GAMER LOUNGE 20XX (NO CASUALS!!)

[Gwen]

I found my copy of New Leaf recently after it had gotten lost in the move, and it put a big ol' smile on my face to be greeted by that bubbly gal. Isabelle is a radular assistant.

[Kriven]

I haven't even played New Leaf yet and I prefer Isabelle to the other Animal Crossing mascots. It's not like she's a horribly out of place character, either... I'd say she's a much more natural addition to the cast than Dr. Shrunk.

[Koopaul]

I guess I got annoyed because she's the stereotypical "moe" character. They are all the rage in Japan and I've seen them in a bajillion animes.

Even her smile has that teeth loop at the top of her mouth that ever anime is doing these days. I guess I'm also annoyed that every anime is drawn exactly the same these days and that Isabelle is a product of that. Let's make characters that are all the exact same popular thing!

I feel like she's was manufactured for that reason, while all the other characters are a product of Nintendo just being themselves.

[Gwen]

God forbid a mayor has a fucking enthusiastic, peppy assistant to help them run a town with a can do attitude. Isabelle is somebody who cares about her town and pushes you the player to be a great mayor. How should she act?

[Koopaul]

She isn't just a peppy assistant, she's a moe character. Her design, mannerisms. It's all that super tropey stuff I see in anime these days.

[Gwen]

Can Nintendo not make characters similar to that just because it's popular?

Should I rip out my nose piercing since piercings are popular?
Should I remove my tattoo since getting those are popular?

The personality fits that of an assistants PERFECTLY. Should she be Tsundere or whatever instead?

[Koopaul]

That might actually be kind of funny.

But no. I mean it's just annoying how she got superstar status for that reason. Imagine if the next Mario game had a character that helped out Mario and he looked like this. Now imagine if Mr. Coolmcsmooth started appearing next to Mario in ads and games more than Luigi, or Peach!

I guess if people didn't act like Isabelle was the greatest thing on god's green earth, or Nintendo made Isabelle appear alongside K.K. Slider, Mr. Resetti and stuff I wouldn't mind.

I guess this whole "waifu" culture has been annoying me too.

[Kriven]

I honestly don't see how Isabelle's design is at all uncharacteristic of the series?

Edit: Also, what is a "teeth loop"?

[Koopaul]

Well I didn't say her design is at all uncharacteristic of the series. Although I can see how you would get that idea by me posting that picture. But it was hard for me to find a bishounen character Mario-styled. (Though I'm sure one exists)

Anyway. You can make a character look like it belongs to that series style and still give it characteristics that harken to certain popular tropes.

But yeah her being a moe character never bothered me originally. It's when I saw how she became a superstar and everyone's waifu that it bugged me.


EDIT: Oh shit I forgot about Prince Peasley! Yeah image if all the fangirls in the world turned him into the most important Mario character.

DOUBLE EDIT: Teeth loop. Um this kind of smile. Here. And here.

[Gwen]

Koopaul, face it.
Isabelle is a much better rep than any other Animal Crossing character that's not the villager at this point.
Mr. Resetti literally had to be made optional because he made people cry.
K.K. is cool and all but that's about it. Dig his music though

Isabelle is that peppy, adorable go getter that pushes your character to be great, she's your dynamic side kick and how can you not love her attitude? Her giving me such a warm welcome literally made my morning today. Who gives flying flip if she has a cartoonish teeth loop, and big puppy dog eyes (oh wait she's a dog)
People enjoy her character so much because she's such an enjoyable, warm spirited character.

[Koopaul]

Well I think why you can't seem to understand where I'm coming from is because you see Isabelle as her own distinct thing, and not this dominant cliched trend in Japanese entertainment.

[Kriven]

Well I think why you can't seem to understand where I'm coming from is because you see Isabelle as her own distinct thing, and not this dominant cliched trend in Japanese entertainment.

I definitely don't know if this is true of Gwen or not, but it is for me. I find things are much more enjoyable when I'm not busily shading them in tropes, but taking them as what's presented. The way I see it, in five years time most of the market-flood will be forgotten, and all you're left with is the material good enough to survive in the popular eye. That material, good as it is, deserves to be appreciated for what it is, and not admonished for what was contemporary with it.

[Koopaul]

Well that's why I always liked Nintendo. They didn't try to make stuff that was hip with the times, or force popular trends on preexisting characters.

You do that and people look back and groan at how embarrassing they were. Anyone remember "Yo Yogi"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGOm0C0rbaU

Give it time and that New 3DS ad will be pretty embarrassing too. Maybe not to us, since we're a different culture.

[Kriven]

Well that's why I always liked Nintendo. They didn't try to make stuff that was hip with the times, or force popular trends on preexisting characters.

You do that and people look back and groan at how embarrassing they were. Anyone remember "Yo Yogi"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGOm0C0rbaU

Give it time and that New 3DS ad will be pretty embarrassing too. Maybe not to us, since we're a different culture.

Disregarding the fact that Nintendo didn't force a fad into a preexisting character and instead created a brand new character who really is not out of place given her environment (a franchise which is built entirely on taking character tropes and personifying them to great degree).

Why are fads bad?

[Koopaul]

Well that was more focusing on what they did with the New 3DS commercial. I started to trail off.