>>58439841>>58439861Being designed to be a Black woman first and foremost is apart of her appeal, but I think the strong, clumsy, well intentioned-accidental offensiveness of being mammy like was too offputting, especially since she was the VERY first one in the series. I was a literal
Black child when BW came out, and even I thought she and Bouffalant were just kinda cringe and off putting without really having the language to express it. It took me getting older and Pokémon having less stereotypical Black characters to retroactively develop an appreciation for Lenora… but I think just making Lenora young/sexier/I guess even thinner would have made her less mammy-like. The way people expressed sadness over not getting that fairy pimp guy, despite how he could also be criticized as a stereotypical portrayal of a black person, tells me that maybe even a more Blaxploitation, Jezebel like Lenora could have been better received than just a straight up accidental Mammy. Some stereotypes are just cooler or more appealing than others, even if you should ‘know better’
