Twintelle

Twintelle is a fictional character in the 2017 Nintendo Switch video game ARMS. She was first revealed in a May 2017 Nintendo Direct, where she quickly became a fan favorite.

Twintelle
Twintelle as she appears in ARMS.
First appearanceARMS (2017)
Created byKosuke Yabuki
Voiced byAdeyto[1]
In-universe information
OccupationActress
OriginFrance
NationalityFrench

Concept and creation

Twintelle was first revealed during a May 17, 2017 Nintendo Direct.[2] Twintelle features dark brown skin and large, white/pink pigtails that she uses to fight due to her hair being affected by the ARMS Ability. She is the only character in the ARMS universe whose hair is affected in this way. She wears a blue mask, a sleeveless white top, black pants, and black heels. Twintelle was a more worrisome character to design than others by ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuki. The initial concept of Twintelle was just a character who fought with their hair.[3] The design team wanted to do something different and wanted to represent different countries and different backgrounds.[4] The staff reached out to people at Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe to get ideas for a character from a different background.[3] Designers sent sketches to these divisions of the character to get their opinions on them.[4] The design of Twintelle took more time and had designers working harder than they did on others.[3] Yabuki designed her to have a muscular build.[5] Yabuki enjoyed the character, commenting that she was a rare character type for Nintendo to create.[5] He was particularly happy to have made what he considers to be a strong female character.[4]

Appearances

Twintelle first appears in ARMS as a playable character. She participates in ARMS competitions due to her not feeling enthused about just her acting career. She also appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in a cameo role as a "Spirit."

Reception

Since her appearance in ARMS, Twintelle has received generally positive reception. She is regarded as the most popular ARMS character by fans.[6][7] The positive response to Twintelle left Yabuki feeling happy and energized.[3] He added that he was not expecting the popularity to be as strong as it was.[5] Critics including Allegra Frank and Gita Jackson suggested that her popularity was derived in part from her hair, outfit, sexual characteristics, and her "calm, collected" personality.[2][7] Writer Xavier Harding suggested that the amount of fanart that Twintelle has received suggested that Nintendo "has a hit on their hands."[8] Twintelle's high degree of popularity lead to Nintendo including her in ARMS' "Global Testpunch," a free temporary online video game demo.[9] US Gamer's Matt Kim called her the "star of ARMS" and said he has "fallen in love" with her.[9] She has been a suggestion for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by critics such as Xavier Harding, Paul Tassi, and Brian Shea.[10][11][12] Writer Will Greenwald included her in his list of most-wanted female characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Her status as a woman of color stood out due to its added variety to the roster.[13]

Writer Tanya DePass was unhappy with Twintelle's design, criticizing the fact that she was a "brown, female character with weaponized hair." She compared the idea of "weaponized hair" to real-world discrimination against black people for their natural hairstyles. She suggested that Twintelle's hair issues was a part of a greater issue in video games to do with black people's hair.[14] Writer Shonte Daniels responded to this article, noting that she found her argument "completely valid," playing as Twintelle in ARMS made her feel empowered. She argues that her hair deconstructs the idea, and that Twintelle "isn’t fighting against her hair" but rather "fights alongside it." She compares Twintelle to black female athletes such as tennis player Serena Williams, who touched upon how she used to dislike her masculine body but in time grew to love it due to how it has helped achieve her goals. Daniels suggests that Twintelle is similarly proud of her body and flaunts her hair in spite of criticism.[15] She also suggested that her hair was affected by the "ARMS ability" due to her closeness to her hair.[16] Williams went on to name her as one of the best new video game characters in 2017.[17] Writer Janet Garcia called Twintelle the most unique character designs of the Nintendo Switch generation, praising her design as both "sexualized and empowered." She further discusses that Twintelle's sexuality fits in well with the ARMS world, and her sexuality comes off better because ARMS' other female characters are not sexualized. She added that Twintelle's backstory helps justify her sexualization and that it makes her seem "badass." However, she acknowledges that the femme fatale design that Twintelle incorporates is one that is too commonly applied to women of color.[18] In celebrating Reggie Fils-Aime, writer Jordan Minor featured Twintelle on his list of his favorite black characters, calling her the "Queen of ARMS."[19] Writer Alisha Karabinus acknowledged that Twintelle had potential problematic aspects, but noted that if video games did not have black women depicted poorly that gaming would have little left.[20]

References
  1. @ARMS_Cobutter (June 29, 2017). "アナウンス： ARMSファイターたちの「声」は、ご覧の皆様にご協力頂いています。お気に入りファイターの声をどんな方が担当しているのか…チェックしてみてください！" (Tweet). Retrieved May 21, 2019 – via Twitter.
  2. Jackson, Gita (May 18, 2017). "Nintendo Fans Are Losing It Over Twintelle, ARMS' New Character". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  3. McWhertor, Michael (March 26, 2018). "ARMS director Kosuke Yabuki on the past and future of the Switch fighting game". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  4. McCarthy, Caty (April 5, 2018). "Nintendo on the Challenge of Post-Release Support, and More Tales of ARMS' Development". US Gamer. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  5. Hilliard, Kyle (June 7, 2017). "ARMS' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  6. Oxford, Nadia (June 20, 2017). "Nadia Highlights the Internet's Best ARMS Fanart". US Gamer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  7. Frank, Allegra (May 18, 2017). "ARMS already has its fan favorite in movie star Twintelle". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  8. Harding, Xavier (May 18, 2017). "'ARMS' WOC character, Twintelle, is a fan favorite in less than 24 hours". Mic. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  9. Kim, Matt (June 2, 2017). "Twintelle is So Popular Nintendo Put Her in the ARMS Global Testpunch". US Gamer. Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  10. Harding, Xavier (May 18, 2017). "'Super Smash Bros.' Nintendo Switch Characters: Twintelle from 'ARMS' needs to be included". Mic. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  11. Tassi, Paul (March 9, 2018). "Here's Who Should Join The Fight In Nintendo's 'Super Smash Bros. Switch'". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  12. Shea, Brian (June 9, 2018). "10 Characters We Want To Debut In Super Smash Bros. For Switch". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 7, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  13. Greenwald, Will (March 14, 2018). "10 Female Fighters Who Should Be In The Switch Super Smash Bros". Geek.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  14. DePass, Tanya (May 22, 2017). "What Nintendo gets wrong with Twintelle, the new WOC fighter from 'ARMS'". Mic. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  15. Williams, Shonte (June 7, 2017). "Twintelle's Hair Is an Act of Resistance". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  16. Daniels, Shonte (March 30, 2018). "ARMS and the Hidden Power of Story in Competitive Games". Paste Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  17. Green, Holly (December 13, 2017). "The Best New Game Characters of 2017". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  18. Garcia, Janet (January 15, 2019). "ARMS' Twintelle: Simultaneously Sexualized and Empowered". Nerd Much. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  19. Minor, Jordan (February 2, 2018). "Reggie Fils-Aime and Our Other Favorite Black Nintendo Characters". Geek.com. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  20. Karabinus, Alisha (September 10, 2018). "Playable Black Women in Games and Why the State of Decay Franchise Matters". New York Mag. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.