Overwatch Hero D.Va Used As An Empowering Symbol In South Korea

Overwatch hero D.Va goes beyond the video game and acts as a real-life symbol of empowerment in a recent South Korean women's march. Fans continue to find representation in the diverse cast of Blizzard's hit first-person shooter.

Overwatch Hero D.Va Sends A Strong Message

Just recently, women all over the world took the streets in order to support their ongoing protests. Kotaku reports that among the various signs and messages, someone brought along a flag containing a pink bunny symbol that alludes to Blizzard's video game hero, D.Va. Similarly, some protesters even printed the bunny on a sticker with the caption "The Rise Of The Woman = The Rise Of The Nation."

These photos surfaced the net via Twitter wherein the protesters took their rally to Seoul, Korea. Fitting enough, it is worth noting that D.Va aka Hana Song originally hails from “The Land of the Morning Calm.” Her pink bunny plays a major role in her character design as the symbol is etched on her suit and is also one of her personal in-game sprays. Furthermore, the mark is also one of the decals on her giant pink mech.

Blizzard Expanding the Game’s Colorful Cast

While feminists have found a strong symbol in the mech-riding hero, Blizzard continuously finds ways to add more variety to the game’s cast. In line with this, the latest comic for the video game revealed that the poster girl, Tracer, is actually gay.

Lead writer Michael Chu explained that the production team finds inspiration from the diversity in the world, as per GameSpot. In turn, they took ideas from all sorts of cultures, histories, anime, comic books and movies to create the game that fans know and love. Moreover, Blizzard believes that representation is very important and wants to place a lot of focus on the topic.

In the Overwatch game itself, players do not get the chance to explore the cast’s personal lives. This gives Blizzard the chance to explore narratives through other various mediums.