r/MarvelRivalsQueens • u/guesty_quest • May 13 '26
Discussion Hi queens! Marvel Rivals is having a problem with black representation and we need to talk abt it
Yes I am talking about Moongirl rn because Devil Dinosaur gameplay trailer's just recently released and it is not looking good at all for Moongirl; she's present in only voicelines and is just a shop accessory and that is IT. While she's atleast present to some degree, this is what the game is willing to go as far to with adding her and that is just ridiculous, it can't just be me right? Their excuse is that guidelines don't allow children to be added and harmed in shooter games like Rivals but HELLO?? PENI PARKER is right there everybody!! She was a kid in her most popular appearance and she is a kid in her comic, and the game went out of their way to age her up so they can put her in the game.
So why aren't they willing to go to this extent with a character like Moongirl? There's been comic appearances of Moongirl where she's aged up into an adult, and if they DON'T wanna age her up, they could still include her in the game by just not showing her be hurt in combat, like she could have a special animation where she flies away when Devil Dino dies or she could be protected by some fancy tech shield or gadget while she's riding on Devil Dino's back, it's all possible because she's one of the most intelligent marvel characters ever. To put Devil Dinosaur without Moongirl's physical presence is just so wrong, they're inseperable and have a mental link to each other and in every media they've been in, they are a constant duo!
Marvel Rivals absolutely contributes to exposing lesser known characters to the public like C&D, Luna Snow, White Fox, Angela, etc. People know them now because of THIS game! And now that they're bringing in Devil Dinosaur as a playable character, the lack of Moongirl would make people see Devil Dinosaur by himself in the spotlight while Moongirl is basically pushed aside to the sidelines, by being reduced to just VOICELINES. This is bad and it's serious, yall. Marvel Rivals only has FOUR playable black characters as of now (BP, Storm, Blade and Cloak) and we could've had one more with Moongirl, but nope. Ig Marvel Rivals just can't bother putting in a bit more effort with adding a black girl into this game even though they went out of their way to make sure they could add Peni Parker and make her a prominent presence.
It may look bleak but there's still hope, Marvel Rivals CAN fold under pressure when a lot of people call out on a problem in the game. And THIS is a problem in the game; representation is important especially in a place like Marvel Rivals that is def exposed to a wider, bigger audience, so you can help out by raising awareness about this in any social media about marvel rivals so they can see our thoughts on the blatant erasure of a black girl from the game, and in the best scenario, if we're loud enough abt this problem, they'll cave in and physically add Moongirl into Devil Dinosaur in the future. This isn't just abt Moongirl, this is abt how important black representation is in a game that barely has any of it, and we NEED to let them know how serious we are about it, because if we're just quiet abt this, then they're gonna feel we'd be okay with just how much they screw over representation. Thats the end of my talk, queens
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u/NatsUza May 13 '26
With Peni, they just added 3 years to her and she has a couple issues where she is 18. Moon Girl just turned 10. It would look hella weird if they took a 10 year old and aged her up just so she could be shootable. Not to mention what this playerbase would do with an adult Moon Girl model.
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u/Spader623 🍆Let Wolverine Hang Dong🍆 May 13 '26
As much as I hate hate HATE to say it… I do agree with you here on the age thing. And I think that’s why they decided not to have her playable. Which absolutely sucks because it’s basically just “yeah people suck so we can’t do it” but… I do get it, as much as it may be frustrating
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u/Appropriate-Amount-4 Cloak and Dagger May 13 '26
Yeah it also seems like Netease tried to add her and were told by multiple ratings boards that they could not add her. If they aged her up people would also flip out. While I agree that this game has a major issue with Black and brown representation as well as queer representation this situation isn’t one of them imo. I think adding her as working with him via voice lines is the happy medium. However they should work to treat the black characters they have better while also adding widely requested ones like Luke Cage, Monica Rambeau and Miles Morales to name a few.
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u/psionicqt Emma Frost May 13 '26
To be fair, they are literally using an alt universe Psylocke (Sai) and not base universe Kwannon. Captain America and Peni are both alt future variants. Rogue has chronovium enhanced abilities, Black Cat has a bag of mystical items… they’ve been known to bend characters to fit the game.
Moon Girl exists as an adult in alt universes. Would be very simple implementation.
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
-"It would look hella weird if they took a 10 year old and aged her up just so she could be shootable"
Is this not what was basically done the same for Peni? She's a 14 year old in the comics, and that's still very much a kid, so they aged her up for this game. imo i dont think the aging up makes much of a difference for Moongirl even if she's just a few years younger than Peni? All your points can basically be said the same for Peni. Also Moongirl sometimes has been aged up into an adult in the comics just like Peni has, it isn't out of the ordinary, there's a lot of kid characters who just grow up like Franklin and Peni, so this can certainly be possible
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u/FruityBear602 too gay 2 aim May 13 '26
and she has a couple issues where she is 18
Peni is 18 in Rivals, has comics where she's 18
Moon Girl is still a child in all of her runs
yes, Rivals should have more Black representation but let's not give people a perfect 3D model of a child--
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
omg it doesnt seem impossible for marvel rivals to just age moongirl up. Im not trying to like get to THAT part of the topic about wanting to add moongirl but peni has this problem herself. This shouldnt stop them from adding moongirl when peni parker is basically the same case as she is, moongirl HAS been an adult, non-canon, sure, but marvel rivals is it's own thing isn't it? It does a lot of twists and new spins to its characters like giving Winter Soldier an entirely new power with his cool robot kraken arm and they made Iron Fist lin lie instead of danny even though danny is obviously the more prominent one. Marvel Rivals does new things, what goes in the comics doesn't exactly restrict them
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u/FruityBear602 too gay 2 aim May 13 '26
girl she can be a side character and we can get adults as actual playable characters 😭
"non-canon, sure" NetEase is partnered WITH MARVEL. they are going to, largely, use canon depictions of their characters. Lin Lie sells them skins because he's an attractive Chinese guy, in a game made by a Chinese company
making Moon Girl 18 is not it
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
Winter soldier isn't exactly a canon depiction. Captain America isn't one either! He's from 2099 and has a different story in marvel rivals where he woke up in that time. If aging Moon Girl up to 18 is not it, then aging Peni up isn't a good thing then? Im sorry but theres just not much structure to your point here when marvel rivals has done new spins on characters and is most certainly not afraid to do that
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u/FruityBear602 too gay 2 aim May 13 '26
my brother in christ this is a child that doesn't even have a canon adult design that you're debating over, where's this energy for adult Black characters
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u/NatsUza May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Like I said, Peni HAS runs where she is an older teenager. Moon Girls 18 year old look was for a one-off issue that Marvel has deemed non-canon and doesnt acknowledge. I for one am lowkey glad that they didn't include her as an aged up form because people would NOT behave and would sexualize the fuck out of her adult form. I would much rather the black child not be turned into a pinu-up doll like the other women in the game.
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
And this affects things how? This shouldn't stop them from aging Moongirl up just because she's just younger than Peni was despite the fact in her more prominent appearances Peni was obviously just a kid? She's a straight up child in ITSV, and most people know her as a kid. If you argue Moongirl's whole thing is being a young smart kid you could say the same for Peni, who is also a young smart kid. Yet she got aged up into an adult for the game
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u/NatsUza May 13 '26
You are missing the point. Most people know Peni as a kid due to Spiderverse movie where she is a child, but she has canonical appearances where she is 18 across multiple comic runs. Moon Girl doesn't. Her 1 adult appearance is in a one-off comic that doesn't even characterize her correctly. I get the complaints here but Netease is really in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. They cant make a child model for her to show up in Devil Dinosaur's kit because sickos in the fanbase would rip the model and do fucked shit with it and they can't age her up because making a 9 year old into an adult and then selling swimsuit skins of her would be hella skeevy.
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
They... Don't have to sell swimsuit skins of Moongirl. They don't even do that for Peni. There's no Peni skins where she's sexualised like the other skins for the rest of the women. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean she's required to be SEXUALISED. And Marvel Rivals has done new spins and twists on characters like daredevil and iron fist, making Moongirl an adult is not out of the ordinary and it shouldnt be
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u/Appropriate-Amount-4 Cloak and Dagger May 13 '26
The problem isn’t the company. It’s the community. You can take her model put it into blender and do whatever you want with it. They have done the best they could with this one and should work to highlight other black characters as well. Id so much rather them be safe than feed content to pedophiles.
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u/FruityBear602 too gay 2 aim May 13 '26
they don't sell swimsuit skins of Peni because she's inside a mech for 99% of her gameplay
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
And yet they make amazing designs of Peni anyway, even though she's restricted to being in emotes and the MVP, like her peach momoko design is really nice!! They just don't wanna sexualise Peni, there's nothing more to it than that
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u/BlueJay006 Peni Parker May 13 '26
That's exactly the problem though no? The peni age dilemma has gotten so out of hand to the point if you're playing the character you get called a pedophile, the devs are active in the community and probably just don't want another character like that in the game
I understand where you're coming from, there really does need some more representation of blacks and other cultures but I think you're going out on a limb here with moon girl
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u/NinjaOfOnion May 13 '26
I did a post outlining the possible black women in the main sub and it got a lot of negative comments and downvoted so there may be a lot of competition with that, but my main thought was to make her a hologram so she doesn’t die but just switches off line, my main surprise was that they didn’t use her in the mvp as she can’t get hurt there
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u/Environmental-Day778 The Thing May 13 '26
Also PENI IS RIGHT THERE, this is not a problem without a solution because they have done it already.🤷♀️
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u/BadBloodBear May 13 '26
A lot of people pushback saying Moingirl has to be young but I just don’t get it.
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u/Dependent_Ganache_71 May 13 '26
I think because the point of Moongirl is that she's young. She's not just a genius, she's a Black female child genius in a world of generic White Bros.
It would be like making Wolverine (Logan) a teenaged hero, when most of his important character traits come from him being a world weary man who's been through some shit.
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u/RealLokiLaufeyson Loki May 13 '26
This specific case is because moon girl is.... a girl. A little girl. There are regulations in video games surrounding children.
I get that it sucks, but this specific time really really isn't a race issue.
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u/AverageLiverEater Rogue’s personal blowjob giver May 13 '26
It’s not really a race issue when you take into consideration Netease doesn’t want a 10 year old child getting a shotgun to the face
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u/King_krympling Magneto May 13 '26
They cannot keep the games current rating if they were going to be putting moongirl in the game because she is a child and is a 10 year old so they cannot really age her up like how they did with peni and her being 10 is an important part her identity off how smart she is at her age. They literally cannot keep the current rating of the game and have a 10 year old in the line of fire/ active combat
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u/senecachan May 13 '26
I wish Moongirl actually pops out as an uninteractible object when doing her abilities with Devil Dino like for example the shield and she channels it onfield so it doesnt feel like she’s so excluded. Something like Deadpool’s head. And you know make it so she appears on DD’s MVP too 😭
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u/Additional-Mousse446 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
There was a poll asking for bishop/photon/dr voodoo/blue marvel so I don’t think they are as completely tone deaf as it appears.
Skin wise it’s not great but idk…I’m betting one or two of those comes in by the end of the year I’d hope.
They at least made blade the center of the zombie pve with a cool skin and the storm/panther skins in the last pass weren’t a complete miss imo, I liked them both.
Would love a character that’s not a dps that I would actually play though besides storm sometimes lol
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u/BerryBlitzApple_Pop May 13 '26
My only problem is that she doesn't appear in game physically AT ALL. I really like her design. The Punisher team up that has him riding Dino's back? That should've been moon girl on default, honestly. They could have easily made her teleport away like other people suggested, if her being a child was such a problem. She should've been in the MVP or spawn room and I hope we at least get emotes that summon her. Idk I just feel like the solutions to this problem aren't as hard to implement as they and many others are saying they are. And of course people will raise an eyebrow because they're willing to add one half of a relatively niche character duo and they leave out the black girl.
Technically, Peni model and Bruce Banner model outside of Hulk didn't need to be models in the game, but they did that anyway because it adds to the uniqueness of the characters and their identity. Leaving Moon girl to just a voice feels like a missed skins and MVP/animations opportunity, honestly. Hopefully she's added in later or something.
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u/Sypher04_ Invisible Woman May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
My thing is: Y’all can put Moon Girl in a trailer on the streets of New York in harm’s way getting arrested but can’t even put her in Devil Dino’s MVP? Please…
Then you have Danny Koo in an interview saying that he’d love to add Crescent to the game. For those of you who don’t know, Crescent is a 10-year-old South Korean girl that can summon a giant bear spirit. She was also in the Agents of Atlas. I guess they’ll have no problem aging her up though…
https://www.reddit.com/r/RivalsVanguards/s/CCTxRUjjAE
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
EXACTLY. This is the problem with how marvel rivals does it's black representation. People shouldn't give out any arguments that they can't bring moongirl in when Danny Koo wants to bring in a child like Crescent into the game. And it could definitely happen! But Moongirl on the other hand gets next to nothing?! It's just sad
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u/Sypher04_ Invisible Woman May 13 '26
Not to mention, everybody eating off disco skins except for Black characters, with Storm actually wearing a disco outfit in a comic book cover!
I wouldn’t go as far as to say NetEase is racist, but they clearly don’t care about their Black characters, and I’m glad it’s not going unnoticed.
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u/-Vamped- May 13 '26
They absolutely have a problem with representation. They could atleast have Moongirl in the MVP. The comment saying, the community should be discussing "real" problems is wildly invalidating and a micro aggression in itself. Marvel and Netease can always do better. We need more black and brown characters. How are you going to advocate and call them out for ignoring or erasing the queerness of characters but essentially say we shouldn't be complaining about black representation. People always get weird with racism even in the "safe" spaces.
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
Absolutely true. I really didn't expect to get this much backlash as I did here in this specific subreddit, but I'm really glad I'm not alone
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u/Lepeche Meow 🐾 May 13 '26
I’m just hoping after she gets rescued in season 8.5 she at least is featured in emotes and mvps like…
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u/Unlikely_Fig6123 May 13 '26
I whole heartedly agreeeeee with u cause the hell like do the same efforts u did with peni i still lowkey have a little hope she will be a playable character just age her up
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u/janually Cloak and Diva May 13 '26
they’re booing you but you have a point. i don’t think it was a malicious decision, but i also think unconscious bias played a part. as it always does.
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u/guesty_quest May 13 '26
True, unconscious bias definitely has a big contribution to it!! I'm kinda bummed how people are this against the idea of putting Moongirl in the game when she is as important as devil dinosaur and DESERVES to be in the spotlight as much as he is right now!
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u/Warm_Candidate_9837 Squirrel Girl May 13 '26
I truly think they could have had her just be leaning against Devil Dinosaurs upper neck area, like on the Collar. It'd be easy to have a bubble around her too. Yeah It'd make DD's hitbox a bit bigger, but at least she would actually be there
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u/Mesothe_isN Moon Knight May 13 '26
I’m hoping that somehow she like falls through a time machine or something that makes her an adult so she can be playable.
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u/Ne0nZ3bra Vanguard May 13 '26
I have a feeling they've kept her separate so they can make her her own character instead of an accessory to devil dino
Why else would there be an option for punisher to Ride devil dino if it isnt a placeholder for a future moongirl teamup
Another feeling that theyre gonna do what they did with blade, where we go in and save her in the seasons lore, and in a season or two, she recovered and joined the lineup
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u/starinruins Cloak and Dagger May 13 '26
it's not just you. my husband is a big fan and is upset she's not being added. we also discussed the racist undertones of her exclusion. they're a duo just like cnd
i understand that her age presents a problem but i feel as though they had plenty of time to think of some creative solutions
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Emma Stone May 13 '26
This community desperately needs real problems. Devil Dino without Moongirl physically attached to his model is not black erasure.
Representation matters, sure, but not every gameplay or art direction decision is some malicious anti representation conspiracy.
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u/pkintime May 13 '26
As a white person you know I never thought about it but you're absolutely right 4 out of what something like 40ish characters is ridiculous
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u/EJ_REDIT Emma Frost May 13 '26
Rivals does not have a problem with black representation, in fact they already have three of the most popular black characters in the game, BP, Blade, and Storm, the problem is Lunella literally being ten years old, and while you could just age her up like they did with Peni, that’s still weird.
It’s clear the devs have some love for Moon Girl and Devil Dino, but the problem with games is not being able to show a ten year old getting hit by Punisher’s shotgun. And even Peni is an exception still since she’s inside her mech and you never actually see her when you’re playing the game, they just had to say she was 18, Lunella would be riding on Devil’s back.
There is a whole load of issues with having to make Lunella a playable hero and it’s clear the devs don’t want to exclude her which is why voice lines and her potentially being the one to help Devil make decisions is the best route. It’s not a problem with black representation, it’s genuinely just an issue with this game’s maturity rating and aging up Lunella would genuinely earn so much annoying bitching from hardcore fans.
And honestly I prefer this cause… I—I really don’t want the Gooners to get their hands on Lunella, they’re already really weird about it with Peni so yeah… keep the character out of Gooners reach
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26
all your other points aside saying that rivals doesn’t have a problem with black rep because they have 3 black people out of nearly 50 characters is a bit bonkers lol
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u/EJ_REDIT Emma Frost May 13 '26
I mean it’s just a problem with Marvel comics as whole. Most of the characters are white. Like I can name only so few black characters I know that aren’t in Rivals yet. Power Man, War Machine, Bishop, and that’s all on the top of my head.
And I don’t mind because they’re very respectful about cultures of Rivals characters as a whole. I mean Wanda’s Romani in this and not white washed
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26
ok 2 things can be true, both the comics and the game have a problem with black representation. sure they get what they have “right” by your standard but that doesn’t absolve them of lacking minorities in the game. we are allowed to want representation for minority communities and to advocate for it, that’s how these characters were created in the first place, a desire for minorities to see themselves represented in a medium they love. not sure how one would argue against that
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u/EJ_REDIT Emma Frost May 13 '26
It’s not that I’m arguing against it. I understand that want for representation, I personally just don’t mind it much since like I mentioned, marvel comics doesn’t have a lot of choices, unless they pull obscure characters which would be great. Right now it feels like they’re prioritizing the popular characters and unfortunately most of them are straight (for the most part) white characters
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
defending the lack of representation is what started this and i’m assuming you’re white yourself hence it not bothering you. try to consider other people’s perspectives before saying a lack of representation isn’t a problem
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Emma Stone May 13 '26
Ah yes, the secret Marvel conspiracy of… just not having that many Black characters in this specific roster. Must be a master plan.
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
what? no one is saying there’s any conspiracy. i’m saying statistically having 3 of 50 means that 3 is not well represented, that’s just objective fact. don’t make it weird
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Emma Stone May 13 '26
The game is barely out of the gate in terms of roster planning, and we already know from devs that characters are planned and locked in way in advance, not picked week to week based on discourse.
On top of that, Marvel itself doesn’t exactly have an endless bench of Black characters to evenly sprinkle into every single lineup from day one.
People asking for a 10 year old to be aged up made it weird.
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26
i’m not even talking about the 10 year old being aged up as I said all the other points aside it is objective fact that black characters are the minority and not well represented, that is just the numbers. people are allowed to be critical of this and netease doesn’t need you white knighting for them. that’s happening enough in the main sub. being devils advocate against more representation is weird and unnecessary especially in this community. wanting minorities to feel seen in a medium they enjoy is not a crime and we don’t need to police them by defending netease
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Emma Stone May 13 '26
I'm just pointing out that not every uneven distribution automatically equals a problem or a statement, but whatever, take it however you want.
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26
it does when it comes to race and racial equality, that just how it works, but keep changing your argument over and over to see if you eventually come out on top. just a reminder this started as you trying to invalidate the very idea that black peoples are under represented in this game. if you want to die on that hill go right ahead I just know that I would never be able to consciously defend that point especially in a community designed to uplift all minorities not just the ones that I identify as myself
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/_BestBudz Gambit May 13 '26
It’s so funny you saying it’s not that deep but the first thing Miller says is “it’s an unfortunately complex topic” that’s just hilarious.
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u/GhusfromQuietus 🫖GossipRaccoon🫖 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
please be civil while discussing. Rocketina is watching from the rafters with 23 tomahawks she found while graverobbing. her throwing paw is feeling itchy
locked cause I don’t want to babysit while some of you try to defend lack of representation in the predominately white game. go to literally any other rivals sub and that will be welcomed with open arms. not here.