this reaally bugs me.
i found out, about a year ago, that there is a character in soul calibur by the name talim. since i'm not really a game player (for shame!) i was totally unaware of this. so i went and googled this and i just couldn't believe what i saw.
the character (which is female by the way) has NOTHING to do with pinoy culture.
with the exception of the name and the "signature" moves she has, the character is devoid of ANYTHING remotely reflecting filipino culture. all NAMCO did was co opted the word WITHOUT any research what so ever. from the costume to her weapon, NOTHING looks like it came from 'pinas.
what's worse about this is that it reinforces the fallacy of the Philippines
not having an identity. i understand about the design part of it, but for goodness sake, at least use EXISTING historical designs as a template rather than making things up or at worse, ignoring it all together. i wouldn't have minded them using the name if they had respect for the source material but as it is it just bugs me to no end.
hence forth, just to differentiate my talim from theirs, the official title now will
be DATU TALIM. the prefix datu means a chief, which in datu talim's case would fit
because he will become just that as the story unfolds. datu talim bantugan will have more relevance in reflecting pinoy culture more than an empty shell that NAMCO'S character has become. His full name is Talim Bantugan
