this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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Am I reaching for this?

German

Imperius (roman, reich)

Sonnenrads

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 years ago

Overwatch is a reactionary organization so it fits

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 years ago (2 children)

i am no longer giving anyone the benefit of the doubt on this shit. No one accidentally makes a five armed swastika in 2023

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

But a previous Blizzard treat may have had a five armed swastika therefore according to the Thermian argument it can't come from anywhere else and the fiction carries all the weight of its context. morshupls

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

This is literally a German character, there are no two possible opinions on why someone would possibly be putting a sonnenrad on him

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Personally the symbol reminds me more of this kind of thing:

I don't think there was really any intention behind the symbol other than "it looks kinda cool".

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

Isle of Man (with too many legs)

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not relating to Rome, it is based ok the Diablo Archangel Imperius who is a villain who wants to wipe out humanity. He also has the same little suns.

So I think you're reaching a bit. Imperius is unambiguously a villain in the same way Diablo or Mephisto is, for reference.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

He also has the same little suns.

His suns aren't the same. His suns are like normal suns. The Overwatch version has made it like a Sonnenrad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Looking at this pic from the wiki, the style of the suns - and number of arms they have - changes from art to art.

Edit: looking closer, the skin seems to have directly swapped the arms for the legs someone upthread posted. Were they trying to make it less nazi-like and failed terribly?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Critical support for omnics destroying the western hegemony

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago

Omnics rose up and the liberal heroes of NATO saved the world by military intervention and the power of "both sides"

Like, the robots disregarding their human-like lifestyle (as a metaphor for western hegemony) is painted as an evil thing. In the universe of Overwatch humanity is the imperial core.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 years ago

God that is such a busy design. And so little of it relates to Rome. He looks like a tokutsatsu mech.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean the Sonnenrad was designed after a real pagan symbol and the Sun cross/wheel is not necessarily a nazi symbol. Although the black sun is.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Theoretically, yes. However, in practice it's kind of a "the Swastika is a Buddhist symbol" kind of argument.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The Sonnenrad is a bit different IMO. It's definitely a distinct symbol of its own, even if based on pagan symbols. The swastika was pretty much coopted as-is.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago

In a way that's kind of worse. Hundreds of millions of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, etc have their holy symbol coopted wholesale by Nazis to the extent where clueless Westerners still show up in Asia and ask why there's so many swastikas around.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why, out of all characters, would you give a GERMAN character that outfit and why, out of all the ways to implement it, would you choose to make the sun look MORE swastika like?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I dunno it doesn't really look that sus to me tbh. It looks like just generic "cool buff knight in armor dude" design to me. It's like those "tribal" tattoos to me, it doesn't mean anything it's just there as an accessory.

I guess it's possible the person that made that particular piece of content is secretely fash and it's actually a dogwhistle but I don't see it really. These kinds of motifs aren't really that uncommon.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Those little suns aren't too bad.

Reinhardt is bad because he's GERMAN

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

It's way more sus that the futuristic German military had elite soldiers that were monarchists and cosplayed as knights.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago

Imperius is an angel from Diablo so it's not a direct allusion to Rome.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

Sonnerad? You mean Freedom Circles! so-true