Gentle reminder that Resident Evil 6 begins with professional cool hair haver Leon S. Kennedy being forced to shoot his zombified best friend, the President of the United States
The character of the President is introduced and his deep friendship with Leon established in quick cut flashbacks in the same scene that begins as he is already shambling towards Leon moments before he's killed. Just amazing writing
How many first families is Leon personal acquaintances with? He's chummy with whomever Ashley's dad was who was POTUS in 2004 as well as the zombie president in office during 2013. I guess he works for the Secret Service so he gets invited to all their barbecues
This game is such a mess but the story is kind of enjoyable in a schlocky way. Another standout moment is the BSAA doing a tactical intervention on Chris Redfield in some bar in Eastern Europe where all the patrons are secretly operators for some reason.
The tone of the game being so groan-inducingly self-serious makes it difficult for me to enjoy the stupidity. Like the director and writers thought what they made was genuinely awesome and badass.
RE4 (2004) was wonderfully self-aware and over-the-top and then the people behind 5 and 6 didn't get the ironic bits. It also doesn't help that 6 doesn't have a Wesker in it to bring in the cheese
6 also had some questionable stuff involving women, namely the stuff with Helena's sister and Carla's weird backstory
Oh boy! A chance to talk about my Resident Evil Brain Rot!
Idk how a franchise can be simultaneously, both so incredibly camp, and agonizingly heterosexual, all at the same time.
Almost all of the characters are cops, which Is cringe.
Also, hot take: Sherry, the little girl in RE2 is honestly, kind of the most compelling character in that entire game. Also, I headcanon her as trans. Someone please talk to me about my Trans Sherry headcanon lol
Anyway, Resident Evil is incredibly stupid, and I love it
Really liked Sherry's playable section in RE 2 Remake. The entire game is great but the powerlessness & childhood fear there is especially scary & compelling, plus it's a fun contrast to the anxiety of the inexorable Mr. X.
Tbh the playable Ashley segment in 4 remake is a standout for similar reasons.
Her playable sections in the remake are so good! And while you're right that it's a contrast, it's also kind of a parallel. Both Claire and Sherry are being stalked by imposing, threatening, men.
The sherry segments are god-awful in the original, but I have a soft spot for them. I'm trans fem, and As a kid, I always would pick boy characters in games, when given the option, because I felt like I had to. And there weren't exactly a ton of playable girls in games to begin with, at that time.
So, when 12 year old, very trans but didn't know it yet me, had to play those original Sherry segments. I wasn't having a good time. But also I was like, "but I get to be the little girl?? 👀"
I love that to make sure audiences understood she was in fact the same Sherry from RE2 they made her have the exact same hairstyle as an adult as she did as an 8-year-old
Her personality and status as a super special agent gives me extreme Rebecca Chambers vibes
What always confused me about RE6 is how, when Sherry meets Leon, she's like, "oh! He saved me from Raccoon City!" But in the canon version of RE2... Claire did that. Sherry is found by and taken care of, by Claire. Not Leon. She barely has any kind of relationship with him.
And I don't get why. Because Leon... Kind of has zero personality. He's just a walking Twink haircut, that shoots guns.
Claire, in RE2, is looking for her brother. So we know she cares about family. So I makes sense that she finds, and takes care of Sherry, and gets wrapped up in the family drama of Sherry's abusive parents being the zombie scientists, etc. That's so much more interesting then "will Leon and Ada fuck?"
So why does RE canon, after 2, continue to sideline Claire's relationship with Sherry, in favor of Leon???