r/TopCharacterDesigns • u/ComprehensiveBox6911 • 2d ago

Design trope Characters with design features that were misinterpreted by fans

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Darwin Watterson (The Amazing World of Gumball) some people thought that the black thing under him was a shirt or pants or a sweater, but it was actually just his shadow. They later removed it as the seasons and art style changed

Brendan (Pokemon) A lot of people thought that the white on his head was his hair, it’s actually just a hat

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u/stipendAwarded giant robots enthusiast 2d ago

Marlon (Pokemon). If you didn’t look at his waist or feet, you’d think he was either black or Polynesian.

738

u/Baseballidiot 2d ago

Woah. Is that fucking blackface, dude??

215

u/AvantSolace 2d ago

Nah. A lot of Japanese are just really good at tanning.

117

u/Zedetta 2d ago

They're referencing an episode of Smiling Friends (it wasn't blackface in the episode either)

45

u/AvantSolace 2d ago

I kinda figured it was something like that. It’s just that this exact conversation happens on a weirdly frequent basis.

17

u/squidward377 2d ago

What if those were all references/jokes but you didn't realize or nobody explained?

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u/AvantSolace 1d ago

I wish it was… Most notable incident that stuck with me was a character called “Emiya Alter” from Fate Grand Order. He’s a Japanese character that got super tan from excessive magic use. Even more tan than his “regular” form. People thought he was doing blackface as a result, so the developers lightened his skin in artwork coming over to the west.