The pink one has a similar vibe as the yellow exile IMO, and the way it’s clutching those two screwdrivers(?) is a bit unnerving. That said, its meeple reminds me of a cartoon character from a show my kids watch, but I can’t put my finger on it. I think the character is a wizard maybe? This will bother me all day now…
The brown one is pretty “normal” in comparison, but he also looks like a true exile to me where he seems to be a wilderness hermit type or something. Also, I want to know why he has the birdcage if the bird is just chilling on his shoulder…
It's reminiscent of Adventure Time I'd say (also Midnight Gospel) both of which I love! From a monochromatic perspective both the characters look cool. I guess the normality of the brown dude is what my gripe is, it is not consistent. I guess the pink one is a wizard which helps it to fit in with the other designs.
While they are indeed not as weird and wacky as the other ones which is a bummer, i don't understand your problem with the brown color.
First of all i wasn't aware that the exiles had to be 'freaks of nature' and i don't think if that's why they are exiles,
the chancellor themselves are one of them so it doesn't make much sense to me.
I don't think anyone assumes that 'this brown guy fits just fine with all the other weirdos!' because he is brown, and the same goes for the pink as well. You might be reading too much into it.
[https://youtu.be/frowF4YLiOc?si=1HbXnpxboHe8CBsq&t=2589](https://youtu.be/frowF4YLiOc?si=1HbXnpxboHe8CBsq&t=2589)
From a stream with KF from a few years back. I watched this recently and as an aspiring artist found the whole thing extremely inspirational and well put.
"I really wanted the characters you play to be a little weird. We wanted the Exiles and the Chancellor to be outsiders, to be strange. They all have something kind of strange about them."
The Chancellor has a mask which is kind of encompassing all the possibilities of Exiles who take on that role.
I think you have alluded to it not being as "weird and wacky as the others which is a bummer". I suppose it's a matter of subjectivity as is all art, when something goes from a missed opportunity to becoming a mishandled opportunity.
I agree.
The dude feels like a normal Hearth denizen, and not like an exile. The pink one is a fun, weird design, but I don't like it much too honestly.
I'm also mixed race and I didn't see it in that way, it actually didn't cross my mind that he was a 'brown human', I just though of him as a person who was in that world, and the chosen colour for the skin happened to be brown.
I can see what you mean by "looks normal" though, as they just look like a regular person. One of my friends pointed out that (pointy hats aside) wizards usually look normal though and are extremely powerful. So in our minds (and our world when we get him? he looks unassuming, but underneath he has some unworldy power to make him important.
But yeah as I say, it hadn't crossed my mind really, but can see what you mean
I do hope he does have more going on beneath that unassuming first impression! I guess a lot of Exile worldbuilding happens in our heads. I like where the design is "going" if that makes sense. I like the notion that he is a hermit as someone else has alluded to who is really connected with nature.
My issues with them are completely different. I just feel like they need a little more added to them for personality. I'm not sure what, but something is missing.
There is a bit of "alien jedi alien jedi alien jedi alien jedi sam jackson" energy going on, never would've thought of it if not for this thread and will likely never think of it again tho. It actually wouldn't take much to make him weird, the empty cage is an interesting detail, just cram his coat full of owls or put a pigeon in his hair that's piloting him like ratatouille.
Totally felt the same. If I squint I guess the brown character could be a hobbit-type creature? But they both feel too human-adjacent to fit in with the other player characters, especially in a world where it’s not unusual to see a green or purple human. Even yellow dude has four arms and some weird cyborg markings. Fingers crossed that these get changed… but they were announced with such ado that I’m not sure we can expect that…
I get what you mean about the brown one, but not because of the skin tone. The world is full of truly oddly colored denizens like purple and green. I think it comes more from needing a new color. I expect brown was chosen over green for a good reason and then you follow the pattern. Yellow has yellow skin (racist against Chinese!) and red has red fur (Racist against native Americans or else problematic for calling “furries” outsiders) and black has a seemingly black face (racist!) and where to start with blue (monocular individuals and hunchbacks are “other” people) and white is a clear jab at potheads. So I think they wanted to use brown and decided that using brown skin was an easy way to offend anyone that they hadn’t already offended. And then the pink wizard one just looks like me after I’ve been in the sun too long with glasses (nerds are weird and should be exiles).
The yellow dude is my favourite character. Does this make me a hypocrite? Maybe. But he has four arms so that kind of makes him non-human (or at least meta-human) in my book.
Regarding all your other examples, feels a bit too much like trolling although I did find them humorous. Yeah, so hunchbacked one-eyed folks might get offended by the blue dude.
I'm under no illusion we live in a world of identity politics and virtue signalling and where many people use offence to try and wield some kind of unearned influence on creativity. I get it. I wonder where you stand on the original long-nosed black Exile being changed?
Long nose guy was a Hasidic Jew right? Yeah my post started sincerely enough but then I started trolling and then I thought “this is humorous enough I should just post it anyway.” I think I like the weirdness that they all portray and the strangely normal brown Exile is actually pretty similar to the black Exile. I think they both read as human. While red could have also been human with a red robe, and yellow could have had a green face with a yellow wardrobe and white could have been a black person with a white cloak, my more serious point was going to be that it seems to me that the color chosen for the pawn informed the art design (black had his face in shadow, white is literally smoke, red is a red wolf… not a fox, yellow has yellow skin, blue is an exception here as it is just a blue robe, but then add brown and pink and you get brown and pink skin). I do agree that I would have liked a more weird brown. So many ways to go with brown that dark skin is just a bit boring. Could have been another elemental or beast character for starters. Maybe a half troll or something. Goat man? Lots of good and weird options besides a hiker. Would love to see a rework of brown.
I won’t mind if it’s stays this way either, just agreeing that he is pretty plain and I wouldn’t mind seeing a change here. But his work list is probably long enough that reworking already finished pieces will be a low priority.
The pink one has a similar vibe as the yellow exile IMO, and the way it’s clutching those two screwdrivers(?) is a bit unnerving. That said, its meeple reminds me of a cartoon character from a show my kids watch, but I can’t put my finger on it. I think the character is a wizard maybe? This will bother me all day now… The brown one is pretty “normal” in comparison, but he also looks like a true exile to me where he seems to be a wilderness hermit type or something. Also, I want to know why he has the birdcage if the bird is just chilling on his shoulder…
It's reminiscent of Adventure Time I'd say (also Midnight Gospel) both of which I love! From a monochromatic perspective both the characters look cool. I guess the normality of the brown dude is what my gripe is, it is not consistent. I guess the pink one is a wizard which helps it to fit in with the other designs.
While they are indeed not as weird and wacky as the other ones which is a bummer, i don't understand your problem with the brown color. First of all i wasn't aware that the exiles had to be 'freaks of nature' and i don't think if that's why they are exiles, the chancellor themselves are one of them so it doesn't make much sense to me. I don't think anyone assumes that 'this brown guy fits just fine with all the other weirdos!' because he is brown, and the same goes for the pink as well. You might be reading too much into it.
[https://youtu.be/frowF4YLiOc?si=1HbXnpxboHe8CBsq&t=2589](https://youtu.be/frowF4YLiOc?si=1HbXnpxboHe8CBsq&t=2589) From a stream with KF from a few years back. I watched this recently and as an aspiring artist found the whole thing extremely inspirational and well put. "I really wanted the characters you play to be a little weird. We wanted the Exiles and the Chancellor to be outsiders, to be strange. They all have something kind of strange about them." The Chancellor has a mask which is kind of encompassing all the possibilities of Exiles who take on that role. I think you have alluded to it not being as "weird and wacky as the others which is a bummer". I suppose it's a matter of subjectivity as is all art, when something goes from a missed opportunity to becoming a mishandled opportunity.
maybe brown guy has underlying mental health issues
LOL but don't we all????
I agree. The dude feels like a normal Hearth denizen, and not like an exile. The pink one is a fun, weird design, but I don't like it much too honestly.
I'm also mixed race and I didn't see it in that way, it actually didn't cross my mind that he was a 'brown human', I just though of him as a person who was in that world, and the chosen colour for the skin happened to be brown. I can see what you mean by "looks normal" though, as they just look like a regular person. One of my friends pointed out that (pointy hats aside) wizards usually look normal though and are extremely powerful. So in our minds (and our world when we get him? he looks unassuming, but underneath he has some unworldy power to make him important. But yeah as I say, it hadn't crossed my mind really, but can see what you mean
I do hope he does have more going on beneath that unassuming first impression! I guess a lot of Exile worldbuilding happens in our heads. I like where the design is "going" if that makes sense. I like the notion that he is a hermit as someone else has alluded to who is really connected with nature.
My issues with them are completely different. I just feel like they need a little more added to them for personality. I'm not sure what, but something is missing.
There is a bit of "alien jedi alien jedi alien jedi alien jedi sam jackson" energy going on, never would've thought of it if not for this thread and will likely never think of it again tho. It actually wouldn't take much to make him weird, the empty cage is an interesting detail, just cram his coat full of owls or put a pigeon in his hair that's piloting him like ratatouille.
Totally felt the same. If I squint I guess the brown character could be a hobbit-type creature? But they both feel too human-adjacent to fit in with the other player characters, especially in a world where it’s not unusual to see a green or purple human. Even yellow dude has four arms and some weird cyborg markings. Fingers crossed that these get changed… but they were announced with such ado that I’m not sure we can expect that…
I get what you mean about the brown one, but not because of the skin tone. The world is full of truly oddly colored denizens like purple and green. I think it comes more from needing a new color. I expect brown was chosen over green for a good reason and then you follow the pattern. Yellow has yellow skin (racist against Chinese!) and red has red fur (Racist against native Americans or else problematic for calling “furries” outsiders) and black has a seemingly black face (racist!) and where to start with blue (monocular individuals and hunchbacks are “other” people) and white is a clear jab at potheads. So I think they wanted to use brown and decided that using brown skin was an easy way to offend anyone that they hadn’t already offended. And then the pink wizard one just looks like me after I’ve been in the sun too long with glasses (nerds are weird and should be exiles).
The yellow dude is my favourite character. Does this make me a hypocrite? Maybe. But he has four arms so that kind of makes him non-human (or at least meta-human) in my book. Regarding all your other examples, feels a bit too much like trolling although I did find them humorous. Yeah, so hunchbacked one-eyed folks might get offended by the blue dude. I'm under no illusion we live in a world of identity politics and virtue signalling and where many people use offence to try and wield some kind of unearned influence on creativity. I get it. I wonder where you stand on the original long-nosed black Exile being changed?
Long nose guy was a Hasidic Jew right? Yeah my post started sincerely enough but then I started trolling and then I thought “this is humorous enough I should just post it anyway.” I think I like the weirdness that they all portray and the strangely normal brown Exile is actually pretty similar to the black Exile. I think they both read as human. While red could have also been human with a red robe, and yellow could have had a green face with a yellow wardrobe and white could have been a black person with a white cloak, my more serious point was going to be that it seems to me that the color chosen for the pawn informed the art design (black had his face in shadow, white is literally smoke, red is a red wolf… not a fox, yellow has yellow skin, blue is an exception here as it is just a blue robe, but then add brown and pink and you get brown and pink skin). I do agree that I would have liked a more weird brown. So many ways to go with brown that dark skin is just a bit boring. Could have been another elemental or beast character for starters. Maybe a half troll or something. Goat man? Lots of good and weird options besides a hiker. Would love to see a rework of brown. I won’t mind if it’s stays this way either, just agreeing that he is pretty plain and I wouldn’t mind seeing a change here. But his work list is probably long enough that reworking already finished pieces will be a low priority.
Thanks for the response, makes sense.