KUNG FU MASTER

This is a series of portraits of Thomas, the main character in the video game Kung Fu Master.  For many Americans, our introduction to Kung Fu was through the video game Kung Fu Master.  It was actually the first notable Asian that we had real interaction with.  

 

The Kung Fu Master video game sparked my interest in martial arts and martial arts cinema.  From Thomas, I then discovered Kung Fu Theater and Bruce Lee, some of my favorite entertainment to this day.  Thomas was strong, agile, and powerful.  He was on a mission to find Sonya, his girlfriend as he battled all of the men holding her captive, most notably Mr. X.

 

Over the years, credit for cultural change lies in human figures that shaped consciousness.  But as I see it, Thomas might have been an 8-bit figure, but his impact was massive culturally.