Michelle Chang (Tekken)

For the Professor of Chemistry and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, see Michelle C. Chang.

Michelle Chang
Tekken character
Michelle Chang in Tekken Tag Tournament (1999)
First game	Tekken (1994)
Created by	Namco
Voiced by	Jessica Robertson (Tekken: The Motion Picture)
Ethnicity	Chinese-Native American

Michelle Chang (Japanese: ミシェール・チャン, Hepburn: Mishēru Chan) is a character in the Tekken series centered on fighting games by Bandai Namco. She was introduced in the original Tekken (1994) as a Chinese-Native American woman possessing a pendant capable of controlling evil powers. The pendant was problematic in Michelle's life, causing her father's death and her kidnappings. She is the adoptive mother of Julia Chang (Japanese: ジュリア・チャン, Hepburn: Juria Chan), who acts as a successor to her and masters her discipline. Michelle is omitted from the canonical games after Tekken 2 (1995) but continues to appear in the series' other-related media.

Julia was introduced and took the place of Michelle from Tekken 3 (1997), in which she was portrayed in the role of rescuing Michelle. Onwards, she became a researcher and took on the responsibility of the reforestation of her homeland to reduce environmental problems. Julia also possesses an alternative personality known as Jaycee (Japanese: ジェイシー, Hepburn: Jeishī), who is in alignment with lucha libre professional wrestling. Michelle, along with Julia, has been heavily criticized for being cited as a representative of Native Americans across the video game industry.

Design

Michelle debuted in the original Tekken as a young woman of Chinese and Native American descent. She has a pendant believed to control evil powers. Some of the character's early motion capture was performed by series producer Katsuhiro Harada, and replaced as development progressed. With the release of Tekken 3, the development team progressed the series' timeline by nineteen years. Because of this, they chose to "retire" Michelle, and introduce Julia Chang, her adopted daughter. They designed her with a similar look to Michelle to retain that character's "healthy charm", but also wanted to emphasize her intellect, something they felt helped her stand out amongst the more athletic-focused characters in the series.

Designs of Michelle (left) and Julia (right) were influenced by war bonnets (eagle feathers), as seen on their heads

Initially, Michelle and Julia's designs were inspired by traditional Native American elements, particularly war bonnets. In the same vein, their outfits often incorporate leather and denim pieces of attire. In contrast to Michelle, Julia routinely wears glasses to emphasize her intellectual aspect, something that caused issues for the development team Dimps as Tekken's development team insisted they be included for her appearance in Street Fighter X Tekken late in that game's production.

In Tekken Tag Tournament 2, the character Jaycee was introduced. A female lucha libre wrestling character, Harada revealed that it was actually Julia under an alias. When working on the franchise, they found that while Julia had a high usage rate amongst players, "there was a lack of feedback from players saying things like 'I want her to do this, I want her to do that.'" Noticing this was a sharp contrast to how other female characters in the series were received, they feared her popularity may decline if players only focused on the character's gameplay, and used the opportunity to introduce new elements for her character and encourage discussion. At the same time, Harada was mindful that players may receive it negatively, and incorporated options to customize Jaycee to more closely resemble her standard appearance in the game. As Jaycee, Julia wears a white and pink wrestling leotard with white boots and gloves, and a similarly colored luchadore mask that obscures her face with feather-like protrusions on the sides. Julia has also been involved in multiple professions including archaeology, research, professional wrestling, and live-streaming.

In multimedia

In the original Tekken, Michelle's father was killed by Heihachi Mishima's men for failing to retrieve an ancient pendant capable of controlling powerful spirits, which Michelle inherited. Seeking revenge, Michelle takes part in the tournament. In Tekken 2, she seeks her kidnapped mother from Kazuya Mishima's subordinates, who have learned the pendant's secret. Michelle later adopts a girl named Julia and teaches her martial arts. When Michelle disappears while investigating her pendant's connection to the creature Ogre, Julia enters Tekken 3 to rescue her. The two are reunited in conclusion. Afterwards in the storyline, Julia mainly focused on reforesting her homeland. Michelle is also present in the spin-offs, such as Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as well as in the animation Tekken: The Motion Picture, and in the comics, such as Tekken Saga, Tekken: Tatakai no Kanatani, and Tekken Forever. Companies including Tsukuda Hobby and Banpresto have contributed to her merchandise.

Besides Julia's mainline appearances in Tekken 3, Tekken 4, Tekken 5, Tekken 6, and Tekken 7, she has also appeared in various Tekken spin-offs, including Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken Card Challenge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Tekken 3D: Prime Edition, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Tekken Revolution, as well as in the comics Tekken Forever and Tekken Comic. Additionally, Julia has been featured in the anime Tekken: Bloodline and in Namco's marketing. Several companies, such as Kazya, Brovo Company, Heihachi Zazen, Diamond Select Toys, and Kotobukiya, have produced her figurines. Gameplay-wise, Michelle is fast-paced and can easily execute combos. She can also perform damaging counters and has a large moveset useful for combos. However, she can be hard to play. Julia shares a similar playstyle to Michelle, characterized by her speed.

Critical reception

According to Liz Faber's book Computer Game Graphics (1999), "Michelle Chan ... epitomizes the racially diverse characters that populate the modern [video] games". The New York Times "Game Theory" columnist JC Herz claimed that Michelle, having an Asian name but ambiguous features, is "such a confused mixture of signs" that she "represents a perfect metaphor of video games themselves". In her thesis, author Gabrielle Hughes maligned the depiction of Indigenous women in video games tending towards "generic and hyper-sexualized", singling Michelle out among others as examples. In a discussion about representation in video games on BBC Radio 4, one person cited her experience with Tekken and Michelle, where she was disappointed by how stereotyped she was. She also commented on how such stereotyping can result in people having only a limited perspective on what Native Americans can be.

While discussing ethnic representation in the Tekken series, English Professor Samuel Martínez Linares discussed both Michelle and Julia. He discussed how Tekken depicts Michelle's ties to her heritage and culture in stereotypical ways, specifically citing her magic pendant. He felt that the designers failed to represent Chang's heritage and culture with "depth and consistency". He was also critical of similarities between Michelle and Julia and how they were sexualized, citing the comparatively high rate of sexual assaults against Native American women, of which 86 percent were committed by non-Native men. He cited a video game analyst, Fabius, who argues that such sexualization of Native women is "both responsible for and indicative of continuing colonialist sentiments in Western society". At the time of Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2, game director Katsuhiro Harada was criticized by a Native American individual regarding Julia's stereotypical Native American attire with the individual providing examples of Native American clothing to further elaborate their point of view.