Resident Evil 5: Buff and Blonde Architypes?
 

So I've gotten a lot more interested in the Resident Evil series since I signed on to be Jill Valentine for a cosplay group. I've so far played through Resident Evil: REmake, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil Code Veronica X, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and I'm halfway through Resident Evil 5. My issue is with the new appearance of Chris Redfeild and Jill Valentine.

Although I know I'm not the first to complain about the change, I worry about the implications of their "new looks" and what it could potentially mean for the series. We all know that Resi 5 was a little too much of a third person shooter for the survival horror fans, but I truly believe that Chris and Jill has been turned (visually, atleast) into the architypes for the 'American Heroes.' I mean, think about it; Jill is now a buxom blonde who needs to be saved by her big, strong, manly partner. Not to say that the element of saving the dansel in distress hasn't always been present in Resident Evil, but atleast in the past you had the option of making it so that the man needed to be saved. Coming up with some cock and bull story about how the extraction of antibodies bleached her hair was just silly. I know and like Jill as a brunette, why should that change? That and Chris's arms are absurdly large, so much so that I'm shocked he can touch his head! I understand that you can make the argument that Chris has 'bulked up' do to the even more rigorous lifestyle he's lead since the disbanding of S.T.A.R.S, but the human body can only go so far within those rhealms. And don't even get me started on the unlockable 'warrior costume' for Chris... looks like something out of Mad Max.

I'm curious about other people's opinions on this aswell. Is Resident Evil headed down the path of perfect, slightly arian protagonists? I really hope that they tone it down in the next game, and that Chris and Jill make another appearance as reunited partners.

Thoughts?

I've not played Resident Evil 5, but I agree in that Chris' hulk arms need to be toned down a lot.

Now I'm not usually one to point out character design flaws, but to go with your whole "slightly Aryan protagonist" theory, I would point out that Sheva is really light skinned for an African-American. o_o

Not to mention her "tribal costume" which is a fur bikini, white body pain, and hemp necklaces with bones on them XD One review mentioned that all she needed was a bone through her nose and a pot full of white men. Though I don't find the fact that the majority of the enemies are black (I mean, they're in a village in Africa, it makes sense) to be offensive, I find that people who claim that the game was racist when the first trailer came out were misinformed, but a fur bikini? Really, Capcom, really? While Sheva's "folklore costume" is beautiful, it's very obviously fantasy. Then again, Chris is nearly showing as much skin in his "warrior costume."

http://static.gamesradar.com/images/...icle_image.jpg
I mean, really?

http://cdn.shacknews.com/public/imag...view/16019.jpg
I can see your nipples, Chris...

Someone censor those nipples! O:< Just like Batman! Anyways..
I don't quite know so much about the shift to the buff and blonde archetypes, as I can think of quite a number of characters who go against the grain from previous series, more or less some of the protagonists in the Outbreak collection.
But yer talkin' about RE5.
Well, Jill doesn't make anything better. I looked at her and thought I saw Fiona Belli from Haunting Ground. O_o Are you talking exclusively heroes, or any major characters in RE5? The whole RE series?

I'm refering more to the changes to existing characters, namely Chris and Jill. I mean, they had a set look, they've had it for years, why change it? It just aggravates me that characters that has always seemed to realistic in appearance (I loved how Chris looked in REbirth because he looked like a real person) have now been changed to these 'perfect' Adonises. I actually didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Jill tore her shirt open, revealing the device on her chest and over-doing it JUST enough to reveal her full cleavage.

I recognize that I'm exagerating slightly to prove a point, but it remains valid. They didn't need to change, so the question remains of why they did, and to make them more 'perfect' if the only answer I can come up with, sadly.

I probably focus on this more than most because Jill and Chris are my favourite characters in the series and I actually cosplay Jill's REbirth costume. The look of RE5 has become so much of a joke within my group of RE cosplayers that individual characters are mocked for fun. So I've become a dumb blond and nobody can hug Chris because they'll be speared by his nipples (which also dispence steroids into his system at regular intervals to beef up his arms). It's all great fun, but it only shows how significant the change is.

Oh my gosh, I was so mad when I found out what they did to Jill in the game, it looks nothing like her.
I really wish they would've left her hair short and brown :/

LOL. That was the first thing I noticed! Chris's arms took up the whole screen! Ha ha ha. And I don't really think that the change is for the bad. :)

I didn't really care for the changes made to Chris and Jill. Jill should have her regular brown hair (Heck I wouldn't care if it was the same length in RE5 if at least it was brown), and Chris has no way to buff up all of a sudden like that, totally weird >:[
Sheva's awesome though, I really don't have a complaint about her c: