Epic has revealed Shinbi, a new Hero for its online multiplayer title Paragon. The character’s design choice has been controversial with a portion of fans saying they dig it, while others are not exactly thrilled.
[Image: Epic Games]
Shinbi is Korean pop themed and, as tipster Sang notes, has the music video reveal to prove it.
At the time of writing, the announcement clip has 1620 likes and 681 dislikes on YouTube. Most of those are likes! But that’s a lot of dislikes for a character reveal, no?
Still, lots of folks were excited!
[Via r/ Paragon]
[Via NeoGAF]
[Via NeoGAF]
Others were happy that Epic seemed to have studied up on K-pop.
[via YouTube]
[Via r/ Paragon]
[Via Koreaboo]
So @PlayStation Korea really got the inspiration from GFriend SinB/Shinbi? Now where is @GFRDofficial @Sourcemusic ??https://t.co/cjoOoWD76J pic.twitter.com/0ALSherIr1
— 은하의 밥 (@_pop_master) February 17, 2017
GFriend is a popular K-pop group with one member named “ShinB”. Obviously, that’s close to “Shinbi”, but Epic has yet to confirm or deny the group’s influence.
Some felt the character, however, was out of place.
[via YouTube]
@Paragon how does a K-pop star fit into the paragon universe?
— ?Starrla? (@Birdie_Bomb) February 16, 2017
[via r/ Paragon]
[via YouTube]
Or bland.
[Via NeoGAF]
Or awkward.
[via YouTube]
[via YouTube]
Some liked Shinbi OK, but felt that the game needed more male characters.
Shinbi is definitely something I wasn’t expecting for Paragon.
Nevertheless, she’s alright ig.
We need more dudes though.
— — (@SereneSolitute) February 16, 2017
Lots of players didn’t like that Epic revealed yet another melee Hero. (Though, a ranged character is apparently coming later this autumn.)
@Paragon we need healers
— blank (@PraiseComics) February 16, 2017
@Paragon 4 female melee heroes on the bounce? Any chance of a bit of variety?
— Josh? (@Squirtacular) February 16, 2017
[via YouTube]
[via YouTube]
And responses to some of those complaints.
[Via NeoGAF]
[Via r/ Paragon]
[Via r/ Paragon]
This might sum up the disagreement among fans best.
The responses to @Paragon‘s Shinbi reveal got me in tears!
It’s literally a war between K-Pop fans and non-K-Pop fans. ?
— AC | KOS-NEX (@NeXuSIoN) February 16, 2017
Comments
3 responses to “Paragon’s New K-Pop Hero Wins Over Some, Bothers Others”
If I had such strong feelings about this character I would take pleasure in killing her.
Similar to how I liked beating Eddy or Lili in Tekken. Offer them some tea.
Edit: To clarify, I don’t see the problem with more characters. There’s nothing wrong with this K-pop hero.
If I were a fan of Paragon, I could see myself having issues – it’s just so tonally jarring. It’s like…. it’s like having Kratos in Super Mario World, or Princess Peach in a Max Payne game. It just doesn’t fit.
And it is PAINFULLY obvious why they did this – to boost sales in the Asian Markets. That’s literally the ONLY reason they did this. I strongly doubt any artist or designer who works on this game woke up one day and thought: “Hey, you know what our serious fantasy MOBA needs? A K-pop idol. It’s so obvious!” – rather, some suit from marketing or accounting came by and said: “WE NEED MORE SALES! ASIANS LIKE THE MOBAS, RIGHT? WHAT IS HOT IN ASIA? I SEE THE YOUTUBES WITH THE DANCING GIRLS, THAT’S POPULAR RIGHT? DO THAT! MORE THAT! BOOST SALES! Ka-Ching!”
It’s simultaneously gut-churning and awe-inspiring – the sheer commercialism and crass, art-and-values-free decision this is. One cannot help but hate it, but one cannot help but admire how mercenary it is. A decision that was made with absolutely zero concerns regarding tone, art or soul, and wholly fixated on sales and money – it’s bizarrely pure, in a way. By the way, Shinbi? Might as well name the character “McFanservice-Money-Twerk”.