Wow, a Black female character that is now animated to be unambiguously Black...what a world we live in!
But aside from that, it seems clear that Tanya's outfit is drawing inspiration from historical African warrior outfits - from which group/time period, I couldn't tell you. Given the fact that she is exactly that - a Black Africanized warrior - I'm happy that,
a.) she's been given a clear and important role in this timeline rather than be a generic, do-nothing, deceptive bad guy and
b.) she doesn't exist as mere exotic eye-candy for the overwhelmingly male audience, a large chunk of whom are sex-starved whether by choice or circumstance
Now, are people allowed to dislike her new look? Certainly!
However, the reasons that people have historically disliked Black female characters' appearance/casting vary from mere boredom to people being dismayed that the character has evolved beyond having Euro-centric features/hair to being outright anti-woke/racist. Plus, all the ancillary reasons in between.
Thus, when a person says that they dislike Tanya's look in this game, there is absolutely a right to apply some side-eye skepticism to them because their reasons might indeed be the worst ones. Or they could be for the same reason(s) that I'm not a fan of Sub-Zero's man-bun - I happen to like my Bi-Hans fully masked!
Now about Tanya's hair....
Frankly, I love it! Finally, we have a well-animated Black woman's hairstyle in a Mortal Kombat game that again, is unambiguously Black. It appears to be a play on her hairstyle from MK4, except far better. Her hair is absolutely beautiful.
Tanya's hair is not only unique and pays homage to African warriors from antiquity, but it just looks damn good - several times better than the two-dimensional-charred-up-mozzarella sticks that Jacqui Briggs had in MK11.
However, Black women's hairstyles have been the subject of vile derision over the years, decades and centuries, even causing some Black women to lose their jobs and disturbing/destroying their self-image.
If you find yourself disliking Tanya's hair for reasons you can't readily explain or because it's not like the Europeanized styles that she's previously had, it might be worth examining to what extent you've internalized negative associations of Black female hairstyles.
These negative associations are present throughout America and the world and can be highly concentrated in various gaming communities on the internet. So, if you, for example, find yourself preferring that Black women have straight hair over braids/twists/locks or other traditionally Black styles, it doesn't make you racist/evil/bad, but it does mean that you have been the product of the society that you live in and haven't yet worked to reject those particular negative effects thereof.
To dislike a hairstyle because it's poorly-animated or because it doesn't fit the character is one thing, but to dislike it for reasons that you know would get you dragged is something else entirely. Tanya's hair fits her new role as a character and is well-made, so there's no issue in that capacity.
Virtually any other reason deserves scrutiny at a minimum and might need to be outright rejected at worst because it is rooted in anti-Blackness.
All-in-all, I've never came close to playing Tanya in any MK game. This time around, her appearance, story lore and most of all, her seemingly mid-screen-centric gameplay make me quite inclined to try her out and possibly make her one of my main characters. I love what she represents, how she represents it and am quite excited to see how else she differs from her past incarnations.
