SBox Soapbox: What Is the Big Deal About Lucky Chloe?

Look at me! I’m talking about a fighting franchise that isn’t Super Smash Bros. What madness is this?

I’ve been meaning to talk about Tekken ever since Tekken 7 was first announced at EVO. I remember first playing the Tekken 2 cabinet while I was camping in New York. It was just sitting there in the camp’s activity center towards the back, and I played the ever-loving crap out of it until I left.

Since then, Tekken has been solidified as my favorite fighting game franchise ever. (Yes, even more than Smash Bros). I love the characters, the crazy as-hell storyline, the core fighting system, and pretty much everything else about it. Any fighting game fan should pick this up and give it a try if you haven’t already.

And because I’m such a big Tekken fan, I’m naturally excited for the next installment of Tekken coming next year. Tekken 7 is going to be a pretty big deal with it being the end of the Mishima storyline, which has spanned throughout the entire series. This final showdown is worth the price alone.

But that’s not the only reason to be excited for the new Tekken game. The best part of any fighting game sequel is new characters. Tekken 7 will be packing several new fighters, three of which were already announced. More recently, a new face to the series, Lucky Chloe, was announced.

Lucky Chloe from what is currently understand is a female fighter with a juggle-heavy, dance-based moveset. She has long, blonde pink-tails and sports a cat like outfit. She speaks Japanese and some English. That’s pretty much all we know as of right now.

What makes this character noteworthy, though, is her quickly established infamy. People didn’t take to kindly to her to say the least. Primarily North American audiences voiced their dismay which reached the ear of series producer Katsuhiro Harada. In fact, he heard so much backlash that he responded through Twitter, calling people out on how much of a fuss they’re making. He even mentioned removing the character from the North American version of the game.

While this is not yet official, this could be the first Tekken character to be exclusive to specific regions if it goes through. However, this is an entirely possible scenario given how much hate Chloe is getting from the West.

But, I must ask: What is the big deal?

I’m not sure I can really give a valid opinion on whether I like the character or not at this time. I tend to judge characters only when I get the chance to play them. But for what its currently work, I kinda dig her moves so far. She appears as a very kick-heavy fighter and has a unique hip-hop style not yet seen in Tekken. Dance style fighting may not be new because Tiger Jackson, Christie Montaro, Eddie Gordo, but at least she’s different.

I’ve watched this reveal trailer a few times following the controversy and have yet to see a problem with her. Originally, I thought people were hating on her for possibly being furry. When I heard things like “K-pop star”, “cutesy”, and “pandering to Asia only”, I began to laugh.

Am I missing something here? Since when is it an issue in a Tekken game to be cutesy or to look like a teenage celebrity? Have we forgotten what franchise we’re talking about here?

And that’s my first point. This is Tekken we’re talking about. In seven main installments, we’ve had the most insane array of characters in a fighting game, bar none: demons, angels, robots, magical wooden men, androids, hip-hop stars, kangaroos, and reptiles. This is what makes up our roster, and its been this way for decades. So, how is this drawing a line? In fact, she fits right in the more you think about it.

Is it the whole cat thing that’s bothering people like I originally thought? If it is, why does King and Armor King get away with it and not Lucky Chloe?

Is it her bubbly attitude? We’ve had plenty of cutesy and bubbly characters like Alisa. (Granted she is a freaking android). Pandas are also the most adorable animals in history and no one calls foul on her. (Granted she is a freaking bear).

Is it the fighting style? Again, there’s nothing wring with it that I see. Hell, no one is even talking about her moveset which is supposed to be the most important thing about a character. Unless she doesn’t attack at all, what really is there to complain about?

And since when was pandering to Asian audiences suddenly a problem? Many of the Tekken characters, if not most, are Asian. Many of the fighting styles seen in Tekken have Asian origins: karate, sumo wrestling, kung-fu, ninjitsu, etc. Asian culture is present in many aspects of Tekken. Take a good look at the reveal trailer.

It’s an Asian game whether you like it or not. Asian influence within the game are only inevitable. Besides, there are plenty of European and Western characters also present on the roster.

If many of these complaints are purely aesthetic as they seem to be, I still don’t understand what the issue with her is. When you step back and really think about it, this isn’t as much of a stretch as people are making it out to be.

The main reason I’m not hating on her right away is because of something I said earlier: Don’t judge a character until you actually play as them. That’s what is most important at the end of the day. You shouldn’t care how weird or unappealing a character as long as they’re fun to play as. If her moveset was bad, then you have every reason to complain, because that’s a hindrance to the game’s quality. However, if the only reason you have to hate a character in a fighting game is because she has a cat get-up, I’m sorry, but that’s kind of petty.

Really this whole “situation” makes no sense to me at all. Tekken 7 as a game I have a lot of hope for. With a game as popular as Tekken there is a lot of factors to worry about not turning out right. The last thing we want is for this game to be bad. So, why don’t we save our criticism and concern for issues that will actually affect the game’s quality. And last I checked, one character is not going to make or break the game.

I really do hope they don’t cut her from North American versions of the game. That will affect the game’s quality in the long run. You need the full roster of characters in order to get a complete experience, especially for a fighting game. No matter how much you don’t want to play this character, at least side with me on this.

Maybe you see something I don’t see, though. Please feel free to enlighten me in the comments why I shouldn’t approve of this character. I’m open to discussion as always and would love to find out why Luckly Chloe shouldn’t be allowed in Tekken 7.

Also feel free to comment if you are just excited about Tekken 7. There will be more Tekken related posts in the future, so stay tuned.

I’m SBox180. Thanks for reading!