Top Five Dead or Alive: Talim (Soul Caliber)

So, March is National Women’s Month and also our March Multimedia Multiverse Madness, and I have done a great disservice to my people. As a proud Filipino-American, I must admit that I squandered my nominations, and I forgot to include one of the most badass Ladies of War to ever rock it. And now I have to rectify the situation by telling you why Talim of Soul Calibur is one of my Top 5: Dead or Alive.

https://gfycat.com/amazingdirecthoopoe

Cue the Ruby Ibarra mix. My feet are runnin’ but my soul’s planted on the ground / Break the labels down.Make ’em hear my sound / Can’t judge a book by its cover / Can you hear me now? Picture this. Mixed Filipino kid in the middle of Maryland, in suburbia. My teachers, white. My friends, mostly white. My heroes on TV, almost all white. A couple of exceptions here and there, but I was struggling to find any representation growing up as a teen. But one day, I finally convinced my parents to pick up the new Soul Calibur II, so I could rock as Link on the GameCube and imagine my surprise when I see a character who vaguely looks familiar. Not quite Cassandra/Sophita or Ivy/Cervantes white. But clearly not from the same place as Kilik or Taki or Maxi. Her lore alluding to a vague Southeastern island and my middle school brain going “wait.”

Reflection of the hues, deflection of the truth Attention to the cues, we neck to neck and start to lose It took a couple games to explicitly confirm that Talim was canonical Filipina (although it was…