A new Marvel video game venture, influenced by anime, but with PC casting involved
Polygon talks about Marvel Tokon, a new game project by Arc System Works (producers of the Guilty Gear series, IIRC), who're doing something like a followup to Capcom's earlier fighting games starring or co-starring Marvel casts:
Unshockingly, this article fails to make clear why anime/manga's overtaken USA comics in popularity, but may not much longer if they turn to Orwellian PC - because Marvel and DC sold out to wokeism long ago, particularly by the mid-2000s, and licensed merchandise is no substitute for comics storytelling. Recalling when Capcom produced Clash of Super-Heroes in 1998, they were only allowed to use War Machine rather than Iron Man for the Marvel side of the cast, it doesn't take too much to guess Marvel's marketing department's influence over casting choices in Tokon was prevalent here as well, so you can see why the Muslim Ms. Marvel wound up being added rather than say, Mr. Fantastic from the Four, who also has stretching powers. And Khan's not the only newer character to be cast in Tokon - even Robbie Reyes, possibly the 5th character to take the role of Ghost Rider, was cast in this instead of Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch, or even the Silver Age western-based precursor, Carter Slade, who was co-created in 1967 by Roy Thomas, Dick Ayers and Gary Friedrich prior to Blaze's 1972 creation. Far as I'm concerned, nothing with the title GR past the turn of the century is worth putting to use in games like these any more than comics, based on how pedestrian the writing's long become.
And the material was "all there" from the start? Sorry, but some of that material reeks of more PC directions in the past 20 years, and what if this video game leaves out any connections between Spidey and Mary Jane Watson? I seem to recall one of the Capcom games featured MJ in the epilogue for Spidey, but won't be shocked if she has no place in this newer game, even though these mandated omissions are already beginning to reek of embarrassment. Besides, I long lost interest in licensed merchandise based on Marvel/DC, because of how they turned it out at the expense of their comics, and DC probably fared worse in terms of producing video fighting games based on their comics than Marvel did in past decades.
Whether you’re mourning Capcom’s absence or thrilled that Arc System Works is taking the reins of a major franchise, the reveal of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls made waves across the gaming world. Its connection to Marvel vs. Capcom is unmistakable, not just because of the Marvel branding, but due to its fast-paced, multi-character tag team 2D fighting style that Capcom helped pioneer. While Capcom broke new ground by blending Marvel’s comic book flair with innovative storytelling, Arc System Works is set to do the same, this time by infusing heroes like Iron Man and Captain America with bold, anime-inspired re-imaginings. It’s a stylistic shift that signals the end of Capcom’s comic-inspired Marvel era and the beginning of Marvel’s bold new chapter in anime.Well unfortunately, it appears that, sadly but perhaps not surprisingly, the cast here includes a character who was introduced nearly a dozen years ago based on political motivations, which dampens the impact:
[...] This time, Arc System Works aims to do for Marvel what Marvel once did for Capcom, by immersing Marvel’s characters in Japanese culture, particularly anime and manga, which have largely overtaken Western comic books in terms of sales and popularity. Due to the MCU and titles like Marvel Rivals, Marvel characters’ brand recognition is on fire and has far outgrown the comic panels that made them famous. Anime is one of the few forces truly rivaling Marvel in global popularity, thanks to the success of several key franchises. Anime has become so popular that even corporations and Japan itself are turning to AI and cybersecurity to combat the millions lost to piracy. But the tangled web of anime and manga licensing is a whole other story.
In Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, Kamala Khan has googly anime eyes, Captain America is spouting Shonen one-liners about freedom, and Iron Man has Gundam eyebrows for heaven’s sake! Even the trailer uses the Japanese dub (although SAG-AFTRA shenanigans may be the culprit). The material for this crossover was all there from the start, it just took a dev team steeped in Japanese culture to bring it forth. Arc System Works has long since overtaken Capcom in the tag-team 2D fighter subgenre, especially after the misfire that was Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, the franchise’s prolonged absence afterward, and MvC2’s eventual replacement at EVO by ArcSys’s own Dragon Ball FighterZ in 2020.The way they keep putting a character whose general "popularity" has remained unproven into these video game projects is just plain laughable. The last time this was done, in an Avengers game, it tanked in sales. I have no idea so far if the Islamic background remains intact in whatever story elements appear in Tokon, but if it is there, such politically motivated elements will be precisely the reason why this is not worth playing, and doesn't make a good successor to Capcom's earlier productions. One can also reasonably ask why the Khan character has to be cast in this game, but not Carol Danvers, if she's not here, and even if she is, any retainment of the Capt. Marvel role is problematic. What's so "bold" about perpetuating a propaganda tactic? No, a fictional character isn't to blame for any bad political components applied to them and their narratives, but if said components are retained in the video game as much as the comics, then it's obvious this project didn't have all the creative freedom one might hope it could have, or, the designers could regrettably share the same politics as the Marvel staffers who foisted the Islamic propaganda upon the comics output.
Unshockingly, this article fails to make clear why anime/manga's overtaken USA comics in popularity, but may not much longer if they turn to Orwellian PC - because Marvel and DC sold out to wokeism long ago, particularly by the mid-2000s, and licensed merchandise is no substitute for comics storytelling. Recalling when Capcom produced Clash of Super-Heroes in 1998, they were only allowed to use War Machine rather than Iron Man for the Marvel side of the cast, it doesn't take too much to guess Marvel's marketing department's influence over casting choices in Tokon was prevalent here as well, so you can see why the Muslim Ms. Marvel wound up being added rather than say, Mr. Fantastic from the Four, who also has stretching powers. And Khan's not the only newer character to be cast in Tokon - even Robbie Reyes, possibly the 5th character to take the role of Ghost Rider, was cast in this instead of Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch, or even the Silver Age western-based precursor, Carter Slade, who was co-created in 1967 by Roy Thomas, Dick Ayers and Gary Friedrich prior to Blaze's 1972 creation. Far as I'm concerned, nothing with the title GR past the turn of the century is worth putting to use in games like these any more than comics, based on how pedestrian the writing's long become.
And the material was "all there" from the start? Sorry, but some of that material reeks of more PC directions in the past 20 years, and what if this video game leaves out any connections between Spidey and Mary Jane Watson? I seem to recall one of the Capcom games featured MJ in the epilogue for Spidey, but won't be shocked if she has no place in this newer game, even though these mandated omissions are already beginning to reek of embarrassment. Besides, I long lost interest in licensed merchandise based on Marvel/DC, because of how they turned it out at the expense of their comics, and DC probably fared worse in terms of producing video fighting games based on their comics than Marvel did in past decades.
Labels: Avengers, Captain America, Ghost Rider, history, Iron Man, islam and jihad, licensed products, manga and anime, marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics, Spider-Man, technology, women of marvel, X-Men
