{"id":10572,"date":"2022-03-16T13:40:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T04:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=10572"},"modified":"2022-03-16T13:40:27","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T04:40:27","slug":"20220316-10572","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20220316-10572\/","title":{"rendered":"Tingle creator now finds the character creepy, but do fans love or loathe him?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Written by. Nick Mosier based on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/articles\/newsjp\/20220315-195491\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original Japanese article<\/a>\u00a0(original article&#8217;s publication date: 2022-03-15 19:40 JST)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Former Nintendo artist and designer Takaya Imamura recently tweeted, \u201cWhen I look now, he\u2019s creepy,\u201d in reference to Tingle, a character Imamura himself designed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u5f53\u6642\u306f\u30ad\u30e2\u30ab\u30ef\u3092\u72d9\u3063\u305f\u3064\u3082\u308a\u3060\u3063\u305f\u3051\u3069\u4eca\u898b\u308b\u3068\u30ad\u30e2\u3044\u306a\u3053\u308c\ud83d\ude05 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HqqggXeiUL\">https:\/\/t.co\/HqqggXeiUL<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u4eca\u6751\u5b5d\u77e2 \/ Takaya Imamura (@ima_1966) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ima_1966\/status\/1502090186892922881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 11, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Takaya Imamura is a former Nintendo developer who acted as the art director and producer on numerous titles and is likely most known for his work on the <em>F-Zero<\/em> and <em>Star Fox<\/em> series. He\u2019s also famous for being the art director of <em>The Legend of Zelda: Majora\u2019s Mask<\/em> and the creator of Tingle, who debuted in the game. Imamura is now a professor at the International Professional University of Technology in Osaka while also working as a freelancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tingle, a character created by Imamura for <em>Majora\u2019s Mask<\/em>, is an odd middle-aged man that wears tights and dreams of becoming a fairy. Despite his age, Tingle is also quite childlike in his speech and actions. He\u2019s a character that bundles bizarre and cute into one neat package and is still well known by fans today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to some mainline <em>Zelda<\/em> titles, Tingle even got to be the protagonist of a few games like <em>Freshly-Picked Tingle\u2019s Rosy Rupeeland<\/em> and <em>Ripened Tingle\u2019s Balloon Trip of Love<\/em>. According to <em>Majora\u2019s Mask<\/em> director and current <em>Zelda<\/em> series producer Eiji Aonuma, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.co.jp\/nom\/0008\/majora\/page02.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he wanted<\/a> a \u201cstrange character with a balloon attached to their back,\u201d and Tingle was born.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"452\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" src=\"http:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10574\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-600x271.jpg 600w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-380x172.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-768x347.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-150x68.jpg 150w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-696x315.jpg 696w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/20220315-195491-001-929x420.jpg 929w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>When a fan tweeted praise for <em>Majora\u2019s Mask<\/em>\u2019s Tingle, Imamura retweeted the message and added his own comment, which received a lot of attention. \u201cAt the time, I was aiming for creepy\/cute, but looking at it now, it\u2019s just creepy?\u201d <em>The Legend of Zelda: Majora\u2019s Mask<\/em> was recently made available on the paid Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service, so a number of fans likely met Tingle all over again and Imamura saw their reactions like the one mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there\u2019s more to the story than Tingle just being \u201ccreepy\u201d when considering the discourse that the character is hated in a certain region. To be more clear, there\u2019s a strong tendency to think that Americans hate Tingle. For example, if you type \u201cHate Tingle\u201d into Google, a page titled \u201cAmericans hate Tingle\u201d comes up, along with forum posts asking why Americans hate the character. In contrast, these sorts of posts don\u2019t really come up in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you search \u201cAmericans hate Tingle\u201d and look through the results, you can see there are a number of reasons why Americans dislike the character. The biggest reason seems to be discomfort around him being a middle-aged man acting like a child. YouTuber Maverick Taylaa points out that Tidus from <em>Final Fantasy X<\/em> has a childlike side as well and wasn\u2019t as well received in the West as in Japan. Some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/OutOfTheLoop\/comments\/1sg5pk\/why_do_zelda_fans_hate_tingle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reddit users<\/a> also brought up the Triforce shard section of <em>The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker<\/em> where players must pay Tingle large sums of rupees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Americans Hate Tingle (Cultural Dissonance)\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SQvPEF6APik?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At any rate, the perception that Tingle isn\u2019t liked as much in the United States compared to Japan is strong. <em>Freshly-Picked Tingle\u2019s Rosy Rupeeland<\/em> only released in Japan and Europe, while <em>Ripened Tingle\u2019s Balloon Trip of Love<\/em> only ever came out in Japan. This perception is likely why the games never reach North American players. Actually, since the release of <em>Wind Waker<\/em>, it seems like Tingle\u2019s role has been getting smaller and smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With that in mind, you might say Imamura\u2019s comment does a great job hinting at Tingle\u2019s current predicament. He also said he hopes the open-minded side of Nintendo that would implement such a strange character without hesitation in a traditional series continues on. &nbsp;But either way, Tingle is a character that has left an impression on both developers and players alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u3053\u3093\u306a\u7279\u7570\u306a\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u3092\u738b\u9053\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u306b\u8e8a\u8e87\u306a\u304f\u63a1\u7528\u3059\u308b\u4efb\u5929\u5802\u958b\u767a\u90e8\u306e\u61d0\u306e\u6df1\u3055\u306f\u7d99\u627f\u3057\u3066\u884c\u3063\u3066\u6b32\u3057\u3044\u306a\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u4eca\u6751\u5b5d\u77e2 \/ Takaya Imamura (@ima_1966) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ima_1966\/status\/1502093750822400006?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 11, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By the way, Imamura is also active on Twitter sharing memories about Nintendo, impressions of <em>Elden Ring<\/em>, and enjoying <em>F-Zero X<\/em> with fans via Nintendo Switch Online. If you\u2019re a Nintendo fan, he\u2019s a great person to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">ELDEN RING\u3067\u306e\u30ad\u30e3\u30e9\u306e\u518d\u73fe\u7387\u306e\u9ad8\u3055\u3088\uff01 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0FBBtYVbsm\">pic.twitter.com\/0FBBtYVbsm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u4eca\u6751\u5b5d\u77e2 \/ Takaya Imamura (@ima_1966) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ima_1966\/status\/1501529682835312640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 9, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tingle creator now finds the character creepy, but do fans love or loathe him?  There\u2019s a strong tendency to think that Americans hate The Legend of Zelda&#8217;s character Tingle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,33],"class_list":["post-10572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-nintendo"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tingle creator now finds the character creepy, but do fans love or loathe him? - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tingle creator now finds the character creepy, but do fans love or loathe him? 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