUCH more.)

Christie Monteiro

Game

Tekken

Bio

How Black is she?

Quite Black. She's, again, Brazilian, so...

Prominence

While Tekken has more characters than the Bible, now, I would point out of the few that made it into the Tekken movie, Christie is one of them. Sure, they White Washed her, but uh, she sure was more on the film than  some characters that have been there since the begging, and that's amazing considering she was always meant to be a moveset swap with Eddie Gordo, who I think didn't even appear on that.

Fight examples

Flaws

No two ways about it, Christie is a sexy character. If that bothers you, Christie isn't your character.

Pros

But at least you're supposed to get that she has a loose and free spirited personality. Not like Taki from SC, who  we're supposed to take straightfaced as a tormented ass renegade shinobi demon hunter even as her breasts baloon out of control.

The sensuality and cadence are a part of the character, yet are not entirely the character.

Black, Female, Fighter #5 at 8:12 PM

(According to an article made last year there have only ever 13 playable female characters. The list doesn't include fighting game characters for reasons I don't agree with. As such, I have decided to put a spotlight on 14 of these characters, to see what is being dismissed here. There are MORE than that, but I admit, not MUCH more.)

Adrianna


Game

Fighter's Destiny 2

Bio

NONE.

How Black is she?

She's Black, because Brazilians are stereotypically always assumed to be Black. Or Green.

Weirdly enough her alt costume includes a Native American Feather Headdress(remember to look up that thing's name later). Maybe it's a carnival thing I don't know, but even as I try to keep an open mind about this kinds of things, I don't assume Fighter's Destiny is a serious source for information about the people of Brazil.

Prominence

Statistically speaking, you have not played Fighter's Destiny or it's sequel. And The game's cover boy is a Ryu Knock Off, so no.

Fight examples

 Flaws

You know, I've come to find that there's a valid reason why Brazil gets featured so much in fighting games. They've got a couple of fighting styles (Vale Tudo, Capoeira,  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu).

However, since tradition states fighting game rosters are filled with crude national stereotypes  when all else fails, I guess they decided there wasn't a Batucada Dancer in a game yet.

I mean, that design...they aren't even trying.

Pros

Fighter's Destiny fuckin' sucks.