Following the pro-Hong Kong protest statements from professional Hearthstone player Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai and Blizzard Entertainment’s suspension of the player, those protesting Blizzard’s actions have succeeded in turning Mei from Overwatch into a symbol of the Hong Kong protests.
Those part of the “#BoycottBlizzard” movement have proposed numerous ways to protest Blizzard’s actions, including creating memes.
One suggestion on Reddit’s r/HongKong board by “batture” has taken off.
The thread’s title acting as the message: “It would be such a shame if Mei from Overwatch became a pro-democracy symbol and got Blizzard’s games banned in China.” Winnie the Pooh is already censored in China, after internet users claiming Chinese President Xi Jinping resembled him.
Hypothetically, if the character did become synonymous with the Hong Kong protesters, Chinese authorities may ban Overwatch from the country- meaning Blizzard’s perceived “kowtowing” to the Chinese government would be all for naught.
In the lore of Overwatch, Mei-Ling Zhou is a Chinese national and member of the Overwatch team, with a strong passion to protect the world for future generations. This comes across from one of her lines from the Overwatch trailer featuring her “Our world is worth fighting for”.
The idea spread to Twitter, where one user suggested “Let’s get back at Blizzard by making Mei a pro-democracy symbol!” showing a screencap of the Reddit post, along with images of Mei in oriental clothes with the flag of Hong Kong behind her. Other hashtags arose, such as #MeiForHongKong and #MeiSupportsHongKong.
Many pieces of work have now appeared, depicting Mei with various symbols of the Hong Kong protesters. One video even edited the original Overwatch trailer focusing on Mei, with characters word’s having relevance to the Hong Kong protests. You can find a selection of those images and the video below:
Editor’s Note: Due to the rapid moving nature of social media, we have been unable to find the original creators to some of these images. Some artwork has also been uploaded on behalf of artists who wished to remain anonymous. Known sources are listed below the gallery.
Sources: CJ Tanuan (14th image), Psychotrip (16th image)
There have been scenes of Hong Kong protesters holding some of the images to press (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Editor’s Note: While the second URL is linked to the appropriate time-stamp, the video as a whole may contain some scenes viewers find disturbing). You can find additional examples below:
Sources: Frocharocha (1st image)
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