By now, it’s well documented that we happen to be utterly in love with Borderlands 2, our 2012 game of the year that isn’t Call of Duty Black Ops 2. Great guns, unreal monsters and even better characters made this one of the best titles of the year, something that plenty of other folks would agree on. What some other folks also agree on however, is that the loveable underage psychopath Tiny Tina is a racist stereotype. Those fools be crunk in the head yo.
Over the weekend, Borderlands 2 lead writer Anthony Burch got into an argument over whether or not the maniacal demolitions expert Tiny Tina was indeed a racist character, with Kotaku picking up the highlights of this Twitter tale. For those of you unaware of the character, here’s a sampling of the dialogue that Tiny Tina lets loose when she asks you to tackle tasks.
And here’s what Burch had to say over Twitter to the naysayers who felt that Tina was too much bodonkadonk in the politically correct department;
@mikesacco Well, it’s not going to.
— Anthony Burch (@reverendanthony) February 3, 2013
@drshenanigans @mikesacco I do appreciate the feedback, but yeah — a lot of people love her, some find her irritating as hell. That’s okay.
— Anthony Burch (@reverendanthony) February 3, 2013
@reverendanthony @drshenanigans I think you’re misunderstanding. It’s not about finding her irritating.
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 3, 2013
@reverendanthony @drshenanigans Or, rather, your writing of the character is. Tina isn’t.
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 3, 2013
@reverendanthony @mikesacco @drshenanigans Its exaggerated stereotypical low class “black” lingo that with Tina amounts to verbal blackface.
— Andrew T (@Lithobolos) February 3, 2013
@mikesacco @lithobolos @drshenanigans I don’t see how that’s “all there is,” nor how “badonkadonk” is like blackface.
— Anthony Burch (@reverendanthony) February 3, 2013
Of course, on the opposite side of the common sense spectrum, Burch received some support from colleagues, fans and Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford.
@reverendanthony tina is not racist because you are not racist. You’re a pillar of tolerance and inclusion.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) February 3, 2013
@reverendanthony DO NOT CHANGE TINY TINA. I never found it racist, I thought she was insane, but not racist. Keep her insane.
— Tyler Peltonovich (@vortexelemental) February 3, 2013
@reverendanthony I will be deeply offended if you change Tiny Tina.
— RvLeshrac (@RvLeshrac) February 3, 2013
@patriciaxh That’s not actually feasible within the technical constraints of the game, but I’d alter her dialog in any future BL stuff.
— Anthony Burch (@reverendanthony) February 3, 2013
I’ve seen a lot of reactions to Tiny Tina so far. These usually range from laughter, shock and bafflement, but racism? Not a chance. Yes, Tina uses slang more commonly associated with pimps and talentless rap artists, but hell, that’s part of her charm. It’s why she has such a large following. And she’s not the only one out there that does so. We’ve seen video game characters that have a lingo taken from British stereotypes, American rednecks, Australian wildlife hosts and Asian engrish.
And is it seen as racist? Hell no, it’s just part of the character at the end of the day. Burch has mentioned that he will at least consider changing the tone of the character for the future, but I sincerely hope he doesn’t. Voiced by his sister Ashley Burch, I absolutely adore the character. And taking away her slang is just peer-pressure censorship.
Last Updated: February 4, 2013
