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Talim (Soulcalibur)

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Talim
Soulcaliburcharacter
Talim inSoulcalibur II
First gameSoulcalibur II(2002)
Designed byAya Takemura and Takuji Kawano[1]
Voiced by
In-universe information
WeaponElbow blades
OriginVisayan Islands[4]
NationalityFilipino

Talim(Japanese:タリム,Hepburn:Tarimu)is a character in theSoulcaliburoffighting games.Created byNamco'sProject Souldivision, she first appeared inSoulcalibur IIand in most subsequent titles for the series. The Filipino daughter of a shaman and trained to be a Priest of the Wind, after encountering a fragment of the cursed sword Soul Edge she travels the world to return it to its rightful place. In English, Talim has been voiced by Julie Parker andKira Buckland,while in Japanese she is voiced byYukari Tamura.

The character has received positive reception since her debut, warmly received as the first Filipino character in video games and a popular subject ofcosplayamongst fans. Her character design has also been praised, described as "almost too cute" for the franchise and for the attention to detail in her clothing. However, this has also received some backlash due to her young age, particular for how sexualized many of her outfits are. University of Delaware professor Rachael Hutchinson meanwhile examined Talim's design through the scope of Japanese views towards other Asian cultures, and also how players reacted to a shorter character against much larger opponents in the context of theSoulcaliburseries.

Conception and design

As a character introduced inSoulcalibur II,Talim's weapons, a pair of elbow blades, were decided upon before other aspects of the character were.[5]Originally considered for the firstSoulcalibur,the weapons were selected to be unique amongst the others characters' weapons in the title.[6]Her design and concept were built to revolve around them, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. Once established her appearance and movement were fleshed out by the team's concept artist Aya Takemura[5]and rendered as a3D modelby a design team that worked solely on the character.[7]Talim was then animated by a motion designer usingmotion captureand working directly with the team.[5]During this phase the team additionally worked with theSoulcaliburstory creators, refining the character's own role in the plot as needed throughout development.[8]

Talim's weapons were built around the concept of dual-weapon usage, with special emphasis that while bladed, the weapons themselves were not actualtonfa,intended more as ritual items used in ceremonial dances. During development it was considered to allow them to transform and be sentient, however the idea was abandoned.[9]In artwork of an early character lineup, her weapons were significantly larger and extending the length of her whole arm.[10]The weapons were shortened as development progressed, due to concerns that their length should cause her "stomach to be sliced open" when she used them and how they restricted her character movement.[11]However, this iteration made it farther into the design process, as finalized concept sketches of her outfit shown inThe Art of Soulcalibur IIfeature the longer blades.[12]

Talim's character concept was designed around the idea of introducing a young female character that the developers felt the series lacked, though due to her design some of the development team confused her for a boy.[9]Early character drafts also gave her a more "determined" personality, emphasized by her facial expressions.[11]Her outfits were based on a "Priestess of the Wind" motif, and meant to represent attire worn by her village during rituals.[13]For her appearance inSoulcaibur VIthey focused on a refinement of her costume fromSoulcalibur II,incorporating a large hat and ribbons into the design to better emphasize the wind theme.[14]She stands at 144 cm (4 ft 8 in) tall, making her the second shortest playable character in the series, and has a bust size of 70 cm (27 in).[15]

Appearances

Talim was introduced inSoulcalibur II,growing up in a South-East Asian village in the PhilippineVisayan Islands.The only daughter of the localshaman,she was trained to be a Wind Priestess, which relied on two elbow blades as part of its ceremonial dance. When a stranger brought a shard of the cursed sword Soul Edge to her village, she sensed the danger from the fragment and left her village to return it where it belonged.[4][16]Talim later appeared in subsequent entries in theSoulcaliburseries with the exception ofSoulcalibur V,each time venturing to find the source of Soul Edge, or in the case ofSoulcalibur IVpreventing fellow characterYun-Seongfrom falling under its influence.[17][18]In English she was voiced by Julie Parker until the release ofSoulcalibur IVwhere she was voiced byKira Buckland,while in Japanese for all appearances she is voiced byYukari Tamura.[2][3]

Her movement and fighting style were designed around her culture and a bird-theme, emphasizing close horizontal strikes upon opponents as well as freedom of movement.[9]Talim is very quick and evasive, with moves such as "Wind Sault" allowing her to close the distance between herself and the opponent quickly. She has additional moves that allow her to either stun the opponent temporarily or knock them down, with former allowing her to chain into subsequent attacks and apply consecutive stun. However this also makes her a more difficult character to use, and causes her gameplay to have to rely on tricks, gimmicks, and stuns to do significant damage.[18]

Critical reception

Talim's design has made her a frequent subject of cosplay by fans

Described byThe Art of Game Charactersas having "hints ofmangain those big eyes ",[19]Talim has been positively received since her debut. In 2015 she was voted the most popularSoulcaliburcharacter in the West in an official poll byNamco Bandai,[20]and has been cited as a popular subject of cosplay in literature.[21][22]GameSpy's Christian Nutt stated Talim's "unpredictable nature" made her interesting, though added "she's almost too cute to fit in" alongside the other characters.[23]Tim Rogersin a review forInsert Creditcalled Talim "the cutest of the young girl characters [inSoulcalibur II] byfar,"and stated a preference for her symmetrical outfits.[24]Hungarian magazineMultiPlaydescribed her fighting style as one of the most unique introduced in fighting games in the last quarter century, and felt her "lightning-quick" attacks made her the most interesting character inSoulcalibur II.[25]The bookThe Rough Guide to Videogamesmeanwhile praised the physical diversity she brought to the cast compared to more voluptuous characters in thee series, feeling it was one of aspects that madeSoulcalibur IIgreat.[26]

She has also been cited as the first visible Filipino character in video games, and has been described in a study of the series' characters as "created for the Philippine market".[27]The bookOpen World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the Global Rise of Video Gamesnoted that her appearance and ability to control the wind gave her ethnic background "a campy cultural 'fragrance' that invites humorous parodies and irreverent performances as well as objectifying gazes," but due to the race's scarcity in video games, she also garnered pride.[28]Game writer Pat Miller in an interview forPolygonstated regarding her cultural background he "was really stoked to see that...I like having those points of identification". Himself part Filipino, he added that her inclusion made it easier to bring new people into the fighting game community.[29]

Talim's image has also been utilized in material revolving around her sex appeal as a female character, by publications such asPlayandPSM.[30][31]Gadget Reviewwriter Kristie Bertucci stated that while she was the "girliest" character of the franchise, "that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a sexy side to her", naming her one of the hottest female characters in gaming due to being "built quite nicely with curves in all the right places" and her attire.[32]Matt Sainsbury ofDigitalDownloaded.netin multiple articles praised her, calling her "the perfect fighting game character" due to her high speed and how she added to the series' fanservice. He particularly praised her as a "nice, normal-proportioned girl who just happens to wear a harem-style outfit", a clothing style he felt represented "a sensuality and exotic sexuality that is simultaneously more subtle and more typical" of other examples in gaming such as bikinis and schoolgirl uniforms.[33][34][35][36]

However, some criticisms were raised against the character's sexualization. Brazilian Professor Georgia da Cruz Pereira stated that despite representing "a bit of differentiation compared to most of the characters in the game" due to a lack of breasts and hips coupled with her young age, "she is still inserted within a context of sexualization and standardization of the female body" in the series.[37]The Village Voicedescribed her as "mixing it up in see-through pants and a bra top", further calling her a "troubling" example of over-sexualization and costume fetish in the game.[38]Maddy Myers in an article forKotakuechoed these concerns, stating inSoulcalibur VIshe "wears a tiny X-shaped tube top that criss-crosses over her nipples and a string bikini bottom that pokes out of low-slung shorts. Putting the series’ [...] youngest and most innocent characters in bikinis seems unnecessary."[39]

Contrary to both viewpoints, University of Delaware professor Rachael Hutchinson noted elements of her design suggest innocence, namely the pink ribbons in her hair, and observed that Talim's costume was not as revealing as other female characters within the series. While discussing her design, she stated that as the series progressed Talim's black hair shifted to a more blue hue, and believes this was meant to signify her as the "Other" to Japanese viewers: Asian, but not Japanese.[27]In another study, Hutchinson emphasized Talim's height against the series' much taller male characters, stating that being able to fight them with her "inverts stereotypical gender expectations and provides entertainment through deviation from the norm", due to the expectation male opponents should win due to their superior size.[40]

References

  1. ^Namco Bandai Entertainment America."SoulCalibur V - Behind The Game".YouTube.Archivedfrom the original on April 26, 2023.RetrievedApril 26,2023.
  2. ^abc"Talim Voices (Soulcalibur)".Behind The Voice Actors.Archivedfrom the original on June 20, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 16,2019.
  3. ^ab"resume.pdf"(PDF).Kira Buckland Voice Actress.Archived(PDF)from the original on December 22, 2019.RetrievedMay 15,2020.
  4. ^abDeats, Adam; Joe Epstein (2008).Soulcalibur IV.BradyGames.pp. 136–143.ISBN978-0-7440-1006-0.
  5. ^abcStaff (December 7, 2007)."Behind the Game: Soul Calibur III".1UP.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 6, 2006.RetrievedJuly 30,2008.
  6. ^Khai phát giả công mộ １.soularchive.jp(in Japanese).Archivedfrom the original on June 5, 2008.RetrievedSeptember 6,2008.
  7. ^De Marco, Flynn (September 20, 2007)."Tgs07: Soul Calibur Director Katsutoshi Sasaki on Weapons, Characters and Storyline".Kotaku.Archivedfrom the original on October 14, 2007.RetrievedJuly 30,2008.
  8. ^Staff (October 10, 2005)."Soul Calibur III Interview".CVG.Archivedfrom the original on August 25, 2007.RetrievedSeptember 5,2008.
  9. ^abc“ソウルキャリバーII” khai phát giả インタビュー.Impress Watch(in Japanese). Archived fromthe originalon April 30, 2008.RetrievedOctober 18,2008.
  10. ^Takahashi, Yoshinori [@masuooyama] (May 4, 2020)."Ngoại xuất ままならぬGW. Hà か lặc しんでいただけるものでも, ということで tiên bối から継 thừa した bí tàng のキャリバー2 sơ kỳ thiết định họa を công khai. Ngự kiếm とタキが bất tại ( họa tượng nội の thị と nhẫn giả は biệt nhân…! ), thục やかなカサンドラ, タリムの cự đại võ khí など, tối chung hình と sắc 々と vi っていて vị わい thâm いですね. (in Japanese)"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  11. ^abTakahashi, Yoshinori [@masuooyama] (May 4, 2020)."Sơ kỳ タリムは thắng khí な tính cách だったらしく, biểu tình にも xuất ていますね. Kỹ のモーションも, nhất bộ にはその danh tàn が kiến られます. Võ khí サイズが変 canh された lý do は chủ にモーション đô hợp で, トンファーのように chấn り hồi した tế に đại きいな nhận だと phúc を thiết ってしまい, động tác の chế hạn が nghiêm しかったためだと văn いた ký ức があります. (in Japanese)"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  12. ^Davis, H. Leigh (2003).The Art of SoulCalibur II.BradyGames. pp. 56–57.ISBN0-7440-0295-8.
  13. ^@soulcalibur (June 15, 2021)."Concept art for Talim. This is a refinement of a costume from SC2, which is close to the period setting. The design is based on the" Priestess of the Wind "motif, and is designed as folk costumes that are used in the rituals of the Village of the Wind Deity. (1/2)"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  14. ^@soulcalibur (June 15, 2021)."(2/2)In the rough draft stage, we considered several variations of the costume, crossing the better parts from past works. The big hat and the long ribbons that swept in the wind are the features of SC6"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  15. ^SoulCalibur: New Legends of Project Soul.Bandai Namco Entertainment.May 16, 2014. p. 155.ISBN978-1926778952.
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  21. ^"Top 6 Video Game Cosplays".Game On! 2016.Scholastic Inc. 2015. p. 158.ISBN9780545850315.
  22. ^Han, Yaya; DeBlasio, Allison; Marsocc, Joey (May 2013).1,000 Incredible Costume and Cosplay Ideas.Quarry Books. p. 183.ISBN9781610587631.
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  26. ^Berens, Kate; Howard, Geoff (September 2008).The Rough Guide to Videogames.Rough Guides. p. 186.ISBN9781843539957.
  27. ^abPulos, Alexis; Austin, Lee (December 24, 2016).Transnational Contexts of Culture, Gender, Class, and Colonialism in Play: Video Games in East Asia.Springer. p. 172.ISBN978-3-319-43817-7.
  28. ^Patterson, Christopher B. (April 14, 2020).Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, ant the Global Rise of Video games.NYU Press. p. 56.ISBN9781479802043.
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  31. ^"Welcome to the 4th Annual PSM Swimsuit Special".PSM.No. 72. June 2003. p. 44.
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  35. ^Sainsbury, Matt (May 26, 2017)."The Friday Ten: The ten top fighting game waifu".DigitalDownloaded.net.Archivedfrom the original on September 21, 2023.RetrievedApril 28,2023.
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  37. ^Araújo, Guilherme Pedrosa Carvalho; Pereira, Georgia da Cruz (2017). "Não se preocupem queridos, a cavalaria chegou: análise crítica do design das personagens de Overwatch".Anais do Simpósio Brasileiro de Jogos e Entretenimento Digital(in Portuguese).16.
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External links

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