Twintelle

Twintelle is a fictional character in the 2017 Nintendo Switch video game ARMS. She was first revealed in a May 2017 Nintendo Direct, where she quickly became a fan favorite and a popular character.[2][3][4]

Twintelle
Twintelle as she appears in ARMS.
First appearanceARMS (2017)
Last appearanceSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate (2020)
Created byKosuke Yabuki
Voiced byAdeyto[1]
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
OccupationActress
Fighting styleHair (ARMS ability)
Magic
OriginFrance
NationalityFrench

Concept and creation

Design

Twintelle was first revealed during a May 17, 2017 Nintendo Direct.[5] Twintelle features dark brown skin and large, silver/pink locks[6] that she uses to fight due to her hair being affected by the ARMS Ability. She is the only character in the ARMS universe whose hair is affected in this way. She wears a blue mask, a sleeveless white top, black pants, and black heels.

Twintelle was a more worrisome character to design than others by ARMS producer Kosuke Yabuki. The initial concept of Twintelle was just a character who fought with their hair.[7] The design team wanted to do something different and wanted to represent different countries and different backgrounds.[8] The staff reached out to people at Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe to get ideas for a character from a different background.[7] Designers sent sketches to these divisions of the character to get their opinions on them.[8] The design of Twintelle took more time and had designers working harder than they did on others.[7] Yabuki designed her to have a muscular build.[9]

Yabuki enjoyed the character, commenting that she was a rare character type for Nintendo to create.[9] He was particularly happy to have made what he considers to be a strong female character.[8]

Personality

Twintelle is depicted as a femme fatale, being a brazen and confident attractive woman.[10][11][12] The ARMS franchise describes her as a "mega celeb", being a famous and award-winning actress.[13][14][15] Her winning animations represent her taking different poses, such as blowing kisses, whipping her hair, or casually drinking tea with a sassy look.[16][17] Her inclination to luxury is seen with her home stage, Cinema Deux,[18] her outfit and her jewels. Her official profile page on PlayNintendo.com reveals that her hobbies are "Sniffing luxury fragrances" and "fitness".[18]

Appearances

Arms

Twintelle first appeared in ARMS as a playable character and one of the Grand Prix contestants.[19] Unlike the rest of the fighters, she uses her hair to fight instead of her fists.[20] Her special ability nicknamed "Actress Aura" allows her to slow down incoming attacks.[21][22][23] Twintelle owns the stage Cinema Deux, which consists in a luxurious circular drive in front of a movie theater, where fancy cars and Twintelle's fans appear.[24][25] Completing the Grand Prix mode with Twintelle depicts her as the new ARMS champion, with the ending illustration representing a crowd watching one of her movies in a theater.[26][27][28]

Super Smash Bros. series

In 2018, she appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an advanced "Support Spirit."[29] In 2020, Twintelle later appears during Min Min's final smash alongside all ARMS fighters following Min Min's inclusion and [30][31] The music played in Twintelle's Cinema Deux from ARMS is also available for Min Min's stage.[32][33][34]

Appearance in other media

Twintelle also appears in the ARMS graphic novel published by Dark Horse.[35][36]

Reception

Since her appearance in ARMS, Twintelle has received generally very positive reception. She is regarded as the most popular ARMS character by fans.[37][38] According to Nintendo, due to Twintelle's popularity after the ARMS Direct, she became a playable fighter in the Global Tespunch, the online demo of the game.[39][40] In 2017, in a poll conducted by NintendoLife, Twintelle was ranked No. 1 by the readers as their favorite ARMS fighter.[41] In 2020, in a poll conducted by Event Hubs.com, she placed No.1 as the most ARMS requested character to join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster.[42]

The positive response to Twintelle left Yabuki feeling happy and energized.[7] He added that he was not expecting the popularity to be as strong as it was.[9] Critics including Allegra Frank and Gita Jackson suggested that her popularity was derived in part from her hair, outfit, sexual characteristics, and her "calm, collected" personality.[5][38] Writer Xavier Harding suggested that the amount of fanart that Twintelle has received suggested that Nintendo "has a hit on their hands."[43] Twintelle's high degree of popularity lead to Nintendo including her in ARMS' "Global Testpunch," a free temporary online video game demo.[44] US Gamer's Matt Kim called her the "star of ARMS" and said he has "fallen in love" with her.[44] She has been a suggestion for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by critics such as Xavier Harding, Paul Tassi, and Brian Shea.[45][46][47] Writer Will Greenwald included her in his list of most-wanted female characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Her status as a woman of color stood out due to its added variety to the roster.[48]

Writer Tanya DePass was unhappy with Twintelle's design, criticizing the fact that she was a "brown, female character with weaponized hair." She compared the idea of "weaponized hair" to real-world discrimination against black people for their natural hairstyles. She suggested that Twintelle's hair issues was a part of a greater issue in video games to do with black people's hair.[49] Writer Shonte Daniels responded to this article, noting that she found her argument "completely valid," playing as Twintelle in ARMS made her feel empowered. She argues that her hair deconstructs the idea, and that Twintelle "isn’t fighting against her hair" but rather "fights alongside it." She compares Twintelle to black female athletes such as tennis player Serena Williams, who touched upon how she used to dislike her masculine body but in time grew to love it due to how it has helped achieve her goals. Daniels suggests that Twintelle is similarly proud of her body and flaunts her hair in spite of criticism.[50] She also suggested that her hair was affected by the "ARMS ability" due to her closeness to her hair.[51] Williams went on to name her as one of the best new video game characters in 2017.[52] Writer Janet Garcia called Twintelle the most unique character designs of the Nintendo Switch generation, praising her design as both "sexualized and empowered." She further discusses that Twintelle's sexuality fits in well with the ARMS world, and her sexuality comes off better because ARMS' other female characters are not sexualized. She added that Twintelle's backstory helps justify her sexualization and that it makes her seem "badass." However, she acknowledges that the femme fatale design that Twintelle incorporates is one that is too commonly applied to women of color.[53] In celebrating Reggie Fils-Aime, writer Jordan Minor featured Twintelle on his list of his favorite black characters, calling her the "Queen of ARMS."[54] Writer Alisha Karabinus acknowledged that Twintelle had potential problematic aspects, but noted that if video games did not have black women depicted poorly that gaming would have little left.[55]

References
  1. @ARMS_Cobutter (June 29, 2017). "アナウンス： ARMSファイターたちの「声」は、ご覧の皆様にご協力頂いています。お気に入りファイターの声をどんな方が担当しているのか…チェックしてみてください！" (Tweet). Retrieved May 21, 2019 – via Twitter.
  2. "Nintendo Fans Are Losing It Over Twintelle, Arms' New Character". Kotaku. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  3. Frank, Allegra (2017-05-18). "Arms already has its fan favorite in movie star Twintelle". Polygon. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  4. "Smash Ultimate's Min Min reveal surprises fans, upsets Twintelle stans". GameRevolution. 2020-06-22. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  5. Jackson, Gita (May 18, 2017). "Nintendo Fans Are Losing It Over Twintelle, ARMS' New Character". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  6. "Twintelle". play.nintendo.com. Retrieved 2020-11-06. Twintelle would rather use her stretchy silver locks to win the ARMS title
  7. McWhertor, Michael (March 26, 2018). "ARMS director Kosuke Yabuki on the past and future of the Switch fighting game". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  8. McCarthy, Caty (April 5, 2018). "Nintendo on the Challenge of Post-Release Support, and More Tales of ARMS' Development". US Gamer. Archived from the original on February 11, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  9. Hilliard, Kyle (June 7, 2017). "ARMS' Creators On Twintelle's Popularity And The Strange Lore Of The Game's World". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
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