Tekken/Headscratchers


 * Why is a guy as strong as Paul Phoenix treated as a complete joke?
 * Because his plot is not directly related to a Mishima. Alternatively, because he's American.
 * Also, since he was originally supposed to be Kazuya's rival and Kazuya is well past needing a rival character, Paul was left in limbo. Especially since there was nobody to take over his moveset (i.e. Baek to Hwo).
 * I just take small comfort in the fact that he canonically beat Heihachi in 3.
 * Uh, wasn't it Ogre that he beat? The fact is, Jin beats True Ogre... So I thought Jin beats Heihachi, loses to Paul, and then Paul proceeds to beat Ogre, but left before it transformed, leaving Jin to take care of it.
 * Ah, my mistake. I thought Paul beat Heihachi, but didn't stick around long enough for Ogre to show up.
 * But then, by the time of Tekken 5 at least, everyone is fair game for parody, Mishimas included.
 * I would expect that his use of "Judo-based martial arts" contributes...
 * I think Paul is meant to be the human embodiment of the saying old martial arts masters always say in fictions: strength alone is not enough. Paul is indeed a very strong and skilled fighter, but he only focuses on winning and proving that he's the strongest man in the world, therefore he only wants to show his power and forgets to use any strategy, causing him to lose or to waste his energy.
 * Are you kidding? LOOK AT HIS HAIR.
 * Oddly enough in the manga adaptation for Tekken 6, Paul is treated like a living legend in the Tekken Tournament, his impressive record for the 3rd tournament is public knowledge and he has legions of fans to prove this; also his buddy Marshall who gets the same joke/not-important character treatment in the games, followed suit in the manga as being another widely known and respected fighter.
 * Is it just me or is Namco determined to make Yoshimitsu look Darker and Edgier with each sequel? In the first game, he was just a silly-looking roboninja thing. Then Tekken 2 came along and he was given evil red eyes and vampire teeth, as well as a darker colour scheme. Tekken 3, he's a scary alien cyborg. Then he has a friggin SKULL FACE complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom, then there's that sudden voice change, and now...oh hell. Thank god for customization.
 * Alternatively, This Troper thinks his appearances in the Soul Calibur/Soulcalibur games are fairly silly.
 * Leo's gender. Period.
 * It's a guy. See edition on character sheet for how it's known.
 * The issue is still open. Supposedly Leo could very well be female.
 * Harada has since said that Leo is female.
 * The final boss of Tekken 6, the giant coral dragon. It not even having a block animation just bugs me.
 * What the heck is the "Fallen Colony" in 6?
 * AWESOME.
 * Canonically, there's colonies floating in Earth's orbit. "Fallen Colony" is one that's plummeting to the ground (or suspended in mid-air).
 * The campaign mode of Tekken 6 just a quick vote who wanted a beat em up for this games story.
 * Eddy's father's plan to "protect" his son. Does he really think that prison would be safe? Or, more importantly, that being sent to prison for several years, possibly for life, would be better than simply going into hiding?
 * Mokujin's existence and the lack of a character creator. Mokujin proves that the other fighters' styles can be adapted to different models relatively fine, so why not provide a character creation system akin to Soul Calibur's? Well, I guess not Soul Calibur 4 considering how characters usually end up looking.
 * I'm not entirely sure about this, but they might be worried about Hitbox Dissonance causing balance issues. For instance, Kuma has some amazing moves, but is always low tier due to being a huge target, having tiny legs and being unable to sidestep. Mokujin emulating Kuma is smaller, has better evasion and better range on leg attacks, and the only sacrifice he has to make is a slight loss on arm range. For another example, imagine Xiaoyu with longer limbs... The reason it's OK right now is because you have no way of knowing what fighting style Mokujin will use, and it changes each round. If you could permanently emulate a character with all of a character's strengths but not its weaknesses, it wouldn't work out too well...
 * More importantly, Tekken's development has always focused more on the arcade and tournament communities, and those communities tend to not like custom character creation.
 * In Tekken 5, Anna no longer has her fur outfit from Tekken 3/Tekken Tag Tournament because PETA complained. That in itself would be understandable, if a bit of an over-reaction, but when you bear in mind that playable characters include Kuma, Panda and Roger Jr., you'd think that PETA would have a bigger problem with animals being beaten to a pulp than with someone simply wearing a fur outfit (for all we know it could be fake fur anyway!). Panda stands out in particular, seeing as how pandas are an endangered species and all... The outfit returns in Tekken 6, presumably because the developers realised that PETA's complaint wasn't coherent...
 * So, why the hell is King friends with the guy who murdered his mentor? I mean really, has Marduk even shown any remorse for what he did? At least Armour King seems to be reacting properly to the whole damn thing.
 * Marduk was drunk. Also, King not so much forgived him as much as not lowered himslef to his level (at first).
 * Maybe so, but that still doesn't explain why they've apparently become partners in later endings. They seem to get teamed quite often. Not sinking to his level is one thing, but still, teaming up with the guy in matches? Really King?
 * King and the rest of the orphans were raised by a Catholic priest. Maybe the original King stressed the importance of forgiveness?
 * I cannot for the life of me remember where, but I vaguely recall some info on Marduk suggesting that while he wasn't exactly remorseful over Armor King's death, he was far from proud of it. He just wasn't the kind of person to take being treated like a monster for a mistake lying down and rebelled against it in a jerkass fashion. The way he saw it, he went to jail, did his time, and lost everything he had because of it. He's paid for that mistake in his opinion.
 * Regardless, I understand the point the OP brought up. Marduk killed King's father figure and not only showed little remorse, he actually desecrates Armor King's grave by digging it up. Forgiveness is one thing, but befriending his mentor's killer and treating his death like it's water under the bridge is the point where fans cry Wallbanger.
 * If that happened before Armor King II went in and smacked Marduk silly, that would be stupid. At that point, both King and Marduk were utterly shocked that Armor King I could be Back From the Dead, so Marduk digging Armor King I's grave was a pretty justified move for both him and King, to ensure if Armor King I is still dead or not. As it turns out, if Marduk didn't prove Armor King I dead by digging his grave, both he and King wouldn't be able to fulfill their objective to uncover the identity of the new Armor King. It may be a bit disgracing yes, but you have to also take account that both of them were at shock at the prospect of Armor King coming back, so asking them to just take it like a stride is what would either make me scratch or bang my head.
 * Anna's fighting style. If she only knows Aikido, which involves holds, throws, reversals, and joint locks, how did she learn to do all of these flashy moves?
 * I believe her fighting style is officially a mix of Koppo (which revolves around crushing and breaking bones) and assassination arts rooted in Aikido. It's like how Paul's style incorporates judo and aikido or how Law's is just listed as "martial arts" despite clearly behind based on (naturally) Jeet Kune Do.
 * So after thinking about it, the current Family Feud among the Mishima's (Kazuya, Heihachi, and Jin, with Jinpachi being thrown in there for good measure)........IS ALL FUCKING HEIHACHI'S FAULT!!!! Imprisoning your father in a mountain, throwing your son off a cliff, shooting your grandson in the head. He just keeps fucking up. Seriously, maybe Jin at least would mellow out and just chill if the old fart just died. Kazuya would still be a problem, but you have to deal with one problem at a time. He keeps making everyone he double crosses more evil than he is. It's clear to me who the real bad guy of Tekken is. God help up if lars ever actually meets him. The guy will probably end up wanting to kick babies afterwards.
 * Why does anyone bother competing when only Mishima's ever win?
 * Several if not all characters in the series have their own reasons for joining the tournament, not to mention the big prize money the Mishima Zaibatsu offers and the claim to the title of the World's Strongest Man. Sadly, anyone who is not a Mishima isn't particularly important in the main plot, so, yeah. Being a King of Iron Fist Tournament contestant is suffering.