The Pakistani eSports legend recently stated in an interview that when he was just starting out as a competitor, other players used to refer to him as “Arslan bachiyon wala.”
According to Arslan, the term originated from his liking for female TEKKEN characters during a period when the majority of male players shunned them. He claimed that the local scene had a peculiar mentality that viewed defeat by a female character as degrading.
“Everyone was supposed to be an alpha,” Arslan explained. Boys only chose masculine characters, then. Those who portrayed female characters were made fun of for it.
He went on to say that the stigma produced an unexpected benefit. Additionally, most players never practiced against female characters since they refused to employ them.
“How can you prepare for something you never play against?” Arslan pointed out.
Rather than switching to fit in, Arslan doubled down. He kept employing female personas and started to win all across Pakistan. He claimed to have won with characters like Lili, Nina, and Julia.
Arslan further disclosed that his decisions were not motivated by defiance but rather by simple games logic. He thought that many gamers at the time were unaware of the obvious competitive advantages that female characters in TEKKEN possessed.
He clarified that “the female characters had higher damage and better plus frames.” “They were just more powerful than TEKKEN’s male characters.”
That understanding helped shape his dominance long before the global spotlight found him. Arslan Ash’s ascent to the pinnacle of competitive TEKKEN was largely attributed to what was initially considered as a weakness.
